The Heavens Shall Fall

Siu's eyes opened without warning as the ceiling of his room came into focus, still in utter darkness. For a few moments, he stayed beneath the blanket, pushing down the idea of going back to sleep as his body still felt tired. Beside his head, Arya was probably the greatest source of the idea, still asleep, curled up into a ball, while Marly was providing the second wave, doing the same, hugging his side. Siu closed his eyes again, almost letting their suggestions win, but then forced them back open and began moving.

“Master... Why are you awake?” Arya groaned, but didn't open her eyes yet.

“We have to leave early, so get up.”

“No.”

“Yes. Come on!”

“No,” she repeated, moaning into his ears. “It's dark, it's sleep-sleep time...”

“Aren't foxes nocturnal?”

“I'm special.”

"Yes, you are..." He grunted out loud, and in the end, he just sat up, ignoring the moans coming from Marly, who also got nudged awake.

“Breakfast...?” She asked, making Siu shrug.

“Not yet.”

"Sleeeeeeep..." She said with a long exhale and was back to dreaming about, most likely, food.

In the end, Siu ignored them and got ready, dragging them along nonetheless, like two dead animals, flopping around in his hand with limp limbs. By the time he came downstairs, Quillian was already waiting, leaning on his cane. His glasses sat low on his nose, and he wore the usual servants' robes while his hair was tied back more neatly than usual. As he entered the shop from the stairs, Siu noticed that a satchel rested on the counter, clearly there for him.

"Boy," Quillian pointed at it. “Carry that.”

“Yes, Senior.” Without arguing, he flung it over his shoulder, simply putting Arya and Marly into it as an extra.

“And these.” Quillian pushed two inkstones and a tied packet of brushes toward him. “And this.” A small paper-wrapped bundle landed on top of it all.

"Huh?" Marly's head popped out of the satchel, suddenly awake and aware, her nose twitching. “Is that food?”

“For me,” Quillian said without having to hear her, guessing the reason for her appearance by the way she was looking at the bundle.

Ending the discourse, Quillian opened the door and stepped out into the darkness before Siu could say anything, forcing him to follow the old man with hurried steps. Following the Public Road, even the Hollow Song could feel empty at certain hours of the day, and the moment before sunrise was exactly that moment. Those who were practicing anything that had to do with the dark and the night were still cultivating, and those who were the opposite were still asleep. Beside them, there were barely anyone along the lantern-lit stone road, only some sleepy-looking stragglers.

What didn't help with the atmosphere was the silence between them, and for a brief second, Siu almost wished Quillian would scold him again. At least that would have been something, but instead, the old man walked ahead of him with his stick tapping against stone. Siu couldn't help himself, but began listening to it, counting the taps right until the Hall of Infinite Echoes came into view.

Looking at the arched entrances one above the other, he wondered at which level they would go. Which stone stairway would they take? Or would they go with one of the floating platforms? While diverting his mind from counting the taps of Quillina's cane, they climbed the first stretch of steps toward the lowest public entrance, where, beneath the plaque reading 'Common Records and Orientation,' a checking station was set up.

The long stone table had been positioned near the threshold of the entrance, holding three blue-colored CC that blinked every time someone passed before it. On the top of the table, there was a massive ledger, so big in fact that it would need four people to hold its corners and carry it around. Two younger-looking servants stood near the two ends of the table, but the one seated behind it looked old. So old that he made Quillian look barely fifty.

He had an unpleasant-looking, narrow face, with massive, long, white, bushy eyebrows, sleek, long white hair, and a thin beard split into two threads, like he was a weird walrus. Unlike Quillian, though, his back was straight, and when he looked up from the ledger, noticing the two coming up the stairs, his eyes sharpened at once.

"That's..." Siu thought, noticing the change.

"Not good." Arya agreed, popping her head out from the satchel, along with Marly, as they too felt the sudden animosity aimed at them.

“Well,” the old servant said before they stopped at his table. “The dead do walk. I thought you were finished already.”

"Not before you," Quillian answered, sounding restrained, unlike what he said next. “Pellan, I will not give you the satisfaction of dying before you. I will wait until you are underground, piss on your grave, and then live for ten more years."

"Unless I shit on yours, first." The other, named Pellan, answered, making Siu want to turn around and go home. He didn't come to see two old men fighting before sunrise. Was this part of his punishment?

"This is not going to be quick..." he thought, making both his beasts shrug in agreement.

Just then, Pellan’s gaze moved to Siu as it passed over his robes, his sash, the satchel, then finally noticing and settling on the two beasts hanging out from it. His eyebrows rose, wrinkling his nose like he was smelling something foul, sneering at Quillian.

“No.”

"Huh?" Quillian’s eyes narrowed, sensing trouble. “No what?”

“No beasts past the threshold.” He said firmly, not even sparing another look at Siu.

For a moment, Siu thought he was an outer disciple again, getting stopped at a doorway... He could get over it back then, because that was another disciple, worried he would get into trouble, but this time? Someone who was a century or more of his elder, doing the same? It reeked of the fact he was simply making life hard for Quillian, but... This was laughable; he just didn't find it funny.

"This is low, even for you." Quillian said slowly, “Try again, with something better.”

"No entry," Pellan leaned back in his chair. “You heard me! No beasts past the threshold. You can complain all you want; I make the rules on this floor, not you.”

“You don't make jack shit, you half-deaf raisin-looking fuck!" Quillian exploded at once, slamming his cane on the hard floor, making the stone table rattle and jump with a clap of thunder. "They are contracted companions! They are allowed to go in!”

“They are animals.” Pellan said, unbothered, "No animals on my floor."

