Ki'el was a lit-tle sur-prised, and some-what con-cerned, that the El-der did not ask them to move into a pri-vate area, or even step away from the en-trance to the Less-er House. If any-thing, she thought, as she glanced to-wards the en-trance, it seemed al-most as though the El-der did not care where they were, per-haps ex-pect-ing the mat-ter to be solved triv-ial-ly. And yet... Ki'el glanced over, think-ing that she had not mem-o-rized the places ex-act-ly, but it seemed that the spot where she had been fight-ing, and the spot where Xan Bu had been stand-ing, were all with-in the ring of dark-ness that El-der Gol had cre-at-ed.

  If there was any truth-seek-ing method to the ring, Ki'el hoped, that would grant him some in-sight into what had gone on be-fore.

  "Be-fore any oth-er ac-cu-sa-tion is made," Xan Bu said, his voice sound-ing cross, "I did not wound the stu-dents be-fore me, and if my friend hap-pened to strike some-one too hard, it was only in de-fense of my hon-or." His lips curled only slight-ly away from his teeth, as though it was be-neath him to scowl and yet he could not re-sist. "An ac-cu-sa-tion was made that might have im-plied I was a de-mon-ic cul-ti-va-tor."

  El-der Gol's eyes mea-sured the man, then turned to face Ki'el. She took a deep breath, cir-cu-lat-ing fresh aether through her-self and Da Chi-an, but re-leased the tech-nique af-ter a mo-ment, when it seemed that noth-ing was in-trud-ing ex-cept the El-der's tech-nique. "I have nev-er wit-nessed a de-mon-ic tech-nique," Ki'el ad-mit-ted, "and I could only guess at what form one would take. How-ev-er... hav-ing been at the mer-cy of your qi, it spoke a great deal of what has shaped you." She stepped for-ward, know-ing that it was bold of her. "When ex-posed to your qi, I felt that the world was whis-per-ing about me, as though it in-tend-ed to be-tray me. It was only... my pu-rifi-ca-tion tech-nique that helped me re-sist that feel-ing, and when I did and I could sense the world clear-ly, I re-al-ized that you must suf-fer from the same ef-fect your-self."

  Xan Bu's qi spiked, first when she men-tioned hav-ing a pu-rifi-ca-tion tech-nique, then again a mo-ment lat-er when she spoke of sens-ing the world clear-ly. He glanced away, and a mo-ment lat-er, the El-der's eyes re-turned to him. "My qi is only Gold, same as yours. I have not yet de-vel-oped any qi na-tures, and would nev-er have at-tempt-ed to do so with-out in-struc-tion." He turned and fo-cused on Ki'el, and then past her. "Is that pu-rifi-ca-tion tech-nique what al-lowed you to tame that fer-al mon-ster af-ter she at-tacked my com-pan-ion?"

  "It purged your qi from them, as it did from me," Ki'el con-firmed, aware that Da Chi-an had tak-en a step for-ward and was breath-ing heav-i-ly, but had re-strained them-selves. "Once free from your qi, they re-gained their sens-es."

  "That is a heavy ac-cu-sa-tion. You be-lieve that my qi dri-ves peo-ple mad? On what proof?"

  Ki'el glanced at the el-der, who looked back at her, still out-ward-ly calm. What-ev-er thoughts re-mained in those depths, Ki'el had no way to know. "Do you not have a way to de-ter-mine this?"

  "To the best of your knowl-edge, you have each spo-ken no lies," El-der Gol said, "but there re-main many dif-fer-ent con-clu-sions one might reach. Please con-tin-ue to search for the truth, so that jus-tice may be done."

  Ki'el re-sist-ed the urge to glare at the old man, though she was sure her in-tent leaked out her mis-trust. Kuli, she in-struct-ed in her mind, stop me if you think I'm mak-ing a mis-take. She turned to look at Xan Bu, and opened her mouth to speak... but stopped, at Kuli's im-me-di-ate men-tal pres-sure. She closed her mouth, study-ing Xan Bu, and nod-ded. "Xan Bu. The bracelet that you wore last night on your left wrist, you are not wear-ing to-day, al-though you wear one just like it. Am I wrong?"

