The Heavens Shall Fall

"Ugh... What the..." The first thing Siu noticed upon waking up was that he could not breathe, and it was also the reason he woke from his dream, where he was being crushed by Orzimar's spell.

He was reliving the fight for the past few days for some reason, even if it was already a month in the past. In his dreams, it was now a recurring event, maybe because his training had also intensified, going through multiple bouts against all of the others under Quillian's supervision.

However, after waking up, unlike in that dream, the weight on him wasn't hard or cold at all; quite the opposite, it was warm and soft, and it had completely buried his face. For several confused seconds, he stayed still, trying to understand whether he was still dreaming or whether he was being smothered to death by a sweet-smelling assassin. Trying to move, his right arm was pinned beneath a heavy body, and even one of his legs had been captured between two smooth thighs, and something fluffy had wrapped itself around his waist... twice.

"Mhmh..." A sweeter moan entered his ears as the body above him shifted, noticing him waking up, “Mmm... Master...”

"..." Siu closed his eyes again, realizing his situation at once.

Arya's full weight was on him, and although it was very pleasant, he was actually running out of oxygen. Doing his best, Siu tried to turn his head, and thus managed to get half a breath, only for Arya to murmur unhappily and pull him back in tighter.

“Release...” he whispered into her, "Dying..."

"..." Arya’s ear twitched, clearly hearing but barely awake to understand, “Mine...”

“Air... Please..."

Once again, instead of helping, her leg shifted upward and tightened around him even more. There was not much to do, so Siu forced one of his hands free, reached upward, found her shoulders, and began pushing. Of course, nothing happened, making him try to put more force into the push. Its result was that Arya made a now pleased noise and rubbed herself against him, mistaking his effort to survive for affection, so her tail tightened further around him.

“Master is warm...”

“Help,” Siu groaned, now both speaking into her flesh and through their connection, “Die... No air... Emergency...!”

“Big Sis, stop humping Master,” Marly said through their bond all of a sudden, "He is tired. And sweaty."

At that, Arya's head moved a little, and for one hopeful moment, Siu thought she might wake up, but instead, she buried him more thoroughly, so much so that Siu considered biting her... He almost did it, but then he imagined how she would interpret that, and he abandoned the idea immediately.

What came to his rescue was that the first traces of dawn were beginning to enter through the window just right above the bed. He was blessing his luck and that summer had arrived. Thus, for the past week, the mornings were getting much brighter and came even earlier than the day before. The change was instantaneous as one moment, he was being crushed beneath her, but the next, a much smaller Arya dropped onto his chest with a thump.

"AIR!" Siu gasped deeply, and apparently, that finally woke her up, sitting up on him, rubbing her eyes that were now full of tears.

“Nyoooooh!"

“Good morning...?” Siu asked after surviving, suddenly unsure what was going on.

“No!” she cried, turning toward the window, throwing a specific finger towards the light. “Evil sun! You ruined it! It almost happened!”

“Happened what? Killing me?” Siu asked, looking at her with slanted eyes, stifling a cough.

“I was cuddling, and you were liking it, Master!”

“Get off.”

“Was Master not comfortable?” She asked, starting to smile.

“No, because I could not breathe.”

“Master, you are dodging!" She continued, her grin rising, "Did Master enjoy waking up between my—”

"Off," Siu pushed her face away as she began leaning towards him with puckered lips, "Time to go; we have a ton of things we have to do."

“Hauh! So cold!” Arya moaned, yet she laughed at the same time, allowing herself to be shoved aside. She rolled onto the narrow strip of mattress between him and the wall, then immediately wrapped both arms around his arm. “Tonight, we try again.”

“Please no.” He muttered, fighting to get free.

“I will lie sideways... And Master can be on top this time around.”

"..." Siu sat up so quickly that Arya nearly fell from the bed, causing Marly to laugh, sitting atop the nightstand, stuffing her mouth full with snacks. “You too,” Siu warned her, pointing toward her. “You watched me struggle with not even a thought about helping out.”

“Big Sis is scary when she is like that...”

“You fought an Elder; how scary can a fox girl be?” He asked with a snort.

“Master... in the bedroom?” Marly asked, the food almost falling out of her mouth, because she didn't expect that she needed to explain that part to Siu.

"Heh! The bed," Arya puffed up her chest proudly, which was flat as a board at the moment, “Is my territory.”

