The next three days were long and miserable. Chang-li had never been so sore in his life. The only part of him that didn't hurt were his feet, and he was starting to think that a poor bargain in exchange for the blisters on his thighs and rear, the deep aches in every muscle in his body, the way his back hurt and his insides churned with every step of the horses. Joshi encouraged him and Min to keep it up. In the evening, he and Min took turns rubbing ointment on each other's harder-to-reach areas and had no appetite for more than that, not with how sore they felt.

But on the fourth day, Chang-li found his blisters had healed, despite him not being able to cycle, and he was much more comfortable in the saddle. He even managed to get his horse ready to ride without any help from Joshi.

The land here was a little rough and hilly, making it hard to see more than a few miles around them. They crossed a small river, then rode upward through a fairly dense stand of pines, stooping to get under branches before coming out on the top of a ridge.

Joshi pointed. "There."

The monastery of Harupa was nestled in a V-shaped notch on the other side of the next valley, with walls of the ridge beyond rising up protectively around it. Its buildings clung to the sides of the ridge which had been terraced and transformed, in stark contrast to the rough landscape elsewhere. Gardens grew all around the little gold and white buildings. A great red arch stood in the bottom of the valley at the start of a wide white path leading up toward the monastery.

Joshi dismounted. "We will put the horses on a ground tether and leave them here, amid the trees. They'll be fine for a night. If we stay longer, we can send someone to bring them."

Chang-li slid down with some difficulty and helped Min dismount. "I don't mind walking, but why? I thought you trusted them."

"A Darwur trusts no-one but his horse, his sword and the brothers he is sworn to," Joshi said. "I find that mantra becoming more and more pressing as we make our way toward my people. Let's say… I hope the monks of Harupa will aid us, but I will not let myself be placed entirely at their mercy."

In a few minutes, they had the horses settled, the saddles and tack removed and hung over low branches, then set off down the slope toward the red arch.

They passed through the arch, then along the road that wound its way across the valley floor and then up a little way to the monastery gate. Here, an enormous gold-painted beam topped two stout red poles thicker around than Chang-li could throw his arms around. Sitting atop it were a pair of carved statues, something like dragons, but more squat, still with a definite suggestion of scaliness and claw to them.

A pair of bald monks in orange robes waited there for them. Joshi approached the monks, putting his hands together and bowing deeply. One of the two peered closely at him.

"Why! If it isn't Joshi! You've grown in the past few years. And your core..." his eyes widened.

"Yes, Master Tham," Joshi said quietly. "I have taken the teachings you gave me and progressed. I come now to seek aid, not for myself, but for my friend and sectmate, Wu Chang-li." Joshi pointed at Chang-li, then Min. "And this, this is Cultivator Chang-li's wife, Gao Min. We are all of Morning Mist Sect now."

"What sort of aid?" Master Tham asked.

Chang-li stepped forward, clearing his throat, hoping Joshi would prevent him from making any missteps. He bowed low.

"Masters of Harupa, greetings," he said politely. "I am Wu Chang-li, cultivator at the rank of Peak of Spiritual Refinement. While performing a task for our grandmaster, I encountered an ancient artifact whose purpose I do not understand. Due to circumstances, the artifact seems to have somehow been absorbed into my core. I can feel it changing me and shifting. Our grandmaster said this was very dangerous and has sent me on a journey to cure myself."

"What else did he say?" the second Harupan monk asked, looking interested.

Joshi cleared his throat. "Some matters are secrets of our sect, which I shall reveal only to the abbot," he said. "May I request that we be given, at the very least, rooms for the night and permission to refill our lux from the well before we continue our journey?"

Tham turned to the other. "Run along and send word. Tell the servants to prepare. The female guest will stay in the outer ward and the other two in the monastery proper."

"We shouldn't —I don't want to be separated," Min began.

The monk gave her a quelling look. "Lady of Morning Mist, forgive us, but in the monastery of Harupa, our rules are supreme. If you would have our aid, you will respect our customs."

Min subsided. "Of course," she said, bowing her head.

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Chang-li squeezed her hand. "I'll stay with you."

"No!" she said at once. "No, you need to seek out what guidance they can give you. I'll be fine. Really."

They waited at the gate for an uncomfortable length of time. The monk made no move to ask any further questions. Chang-li stood awkwardly, feeling the denser lux all around, but not daring to do anything about it. He hoped that Joshi and Min, at least, were refilling their cores quickly in case they were turned down by the monks. At least having lux would help, though they wouldn't be able to use the cloud without abandoning all of their horses.

He tried to imagine sitting on the cloud and leading a string of horses. It was a ridiculous image.

At last, a pair of young boys appeared coming down the hill. They were dressed in white robes with an orange stripe, probably marking them as trainees, and they both had bald heads. Chang-li had thought Joshi just preferred his hair shaved, and now wondered if it was a habit he had developed here in Harupa.

