Heavenly Shae

A short time later, Shae left the cleansing room surprised to find that it was only a little past midnight. While she had previously felt worn out from a busy day, she now felt restless and energized. Dang energetic qi. How much sleep am I going to lose in the future because of it?

She had considered continuing her cleansing until her appointment. However, the attendant at the front desk confirmed that long stretches of cultivation would have diminishing returns which might affect her testing results. She further clarified that Shae's appointment was just before first light. This was a consequence of the mountain blocking the real sunrise. The sky and mountain landscape around them would be lit up, but there wouldn't be direct light on this part of the sect.

Shae had walked outside and shivered at the cold night air, even with her extra layers of under-robes. Then she went back inside, curious how much of the sect was open late. The attendant helped her again: the cafeteria was open overnight, but had a very limited menu. While the library and Mission Hall were open at all hours, though with a limited staff.

She visited the Mission Hall first, simply to look over the available job postings. Unsurprisingly, nothing jumped out at her as convenient or easy. There was a posting for library duty, which she scowled at. I have a whole lifetime of experience doing that, yet I don't need another.

There were a few postings for personal attendants and the like, yet most required previous experience or a slipping rating of three or more. She wasn't particularly interested in becoming someone's servant and quickly left the building with a shake of her head.

The temporary dorms brought her a fresh set of clothes and one of Aunty Mei's shawls to keep her warm. She left her cleansing manual behind yet kept the important notes on which books to find, plus charcoal and her wood-skin notepad. Enquiring at the front desk, she discovered she could get an early wakeup call, for the low-low price of two gold crowns. She did her best to not scowl at the attendant after hearing that.

Moving on to the cafeteria, she found the usual guard absent from their post, and the cashier attendant to be rather bored. She collected a pair of tea cakes that matched the sect's colors then a tall mug of whatever tea had been brewing. It has a strong earthy smell and a little placard in front of it that just had a pictogram of a wide open eye, the only other option was a barely colored tea labeled with a closed eye.

The attendant waved her token away. "No charge for night snacks. You're new?" Her voice was high pitched and soft.

"Hah, yes. I suppose not knowing that makes it fairly obvious."

"Yeah..." She blinked her icy blue eyes open and leaned closer. "Ah! You're that Shae girl."

"You've heard of me? Err, yes, I'm Wise Shae, Senior." Shae bowed slightly.

The woman immediately waved off her formalities. "It's too late at night for that stuff. I'm Fairy Yinxi, and I'm only technically your senior. We attendants like to keep in touch, make sure we hear about troublemakers, especially those in the night-shift crowd."

"Troublemakers? What have you heard?"

"Snrk," she snorted loudly then yawned into the back of her hand. "Senior Dorn was very eager to let us know about the recruit that arrived late and supposedly escaped the shadow door. It helps that you're pretty recognizable." She yawned again. "I only remembered your name because Koi also mentioned you."

"Colorful Koi? What did they say? Was it good?" Shae bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Heh, already using that nickname?"

"That's how they introduced themself." Shae covered her mouth with her sleeve, then shrugged. "How do you know them?"

"Hah, must have made a good first impression. I help research out with this or that, usually alchemy stuff. Ah, speaking of... Your -uh- bleaching? Whatever it is. When are you getting it fixed?"

Shae flashed a frown. "Whenever I can spend enough time outside to tan again. Do you know of any good places?"

Yinxi waved at her own deathly pale face. "Do I look like I get any sun? Heh, no. The only time I'm out is at night, and I have- eh, well, don't worry about what I have." She waved her hand dismissively again. Her eyes wandered over to the nearest window, then at the pale moonlight creeping across the wall towards her.

Shae frowned. "Surely that's unhealthy. You must need some sun."

She shook her head. "It's a yin-yang problem. Ah, you probably don't know that one yet. I... think they cover it pretty early." She shrugged, then yawned again. "Like fire and ice, I'm like ice, the sun is like fire."

"Not like, the sun is actually fire. Well, plasma if you want to be technical. Basically the same thing. But yin-yang, yeah, I get the idea. So, it's a problem for your cultivation just to be in the sunlight? Sounds rough."

She shrugged with one hand. "It's not a huge problem. I just prefer to avoid it."

Shae hummed and stepped side to side, looking at fairy Yinxi.

"What?"

"How about a parasol? I bet you could pull one off really well."