  Xan Bu's qi im-me-di-ate-ly be-gan to riot, though the man held his out-ward com-po-sure bet-ter. "I have many ac-ces-sories," he said. "They get dirty from Sect work, so I of-ten do not wear the same one day af-ter day."

  "Can you pro-duce that bracelet?"

  "I see no rea-son to." Xan Bu's eyes nar-rowed at her, and his qi be-came more er-rat-ic.

  "You very clear-ly know why I am ask-ing," Ki'el said, step-ping for-ward again. "I sensed that you put qi into that bracelet be-fore your 'friends' that night moved as one. It is clear-ly an ar-ti-fact of some kind, and I won-der just what its ef-fects are. It might only al-low you to com-mu-ni-cate, but it might also do more."

  Xan Bu glanced at El-der Gol, and Ki'el could see that the man's face was be-com-ing paler. "I... do not have the ar-ti-fact on my per-son."

  "Am I wrong to guess that you hid it and re-placed it with an-oth-er, just as you came with a dif-fer-ent group of friends, so that if I sug-gest-ed that the bracelet you wore was an ar-ti-fact, or that the peo-ple around you at-tacked me, you could claim with hon-esty that it was un-true?"

  "That is--" Xan Bu shift-ed. "I am not so wily as to come up with such a plan," he said. "I am many things, but a plot-ter and a schemer I am not."

  Kuli helped Ki'el not miss the de-flec-tion. She would doubt-less have un-der-stood it lat-er, but in the mo-ment, she felt dis-heart-ened by the de-nial, and the El-der's si-lence af-ter-wards. "So it was not your plan," em-pha-sized Ki'el. "But was it your in-tent? Is that the rea-son why these things were done?"

  "That... may have been how it was ex-plained to me," Xan Bu ad-mit-ted af-ter a long mo-ment of si-lence.

  "Who ex-plained it? Who helped you to plot so that you could get away--" Ki'el felt Kuli pres-sure her to stop, be-fore she said some-thing per-haps too much. She stopped and took a deep breath, and de-cid-ed to change her ques-tion in-stead of forc-ing that out of him. "Do you have rea-son to sus-pect that the bracelet may have had the ef-fect I men-tioned on your qi?"

  "Ah..." Xan Bu's face now had al-most no col-or. "It... is pos-si-ble. It has... un-pleas-ant ef-fects."

  "Who gave it to you? The same per-son who schooled you how to es-cape this kind of in-ves-ti-ga-tion? Did you come to the is-land with it?" Ki'el's qi, to her own mind, was straight as a blade, and bared naked be-fore the El-der and Xan Bu, threat-en-ing--but pure. An un-yield-ing sword, not one that cleaved flesh and bone as though it were sport.

  Xan Bu's eyes were now locked with El-der Gol's, whose face had not turned back to Ki'el for a time. And then, sud-den-ly, one of the oth-ers in the crowd be-hind Xan Bu got a strange look on her face, and Xan Bu leaped to-ward the el-der, an-oth-er ar-ti-fact ap-pear-ing in his hand.

  El-der Gol re-duced Xan Bu's arms and chest to ash-es in what Ki'el would lat-er de-cide was a mo-ment of con-fu-sion, but his eyes locked on the woman who had the bracelet a mo-ment lat-er, and one of his hands was on her throat, while the oth-er ripped her arm off at the shoul-der, throw-ing the arm that had the bracelet across the yard. With-in mo-ments, a ring of white spikes were dri-ven in the ground around the arm, and an-oth-er ring ap-peared around Xan Bu's sev-ered head, and the El-der was sim-ply star-ing, as though in dis-be-lief.

  Ki'el, per-haps more than many of the oth-ers around at that mo-ment, rec-og-nized that what she felt was the qi of a very pow-er-ful per-son who was ter-ri-fied and fu-ri-ous. She would med-i-tate on it lat-er, think-ing of the dif-fer-ent kinds of aether that Sobon spoke of in qi, and try-ing to un-der-stand how the emo-tions of a pow-er-ful mas-ter had flowed into and around the whole en-vi-ron-ment, not sim-ply em-anat-ed from his body like steam or smoke. Her abil-i-ty in the mo-ment to un-der-stand it was lit-tle enough; she could sense as-pects of the riv-er stones, in and out, and of the left and right cy-cles, and she could imag-ine that the man was also think-ing very fast--ac-cel-er-at-ing his own mind--and try-ing to hold on to the mo-ment and not let it pass, but none of this could re-al-ly be un-der-stand. Even if she had been able to stand there and study it for an age, she might not have un-der-stood it.

