Chang-li and Min wound their way through the festivities. Min seemed quiet and withdrawn. As they passed people she knew, she gave slight head nods and bare acknowledgments. Her brother's words must have cut her deeper than she was letting on. "Are you all right?" he asked her in a low voice. "Should we go back to the sect house?"

  She shook her head. "We can't. You and I both have duties here tonight. Besides," she smiled up at him wanly, "it's time for your tutoring session soon, isn't it? I'm sure you've been looking forward to that."

  Chang-li felt himself go red. He had spoken of it at length over the past few days in the privacy of their own quarters. He didn't feel comfortable letting Li Jiya see just how excited he was at the idea of having a prism give him dedicated attention. Even a few minutes of their time might aid him more than a dozen cultivation sessions on his own. On the other hand, he remembered how Prism Nai Lin had used violet lux to spy on his and Joshi's actions in the previous tower. There was much in his past he didn’t want revealed.

  Min turned her head. "Look, there's the Grandmaster and Brother Stone."

  Gratefully, Chang-li altered their path toward Grandmaster Noren, who was looking about with a placid expression. Brother Stone, on the other hand, looked like a poleaxed ox.

  Noren smiled as Chang-li approached. He put his hands inside his sleeves and gave a slight nod of the head. "There you are, my beloved disciple," he said. "How are you enjoying this party? It is in your honor, after all."

  "I thought it was for Li Jiya and the other bridal candidates,” Chang-li said.

  Noren gave a short laugh. "Yes, but in truth, it is in honor of the sects who sponsor them."

  "Then it honors you?" Chang-li met Noren's gaze straight on. The other man didn't look away. His sharp, dark eyes held Chang-li's vision.

  "I think we both know who is responsible for our being here tonight," Noren said in a quiet voice.

  Brother Stone stepped forward. "Elder Sister, the Eldest Brother asked that you attend to him when you have a moment."

  "What, here? Now?" Min looked about, as though expecting her other grandfather to emerge from a crowd at any moment. Chang-li tensed. He had not spoken with Min's grandfather since Noren's arrival, and he didn't really want to meet the man now. Or at all, honestly. He was still upset about the high-handed manner in which the sect was being treated. No, that wasn't right. He was upset about how he himself was being treated, as though all his hard work had merely been to craft a toy for the Oaken Band's patriarch to claim.

  Min turned to Chang-li. "If it's all right, I'll have a word with him.”

  “You don't want me to accompany you?"

  Min shook her head. "I mean, you have your tutoring to get to. It's fine," she said. She reached out a hand and squeezed his. He nodded and let go of her hand.

  "Give him my regards.”

  Min and Brother Stone hurried off, leaving Chang-li alone in the middle of the loud, crowded space with Grandmaster Noren. There was a circle of space around them, more than an arm's width between them and the next person. It was as though everyone else in the place was drawing away from Noren, consciously or not. Chang-li realized he could feel an aura rising off of Noren. Noren's eyes narrowed.

  "So, took you long enough to notice.”

  “What is that effect?"

  "It's an application of will. Any cultivator who's reached the stage of Lux Dominion can manage this."

  Chang-li filed away the information, as well as the fact that their Grandmaster must be at least Lux Dominion stage. He had never outright stated his rank, and Chang-li wasn't adept at judging the progression of higher-tier cultivators.

  "It's an application of your will," Noren continued, "exuding just enough of it to give ordinary people the vague feeling of discomfort when around you. It allows you to pass somewhat unnoticed, even through crowds. Of course, to a cultivator of any real standing, it has rather the opposite effect. Something like setting yourself on fire, I should think. Ah, and here we are now."

  He broke off as the crowd parted, seemingly unnoticing, to allow a woman to stride through. Prism Eri’s hair fluttered out behind her like a banner, the long golden locks that had given her sect its name gleaming in the light of torch and lux lanterns. Tonight she wore a sky-blue robe of an odd cut. It had a long sweeping train and a plunging bodice that that showed off ample cleavage. She wore a silver collar around her neck and diamonds glittered in her ears. As she approached, Grandmaster Noren bowed low. Chang-li followed suit. The prism stopped in front of them and looked the pair over.

