“We won!” Silas chirped happily, “I knew we could take them! That’s what they get for trying to catch me—bunch of jerks.” Though both he and Samantha were seriously injured, that didn’t manage to dampen his high spirits as he practically vibrated with excitement in her arms. At least, until he realized that she wasn’t sharing his sentiment. “You aren’t happy?”

“Well… I wouldn’t be so sure we’ve won just yet, is all.” Samantha hedged.

This was a setback no matter how she tried to spin it to herself. Yes, technically, they had run off the trio, but what kind of mess had they gotten themselves into as a result? She leaned against a nearby tree and slid to the muddy ground, holding Silas close to try and shield his body from the falling rain. She was bone-tired now that she had the breathing room to realize it.

“Why not? We beat them. They ran away! Even in your human ‘duels’ doesn’t that count as a victory?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that, I’m afraid.” Samantha explained, “There could be consequences beyond this fight that are waiting for us by the time we get to Yivesh. I don’t have a way to track where they disappeared to, but my intuition says that they used something like a house-issued teleporting talisman to get back to the Braxand estate, since that kind of art is too powerful for any Low Copper to manifest on their own.”

“I don’t get how that changes anything.”

“Teleportation items are expensive and they’re single-use. Actually, maybe the cost of something like teleportation items is negligible for a rich house like theirs…? Hmm. Give me a minute to collect my thoughts.”

Samantha took a calming breath and went through all her available information and theories. Until she was recovered enough to make it back to her discarded equipment and finish the journey home, she would try to utilize the downtime to think through the possible outcomes she’d have to address soon.

She opened all the notifications that had been automatically suppressed during battle and read through each to see if she got some confirmation that she’d slain someone. Most were just telling her that “As One” was activating, and no verification of deaths appeared, but that didn’t necessarily let her off the hook. She’d never killed anyone before or known someone that could tell her what to expect if she did, so it was possible it wouldn’t be something she would receive a pop-up for. So, she’d assume the worst.

There were a lot of factors for her to consider that could impact the situation, but it all really boiled down to three things: the brothers’ positions in House Braxand, the reactions of the brothers to their loss, and the reaction of the family to the brother’s story.

Determining the brothers’ status in the Braxand hierarchy was difficult, since she didn’t have a lot of information other than that they claimed to be a part of the family itself. That wasn’t to say that she had nothing to go on though.

For one, even though the eldest was crippled, all three brothers were cultivators. Even in a noble family where the cultivation quest success rate was much higher, this would be somewhat unusual. This could mean that they came from good cultivating “stock”, which would place them higher in the power structure. However, with the twins being at least 20 years old and still at Low Copper, it could also mean that the house wasn’t allocating them resources to expedite their growth. Without going into the wilds to find founts or hunt for beast cores, cultivating was extremely slow in the city. While people like her and her cousin Thomas would brave the forests to get stronger, the rich often preferred to cultivate safely with purchased beast cores, quietly duel for face, and then make societal “debuts” when reaching the upper ranks of Copper. Frustratingly, it was possible that their age was a moot point too, since the twins could just be late bloomers and received the cultivation quest fairly recently.

There was also the presence of the teleporting item to consider. The fact that they had one in their possession was interesting, but Samantha didn’t know if the Braxand’s considered them to be as expensive as she did. One talisman would have costs equivalent to several qi-forged weapons because of their usefulness and incredible range. Even for a middle-class crafting house like hers, just one qi forged weapon would be quite the investment, since only cultivators could make them, and a cultivator’s time and expertise were premium. For one of the richest houses in the city? It was probably a drop in the bucket. Nearly every cultivator of any noble house owned at least one qi-forged weapon as a show of wealth and prestige. But still, why give one to a group with a crippled cultivator and two older, Low Coppers?

Maybe it wasn’t because of their status at all, but about the task that they had been assigned to do? Hunting for Spirit Beasts was always challenging, and Samantha assumed trying to hunt for “unrecorded” Spirit Beasts was exponentially more difficult. Not only would the brothers have to potentially range much further from Yivesh to find rarer creatures, but they would have to capture the beast alive and transport it back with them. Would it make sense for them to try drag the unwilling captive back however many miles back to the city? While certainly the feat was possible, the logistics alone would be a nightmare. Defending from other predators, keeping the animal sedated or subdued the entire way, carrying it if it was large… perhaps the teleportation item was only meant to be used if they found success in capturing a new Spirit Beast to reduce such difficulties? She desperately wanted to believe that this was the case, but she was going off so little information that there were many things she could be deducing incorrectly.