"Just... just for one day, start the day normally. That's all I ask," Siu moaned as he climbed from the bed before the argument could continue.

Hurriedly, he crossed to the washbasin behind the folding screen, splashed cold water over his face to calm his thoughts, and began dressing while Arya watched from the bed with her chin resting on both hands.

“I am meeting Seloryn,” he said in the meantime, making sure they wouldn't complain, "Last chance to decide to stay, because if we take all day, I don't want to hear any complaints."

"We won't!" Arya answered, also getting up, beginning to dress, "Promise!"

Siu didn't know if he believed her at all, but after getting ready, they headed into the narrow hallway and opened the door leading to the shared common room. Quillian was already there, reading with a cup of tea beside him.

"I was about to wake you," He said, without looking up from the book. "Seloryn is downstairs; she came not that long ago."

"Ah, thanks, Senior," Siu nodded, heading down at once, pulling the two along, making even Arya cry out for a moment.

"Master?! Breakfast?!" She moaned, but his only answer was that they would eat something later.

As for Seloryn, she was already waiting outside the Red Leaf when Siu got down and out of the front door, finding the shop empty.

"You look... weird. What happened?" She asked, raising a brow, noticing some faint marks on his face.

“It was romantic, you see—” Arya answered gleefully, making her further raise her brows, shrugging in the end.

"I'm not interested in that. Come, let's go!"

“You really do want to arrive early.” Siu chuckled, as both of them ignored Arya, who rushed after them, skulking, holding Marly in her hands that were now crossed before her chest.

"It's summer, so it gets stuffy in there quickly." She shrugged, and it was true. Despite being in a valley among five mountains, it was sometimes painfully hot.

“So... What exactly did you prepare?” Siu asked, nodding toward the papers visible beneath Seloryn’s arm.

“Everything we agreed upon.” She shrugged as she handed him the bundle. "I don't even know if we will be able to afford any or get permissions for half of the suggestions, so we will have to ask."

"Meeting hall, administrative room, storage, kitchen and pantry, washroom, private training courtyard, meditation rooms with separate affinity controls, beast-compatible sleeping area, guest rooms, library, infirmary, formation workshop, underground storage, observation terrace, large ceremonial entrance..." By then, Siu stopped walking, looking up at her. “Who requested the ceremonial entrance?”

“Ruben.” She moaned, rubbing her face.

“Just remove it, like half of the other requests. Why would we need an infirmary? I get that we have a massive space at our hands, but not unlimited funds!”

“Where is our love nest?” Arya asked, leaning over his arms, watching the papers. "This list is incomplete!"

“That's not important, Big Sis; at least the pantry is there!” Marly sighed in relief.

"This is too much." Siu handed the papers back to Seloryn, shaking his head. “We need stages anyway. If we build something, we just need the basics for now.”

“That was my intention,” she answered, taking them and continuing to walk, "But I don't want to constantly go back and forth for permissions, so I thought of dumping every possibility onto the table now and seeing what's what. Don't worry, I just want confirmation, and the first stage will be all about one central building with a hall, kitchen, storage, washrooms, and maybe two smaller rooms with the massive outside marked as a training space, so we can start recruiting.”

“How much money do we have now?” he asked the most important question.

“Not enough." She answered promptly, “We are here to discover the cost, so then we will go on a mission frenzy. All that we earn, we will throw into building the basics.” By the time she finished, they had already walked up the stairs and entered the main hall of the Nine Hanging Bells, and she began turning her head, squinting.

“So... Property Management?”

“No.” Siu pointed upward, having a really good idea where to go with these issues. “Let's head to the Property Records. We can ask them what was there before, and can get a good base of argument, if they deny anything.”

“Good idea!" She grinned, "After you."

Only a few minutes later, they were in the same office where Siu learned about the past of the empty parcel that was now theirs. The thin administrator in blue-gray robes, just as before, sat in his rolling chair, moving from one side of the circular desk to the other without standing up at all.

“Huh?" He glanced up when they reached his table. "You... Sorry, I can't help if you didn't get any answer.”

“No, nothing like that and... Good morning, Senior.” Siu smiled, cupping his hands, while the administrator put down the transparent slate he had been holding.

“Yeah, we own the Gemstone Terrace now,” Arya added proudly, leaning onto the table, "We are that good."