  "Cultivator Wu, I am impressed at your sect's dedication. You have done well and it will be no shame for you to fall before Mai Wen."

  "Thank you, Your Radiance," Chang-li said, keeping his eyes politely averted. "And I hope Mai Wen will forgive us when Li Jiya wins the tournament." He held his breath, hoping he hadn't been too forward.

  Eri laughed, a tinkling sound that hung in the air for a moment before fading away. "You do have spirit. I like your sect. And you," she turned to Noren. "You are the Grandmaster of Morning Mist? Noren, I believe."

  "That is what it says on my cultivation license," Noren said blandly.

  "Yes, I asked the officials to tell me all about you. You are a bit of a wanderer, it seems. Expelled from the Swirling Tides sect, briefly accepted and then resigned from the Sect of Peach Blossoms, lately a sectless cultivator. It seems you have found your home at last."

  Noren shrugged. "Perhaps it has found me."

  Chang-li memorized both of the names she had mentioned and wondered why he hadn't thought to look up Noren's license himself. Of course, a duplicate copy of the man's records were stored in the government archives here. All cultivators involved in a cull would be. As sect scribe, he would have no trouble accessing the records. He could merely say he needed to update something.

  "Well," Eri said, "I must say I regret that I was not chosen to tutor you, Cultivator Wu. I still have the honor of giving some of my time to your fascinating young friend, though." Her eyes hardened and she let out a hiss of breath.

  "I presume you mean Young Master Joshi?" Noren said.

  "Yes," Eri sighed. "I offered to tutor dear Li Jiya, but they said that would be a conflict of interest, so it makes no difference. Each of the three sects will have one member tutored by each of the prisms here tonight. It's a good way to spread our knowledge about. I find that this sort of reward is most beneficial. By rewarding those who already show great promise, we encourage growth, rather than wasting our time with those with no potential. Don't you agree?"

  "That is how many would define cultivation," Grandmaster Noren said blandly. "The strong take what they can and are given everything else. The weak, who cannot hold on to what they have, will have it seized and given to the more deserving."

  "Yes," Eri said, her voice cool. "So it is."

  "Then let us see whose sect is most deserving tomorrow," Noren suggested.

  Eri gave an exaggerated yawn, covering her mouth with one exquisitely manicured hand. "Forgive me, I have other places to be. Enjoy the party, Cultivator Wu, Cultivator Noren.” She disappeared.

  Noren stared after her. "Be careful of that one," he said, so quietly Chang-li wasn't certain that Noren meant to address him.

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  "Sir?" Chang-li asked.

  Noren shook himself. "Just remember that while the Prisms are supposed to follow the Emperor and do his bidding, that is usually their secondary objective, their primary being to serve themselves." He turned to Chang-li. "I saw your discomfort. You do not agree with the definition I gave of cultivating?"

  "No," Chang-li said.

  "Then what would you say is the point of cultivation?"

  "Cultivation is about becoming strong," Chang-li said, grasping for the right words, "in order to advance."

  "What is the purpose of advancement?"

  "To," Chang-li shook his head, "to get stronger."

  Noren laughed. “A circular argument! Prism Eri says the point of getting stronger is to take what you want. Is that what you believe?"

  Chang-li shook his head. "No. No. That's being a bully. And it's not strong. It —“ he fumbled for words -- "if you have to take what you want from those who are weaker than you, then, well, it means you weren't strong enough to get it yourself honestly. Real strength would mean being able to protect those weaker than you." He looked away, feeling embarrassed as he tried to get his words out. "If there really was something that those weaker than you had that you wanted, then, well, I think they'd give it to you out of respect or gratitude."

  Noren gave a snort. "As, say, we ordinary cultivators give our finest and best women to be the Emperor's brides -- after all, he is the one whose strength protects us all. He builds and preserves the towers with which we are able to access Heaven's Blessings."

  Chang-li was saved from needing to reply by an explosion in the sky above. Lights blossomed and fell, crackling to the air. Another rocket shot skyward, illuminating half the sky with showers of gold and green.

  "Ah," said Noren. "I'd wondered when the show would begin."

