By the time Chang-li joined Joshi and Min, his mind was awhirl with everything. Their sect records were lacking. This was not going to be easy. He pushed it aside as the three approached Noren’s cottage.

  Grandmaster Noren occupied a small cottage on the northern edge of the Morning Mist's temporary headquarters, as appropriate to his rank. Chang-li noted Joshi and Min’s grim and tired expressions, and was certain his own face looked similar.

  The interlude here in the capital was supposed to have been a chance for their sect to relax and consolidate their recent improvements. Instead, this was threatening to become the biggest challenge he had yet faced.

  The door opened and Noren himself greeted them. Chang-li took a moment to assess the Grandmaster. He looked as though he had had a good night's sleep and a pleasant day so far. His hair was neatly pulled back from his head, his goatee freshly waxed, his robes crisply pressed, hanging over a set of comfortable loose cotton garments.

  "Come in, come in," he invited, and stepped aside as the three entered his rooms.

  The cottage was a small, one-story affair. Bead curtains blocked off doors to the rear of the cottage, leaving a wide mat-floor room. The shutters stood open, letting in fresh air from outside.

  The walls were decorated with art in a style Chang-li had never seen before, the colors more vibrant than he was used to, the brush strokes seemingly applied by a technique he didn't know. He approached one of them, which seemed to show a man in combat with a tower beast. The styling was different too, somehow more lifelike, less artistic.

  Noren followed his gaze. "Are you a connoisseur of art?" he asked.

  Chang-li found himself warming in the cheeks. He cleared his throat. "Uh, we had a class or two in my scribe's training. It's important to be able to recognize the old masters and copy them. But this isn't anything like that." The other pictures in the room were similarly strange.

  "Just a few things I collected during my wanderings," Noren said, waving a hand dismissively. "I have always enjoyed the artwork of the world beyond our borders."

  Min's eyes brightened. "These are from the other countries? I suppose I've always heard how different they are from us. It shouldn't surprise me that their art is different as well."

  "You'll have a chance to see for yourself soon enough," Noren said. "Please, sit." He gestured. A low table already held the requisite teapot, but Noren went to a cabinet under one of the paintings and took out a bottle and small cups for all four of them. Without asking, he poured a dash in each cup and then presented it to the others.

  Chang-li raised it. The aroma of plums wafted off the pale pink liquid. He sipped, following Noren's example. The liquor went down smoothly. His eyes widened as he felt it touching his core and began at once to cycle. Joshi and Min followed suit. Noren smiled.

  "Good to see you are quick off the mark. This is a Heavenly Plum Elixir. Most effective for enhancing cultivation when the lux levels are low. Since none of you have been in a tower recently, it should give you a chance to cleanse your lux channels."

  Chang-li allowed the warmth to cycle around his body.

  "Go ahead and tell me about your days," Noren said. "I can tell you've all been busy today."

  Joshi spoke first. He clearly wasn't amused by the schedule of wedding events on his plate for the next month, but Min giggled as he recited a list.

  "Once they've sent over the details, I'll make a copy for my own records," she said. "I suppose it is only to be expected that marrying an Indigo Princess would be complicated."

  She then launched into her own tale, concluding with, "I know that it's inevitable that our disciples will be required to make marriages, but I'd like to give them some advice so they don't end up wed to the first noble they come across at one of these parties."

  Chang-li raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it would be terrible if they were, uh, coerced into a marriage based on a single evening's indiscretion," he said. Min blushed, glancing away from him. He reached out, took her hand, and squeezed it. "I agree with you," he said quietly. "Our disciples need to know what they are getting into."

  "Most definitely," Noren said cheerfully. "And none of them should rush into an alliance."

  "But if we can't embark on another tower cull until at least the Spiritual Refinement cultivators are married, " Chang-li began.

  Noren held up a finger. "Ah, but you've forgotten something important."

  They waited for him to continue. He was clearly enjoying the attention, dragging the moment out for longer than it needed to be before saying, "The Four Continents Manifestation of Power."

  Chang-li sat back on his heels, taking a deep breath. He had heard mention of the competition when Min detailed her meeting with the Charter Sects a few days ago. "You mean for us to compete?"

  “No, I mean for you to win,” Noren said. "I've been considering when would be the best time to take you three beyond the borders of our Empire, and this will be the perfect opportunity. The prizes offered at the Four Continents Manifestation of Power cannot be passed up. Not to mention the sheer opportunity of training and testing yourself against cultivators from other countries. I'm sure you can see the opportunities that offers."

  Noren smiled at each of them. "To that end, we will be spending the next month or so working on getting all of our sect licenses up to date so that there is no issue with taking any of our disciples beyond the borders of the country. Chang-li, why don't you tell me how that effort is going?"

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  Chang-li set down his teacup and cleared his throat. "There's a lot to do," he said frankly. "I met with a retired auditor this afternoon, and hope he can help us get things together. I don't think I had any idea just how big a job it was going to be."

  “Well," Noren said, brushing non-existent crumbs off of his robes. "Keep me posted with how that's going. Is there anything else that we should know about?"

  The three shared looks at each other. Min's eyes were worried. Chang-li knew that despite his earlier reassurances, the visit of the Dowagers had left her uncomfortable. Him too. But he wasn't going to entertain the idea that the Gem Court could interfere with their marriage. "There is one thing," he said, and related his brief interview with the Emperor.

  Noren's eyes widened. He chuckled.

  "Yes, I had heard that the Emperor is interviewing anyone who might be considered a candidate for prism."

  "For prism?" Min asked, sounding astonished. "Chang-li?"

  "I appreciate your faith in me," Chang-li said stiffly.

