Addressed to Fairy Yun Linnuan,

Of the Gilded Aurochs Restaurant.

Written by Heavenly-Wisdom's Shae

at The Honourable Dragon's Entreaty Sect.

Written during mid-fall, two weeks past the equinox,

to be delivered by Runner Lari.

Prepaid, but feel free to give her a tip if she arrives promptly.

Dearest Linnuan,

I'm so glad I could send a letter so soon. I've made it to the sect and got in easily!

You probably heard about the trouble outside Gatewash, rest assured I am unharmed. I believe the majority of the caravan made it inside safely. We only lost oxen, as far as I've been told.

I hope you've been keeping tabs on Inspector Tan and Second Captain Lou, I can't wait for some juicy gossip. Oh, and how's the legal case going? Let me know if I need to make a trip back. It might actually be possible before the school year starts. Hmm, although that might mostly depend on when this letter gets to you.

Speaking of information getting to people...I found a book on that subject which you refused to discuss.

I don't entirely know what to say.

I'm a little unhappy you weren't willing to have that conversation with me. I mean, yes, obviously I threw a fit about it. It's absurd. Regardless of custom, it would have been easier to process with someone I trust around me. Not that I'll hold it against you, you've already helped me so much.

Anyway, a few groups in the sect want me to join them. Possibly because I made a little scene here or there. Medical and r&d simply because we had light contact, I don't think either are particularly serious about it. The head librarian was incensed when they found out I've done similar work before. Unfortunately, I've no interest in it anymore. I already had a lifetime of that, and anything that isn't helping kids find pictures of their favorite animals is a strict downgrade.

That leaves at least one martial elder trying to drag me into scraps and brawls. I can't even call them fights or spars. These are children they expect me to fight and it just feels wrong. I've nothing against the basic form training. I'm sure most of the older and more skilled opponents are even good teachers in the dueling hex. Yet, they tell us we will be dueling our classmates every quarter? It seems so needlessly violent and punishing.

Speaking of classes. I'm expecting to be able to challenge several, though I've been told they will be replaced with advanced classes. I suppose that's slightly better than being bored all day. I got into the library early, and found the class list. Pretty sure I can knock out half of these, no problem. Though, I'm slightly curious if I'll miss anything doing that. Do the teachers stray from the course material often?

I'll try to get another letter out to you before classes start, since you're so close and all. Though, you're not really close enough for quick advice. You were here as part of the sect recently, right? Any recommendations for mentors? The elders I've met seem... fine. Elder Haifen is nice, she's overseeing the year's classes though, so she's a bit busy. And even then, I think I'd like someone that isn't tasked with teaching a specific subject, if that makes sense? Maybe someone that isn't an elder? I do have a few friends already, yet most are my age. It's hard to expect great advice from someone with less life experience.

Hah. I'm sure I'll get through it. Waiting for classes to start is making me so anxious!

Live well,

Shae.

Shae arrived at the training arena just after a light lunch. As much as she knew she'd be hungry later, she didn't want to feel bloated while exercising. However, she had pocketed a piece of fruit and stashed it in her robes for later.

The arena was rather full today. Three groups of older students practiced qigong in tight formation. The group on the central dueling rings was doing the full movement as well, resulting in something that looked like synchronized dance. That group seemed to be older cultivators and didn't appear to be led by an elder.

A stocky man led the closest group to her. His pristinely detailed sect robes barely concealed his heavily muscled form. Shae locked her eyes on the embroidery as she walked past. Both sides held a similar dragon design to Elder Ghon's robes, large twin dragons running up either arm then onto his back. Yet, this Elder's dragons were constructed from smaller shapes instead of just simple blackwork embroidery.

Shae didn't catch a clear view of the blue side, though it looked like text. While the red side seemed to be constructed from weapons. The optical illusion was rather effective as Shae hadn't noticed they weren't dragons until she was quite close.

She got a faint sense of his qi as she passed. It pricked against her forehead and made her flinch. Though she recovered quickly, proving that her sensitivity was decreasing. Metal and earth qi dominated the feeling and washed out any traces of other qi from the gathered students. Shae was reasonably sure he was using it to lead the practicing group, maybe to direct corrections to them; he didn't speak much.

Now that her attention was focused on her qi sense, she noticed a rainbow-like wash of all the elements from the central group. She was already planning on giving them a wide berth, yet now went even further out of her way to circle around them. No part of the roiling wash was so potent that it overwhelmed her, yet together they were a noisy static that she found unpleasant. It thoroughly ruined her enjoyment of watching their qigong practice.