  Now a melodic voice whispered in Chang-li's ears, "For your amusement, the three prospective brides have designed a pageant of entertainment. Please sit back and enjoy this display of a cultivator's arts."

  Lights blossomed in the sky, giving shape to a rabbit outlined in gold, hopping across the sky, pursued by a dark blue wolf. Strains of music filled the air, first gentle and rustic, then tense as the wolf grew closer. Chang-li smelled an earthy, piney scent.

  Another burst of lights, and now the rabbit was gone, the wolf and another of its kind dancing under the light of the half-moon, which now stood well down toward the horizon.

  "Elegantly done," Noren commented as the show continued.

  The animal display gave way to a new demonstration. Stylized soldiers wielding spears and marching across the sky, pursuing an unseen foe. Drum notes filled the night, and the music of a fife sent its notes through. Chang-li was enthralled in the pageantry. He had never done anything similar with lux, and wondered how the brides had managed it. He'd have to ask Li Jiya.

  The spectacle continued for some time. When it at last dimmed, the musical voice that had spoken before whispered again. "And now the three prisms grant you a great honor. All you assembled here marvel as you see for the first time in your life, Lumos split into lux.”

  Three lights shot skyward from the ring, shining bolts that zoomed into the air. They hung overhead, fifty feet above. Chang-li squinted. He could make out the shapes of the three prisms buried inside the light. One shone bright gold, the other two had a bluish tinge. A breeze picked up, growing stronger as it whispered around Chang-li. There was a crackling feeling in the air, like the sensation before a bolt of lightning struck. He smelled roses and a crisp sizzling smell that stung his nose.

  And then the sky caught fire. Ribbons of light shot across the sky. Blue, green, yellow, orange, all the colors in tall rippling waves of light. The assembled party goers gave off shocked gasps. Somewhere distant, a woman screamed, then fell silent.

  Chang-li felt the waves of lux pouring out of the ribbons of light in the sky, like someone had opened a crack into a tower and was letting lux out. He instinctively filled his core and began to cycle. This lux was dense. Not as dense as the top floors of a tower, but certainly as much as the lower floors here.

  "The Emperor's largesse is shown," the voice whispered. "All ye assembled here, cycle in the Emperor's name. Recall the Way of the Faithful."

  Chang-li blinked as around him he felt dozens, maybe hundreds of people fall inexpertly into the Way of the Faithful cycling pattern. He hadn't used that pattern in months, not since Joshi had taught him a better one.

  Noren snorted. "Well, they'll cripple their lux channels if they keep that up, but most of these peasants don't care. They cycle what they can, and they'll be healthy as horses for six months or more with this kind of lux bounty. I dare say there'll be more than the average number of babies conceived tonight, and those will be blessed with strong constitutions. And the harvest, ripening over there on the shores of the lake, will benefit from all this lux. Oh yes," Noren nodded. "Tonight is a very good night for the people of Varden City."

  Chang-li had always known that lux was good for people. The challenge was cycling it and using it efficiently, or getting enough of it without having to risk the dangers of a tower.

  "So, a prism can do that any time they want," he wondered, staring up at the sky where the ribbons of light still waved.

  "More or less," Noren agreed. "It is the definition of being a prism, the ability to split lumos into lux without need of a tower."

  "And one night of this is enough to improve the lives of everyone in the city for six months, maybe a year?"

  Noren nodded. "It is."

  Now Chang-li was getting angry. "Then why have I never seen this before?" he demanded. "There's six prisms. If each of them visited even one great city a month and did this, they could cycle through all the cities in the empire in a matter of," he did a quick calculation, "three years, six months for any city with a population over 45,000, though the larger southern provinces would take some doing because the cities are more scattered."

  Noren held up a hand and laughed. "I see your scribe training coming through."

  "But why don't they?” Chang-li demanded, turning on Noren. "Is it hard on them? Dangerous?"

  Noren shrugged. "If it is, I've never heard, though of course a prism wouldn't let you know such a weakness."

  "But they don't do it," Chang-li said. "I've never heard of a prism cracking lumos for the people’s benefit."

  Noren was looking at him, an expression somewhat like sadness on his face. "You really are naive, aren't you, Wu?"

