The Downpour, Canvas, Frontier Territory, Late Autumn, 1596 PTS
Yuenan settled down in his quarters, awaiting the inevitable. The bells rang, and Yuenan calmly counted the dings. It seemed that dusk had arrived. It would not be long before Riese’s arrival.
Deciding to ease his nerves, Yuenan stepped over to the cupboard, removing the kettle and water he always kept well prepared, and set to brewing some tea. He would need to relax his nerves before meeting with her. As the water heated, he set a pair of cups down onto the table.
This tea was not made with Yuenan’s preferred hakian leaves, but rather a form of lichen that grew on the sect’s walls. Riese did not particularly enjoy hakian tea. She claimed it had too strong of a flavor. Yuenan vaguely remembered having felt the same way at some distant point in the past.
Yuenan had barely poured the tea into the cups before she arrived. Riese slammed the door open brusquely. Impatient as always, Yuenan thought.
Despite her true age, Riese still appeared fairly young, as if she were still in her thirties. Though Yuenan was not much older, he could barely pass for a man in his sixtieth year of life. Riese’s face had few wrinkles, and her well-groomed golden hair had yet to lose its luster. Like the vast majority of the sect members, Riese was a farsei.
“Who’s the boy?” she asked, the question emerging before she had even sat down.
Though she was younger than him, he always felt as if she had the leg up in their relationship. There was no doubt that Yuenan would win if the two were to fight, but in a duel of words, Yuenan had no chance. He found himself sighing once more.
“You’ve been pressuring me to take a disciple,” he protested.
Resting on the cushion across from him and leaned forward, her piercing eyes tearing into Yuenan.
“I was expecting you to take one from inside the sect. We have plenty of decent talents. I was beginning to think you would only be willing to train a once in a century genius, or some talented youth of that level.”
Hearing this, Yuenan could not help but chuckle, slowly shaking his head.
“They were all missing the most important element.”
“Which was?” Riese asked, dubiously.
“Fate.”
“Last I recall, you did not even believe in the concept. If you had picked one of them to be your disciple, then that would mean that being your disciple was their fate, Yuenan. You don’t need to choose particular individuals. But this…How did you meet this child, in any case?”
“He tried to steal my coin pouch,” Yuenan shared, a smirk visible on his features.
Riese sighed in exasperation, finally bothering to lift the cup he had set before her, and taking a large gulp of the dark substance. She frowned.
“You used too many leaves again.”
“Oh?” he asked, the slightest trace of a smirk uplifting the corner of his lip. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Riese simply sighed.
“What’s done is done, I suppose. Is the kid any good?” she asked.
Yuenan shrugged.
“I believe so. His physique is excellent, at least. Assuming his disposition is suited for formless arts, with some proper nutrition I suspect he might be a potential genius.”
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Riese sipped at her tea.
“How much of one?” she asked.
“Is there even a point to such a question at this stage?”
“I suppose not. Still, I just wish to make sure he is a disciple befitting his master. You refused all offers to train the young talents within the sect. They were all hoping to catch your eye. Fate aside, if the child lacks talent, that could cause unrest within the sect. An Elder’s direct disciple who only has the strength of an outer disciple… It simply seems to be a waste.
Yuenan shrugged.
“It was simply a whim. I felt it would be a… a shame to leave him there,” he explained.
Riese raised an eyebrow.
“To leave him… He was a street urchin?” she asked, voice rising in pitch on the last few words. Yuenan shrugged, taking another sip of tea.
“He mentioned a father once or twice. I expect he was a runaway, rather than an orphan.” Riese simply groaned in exasperation. “A street orphan, or a runaway… that will only make matters worse. For the sake of your reputation, you will need to be careful from this point forward.”
Yuenan waved his hand, as if he were dispelling smoke.
“There is no point in worrying about this, and if I’m right, his talents should be on the more impressive side.
“Do as you will,” Rieze sighed again. “I trust you won’t totally abandon the boy if his talents don’t match up to your expectations.”
Yuenan gestured vaguely.
“If it turns out that he can’t practice martial arts, I’m sure we can find something for him to do around the sect. Even in the worst case, it should still be better than a life on the streets.”
“But have you informed him that he has not yet qualified to become your disciple?” she asked.
Yuenan’s silence was more than enough of a response.
“I hope he would share those feelings of yours, in the worst case,” Riese said, taking her first sip of the tea. After her words a long pause filled the room,
Riese sighed.
“I’m glad to see you back,” she said.
Yuenan smiled softly.
“Glad to be back.”
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The Downpour, Canvas, Frontier Territory, Late Autumn, 1596 PTS
The evening had gone well. The food at the sect was quite bland, with few spices to add flavor. In terms of taste, it was a step below the food stalls he had eaten at on occasion after a successful pickpocketing. Still, there was more than enough to satiate him, and in that sense, the food here was the greatest he had ever tasted.
After eating, he had been led to a room at the edge of the sect. This was where he would be spending his nights, a room assigned to Jin alone. It was hewn from the same stone as the rest of the sect, as if it had been carved out of the stone by an unbelievably dedicated chiseler.
The room itself was spartan, bearing nothing but a thin bed, an old wardrobe, and a window which provided a view out into the vastness of mud and rain. Perhaps it might have been beautiful, Jin thought, but the occlusion of the darkness and the rainfall left him unable to see much beyond the building’s most immediate surroundings. He might have preferred to have no window at all, Jin thought.The room was barely the size of the closet at his father’s old place, but to Jin, it was palatial. This was a place that was truly his, one that had been given to him. After tomorrow, this would be a place where, for the first time in his life, Jin truly belonged. The thought brought him no end of joy.
As the other disciple had explained to him, such rooms were not particularly sought after, as spray from the window tended to leave the contents of the room a bit damp. He would need to be careful about mold, apparently. Still, he could not help but delight in the mere fact that it existed. Perhaps he would be living in this room for the remainder of his life.
Jin found that he did not dislike the thought. As he lay down on the itchy fabric of the thin blanket, he found himself expectant of what the future would bring.
That night, Jin slept better than he had in all of his living memories. He awoke the next morning feeling refreshed, but his hands were twitching and his head high on anticipation as he waited for his soon-to-be master or another disciple to come fetch him. Today he would be performing the ritual, Jin thought, but tomorrow he would finally be learning martial arts. It was only a matter of time.
The Downpour Sect: [A force of ascetics living within the Downpour, this little known sect is in reality one of the powerhouses of the Crucible of the Worthy, training their disciples up in the harsh conditions of their territory. While the sect existed prior to the founding of the Unorthodox Alliance, the Downpour Sect was not invited to join the alliance until years after its founding, and quickly became one of its more influential members. Though the Downpour Sect is rumored to have never produced any true immortals, it is widely believed that it bears more than one earthly immortal within its ranks.]