Book 8: Chapter 64: Keeping the Promise
Sen smiled at the little house with the barn-like structure out back. It was exactly as he remembered the place, which he realized wasn’t that big of a surprise. It hadn’t actually been ten years since he last visited the formation flag maker and his wife, it just felt like it. He walked up to the door and, much as he had the last time, summoned an expensive bottle of wine. He knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later a gray-haired woman opened the door. Her expression went from annoyed to surprised and happy from one eye blink to the next. Sen offered her a very respectful bow.
“Ung Wen, this humble wandering cultivator greets you.”
Snorting a little, she returned his bow and said, “Ung Wen greets the Lord Lu. Heavens above, did you somehow get prettier since the last time I saw you?”
“I suppose it’s possible. I was so hideous before it hardly seems possible that I couldn’t improve a little,” said Sen as he proffered the bottle.
Taking the bottle, she waved him inside. Sen sat while the woman bustled around and made them tea. Before she could find a snack, Sen waved a hand over the table and a plate of small cakes appeared.
“I’ve been trying out that recipe you gave me for these. I thought I’d present my efforts to the master for her appraisal.”
“My appraisal, eh?” she said. “Well, it’d be rude of me to refuse now.”
She carefully lifted one of the cakes from the plate and bit into it. She chewed thoughtfully, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts. After she swallowed the bite, she lifted her tea and took a sip.
“Well, I suppose it’s not a complete failure,” she said with a merry twinkle in her eyes.