  But it was in truth only a mo-ment, and the El-der turned to Ki'el with eyes that were very dark. "You have done well to un-cov-er the truth, Xoi Doua Ki'el. This mat-ter will be in-ves-ti-gat-ed more thor-ough-ly, as it seems that some tru-ly dan-ger-ous things are afoot. Some-one will come to speak to you soon about the for-fei-ture."

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  Ki'el, not know-ing what that meant, nod-ded and stepped back, and turned to look at Da Chi-an, who had gone white as a sheet and fall-en to their knees. She moved over to them, think-ing that she could help Da Chi-an to un-der-stand the mo-ment, but when she touched their shoul-der, they were un-re-spon-sive, and re-mained so when she was more force-ful.

  So Ki'el helped Chi-an to their feet and pulled them into the build-ing, tak-ing them im-me-di-ate-ly to Sis-ter Futi's of-fice, who--un-usu-al for the woman--had set out three cups of tea, and was sim-ply sit-ting there with one of them, a very se-ri-ous look on her face.

  "Da Chi-an will be fine," Futi said, as Ki'el helped the oth-er into a chair. "Most peo-ple would not be able to han-dle the ex-po-sure to an El-der's qi as well as you. That pu-rifi-ca-tion tech-nique you men-tion--I take it that is one of the abil-i-ties from your mas-ter?"

  "Yes. It is... per-haps the wrong term for it, but it was also not a lie." Ki'el glanced at the tea, but hon-est-ly had no in-ter-est in it at all. She knew that it was a Djang cus-tom, and she did not hate the drink, but at the mo-ment, she had no stom-ach for any-thing, much less a drink she did not like. "It is sim-ply a pure en-er-gy that is help-ful to the body and spir-it. It... wash-es away some things that get in-side, per-haps."

  "It ex-plains last night. I thought your mind was very sharp in the mo-ment, when most would be con-fused." Futi caught Ki'el's eyes. "It is some-thing that may be valu-able to the Sect, so I will dis-cuss it with oth-ers, un-less you tell me not to.

  In-stead of an-swer-ing right away, Ki'el found an-oth-er chair in the room and sat, still not tak-ing one of the cups of tea. "El-der Gol... what is this 'for-fei-ture' he spoke of?"

  "It is sim-ple enough," she replied. "When a crime, es-pe-cial-ly a cap-i-tal crime, is com-mit-ed, then the ag-griev-ed is due a sum in rec-om-pense, for-feit-ed by the ag-gres-sor." She paused only a mo-ment, her tone switch-ing from aca-d-e-m-ic to con-ver-sa-tion-al. "That means that the one who at-tacks an-oth-er must pay. It is why Xan Bu was ea-ger to get Da Chi-an, or you, to at-tack his friend. If he can con-vince a mas-ter that he was the ag-griev-ed, then some Sect points and re-sources, and pos-si-bly even per-son-al pos-ses-sions, can be-come his. Since you have proven be-yond a shad-ow of a doubt that Xan Bu and Mai Xi-dou were at fault, their for-fei-ture will come to you." She glanced at Da Chi-an. "The sect is not... nu-anced on these mat-ters. Be-cause you proved it, all the for-fei-ture will come to you."

  Ki'el un-der-stood, and when Futi turned back to her, she clear-ly saw that in her eyes, be-cause she con-tin-ued. "The length of time you must re-main in the Less-er House is a mat-ter, as much of any-thing, of sect points. Not only can you use them to pur-chase re-sources for your own cul-ti-va-tion, but a price in sect points must be paid for every at-tempt to pass the Gold-en Wall un-der su-per-vi-sion. I hap-pen to know that Xan Bu trades his points fre-quent-ly, with peo-ple who will now come un-der grave sus-pi-cion, and so he may have a great num-ber now--or only a few. As for sect re-sources... for those who can-not af-ford their own Space Rings, the sect will of-ten al-low dis-ci-ples to pur-chase the rights to ma-te-ri-als that they do not im-me-di-ate-ly claim. Those rights can be sold to an-oth-er, or trad-ed back to the sect. Any rights that Xan Bu pur-chased will be a part of his for-fei-ture, nat-u-ral-ly. When the time comes that you wish to pur-chase or use such things, I or oth-ers can di-rect you to the dispsen-so-ry."

