“Where is he?” I shouted at my Master. My anger was not directed at her, of course. She was just in the unfortunate position of knowing the answer. My anger was directed mostly at myself, having been so focused on becoming stronger I had spent too little time with Sen’o.
Not only that but I had delivered Sen’o right into the hands of that goon squad who I had little doubt had something to do with his current situation.
“He is safe, for now,” said Elder Laaka, as patient as ever. Being able to see in the darkened room had become second nature to me.
“Master, please,” I begged.
“He’s in the same place he was before his last trial,” she eventually conceded.
“So he will be put to trial?”
“Not this time. That is reserved for incidents between disciples. Incidents involving Elders are brought before the Grand Elders and the Sect Master. They will deliberate and decide on a punishment.”
Everyone had heard the rumours about what Sen’o had done. Many thought they knew why, none sounded accurate. It was my next question to my Master, Elder Laaka.
“I don’t know. I only know what you know - that he assaulted an Elder, inflicting a nearly fatal wound in the process.”
“Do you not see?” I asked, tears beginning to stain my cheeks. “That’s not something he would do without reason. I’m sure there’s a reason.”
“Of course there’s a reason,” she said with a sigh. Finally looking in my eyes. “And it had better be a good one as the punishment for attacking an Elder is among the harshest.”
“Then do something!” I shouted.
“Child, I know you are scared. I am too,” I could see that she was not lying. “No master would want to lose their disciple…”
“He’s not just a disciple!” I shouted again, furious that her feelings for him were so shallow.
“He is,” she said firmly. “But he is my disciple. He chose me as I chose him. You think you are familiar enough with such a relationship to belittle how I feel for him. Then, tell me - What do your feelings amount to?”
“My feelings for him are written plain as day across my face, laced into every word that I say. What they amount to is not something I need to tell you, you already know full well.” I challenged her firmly, my voice rough from shouting.
“Then, darling. How can you not recognise the same in me?” I was taken aback by her words. Indeed, I was not paying attention to her, focused only on myself and my own turbulent emotions. “We can be at odds with each other, or we can share shoulders. I know which one I would prefer.”
“I’m sorry, Master,” I said immediately. The tears in my eyes began to dry.
“I’m sorry too, I should have protected him better. Come here, it has been a while since we hugged.” I could only surrender to her embrace, I let all my worry and anguish out in the form of slow tears and quiet sobs.
I recognised the feeling as one similar to what I felt with Teteli. Helplessness. He, yet again, was facing something alone and I could only watch. Only wait until he reassured me that everything was alright.
“Safi, you and I have an important role to play now. We must appeal to the Sect Master, if we can make her understand how valuable he is as a disciple, she may be willing to lower the punishment to mere loss of cultivation.”
“Loss of cultivation?” I asked, my desperation resurfacing.
“Unfortunately that is the most lenient I believe she will be.”
“That’s not acceptable.”
“Well then, I hope you know something about him that I do not.” I did not answer that. She sighed. “Let’s get going, the longer we wait, the less time we have to persuade her to spare his life.”
Elder Laaka lived as high as I’d ever been in the tower, so when we went up rather than down, I was entering unknown territory. I was more nervous than I was heading into the jungle for the first time, I could hear my heart as if it were pumping right next to my ears. My arms shook as if I had spent the last day hanging from them.
Elder Laaka grasped my hand and held it tightly. She gave me a supportive look, her ability to walk with such elegance without vision at least tore my mind away from the nerves for a while.
The staircase was long, we passed many tunnels and rooms, some Elders and a few wide corridors before we finally stopped. I was looking at a rather unassuming door. The staircase stopped at its feet. It appeared to slide into the rock in order to open. The soft thin wood was elegant and bright in comparison to the dull and jagged rocks that encase the huge staircase.
Elder Laaka knocked on the door, it moved back and forth despite how softly she had knocked. It was the most dainty door I’d seen in the sect, far from what I expected from the Sect Master.
The door suddenly slid open to reveal a disciple, except their robes were a different colour to mine. “Welcome, is it the Sect Master that you want to see?”
“Indeed,” confirmed Elder Laaka.
“Then, wait here. I will inform her of your arrival.”
“Thank you,” she said.
We waited in the room silently, we were there for a while before the disciple returned.
“She will see you now.”
“Thank you,” Elder Laaka said again. We followed the disciples arm and passed the threshold to a dreamy room of delicious smells and bright colours.