"Own... it?" The man stared at her, then at Siu and Seloryn. “What happened?” He asked, his voice going up a bit.

“Long story short, we acquired it,” Siu said but then got interrupted at once.

"Whoa, wait a minute! What do you mean by that?!"

“Ownership,” Arya repeated, making a smug face. “For real, real. We. Own. It.”

“That is not an... That's... No... That... Inner Disciples owning it?" He mumbled, as that was rare, coming from silver sash youngsters, because even amongst Core Disciples, it was a rarity. Even those instances were mostly because an elder rewarded their disciples with a plot, a tiny cave, or something. Not even most servants had a place they owned! He didn't.

"You can check it," Seloryn said simply while placing the Spirit Wardens’ founding tablet on the desk. “Then, we will need assistance concerning construction rights and alterations. If you can look up what was there before, it would be a good start.”

The administrator looked at the tablet in a hurry, and after confirming it, his rolling chair slowly slid backward, making him almost fall out of it. After nearly a minute, the man was only staring at the details, but then he drew a deep breath and reached beneath the desk, pulling himself back up properly.

“Okay... What are you planning to build?” He asked, while calling up relevant records that, unlike before, now began appearing in bulk, surprising even him.

“That is what we are trying to determine,” Seloryn said. “We need to know which elders oversee private construction within sect territory, who is qualified to inspect and work around the spatial formation the place has, and what permissions are required before we begin.”

"Hm, hm," The administrator pulled out three tablets as he listened, without interrupting, doing his part, even if he felt shocked. "Well, ordinary construction would require a registered plan beforehand, submitted to the supervising builder, and approval from the local grounds office on the first floor.” He explained as he touched the first tablet. “However, you mentioned you have a formation? Let's see... Oh... Ooooh... Tsk. That complicates things, because any structure built over an active formation requires a certified formation survey before the foundation can even be approved.”

“That was expected,” Siu said, but he was quickly interrupted.

“No,” the administrator said, sounding grave, finishing reading the notes appearing before him. “I do not believe you understand. I had pulled up the relevant data... and... That formation is connected to the Hollow Song’s original ground network." He began summoning the maps that were now showing things that eyes couldn't see, as he enlarged the image for them. They could notice dozens of lines beneath Gemstone Terrace connected to dozens of other, distant points. “You see... It predates most of the current territory we use. Altering the wrong formation line could affect entire roads or water channels! If done badly, it may interfere with present defensive barriers or nearby spatial structures. You don't want a place that can vanish from under you or trap you in nowhere, do you?"

"Wait..." Arya slowly raised her hand. “Could it explode?”

“Perhaps.” The man answered, making all of them flinch.

"This won't be easy." The administrator touched the third tablet, shaking his head. “This means you cannot hire ordinary disciple-run builders. You will require an elder-level formation specialist to perform the survey and take responsibility for every alteration you will make.”

“An elder... personally?” Siu asked, feeling that would hurt their coffers more than anything.

“At minimum," He warned them seriously, "Considering the age of it all.”

“How much would that cost?” Seloryn asked, gulping, "Theoretically speaking."

"Um..." The administrator looked at her, feeling sorry for both of them. “That depends on the elder. I cannot estimate as I value my employment here, so please, don't ask.”

"Fuck..." Seloryn’s eyes closed as she swore silently, pinching the ridge of her nose. "Damn it... We should have gone with the cave."

“If you are open to suggestions," The servant spoke up after a momentary pause, "The same elder who handed it off to you... Could qualify. He was and still should be an expert in the field... No?”

"..." Realizing it, Seloryn and Siu just looked at each other, feeling that it was worth a shot, already forgetting about all the questions they wanted to ask while coming here. "Can you send a message like before?" Siu asked, and the servant wanted to say no, but in the end, he just shrugged.

"Look, he probably won't answer," He began speaking after using the same mark as before, but then he stopped. "Huh?"

"What?" Arya asked, feeling impatient, her ears standing alert.

"He... answered... already." The man looked at them, blinking his eyes rapidly. "He says he is waiting in the... Red Leaf? What's that?"

"Like now?" Siu asked, almost biting his tongue.

"It... doesn't say, but... His answer was instantaneous." The servant muttered, but by then, the group was already hurrying away, leaving him there, as everyone began sprinting back towards Quillian's bookshop.