A week after finally dropping her prisoner off in the dungeon, Yoonji returned. She was eager to relay news of his fate, to her annoying prisoner, but had taken the time to commission a new robe for herself, as well as having attendants polish her nails and apply thousands of qualms of treatments to her hair. She always enjoyed being properly pampered after returning from a mission. In the course of the day and a half of treatment, she had almost forgotten all of the irritation that Noren's upcoming trial had caused.

This would be Yoonji's first prosecution for Grand Treason, and she had been amazed at just how much paperwork there was to do, none of which, apparently, could be waved away by an inquisitor's badge. It had been decades since she herself was forced to personally fill out forms and paperwork. The more she filed, the more she found still remaining to be done.

She'd spent three entire afternoons at the Office of Cultivation, two mornings here in the Palace of Inquisition, a late night in the records room, and been forced to make the trek around to the gates of the Imperial Palace, then to wait for more hours until she was permitted into palace grounds to hand-deliver the treason trial notices to one of the Emperor's minor functionaries there.

They had treated her like she was an ordinary official, not one of the Emperor's chosen, and all in all, Yoonji was eager to have this over and done with so she could return to her important work of discovering just what Eri was up to.

She presented herself at the dungeon and demanded the jailer on duty escort her to Noren. She was carrying a large, heavy box filled with the accused's copies of all the paperwork she had been filing. He was entitled to a copy of all of it before his trial, and Yoonji would risk no complications as she sought to finally get this done.

The jailer at least gave her the proper respect due her position, bowing low, then speaking. "Oh, forgive me, Inquisitor. I've just checked the records. The prisoner has been moved to a different level."

"On whose authority?" she demanded at once. "This is my prisoner."

"With respect, Inquisitor, once you signed him over to us, we became responsible for his care and keeping. It was decided this could best be accomplished elsewhere in the complex. Come with me."

To her dismay, he then led her up three flights of stairs and into the western wing, where visiting dignitaries were housed. There were a pair of cultivators in imperial uniform on guard outside the door, each at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement, which wasn't likely to do much good if Noren decided to escape.

Yoonji barged right past them, opening the door without a knock, and stepping in, ready to deliver her papers and the bad news to Noren. But her planned speech fell away as she stepped into the room.

It was a bright, airy suite. Windows stood open on the far side. A beautiful tea set stood on the low table beside the window. A screen blocked off the bedroom, and it was full of people: servants in imperial garb, scribes, even a few cultivators in robes of different colors.

There, presiding over it all, sat Noren, atop a pile of cushions. He was wearing clean new robes in his sect pattern, but with a brilliant gold border around them, proclaiming him as the highest-ranked member of the sect.

His hair was up in a neat top knot, his beard had been trimmed, and his nails gleamed with a faint shine that one serving girl was buffing even now as she sat by his side with a tray full of aesthetic equipment beside her.

Yoonji stared in shock. There was a desk covered in writing materials on one side of the wall, stacks of scrolls and letters scattered about. In the corner, chests stood open, filled with silk garments and various knickknacks.

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Noren looked up. He rose, the beauty technician beside him falling back to give him space, and extended his arms wide, as though greeting a friend. "Inquisitor Pak! I've been expecting your presence."

Yoonji retreated into her best and only defense. "Out!" she ordered. As everyone in the room looked at her, she raised her voice. "Out! Everyone except him!" She pointed to Noren with a shaking finger, not daring to use his name.

The servants responded first, the aesthetic technician girl sweeping her tools into a box, clasping the lid and rushing from the room. The other cultivators looked upset at first, then, apparently realizing who she was, they bowed and left.

A moment later, Yoonji stood alone in the room with Noren. His smile did not change. "I have been expecting you these past three days, Inquisitor. It seems the paperwork here in the capital is increasing by the day."

"An understatement." She stalked forward and dropped her package of papers to the table with a loud thump. The tea set rattled, a cup knocking over and spilling dregs of tea off into the plush white rug beneath. Neither made a move. "You are a prisoner here, on trial under accusation of abetting Grand Treason. You would do well to remember."

"But of course," Noren said. "However, the work of a Grandmaster does not end merely because he is awaiting execution. I shall be busy with the duties of my sect until the moment the sword falls, should I, of course, fail to prove my case before the Emperor."

"What duties?" Yoonji demanded. "We left your sect behind six hundred miles ago. You have admitted to being the only member past the rank of Spiritual Refinement, and your senior disciples have fled, attempting to escape beyond the Empire. You have no sect."

"On the contrary," Noren said, his smile not wavering for a moment. "I have quite a sect indeed. I have just finished handling the paperwork to bring the Deepwater Sect of Dragon's Tooth City under our wing as a subordinate sect, with their members ranking as probationary outer disciples, with the ability to, by proving their worth, gain inner disciple rank. I have established a second daughter sect at Varden City to handle the acolytes we had begun to accumulate there, and have been fending off requests from several other associates in the region."

He strolled over to the desk and began rifling through the papers there. "I have here a request from the remnants of the Moon Whisper Sect to bring them in, thanks to our existing relationship with Li Jiya, their former member. That's a slightly more complicated matter, and I am working even now to handle it. But that is enough about my sect, Inquisitor. What can I do for you?"

Yoonji forced herself to regain her composure. "I merely wished you to know that your trial will begin tomorrow at 8 in the morning in front of the entire panel of inquisitors present in the city."

Noren raised his hand to his mouth and covered a wide yawn. He shrugged his shoulders. "8 a.m.? That's so early. Could we not start at a more civilized hour? Perhaps noon? Give us time for proper brunch and tea ahead of time?"

"You act as though this is all some great farce," she snapped. "I assure you, it is not. You are on trial for your life, and the life of every member of your sect."

"Now that's an exaggeration," Noren said. "It has long been the Emperor's will that junior members of a sect, certainly anyone who has not reached the Peak of Mental Refinement, are exempt from extermination orders unless it is proved that they deliberately violated some law."

Yoonji ground her teeth. She was going to enjoy seeing Noren taken down a notch. "You realize, don't you," she said, "that you have admitted to an inquisitor, whose word is evidence enough for even the Emperor, that you have a disciple who has committed Grand Treason, and that you have aided and abetted said disciple in his escape from the Emperor's justice."

"What does that have to do with the time of my trial?" Noren complained.

Yoonji decided not to answer. "I have delivered your copy of all the summonses, papers, charges, complaints, procedures. You will be escorted to the courtroom tomorrow morning."

She made a resolution to order him brought in several hours ahead of time. Let him sit and stew and think about the potential.

"Very well," Noren said with a sigh. "I shall be sure to tell the Emperor, when he asks, what good care you have taken of me during the course of our relationship. It has been truly an honor to travel with you, Inquisitor. I shall request you in any future inquisitions I might happen to be part of."

She was done with this mocking. Done with this fool. Yoonji would not be the one to pronounce justice, but she was going to enjoy making sure it happened. "And I," she hissed, "will request from the Emperor permission to personally execute his sentence."

Noren's eyes went wide, his mouth opened, and then he smiled.

"Do you know, Inquisitor Pak, I think I shall hold you to that. Yes." He gave a firm nod. "Yes, I think that will suit me very well indeed."

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