Heavenly Shae

Two and a half hours later, Shae burst into the doors of the administration building. Under a sign reading Administration Middle Entrance. Though Shae smiled as middle had been written with an odd choice of characters, some would read it as Medium.

She didn't have her Spirit Wire box in hand to check to see if it was open now. Thus she had no clue if she had missed the imaginary cutoff, or had made it by mere breaths. She had already decided it didn't matter. She was just happy to have found the path up the cliff face.

She adjusted her pack and caught her breath. Several faintly glowing pieces of paper hung from her bow and bow-blank strapped to her pack. She had needed them for climbing the cliffside in the dark.

The climb itself had been much simpler than she expected. There was a cultivator made climbing wall. Since it has been made for varying skill levels, it was a breeze to climb up the first stage wall.

That only took her a third of the way up the cliff face. Yet, as she had expected, a staircase was cut into the cliff which allowed her to climb the remainder. It had taken longer to climb than it should have because of several off shoots along the path. One in particular that she was now quite grumpy about, it alone had wasted a solid half hour.

She shook away the annoyance and scanned the room. It bore some similarities to a hotel lobby: nicely furnished with comfy looking chairs set around small coffee tables. A counter along the left side had tea and some kind of snacks for the taking. She bee-lined directly for those while scanning the people already there.

She recognized several of the recruits from the caravan. They had taken to meditating or falling asleep in the provided furniture. She noted that most of them appeared to be from merchant families, and only a couple were peasants. None of the noble looking recruits, like Zhango, were present.

Only one person sat at the two reception desks at the back of the room. The bored looking attendant glared at Shae with a raised eyebrow. Behind the two desks, a third was tucked behind a short wall. The other half of that rearmost space was filled by a room with darkened windows. Shae wondered to herself, maybe an office? A hallway led further in and cut behind the office.

She ignored the waiting receptionist in favor of stuffing a plain looking cookie into her mouth. It melted away and fueled her hunger before she registered the taste. She smelt the teas, selecting one that seemed like it had been brewed recently based on the lighter color, and poured herself a cup. Then grabbed two more of the cookies and set them on a saucer with her teacup.

The man continued to glare as she approached.

"Name and reason you helped yourself to the tea already?"

"Wise Zhi Shae, just finished the new recruit test, and I haven't eaten since noon."

"You're rather late, most of your cohort arrived before sunset. Do you have any proof of your claims?"

"Then why are they still waiting?" She jabbed a thumb behind her. "No proof of when I last ate, sorry. You'll have to take my word for it." Then she shucked off her pack and began searching it, then switched to checking her robes.

"Proof that you were invited to take the test, which is what I clearly meant."

"Mhmm." She finally found the invitation letter from Long and handed it over. "And I expect there was an introduction letter from Elder Ghon delivered recently... as well." She trailed off while trying to get a read of his cultivation stage. She felt very little qi in the area. His dark hair was pulled back into a tight folded bun, a more formal style that she didn't see often among mortals.

He read the letter quickly and Shae thought she saw the hint of dark bags under his eyes, either hidden by makeup or they were very thin to begin with.

Hmm, I suppose he is in a public facing position, makeup is a good idea.

He sighed at what he read. "Just a set of breaths. I'll get your induction form... and check for that letter, if it exists."

She frowned at his back then reached for a cookie, yet found both missing, only a few crumbs revealed they had ever been there. "Hey!" She whisper-shouted at the man's back. He didn't respond as he disappeared down the hallway.

She huffed and sipped the tea, it was slightly over-steeped, yet was still rather tasty. She couldn't quite place most of the flavors and continued to try until the receptionist returned, then regretted not going back for more cookies.

He sat and filled in blanks on a pre-written form, then handed it to her. "Please review and sign this and we'll get you settled into a room immediately."

She had planned to use a skeptical eye, but she really didn't need to search for the fine print. The form was both a confirmation of her completion time for the entrance trial and a confirmation that she would accept the sect's conditions for entry. It listed the contract used as 'the standard for mortals entering at the qi gathering stage' and she frowned at it.

When she looked up, the receptionist had prepared a brush and ink pot, which he then pushed to her side of the desk. "I have a few requests, Senior...?"

"About the form? It's quite standard. Small tweaks can be made tomorrow, surely you'd like to get some sleep in a warm bed?"

"Tsk." She clicked her tongue at him. "Did you find that introduction letter?"

"I'm afraid nothing has arrived for a Wise Zhi Shae. You can put in a broader search tomorrow, it may even be processed naturally once you're set up in the system." He gave a meaningful look down at the form she still held.

