Chapter 114
A Return to Normalcy
Tobias only spent a few days in the Silver Blossom Pavilion before whisking Hun Fen off to the mountains for two years, so there was no familiarity as he walked through the gate. For Hun Jia and Hun Fen, it was different. This was their home. Their community. The Blossoms and Flowers dropped what they were doing to welcome them back, closing the establishment to celebrate. Lung Mei had dropped off and picked up letters as she returned to the city for supplies, but letters were a poor substitute for being together.
Hun Jia spoke with her fellow Blossoms, catching up on what she had missed. At the same time, Hun Fen told anyone who would listen everything that had happened to her, and all that she'd learned, dragging Lung Mei behind her and introducing her as her best friend. Lung Mei hated being the centre of attention, but she grinned every time Hun Fen told someone she was her best friend.
Hun Fen was now ten years old, which would have made her larger and taller than Lung Mei, except that Lung Mei was using her enlargement spell to remain slightly taller. Tobias could already see the gap between their maturity growing, but it was currently being hidden by Lung Mei's extensive life experience. It would become a problem in the future and hopefully a solution, but it would also be a source of pain for Lung Mei.
Tobias wanted to shield her, but couldn't. If he did, she might never grow up.
He honestly believed she needed to want to grow up for that to happen, and nothing he could do would change her opinion on growing up. Tobias had tried everything. Only a friend, someone who grew up without her, might succeed where he had failed. So, he had to let it happen, no matter how much it would hurt him to watch her suffer.
Tobias was alone with his thoughts as he walked through the gardens the morning after their return. The sun stood just over the horizon, and songbirds sang, fluttering between buildings as they filled the air with music. Everywhere Tobias looked, he saw traces of the dao of beauty. Traces he hadn't perceived before going into the mountains.
He had been absent for almost two years, but his commitment to becoming a courtesan hadn't faded. Hun Jia had continued his lessons while they were away and was confident that he was almost ready to become a Flower. There was a depth to his tea ceremonies now that she couldn't replicate. Her ceremonies were still more heavily influenced by the dao of beauty, but his carried the weight of emotion and intent.
Hun Jia had opened his eyes to a new way of teaching dao, one that did not require words, but actions. It was how the Blossoms taught, and it was entirely foreign to how he approached dao. Until a year ago, Tobias had still believed that dao whispers were the foundation of dao.
They were not.
They were just one way to understand and interact with dao. The Blossoms taught through dao movements. Actions which contained the dao and could convey it in an entirely different way. You did not have to comprehend dao whispers to gather insights and form comprehensions. You could build upon your dao movements, mastering one step after another.
These dao movements occasionally produced dao whispers when things went wrong, which was why Tobias was having so much trouble capturing insights and comprehending the dao of beauty. He was trying to learn a foreign language with no shared history or matching words, when he should have been figuring out the language from the context in which it was used.
Dao movements represented an entirely different approach to dao, and Tobias still hadn't figured out how to create a dao cultivation method that would accelerate the process. He wasn't surprised. His understanding of cultivation came from statistical analysis, and Hun Jia's lessons were a single data point. Tobias looked forward to his lessons with the other Blossoms because each lesson would offer him more data and more ways to understand dao movements.
He didn't know if dao movements were the conscious or unconscious path, but it was a path. One he wished to explore and understand. Exploring dao was how he kept his mind off wanting to go home, how he forgot about the people he loved and missed.
Tobias stopped his stroll as Lord walked out from a pavilion and brushed against his leg. Tobias leaned down and ran his hand across the spirit beast's back, stroking his ginger fur. The cat leaned into the attention, purring loudly, before sauntering off.
Tobias sensed its thoughts and feelings and chuckled. Lord was happy to see one of his sources of entertainment had returned.
Tobias turned as Blossom Genji approached from another direction, offering her a smile. Blossom Genji returned his smile with her own.
Tobias retrieved his folding fan from his belt and flicked it open, inviting her to join him for a walk. Blossom Genji drew her own fan and accepted the invitation.
