Chương 62: Spilled Tea

Rowan Lavinia spoke up.

"Is Fairy Snowsong also a cultivator of Blackscale Sect?" Ash shook his head.

"She's an independent cultivator affiliated with the Earthly Harmony Alliance. Not much is known about her either, other than the fact that she was blessed with a noble white serpent inheritance. The alliance sometimes sends her on errands where her special status comes in handy, but for the most part she's permanently stationed in the Southern Continent." Lavinia made an expression of bewilderment.

"If Fairy Snowsong is one of the cultivators stationed in the Southern Continent, doesn't that mean she's a hero? What's there to be concerned about?"

"A hero?" Ash scoffed.

"Don't tell me you're one of those fools who dream of being sent to the frontlines."

"And what if I am?" Lavinia asked, a sharp undercurrent in her voice.

"What if I want to be a hero as well? To protect our home from danger?" She cast a glance at Rowan, expecting him to agree with her. After all, Rowan now had something of a reputation of heroism. Rowan stopped himself from grimacing. He wished he were anywhere but here right now. Ash spoke before Rowan could get out a word.

"Most people are sent to the Southern Continent by force. My Great Aunt Iris had no choice!"

"Your Aunt is the most honored because she's made the most sacrifices. That's why she has three marks on the Valorous Wall–""Then why doesn't the alliance give our house actual rewards for her heroism, like cultivation resources or spirit stones? Why just scratchings on a wall none of us get to see?" Ash hissed under his breath, as though to himself.

"Why are merchant's daughters fed dreams like this?" Now Lavinia looked a little offended. Her fingers pushed angrily against the edges of the table.

"If cultivators don't risk their lives to fight, where do you think the demons will go? To our cities. They will destroy everything our ancestors have worked for. Even if cultivators don't wish to fight, they must, for the good of everyone. Didn't your family build this city here, across the shore from the Southern Continent, for a reason?" Ash's eyes narrowed.

"You're so shortsighted," finished Lavinia softly. A trace of something fiery snuck into Ash's expression. The temperature of the room went up a few degrees.

"Am I? Which of your family members has been conscripted, Lavinia Bruschard? Who have you lost? For House Helsing, it wasn't just our only current Foundation Establishment ancestor, or the two others before her. You're right. We did build this city and the rest of the Kyrr Peninsula. Where did Kyrr Helsing lose his life?" Condensation had formed on the sides of Rowan's cup.

"Control yourself, Ash. My drink is warm." Rowan could count on one hand how many times he had been the one to defuse a situation. Ash looked fully chastised. He turned to Lavinia.

"I apologize for my outburst. This is a sensitive topic for me. If I've ruined your drink as well, I'll get you another. The Dry Fire has been a little hard to control."

"Mysterious," murmured Lavinia. She deftly pivoted the subject of conversation, her voice soft and placating.

"I believe it is your turn to ask the Teahouse a question, Ash. Didn't you want to know more about your master?" Neither Rowan nor Ash made a word of disagreement, so Lavinia quickly, excitedly, wrote up the question and sent it up the chute. Out of the three of them, Lavinia was the most enamored with the mechanisms of the Teahouse, with its enchanted drawers, gears that hissed and turned inside of the walls, and the ritual of writing notes on the napkins.

But now she wore her excitement like a stiff mask, hiding any residual anger or frustration beneath it. The chute spat out the brass casing back into the room, the velocity shooting it through the air like an angry swallow. Ash's chair jerked back as he shot up in his seat, reaching across the table to catch the casing before it knocked over his tea. His elbow hit the teacup anyway, knocking it askew. The clear liquid and cherry blossom petals steeping inside of it splashed across the table.

Rowan lifted his own teacup away from the creeping puddle.

"By the ancestors," Ash cursed. He tried to wring out his wet sleeve before giving it up as a lost cause. If it had just been Ash and Rowan in the room, his cousin would have no compunction about undoing his dark blue outer sect robes and tossing them across the back of his chair to dry. But since there was a girl here, Ash just sat back in his seat, quietly suffering the feeling of wet cloth sticking against his skin. Rowan smiled faintly at him.