"Why does this say qi gathering? I'm clearly in the cleansing stage and I climbed up here to the medium door." She thumbed towards the entrance again.

"Oh? Are you? Usually we hear about such things among the new recruits... And it still took you almost a full day to make the climb?" He briefly flashed a frown before returning to a relaxed smile.

"It did not. Master Long started my test an hour before sunset, at the boundary marker six sets of li to the west of the gates. Surely he alerted the administration to that?"

"Hmm, well I can't say he told me personally."

"And remind me who you are?"

"Ah! Of course. You must be tired from the trial. Memory can be quite fickle for mortals low on sleep. I am Cultivator Korin, Senior Administration Representative."

"Yes it's quite hard for me to recall names of people who haven't introduced themselves, Senior Korin."

"Ah, but surely you can read?" He tapped a nameplate on the desk that had been partially hidden from view. It said someone else's name on it. "Unless- Is that why you haven't signed? I can read it to you if you like?" He reached for the form.

She flicked it out of his fingers then turned the nameplate around for him. "This isn't your name, Senior. Perhaps you forgot to change it when your shift started? Hmm, maybe just recently? And maybe whoever this Cultivator Dorn is failed to brief you on Master Long's report?"

"Hah ha. Hmmm. Curious. Well, these things do happen. Cultivator Dorn had to step out recently, some business at the special entrance."

Shae scowled. "Is that entrance actually real? It looks like a bloody trap. Not at all helped by the literal trap of being unable to walk away easily."

"Uhhm... Easily? What do you mean?"

"I mean it was incredibly suspicious. I thought I was going to get disemboweled and shoved into an air vent if I went through that door. I've seen less suspicious dark alleys in city slums."

"And you're saying you were able to walk away?"

"Well, not easily, but yes."

"Oh. Uhm. That's- uh I believe I need to go fetch Cultivator Dorn." He got up quickly.

"You do that," she said to his retreating back.

She got a better look at the back of his robes this time. They had significantly less embroidery than what she had seen of the Elder's robes Ghon or Long had. They were a closer match to the understated robes the guards wore. Hmm, so probably not an elder at least.

She tried the tea again, then quickly dashed over to get more cookies and refill her cup.

When she returned, the form caught her eye again. Hmm, might as well start a list. She flipped it over and began writing out what she thought she would need to name an informed decision about her sect entry contract. She expected it to mostly be a type of loan, with varying degrees of allowance and interest depending on various factors.

The blank line on the form that was filled in with 'standard for mortals entering at the qi gathering stage' hinted at several things. She decided to just request access to several different 'standard agreements' that she expected they would have on hand.

After some thought, she added a list of first and second term classes to the information request.

A handful of cookies and some cheese from her own pack later, she was still waiting and the ink was dry, so she flipped the form and made corrections to the provided information. She added her second title and given name. Then made notes about her altered starting time and arrival through the more circuitous route to the medium entrance.

She paused near the signature line, she hadn't needed to sign her name in a long time. Only doing it in her village as writing and brush-work practice. The addition of her titles and her chosen moniker added another layer of complexity.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Digging out her notepad, she made a few experimental attempts. None of which she was happy about, it was simply too long. She also found that the ink didn't work well on the thin wood paper. It bled along the wood grain, looking like it was smeared sideways.

She huffed and considered, sipping her third cup of tea. This one was a fresh brew that one of the other waiting recruits had started. It was well made and she regretted not noticing who had made it. She turned to scan the room for who else had a fresh cup.

Footsteps brought her attention back to the desk.

A second man led Korin. He looked considerably more professional just from contrast. In the short window of comparison, Shae couldn't place what all set them apart. He was slightly taller, the bags under his eyes were either missing or better covered up, otherwise they were quite similar. Hmm, a qi thing maybe? She wondered with a shrug.

"Greetings, Wise Zhi, was it? I'm Cultivator Dorn, Senior Administration Representative. My junior here tells me you were the one who discovered the special entrance. May I ask why you didn't make use of it?"

Shae raised an eyebrow. "You may, Senior Dorn. As I told your junior, the... placement and presentation of the door led me to believe it was a type of trap." She paused briefly when his hand flashed across his desk.

In a blink he had a blank page and brush. His hand flicked over it as he transcribed her words as quickly as she spoke.

Korin crossed his arms and grumbled, "That's not what she said to me."

"A-hem. It's true that I used more flippant wording earlier. Perhaps it's less suspicious during the daytime? Dark hallways and suspicious looking doors don't make a good combination. The threat was only amplified when I tried to leave and was initially unable. I could see a case for locking the door after I passed through it, but I hadn't even touched the handle yet. Who in their right mind would want to step through after that?"

