The bath had been a little tense, but Jenn broke that tension once they were soaking. She told them the story about Yukiko proposing that they all stand naked in front of each other to get over their embarrassment. Clover had jumped to her feet, declaring they should do it, too. Ling grabbed her and pulled her down, quickly saying they shouldn’t. The others laughed— Mindie did so a little awkwardly, but everyone laughed, including Clover.
They were still chuckling over it when they got dressed for dinner. Gregory didn’t keep his eyes from roaming, but he made sure not to stare, either. His own face was a little pink when he caught them returning the attention, though he didn’t try to hide from them.
‘What’s good for the gander is good for the goose,’ as Yuki once said, Gregory thought. Need to make sure to leave clothing out tonight so it can get cleaned. I’m so glad we all have extra clothing in our storage spaces. It makes changing into clean clothes after bathing easy.
Dressed in fresh clothing, they left the room to find Hemet waiting for them with a small, knowing smile on his face. “Dinner is in a few minutes. The private room is through the door there,” he said, pointing to it. “Ling, I left some items for you to study in your room. Clover, the elder left alchemical supplies in their suite,” he motioned at Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn, “so you can work on your magic. When you need more, let us know.”
“Thank you, Hemet,” the pair of apprentices said.
“We do try,” Hemet smiled. “You can join us at the table now, or in a few minutes.”
“Now’s fine,” Gregory said after he checked with his friends.
“Very well. Follow me.”
Entering the private dining room, they found the overseer was already there. He was talking softly to Lightshield while Egil and Rafiq were having a conversation of their own. “Overseer, may I present the young generation of Aether’s Guard?” Hemet asked.
Gregory was shocked to see the man seated beside Lightshield. He glanced at Yukiko and saw that she was just as surprised. Instead of the gray kimono they’d seen him in before, here, the man was wearing a periwinkle kimono with the academy emblem displayed on the sleeves.
Laozi gave them a bow of his head. “It is a pleasure to meet you formally.”
“The honor and pleasure are ours, Honored Sage,” Yukiko replied before any of the others could. That didn’t stop them all from bowing formally with her to him.
“Sit. We shall discuss after dinner,” Laozi said, his former affable nature not to be seen. He spoke as a sage of the empire should: firmly, knowing that he would be obeyed.
The group all took their seats, wondering if they’d done something to offend him. Lightshield wasn’t smiling the way he normally would, which didn’t ease the tension for them any.
“Since we are all here, I shall summon the meal now,” Lightshield said, using the bellpull near his chair.
The staff bustled in with the food, setting plates in front of everyone before quickly leaving. Gregory felt the tension growing over the course of dinner. Clover looked frayed as it came to an end— she’d dropped her fork twice, both times getting flat glances from Laozi.
When they’d finished, Lightshield had the staff clean the table and bring them tea, then asked for them not to be disturbed. The maids were quick to do as he asked, bowing deeply when they finally left the room.
“You have made a lot of enemies,” Laozi said as soon as the door closed behind the staff. “Do you believe they will leave you be?”
“No, sir,” Gregory said. “We are aware of the worst and expect them to continue trying to pull us down. As for others, it will not be surprising if more try, but we also have allies.”
“Are you certain of those allies?”
“As certain as we can be. Among those we call allies, there are those who are jealous as well, but I believe we will not have trouble from them.”
“Hmm… Time will tell, as it always does,” Laozi replied. “I shall make the formal introduction now. I am Sage Laozi Windfoot. I am the youngest of the remaining sages of the empire, and have been overseer since the academy was placed in Wesrik.”
When he stopped talking, the younger magi bowed in their seats to him before introducing themselves. Gregory thought he’d caught a glimmer of amusement in Lightshield’s eyes, but he wasn’t positive.
“Honored Sage,” Gregory started slowly, wondering how big of a mistake he was about to make, “if I might ask a question?”
“I believe you still have two remaining,” Laozi replied. “If you wish to use one here, I will answer.”
Gregory hesitated, suddenly realizing that Laozi was speaking of his counsel from the academy council. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get a chance to use them in the future, so he pressed on, “Thank you, sir. When we first met you, you were sweeping in front of an arena. You told us you had no rank and were merely a sweeper. Why the deception?”
Yukiko’s hand clamped down on Gregory’s knee, her heart going to her throat. Jenn’s eyes bulged in fear, afraid of what might happen. Each of his other friends grew tense, waiting for the sage to denounce his question as insolent.
Laozi’s eyes narrowed at Gregory before he started to chuckle. “That is a long story, Pettit. Suffice to say, I was strictly following my orders from the emperor himself. When he assigned me to start the academy, he told me quite bluntly to clean it of filth and put it in order. One might have taken that to mean removing the eurtik archivists, but I was certain he meant ‘keeping it clean.’ I devoted myself to keeping the academy as clean as I could while letting the council that was appointed after me bicker over how to run it. The grandmasters and elders of the council come and go, replaced every few years or decades, but I remain. It wasn’t deception, but a version of the truth.”
