Volume 2 Chapter 21

  “I apologize if I frightened you,” Renton said once they were out of the courtyard and away from prying eyes and listening ears. They had walked to one of the places where they had frequently visited together, a pond where water collected from a stream that had its source on the top of the mountain. “The emperor’s intentions and the effects his will has on its subjects do not always coincide.”

  “I was frightened,” Kora admitted. “I knew you were powerful, but I had no idea you were a justicar.”

  “I am not always a justicar. Only when I wear the mask. I also serve a variety of other roles in the court. In this instance, it was the emperor’s will and to the benefit of the empire that the Zang family be visited by the eyes and ears of the emperor. Do you understand?”

  “The emperor sent you and Rukas to evaluate us for treason.”

  “And other things, yes. Your family did not particularly impress, but you did, Kora. The emperor asks that you consider becoming a servant of the empire,” Renton stated.

  Kora gasped. “That is what this is all about? He wishes me to serve him? How did I ever catch his attention in the first place?”

  “You were brought to the emperor’s attention when your uncle Sean Zang followed Tren Shen, Tan Shen, Won, Ko, and Pao, to the city of Mosanatos. As you were attempting to marry into one of the family of one of the most powerful servants of the empire, the emperor willed that you be vetted for whether you were even worthy to consider the possibility. Thus you were summoned for an imperial audience, where you did not disappoint the emperor. You were weighed and measured in ways that you do not understand, and while you were not deemed worthy of marrying into the family of his servants at that time, he saw a potential in you. He bestowed upon you a sign of his favor, and sent you home to grow.”

  Renton scratched his nose. “And then I came at his will to provide guidance and mentorship, per the emperor’s will. When I reported to the emperor that his faith in your potential was not misplaced, you were given more time to grow. Rukas was sent to further evaluate your potential, and I am here once more to test your cultivation to see how far you have grown. Among other things, of course. Rarely does the emperor do only one thing at once.”

  “I see,” Kora said, taking it all in. “So ultimately this is all about Tan?”

  “He is my nephew. I am one of the most powerful servants of the empire, Kora. My will is the emperors will, and the emperor’s will is that my family remain strong. Whoever Tan ends up marrying is of significant interest to the emperor, and he has good reason to be interested in it, as the Shen family is vitally important to the foundation of the empire itself.”

  “Do they know that?” Kora asked, recalling her last visit to the Shen farm, where she had spent half of the trip shoveling manure.

  “That is a good part of what the party is all about, Kora. To educate my nephew on his place in the empire. He grew up not knowing who he really is, you understand. He’s been told, but in his heart he doesn’t believe it. So, well, we’re going to show him. He’s going to attend me, at court, as my nephew. And he’s going to learn exactly what that means to the rest of the empire,” Renton explained.

  “I see,” Kora said. “You asked me to become a servant of the emperor as well. I know that it is an honored position and I—”

  “No, Kora. I asked you to consider becoming a servant of the empire, not the emperor. Can you discern the difference, or must I explain it?”

  Kora frowned, and she considered the question philosophically. “The empire is more than the emperor. The emperor is a man, and serving the empire might mean serving the emperor, or it might not. I suppose a soldier on the battlefield might be a servant of the empire, whether he serves the emperor or not?”

  “Or a farmer who tends crops to feed the people of the empire, yes,” Renton said. “There are many ways to serve the empire without serving the emperor. It could be argued that every lawful and employed member of the Blue Dragon Empire serves that empire in one way or another, for the empire is a massive machine which requires many servants to keep it running.”

  “Then am I not already a servant of the empire?”

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  “Are you?” Renton challenged.

  Kora thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I do not know that I’d call myself that, to be honest. For most of my life I thought only about serving myself and advancing my station. I don’t think that I was serving anyone by doing that.”

  “That is a very self-reflective statement, Kora, but it does not prevent you from deciding to serve the empire,” Renton informed her. “The emperor has a role for you to play in his court. It is all picked out for you, all you need to do is agree to serve the empire before serving any other man or woman. Including, I must add, yourself. If you can swear to that before me, and before the emperor, then you will gain imperial recognition as a servant of the empire and the empire will dedicate resources to advancing your cultivation for so long as you continue to serve the empire’s interests.”

  “I’ll get cultivation resources?” Kora asked, perking up.

  “As many as you require. The wealth of the imperial court is open to the faithful servants of the empire,” Renton said.

  “How long do I have to decide?” Kora asked.

  “As long as you want,” Renton admitted. “But the emperor needs you sooner rather than later if you are to play the role in his court that he intends for you to play. If you wish to play that role, then you must present yourself as an applicant to become a servant of the empire to the front gate of the palace. From there, further instructions will be given as you proceed.”

  “What if I tell you now that I made up my mind to accept the position the empire wishes me to take in his court?” Kora asked.

  “Have you?”

  “It would make my family happy. It would increase our standing. I would get cultivation resources, you say. I can think of a million reasons to do it and so many of them are telling me yes! But I don’t know. I think that later I will be filled with doubt, if I am being honest.”

  “Well then, let us not say anything at this moment. You must go to the front gate of the palace anyway if you are to become an imperial guest, so you have until you arrive for the party to decide for certain. Simply tell the guards at the gate whether you are there to be a guest, or a servant, and tell them your name, and they will understand where to go from there.”

  “I see,” Kora said. “Thank you, Renton.”

  “Now then,” Renton said, “Since we have discussed the official matters, let us assess your cultivation progress. Show me your Qi.”

  Once Kora had displayed her prowess, flaring her Qi to her maximum potential and conjuring her few paltry techniques, including sending a malformed dragon of flames into the sky. Renton nodded and praised her efforts, then they began discussing the dao.

  When she confessed that she had written an entire notebook full of thoughts on the first two sections of the Treatise of the Rising Sun, he praised her efforts and requested to read them. She brought him to her room, where she kept it along side her journal and her correspondence, and he spent an hour reading her private thoughts.

  He looked up, then smiled at her. “I think that it is time for you to read the third section of the Treatise of the Rising Sun.”

  Her heart swelled, and she reached for the thick book. She had held back for so long, and now that her mentor had finally given her permission she was ready to absorb the poetic wisdom like a sponge absorbs water. She opened to the third section and…

  She frowned.

  “Lorem ipsum?” she asked, scanning through the book page after page. It was filled with words that looked like they went together at a superficial glance, but when you actually read them they formed nonsense.

  “The original author of the Treatise of the Rising Sun died before completing the third section,” Renton explained. “This was a thousand years ago or so. Rather than discard it as an incomplete work, which it is, emperor Haoatonian Shenlong announced that the third volume was to be completed by the student of the work who understood the first two sections. I will be taking this notebook with me. When it is presented to the emperor at court, he will order a new version of the Treatise of the Rising Sun to be printed and bound. Your name will not appear on it, you understand, but neither does the original author’s name appear on the version that you read. Instead it will be given to students who are attempting to understand the nature of flames.”

  Kora gaped at him as he stowed the notebook away in his storage ring. Then, without asking, he began rooting through her other documents. She did not have the nerve to ask him to stop, even as he read her diary and her letters from the Shen Farm.

  He was, after all, an imperial justicar.

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