Chapter 191 – Party
By the time the sun went down, the Wardens' courtyard in the middle of their new home had been transformed into a venue for their celebratory party marking their successful advancement. A massive table had been dragged outside, while benches had been rearranged around it and next to the pool. To illuminate it all, golden lanterns were hung up, right beneath the galleries, while someone had placed several floating lights in the pool itself.
“Come on!” Arya laughed, both hands wrapped around one of Siu's arms. “You are too dry! Just one jump and it will be fixed!”
“I prefer being dry.” He answered without flinching, resisting her pull, because she had been trying to drag him into the pool for the past ten minutes. When he first refused the idea, notifying her of the fact that they were fully clothed, she almost began undressing... When that was stopped, she still hadn't given up.
“Boring! Just a bit of fun, Master, come on! Let's play!” She moaned, enjoying her tall form way too much, pressing up against Siu at every possible moment.
“If I do that, who finishes roasting the meat?”
“Ah...” Arya immediately stopped pulling, letting him go. “You may remain dry.”
“Thank you.”
“For now.” She giggled, bouncing in place, clasping her hands behind her back, looking over the sizzling meat, taking a deep breath. “I can take over if you want.”
“No, thanks, I'll manage.”
“I can cook.”
“You can?” He raised a brow, squinting at her, "Or you can eat? Because I have only seen the latter until now, and we all need our portions. I am not leaving the fox alone to guard the henhouse."
“Master, that's racist. Speciest! I am not that kind of fox! I just looooove... meeeeaaaat!” She moaned, once again, rubbing up against him, making Siu flinch.
"I hate the fact you know exactly what you are doing and saying..." He muttered, while Marly poked her head over the edge of the table, climbing up on it, holding a roasted nut in her hands.
"Bouncy Sis wants to mate, Master. You better get on with it; she won't be calmed down otherwise."
"Just let me enjoy tonight," Siu answered, saying nothing more, but that alone made Arya giggle in a very dangerous tone.
While they were pestering him, Nokoh sat with one leg stretched out beside the pool, his torso mostly hidden beneath a fresh set of robes, but several strips of bandaging were poking out from under them around his arms and neck. Besides him, Cho'Wa looked a bit worse, mostly because of his wet fur. He was now partly submerged in the shallow end of the pool. His wounded leg was carefully wrapped in a strong-scented, medicinal gauze while resting on the stone edge, and his body floated blissfully behind him.
Sitting next to Nokoh, Ruben looked considerably better than the two of them, because he just fixed his hair, replaced his clothes, and... Pretty much that was it.
“You know,” Joren said while getting a piece of meat onto his plate from Siu, “when we got back, my half-bastard spent longer fixing his hair than I guess Kal had to spend in the medicinal baths.”
“That is not true,” Ruben answered at once, holding a bottle of wine, pouring for himself and Nokoh. "You are the bastard, not me."
“...”
"Can't believe you two are back to like this already!" Seloryn said, laughing from the other side of the table, munching on her portion of roasted meat and potatoes, looking fine and healthy.
“You should have seen him,” Joren argued, turning toward her and Siu. “The whole fight, Kal was screaming at him, yet he managed to stay silent. That was probably a bigger effort than beating the guy.”
“I can imagine,” Nokoh said, making Ruben throw him a hurt, betrayed look.
“You held back your tongue?” Seloryn asked, surprised.
"He knows how to get under your skin," Joren answered instead of him, making Ruben simply smile and take a sip.
"Mind games are part of a battle." Vael agreed, sitting down, starting to eat, too. "You just can't ignore the importance of it, especially against someone who has a fire affinity. They are, statistically speaking, the easiest to rile up."
"Are you turning into Quillian?" Arya asked, hopping onto the table instead of using a chair, holding a piece of meat in her hand, eating it without any care, flinging her legs around provocatively. "That sounded like the old man."
"You are lucky he is on a night shift," Siu threw an empty bone at her, hitting her in the forehead, making her yelp dramatically, "or you would be in deep trouble."
"Oh, come on, Master, you would protect me!" She moaned, rubbing her head, reaching for a cup on the table.
"Stop." Siu narrowed his eyes before she could lift it to take a sip. “What is that?”
"Huh?" Arya looked down. “A cup.”
“I didn't give that to you. So... What's inside it?”
“Liquid.”
“Arya,” Siu muttered, squinting even more.
“Master.” She squinted back, getting into a showdown. "I'm older than you. Counting my beast years, I'm actually almost double your age."
“You are not—”
“I am.” She added, pushing her chest out proudly, making them bounce. "My actual form proves it!"
“You still won't drink from a cup if you don't know what's inside it.”
"It's just wine," Toban's voice interjected, making everyone flinch, as nobody even realized he had arrived and was now sitting between Seloryn and Arya with a plate full of meat. "And it's mine, and no, I didn't give it to her.”
