The sun casually scattered its light and let it fall where it will, after all, it could not be held responsible for the wide branches of tall trees that prevented the light from touching the earth beneath them. However a beam did penetrate the canopy and continued its straight path through a slight crack in the clouded window into the bedroom of a two roomed hut. And there it fell upon the shuttered lids of a girl sprawled out upon her bed in a lazy, inelegant fashion.
The light disturbed the girl's slumber and her eyes fluttered open to see that it truly was day and it was already late morning. With a groan, she pushed herself to a seated position upon her silk sheets and tugged at the damp curl stuck to her slightly rosey cheek with drool. Yawning, she stretched and moved to the bedside table where a sealed jug and a bowl waited for her to wash her face, so she could begin her morning. She tugged a brush through her curls and pinned it away from her face, glancing into the copper mirror as she did. Without her maids, only simple hairstyles were achievable, but she was used to this now. At least she no longer had to go to her sister's room and brush and style her hair for her!
After pleading with the kitchens for a little something to eat, for she had missed the breakfast service, she made her way through the woods to the west of her dwelling, heading for the hidden hut within. She managed once more to lose her way. Tapping her foot, she ran through her memories and retraced her step. Just when she thought that she would have to return to her own hut and begin her journey again, the little lean-to shed beside the hut came into view. She didn't dwell on it too much, thus happened frequently when she travelled here.
The scent of herbs burst through her senses as she finally stepped onto the small path surrounding the hut and made her way to the dusty courtyard in front. She had been coming here to water Leon's garden, part of her penance, she felt, though it really wasn't her fault that he had gotten hurt, she felt guilty nonetheless. If she had been more aware... but then who were those people to think they had a right to choose her friends and while she could have mentioned that Leon was closer to a girlfriend than a love interest, his sexuality was his own business and it was not right for her to gossip about it!
As she neared the place where she had stored the bucket and ladle, she heard voices coming from within the hut and began to smile.
"J-Jin Li, you d-don't have t-to d-do that. The Healer said that m-my arm will b-b-be tender, b-but it is n-now healed."
"That old man also said that the bone will be weak and brittle for up to a week. Or do you think that you have a miraculous constitution and can ignore his words?"
"N-n-no, of c-course n-not!"
"Then do as I tell you and be still. You should be honoured that this Lord is lowering himself to serve you!"
The tingle in her nose began and warned her of an inevitable red flow and quickly she placed a handkerchief against it. However, in her flurry, she knocked over the bucket, which clattered against the ground with the ladle, making a bit of a ruckus. The door to the hut suddenly opened.
With narrowed eyes, Jin Li stared at her with slight disdain, though Maimai simply grinned sheepishly in return. "Oh, it's you." Despite the unpleasant tone, Jin Li wasn't too bothered about her presence. She had earned a smidgeon of acceptance. After all, not only had she provided him with the details that Leon could not, she had even guided him to the culprits. The bone regrowth pills had come from her pocket and the idea of giving those fools such equal retribution had amused him. He had only planned to break their arms in retaliation.
In truth, Maimai didn't wish for her sect to cause a fuss due to Jin Li's wrath. If the expelled students were to arrive home already in shame, but also wounded, they would at least have to give some face. Sure they could try return home broken and in pain, in order to gain sympathy, but she had already sent her father a letter regarding what had occurred, so they wouldn't have such a free and easy time as they wished. No matter their story that came from several mouths, her daddy would always believe his little girl's words first.
"Who is it?" Leon called out from inside, causing Jin Li to frown and tut as he allowed Maimai entry. She was a little disappointed to see Leon sitting in lotus position upon the ground, beside a table holding two cups and a pot of tea. It simply did not live up to her imagination at all.
"Hey Leon," she smiled anyway. She was pleased to see that he was still wearing the new glasses and Jin Li had not attempted to replace them with something else. It would be a shame to recover Leon's expressive eyes. Especially when they altered into shimmering pools of black tea when he looked towards the man he cared for. I see the Healer's Hall released you!" She sat down beside her friend, ignoring the dark glares coming from the third party in the room.
"Would you like a c-cup of t-tea?" Leon asked her, before trying to scramble to his feet in order to grab a cup. A hand fell upon his shoulder along with a look that demanded complete obedience.