Pots of incense were placed carefully around the room causing me slight dizziness from the overwhelming amount of smoke. Furniture that practically shone with vibrant colours were placed against the walls, cupboards and drawers were full to bursting with fabrics and clothing.
Towards the centre of the room lay the most curvaceous woman I’d ever seen. She wore a robe that dripped off her body, her gaze was equally sultry as it was predatory. Her hair was long and covered the pink divan sofa like a blanket.
She brought herself into a sitting position as we approached. She straightened her beautifully flowery robe and flicked her hair behind her shoulders.
“Hello,” she said. She said it in a way I had never heard before, there was more of a gap between each syllable. It gave me the impression of control, as if every move and every sound was devoid of waste. As if it was unnecessary to finish the word and she would have preferred to stop at just ‘hel’.
“Greetings, Sect Master. It is an honour to see you again,” said Elder Laaka as she curtised deeply. I curtsied too but was lost for words. I merely put my head down to be as invisible as possible.
“Mele Laaka, it has been a long time since you graced me with your presence,” said the Sect Master as she stood up to return our greeting with a more shallow curtsy. Her elegance as she moved left me breathless. “And, who is the little one you have brought with you?” she asked as she finished.
“This is Safi Jaore. My disciple.”
“I heard that you had finally found some students. How wonderful,” she said with a genuine smile that lit up the hazy room. It was as if the smoke avoided her.
“Thank you, Sect Master.”
“Please, sit down. To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, the smile never left her face. However, this time I could tell she knew full well why we had made the journey.
“Sect Master, as I’m sure you are aware, my disciple has landed himself in quite some trouble. I am here to beg you to show him mercy.” The Sect Master giggled at Elder Laaka’s emotive pleading.
“Straight to the point, as ever,” she said. She then looked at me. “You are lucky to have found such a compassionate teacher.” Still lost for words I could only nod pathetically. She giggled again. “Mele, the rules. You know them as well as I do.”
“I understand that, Sect Master. I do. But this disciple is someone special,” said Elder Laaka.
“Well of course, he is your first disciple,” she said understandingly.
“Yes, that is true. However, that is not what I meant by special. He has talent, knowledge and power that far surpasses what I expected of him.”
“I know,” she said with another laugh. “After all, he put a hole in one of my elders.” Elder Laaka was quiet after that. “You want to spare his life?”
“I do,” she confirmed.
“Does he deserve it?”
“He is a diligent student, a good friend to Safi and a hard worker for the sect. I do not doubt that his outburst was for good reason. Not for a second. Therefore, yes. I do believe he deserves it.”
“What of you, Safi?” I was caught off guard by the question. I mustered all the courage I could and spoke shakily.
“Deserve it?” My words caught in my throat. “Deserve to be spared? No.” Elder Laaka and the Sect Master both looked at me in surprise. All it took was a single memory. The boy kneeling down outside my front door, the same one who had just devastated my life. Only this time, all I could feel from him was profound and bottomless love.
He ached as he spoke, sharing my pain and understanding my anger. He dragged me from my sadness and replaced it with joy. He fought for me, he laughed with me, he shared with me his deepest secrets and most raw emotions and he set me upon a path I had so desperately craved. One of happiness and fulfillment.
I finally had the chance to do something, to help him.
“You ask me, who has relied upon him. Who has learned from him. Who loves him. What does he deserve? He deserves more than you or I could possibly provide.” The Sect Master reeled back at my sudden proclamation, my confidence surprising her. “However, let me speak your language, as I know my feelings for him are not so easily shared. Are you familiar with the Broken Doors sect?”
“Yes, I am,” said the Sect Master, she was becoming more and more intrigued.
“We have a contact there who owes us in equivalence of our lives. Her name is Teteli.”
“I have heard such a name,” the Sect Master confirmed. Her curiosity grew further.
“That should be reason enough to spare his life. I will surrender whatever I gain from Teteli to you, as will he.”
“I suppose that is tempting,” she pondered.
“As for his cultivation,” I coughed to slow myself down. It was unfortunate that I was not able to confer with Sen’o before I shared his secret but it was the only way for him to convince them to keep his cultivation, I was sure of it. So it was either in this room with Elder Laaka and the Sect Master, or in a room full of Grand Elders. This situation was far more preferable.
“Sect Master, you are someone I cannot fathom. Looking at you makes me shiver, you are more beautiful than I knew could exist and your power dizzy's me. But Sen’o, he is someone you cannot fathom.” Anger flashed in the eyes of the Sect Master. “It is inevitable, after all. He is a reincarnated soul.” I shrugged.