"Geez! Stinky stingy Toby!" Arya grumbled, putting it down. "Oh well, Master, you can give me some directly, mouth-to-mouth!"
"Ew." Said Marly, whose mouth was full of nuts by then.
"Says the one who jumped out of someone else's mouth to facehug MY Master!" Arya snapped at her, making Marly look away, acting like she wasn't even there.
"You can have some from mine later," Siu sighed, giving up as he finally decided it was time for his own portion, sitting down, “But before that, at least let me eat something.”
“Master cares about me! I knew it!” She giggled as she immediately sat on his lap, to which Siu almost dropped his fork.
“Arya, ugh, you weigh more in this form. Be more careful!”
"Well," Her eyes narrowed, "My breasts alone are probably—”
“I am amazed she hasn't been taken advantage of yet,” Seloryn said with an honest sigh, interrupting her while looking at the two. "I didn't know men could hold back like this."
All of the others near the table almost choked, while even Arya was weirdly gazing at Seloryn. She wasn't the only one who was taken aback by her words, because Ruben turned away, while Joren covered his face with his own cup. Even Toban looked uncomfortable, deciding that with a full mouth of meat, he wouldn't need to speak. Only Vael managed to speak up.
"Cultivation can bring the worst out of everyone who has a weak will or morals from the start," he said, his gaze growing distant. "Especially if someone gets addicted to power... But that doesn't mean everyone is like that person."
"I know," Seloryn shrugged, slowly closing her eyes. "Otherwise, I wouldn't even be here."
...
....
......
At the same time, while the Wardens were celebrating their successful debut, Kal Torrent was touching his now bald head, grimacing. All that hair he had been developing since birth was gone... along with his eyebrows, too. The medicinal bath had restored his skin, giving it a pinkish hue, and had repaired most of the burns across his face and body. He was even forced to drink multiple medicinal potions to deal with the damaged tissue inside his throat and lungs, causing him a massive loss in CC. However, his shining head was a bigger issue than his considerably slimmer pouch, at least for him.
“Say it,” Kal grunted while he was standing with other disciples of his association, waiting.
“I didn't say anything.” The man answered in a hurry, avoiding his gaze, which looked way too eerie right now. Kal became much more frightening like this... everyone agreed on that front.
“You were going to, so get it out of the way, fucker!”
“No, I swear, Senior, I just breathe weird!”
Kal stared daggers at him, making him step away in a hurry, while around them, the Burning Banner headquarters was weirdly quiet. Compared to their showcase at the match, it was day and night, and probably even their neighbors were curious why it was so quiet inside their compound. Eventually, that nervous silence was broken by footsteps from the upper hallway, and all the gathered leadership's backs straightened automatically, except Kal, who simply turned to look at the arriving figure.
The man coming down the stairs was not particularly imposing at first glance: average height, leanly built, with short brown-black hair, and wearing simple red-accented robes. He was Rovan, Paragon Rank Seventy-Seven and the leader of the Burning Banner. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs after arriving, scanning them before he just looked at Kal and his head, making Kal's eyes begin to twitch.
“Don't...” He grunted, but Rovan had already walked closer, smiling.
“Then stop presenting such an interesting subject, Kal the Shiny One.”
"...!" A few disciples coughed to mask their laughter, making Kal's eyes twitch even more.
“Senior..." He said through gritted teeth, "You too?”
“I am your leader, and I am obligated to test your emotional resilience.” He answered with an even bigger smile, "It shines even in these dark times. I'm proud of you."
“FUCK!” Kal slammed both hands onto the table, and finally, the room burst into laughter, and Kal eventually joined in, even if only briefly, because then his expression darkened again. “Still... He humiliated me.”
“Not really.” Rovan said with a shrug, speaking directly to him, “You humiliated yourself.”
"..." Although Kal took a deep breath, he did not explode, because Rovan was one of the few people who could say something like that to him and receive an actual answer. “I know,” Kal said with surprising calmness, not even hiding his voice.
"That's what I have been telling you for a long time now," Rovan continued in a similarly calm and mentor-like tone, “Your overreliance on your deep pool of essence is going to be your downfall. Instead of fine-tuning your control, you went off the deep end in expanding your reserves. Maybe now you will start to listen and create actual techniques, hm?”
"Ugh..." Kal grimaced because he knew Rovan was right. He just... He hated reading and thinking about how to form... spells. “Well, Senior, if I learned something, it's that steam fucking hurts. Still!" He leaned forward, stopping another bout of laughter. "I want repayment.”
"Kal..." Rovan's eyes narrowed slightly as the room quieted down in an instant.
"Senior," One of the older Burning Banner members leaned forward, too, “You want to challenge him?”
"Huh?" Kal immediately shook his head. “No? Well, not yet; I wouldn't be able to beat him down right now.”
“Explain what you want,” Rovan said, his eyebrows relaxing a little.
