Calvin was tending to his private herb garden when the formation around his villa notified him that there was an unknown cultivator waiting at his gate. The formation was not sensitive enough to determine much about the visitor, but it estimated that they were somewhere towards the high end of the Gathering realm or low end of Foundation, and there was only one such guest that Calvin was expecting today. It seemed that Gwen had finally arrived.

  Calvin finished watering his five-colored gemstone orchid, translucent petals swaying slightly in a phantom breeze as qi-infused water trickled over its roots, and set the small, nearly empty teapot he’d been using to water his spiritual herbs for several years now down on the table beside the orchid’s clay pot.

  His fingers ghosted over one of the flower’s petals, just far enough away to not touch the delicate crystalline membrane and risk damaging it, but close enough for the Scroll’s esoteric considerations of what he was and wasn’t actively examining. Five-Color Gemstone Orchid, Below Average quality. With the ease of long familiarity he brushed past the surface level information contained within those words and looked deeper, assessing the flower’s needs and condition. It was in generally good health, its spot near the wall ensuring it received a sufficient balance of shade and sunlight, and he’d learned better than to overwater it, but it still wasn’t thriving the way he’d hoped. The soil he’d planted it in wasn’t quite right, missing some manner of compound present in its natural environment, and he’d so far been unable to find an appropriate substitute.

  He pulled his hand away and sighed softly before turning away. The same old story. There was a reason many spiritual herbs were typically highly regional. It was only thanks to the Scroll’s deductive abilities that he’d managed to keep the orchid alive in the first place, carefully identifying just what he needed to mix into its soil through little more than trial, error, and some educated guesswork.

  At least Gwen had excellent timing. He still had some amount of work to do—mostly a bit of pruning and some tidying—but he was done watering so he wouldn’t need to infuse another pot-full for some time. The process of infusing qi into water wasn’t hard, but it was tedious and tiring, and at his level any qi he infused into something that wasn’t alive enough to hold onto it itself would diffuse out in a matter of hours. That was plenty of time to water a bush, three flowers, and a few herbs, but short enough that he had to repeat the process if he was interrupted midway through.

  Stepping out of the well lit room he’d converted into his indoor garden, Calvin looked down at himself, making sure he was presentable. He’d decided against dressing up—not that he really had many clothes to dress up with—so he was pretty much wearing what he always did. His disciple’s robe was clean and unwrinkled, as were his loose-fitting dark-gray pants and his muted-red undershirt. That was good enough for today.

  As he moved through the entryway, he immediately spotted Gwen through the window. She was standing a single step away from the gate, shifting nervously from foot to foot as she watched his front door and occasionally throwing glances over to where Jane was carefully tending to a small plot of cloud blossoms, her hands glowing with a pale yellow-white light as she delicately inspected the underside of each flower’s petals. She had a box tucked under one arm, the other hovering a few inches from the gate as though contemplating knocking.

  Unlike him, it seemed she had decided to dress up a little for their meeting. Calvin was suddenly painfully aware of what he’d told Ariadne—that he had a date planned. He wasn’t really treating it that way, and didn’t truly know what to do differently if he did want to make it a date, but Gwen was clearly putting far greater weight on their meeting than he was. He’d just wanted to cultivate a potentially valuable contact, not any sort of personal relationship!

  Like the last time he’d seen her, Gwen was wearing her worn disciple’s robe open at the front, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Unlike their previous meeting however, under the robe she was wearing a yellow dress instead of work clothes. It sat at an angle, leaving her left shoulder uncovered, and was longer on that side to match, ending at her knee on one side and mid-thigh on the other. She’d also done something with her hair. Instead of a high ponytail, it hung loosely down her back and shoulders in golden waves, a few strands framing her face.

  He briefly double checked that the pills he’d earmarked for her were placed conveniently near the entryway, then opened the door and stepped out into the midday sun. By the time the door had fully opened, Gwen had already stopped fidgeting. Her free hand hung loosely at her side and she stood straight and proud in front of the gate, the shadow of a faint blush barely visible on her sun-bronzed cheeks.

  He waved to her from the doorstep and walked briskly to the gate, which, like the wooden fence around the property, only came up to his mid chest. It wasn’t truly a barrier meant to stop anyone from entering—any cultivator could easily vault or even just hop over it—more a demarcation and anchor point for the boundary formations, but Gwen had politely stopped there to wait to be invited in. He appreciated the courtesy.

  She bowed shallowly as he approached, straightening her back but keeping her head angled towards the ground when he neared the gate. “Greetings, senior brother Calvin,” she called out. “I hope I haven’t come at a bad time.”