"Huh, pull one off?"

"Er, sorry. Old saying from home. You would look cute with one, it would fit your style."

"Ah, well. Thank you, junior Shae." She covered her mouth with her sleeve and Shae saw a smile in her eyes. "I do have one, actually. It's a bit too colorful, though."

"Hmm..." Shae theatrically rubbed her own chin. "Yes, as a night owl, you would probably go for more of a gothic style."

"Okay, I'm barely sure what you're meaning, and yet I want to hear more."

Shae smiled and pointed at a nearby table. "Are you allowed to join me for tea?"

Fairy Yinxi grimaced slightly. "Technically no. I'm supposed to stay right here." She looked around. "But I won't tell if you pull a table over."

Shae smiled wider.

Shae's poor drawing skill kept their fashion talk short. Fairy Yinxi giggled at her frustration throughout. The charcoal pencil and small notepad certainly didn't help her ability to draw out examples of gothic fashion, leaving her with simple stick figures in blocky dresses. However, she quickly found that she didn't really need drawings. Explaining that it was mostly wearing black with a lot of lace and frilly details painted an adequate picture.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Hmm. That would be an interesting style, though I don't think it follows the sect's rules for our uniforms," Yinxi said.

"Ah. Right, there would be a dress code, wouldn't there." Shae deflated in her chair.

"I believe you can technically get away with a little variation in exact color, but it's fully white or light grey robes with red and blue embroidery, those are fairly strict guidelines." She shrugged.

Shae huffed. "What about dark red and dark blue, almost black? And a lot of it? Almost covering the white?"

Yinxi smiled and hummed while looking up. "Strictly speaking, yes. However, that kind of... blatant boundary pushing, it might be- will be seen as disrespecting the sect. That and more embroidery usually means you're a higher stage cultivator, or held in higher regard by the sect."

"Ah. Hmph, yeah." Shae nodded. "That makes sense and fits what I've seen, now that you point it out. It would be expensive too."

Yinxi shrugged then smirked. "That depends. If you use only mortal materials and hire mortal workers it would be relatively cheap. Good for testing out ideas."

"Huh... I hadn't considered the jump in how much a single sect comp is truly worth. You could hire a skilled craftsperson for... like... a month and half?"

The fairy nodded. "About that, yes. Though, not around here. Labor costs are at least double just from proximity."

"Ah, and because of the qi pressure, you can't endlessly bring in more workers."

"Hmm. Yes, I suppose so. Those in Gatewash and further north would be fine, but the supply isn't endless." Yinxi tapped her lips with her sleeve. Then shifted sideways into the beam of moonlight that had crept across the wall as they spoke. She closed her eyes and seemed to breathe in the light with a pleased expression.

Shae's eyebrows jumped as the woman exhaled and shuddered with pleasure.

"Ahhh!" Yinxi relaxed into the wall and her eyebrows fluttered open. "Oh, sorry." She tried to look embarrassed but was clearly still enjoying it. "The first few rays of moonlight always feel so intense. It's not like this all night, I swear."

"Uh, right, sure." Shae nodded hesitantly. "Do you, um, want some time alone?"

Yinxi smiled and inhaled again. "Up to you, I don't mind. Ahh~... I will have to try out your suggestions with my parasol. Hmm, leave it white, but with black flowers, and black lace edging. Yes, that should look quite nice."

Shae looked away and blushed as she watched the woman moon-bathing. I'm surprised she doesn't have a crowd of fanboys. She looked down to find her teacup empty and decided that was another good excuse to move on. "A-hem. Well, I am out of tea. So I'll let you two have your privacy." She moved the chair and table back then looked around the empty cafeteria. Clearly no one else sees this as so... naughty, or they wouldn't let her be here.

She awkwardly bowed to Yinxi on her way out. "Thank you for the company, Senior."

"Hmmmm, any time~." The woman smiled with her eyes still closed. "I'm off shift just after the breakfast rush, if you're still up."

"Ah-" Shae coughed into her sleeve and blushed again. "I have an appointment at dawn, so probably not. The rest of the day is free... Although, the Shu's will probably drag me to the arena for training."

"Mmm, okay. See you around, Junior Shae."

"I'd -uh- like that, Fairy Yinxi." Shae was extremely glad the woman hadn't opened her eyes again as she blushed her way out of the building.