"Hm..." Kal exhaled through his nose, thinking, “I'm angry mostly because they used us to advertise their association! I lost. Fine. I can take that, and I can atone for it, because it hurt our association.” He shrugged. “I'll get Ninety-Five back later. Or another number. But using us like that?! To make themselves famous?! I want repayment for using me as their fucking billboard!”
"Well," Rovan leaned back, considering his words, looking at the others in the room, prompting them to start voicing their own views on the matter.
“He isn't wrong.”
“They challenged three people simultaneously, so that was absolutely coordinated. We can't rule out the fact that our association was in their calculations. If they can beat us down in a future group challenge, that would further propel their name, too.”
"Maybe," another cut in, “Or maybe that's a bit too much, and they just picked favorable opponents. Most Paragons do.”
Rovan remained silent as they kept talking, thinking it through. His Burning Banner was not weak, and not the only fire-related group they could have gone after. There are those who don't even have Paragons, after all, so he didn't believe that was their motive. However, with three Paragons, that could have been a bad look, too, so he wasn't a hundred percent on the idea.
“I asked around.” Rovan continued, "And there are some interesting things about them, for example, their headquarters. I couldn't find or pinpoint it."
“Huh?” They all looked at him at that.
"You can't find it. Nobody can." Rovan reiterated, crossing his arms as he explained. "Meaning, it has a strong formation, obscuring it unless you are invited to the premises...”
"They have some strong backing if that is the case..." Kal's anger cooled a little at that. “An Elder?”
“Obviously.” Someone else answered, "Question is, who?"
"Nothing could be found out about that either," Rovan's eyes narrowed as he continued, "But I traced their actions, including their moves before forming, and none of their members were doing anything noteworthy, but then they got pulled together. It happened in a snap."
"Meaning?" Kal asked, wanting him to get to the point.
"Their leader, a boy, or should I say, a character named Siu. He was an outer only a year ago, yet apparently Silver Flute was in contact with him even then."
"So she is the mastermind and uses a boy as a puppet, big deal." Kal snorted, but Ruben shook his head.
"I am not so sure about that... Plus that's way out of Silver Flute's character. Every point I got drew a picture, placing this Siu in the middle of it all. A disciple with that kind of pull has to be checked, especially when he fought Nokoh before recruiting him."
"They fought?" Others piped up, because they were unaware of the situation.
"It wasn't a Paragon challenge," Rovan added at once. "There was no announcement, and Siu lost, but the fact that Nokoh then joined them after? These are not coincidences... Best to look out for that boy, because something is brewing, and if Silver Flute is involved, I'm not going to get into her mess."
“So we do nothing.” Kal's brows would have risen in annoyance if he had any.
“For now.” Rovan nodded. "Silver Flute has a grudge against a Core Disciple, and if she is mad enough to try and challenge him, I am not going to meddle with that nonsense! Or are you?" Even Kal fell silent as everyone else shook their heads. "Good. Don't do anything stupid, but keep yourselves prepared. If they are indeed looking for a war, for prestige, we will entertain them... And win. Until then, focus on yourselves!"
...
....
......
It wasn't only the Burning Banner that found the spreading news both alarming and interesting. There was a Core Disciple, going by the name of Darius, who found the entire thing amusing. Well... For approximately five minutes. After reading the reports his subordinates brought back, he chuckled a little while sitting beside an open window in one of the upper halls of his association's headquarters.
"Interesting..." He muttered, throwing another piece of grape into his mouth. Apparently, Seloryn had once again improved, which made him smile. “Well, at least she finally moved up a little. Would have been disappointing if she got stuck there forever... My little hummingbird.”
It had been years since he last heard of her or even thought of her, but now, memories were flooding in. From the time they were both outers to when she joined him in the Inner Disciples' ranks. All those years... The time when she entered the same association he was slowly taking over, and then onto the Paragon list, always following him around... right until she finally landed in his bed.
“Hm.” His smile grew as he let out a satisfied sigh. "She was the tastiest one. The longer you ferment, it's just... Hits different."
It was still strangely satisfying thinking about it, and the aftertaste in that moment, just remembering it, was better than any other affairs he entertained between and after Seloryn. Now she even had a new place, yet she once yelled at him that she would never join anyone, ever again... Yet, years later, here she was, a member of these... Spirit Wardens. What a strange name they had. It sounded childish. However, they still had three Paragons, even if from the lower half of the list, where names and ranks got changed the most. What interested him most was their new place, which even he couldn't find out much about. He was considering asking his Master about it, so he wasn't so worried about that anomaly. What made him frown was the name attached to the Wardens.
“Siu.” He muttered, never even hearing about him before. "Are you my hummingbird's new project? Or...?"
A warning stirred somewhere in his mind, because there were no actual coincidences in the world; he learned that much from his Master. There is always a cause, and there is always an effect.
"Well, whatever you are planning," He said in the end, stretching with a smile, "I don't think you can reach me ever again, my little birdie... There was always a gap between us, and it only widened since the day I earned my golden sash."