The room was silent as they processed what Laozi had said. Several sets of eyes darted to Rafiq, who looked quite unperturbed by the idea that the sage was to have killed all the archivists.
“Now,” Laozi said, looking down the table, his imperious expression back on, “I have dined with all the other clans before you. During each of those dinners, I answered a single question from each apprentice. I shall do so for you now.”
“Sir,” Jenn said slowly, “the council told Gregory that he was only to ask a single question of each of them for winning… yet it sounded like you told Gregory he just used one of his remaining two.”
Laozi’s gaze sharpened again when he looked at Jenn. “Is there a question in there, Apprentice?”
Jenn hesitated, clearly debating if she wanted to use her question this way. She closed her eyes and centered her mind, asking herself if she should. A moment later, her eyes shot open, her resonance feeling solid to her. “Why does that sound like what they told us is wrong, sir?”
Laozi’s lips twitched. “Because this council has been… problematic, more so than my previous councils. They were told when they came into their roles that the winners of the apprentice tournaments would be given three questions to be asked of any of them, or even me. I was later told that they felt that Elder Cho or I would be the only ones asked, so they changed it. What they did was make it even less likely for questions to be asked. Do you know why?”
“Because no novice or apprentice would know which of the council would be the best to ask any given question,” Clover blurted out, then slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Partially. Go on.”
Clover uncovered her mouth and spoke slowly, “The fear is that the question will be wasted if the wrong council member is asked… it also means that each member of the council only ever has to answer a single question per winner.”
“Well done, Clougdah,” Laozi smiled. He glanced at Lightshield. “The slow never understand the gems they miss by ignoring the clanless or eurtiks.”
Lightshield smiled fondly at his younger magi. “Which is normally a folly, but worked well for my clan in the last year.”
“It has.”
Roshana cleared her throat. “Excuse me, sir? This is my question, and it might be impertinent… but if each winning clan got to ask a single question, should not this clan be able to ask you two each?”
Laozi arched a single eyebrow, staring at her while a pressure built in the room. The tension grew for a few heartbeats before Laozi chuckled and the pressure vanished. “It is a fair question, even if many others would scold you for it. I will agree that you should get two questions answered, if you are one of those fighting.”
“Thank you, sir,” Roshana said, bowing her head.
The other five exchanged looks, wondering what they should ask. None of them ever expected to have a sage willing to answer questions for them.
Gregory asked something he’d wondered about a year ago, “Honored Sage, I wonder why you helped us during our novice year?”
“Did I?” Laozi asked him back.
“At least once, sir. When Fureno tried to change the arena assignment on the board.”
“I do not recall having helped you, Apprentice. That would mean I was taking sides. I do remember stopping a novice from changing papers on the board. After all, it would have hindered all those who showed up that day to classes after you, as well. Cluttering up the area with milling bodies would have dirtied it.”
“I apologize for thinking otherwise, sir.”
“I have a question, sir,” Yukiko said, wondering if she should be so bold. “You told us previously that you had been sweeping for only a little over forty-thousand days, but earlier tonight, you said that you’d been there since the very beginning of the academy as overseer. Which is true?”
Laozi’s lips twitched. “An eye for numbers speaks of your family line, Pettit. I had been sweeping without needing to don my sage robes for over forty-thousand. Does that reconcile the two for you?”
Yukiko bowed her head. “Thank you, Honored Sage.”
“Sir,” Ling spoke up, “what advice would you give to initiates when they go to train with their men?”
Laozi gave her a thoughtful look. “An interesting question for an apprentice who will spend her initiate year at the academy.”
“We seek for the clan to be the best it can, sir. Your words can be spread to those who will become initiates in the years to come,” Ling replied.
“Very true. I think perhaps it is those closest to you that sparked the question, though, Lao. I will answer, regardless. Treat your men well, do your best to be a true leader, and even if the one training you is difficult, do your best to represent your clan as they should be seen. The same should go for your men. They represent you, which in turn means that they represent your clan.”
“Thank you, sir,” Ling bowed her head.
“I have mine ready,” Clover said slower than she normally did. Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Why don’t you stop the discrimination against those of us with partial-eurtik blood?”
Everyone at the table stopped breathing except for Laozi and Lightshield. Laozi exhaled, closing his eyes for a moment before meeting her fearful black-irised eyes. “I wish it were simple. If I could be assured that my word would stay the law of the academy, I would have. You heard why I was appointed the overseer. If I tried, do you think I would be there still? As it is, I have remained because I have displeased Him, but not enough to be called back to the capital.” Taking another long, slow breath, he continued, “I am sorry that the little I have been able to do has not been enough. Maybe, if your elder is right, Aether will return. If he does, then… it may be possible for such a thing to come to pass.”
