63. Companions

  The Dao companions Lahri, Farun and Arjun hesitated. They had decided, individually and collectively, that they were not to be separated again by anything save death itself. Individually, they believed that not even that would separate them very long.

  They had tasted death. They had felt the pain of losing one of their companions, and while their bonds were tight with their fellow disciples, between the three of them their bonds were iron. They were cement. They were stronger than steel and more flexible than water. They understood each other on a level that the most intimate couples could only dream about.

  “So why do we go to your sect first again, Arjun?” Farun asked, interrupting Lahri’s thoughts on the matter of their unity.

  “Because the paperwork to withdraw is quite long and I wish to get it started,” Arjun explained. “We’ve all agreed that we will settle down in Lahri’s sect.”

  “But doesn’t that mean that we should start with hers to ensure that they’ll have us?”

  Arjun raised a hand, and three orbs, one of water, one of flame, and one of earth appeared before him. He pressed them together with the power of their joint cultivation until they formed a gemstone. He studied it for a moment, then tossed it over his shoulder into the dirt.

  “If Lahri’s home does not welcome us, then we make our own,” he said. “We can pave the path do our door with diamonds.”

  ~~~~~~~

  The elders of the Azure Wind Sect listened carefully to Arjun’s reasoned arguments, his careful statements. His thanks for their care of him until that point, and his promises to repay their kindness in the future. And they rejected his request.

  “The Azure Wind will not willingly sever ties with you at this point in time,” Elder Jadan stated flatly. “Your request for your withdrawal paperwork is denied.”

  The three young cultivators exchanged glances.

  “Allow us to ask one more time politely,” Farun said flatly. “After that, we shall ask a third time, and it will not be polite.”

  With his words, they pulled on their cultivation. Their collective cultivation, which was greater than the sum of its parts. Together they served as a core in the greater constellation of the North Star Guiding formation with the other seven disciples of Little Bug, but alone they were a formidable force all on their own.

  As their power grew and grew, the determination of the elders broke. The Dao companions sensed the moment that their resolve broke and stopped their posturing.

  Six hours later, they left the Azure Wind Sect, having completed the necessary paperwork for Arjun to amicably withdraw from the organization.

  ~~~~~

  The Dao companions sat at a restaurant, eating hot-pot calmly as they recovered from the hours that their previous chore had taken them.

  “So why are we not just going straight to Farun’s Sect now?” Lahri asked, knowing the answer but it was pleasant to have conversation.

  “I’m not certain how strong the intelligence gathering network of the Green Dragon Sect is inside of our other two sects,” Farun explained, blowing on a strip of beef before chewing it. “I’m certain they know that we withdrew, but I want to make certain that someone with the senses to feel our power-play has time to give their report to my elders.”

  “And why don’t we just do the same thing again?” Arjun asked, again knowing the reason but enjoying making Farun explain it to them as though they were simpletons.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Because we don’t want to make it seem like we’re strongarming everyone to get our way in the face of tradition,” Farun said around his mouthful.

  “But we are,” Lahri said.

  “Oh yea, we definitely are,” Farun said. “But we don’t want to make it seem that way. Tradition is to be honored as long as it doesn’t get in our way. That’s the precedent we want to set, right? So now that we’ve revealed ourselves once, we keep our strength hidden and let the spies between our three sects spread the word that together, we’re far stronger than we ever were apart.”

  “How do you know that there are spies in my sect that will do that for yours and Lahri’s?” Arjun asked.

  “Oh please,” Farun said, and he didn’t deign the question with an answer further than that, simply sipping on the broth of his meal and making loud slurping sounds.

  ~~~~~~

  The elders of the Green Dragon Sect showed them straight in to a meeting room, where three cushions were laid out for them before a council of elders. It was unusual to allow outsiders into such a meeting, which would normally be an internal matter, but the report had come in that the three of them had somehow joined their Qi and fused it in some strange new path.

  They were uncertain whether the trio would consent to be separated or how they would react to the suggestion and didn’t want to raise the tensions by asking.

  So instead they simply invited the three of them politely to discuss their training under Little Bug. The young companions shared the version of events that all of the disciples had agreed to share.

  Then they requested that Farun be allowed to withdraw from the Green Dragon sect. The elders hesitated for a moment, then casually suggested that such could be arranged in exchange for more details on the technique which linked the three of them together.

  This deal was acceptable to all parties, and each of the companions just so happened to have penned a scroll just that morning detailing their thoughts on the technique. The exchange of information and permission was made, and the three companions walked out of the Green Dragon sect, having only spent an hour making arrangements.

  “I told you that would work,” Farun said.

  “Yes, well, they were your sect, so you ought to know how they’d react,” Arjun pointed out.

  “You’d think that, but we all know that he wasn’t nearly so certain as he acts in retrospect,” Lahri said. “But it’s not like they could have stopped us.”

  “No. It’s not,” Farun agreed, smiling.

  There were only a few things in the world which could stop them now.

  ~~~~~

  It was evening when they made their way to the Crimson Blossom Sect, and they were promptly shown inside. The elder who had sent Lahri south to be Little Bug’s disciple in the first place met them in a reception room, invited them to tea, and served them biscuits.

  They exchanged pleasantries for a few moments before the elder’s eyes narrowed.

  “So then. You wicked men have first stolen the heart of my beloved disciple, and now you intend to steal her away from my sect to start your own. Is that the size of things?” she asked.

  “I told you she’d say that,” Farun said.

  “What do you know? You hadn’t even met her, but it’s still a fairly obvious thing to say,” Arjun argued.

  “No, Auntie,” Lahri said, ignoring the men for a moment. “Actually, they wish to join as outside elders, if that’s possible. With my own ascension to the silver path, that would put us as equals in everything save for seniority, and I do like the idea of lording that over them until the end of time.”

  Her dao companions’ eyes narrowed at her, wondering for just a second how she had hidden that from them, and how she had manipulated them into this position.

  Then they decided that they didn’t care and began filling out the admission paperwork when the mortal servants brought it into the room. The formal tests of aptitude and strength would come in the morning, and they retired to one of the suites set up for visiting guests of great importance.

  In the days that followed, both the Azure Winds Sect and the Green Dragon Sect reached out to the Crimson Blossom Sect, requesting to bind their three already allied sects together even more tightly than they had been before.

  ?