  “Not at all, junior sister,” he reassured her. He glanced up at the sky, judging the angle of the sun. It was getting towards late afternoon, a common enough time for a professional’s pick-me-up before a late evening meal. “Just on time, even.” He fiddled with the gate for a moment, the small mechanism annoyingly prone to catching and sticking at the best of times. There was a reason both he and all of his most frequent visitors—Jane, Mei, Wallis, Lulu, and the sect enforcer who collected his quarterly dues—tended to just jump over the blasted thing. Eventually he managed it, and he pulled the gate open and gestured up the path that led to his front door. “Be welcome in my home, junior sister.”

  She stepped through the gate, looking around with keen interest. Her eyes lingered briefly on Jane, who’d gone back to focussing on her work the moment Calvin had come outside, then continued scanning across the various spiritual herbs growing on either side of the bath. “Thank you. You have a beautiful home.” She paused for a moment, seemingly unconsciously shifting from foot to foot. Then she burst out, “I didn’t realize you were growing so many cool herbs! Are those star-berry bushes? They’re so big and healthy! And that must be jade vein mint, it’s so glossy! And cloud blossoms? I’ve never seen anyone growing those before, they’re supposed to be really hard to take care of, and the seeds are so expensive! They’re so––”

  She came up short, suddenly realizing that she was blabbering, and blushed cherry red. “Sorry, senior brother” she mumbled, “I don’t mean to pry into your affairs.”

  Calvin suppressed a laugh. Her enthusiasm was adorable, and he preferred it to the stammering. “It’s alright, I don’t mind.” He swept his hand towards the road that led past his villa. “If I didn’t want people to know what herbs I was growing, I wouldn’t plant them in full sight of the road.”

  “Oh. Okay.” She glanced back towards the small field of flowers with what Calvin thought might be longing.

  “Let’s not get in Jane’s way. If you’re careful, you can take a quick look after she’s done.” He began to walk up the path and after a moment––and a backwards glance––Gwen hurried after him. “So I take it you have some interest in herbalism, beyond how it relates to your alchemy? I remember you mentioned enjoying gardening.”

  “Uh, yeah. Yeah! I like it a lot. It’s relaxing. I used to help my mom in the garden when I was little.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “I never expected it would be so helpful after I ignited.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  This time Calvin laughed. “The stories do tend to focus more on flying swords and flashy martial arts than digging in the dirt, but both are important. And take it from me, knowing what herbs are useful and which ones are poisonous can be just as useful as knowing how to fight when you’re traveling outside the sect.” He wiggled his fingers and used the same technique that Jane was, warm sunlight gathering in his palm.

  Gwen gasped. “Is that the Sun and Grass technique?“

  “One of them. This one is The Sun Pools Like Dewdrops,” Calvin corrected, closing his hand and ending the technique. “It’s a very handy technique, though it eats through qi like nobody’s business if you’re not careful. If you’re interested,” she nodded vigorously, eyes glued to his hand, “the sect will happily teach you the whole method once you reach the Foundation realm. The first three lessons are free, and that’s more than enough time to learn the basics.” It was one of the few times the Eight Peaks Sect actually seemed generous to its least valued disciples. Calvin supposed the cost of the lessons was quickly offset by the far greater variety and quality of herbs that could be grown with the help of the Sun Shines and Grass Grows on the Eight Peaks method.

  She perked up. “Really? They do that?” She sounded surprised, even confused.

  The ghost of a frown flickered across Calvin’s face. “Yeah, they do. It’s one of the three foundational methods of the Outer sect. It’s just too qi intensive to be worth using during the Gathering realm, so they don’t teach it at the same time as the other two.”

  Gwen skipped a step. “Oh,” she said in a small voice, hunching her shoulders. “That’s…good to know.”

  Calvin frowned, glancing back towards her, but before he could say anything Gwen shook herself and hurried to catch up to him. “Thank you for looking out for me, senior brother.“ Changing the topic, she gestured vaguely towards his hand, then towards Jane. “I didn’t realize you had much of an interest in personally cultivating spiritual herbs. I heard you mostly hire others to do so for you?”

  Calvin let it go, shrugging. “I used to do a lot more of the growing myself, but a villa like this has a lot more land around it than a hut like the one you pay for. I could probably tend to all of it if I really tried, but that’s time I’d rather spend cultivating myself, not my herbs. These days, I mostly just take care of a few things I’ve collected in my time outside the sect and not much else.”

  Gwen nodded slowly. “I understand. Is that what you recommend doing?”

  “Ehh.” Calvin waved his hand, “Maybe? It works for me, but that doesn’t mean it would work for anyone. I was fortunate enough to stumble across a few items of value during my first few trips outside the sect, and one of these villas was up for grabs at just the right time. In all honesty the qi gathering formations were a lot more relevant to me than the land around the villa. That was just a bonus. I was prepared to let most of it go to waste before Jane and Mei approached me.”

  Gwen looked doubtful. “It doesn’t feel that much richer than around my hut, and a place like this is at least twice as expensive, plus you have to pay up front.” She paused for a moment, her eyes widening at her boldness. “Not that I doubt your wisdom,” she quickly added.