"Usually, I'm the clumsy one."

"Really?" remarked Lavinia. She thought for a moment.

"I do remember you dropping your quill a lot in class, but you haven't since you formed your Qi Sea."

"I'm flattered you paid so much attention to me." Lavinia made a face at him. Then, Ash opened the brass casing, taking a look at the contents within. He sighed, passing it to Rowan. Cavern Lady Dawnshard of Blackscale Sect, Qi Refiner, born Linde Teeling, Resplendent Jade Era 104, Spring. Unmarried. The Teeling family is known for its porcelain trade along the western coast of the Kyrr Peninsula. Considered the most promising Cavern Lord of recent years, with friends in many places.

Have more information, can exchange - Medium Priority, 2 SS.

"Uncle Desmond will probably return the spirit stones to me if I put some in the tube, won't he?" Ash wondered.

"Almost certainly," confirmed Rowan. The Decatours were known for being generous, especially to family. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Ash fished a pair of spirit stones out of his sleeve and stuffed them into the chute, along with the empty brass scroll case. After a few seconds of waiting, the case was returned, as if the Decatours had known that Ash would pay. Ash unfurled the new sheet of information. He read it out loud.

"Cavern Lady Dawnshard is the chosen inheritor of Patriarch Svaga of Blackscale Cove. He is a provincial Seasnake God who has gained power from the worship of the people of Deepwhale Pier. Cavern Lady Dawnshard has not shown her cultivation abilities at any point, but she is estimated to be in mid-stage Qi Refining. She carries with her the Red Butterfly Sword. The immortal foundation she seeks to establish is One With the World, a path of Lesser Yin Fire. She has a gambling problem."

"Gambling problem?" Lavinia muttered, concerned.

"One With the World?" Rowan asked.

"Patriarch Svaga is real?" Ash looked shocked.

"I thought he was a fairytale!"

"One With the World, one of the three hundred and twenty-four paths," confirmed Ostra." It is a difficult foundation to establish. She's quite ambitious." Rowan thought back to his Ensouled in Wood scripture. He knew the dangers of reading ahead and learning things before he was ready, but he had skimmed the manual for keywords. Names of spell arts, mainly. The name of the foundation he was seeking to establish, when he reached the Foundation Establishment realm, was Awaiting the Bird's Song.

The path of Spring, a path of Lesser Yang Wood.

"Lesser Yang is the exalt of Wood. Your path will be difficult in its own way."

"The exalt?" Rowan wondered"Every element has an exalt and a detriment," said Ostra.

"Fire is exalted in Greater Yang. Wood is exalted in Lesser Yang. Metal, in Lesser Yin, and Water in Greater Yin. Exalts are the most naturally occurring, and thus the most dominant, polarities of an element. Detriments are the reverse. The rarest and the opposing polarity of an element. For example, Greater Yin is in detriment in Wood."

"And Earth?"" Earth is the exception, as it does not have an exalt or detriment. This neutrality is a long studied mystery. The less you think about this for now, the better." Rowan thought about it, and decided it made sense. Also, if he was charting the polarities correctly, that meant Lesser Yin was detrimental in Fire. And that was Cavern Lady Dawnshard's path. A strange, rare path that wasn't as easy to understand as Spring.

"Well… somehow, I have even more questions than before," muttered Ash.

"But I suppose if my master is this close with Patriarch Svaga, then it's no wonder why people don't gossip idly about her."

"How powerful do you think your Seasnake God is?" asked Rowan curiously. Gods and Goddesses were often evaluated on how many worshippers they had. In truth, their Dao had a lot more to do with their personal cultivation. This was something Elder Cloris had spoken about in a guest lecture once. The lines between a god, a spirit, and a high-level spirit beast were blurred - to mortals, they were often the same thing.

"Powerful enough to be the patriarch of Blackscale Sect," said Ash.

