“Good morning, Initiate Luoyin.”

Instructor Quan’s voice was kind and Yao did his best to nod, his hand moving to the mirror in his pocket. His mother had woken him up for training like usual and while he couldn’t explain it, something told him he needed to have it. It hadn’t done anything since the night before, but considering how it had been given to him, it felt right to keep on him.

“Good morning, Instructor Quan.” Yao bowed, sitting down on the cushion in front of his desk. He was surprised not to see his ink and brushes, but he had never had a lesson that wasn’t writing or reading. Instructor Quan was sitting across from him, and he noticed she was sitting much closer than Instructor Shen used too. 

“Did you consider my question?” her calm voice made Yao flinch, and he looked away as she chuckled. “It’s alright not to have an answer yet. I merely want you to keep that question close to your chest and when you are ready, I want to hear an answer with conviction.”

“Did you–”

“Yes, I asked your mother the same question when we met. I ask all of my students.” Instructor Quan interrupted and Yao felt his curiosity peak. The fish had said his mother didn’t want to be a cultivator, so he was curious to know what her answer was. “However, I won’t tell you what others have said. You need to decide for yourself.”

Yao nodded again, even though he still didn’t know how he should answer the question. Instructor Quan adjusted slightly on her seat, and Yao noticed that she seemed to be meditating like his mother did. The silence dragged on, making him squirm in his seat, which pulled another chuckle from the older woman. 

“Cultivation is not something we get to choose, and nor was it chosen by our founder, Su Tianyao. Each of the families in the Heavenly Sect is descended from one of his children and as such, so am I and so are you.” Instructor Quan finally began and Yao straightened, recognizing from her tone that the lesson had begun. “Qi is the one who decides, and like it chose me, chose your mother, it has now chosen you.”

The woman took another pause and Yao watched as she slowly stood, moving with a grace he wasn’t used to seeing in women her age. Most older women moved slowly, like they were always tired, or like something hurt when they walked. Instructor Quan didn’t. Yao watched the way her sleeves stayed still as she stepped to the edge of the platform and he found himself holding his breath without meaning to.

“It is not our job to understand why qi chose us or Founder Su’s family. We simply accept that we are chosen and that comes with responsibility.” She moved to the center of the room and Yao watched, noticing the way the sunlight from outside the open door seemed to follow her, touching the edge of her sleeve like a string being drawn taut. She turned toward him again, her voice calm as always, but there was a kind of weight to it now, like her words had to be held in both hands. 

“Re…sponsiblity?” 

“Those who reach the height of Ascendent have the ability to affect reality. That means they have to be careful around everyone else and wield their abilities safely for others,” Instructor Quan explained and Yao did his best to follow along with what she was saying. “Right now, you are an Initiate, someone who has just been marked and will soon learn how to interact with qi. The goal right now is to prepare your body to be a home it can live inside and to learn to harmonize with it.

“Is that why my ma takes me out to run or do those poses?” Yao asked, and he grinned as Instructor Quan nodded. 

“Young Initiates like you struggle the most with the physical aspect due to being so young, so your mother is doing her best to help strengthen you without hurting you,” the older woman glided across the floor again and this time Yao noticed how the sunlight bent around her. “I see you noticed.”

“Is that?”

“Yes, I have been circulating my qi. Qi is a natural force in our world, yet it is unseen to those not chosen by it.” Instructor Quan retook her seat and Yao felt a slight flutter of excitement. Is this why the boy in the mirror wanted to be marked, to see what his mother saw? “It flows, like the wind through the leaves of a tree, and its mark on our bodies tells us how it wants to flow.

“For us, born of the founder’s fourth daughter, Su Taiheng, qi wants balance.” her voice didn’t change when she said the name, but Yao felt a strange pressure in his chest, like he should sit up straighter. She didn’t explain anything about the founder’s son, or what balance really meant, and Yao didn’t know if he was allowed to ask. But Instructor Quan seemed to notice anyway.

“You don’t have to understand that part yet,” she said, not unkindly. “Balance begins with the body. Posture. Breath. Thought. Every piece of you must learn not to push against the world, but to move with it. And when you are in harmony with qi, you’ll find that it listens back.”

She said it so simply that it didn’t quite land until a moment later and Yao frowned.  “Qi listens to us?”

“Cultivation is a conversation. We ask with our bodies and the qi around us answers.” Instructor Quan smiled, and Yao had the feeling she smiled like this often. Without much change in her voice, but in a way that made the air feel warmer. “Just as you have learned how to adjust the brush in your hand to write, or learned the characters to read, so will you learn to converse with qi. If you hold a conversation well, some will live inside you, forming a core and becoming a friend for life.”

Yao nodded, starting to see why his mother would enjoy cultivation. Even if, like him, she didn’t want it at first, he had to admit it sounded interesting. Like learning a new kind of language, but one no one else could hear unless they were marked. The idea made him shiver a little, in a good way. He liked the thought of qi answering him, of becoming a friend. It made him feel less alone. 

Instructor Quan continued explaining the concept of Qi and the beginning of cultivation and Yao found her words easier to follow in the warm summer air. Instructor Quan’s words weren’t full of fire or command; they arrived like soft water on stone, gentle and patient. She reminded him of how his mother spoke to him when he needed to understand complicated adult things and he appreciated the way she spoke to him, not over him.

“Do you see that?”

The voice made Yao jump, and it took him a moment to realize it was coming from the mirror in his pocket. He almost reached in to take it out, but he noticed that Instructor Quan was still talking. 

“Look! The qi is shaking. Does it always do that?” the voice sounded like another boy, not quite Yao’s voice or the voice of the boy from the night before. His words sounded frantic and scared, and Yao felt as his own chest started to ache. Without thinking, he glanced out the open door and he felt his blood freeze.

The sunlight on the stones seemed warped, as if the warmth had been stripped from it. It flickered like heat on the pavement, but the air wasn’t hot. It was too still. The light danced at the edge of the threshold as if something just beyond it was breathing. 

Then he saw the unmistakable shape of a foot.

“Intiate Luoyin?” Instructor Quan's voice sounded far away and all Yao could hear was the sound of his own labored breathing and the frantic sobs of the voice from the mirror. 

“Dad! Dad, help me! The qi is shaking! Someone is coming!”

“Some–” Yao started to speak, but the world moved all at once. 

As soon as he opened his mouth, he felt someone grab the back of his shirt and he was yanked backwards, pulled off the cushion as if he weighed nothing. At the same time, he felt a sharp pain across his chest and he folded over, the voice in the mirror still ringing in his ears. 

“Dad! Dad! Help!”

“Check on Disciple Luoyin! Initiate Luoyin has been injured.” Yao heard Wei’s voice as he was set on the ground, and he managed to look up as the older boy walked past him, facing the still empty hallway. It was then Yao noticed the blood on his sleeves. On his arms. On his hands. 

He swayed, and then Yao fell into darkness.