  As she was speak-ing, Ki'el no-ticed that Da Chi-an's breath-ing had slow-ly got-ten stronger, and they blinked, first once and then sev-er-al times, and then shook their head. "I am... awake. My apolo-gies, Sis-ter Futi. And sis-ter... apolo-gies, but I do not know...?"

  "I am Ki'el," she re-as-sured Da Chi-an with a hand on theirs, and al-though they shied away for a mo-ment, it was only that, be-fore they took Ki'el's hand in re-turn. "You are safe."

  "Yes, I..." She shook her head. "Did Broth-er Bu... ac-tu-al-ly at-tack an El-der?"

  "Yes. He was con-trolled." Futi stood up be-hind her desk, and the pleas-ant con-ver-staion-al tone that she had had dis-ap-peared. "Sis-ter Ki'el, Sis-ter Chi-an. Al-though oth-ers will have wit-nessed this, you should speak lit-tle or noth-ing of what hap-pened, and es-pe-cial-ly, not speak any-thing of con-trol-ling pow-ers and de-mon-ic qi, or any of the rea-sons why you be-lieve some-thing hap-pened." She glanced at Ki'el, who frowned, but nod-ded. "Oth-ers will in-ves-ti-gate, and they will come to their own con-clu-sions of what hap-pened. They will not tell you, or me, or any-one in the Less-er House. If it is found that you speak of a mat-ter they in-ves-ti-gat-ed, and you con-tra-dict what they say oc-curred, even if you speak out of ig-no-rance, they will not be kind. Do you un-der-stand?"

  "Yes," Ki'el said, al-though there was a cross-ness to her voice.

  Sis-ter Futi stepped back, her fea-tures re-lax-ing a lit-tle, but still look-ing se-vere. "You are young, Ki'el. Younger than many who end up in the Sect, and more ma-ture than many as well. To see you stand-ing there, like a qi sword carv-ing out a bit of cor-rup-tion, hurts my heart, be-cause that should have been the work of adults, not chil-dren. And yet, as long as you are here, you will be treat-ed like an adult, no dif-fer-ent from any-one else." She glanced be-tween the two of them. "You may choose to take some time off from sect du-ties, or you may come to me for an as-sign-ment if you wish to clear your head. For now... I must con-tin-ue my own du-ties."

  "Of course." Ki'el stood, re-leas-ing Chi-an's hand and of-fer-ing the old-er woman a short bow and half-salute. "Thank you, Sis-ter."

  When she turned, Chi-an was also of-fer-ing a bow and salute, and the two walked out of Futi's space to-geth-er. Chi-an's legs seemed to get more and more un-sta-ble the more they walked away, and Ki'el moved up be-side them, lay-ing a hand on their shoul-der out of con-cern. Chi-an turned to look, and then looked away.

  "You are kind, Sis-ter Ki'el," they said af-ter a mo-ment. "I do not... know what would have hap-pened to me with-out your as-sis-tance."

  Ki'el was un-sure for a mo-ment of what to say, but once she found words, they came quick-ly. "I was once res-cued as well, Da Chi-an. It is... not hard to see in you what I felt be-fore." Ki'el found her eyes stray-ing to noth-ing, a speck of dirt on the floor in front of her, that she watched pass with-out any in-ter-est at all. "A lack of hope. A lack of con-nec-tion. An empti-ness. There are many words, and they are... not good enough."

  "They are not," Chi-an agreed af-ter a mo-ment. "I have no-ticed you do not call me sis-ter, Ki'el. Have I of-fend-ed you?"

  Ki'el paused, but shook her head. "No. Only... the word did not seem to fit you. I will use it if you wish."

