Min had been annoyed at being separated from Chang-li and Joshi and deposited in the lower courtyard of the monastery. Servants came out to meet her, distinct from the monks themselves by their homespun tunics and general hangdog looks. She realized, as they surrounded her, they were all men, mostly older.

As she took in a few details, she picked out the necklaces of knotted cord several of them were wearing and recognized them as possibly signifying membership in a Brotherhood. She stored that away for later use. Not every brotherhood in the Empire used the same systems of acknowledgements, but if some of these servants here did belong to a local brotherhood, that might prove useful to Min yet.

A pair of old men greeted her. "Come with us, lady," one said. "We have space in the guest quarters for you, though you've come at an inconvenient time. We are already hosting several outsiders."

"Oh?" Min asked as she followed the men through a tranquil courtyard and well-laid-out kitchen gardens. But neither servant answered.

These gardens were clearly designed to feed the monastery's kitchens. The paths were straight and designed to grant easy access to the beautifully laid-out square plots. She spotted growing heads of cabbage or lettuce—she wasn't sure which—and green leaves seemingly destined for the table.

The servants swept her on past that, past a row of stables where she spotted donkeys and camels in great number. Retainers were tending the animals. These men didn't look like they belonged here at the monastery. To Min's eyes, they looked like the sorts of men she'd expect to spot on traders' caravans.

"Is this place on a trade route?" she asked.

"Hmm? Lady? Oh, no. This is the monthly Imperial Caravan," one of her attendants told her. "They depart in the morning with their usual load of lux crystals."

Min made a note of that and held her tongue. The servants led her to a two-story, square-fronted building made of wood with trim shutters, and little to distinguish it. It was almost aggressively plain.

"Travelers' quarters, lady," one of the servants said. "You'll have a room to yourself, being the only woman currently here at the monastery."

"Don't the monks take on female students?" she asked.

The servants blinked at her. "Ah, no, my lady. This monastery was founded by an abbot who believed that only by denying all the pleasures of the body could one truly devote one's mind to study. The monks bathe in cold water, eat no meat, drink no wine, and see no women."

That founding abbot was not very imaginative. Min was wryly amused. There were plenty of men who would find the idea of spending their lives with nothing but other men for company perfectly acceptable, her own brother Jai-lin among them.

"The Imperial Caravan respects those beliefs and sends only male merchants and lux technicians to collect the monthly harvest and bring us our supplies," the servant said. "It's not that there is anything wrong with your presence here, my lady. You're not the first."

"You're a cultivator spouse, then?" That was the older of the two men. He wore a knotted necklace tucked just inside his tunic. She could make out a few of the knots from here.

"I am the cultivator spouse of Morning Mist," she said.

"Please let us know if there's anything you need."

She decided to take a risk. "Thank you — Elder Brother."

The man's eyes widened for just a second. She heard an intake of breath. Then they showed her to her rooms. "Dinner is served in the common room. Or I can have some brought here," the servant who was almost certainly a brotherhood member told her.

"Yes, please, if you would."

"Amoth, we have our own tasks to be tending to," his fellow chided.

"You get back to those, I'll help the lady. Lady Min, I'll return shortly."

Her room was small and spartan, with a bedroll and a shuttered window. She opened it. It looked up to the high monastery. She gazed out, hoping that Chang-li and Joshi were getting some sort of answers. She didn't have much hope of finding any of her own.

A few moments later, there was a rap on her door. She slid it open. The servant, Amoth, stood there holding a platter of food and a jug. He bowed.

She stepped aside and allowed him to enter and place the food on the floor beside her bed. Min stepped in front of the open door and folded her arms, keeping an eye on the hall to make sure it stayed empty.

Amoth cleared his throat. "Is there anything else I can do for you, my lady?"

"You can," she said. "Tell me, brother, what fraternity do you belong to?"

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He peered past her as if considering shouldering her aside to make his escape. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"Yes, you do," she said, and then repeated the secret phrases her grandfather had taught her that should—if spoken to high-ranking members of other brotherhoods—open many doors to her.

"I am Elder Sister Gao Min of the Oaken Band Brotherhood of Riceflower Province," Min concluded.

The man bowed. "Elder Sister, I am Brother Amoth. How can I serve?"

"You are truly a servant here?"

Amoth grinned. "We've been infiltrating people into the monastery for some time now, with the idea that we might be able to learn a few cultivator tricks."

"Oh?" Min asked, intrigued. So the Oaken Band weren't the only ones to have thought along such lines.

He shook his head. "The monks are careful not to have any of us about during training. We're thinking of buying a place for a boy who seems to have the knack for it, forging up some papers for him."

"An interesting scheme," she said. "The Oaken Band has done something similar lately. Hence, my presence here."

"You were not alone, then?"

Min paused as footsteps creaked in the hall, but whoever it was stopped at a door several short of hers and stepped inside. She lowered her voice. "My husband and his companion are in the monastery, consulting with the monks."