Arya’s fur puffed up at once, being called just an animal so many times. Still, before she could do anything, Quillian lifted one hand behind him, not looking back, and Arya swallowed her growl, throwing fire at the man behind the desk with her eyes. Naturally, Pellan noticed, and his smile became worse than before.

“See? That is precisely the issue. The little black one has a temper, and I can tell it has thief-like paws. Just look at it! A mangy mongrel. And then that brown thing next to it... Drooling like a rabid critter that needs to be put down. This is a library, not a roadside menagerie.”

Marly flinched, suddenly wiping her mouth, and indeed she was a bit droopy, but only because she was hungry and it was early... As for Arya, she was very close to exploding, just like Siu, who was only holding back because Quillian was standing before him, keen on handling the business. He also knew that if he did anything, Pellan would use it to stick it to both of them even further, and he didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"My decision is final," Pellan continued, looking back at Quillian, “I will not have some disgusting pets crawling over my shelves because old, senile Quillian has decided to collect unwanted strays again.”

Quillian did not speak for a moment, but when he did, his voice was soft, which, for some reason, sent shivers down Siu's back.

“Pellan. Have you thought this over...? Is this final?"

"It is." Pellan’s smile vanished, knowing Quillian was serious now. “Any attendant and servant of the library may deny entry to creatures if we judge them to be likely to damage library property; we can bar them from entering.”

“Incorrect,” Quillian said, and his voice made the table rattle again, and Siu could feel the old man's cultivation seep out. He may have failed to enter the Second Circle... but he once reached the peak of the first.

Sensing the aura wash over him, Pellan’s eyes narrowed and answered in kind, releasing his own, clashing with Quillian.

“Procedure states,” Quillian continued, pushing, “that contracted spirit companions may enter with their cultivator if the contract is mutual and registered with the sect. Damage liability falls upon the cultivator; that part is true. Any misconduct by the beast or beasts may result in fines, temporary exclusion, or disciplinary actions. The attendants may record objections, and present them to the residing elders, but...” He finished, reciting the codes he knew by the back of his hand, "You little shit of a maggot can't deny the entry of two mutually contracted beasts."

"..." Pellan’s jaw worked once, trying to find a loophole, but Quillian was probably the only one he wouldn't be able to outplay... and he knew it.

“Would you like me to recite the amendment date?” Quillian asked, and although his voice was calm and kind, his face was anything but. “The elder who signed it? The incident that caused its creation?”

"Hmph!" Pellan’s nostrils flared up, but he said nothing.

“I thought not.”

"Still," Pellan recovered enough to finally speak. “I will check their registry. Until then, no entry!"

“The sect registry applies to library access.” Quillian cut in, "Your table would have already warned you if someone was bringing in forbidden objects, or in his case, beasts. The fact that none of the three CCs reacted means Arya and Marly can access the library. Don't you dare try to say otherwise!"

“I will still have to create a library-specific record in case something happens to the tomes inside,” Pellan added, trying something else, but Quillian was ready for him.

“Not required, because the disciples and their sashes do that automatically.”

“It is strongly recommended.”

“That does not mean it is required.”

"It is on my floor!" Pellan said, raising his voice, slapping his table. “You always were careless with boundaries; I am not. They will register... with me!”

The air between the two old men became even worse, and the two others, at both ends of the table, were looking away from them, not wanting to get caught up in whatever... this was. As for Siu, he did not know the history between them, but he did not need to. These two had a dark past, and a really bad one; that much was clear.

In the end, to terminate the appearing stalemate, Siu stepped forward, ready to register, whatever that meant. He answered Pellan's angry, cold questions about name, records, and whatnot, as the old bastard refused to use the formations on his table to read it from the sect's own records. When Siu mentioned Elder Delia's role in the contracts, Pellan thought he was lying, finally checking the validity with his tokens... only for his face to turn sour, finding it all to be true. He had no other cards, so he had to finalize his own little registration card, allowing entry to both Arya and Marly.

"Hmph," Pellan snorted, trusting it into Siu's hand while he looked at the satchel and sneered at the two pair of eyes looking at him. “And what is this, Quillian? You standing up to some schmuck? Is he another of your little projects?”

"..." Inhaling to keep his mouth shut and his thoughts in his head, Siu stayed silent with great effort... and thankfully, Quillian answered before he could fail in staying silent.

“He is assisting me, and this is none of your business from here on out.”

“That poor boy.” Pellan looked at Siu again, this time with something almost like pity. But... it was clearly fake. He already hated Siu just as much as he hated Quillian. “Careful, disciple. This old shitbag likes broken things, because it makes him feel useful. He will cripple you too.”

Siu’s fingers tightened around the satchel strap, because his mouth opened to answer, but, once again, he gulped it back down. Not this time. It was already a lot for Quillian, and he wouldn't want to increase the pressure on him, especially since he came here to help him, not cause more issues. What everyone missed was how Arya’s mismatched eyes began to glow... just as the first light of the morning hit the group, washing the dangerous glow out of her gaze. It was just then that Quillian straightened himself, standing before Siu.

“You can insult me,” he said, disgust on his face, watching Pellan. “You can complain about my habits, or my methods, or my past choices. Feel free.” Then, before Quillian continued, he took a deep breath, his tone turning chilly, “But you will not call my assistant broken, and you will not call his companions strays, mongrels, thieves, or pests in my presence.”

Siu stared at the back of him, almost smiling while, for some reason, his throat felt tight. At the same time, both Arya and Marly had gone very quiet, also looking at Quillian's, now very much straight back. He didn't even look that old suddenly... or smelled weird at all.

"If you try anything like this again," Quillian added with a deadpan look and voice, "I will cripple you more than your failed tribulation did."