Dorn nodded a few times while writing, but near the end he actually flinched and splattered a drop of ink across the page. He clicked his tongue and finished transcribing, then set the brush aside and pulled a fresh brush from behind the desk. With a look of concentration and a small pulse of qi, he plucked the ink of the page with the new brush.

Shae had leaned in to watch. "Oh! Neat trick," she said abruptly, startling both men. "Special brush or qi technique?"

Dorn paused before answering. "High quality brush and qi technique. Anything else about the special entrance you would like to comment on?"

"Hmmm," she rubbed her neck, considering how much to share. Well, between Long, Apollo, and Ghon they already know I'm a lost soul. "Yes." She nodded and continued organising her thoughts.

Dorn switched back to his inking brush and dipped it in the ink pot.

"The... trick, with the text on the sign, it is over-wrought. It certainly made an impression on me, but that impression was that it is even more of a trap for lost souls." She heard one of the two inhale sharply at that. "Again, it was playing your hand too early. Anyone wanting to hide would turn away. It's not even subtle, I saw at least five languages and more underneath, I don't even know that many. I suppose there's some plausible deniability there, I could say I only read it as Imperial standard." She shrugged.

Korin coughed.

"Hmm, yes. I believe the Elder that constructed the signage had to use a formation to encapsulate all his intended meaning and intent. Strange, though, I believe most only see a single language. I'm sure he'll be very interested in this feedback."

Shae blinked as she thought that out, "Oh, Hmm. I suppose that might have been more subtle." She nodded and scratched her hair. "I think I can understand the idea. Show them the language they are hiding, which suggests the sect already knows they are hiding something. Hmmm, and I suppose if they said they can't read it, then that's an obvious lie as it wouldn't only show them something they can't read." She nodded. "Alright, I'm willing to accept my experience wasn't standard."

"Huh. Well thought out, Wise Zhi." Dorn nodded and made a few more notes on the last third of the page. He looked up and pointed just behind her. "I suppose those are how you passed through the darkness?"

She looked over her shoulder to find one of her glowing campfire symbols. It was getting dangerously bright, the wooden note-paper had started to brown outside the formation circle. She had altered the design slightly so that the circle would protect the inner symbol from burn damage. She wasn't entirely sure if this was safer, but it worked well while she was moving. "Ah. I should do something about those."

"Hmm, yes. I can't say I've seen that type of light talisman design, where did you get them?"

"Oh, they're not talismans. It's a fire starting formation I altered to produce light." She reached out and clasped her right hand around it, then shut her eyes and concentrated.

"Fire starter!?" She heard Korin loudly mumble in confusion.

She heard a scuffle of movement behind her as she attempted to draw the fire qi into herself and dumped it into her Dantian's formation. Once she had collected about half of it, she hesitated, considering tearing the page to break the formation. Instead she moved to the next hanging symbol she carried. She had made three in total, one behind her head which hung from the bow blank, then one off to each side that hung from her bow, which was strapped to her pack sideways.

After finishing the second, she glanced back at the two receptionists to find they had moved away, and fully cleared off Dorn's desk. Dorn was frowning at her corrections to the sect's entry form. Korin appeared to have a slightly worried expression locked on Shae, until she met his eyes, whence he glanced away and failed to act nonchalant.

She shook her head and drained the third symbol, then gathered the three together and waited for a breath. Moving the pages caused their light to dim as the qi was left behind. It followed surely after, being drawn back to the symbol's intent. She drained it away again because she felt it return to that maybe dangerous level.

A few breaths after draining them, she found that the symbols had stopped collecting qi from the area. Suggesting there was too little fire qi left in the immediate area. She opened her eyes again and tore the three symbols in half.

A small noise brought her attention back to the receptionists. She didn't catch what it was exactly, but could guess that one of them was worried what would happen after the symbols were broken. Dorn was sitting back, quite relaxed and with a small smile at the corner of his lips. While Korin stood and was clearly tense. It was easy to guess which reacted.

The senior receptionist nodded. "Well done, Wise Zhi. Or is it Heavenly Chen-Ai?" He lifted the form.

She nodded. "Any combination is acceptable, I think I still prefer Miss Shae, but those titles are growing on me."

"Well, Miss Shae," he paused as if feeling out the name, "I take it Junior Korin wrote it just how you introduced yourself, so your corrections are appreciated. These two titles are surprising but not unheard of. Three names is slightly unusual, is there more to say there?"

"Zhi Chen-Ai is my birth name, whereas Shae is a nickname that I've grown to quite like. So I've made it my chosen cultivator name."