"That's what I was afraid of," Brother Amoth said grimly. "There was a bit of a ruckus a few minutes ago, and the pair of officials from the caravan were called up to the monastery. That never happens, unless there's a problem with the order. But I don't think that's what it is."

Min frowned. If Brother Amoth was right, then she should try to get word to Chang-li—or perhaps to get him out. On the other hand, if there was nothing amiss, she didn't want to disrupt a chance to get Chang-li the help he needed.

"Is there any way to know what's going on up there?"

Brother Amoth shook his head. "They'll be in the hall feasting and we servants won't be allowed in until it's time to clear."

Min had to be careful how far she pushed this man's loyalties. The connections between brotherhoods were tenuous at best, and this far across the empire, where no one had ever heard of the Oaken Band, she could not command—only perhaps implore for help. And yet, there were some things that she believed all brotherhoods must hold true.

"Please," she told, "Brother Amoth. If you hear rumors concerning my husband or my sect, bring word to me so that I can protect my interests—and those of my brotherhood."

He looked her over, considering, before at last nodding. "I'll see what I can do, Sister Min."

Min remained in her sleeping room. She ate the food provided and then sat listening, with the door cracked just a bit, as people went up and down outside. Watching carefully, she counted at least five merchant types and four men wearing Imperial Lux technician badges on their robes. She didn't particularly worry about any of them, but then she caught sight of an official with patterned silk robes and a dark hat on his head. She couldn't see closely enough to guess at his rank. The flash of a badge on his lapel was from the Office of Cultivation.

She shouldn't be surprised. The Office of Cultivation probably had plenty of work here. He was walking side-by-side with one of the monks—a man with a thin face. As they passed Min's room, she heard a snippet of their conversation.

"Cultivators from across the Empire. They had no entries in their book for anything between Riceflower Province and here."

"Highly suspicious. Riceflower is the site of the rogue prism's first attack..."

And then they were past. Min's blood froze. So someone had gotten a look at Chang-li and Joshi's licenses. Had they handed them over willingly? Probably. She was certain Chang-li would present his license to any official who asked, and that it would stand up to scrutiny, but there were certainly enough oddities in it to attract attention from an official. What should she do?

Min paced the tiny room. Three paces forward, turn. Three paces back, turn. Even if she knew where Chang-li and Joshi were and could get to them, should she try? What if the monks of Harupa were even now helping with the thing disrupting Chang-li's core?

Night fell. She heard the sounds of people retiring to their rooms. There was no lamp in her room, and as it grew dark, she sat down on the bed, still fully clothed, and fretted.

There was a scratch at her door.

Min bolted upright. She didn't breathe.

The door eased open, and a dark shape stepped in. "Sister Min?"

"Brother Amoth," she said in relief, still worrying who else might have come. "What is it?"

"Bad news," the brother said grimly. "I don't know who your cultivators are or what they want, but the abbot and the cultivation official have agreed to turn them over in the morning. They're to be taken when the lux technicians receive their shipment and brought to the governor of Dry Winds Province."

The capital of Dry Winds Province was miles to the southeast, far off of their chosen course, and once they reached it, there would be all sorts of complications. Min shook her head. "No. No. We have to get them out of there. Can we?"

"I don't know if I should stick my neck out for you, Sister Min. The bonds of brotherhood are strong, yet what is in this for our brotherhood?"

Min stepped forward and caught at his sleeve. She whispered intently. "My brotherhood has made ties to the Morning Mist sect. My Younger Brothers are training now as cultivators. Send a messenger to Vardin City in Riceflower Province with two of your bright lads, take word to my grandfather, the Eldest Brother of the Oaken Band. Tell him Min asks him to take in these two and see that they're trained by Morning Mist."

She left out complications, such as that most of the Morning Mist cultivators had been under siege by an inquisitor when last she saw them. She had faith in Brother Stone and Grandmaster Noren to get them out of that situation.

"And he will take our word for it?"

Min unclasped one of her earrings, a red flower set with silver, and handed it to him. "Tell your messenger to give this to my grandfather and tell him, 'On my fifteenth nameday, you set these in my ears.' He'll know it was from me."

Brother Amoth's hand closed around the earring. With his other hand, he reached into his robes and pulled something out.

"I will lead you to the servant's gate and tell you how to find your man. Getting out is up to you. But here is a sketch showing the lower gates."

Min recalled how Joshi had had them leave the horses on a ground halter several miles before the abbey. Had he expected this treachery? Or perhaps it was just a Darwur warrior's instinct not to be trapped behind walls. Regardless, it would buy them a chance to flee. "Thank you," she said.

Brother Amoth silently led her from the room and through the lower grounds up to the great wall. Here, he took her not to the main gates where Chang-li and Joshi had disappeared, but to a small side gate. He knocked three times.

It opened, and another servant, with the knots of brotherhood around his neck, ushered Min in.

"This way."

Heart in her mouth, Min followed.

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