Depthless Hunger

Before he reached the Blueblade sect, Kai stopped using Thunderbird's Wings and instead jumped onto his flying sword. It traveled much slower than going under his own power, but this way he would look like a normal cultivator, plus he could use a moment to catch his breath and reflect after the week streaking across the Western Wilds.

The Blueblade "sect" proved to own an entire city, which explained why Zae Zin Nim had chosen it as their first meeting point. The city walls and most of the upper class buildings were all made from blue slate, but otherwise it struck him as remarkably similar to the other buildings he'd seen on Cloudspire. Maybe he could ask about why that was after they met up again.

Or so he hoped... but with every inn or major landmark he checked without finding his wives, that hope began to wane.

Eventually he entered one of their locations for messages: a large teahouse. Not only was it owned by the Blueblade sect, it had to rub it in everyone's faces with sword-shaped chimes covering the ceiling. The wind was allowed to flow freely through the open rooms, creating a constant symphony of random chiming. Seemed like it would be murderous, if a wind ever blew the swords down.

More importantly, this teahouse was a neutral location that could allow parties to securely exchange messages. When Kai approached and gave the staff the secret code they'd agreed on, he finally got a response: there was a message for him. Two, actually, written on familiar paper that they'd all received back on Rosemount. Using that paper for messages instead of anything from Cloudspire was an added layer of security in case anyone tried to leave a false message.

First was a straightforward message from Zae Zin Nim, explaining that they had gone to the Pureflower sect. She apologized preemptively if it interfered with his plans and suggested more locations they could meet once they were done with their training.

Second, Omilaena had left him a very detailed description of what she planned to do with them once they reunited.

For a while Kai sat and drank his tea. Either it was completely tasteless or he didn't have the heart to taste anything. After so long dealing with the Bloodcoral sect, he had been looking forward to spending time with Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena.

People walked through the streets below and his gaze slipped over them, seeing almost nothing. His eyes eventually caught on a blue medallion hanging around the neck of a cultivator: clearly the local equivalent of the coral medallion around his own neck. It seemed to have multiple swords on it, no doubt reflecting an exact rank.