"What did this Lord say?" Jin Li asked, coldly as he looked into those large, questioning eyes. Maimai shivered in delight and placed the bloodied handkerchief to her nose... just in case.
There were several events that occurred in the Ascending Mountain Institute, which aided to break up the tedium that is a common theme amongst all educational institutes no matter the universe that they are set in. Four were considered fixed events, such as the Standings, but occasionally there were others. Some were set by local sects, for example and others were due to unexpected fluctuations in the space-time continuum such as dimensions opening for brief amounts of time where huge treasures could be obtained and the rarest of beasts could be hunted.
The Five School Market Festival was not particularly fixed, usually occurring once a year, in either Spring, Summer or Autumn and was an opportunity for students to trade amongst themselves for benefits as well as showcase branch subjects.
Branch subjects were something that Leo had mentioned in his diaries, touching briefly on the subject for other institutes, but focusing mostly upon those of the Alchemist school. The main route for an Alchemist Student naturally leaned towards becoming an Alchemist, however not every apprentice alchemist had the talent, skill set or will to become one. Thus the school offered certain students the opportunities to study a branch subject. Learning how to farm herbs was a popular choice, but there also happened to be a little known class for Medicinal Cuisine and there was a class to learn about rare herbs, where they could be found and how to dig them out of their habitat without ruining their quality. And of course, there was the minor route of the Pharmacist.
Generally, a student was selected for two reasons; they had reached third level cultivation and thus had the ability to expand their studies or they were just a couple of years from final graduation (meaning they would be too old to continue their studies in the institute) but were not able students. These latter men and women were encouraged to focus completely on one branch subject, allowing themselves a path of survival in the future.
Neither were hard and fast rules, for instance, Scholarly students were usually pushed into branch studies from once they reached secondary cultivation or from when they cease being first years; which ever was the latter. Being a pure scholar brought very few wealth or success, so it was better to focus on just a few subjects. Healers often came from this school, as did Merchants. But also Scholarly subjects often overlapped with the other schools, so there were many paths for a Scholar Apprentice to take, making it fairly popular in its own right.
Leon was considered an 'average' student, despite the talent some eagle eyes had caught, thus in case his path was hindered in the future by well meaning individuals, Teacher Sagi had taken it upon himself to further Leon's studies in the branch subject of Herb Cultivation. Leon was not aware of this, but if he was, he likely would have chosen to study this as it furthered his and Leo's interest in pill experimentation anyway.
Jin Li was of third stage cultivation, but was not given the opportunity of branch studies as he was still a First Year and ordinarily, a First Year should concentrate on the main subject of the school as well as Cultivation. But even given the choice, a child brought up to solely focus upon Martial Arts until it was the core of his entire being, likely would scoff at such opportunities and continue upon his narrow path as if it were an obsession.
This year's Five School Market Festival was planned for the next full moon as the Scholar Students in charge of the Festival this year had decided that this would be a marvellous setting, with the air of something mysterious and yet romantic all at once! Let's not say what other students thought about this idea; it was recorded in the annuals that other student groups had had worse ideas. A Hundred years ago, the Martial Artist Students in charge had chosen to hold it in a labyrinth of caves that happened to be the habitat of Greater Whiskered Arachnids. Granting, this spider was not poisonous, but the thing still had eight hairy legs and eight beady eyes and was the size of a grown man's hand. It had not made for a popular festival.
The Festival was open to all, but only seniors could manage stalls. Thus should he choose too, Leon was able to set up a stall and trade his pills, herbs or even his woodworks. Even though there was nothing in the curriculum for carving wood products, there were no rules against it. Technically for both body and mind, this would be his first Festival, as Leo had been in 'closed cultivation' (he was holed up making weird pills) last year and the year before and Leon had only arrived in this world a few months ago.
However, he had time to consider whether to set up a stall or window shop for the full moon was a couple of ten-days away. In the meantime, he had to convince Jin Li that he was not an invalid and could go to town. He still hadn't had his experimental pills evaluated yet!
Author’s note; So as this chapter is a very ‘informative’ one with very little else, I thought of making this day a double update day and wrote about half of the next chapter with the intent of finishing it today... only I woke up feeling unwell, have cold symptoms, which I find are worse than the cold itself! Anyway, if I feel better, I’ll finish it and post it later, otherwise it’ll have to wait until Tuesday!
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT