The Heavens Shall Fall

After completing the loop Joren had mentioned to him, Siu continued walking carefully, mapping the roads, often finding them looping back to the main road itself, doing it for the rest of the day. He had seen more buildings, towers, terraces, shops, clearly private gardens, barricaded bridges, and hidden doors that sometimes spit a disciple out unexpectedly than he had ever done so in his whole life. He even decided to ask one of them if there was any way he could rent a private home nearby, but they just looked at him weirdly, before ditching him with not even an excuse.

"What a rude bunch..." Arya scoffed as they walked back onto the public road.

"I do feel like I'm an actual bumpkin in the big city..." Siu murmured back, feeling both a bit frustrated and smiling at the same time. He wasn't expecting it to be like it, especially not after everything, yet a cultivator's life is indeed full of the unexpected.

He tried to check the boards he came across next. Still, he only found offers from visiting merchants and guests pinned there, leaving their information up and inviting Hollow Song members to come and trade. There were no actual offers, especially not about a rentable home. Worst of it all, any time he found what looked like a residential district, the stone road always led him into private territory, hence, straight into a wall he could not pass without permission.

By the time he and the girls returned to the Resting Reed, the sun had nearly disappeared on the horizon. As if on schedule, floating lanterns began to appear along the main roads, lighting up one after another, hovering without being tethered to anything. At the same time, shops kept closing their doors, covering their bottom-floor windows while the upper ones lit up with orange lights. Siu suddenly had an idea of starting his own shop... then he could also live above it. It felt appropriate, but out of reach at the moment.

“Haaaah…” He exhaled as the Resting Reed came into view. “Let's end the day for now.”

“Finally!" Arya moaned from his head, “I'm starving!”

“FOOD!” Marly yelled at once, waking up from her sleep, as she was curled around Siu's neck until that moment.

“You two ate enough snacks, stop complaining.” Siu shut them down quickly because he indeed stopped and bought some food from stalls they had passed by earlier. It was surprisingly cheap yet tasty, whatever it was that they ate, because he didn't really ask and just trusted the two's noses to pick out good food.

By then, he stepped through the entrance of the Reed just as the evening crowd was beginning to thicken. Disciples, just like in the morning, sat around tables, speaking over tea and steaming bowls of food, making even Siu's stomach rumble. Looking around, he couldn't see Joren, as the sleepy-eyed girl from the morning was finishing her shift behind the counter, stacking cups with the expression of someone who wanted to murder the next person asking for... well... anything. Someone had a bad day, huh?

Taking a deep breath, preparing himself, Siu was about to walk toward her anyway, then stopped when the side door behind the counter opened, and Joren came in. Lucky, he thought at once. Joren was rolling up his sleeves as he entered, and he was looking like someone who had woken up for the night shift a few minutes ago, which was exactly what had happened.

"Oh? Siu? Arriving or leaving?” He asked with a smile as he stepped behind the counter, took the ledger from the girl, who immediately looked relieved, then threw everything down and left without saying a word. “I'm still willing to buy you out, Sheela,” Joren told her, speaking to her back, "If you hate it that much here, just sell your part to me."

“Greedy fuck,” she muttered, then looked at Siu, Arya, and Marly while passing by them. “Watch out for him, newbie,” she added, "He will stab you in the back one day."

"O-okay?" Siu answered, taken aback by it all, while the girl gave him a flat look, then shuffled away toward the back stairs.

"Salty one, isn't she?" Joren watched her leave, then looked Siu over, still smiling. “Didn't take well to the breakup, but she refuses to quit the shop.”

“I won't ask questions as long as the service is good.” He shrugged, sitting down at the counter.

“Exactly.” Joren chortled, "Now, what will it be?"

“FOOD!” Arya hopped down from his head onto the counter, stretching like a cat, and Marly followed suit, landing beside her with a small thud before immediately sniffing for crumbs. "FOOD!"

"Food, I assume?" Joren pointed at them, asking, “And my counter is not for dirty paws.”

"Hmph!" Arya lifted one paw, directly at Joren, “Tell him my paws are clean. I could put it in his mouth and make him suckle it!”

“Her paws are clean,” Siu translated with a sigh, leaving out the rest.

"I can guess that was not all she said, considering her haughty looks," Joren said with a smirk, watching Arya. “Are they really clean?” Seeing both beasts now glaring at him, Joren chuckled again, then leaned his elbows lightly on the counter. “Okay, okay. I got it. Before I bring out your dish, do tell me why you look like you also just broke up with your sweetheart?"

“I couldn’t find a place to rent,” Siu said it plainly, because there was no point circling around it. “Or buy, but I didn't think that to be possible anyway. The issue is, I couldn't even ask around about it properly. The best I could achieve was finding guest rooms for visitors, restricting paths, and the like. Within the outers, there were at least signs put out.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Not helping.”

“For someone looking the way you were probably looking? It is what I have expected.”

"Meaning?" Siu narrowed his eyes, raising a brow.

“Even if you go around asking everyone, you will just get weird looks.” Joren began telling him while he opened the ledger, checking the day's income for himself. “Housing here isn’t handled like that. Good places rarely sit around with a sign saying ‘Please rent me.’ Many of them are inherited and traded among disciples within an organization. Then, you can find ones that come as a reward for completing contacts, usually held by elders, who gift them for providing something they liked. Lastly, they change hands between disciples. That's the most frequent one, in fact.”

“Could have told me early.”

“And ruin your exploration? Nah. We all go through this. If you want a house for yourself, you have to buy it from someone you know. Or find someone willing to share, halving the monthly expenses with you for living there."

"Great..." Siu rubbed his forehead while muttering.

Deep inside, he had expected something like this. He had hoped that would not be the case, but he had expected it. The inner disciple territory was too large and too dense for housing to be as simple as it had been before. He could tell that every cave, courtyard, whatever they may be, had some insane value, especially considering how many people were inside the Hollow Song.

“What about the Mission Hall?” Siu asked, raising his head. “Seloryn said official missions are there, but does it have lodging boards too? I didn't check.”

“No, only missions.” Joren shook his head. “The Nine Hanging Bells records official residences, true, but those are tied to sect duty, temporary assignment lodging, and mission-specific quarters. As I said, they are the ones tied to tasks and possible rewards. This also means that when you take a long mission outside, in a region controlled by the sect, they’ll know where to send you. Also, if you get assigned to work under an official hall, they may provide you with your own quarters. But if you want a place of your own? Somewhere you can live, train, store things, and keep those two without daily fines racking up?” He nodded at Arya and Marly. “You have to go to the Disciple Hall.”

"Ah..." Siu leaned forward slightly, repeating it as he suddenly remembered what Seloryn had told him about it.

“Mhm.”

“I was going to look for it today, but we ran out of daylight.” He muttered, looking at Joren, seeing him smile.

“No worries there. Better not to enter the Disciple Hall without knowing why you are there. You see, there are always people trying to unload bad requests on newbies, put them through desperate short-term work, and if they sniff out what you are looking for, you can be sure that you would be swamped by overpriced rentals or desperate recruitments from struggling groups.”

“Nothing new then,” Siu nodded without being surprised, because these were the same things that happened in the outers' place, and what he had warned Neya on their very first day. Only, here, it was on a larger scale, that's all... And he wasn't in the mood to run into another Nue-like situation.

“Yep." Joren nodded, "But the overwhelming feeling of exploring the sect makes people forget it. You could be ripped off easily if you are not careful.”

“That sounds like Golden Scroll would love to work there.”

“Golden Scroll?” Joren asked, raising a brow, unaware of the name.

“It was and is an outer disciple information trading group. I had worked with the old leader before he advanced. Their new leader is also someone I know... Anyway, the former went by the name of Toban.”

“Toban... Toban..." Joren muttered, then snapped his finger, "Ah! I’ve heard the name. He has been sniffing around the broker circles, new guy. I heard it is rare for fresh meat to be prepared like that. Never met him before, though, so I can't tell the validity of the rumors of doing well for himself. It's hearsay only.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if he is doing well. He even made me owe him once.”

“Rough." Joren shrugged, shaking his head, "People like him will either become rich or get thrown off a bridge in here.”

"Knowing him, he would learn to fly," Siu answered as he leaned against the counter, thinking. “So, the Disciple Hall... How official would it be if I found something there?”

“It is official enough to exist under the sect’s permission. It is perfectly normal for disciples to post things for other disciples. Need three people for a Tier One gathering mission? Post there, offering a share of the official quest's reward. Need someone to repair a minor artifact? Post there if you don't want to pay the official rates and are willing to accept lower-quality work. Selling old boots? Definitely post it there. One of the main rules, though, is not to just take the first offer. Second, anything cheap is cheap for a reason. There is a third, and the most important of all: put it in writing. Don't take anyone's word for granted! I repeat: put it in writing. When complaining because something had gone wrong, it makes it easier for the Elders to decide who to side with.”

"How often do things go wrong?" Siu asked, looking at him slowly.

"Hm..." Joren shrugged. “It happens.”

“How often?”

“Often enough that most disciples ask for contracts when dealing with other disciples.”

"So," Arya suddenly butted in, "Food? Where food? Food? Food here? No food here. Where food?"

"Food, food, food, food, food, food, food—" Marly kept repeating, overwhelming Siu's mind suddenly.

"..." Joren watched him for a moment, then chuckled, seeing him wince. “You really are talking with them constantly, huh?”

“Yes.”

“That must be exhausting.”

“It is, sometimes,” He muttered, trying not to flinch.

“If you want advice," Joren continued in the end, "don’t rent anything before you’ve seen three or four options. Also, with two contracted beasts, especially mutual contracts, you should prioritize space and privacy over anything else.”

"I see..." Siu muttered, looking at the two, knowing exactly what Joren meant, because when they would advance and turn into humans... a one-bed apartment would feel tiny. Even if Arya would say otherwise.

Joren let him think about it after that, and to Arya and Marly's happy squeals. When he came back, he brought along dinner, containing steaks, baked potatoes, and enough gravy to drown Arya in it.

“Go to the Disciple Hall in the morning. Early." He said, placing the food before the three, "Preferably, before actual sunrise, and look through the boards, see what's on there. Ignore anything attached to faction recruitment unless you want to join one. If something looks good, don’t sign immediately, go to the counter and ask who owns it, why it’s empty, what restrictions exist, and whether the price is in Ember, Flame, or Sun Crystals.”

“Are you this helpful with any newcomers?” Siu suddenly asked, making him grin.

“Nope,” Joren answered sharply, putting a drink down for him. “I got a feeling about you, and the fact that you know Senior Seloryn... That is enough for me to know I can bet on you succeeding in, well, whatever Senior Seloryn thinks you will succeed. Then, you have two mutual beast contracts, which means you are either going to become someone big or already someone the Elders are looking at. I prefer being on friendly terms with you than not... Especially when you inevitably get famous for something, and I will have no chance of saying even hi.”

“That is very... honest,” Siu answered in the end, gulping down a bite before Arya or Marly could wipe the plate clean. Although he understood why Joren was so helpful, he still appreciated it, even more so after Joren spoke so openly.

“We both know how things work,” He added, placing another slice of meat on the plate as Arya had already finished hers. "I'm not stupid enough to deny the obvious. And lastly... You treat them like people.” He glanced at the two, "That tells me more than I need to know."

"Huh?" Siu’s expression shifted slightly. “They are people.”

“Many would disagree.” He shrugged, "Maybe not in this sect, but... I have seen how people handle their beasts outside."

For a short moment, the noise of the Resting Reed filled the space between them as Siu watched Joren's gaze wander between Arya and Marly.

“Thanks, Joren," Siu said, breaking the silence, "I’ll go tomorrow morning then.”

“I’ll take you there.”

"Hm?" Siu looked back up, a potato blocking his mouth from speaking normally.

“My shift ends at breakfast, and I need to go there anyway.”

“For work?”

“Kinda. For myself.” Joren smiled faintly. “I may run an inn, but I’m still a disciple. I do cultivate and do my own thing; I'm not a servant, and hopefully won't turn into one either. So,” he leaned back, wiping his hands, "Make sure you sleep early, and come down before the sun is completely up!"