"The abbot's compliments, and will the two men please attend him?" one of the boys said. "The lady will be accommodated in the outer ward."

"There," Monk Tham said cheerfully. "I thought we'd find room for you. Come along then."

Regretfully, Chang-li and Min parted, and Chang-li entered the main monastery. He was conscious of hundreds of eyes watching him as they passed through the gate into an inner courtyard. The buildings on either side rose up three stories, filled with windows. Young boys were hanging out of the windows gawping. A row of bald-headed monks stood waiting for them. They bowed their heads over their fists.

The man at the center of the row wore a red robe. It, like the other monks' garb, left his shoulder free, draping across his left arm and concealing his left hand beneath it. He had a wispy white beard and a huge necklace of smooth, round, amber stones around his neck.

Joshi bowed very low as they approached, and Chang-li copied.

"Abbot Tenhui," he said respectfully. "Thank you for allowing this former student to return to the sacred place of learning once more."

"We welcome back our former students so long as they come peaceably and willing to share what they have learned. Strangers we are wary of," Abbot Tenhui said, turning to Chang-li. "But we seek to help those in need, and it sounds as though you do have a need."

Chang-li was a bit hesitant to let these monks examine him. He didn't know what the thing in his core was, but from the sound of it, it was trouble. Still, he knew how to be respectful. So he bowed again and cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Abbot Tenhui, for your kindness to myself, my sect brother, and my wife. Our journey has been long and arduous."

A narrow-faced man beside the abbot, whose orange robe had a black stripe to its edge, spoke up. "Have you your licenses for us to inspect?"

The abbot gave him a quelling look.

"Brother Lu Shan, it is rude to ask a guest who's only just crossed our threshold."

"These are dangerous times, Abbot. We cannot be too careful."

"No, indeed," Joshi said, before producing his own license from his robes.

This was the pair of pages Chang-li had forged for him some time ago. Since he and Hiroko had not married, he didn't have the upgraded license that Chang-li now took from his own soul space and held out to the officious monk, who must be something like a sect scribe for the monasteries.

The monk examined both documents closely, peering at them, his nostrils widening as he looked over the pages of commendations.

"An imperial commendation, granted by order of His Majesty himself?" he whispered, and looked at the two. "For men not yet at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement?"

"Ah," Chang-li managed. "We have reached that Peak on our training journey, but have not yet had time to have our progression certified by a licensed scribe or member of the Office of Cultivation."

"You neglect such basic duties?" Brother Lu Shan demanded. "What an oversight!"

"Brother," the abbot said, giving him another, this time even more censorious, glare. "You are a scribe by training and still retain your license. You can handle the matter of updating our guests' paperwork as we host them. Can you not?"

The man's eyes lit up. "Well, yes, of course, Abbot, if you would like me to."

"There is no one better equipped. Do it."

"But I'll need to check and survey—"

"After dinner," the abbot said severely. Then he beckoned for Joshi and Chang-li to follow him. The other monks swept in with them. Whether it was coincidence that they had arrived in time for a good meal or word had gone to put out a feast, Chang-li didn't know and didn't care. His mouth watered, his stomach rumbled as he entered the Great Hall and smelled the meal waiting for them there.

The Great Hall was a vast room, paneled in wood, with windows that overlooked the valley they had just crossed. Four long tables were arranged in a square with plenty of cushions at the tables for everyone to eat. The food was already waiting on the tables in laden platters, bowls, and serving vats.

At the abbot's invitation, he and Joshi were seated at the northmost table, just to the left of the abbot himself, surrounded by some of what appeared to be the senior monks.

After they had all seated, a gong rang and in trooped students, ranging from boys in their teens down to boys of about eight years old, all in white robes trimmed with orange.

Everyone sat, and at a word from the abbot, began passing around the food. It took Chang-li a few dishes to realize that there was no meat present here, only fruits, vegetables, fresh breads, and cheeses, but there was so much, and all so good, he didn't miss the meat.

The food was differently spiced from what he was used to. He took a bite of a darkly sauced dish of roots and dense, green, leafy vegetable, and at first noticed nothing. After a moment, his mouth began to feel very odd. He sipped on the fruit juice the monks were serving. Again, they seemed to have no alcohol.

Joshi laughed. "You found the spinning peppers," he said, a not-quite-mocking note in his voice.

"The what?"

"They are a curious spice native to these regions. They are like small seeds. When you grind them and mix them in your food, it produces the most interesting effect on your mouth," a monk seated across from them said. "We have done studies and found that they actually cause your tongue and mouth to vibrate, imperceptibly to you, in a way that causes that odd prickling sensation. There are those who do not care for it, but it is a luxury dish among cultivators. It is said that a true cultivator can vibrate his own core in harmony with the feeling in his mouth from these peppers."

Chang-li didn't really feel like he needed a cultivation challenge with his meal, even if his core had been rotating properly in the first place. He pushed aside the dish and, with a couple whispers from Joshi, finished his meal with less exciting food.

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