Heavenly Shae

Shae and Shu were practically thrown out of the Mission Hall a short time later. Shae had been forced to choose between two other very similar jade tokens. One with three sides, the other with five. She chose the three sided version as she felt it fit her better. She was also careful to use less qi when charging it.

To speed up their departure, Attendant Phal convinced Shu to explain the details of how to use the spiritual tool, which she did on their way to the martial training facilities. The facilities building was mostly an open space that doubled as a dueling stage when that was needed. It was generally referred to as 'the training arena' when not used for dueling.

Shu explained that the first use of the token was as identification: she could have it show her name and titles in glowing light beside the name of the sect, which was the only text carved into the jade. The qi signature powering the token would match her own, and therefore prove it was hers. Secondly, Elders and official sect attendants could scan the token to see some information about her. Some could even directly assign sect comp or other bonuses like mission credit. Shu made sure to make it clear that she wasn't to hand the token over to anyone else.

Shae had seen the arena during her approach as a red oval, but was still surprised at the size when they arrived. She was expecting something like a school gymnasium, including viewing stands, but the size was much closer to a professional sports arena.

She first compared it to a football stadium, but the interior shape was different and she quickly revised that comparison to a baseball stadium. With the exception that there was a raised box-seat style viewing area in the centre outfield, and that side had been squished inwards, resulting in the more oval shape. Markings scattered the ground, indicating where individual dueling areas would be when in full use. Three large twelve sided platforms sat in place of the baseball diamond, and several smaller, six-sized platforms occupied the outfields.

Shu noticed Shae scanning the area and pointed up at the raised viewing area. "That's reserved seating for visiting guests and sect higher ups. Technically there's enough room for all the elders, but some prefer to watch from the stands, even while people are just training." She hitched a thumb back towards the surrounding stands, a lone elder sat a third of the way up the grandstands.

Shae startled, thinking it was Master Long, but this old man held a large fan they used to slowly cool themselves. His long white beard set him apart from the Elder she knew. "Ah. Do you know that elder?"

"That's Elder Riko. Recently out of closed cultivation. His disciples took over martial training while he was away." Shu pointed with her head, then reconsidered and turned to perform a proper martial salute to the Elder.

Shae followed it with a robotic bow, then corrected her action into a salute. She made a point of turning back to Shu before asking, "Is he taking over training again, then?"

Shu shrugged. "Not sure. Depends how good of a job they did I'd guess. Although..." She tilted her head back and looked up, "I can't imagine he wants the responsibility back, it's a lot of work." Then she whispered, "Especially if you believe his disciples' complaints."

Shae stifled a snicker. "Heh. Are they around?" She scanned the training field.

The dueling platforms were level with the ground, so the entire area could be used freely. They were simply not distinct because they looked to be made of polished marble. Especially the main stage, it shone like white jade.

Shae frowned at the hard surface. "Those can't be great to fall on."

"Hmm?" Shu looked back quizzically. "Oh, yea, they're certainly not padded training mats, heh heh, but don't worry, cultivator bodies are made of tougher stuff, eventually."

"Ah, right."

"I don't see the other elders, but there's Cousin Nalin." Shu pointed.

Shae smirked at seeing the other woman and started walking in her direction. She looked to be training with a familiar face. "And Junior Kensu. We could bring him along too, at least for the tour."

"Hey, I thought I said just for you two, or I'll have to charge him." Shu quickly matched step with the shorter woman.

Shae shrugged. "Try and sell him on it then, you're the merchant. Admit it though, you are doing the tour anyway. He could just follow along."

"Tsk." Shu shook her head.

Shae tilted her head as she watched the training. They looked to simply be working through forms in slow motion. Yet their actions seemed to be linked, like they were responding to each other.

Shu looked at the younger woman's confused face and smirked. "Wondering what they're doing?"

"Uh... yea, are they... fighting each other?"

"Pretty much. It's a training exercise, -eugh, obviously." She coughed. "Usually it's done with weighted weapons to make it harder to move quickly, but it's hard to move that slow consistently anyway. It mostly trains students to think about what form to use to counter their opponent. Advanced martial artists can do it simply as a mental game, listing moves at one another." She paused as they saw Kensu announce a move and change his body position. "For beginners, it assumes you don't make any mistakes and your form does what it's supposed to do. So the exact moves don't need to be perfect until later on when you should be able, or when your teacher is trying to iron out a mistake."

They stopped near the dueling pair and Shae quickly became anxious. She looked around and whispered, "I feel like I should be doing something."

Shu matched her lower volume. "Heh. That's good. Some people say there's a little something in the air here that keeps students active and training harder."

"Is there?" Shae sniffed loudly.

Shu smirked. "Could just be some incense to cover up all the sweat and body smells."

"A-hah. That's probably preferred, then."

"Heh heh. Yep." Shu nodded then looked at the dueling pair. "Wanna try it?"

Shae shifted her weight. "I don't really have a fighting style, and I especially don't know the names of the forms."

"Hmm, sure you do. You have qigong and your village's style. Even if you don't know the specific names."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Shae frowned. "That's not- I mean, my village's Tao Yan? I didn't think it was a fighting style, just exercise."

Shu chuckled. "It's not obviously a fighting style, and definitely not a full martial art. And it'd likely be a pretty weak style, anyway. Even qigong is missing a lot, but many cultivators use its movements to stitch other forms together. It's more for- ah, well, I guess I'm not supposed to explain it so bluntly."

Shae blew strands of hair out of her face. "Ugh, that mentality again. Just tell me, I don't mind, you've said enough already."

"Snrk," she snorted. "Well, if I've said enough, then I don't need to say the rest."

