Chang-li and Joshi climbed the steep surrounding hills to each of the obelisks that helped project the enormous ward over the valley. Now that Chang-li knew it was there, he could see it, how the sky at night was a bit distorted, the stars twinkling more than they should, the moon seeming more distant. He longed to send his own lux into that enormous weave and discover how it worked, but had enough sense not to try such a mad plan.

Still, no matter where they looked, there was no sign of the vault. They mapped out the dormant lux-conduits buried deep under the surface running from the sect headquarters out to the libraries and other points of interest, assuming that the vault must lie along one of those conduits, but found nothing. Some of the outbuildings were interesting; an alchemist's workshop, a lux-smith's forge — stripped of its tools and useless to Chang-li, who had only learned such things existed from one of the library texts he'd read — and the enormous kitchens that once fed a small army, the man-tall ovens standing silent and cold.

As the days passed, Joshi became impatient. He ranged farther and farther from the island during the times when Chang-li was in the library and came back irritated each time. "The vault must be here," he told Chang-li one evening, "but we can't find it."

"We're in no rush," Chang-li asked. "Look how much we're learning."

He had modified both Breath of the Heavens and Double Branching River and was currently working on translating a scroll that talked about having separate lux channels the way he did.

He'd also improved Mirage Blade and could fight against Joshi with the lux blade in his hand for almost as long as he liked now. Joshi was trying to adapt Binding Chains to more than one opponent, but since only Chang-li was available, it was harder for him to make progress.

"We've been here for three weeks now," Joshi said. "How long do you plan to remain in this valley?"

"It's a training journey," Chang-li pointed out. "It's not like we have anything better to do. Six months, even a year spent here, will aid us so much on our path to progression."

Joshi started to answer, but he stopped, his mouth hanging open. "No more of that! We need to hurry," he told Chang-li.

"What's wrong?"

"There are people coming up the valley."

"The peasants?" Chang-li asked.

"No, they're... Magen is taking a closer look now." And then, Joshi burst out laughing. "Come on," he said, and raced toward the edge of the lake.

"What is it?"

"Wait and see!"

Joshi leapt across the lake to the far bank, and they sprinted along down the river toward the entrance to this hidden valley. Chang-li's lux senses detected people before he could see them. They were cultivators, mostly low-level, though one of them was at least a match for Chang-li. He heard the distant babble of cheerful voices and then began catching flashes through the trees of gray and brown and white robes. But it wasn't until they were only 50 feet away that he realized who it was.

Here came Brother Stone walking at the head of a crowd of people with Grandmaster Noren beside him and all the disciples Chang-li and Joshi had left behind in Varden City. A crowd of Brotherhood people, sturdy men and women bearing various tools and sacks with them, kept up. And there— Chang-li's heart gave a huge leap as he spotted her through the crowd — there was Min. She was wearing the robes of a Morning Mist cultivator, her hair done in a neat braid, tucked atop her head. Chang-li found a burst of energy and sprinted forward, passing Joshi as he raced toward them.

Noren caught sight, waved to him. "Well done, my disciples," he said, his voice booming out across the river. "I knew you would find it."

"What are you all doing here?" Chang-li asked as he stopped. The throng swirled around him and Joshi. Min hurried to him. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. He smiled down at her. Concious of many pairs of eyes on them, he resisted sweeping her into his arms, but her warm smile embraced him almost as enthusiastically. After a moment, he turned his attention back to Grandmaster Noren.

"Knowing that you had discovered the sect headquarters, I have brought the sect." Noren spread his arms, his smile bright. "And here we are. Morning Mist, we have come home."

The crowd with him gave a vast cheer. Noren turned to Brother Stone. "I will consult with my disciples here, and we'll discuss what should be done first. Plenty of work for the restoration team, and we'll need to arrange for regular batches of supplies. These little farming villages can't possibly support us."

"I understand logistics," Brother Stone said. "Don't worry. I'll handle it." He moved off, shouting to the crowd. "Oya, Yu Lat, Jai Hem, Nu Lai. Get yourselves over here, and I'll give your work crew's orders." In a moment, the throng moved off, leaving Chang-li, Min, Joshi and Noren to themselves.

"I'm ready for you to give me the grand tour now," Noren said pleasantly. Chang-li felt flat-footed, as he often did when dealing with the Grandmaster. Noren started off toward the island. Chang-li, still holding Min's hand, followed him.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered to her.

"It's a long story," Min replied. "We had a visit from an imperial inquisitor. She asked a lot of questions, and we told her a lot of lies. Then Noren said it was time to act. Grandfather and I agreed. Did you really find what you were looking for?"

"And more," he promised.

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"I was worried. The ruins outside looked like anything of value had been lost centuries ago." Min gasped as they came out of the final line of trees and found themselves on the shore of the lake. "Oh."

It was an impressive sight. Chang-li felt oddly proud, as though he had in some way been responsible for the construction of the headquarters. He spun out lux discs for Min to cross the lake. "Can you afford to waste that much lux?" she asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. There's plenty here," he said. "Can you feel the density in the air?"

She frowned. "I thought I must be imagining things."

"No, it's real," he assured her. "Come on."

Noren had already crossed to the far bank, Joshi at his side. They were striding up toward the headquarters, Noren gesticulating. Chang-li pointed out the library as they passed.

"Are there any scrolls there?" Min asked.

"More than I could read in a whole lifetime," he said. "I hope you brought a scribe or two along."