  They reached the end of the path and Calvin smiled, assuming the role of a wise young master. “It’s good to question things, junior sister, but it is also sometimes important to collect all the relevant information before you do so, or risk playing the fool.” He opened the door to his home, gesturing for her to go in first. “Give it a moment.”

  Suddenly hesitant, she glanced towards him for permission, and he once again gestured to the door. She took a single step inside and froze. “Woah…”

  Calvin slipped past her, enjoying the cool rush of air and rich qi. His reaction had been pretty similar the first time he’d entered a building with a dedicated qi-gathering formation rather than the more general ones used for growing spiritual herbs, and he’d artificially raised the concentration here even further. It was a rush.

  “This is amazing…” Gwen whispered, eyes closed and expression dreamy. “With this much qi I could have broken through months ago, and it’s so pure too.” She opened her eyes and looked at him with wide, curious eyes. “Are all the villa-tier houses like this?”

  “Not quite like this, but not far off. I made some minor changes to what was already present to further aid in my cultivation.”

  Concern fought with respect across her face and quickly won out. Calvin made a mental note to advise her to work on that—it was considered unseemly for a cultivator to be so not in control of their features and emotions and he didn’t want Gwen to suffer after she reached the Foundation realm. “Is that allowed, senior brother? If the enforcers found out you modified the formations…” she glanced warily towards the still open door behind her, and the road beyond. “Not that I would ever tell on senior brother after he welcomed me into his home!”

  Calvin couldn’t help but smile, silencing Gwen’s concerns. She was so earnest it was hard not to be charmed. He decided to try to be a bit more personable, momentarily discarding some of the cultivator mannerisms he’d adopted “I appreciate your concern, Gwen, but you don’t need to worry. Since I’ve rented the villa for several years all at once, the rules are somewhat more flexible than what you’re familiar with. As long as I return everything to its original state before I move out, the sect won’t penalize me.” And if the formations were a little better than they had been, they’d just give him a perfunctory slap on the wrist. Especially if his reason for no longer needing the villa was moving up to the Inner sect.

  Her blush, which had mostly faded during their walk up the path, returned in full force. “Oh, okay. That makes sense. Thank you for educating me, senior brother.”

  “Of course. That is the responsibility of a senior, is it not? And speaking of your advancement…” he picked up the pouch of pills he’d prepare for her. “A small gift to ease your coming breakthrough, sister.”

  She blinked once, staring at the pouch in his outstretched hand, then glanced down to the box she still carried tucked under one arm before looking back at him. “Um, that is mighty kind of senior brother, but any guidance senior is willing to offer is more than gift enough.” She stumbled slightly over her words, clearly unused to the way of speaking. “Though I am certain it is nothing compared to what senior is capable of obtaining himself, I, um, I mean, this junior has prepared a small token of her appreciation for senior brother’s aid in finding a place within the sect. She hopes it may in some small way assist him in his cultivation.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and thrust the box towards him with both hands, nearly knocking away the pouch he was still holding out to her.

  She was simply too much.

  Calvin thought it might technically be right to initially humbly decline the gift, but he’d never truly understood that whole song and dance that those with means engaged in. Sure sometimes it was important to know when a gift or offer came with far too many strings attached and run, but refusing charity was a good way to starve or freeze or overheat to death. Plus, he was pretty sure Gwen wouldn’t know what to do if he declined.

  He set the pouch down and accepted the box. “Thank you, junior sister. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.” He didn’t expect much—she was reasonably well off compared to most of the Outer disciples from comparable backgrounds, but he knew just how limited his resources would have been in her shoes without the Scroll to supplement them—but was curious what she thought might be useful. Most likely it was something from her monthly resource allocation that was only useful to Foundation realm cultivators and she’d been unable to trade away.

  The latch clicked and he opened the box. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Gwen watching him with bated breath, lips pulled into a tight line and eyes still half closed.

  Inside the box was a herb potted in a shallow clay dish that was barely visible beneath a half-dozen broad, glossy leaves. Three spiral shaped flower buds, dark blue petals tightly furled, hung off long stems amidst the leaves. The moment the box opened, a gentle, floral scent began to fill the room, a hint of medicinal sharpness hidden beneath the fragrance.

  He recognized the plant by sight. It was common enough in the Outer sect, grown by many disciples in window boxes and small gardens. The leaves, flowers, and seeds were all useful in various ways, even for Foundation realm cultivators, and it wasn’t all that difficult to take care of. Not an unreasonable gift all things considered, but he’d never seen one that looked quite like this, practically glowing with vitality.

  Calvin blinked, reflexively brushing his thumb lightly over the surface of one of the leaves. Glory of the Midnight Sun, Average quality.

  Average quality.

  What.

  QuestionableQuesting!

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