Shae shook her head then exaggerated rolling her eyes. "Whatever. Do you use the tar qi practice for this?"

Shu nodded. "Some people do. Same as the weighted weapons. It's useful to keep yourself moving slowly, some people see it as a crutch for that, but it's also good to double up your training since those practices can be boring alone."

Shae nodded, then bounced on her toes. "Well we could try this, but I'd be just as happy doing qigong with tar, it's been a few days."

"A few days!" Shu fake yelled, keeping her voice down. "Okay yeah, qigong it is."

She directed the younger woman to an open area and checked the space around them with a glance. "Since we have the room, we'll do it properly. I saw you doing the lunges with Apollo, did she cover the rest?"

Shae wobbled a hand. "She started with the whole thing, and uh, not sure how much I remember. The lunges were just to wear me out, which took a while."

Shu raised an eyebrow. "You have more endurance than it looks like under here?" She grabbed Shae's arm and pinched the skin back, showing how little fat and muscle were underneath.

"Hey, I was a poor peasant, then a poor loner for a while."

"That's fine, it's better to work up from that than chubby." She let go and rubbed the skin she had pinched. "You seem tough enough already, and there is some muscle under here."

Shae twisted her mouth and retrieved her right arm. "That's my good side. It's stronger than it seems."

"Heh, then maybe we'll have to weigh you down to get you to break a sweat." Shu smirked.

"We have to go to the market, I don't want to be sweaty."

Shu nodded towards her. "Fair point. A couple rounds of basic slow qigong as a reminder. Then we'll throw some tar in if those two aren't done."

Shae bounced and swung her arms then dropped into the starting stance. Shu was immediately correcting her form, and lecturing about how she should warm up properly.

The only major hiccup was during Shae's second lunge. Her muscle memory kicked in and she threw herself further than expected. She failed the landing and faceplanted into the dirt. Without missing a beat she was up quickly and brushed herself off while looking around to check if anyone saw. No one was pointing and laughing, so she counted herself lucky.

Shu just raised her eyebrows and pointed to the spot she leapt from. A considerable distance away from where she landed.

"It's- it's just muscle memory from Apollo's wicked endurance training." Shae felt herself blushing.

Shu raised both her palms and kept her mouth flat. "Quite a long jump, though."

"That's my strong side." Shae stammered. "And- and I had that tar practice going last time." She flexed her leg slowly, feeling the motion. She briefly considered activating tar again, then realised it would be counterproductive at this point. "I'll have to get used to it without."

"Like I said, you should have warmed up properly. Get into the habit of daily slow practice. With and without strengthening and tar," Shu suggested.

Shae nodded. "Guess I'll be here more often than I expected."

Shu shrugged. "You can do qigong wherever. Unless you want tips on doing it correctly. Though, I think there's a first year class for that."

"You think?"

"It's kind of a blur."

"Oh, come on. You're not that old to have forgotten, are you?." Shae creased her forehead.

Shu shrugged. "No, but I was doing a lot of training that year. It kind of bleeds together. Can't recall if it was a separate class or just the standard exercise class."

"Hmph," Shae grunted and got back into her previous stance.

"Cousin Shu!" Nalin called as she approached. Kensu trailed behind with a hint of exhaustion on his face.

"Little Nalin." The older woman turned and smiled.

"Aw, don't call me that here too." Nalin pouted.

Shu shrugged. "It's technically correct. You are more than one grade my junior."

The pouting didn't stop, but she did glance at Shae then back. "What did you need, Seniors?"

Shae smiled wide. "I've convinced Senior Shu to give me a tour of the sect, and I thought you'd like to come along. Starting with the marketplace."

Nalin raised an eyebrow to her cousin. "Really? That seems generous. Though, I couldn't buy you anything at the market, Senior."

Shae's eyes went wide and she looked at the older Shu.

The woman waved a hand. "It's not like that. I was going anyway and asked Shae to tag along. Then she twisted it into a whole affair, and dragged you into it." She said while pointing at Shae then Nalin. "Though, it's not particularly fun going without any spending money."

Kensu decided to inject himself into the conversation at that point. "And how much would you recommend we have? This one has a little in the way of coin, and understands sect coins are a set beyond crowns."

Shu eyed him. "I usually spend a handful of sect comp, yeah."

"Well that's very courteous of Wise Shae to contract your services for us." He nodded a slight bow to them both.

"Who's this us, hotshot?" Shae crossed her arms at him.

He held his surprise, for the most part. His eyes darted between the three women. "Uh, this one apologizes for the assumption."

"Good. You're forgiven." Shae nodded. "Senior Shu here said if the group got too big she'd have to start charging proper tour rates."

The older woman smirked, covering it with her sleeve so only Shae saw.

Kensu bowed slightly. "That makes sense. How are her rates for qigong training?"

Shae's eyes popped again, and glanced to Shu.

"Snrk," she snorted from behind the sleeve. "Heh, I'm not going to charge you for that, Little Shae. We were just burning wick and I'm not sure you actually learned much. It wouldn't be right to assume a teacher's responsibility for such a short lesson."

Kensu's eyes widened and he leaned forward. "And you would be willing to assume that responsibility for a sect tour?"

Shu narrowed her eyes at him. "For the right price, which I don't think you can afford." She looked at her cousin with a more relaxed expression. "Skipping the market then? Will you be here in a few hours?"

"Here or at the apartments, or the cafeteria, if it's that late." Nalin shrugged.

Shu threw a hard gaze back at the monk boy. "You can tag along if you're still with Nalin when we return. No nosy questions, though. Just tag along."

He smiled and bowed. "Very generous, Senior."

"Tsk. Let's go, Shae." She turned and walked off.

Shae shrugged at them and waved. "See you later!"