  Chi-an turned and caught Ki'el's eyes, and some-where in that gaze, Ki'el felt a con-nec-tion to the per-son be-side her. "You are not wrong that it does not fit me, but it is what I am. What am I to you, if not a sect sis-ter?"

  "A friend," Ki'el of-fered, with a small smile she hoped was sym-pa-thet-ic, and not sim-ply show-ing her own lon-li-ness.

  Chi-an sud-den-ly looked away, their cheeks and ears red-den-ing with em-bar-rass-ment. "I... yes, we are friends, as long as you'll have me, Sis-ter Ki'el. But the sect ex-pects us to be a bit more for-mal than that, don't they? At least in pub-lic?"

  "I will use the term if you wish," Ki'el in-sist-ed. "But... my mas-ter spoke of how who we are is no one else's busi-ness. And she... he..." Ki'el knew that cor-rect-ing her-self, in any oth-er cir-cum-stance, might only be con-fus-ing, but she al-lowed it now. And she knew that she was ex-tend-ing what Sobon had ac-tu-al-ly said... but she felt he would have ap-proved. "He spoke of how he was dis-gust-ed at oth-ers be-ing raised to be what oth-ers wish them to be, not con-sid-er-ing the per-son's own truths. If I be-lieved that you liked the word, I would have used it, but from the start, it did not seem to fit."

  "It is not wrong," Chi-an said, and alone in the hall-way, just the two of them, they ad-just-ed their sect cloth-ing so that Ki'el could see the naked truth, only for a mo-ment. "I am a sis-ter. But I am also... nev-er go-ing to have a child, ac-cord-ing to my moth-er. In some parts of our fam-i-ly, the spir-it beast blood-line is too strong, and the body be-comes warped. I may be a sis-ter, but I can-not be a moth-er. I am also not a broth-er, and can nev-er be a fa-ther. I can-not be like my moth-er, and I can-not be like my fa-ther. I am not sure who I am, or what. But al-though I am a sis-ter, I do not feel like a girl, and I do not sus-pect I will ever be a woman."

  Ki'el nod-ded at that, a lit-tle sad-dened at Chi-an's con-fu-sion. "Your fam-i-ly does not un-der-stand?"

  "They..." Chi-an looked away. "As you said, they are rais-ing me to be what they wish me to be. It is why I am here."

  "I do not be-lieve you need to be what they wish," Ki'el said, putting her hand on Chi-an's shoul-der once more. "Once you leave the sect, you will be strong enough to walk this world on your own, will you not?"

  Chi-an, this time, brushed her hand away. "The Rag-ing Storm Spir-it Fox blood-line is too rare and too pow-er-ful for peo-ple to sim-ply ig-nore. If I do not have my fam-i-ly's pro-tec-tion, I would need an-oth-er's, and any-one else would wish to mere-ly use me. I can-not trust..." Chi-an paused, then turned to Ki'el. "Even you, Ki'el. I am sor-ry."

  Ki'el just shook her head. "I am sure it seems that way to you," she said, "but the ways my mas-ter taught me will nev-er re-quire peo-ple of spe-cial blood-lines or the sac-ri-fice of chil-dren. When last I saw my mas-ter, he was prepar-ing to go fight an en-e-my with only a few script-ed items of most-ly mun-dane ma-te-r-i-al, along with Star-beast core. Al-though I have not seen him since then, I have been told that he sur-vived." She moved up to be in front of Chi-an, forc-ing them to look in her eyes. "Mas-ter Sobon's trea-sure is knowl-edge, not blood. It is the same for those who fol-low him."

  Chi-an mea-sured her eyes for a time, then looked away. "I will think on this," they said. "And I be-lieve you when you say that we are friends. But... trust-ing you with my fu-ture is an-oth-er mat-ter."

  "I un-der-stand." Ki'el, though she yearned to re-as-sure Da Chi-an, of-fered them a bow and a salute. "I will see you around, Chi-an. Sis-ter, if you wish."

  "Sis-ter, for now," Chi-an agreed, bow-ing back. "...Thank you, Ki'el."

  Ki'el moved away feel-ing more pos-i-tive since she had since that mo-ment of peace at dawn.