They walked in silence, communicating through their fans, sharing their feelings with one another as they wandered through the gardens. It was a delicate conversation. One which Tobias would not have been able to have two years ago, but he found a subtle pleasure in sharing it now.
Blossom Genji communicated far more beautifully than he could, but Tobias did not dwell on his failures, taking pride in the simple fact that he could communicate without the influence of his old teacher's personality coming through. This was a conversation between two, not three.
When they had circled the gardens twice, Blossom Genji approved of his progress and left. They never shared a word, but Tobias felt much closer to her than when he had left. He understood her better, too. She was truly content with her life here, happy and free from worries.
Tobias took another lap of the gardens and then ended his walk at the kitchen, where a dozen retired Blossoms were beginning to prepare breakfast. There were no servants inside the Silver Blossom Pavilion, only retired Blossoms who took care of everyone's needs. They kept one or two suitors, which earned them more than the Flowers, but instead of relaxing, they spent their free time helping.
Tobias bowed from the entrance. "I am sorry to intrude, but Hun Jia requested that I teach you some of the dishes that I have been preparing while we were gone."
Blossom Tian looked over.
She was in her mid-forties and still a stunningly attractive woman. Her hands were covered in flour from making dumpling dough, and she wore a casual smile. "She mentioned you would be stopping by last night. Will you need our assistance?"
Tobias shook his head. "I'm capable of preparing meals for everyone alone, so all you will need to do is watch."
Blossom Tian smirked at the other Blossoms. "I'm sure we'll find a way to manage."
***
Tobias didn't believe in constant training, especially when children were involved. Hun Fen also had other lessons that she needed to attend to further her mortal studies and her courtesan training, so he waited for her to come to him. This only took a week.
Hun Fen didn't consider sparing to be training, but fun, so after the first lesson, she rarely went a day without a crossing blades.
A few weeks after their return, Tobias delivered six swings in quick succession, moving too faster for Hun Fen to keep up. She blocked two with her training sword and the other four with her dao, not allowing his strikes anywhere near her body, before stepping forward to deliver a strike to his stomach. Tobias blocked the strike with his dao before spinning and trying to kick her in the face. Hun Fen ducked under the kick, grabbing his leg as it passed by, and allowing him to pull her around behind him as she swung at his back.
It was an action even the most talented genius wouldn't have taken, and it broke the rules of their sparring match.
Tobias summoned a dao sword in his empty hand as he reached over his shoulder and blocked her strike, causing her to shout with indignation. "Stop cheating!"
Tobias blocked two more indignant strikes. "You cheated first."
"No, I didn't."
"You aren't allowed to do anything where my only response would require me to harm you. The only way to get you off my leg would be to flick you away, block you with my dao, or cut you with it, turning my leg into a sword."
Hun Fen stepped back and frowned, trusting him not to strike her despite him being mid-swing. "You can turn your leg into a sword?"
Tobias stopped his blade an inch from her cheek and took a step back. "A living sword can turn any part of their body into a sword. It's part of the reason we are so dangerous. Our entire body is a weapon."
Hun Fen looked at her training sword, weighing his words. "If our entire body is a sword, why are we using swords to spar?"
Tobias held up his training sword. "Using a sword is how we gain a deeper understanding of the dao of swords. Our bodies are swords, but they are also bodies, so they are capable of more than a sword is capable of, confusing our understanding of the dao of swords."
Hun Fen nodded, understanding without needing further explanation. "So, it's harder to understand the dao of swords without using a sword?"
"You should know the answer to that."
Hun Fen stared at her training sword before spinning it around her hand and catching it. "Limitations make it easier to comprehend dao, because you are comprehending less of the dao than you would be without those limitations." Her eyes widened with understanding, and she stared at Tobias. "We shouldn't be sparring with more freedom. We should be sparring with less."
Tobias smiled, glad she understood. "Congratulations. Now, your training can begin."
***
Tobias was in no rush to become a courtesan. Training Hun Fen and guiding her cultivation would take decades, so he took his time once they returned. When he mastered the basic lessons with the Blossoms, he moved on to private ones, growing more refined with each new lesson. His improvements pushed Lung Mei to try harder as she saw his actions grow more beautiful and wanted to emulate his success.