The third group was split across multiple sets. Each was about a dozen students led by an older student. Taoying wandered between the seven sets, pointing out corrections or reinforcing corrections the leader had already made. They were doing stationary qigong, same as the other group, and Shae thought they were all quite good at it. Especially compared to the caravan's batch of fresh recruits, though that's a particularly low bar, I suppose.

Shae placed herself along the path of Elder Taoying as she was walking between groups. Shae bowed when she was spotted. "Good afternoon, Elder Taoying."

The elder nodded. "Little Shae. You just missed Little Nalin, and I see you came alone." She gestured with one hand as she passed.

Shae nodded and stepped beside her to follow.

The elder waited until they had taken a few steps. "So the recruit that stuck their nose into the Gatewash battle...?"

"Was me."

She nodded immediately. "Well. I'm glad you didn't try to weasel out of it again."

Shae frowned and pressed her lips closed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Say it. Bottling complaints creates inner demons, especially at your stage."

Her mouth popped open, yet she hesitated still. "I ... disagree with the specific framing. However, yes, I avoided announcing it when we met earlier. You already knew?"

"I double checked the sect's record this morning. What reason did you have for misleading an elder?"

"I... I didn't lie about it."

"And yet. You still feel guilty about it."

Shae swallowed her initial reaction and considered herself. "I don't believe that I do feel guilty about it. It's not really enough for me to even consider. Do you feel particularly deceived, Elder?"

"Inevitably, new students will always make that kind of mistake. Nervousness and fear of repercussion forces it to happen eventually. I don't take it personally." She stopped at the next group of recruits, then made a show of walking around them. Shae waited patiently near the lead student.

The young man made a distinct point of looking Shae over without breaking from leading the exercise. Not leering, simply judging.

Shae glanced at him by reflex, then looked away and forgot him immediately. She watched the group as a whole instead, mentally identifying their movements and working out where in the normal cycle of forms they currently were. She was fairly certain they were near the end. None of this dozen showed signs of fatigue, yet in the next group over, just one or two of that dozen were lagging behind.

Elder Taoying nodded to the lead student as they left, then waited for Shae to match stride. "So, the question is, why did one so mature as yourself feel the need to dodge responsibility?"

Shae sighed loudly. "Look like a kid, get treated like a kid, act like a kid. Why are you intending to punish me for something that happened before I joined the sect?" Her steps hitched as the Elder's qi pressure hit her.

"Mind your tone, little one." The pressure dropped just as quickly. "However heroic the intentions, you must understand how easily a powerful cultivator could annihilate someone weaker. Even accidentally. You were lucky that specific beast was focused on defense, had it attacked..." Taoying trailed off as they reached the last set of practicing students.

Shae kept her eyes open, expecting a sudden display from the elder to prove her point. None came.

Taoying did a lap of the students then approached Shae and the lead student. "Junior Hran, this is little Shae, please give her a quick qigong warmup, correcting major mistakes, she'll probably be worse than Nalin was this morning. I'll watch your set."

"Yes, Elder." The boy bowed then waved at Shae to follow, leading her equidistant from the current group. He pointed to a spot then asked, "Done qigong before?"

"Just a little, Senior." She nodded and got into position, matching the arrangement of the other groups.

"Go from memory at the start of the next count." He pointed back towards the others, they were just finishing a round. "Eyes forward."

"Yes, Senior." She called, matching the patter he had used for Taoying.

"Well, I've certainly seen worse." Hran stated after Shae completed her second round of qigong.

From the very first forms he had constantly tapped at her feet and arms to correct her form. When she lagged behind the others because she couldn't quite recall the next move, he directed her verbally. When she was really too slow, he flicked her limbs, forcing her to catch up. The small flicks stung only briefly, and Shae was quickly convinced he was using qi.

She wanted to be upset at the unnecessary use of violence and power. Yet it was significantly less punishing than striking her with a stick or something purely physical.

Stepping out of the starting stance, she took a breath. "What is that stinging effect? Lightning qi?"

"Hah, no. Just qi interference. A little bit of my qi getting under your skin."

"Ah, so it stings just because it's someone else's qi?"

"Correct. You have the basic rhythm of qigong. Probably enough to start learning the full circle of movement. Yet, your forms and timing are very rough. Not the worst, and that's even considering you're so new to it. How much have you been practicing?"

