Heaven's Laws - Lifestone - Chapter 72

As they exited, the first thing Chao noticed was that the kneeling Morning Midst Village had vanished from the staging area. It seemed they’d been commanded to return to their sect. He wasn’t sure what he thought of that, but it would be nice not to have to think of them causing mischief while they were still there.

They found Sect Master Uilleam kneeling over a sitting Baros. When the younger cultivator saw them arrive, he moved to get up when the water sage warned him. “Take it slow.”

It was then that Dvora darted in from the side and braced from where she sat next to him.

Noticing them, the water sage came to his feet. “The pill’s effect won’t be immediate, but we need to keep an eye on him. Is there a place he can get some rest?” At that moment, Sect Master Ginevra arrived followed slowly by the crowd inside. “And for us to talk in private?”

“Join me in the Ice Palace,” Pangfua said, suddenly there with them.

Chao continued to carry their discipleship group with his qi, and they changed locations again. This time they dropped Baros off in a side room with Dvora. Shoi-ming remained outside with their disciples to direct the sect. Only the sages remained with them.

As he and Huifen had so often done with Mother Quinyuan, the five of them sat down in the middle of the mobile chamber and faced each other.

It was then that the fairy responsible for warning them ran out of the side room and threw herself on the floor at Chao’s feet. Instead of thanking him, she strangely chastised him. “Why would you do all this? What are we to you?”

He was completely taken aback—not knowing how to respond.

“Disciple Dvora, you’re pestering your husband’s savior,” Sect Master Ginevra rebuked.

“It’s okay,” Huifen said, shifting over to help her rise to her knees. “If you’re worried about ulterior motives, then you don’t know my Chao. He doesn’t help people to gain advantage, but because he enjoys helping.”

Dvora had mostly risen to her knees but was still leaning heavily on her hands. “We can never repay you.”

“You don’t—”

“Sister,” Pangfua interrupted. “It’s not just repayment she’s worried about. She wants to ask you a favor and you’ve already done so much.”

“Oh?” Huifen said, turning back to the fairy. “What would you ask?”

“Please take us as disciples into the Ice and Fire Phoenix Sects,” the girl pled, kowtowing again.

“Of course, you can come,” Chao finally spoke. “We were about to ask Sect Master Uilleam and Sect Master Ginevra’s blessing for you to come with us.”

Dvora stiffened like she didn’t believe his words. When she didn’t speak, Ginevra responded. “I will not apologize for our sect’s approach to martial training, but nor would I ever force you to stay. As for rewarding you for warning an ally that led to saving the life of many including Sage Pangfua in the processes, sending you off to the Fire Phoenix Sect is only the beginning. You’ve earned far more.”

Dvora’s features softened.

Then Uilleam spoke his mind. “I would go as far to apologize.”

Chao was able to discern the Night Pearl Sect’s scowl through her veil. Ginevra was about to retort when the water sage held up his hand. “Fairy Dvora, would you leave us now? We have much to discuss. Only know that we will grant you and Baros’s wish to join the Pheonix Sect.”

“Yes,” the girl scurried back while bowing before coming to her feet and disappearing in the side chambers.

“You would go as far as to apologize?” Ginevra said bitterly.

“Yes. And apologize to you for the ten thousandth time,” Uilleam said, giving her a pointed look. He lowered his eyes to her, then turned to the rest of them and did the same. “This must be confusing, and for that I apologize. Ginevra and I are husband and wife.”

Chao watched the quizzical response of Pangfua, who knew the water sage well. She responded with, “That makes a lot of sense.”

The Morning Midst Village Sect Master looked at his wife before continuing. “Perhaps relaying our tale would be of help to the young sages…”

Ginevra nodded.

“It’s been nearly a thousand years since our sect was attacked. We were little more than newlyweds at the time. We’d been married for two years. We were the most talented pair of our generation.

“Then the invasion happened. They didn’t kill everyone but took slaves. I became the property of an elder of this Asura Cult, while my wife was taken as concubine by another elder. Instead of resisting, our people complied. The enemy was so confident in their power over us that they let us meet and conspire. As so, we didn’t just serve them, but began to hone skills that would become the bedrock of the Morning Midst Village and Night Pearl Sects.

“To our captors, we were the best slaves they’d ever caught. In time, we were promoted Our men advanced from housekeepers to managing their households. Our women their favorite mistresses. It took time, but eventually we were trusted completely. It was then that we struck.

“There are times when even those with superior cultivations are weakened. While they sleep. In their drunkenness. In the throes of passion.” As he said it, he couldn’t look at his wife.

“In the span of a single night, most of their sect was wiped out. We came together to finish the rest, but that was only the beginning of our problems. Ginevra was pregnant with her captor’s child. And our situation wasn’t unique. Some couples reconciled quickly. For others it was like a lasting scar. There were many who parted ways.”