  Chang-li felt anger boiling up in him. He concealed it. Even though everyone around was busy concentrating on their own pathetic cycling, he didn't need to make a scene, not here, not now. "Then you wouldn’t, if you were a prism?"

  Noren shrugged. "I'm not foolish enough to get myself elevated to a position like that, so I can't say what I'd do. What I wouldn't do, though, is make a scene like that at the Emperor's party. Come," he said, and strolled off as though expecting Chang-li to follow him at his heels like a lap dog. Chang-li stared at him, then, deciding he was being petty, followed anyway.

  "I've misjudged you, Wu," Noren said. "I think I should apologize for that. Tell me, what do you intend for the sect after this tower cull?"

  Chang-li nearly tripped. Noren was asking him for his opinion, or even more, he was asking as if he expected Chang-li to decide for the sect. This must be some sort of trap. "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

  "I mean, when I first got here, I assumed you, like I, had been hired by the Patriarch of the Oaken Band to do a job for him. I thought your compensation package was slightly better than mine," Noren added blandly as he walked. Chang-li blushing so hotly he knew his ears must be bright red. "But that's not the case, is it? The sect is all your doing."

  "I don't think we should be discussing such matters here," Chang-li said stiffly.

  "Have it your way," Noren gestured with a hand. "My question still stands. Where do you think we should go after this?"

  Chang-li was torn between giving the man a straight answer and telling him to take a leap off the edge of the ring. Then he had to admit to himself that he didn't know the answer. “Min wants to stay close to her family, and I can understand why," he said slowly.

  "But you do not wish to be a pawn of the Brotherhood?"

  Chang-li shook his head. "No, but I'm not sure running away is the best way to exert our independence, either. It might be better to make a stand here and now. As you said, you've been hired by the Brotherhood to do a job."

  "Yes, but I find my employment contract is nicely vague about exactly how I will do that job," Noren remarked. "You, however, need a purpose in life. You're not going to reach the Peak of Spiritual Refinement any time soon resting on your laurels. You've had a nice vacation from the hard work of cultivation, Wu. Call it a honeymoon. I'm tempted to send you off alone without your wife just to get your head back in the game, but I don't think you'd listen to me. And frankly, I don't think I want you to leave me alone with your wife." Noren gave a small shudder, "Not if she has inherited half her grandfather's will."

  "Then what do you think?"

  Noren shrugged. "It's not important what I think. Tell me what you're trying to do. Are you merely advancing yourself or are you reestablishing the sect of Morning Mists?"

  "A cultivator without a sect is nothing," Chang-li said automatically.

  Noren nodded. "That's more true than you know. So, you wish to advance and you wish to take the sect with you. In that case, I recommend you go to war."

  Chang-li stared. "What?"

  "To war," Noren said. "There's a convenient little pocket war in the West, courtesy of the man who is about to be a father-in-law to our sect."

  "You mean General Li Nu Zhan’s war against the Darwur?" Chang-li blinked. "Did you miss the fact that Joshi is Darwur and that Princess Hiroko's father had his father put to death?"

  "Not at all," Noren said. "That merely adds a spice of adventure to it. No, believe me, war is where you'll make cultivation gains you never expected anywhere else. And it'll be financed by the government. Always good to have someone else pick up the tab for your advancement, I believe. There's plenty of different challenges for where different levels intersect."

  Chang-li shook his head. "I didn't become a cultivator so that I could be a soldier," he mumbled.

  "Well, then," Noren glanced over his shoulder as he walked. "I fear you may have made the wrong career choice.” He drew up outside a unmarked door into one of the many three-story buildings surrounding the inner edge of the Crown Ring. “Here we are.”

  “Here we are where?"

  "It's time for your tutoring," Noren knocked at the door. It opened. A woman wearing sky-blue robes stood there. She bore the symbol of Prism Nai Hong on her sash. Chang-li bowed automatically. The woman bowed. Noren bowed. "This is Cultivator Wu of the Morning Mist Sect, here for his lesson from Prism Nai Hong,” he said. "Give the Prism my regards," he told Chang-li, and disappeared before Chang-li could give a reply.