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“Where is he?” I shouted at my Master. My anger was not directed at her, of course. She was just in the unfortunate position of knowing the answer. My anger was directed mostly at myself, having been so focused on becoming stronger I had spent too little time with Sen’o.
Not only that but I had delivered Sen’o right into the hands of that goon squad who I had little doubt had something to do with his current situation.
“He is safe, for now,” said Elder Laaka, as patient as ever. Being able to see in the darkened room had become second nature to me.
“Master, please,” I begged.
“He’s in the same place he was before his last trial,” she eventually conceded.
“So he will be put to trial?”
“Not this time. That is reserved for incidents between disciples. Incidents involving Elders are brought before the Grand Elders and the Sect Master. They will deliberate and decide on a punishment.”
Everyone had heard the rumours about what Sen’o had done. Many thought they knew why, none sounded accurate. It was my next question to my Master, Elder Laaka.
“I don’t know. I only know what you know - that he assaulted an Elder, inflicting a nearly fatal wound in the process.”
“Do you not see?” I asked, tears beginning to stain my cheeks. “That’s not something he would do without reason. I’m sure there’s a reason.”
“Of course there’s a reason,” she said with a sigh. Finally looking in my eyes. “And it had better be a good one as the punishment for attacking an Elder is among the harshest.”
“Then do something!” I shouted.
“Child, I know you are scared. I am too,” I could see that she was not lying. “No master would want to lose their disciple…”
“He’s not just a disciple!” I shouted again, furious that her feelings for him were so shallow.
“He is,” she said firmly. “But he is my disciple. He chose me as I chose him. You think you are familiar enough with such a relationship to belittle how I feel for him. Then, tell me - What do your feelings amount to?”
“My feelings for him are written plain as day across my face, laced into every word that I say. What they amount to is not something I need to tell you, you already know full well.” I challenged her firmly, my voice rough from shouting.
“Then, darling. How can you not recognise the same in me?” I was taken aback by her words. Indeed, I was not paying attention to her, focused only on myself and my own turbulent emotions. “We can be at odds with each other, or we can share shoulders. I know which one I would prefer.”
“I’m sorry, Master,” I said immediately. The tears in my eyes began to dry.
“I’m sorry too, I should have protected him better. Come here, it has been a while since we hugged.” I could only surrender to her embrace, I let all my worry and anguish out in the form of slow tears and quiet sobs.
I recognised the feeling as one similar to what I felt with Teteli. Helplessness. He, yet again, was facing something alone and I could only watch. Only wait until he reassured me that everything was alright.
“Safi, you and I have an important role to play now. We must appeal to the Sect Master, if we can make her understand how valuable he is as a disciple, she may be willing to lower the punishment to mere loss of cultivation.”
“Loss of cultivation?” I asked, my desperation resurfacing.
“Unfortunately that is the most lenient I believe she will be.”
“That’s not acceptable.”
“Well then, I hope you know something about him that I do not.” I did not answer that. She sighed. “Let’s get going, the longer we wait, the less time we have to persuade her to spare his life.”
Elder Laaka lived as high as I’d ever been in the tower, so when we went up rather than down, I was entering unknown territory. I was more nervous than I was heading into the jungle for the first time, I could hear my heart as if it were pumping right next to my ears. My arms shook as if I had spent the last day hanging from them.
Elder Laaka grasped my hand and held it tightly. She gave me a supportive look, her ability to walk with such elegance without vision at least tore my mind away from the nerves for a while.
The staircase was long, we passed many tunnels and rooms, some Elders and a few wide corridors before we finally stopped. I was looking at a rather unassuming door. The staircase stopped at its feet. It appeared to slide into the rock in order to open. The soft thin wood was elegant and bright in comparison to the dull and jagged rocks that encase the huge staircase.
Elder Laaka knocked on the door, it moved back and forth despite how softly she had knocked. It was the most dainty door I’d seen in the sect, far from what I expected from the Sect Master.
The door suddenly slid open to reveal a disciple, except their robes were a different colour to mine. “Welcome, is it the Sect Master that you want to see?”
“Indeed,” confirmed Elder Laaka.
“Then, wait here. I will inform her of your arrival.”
“Thank you,” she said.
We waited in the room silently, we were there for a while before the disciple returned.
“She will see you now.”
“Thank you,” Elder Laaka said again. We followed the disciples arm and passed the threshold to a dreamy room of delicious smells and bright colours.