“You wouldn’t forgive me for what I did,” the moon sage insisted. “What I had to do to survive.”

“I didn’t abandon you. I was there every moment for you and baby Harnish. I just needed time.”

“Not abandoned? It was a year before you could stomach intimacy. By then, I felt too repulsive to be touched.”

As the water sage told his story, Chao’s deepest fears of having his Huifen taken from him were playing out in his head. Not only was it a possibility, but this couple was living proof. It was unlikely here in the lower realm. Once they reached the divine there would be many far more powerful than them.

He looked at his wife, only to find she was deathly still. Her eyes were boring holes in her lap.

He didn’t take any half measures but swept her up with his qi and sat her down at his side where their knees were touching. She didn’t even change posture as he did it.

Taking up her hand, he placed it on his. If she wanted to pull away then he would let her, but he felt it was crucial that he console her. It wasn’t even their reality. He feared exactly what she did. Strength was authority. It was possible that they’d one day end up in a situation where the choice wasn’t theirs. How would he react? How should he?

“We’ve had many years together,” the water sage said. “I’ve remained faithful through the good times and bad.”

“But I haven’t.” Ginevra rebutted.

“I believe you have. My commitment is evidence of how much I believe that. I won’t be intimate with another to appease your guilt.”

The Night Pearl Sect Master rolled her eyes like a young fairy. “When did I ever ask such a thing?” With a shake of her head, she looked to Huifen and Chao in turn. “Now you see why we split the sect into Morning Midst and Night Pearl. This is the same argument we’ve had for a thousand years.”

“Mmmm,” Uilleam replied. “The advice I’d give you is to learn to forgive and forget.”

Ginevra rebutted, “Or hold loosely to your lives. It might be better to fight to the end instead of submitting in order to survive.”

When Chao saw that her husband wasn’t objecting, he swallowed the growing knot in his throat. He already knew the problem with that option. Huifen had already been taken by force and hadn’t been given the chance to fight. It was easy for him not to hold it against her for she’d literally had no say in the matter. What if she had? Killing her captor later would’ve gone a long way to make up for any infidelity, but would it be enough?

The decision he’d made in The Trial of Might was ever-present with him. Justice and mercy often seemed diametrically opposed, but in this situation, that wasn’t as clear. Mercy wanted what mercy wanted—to forgive and forget. Justice despised infidelity, but to put the blame on Sage Ginevra seemed wrong. Did that mean justice and mercy agreed?

He would’ve swept Huifen up and embraced her if it wasn’t for the three other sages sitting there. Instead he squeezed her hand before reaching over with a finger to her chin and ever so gentle turning her head to face him.

Her eyes finally flickered up.

He didn’t say anything. A look was enough.

She seemed to deflate before resting her head on his shoulder.

From there they moved on. They advised them to keep the details about the Divine Sect’s legacy to themselves. Just the meridian restoring medications were unique natural treasures to this world. Ones that they proposed purchasing if they ever found a way to produce more of them. Such treasures could even tempt sages like themselves.

Pangfua snorted at that.

Chao didn’t know what adventures his Big Sister and the water sage had shared, but the man seemed to view her as a little sister instead of any genuine competition.

Seeing her response, Uilleam grinned widely.

“It won’t be an easy transition between cultivation techniques for Dvora and Baros,” Ginevra said. “If you need our advice, seek us out. We’ll give you both our transition jade information. What position to you intend on give them?”

Huifen spoke up before either of them could respond. “They will join our discipleship group. Having a true water cultivator and a fire cultivator with a different approach to the element should greatly benefit the group’s understanding of the laws. It might even make it easier to teach others.”

Chao couldn’t only agree.

“Personal disciples?” The moon sage’s hand shot out to the side only for Uilleam to catch it and give it a pat. She turned to her husband blankly and said, “How do we make up for causing this mess?”

The Sect Master was prepared with an answer. “I will dissolve the Morning Midst Village.”

It wasn’t just his wife that rang out in objection.

Uilleam wasn’t about to hear any of it. “Since we defeated a more powerful enemy, we’ve considered our deception a strength. Perhaps it’s also our weakness. We’ve wanted our disciples to be practiced in such methods and prepared for the worst so that what happened to us could be manageable for them.”

His wife gave him a grim look. “After all this time?”

“I failed with Harnish.”

“He was nearly a thousand years old. He bears the responsibility himself.”

“I don’t doubt his guilt, but there’s no doubt my teaching helped lead him to this, Ginevra. Its time we rejoin the sects. If you’ll have me.”

She was at a loss for words.

He reached over and lifted her veil. “I told you the day wasn’t over. We need to rethink everything. Together.”

The Sect Master of the Night Pearl Sect normally had such a rigid bearing, but in that moment she seemed fragile. With a tentative nod, she said, “Okay.”