"We did." She smiled at him. "It was my suggestion. I thought if you had found anything, you were probably spending your nights scribing instead of sleeping. There's no reason for that. They're good men. You'll want to speak with them yourself, of course, but you can teach them the secret language if you choose."

Chang-li and Min caught up as they entered the dojo room. Chang-li explained about the warding scripts in the walls that prevented techniques from hurting the building itself.

They passed upstairs into the living quarters. Min nodded to herself and her lips moved as they went through the rooms, clearly making a list of tasks to be done. "There's plenty of room here for everyone we've brought," she said. "The sect must have been enormous."

"Our guess is this was just for the inner disciples," Chang-li replied. "There might have been three or four times as many who lived in what is now ruins outside the valley." They skipped the next couple of floors. When they reached the floor with the fancier quarters, Min's expression grew much sharper.

"Now this is more like it. said. I'll see to it having apartments set up for you and Joshi as well as the Grandmaster."

"I'm not sure how much longer we're going to be here," Chang-li said. "Master Noren, I feel like you owe us some explanations."

"More than explanations," Min said. "We have to strategize."

"Indeed." Noren nodded. "But first, let's finish our climb."

They silently took the steps up to the sixth floor. Noren spared a glance at the great doors, which now stood ajar.

"I suppose you found what was in there?"

"We did," Joshi answered.

"And you've opened the map room?"

"Yes." Chang-li bit back a demand for answers. Noren knew what was on the top floor. How?

He waited patiently as Noren led him, Joshi, and Min up the final steps and through the great dark doors into the last room. Noren stopped just inside the door, staring about as the projection leapt to life around them.

Min halted too. She let out a surprised "Ooh!"

Noren didn't seem shocked. He was gazing about, and what Chang-li could see of his expression looked sad—perhaps even pensive. He let out a deep sigh.

"So," he turned back to Joshi and Chang-li. "You have done well. I see you discovered the secret. Have you made use of your time in the library?"

Chang-li nodded. "I need more time, though."

"We'll see what we can afford. Meanwhile, the other disciples and Brotherhood workers will begin restoring the grounds. We need to be prepared. I don't know how much time we have. If we are fortunate, the Inquisitor has satisfied her curiosity and will be going about her business," Noren said. "In which case, we have months—perhaps even years—until the chaos of the Prism War sweeps this far in, and we're forced to make some difficult decisions."

"If that's the case, we can have this place restored, to serve as a hiding place if necessary," Min said.

"More importantly, we could have sect back to full strength, with a couple hundred cultivators at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement, and you two as high as perhaps Lux Dominators. We'll be prepared to weather the storm."

"Then — it really will be a war?" Chang-li asked. "I thought… I thought the Emperor would hunt Eri down."

"I think Eri has a decent chance of winning this. She's more clever than her predecessors, from what I can tell. And the Emperor is stretched rather thin these days. Either way, we should avoid getting entangled, if at all possible. If she kills off or co-opts the remaining prisms, then the emperor will accept the outcome. It wouldn't be the first time. What we want is to position ourselves to be ready to emerge after the war is over and help rebuild in the ashes. At least," Noren said, as he stared into the projection, his brow furrowing, "that was my plan. I've been telling myself it's the best one for some time now. And yet—and yet—it feels like cowardice."

"The actions of Prisms affect many other people," Min said. "We saw that at Vardin City. We can't just lie low and let a war rage around us."

"Regardless, the first step is to study and train," Noren said.

"And what if this Inquisitor is not satisfied with your answers?" Joshi asked. "What if she follows you now?"

"In that case, we have very little time to waste. If she believes us to be—if she believes us to be rebels—she will have us arrested, and I do not know that we can withstand her yet." Noren smiled. "Are you ready to get to work?"

Chang-li wanted desperately to say yes, to learn what Noren was offering, but the man clearly had his own agenda, and not yet one that he could trust.

"I think we deserve some real answers," he said quietly. "Who are you really, and how do you know so much about Morning Mist?"

"I can tell you one thing," Min said. "His name isn't Noren. We received a visit from someone who had been there when he killed the first Noren."

"What?" Chang-li turned on Noren.

"I did," Noren agreed, seeming unruffled. "The man that her grandfather had recruited to serve as your grandmaster was a drunkard—more interested only in his own advancement. I took his place. I don't think you've been dissatisfied with the result."

"Then you've lied to us!"

Noren looked him up and down. "We're going to start arguing about who's lying to who now?"

Chang-li seethed. It was Joshi who spoke. "You are making grandiose statements without offering any proof. We are asking for you to show us the trust you clearly want us to place in you."

"Fair enough." Noren nodded. "I was born a member of the Sect of Morning Mists—born in this very building. My father was Sect Master, my mother an Indigo Princess. I was raised as a pampered young cultivator, reaching the Peak of Bodily Refinement by the age of five, the Peak of Spiritual Refinement before I was a teen."

"Then why are you here and the rest of the sect is gone?" Chang-li asked. "How old are you?"

"Because I wasn't here when the place was destroyed." Noren held up a hand. "I swear to give you as many true answers as I can. Tomorrow. When I take you to the vault, and we are safe from prying eyes." He pointed at the ceiling. "I see signs that the wards over this valley have been tampered with, or perhaps are unravelling with time. From what you said, Eri's underling has been here. If she suspects that the vault is still intact and accessible, she may be watching. Wait until tomorrow and I'll show you everything."

Chang-li's heart beat so fast he felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. Could he possibly be understanding Noren correctly? "What do you mean, show us?"

"The true secrets of Morning Mist await," Noren said. "Would you care to see them?"

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