  "That's not how I meant it," Min said. "I just mean…” She shook her head, clearly trying to get her thoughts in order. "Well, like you said, you don't know how to crack Lumos, so why would he think you do?”

  "The Emperor sees much, but not everything," Noren said. "This should be a comfort to us. Chang-li has the capability of cracking Lumos, but not yet the knowledge. I am glad to hear that will be resolved."

  "What about you?" Chang-li asked. "You said you were going to have to present yourself as a prism candidate."

  Noren ran his thumb along the fingernails of his right hand.

  "Oh, I have yet to speak to His Divinity. I assure you I will acquit myself well when I do."

  The three exchanged glances before Min finally asked, "And if you are selected as a prism?"

  Noren gave her a flashing grin. "Then our sect will have a glorious future ahead of it, won't it?" He stood up. "Min, I am likely to have more messages to send to the Council of Thirteen in the next few days, so be ready for them."

  "Shouldn't you take them yourself?" Min asked.

  Noren shook his head. "Not with the way Charter Sect politics work. For now, assure yourself, they will be looking deeply into our sect and try to write everything they can about it. The less they know about me, the better. I have used my original name in correspondence with them, but they will not yet be certain if I am who I claim to be. I would like to leave them in confusion for as long as I possibly can."

  That made sense to Chang-li. There was no point in giving your opponents more knowledge than you had to. "Why are they called Charter Sects?" he asked.

  "Hmm? Oh, because the Thirteen Sects supported the Emperor on his ascension to power, and were granted certain rights in the Grand Charter. Rights and responsibilities. That's well over a thousand years ago now."

  "Is there a copy of that Charter somewhere to read?" Chang-li asked. He itched to get his hand on a text with such antiquity.

  "No doubt, in the archives of the various sects. Going and asking the Imperial record-keepers to allow you to look at documents from the founding of the Imperium is likely to get you more attention than you want. Don’t try it. You’ll all keep me updated on your schedules," Noren said. "But here’s something to add to yours. I have secured for us a handful of training slots at the Capital Tower so that we can allow our junior disciples to continue their cultivation climb, even as we remain here. The first of them is the day after tomorrow. We will need to leave the sect before dawn in order to reach the tower."

  In addition to the Emperor's own cultivation tower, which was located inside the Imperial Gardens and reserved for the use of himself and his immediate descendants, there was a tower about eight miles from the capital, which was kept well below the point where there could be a tower breach.

  That tower was where all of the cultivators with business in the capital city would go to refresh their lux and conduct training.

  "So we're permitted to go there before resolving the matters of our licenses and disciple marriages?" Chang-li asked.

  He was sure that Noren had already handled such details if he had scheduled the sect a visit, but it didn't hurt to make sure.

  "In fact, we qualify under a section of regulations for sects who are trying to get their disciples' testing in order," Noren said. "It all works together beautifully." He rubbed his hands together. "I'm afraid visits to floors high enough to provide the lux density you three would need in order to continue progression are slightly more complicated. I'm working on the matter, but it will not be immediate. I will, however, require all of you and the other senior disciples to assist with the juniors. Chang-li, that should give you enough time to work up a schedule of who needs what sort of assessments."

  Chang-li took a breath. The weight on his shoulders seemed to only ever increase. "Thank you," he mumbled. "But there's one more thing." He thought back to his meeting with the auditor and to what Min had related about the Charter Sects. "One of the requirements we'll have to meet is to have senior disciples demonstrating the sect path."

  "Yes," Noren said. "I have received notice from the Charter Sects that they will be setting up an official examination for us in the near future."

  "But what is the Path of Morning Mist?" Chang-li asked. "We've been following the sect's technique manuals and the cycling techniques we've learned, but if we have a path, I've never read anything out about it."

  "Ah, yes," Noren said. "Clearly a failure on the part of your master to provide you with the training materials you need. An oversight. Hmm. How shall I remedy this?"

  He turned to Min. "Would you kindly open the chest just to your right and remove what you find on the top?"

  Min turned to the small square documents chest and opened it. At the very top were a thin trio of books, each bound in grey leather. The top one had the seal of Morning Mist on its cover, and as Min fanned out the three, he saw the others did as well.

  "The Path of Morning Mist," Noren said triumphantly. "Chang-li, I will have to rely on you to produce additional copies for our junior disciples, but the three of you will be able to start at once."

  Min stared down at her book as though in disbelief. Joshi frowned. Not touching it, Chang-li opened his own copy and began looking through. He recognized the handwriting as Noren's scratchy script and had to puzzle out one or two of the letters. He would need to copy this in a fair hand before giving it to the lesser disciples.

  The Path of Morning Mist. It was only a handful of pages, one or two, with impenetrable diagrams scattered throughout.

  He scanned through the first page and was disappointed to find nothing like a technique. In fact, the entire first page was a description of watching the sunrise from the mountains beyond the Morning Mist Sect headquarters and the way the sun glinted off the water once the fog had blown away.

  "Is this the path handed down from the original sect?" he asked.

  Noren tilted his head to one side. "What are you asking? Whether I merely wrote down my own best thoughts of how to pursue the path and provided them to my most dedicated disciples, trusting that they would find a way to interpret this path?"

  Chang-li opened his mouth, then shut it, not sure if Noren was mocking him or not.

  Noren rose. "Well, it is time for my afternoon meditation, so I will let the three of you get back to what sounds like a very heavy workload."

  He covered a yawn with one hand, and Chang-li stifled a suspicion about just what sort of meditation it was to be. His core still humming with the elixir Noren had given him, he bowed and followed Min and Joshi out of the cottage.