Shae grimaced and rubbed her neck. "Not as much as I should. Barely got any practice in while on the way here. Senior Shu told me to practice twice a day, but that was just a day ago and I haven't really put that into practice yet."

"Snrk," he snorted and shook his head. "So nice to be new. Twice a day is good, but you need someone to follow. Otherwise you'll never know what you're doing wrong." He threw an open palm towards the other groups. "Groups like these are led twice a day, just before breakfast and after lunch. Check the schedule for which elder is leading. You'll quickly learn who leads best for your own learning style." He pointed towards the grandstands, where doors led inside to locker rooms and other administrative facilities. "It's posted inside."

She nodded. "Nothing in the evening, Senior?"

"The elders like to get their work out of the way in the morning. Of course, you can practice on your own or hire a senior for private lessons. If you know Shu already, ask her about that."

"Of course." She nodded again.

He looked back at the set being led by Taoying. "Alright, you're joining my group for the alternating speed rounds. Just try to keep up and don't hurt yourself."

Hran and Taoying silently traded out while Shae joined the back row. Several of the others were talking deep breaths and looked at Shae with a mix of exhausted envy or pity.

As best Shae could guess this arrangement was intended to work the students until exhaustion. The speed rounds made her short of breath after just a few, and she was very thankful for the slower paced form-sets alternating with the fast. In the end, being fresh let her outpace her group, they fell to the ground with exhaustion or were pulled out by Hran. And all before anyone in the next group showed signs of even being tired. Once her group was down to three members they were directed to join that neighboring group.

"Can I use qi?" She asked Hran as they walked over.

He frowned. "What for? Reinforcement won't really help your endurance."

"Mostly for tar training. My right side is cleansed so this won't really strain it at all. Oh and just cycling will help my endurance, my qi is wired."

He frowned harder and looked up to find Taoying. She was at the far end so he shrugged. "Tar as much as you want. Only recover between sets, during the breather break. That's the usual rules, but I'll let Elder Taoying know what you're doing."

Shae nodded and started cycling her qi immediately. "Great, thanks."

Again, she joined the group at the back. Following along was much easier when she had a dozen people around her to mirror. She quickly cycled a little bit of her qi since it was currently between sets. That earned her one or two curious looks from the closest individuals.

"Is it that noticeable?" She asked.

The guy beside her shrugged and flicked his own nose. "Some of us are more sensitive." He leaned closer and sniffed. "That pure qi? Smells a little too sharp."

"Partly pure, yeah. It's a weird mix."

"Huh. That is weird to mix anything with pure." Another student said, a woman in front of them.

"Yeah. As a warning, once we get going I'll be trying tar practice, as well. Though with neutral qi. Let me know if I'm bothering you."

Most of the students around her shrugged and shook their heads, the two she had been talking to took an extra moment to consider, and look her over. "Should be fine, if it's neutral." The woman said and the man nodded.

"Great!" Shae smiled.

"Ready in three." Their group lead called.

Shae hopped up and swapped her personal qi out for neutral. She didn't start the tar practice right away, waiting to get back into the rhythm of doing the qigong movements while keeping the neutral qi under control.

Starting weakly, she added in tar practice to one muscle group at a time. Tweaking the specific amount so she could just barely feel the strain, then backed it off a little. Her practice with Apollo had shown her how quickly she could tire her muscles out if she really pushed the practice. Even before that point, the extended qi strain would punish her qi channels more than the cleansed muscles.

She made it a point to carefully stop the tar practice so she stayed in control of her muscles. She didn't want to accidentally fling herself across the ground, like the other day with Shu. Thankfully, their team lead called out when they were on their last set so she had plenty of time to do so.

The woman in front of her turned around during their break. "Wow, your cleansing really is messed up. All that is from cleansing too?" She pointed at Shae's face and left arm.

Shae let herself grimace in response. "Yeah. It's been a real rough start." She flexed her right arm and slapped the bicep. "This cleansing is real good, though. So it wasn't a complete waste."

"Heh, must be if you can tar without breaking a sweat. I'm Fion." The woman extended a hand.

Shae grabbed it and shook. "Nice to meet you, Senior. I'm Wise Shae. I suspect I'll be around until classes start, though I might do the morning session instead."

"And a title! Hah, don't see that one too often. What's that for? Spending too much time with monks?"

"Heh heh," Shae giggled. "Kind of, yeah."

"Catch your breath, 'bout to start again," the man beside her said.

The women both nodded back and focused on recovery.

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