The cool night air was a pleasant relief as it quickly soothed her hot neck. "How do these people deal with this? I don't even think she was trying to flirt." She mumbled to herself as she speed-walked to the library.

Shae had cooled off by the time she made it to the sect's library. The huge building loomed above her, six stories of solid rock slabs stacked like toy bricks. Each marble slab was the size of a moving van; Shae had seen houses smaller than each slab. Proportioned at about 3:2, with every other layer stacked vertically and inset slightly. Tall windows were further inset between each pillar, perfectly mirrored to reflect the sparkling night sky. During the day, the mirrored windows were surrounded by white marble that looked to be laced with a sharp blue that might have been lapis lazuli. However, at night the blue was nearly black.

Shu hadn't known what the blue mineral was when she gave them the tour. Shae didn't know the local name for it either, so she couldn't ask directly. When they had seen it during the day, Shae and Nalin stood in awe of the beautiful arrangement until Shu dragged them away. The lower floors were mainly panels that looked like packed ice flows floating in a deep blue ocean. The color shifted as it went up the building. Taking in more lighter blues until the ones near the roof nearly matched the sky. Almost presenting the illusion of the building wanting to float up into the sky.

At night, the illusion was preserved and amplified. Appearing to be a cage-like cluster of white stone, hovering in place in the rough shape of a building. A galaxy of light tried to escape its interior, the polished stone reflecting just enough to blur the outline of the windows.

Shae had slowed to a stop to take in the sight. The movement of the guard out front shifting their stance finally broke her trance. She shook her head and forced her feet forward.

While their tour didn't go into the building, Shu had explained that those six stories were just for the lobby, study areas, and abbreviated inventory that was set aside for the young cultivators' classes. A few dozen copies of each textbook added up quickly and didn't need to be stored with the rest of the library's collection. Shu explained this will be where they spend most of their personal study time.

In an adjacent building accessible from this one was shelved an even larger abbreviated collection. Shu said it was further separated by the cultivation stage restrictions that were necessarily applied to the knowledge. Each section suffused with stage appropriate qi pressure to keep weaker cultivators out. A small guard staff patrolled the library, and according to Shu, most of their work was limited to rescuing foolish noble brats who wandered into sections where they couldn't handle the pressure.

Even that collection paled in comparison to the sect's real library, which was stored higher up the mountain. Shu said that the attendants here could look up which books were in it, though she wasn't sure how. Shae had her suspicions, a card catalog was simple enough, yet she saved her questions for a librarian.

Because it was the middle of the night, the guard who was waiting at the door thoroughly checked Shae's sect token when she tried to enter. She wasn't certain of the older woman's stage, yet she seemed to be able to read the hidden section of her token.

"Tattoos inside both arms? Yeah, you seem to match. Go ahead."

"Thank you. May I ask your name, Elder?" Shae bowed.

The woman smirked and handed the token back. "Of course, Junior Shae. You'd be surprised how few people forget us guards. I'm Martial Elder Taoying."

Shae's head tilted, "I've heard that name before... Probably from Senior Shu."

"Little Shu Mujie? She probably would mention me. Yet, how do you know her?"

"Oh, she was among the caravan guards that picked us up from Minlin. We got along quite well, and her younger cousin Nalin also joined the caravan from Gatewash."

"Another Shu? That's good. Let's hope she's a fighter like her cousin. You'll have to introduce us, maybe tomorrow at the arena?"

"Okay sure, she'll probably be there training anyway. Though, I have an appointment in the morning."

Elder Taoying shrugged. "I'll be there all day. It's a practice day for the older students, so Shu should be too. I'll ask her." She waved Shae inside then froze mid-action. "Oh! Wait. One last thing, Junior Shae. I heard there was a recruit that stuck their nose into the Gatewash battle. You wouldn't know who that is, would you?"

Shae froze as she tried to walk past the woman. A sharp scent of flowers pierced the air, strong enough to sting her eyes and irritate the sensitive skin on her forehead. "Ah. Yes. I do know who that was."

"Great!" Taoying purred. "Bring her to the arena too, would you? I have an important lesson to teach her."

"Um, right, sure. In the afternoon, probably."

"Heh, right, because you're busy in the morning. Heh-heh, enjoy the library, Junior Shae."

"Erm. Thank you, Elder Taoying." Shae bowed awkwardly and quickly squeezed her way into the library. The floral scent cut off sharply as she crossed the threshold.