Pots of incense were placed carefully around the room causing me slight dizziness from the overwhelming amount of smoke. Furniture that practically shone with vibrant colours were placed against the walls, cupboards and drawers were full to bursting with fabrics and clothing.
Towards the centre of the room lay the most curvaceous woman I’d ever seen. She wore a robe that dripped off her body, her gaze was equally sultry as it was predatory. Her hair was long and covered the pink divan sofa like a blanket.
She brought herself into a sitting position as we approached. She straightened her beautifully flowery robe and flicked her hair behind her shoulders.
“Hello,” she said. She said it in a way I had never heard before, there was more of a gap between each syllable. It gave me the impression of control, as if every move and every sound was devoid of waste. As if it was unnecessary to finish the word and she would have preferred to stop at just ‘hel’.
“Greetings, Sect Master. It is an honour to see you again,” said Elder Laaka as she curtised deeply. I curtsied too but was lost for words. I merely put my head down to be as invisible as possible.
“Mele Laaka, it has been a long time since you graced me with your presence,” said the Sect Master as she stood up to return our greeting with a more shallow curtsy. Her elegance as she moved left me breathless. “And, who is the little one you have brought with you?” she asked as she finished.
“This is Safi Jaore. My disciple.”
“I heard that you had finally found some students. How wonderful,” she said with a genuine smile that lit up the hazy room. It was as if the smoke avoided her.
“Thank you, Sect Master.”
“Please, sit down. To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, the smile never left her face. However, this time I could tell she knew full well why we had made the journey.
“Sect Master, as I’m sure you are aware, my disciple has landed himself in quite some trouble. I am here to beg you to show him mercy.” The Sect Master giggled at Elder Laaka’s emotive pleading.
“Straight to the point, as ever,” she said. She then looked at me. “You are lucky to have found such a compassionate teacher.” Still lost for words I could only nod pathetically. She giggled again. “Mele, the rules. You know them as well as I do.”
“I understand that, Sect Master. I do. But this disciple is someone special,” said Elder Laaka.
“Well of course, he is your first disciple,” she said understandingly.
“Yes, that is true. However, that is not what I meant by special. He has talent, knowledge and power that far surpasses what I expected of him.”
“I know,” she said with another laugh. “After all, he put a hole in one of my elders.” Elder Laaka was quiet after that. “You want to spare his life?”
“I do,” she confirmed.
“Does he deserve it?”
“He is a diligent student, a good friend to Safi and a hard worker for the sect. I do not doubt that his outburst was for good reason. Not for a second. Therefore, yes. I do believe he deserves it.”
“What of you, Safi?” I was caught off guard by the question. I mustered all the courage I could and spoke shakily.
“Deserve it?” My words caught in my throat. “Deserve to be spared? No.” Elder Laaka and the Sect Master both looked at me in surprise. All it took was a single memory. The boy kneeling down outside my front door, the same one who had just devastated my life. Only this time, all I could feel from him was profound and bottomless love.
He ached as he spoke, sharing my pain and understanding my anger. He dragged me from my sadness and replaced it with joy. He fought for me, he laughed with me, he shared with me his deepest secrets and most raw emotions and he set me upon a path I had so desperately craved. One of happiness and fulfillment.
I finally had the chance to do something, to help him.
“You ask me, who has relied upon him. Who has learned from him. Who loves him. What does he deserve? He deserves more than you or I could possibly provide.” The Sect Master reeled back at my sudden proclamation, my confidence surprising her. “However, let me speak your language, as I know my feelings for him are not so easily shared. Are you familiar with the Broken Doors sect?”
“Yes, I am,” said the Sect Master, she was becoming more and more intrigued.
“We have a contact there who owes us in equivalence of our lives. Her name is Teteli.”
“I have heard such a name,” the Sect Master confirmed. Her curiosity grew further.
“That should be reason enough to spare his life. I will surrender whatever I gain from Teteli to you, as will he.”
“I suppose that is tempting,” she pondered.
“As for his cultivation,” I coughed to slow myself down. It was unfortunate that I was not able to confer with Sen’o before I shared his secret but it was the only way for him to convince them to keep his cultivation, I was sure of it. So it was either in this room with Elder Laaka and the Sect Master, or in a room full of Grand Elders. This situation was far more preferable.
“Sect Master, you are someone I cannot fathom. Looking at you makes me shiver, you are more beautiful than I knew could exist and your power dizzy's me. But Sen’o, he is someone you cannot fathom.” Anger flashed in the eyes of the Sect Master. “It is inevitable, after all. He is a reincarnated soul.” I shrugged.
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