There was a deep pain in Laozi’s eyes that made Clover sniffle. “I’m sorry, sir…”
Laozi’s lips couldn’t hold the smile he tried to put on. “It has been long since the one I loved passed, yet even today, I still turn to speak to her. As you undoubtedly can deduce, she was, much like you, part-eurtik. I can still recall when the messenger brought me news of her death…” He stopped, taking a deep breath before clearing his throat. “Does that answer you sufficiently?”
“Yes,” Clover sniffled again, wiping at her eyes.
“Why the sudden move to make the academy safer now, sir?” Jenn asked after a moment of silence.
“Because it is past time,” Laozi answered, dabbing at his eyes. “I let the council run things on their own for too long. Things deteriorated during your novice year to a point that was inexcusable. Too many… mysterious attacks and deaths. It gave me enough leverage to push them and for them to bend to me without me having to petition the emperor himself. So the guards will patrol as they used to, and the arenas will finally have some healing built into them.” Laozi paused, his gaze going to Mindie. “It was pointed out that a junior healer was always being used for clans to effectively use the arenas for training.”
Mindie flushed.
“Those same idiots then pushed for that very useful person to be posted outside of the academy. Why? Because another healer felt that she was favoring a specific clan only. Did any of them speak to the junior healer? Did they get another clan to ask her to verify if she was being biased? Of course not. They thought that it would be much easier to try posting her to a less-than-desirable posting, instead.”
Mindie closed her eyes as what she’d feared was flatly confirmed.
“That same healer then joined the clan she was accused of favoring, giving them some ammunition. However, that also let her clan head use favors to get her a posting that would remove her from the shortsighted grasp of those same idiots.”
Mindie blinked, looking at the sage with hope.
“Your tenure with the empire is now fully in the hands of your clan, Adept Laka. I trust that is acceptable to you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I believe that leaves me with the last question,” Yukiko said slowly.
“No,” Laozi replied. “Your husband and wife both have another, as well. My answers came after he used a single one of his prizes from winning.”
“Go ahead, Yuki,” Gregory said, trying to think of another question for Laozi.
“Honored Sage,” Yukiko started slowly, “what advice would you give us?”
Laozi’s eyes sparkled. “In which area?”
Yukiko went quiet for a few moments, clearly deciding how she wanted to narrow her request.
“How does one avoid the eyes of the emperor, or his displeasure if it is incurred?” Gregory asked while Yukiko thought.
Laozi’s smile was sudden and wide. “Do not stand out. Failing that, work to minimize your accomplishments, or deflect the credit to others. If you do gain the ire of the emperor, well… it is unlikely you will survive. There is a very remote chance that if you are worth enough to not kill, you will be pushed to a post that you will hate, but it will neutralize you from doing harm to the empire.”
“Like being the head of the academy,” Lightshield coughed.
Laozi rolled his eyes. “You promised not to discuss it.”
“I had a bit of phlegm in my throat, was all.”
The table was quiet as they were given a small peek into the friendship the two older magi might have.
“How would you recommend we build the clan to surpass the others? Or at least regain a position among the great clans again?”
“Tricky,” Laozi exhaled. “There are too many variables in that for me to answer clearly. The easiest way is to recruit powerful young magi and keep them tied to the clan. That would be centuries in the making. You will have the time, hopefully, but I am not sure it answers your question.”
Yukiko looked at Clover and Ling. “That would place a greater burden on my dear friends.”
Both of them bowed their heads to her. “We’ll do our best, Yuki,” Ling said.
“Our very best,” Clover nodded.
“As I do not think I answered the question sufficiently, if Bean will give up hers, I will grant Lao and Clougdah both the right to consult me once after this year ends,” Laozi offered.
“I do, sir,” Jenn said quickly.
“Use those moments wisely.” Standing abruptly, Laozi sighed. “I need to go. There is a matter for me to attend.”
Lightshield leveraged himself up. “I do hope it does not get too out of hand for you.”
“You would think some could learn. Alas, hubris is a hard thing for some to unlearn. I will not see you again until we reach Buldoun.” Laozi turned to the others in the room who had also stood. “Good evening.” With those two words, a strong gust blew through the room and, when it abated, Laozi was gone.
“Well, I wish you all a good evening, too,” Lightshield said softly. “I need to retire. Hemet, will you come with me, please?”
“Of course.”
Egil and Rafiq also said their goodbyes, leaving just the young magi in the room.
“That was different…” Gregory murmured. “To the room for discussion?”
The others agreed, as they all had questions about what had just happened.