"At least in Foundation Establishment. The Cavern Lords and Ladies are all Qi Refiners." He sighed loudly, slumping in his seat.

"Should I ask the Teahouse about the girl I'm supposed to marry?" Rowan tried not to laugh as he drank his tea.

"Does she scare you that much? Why don't you talk to her first before investigating her?"

"You're already engaged?" asked Lavinia, as if she hadn't been about to be, just days prior.

"It's a bit up in the air," said Ash. He cleared his throat.

"Anyway, Lavinia, do you have anything to ask the Teahouse? I know Rowan and I have been hogging the device." She shrugged.

"I'm still interested in those tax policies the menu mentioned." Ash nodded. He jotted down the item and sent it off. They received a reply immediately. Rowan figured that details on the "topics of the day" were likely prewritten. Many people surely requested such information. Rowan didn't have much interest in tax policies, so he kept quiet, thinking about his mother as Ash and Lavinia discussed, their earlier animosity put aside. Well, 'discussed' might've been too generous a term.

They began talking over each other again, as though having two separate conversations. He finished the rest of his tea and waited for a break in the conversation to introduce the idea of leaving. Nearly an hour passed, and Rowan realized he had been naive. A break in the conversation would not be coming.

"And of course, as you know, in recent years the price of three and four fin sea slugs–" Rowan had enough. They weren't going to stop unless he stopped them.

"It's getting late. Do we want to visit the pill shop today?"

"Yes," they both said in unison. Ash and Lavinia glared at one another. Ash threw a couple of taels onto the table. The three of them gathered themselves, and then squeezed out of the private room. In the large open floor of the teahouse, they weaved around a dozen more hexagonal Black Dragon Rooms. Even with Rowan's advanced sense of hearing, he couldn't make out what the other patrons were discussing inside. The rooms, aside from their thick, solid walls, must also have silencing enchantments scripted into them.

When they got to the front door, Lady Olympia Decatour appeared from nowhere, bidding them to pause. She slipped a little storage bag to Rowan, which he knew contained his ten spirit stones. He was up to nineteen of them now - orders of magnitude less than he needed to break through again.

"Ash, darling, your Uncle Desmond just arrived. Won't you greet him before you take off?"

"Of course," said Ash. He looked back at Rowan and Lavinia.

"Give me a few minutes, please. This won't take long. My uncle isn't the chatty type."

"It's true - you didn't get your talkative nature from our side of the family," said Lady Olympia. The woman dipped her head imperceptibly at Rowan - and outright ignored Lavinia - before leading Ash away with an indulgent smile. Rowan thought Lady Olympia's assessment was incorrect. Had she ever met her own son before? All Damion did was annoy people with his talking, and unlike Ash, none of it was ever interesting.

Rowan and Lavinia passed the threshold of the Teahouse and stood at the front, waiting for Ash to finish. Now that the two were alone, Lavinia finally let loose.

"Rowan, your cousin's gallant and scholarly, but he is so obnoxious."

"He's very straightforward about what he believes," Rowan said, not even sure he wanted to apologize for Ash. In a way, he agreed with them both. Cultivators needed to fight in the Southern Continent, and perhaps conscription was necessary, but also, the Earthly Harmony Alliance's methods were heavyhanded and self-interested. They clearly used the excuse of the Southern Continent Conflict to cripple the local powers, taking nearly everyone above a certain level of cultivation.

"His knowledge is so thin. Didn't you hear what he said about tax policies on qi fruit? And earlier, when we were discussing shipping routes, he didn't bring up any of the true disadvantages of the Southern Coast route, just the boilerplate arguments from the editorials. And his opinion on spirit beast cultivation? Sea slugs? Positively crass. He didn't even listen–" Rowan sighed. He played with the beads of his rosary as he nodded along to Lavinia, trying not to agree too much.

"I can't believe he thinks he knows more about Righteous Mountain than- than I do!" Lavinia declared.

"I can't believe he's engaged - who would ever agree to marry that buffoon? No offense, Rowan. All he does is talk! The nerve to describe himself as gregarious —"