Six months after their return, Tobias sat with Hun Jia on her veranda, drinking wine and enjoying an afternoon without responsibility. The girls had gone into the city with Blossom Genji to purchase new fans, freeing the two of them to relax.
Hun Jia lowered her cup and leaned back on her mountain of pillows, displaying none of her usual elegant posture. "Why won't you share your name with me?"
Tobias drained his cup and leaned back, copying her relaxed posture, using his aura to lift the wine jar and refill their cups. "There is power in names. For those who know how to look, merely sharing my name would draw their attention."
Hun Jia frowned, and then her eyes widened with understanding. "Your name is linked to your dao in a way you cannot obscure."
It was far more complicated than she made it sound, but she had the general idea.
Tobias nodded.
"Isn't calling yourself The Magistrate just as risky?"
Tobias shook his head.
"Why not?"
"You should be able to answer. You are my most promising student after all."
Hun Jia smiled, accepting the compliment as she stopped to consider. Tobias wasn't embellishing his words. Hun Jia truly was his most promising student. She was far ahead of her daughter and Lung Mei when it came to understanding dao.
Like Tobias, she was born to cultivate, and, like him, she couldn't.
Sadly, her gifts lay in a different direction from his. Dao came to her easily, but cultivation was much harder for her to understand, so even if he made her a cultivator, she wouldn't be able to improve his understanding of cultivation. And she'd always lack the divinity to study dao. There was nothing he could do to change that.
"You are more than the name," Hun Jia eventually said. "The Magistrate encompasses a part of who you are, but not all of who you are. It has shaped you and your actions, but it is an addition rather than something that has always been a part of you. This allows you to hide from those who would use it against you, except when you are living out this aspect of yourself."
Tobias nodded.
Hun Jia drained her cup. "Will you ever share your name with me?"
"Only if I choose to return to my clan."
"You've been wandering the world for more than a century, and Lung Mei shows no signs of growing up. I'll be long dead before you admit defeat."
Tobias had shared his problems with Hun Jia. She was his friend and a fellow parent, understanding the love he had for Lung Mei and his commitment to correct his mistake. She was hurt that he couldn't be more open with her, but understood he would not compromise.
Tobias shrugged in response.
"Then you will need a new name. One you can use as a Flower of the Silver Blossom Pavilion."
Tobias raised an eyebrow.
Hun Jia smiled. "There is an unspoken rule in the Silver Blossom Pavilion that once someone is qualified to be a Flower, they have a year before they must become one or leave."
Tobias frowned. "Why would such a rule exist?"
"Many hope to become Blossoms before they become Flowers, assuming that our private lessons are the fastest way to do so. They aren't. We learn more from working with our suitors than you might expect.
Tobias stared at Hun Jia, unravelling her meaning. "You believe taking suitors helped you become closer to the dao of beauty?"
Hun Jia shifted her posture ever so slightly, causing the dao of beauty to sing in Tobias's ears. She now held more influence over the dao than when Tobias had arrived, manipulating it with greater control and intention than before. Reading his manuals and manuscripts to Hun Fen had helped her understand what she was doing.
She looked him in the eye and shared a simple truth, one filled with the dao of beauty. "A flower is more beautiful in a barren wasteland than in a lush forest."
Tobias sighed, understanding her meaning as if she had slowly spelt it out for him. "I'm in the wrong environment to gather insights and form comprehension for the dao of beauty."
Hun Jia nodded. "Surrounding yourself with the dao of beauty is not the best way to interact with it, from what you have taught me. You are nothing but a weed in a garden. An ugly nuisance."
"But a weed in a wasteland is beautiful."
Hun Jia nodded. "No, Blossom has managed to become a Blossom without suitors. You might be the first, but I've seen how much you struggle, and how capable you are. If it were possible, I think you would have achieved it already."
Tobias sighed. "You're likely correct."
Hun Jia nodded. "Then we should settle on your name and introduce you to the city as our newest Flower."