"Interesting. Any specific reason we should include all three in your sect information? No offense intended, but leaving behind your mortal name is an arguably correct decision for a cultivator."

She frowned and tried not to be too offended by his words. The sentiment was one that Elder Ghon had taught her on the mountain. That cultivators should leave behind their earthly and mortal ties so they can ascend to the heavens. Still, it was rather difficult to fully discard her family ties so suddenly. And Shae is still connected to them anyway. She closed her eyes and exhaled to center herself.

"Let's keep them mostly for mail and other correspondence, then," she finally declared. "I met a few cultivators who wished to keep in touch, and I'm not sure how exactly they will choose to address their letters."

Dorn nodded. "Indeed, and that does remind me that we already have an introduction letter that might be addressed to you."

She glanced at cultivator Korin. "The introduction from Elder Ghon?"

"Perhaps." Dorn shrugged. "I only heard the rumors. It was whisked into the hands of the elders quite quickly."

She nodded. "Well, as long as it arrived. I can't imagine it's necessary at this point."

He raised an eyebrow. "Well. We would never want to discard the words of an Elder, now would we?"

Shae forced a small cough to the side. "No, I suppose we would not."

"Good." He nodded. "As for this, and your requests..." He held up the form again. "Normally, there are two options. First, you accept one of the standard agreements then petition for changes later, which gets you into the sect immediately. Though, it's harder to get those changes approved." He paused.

"Or?" She asked and leaned forwards.

"Or you end up like them." He pointed to the recruits that were lounging around the room. "Negotiations don't occur overnight, the elders have schedules to keep. Oh, and you'll be last in line." He gestured to them again.

Shae scanned the room, counting almost a dozen recruits awaiting negotiations.

He continued, "It's a particularly interesting batch this time. Many more are seeking something extra than usual. If you'd like some advice, the Elders tend to get a little... difficult after about the sixth negotiation."

Shae grimaced at the gathered recruits. "So it's going to be extra rough by the time they get to me," she spoke quietly. She took a couple deep breaths and drummed her fingers across the desk.

She nodded sharply and looked back at Dorn, still sitting at the other desk. She grabbed her pack, moved over to him, then pointed at the form. "I'm really not okay with this standard qi gathering agreement. I'm not even in qi gathering anymore..."

From there she explained her reasoning for the requests and that she would agree to sign something, but needed to read them over first. She asked more questions and clarified her ability to challenge classes, which was why she asked for the class schedule.

Dorn explained each in turn. How they generally didn't account for later starts to the sect trial. Only the finish time was recorded, but he could understand that starting so late and essentially taking the test in the dark should be accounted for. He glared at Korin for failing his due diligence in collecting information from Shae. There was precedent for her arriving through the medium door or the special door. Though, none for her avoiding the special entrance.

After about a quarter hour of discussion, Dorn felt he understood Shae's requests thoroughly and withdrew a fresh page. He compiled the modified form and Shae's requests onto it, then presented it for her to sign.

"It's rare to have someone agree to something halfway between the two usual options. Though, I've heard of a few young nobles signing something similar."

Shae frowned at that.

"Heh, in their case, they believed they were about to be accepted as an Elder's direct disciple, so had good enough reason for it. Given your suspicion over the special entrance, I can understand the reluctance to just sign what's presented." He smirked, pushed the form closer, and purposefully repositioned the brush and inkwell. "Either way, I can't guarantee the administration will accept it. You might get shunted back into the negotiations group."

She shrugged her frown away. "Worth a try, right?" Reading over the new form, her eyebrows rose immediately and she tapped the title before her name. "What's this?"

Dorn smirked. "That, Miss Wise and Heavenly Shae is the correct word-form used to represent Wise and Heavenly without using the full set of characters."

"Oh!?" She leaned in closer to see the fine details in the pair of characters used. The second was very similar to what was used for heavenly, and she could see how someone quickly reading it might only read Heavenly. The leading character was mostly the word wisdom, with a few flourishes. "Wisdom of the Heavens?" She looked up.

His smirk turned into a smile and he nodded. "Well read, Wise Shae."

She smiled back and continued reading. Unsurprisingly, Dorn had done good work blending her requests into the form and had worded it loosely enough that she wasn't strictly agreeing to anything, just that she would review the existing agreements.

She picked up the brush to sign, then hesitated, she still hasn't resolved her earlier signature issue. With a smirk, she practiced a few times on her scraps of notepad, then signed the form 'Wisdom of the Heavenly Shae.'

Book 2 End!

Stay tuned for four Epilogue chapters, released over the next two weeks.

And be sure to use that follow button to get notified when Shae's story returns! (probably this summer)