She unconsciously had begun clenching her jaw with her growing exasperation at the lack of clear answers, but a small nudge from Silas allowed her to recenter herself and think a little more clearly. With all the information at hand, it seemed much more likely to her that they were from a middling branch of the Braxand house as opposed to part of the main branch. All three brothers being cultivators certainly ruled them out of being part of a low branch, since those were typically filled with mortals. It wasn’t ideal, but she could work with it.

So, how would the brothers react to their loss? There was no chance of them hiding the conflict from their family since they would be making a “grand entrance” with the teleport usage. The question was, would they tell the truth, stretch the truth, or outright lie about what happened? Cultivators took face and reputation very seriously, so they would certainly be sorely tempted to lie, but being caught lying to your superiors was often viewed as a lack of respect and a punishable offense.

They would likely shy away from the whole truth as well, seeing as having to admit that the three of them started the fight, then lost to a newbie cultivator and a small bunny would make them look weak. Duels between cultivators within one rank of each other were common, and it wasn’t guaranteed that the lower ranked combatant would lose. Battle experience, primary cultivation patterns, meridians opened, arts possessed, and any spirit bonds could shift the odds significantly. In her case, Silas had given her enough of an edge to best the brothers because they underestimated his capabilities, but the loss would cut deep when they should have been able to win with numbers. They’d probably stretch the truth somehow then, and while she had no idea what crazy story they’d end up telling, she knew she’d not be presented in a positive light.

The final point then, was how the family would react to their words. She wasn’t so naive to think they’d ignore the situation since she potentially killed one of their up-and-coming cultivators, but she also didn’t know if they would go all out to find and deal with her as he was presumably from a middling branch of the family. She hoped that the costs of finding her would outweigh the rewards, since she’d be somewhat hard to find. While she did give away the general time frame that she had left for her quest, she never declared her name and she knew that her family did not widely announce that she was leaving. If she was able to conceal Silas and change up her appearance, she may be able to evade their detection entirely. There was a risk that House Braxand would enlist the help of the city Enforcers to help investigate, but that would also open the situation to more scrutiny from the public and the family could stand to lose considerable reputation. Another thing to consider was if they were still interested in getting Silas. If they sought justice for her being a killer, she would have to be sent up the tower and they would lose the opportunity to acquire him.

In conclusion, she couldn’t be certain of anything. However, she felt the most likely scenario was that she had killed the scholarly twin, the remaining brothers fled to the Braxand estate and told a barely true story of their fight, and the family would discreetly try and locate her for some retaliatory action (whether that was trying to take Silas or harming her, she was unsure). Feeling as comfortable as she could with her interpretations, she conveyed a summary to Silas.

He looked sadder the further she got in her explanations, and when she finished, he was quiet for a long time.

“If I hadn’t been so careless and got caught in their trap…” he began, but Samantha cut him off.

“Unfortunately, for all the good things I told you about Yivesh and other humans, there is an equal amount--if not greater number--of bad things. Power is everything, and that doesn’t always just mean who’s the strongest in a fight. This is the reason why I became a cultivator in the first place. I was—am—tired of being pushed around and having to practically thank them for it to avoid worse. Yeah, this is a bit of a rough start, but we’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.” Samantha did her best to project confidence, but she didn't know how convincing she had been.

By now, she had regained a qi point and the healing herbs had run their course. She spent the qi point on Flawless Regeneration to seal the stomach wound she had taken earlier–one that her notifications informed her had been fatal before “As One” split the damage-and stood up. It was fascinating how the ability dealt with a wound that completely pierced her, making it so that the cut only went partway through her torso instead of out her back. She didn’t want to speculate about what would happen if she had taken longer to remove the sword from her body, or what would happen if she were impaled and unable to remove the offending object at all, so she just counted her lucky stars that it worked out for now and halved the healing required to repair the damage.

Samantha wandered over to the blood stained portion of ground, checking the sword that she had thrown to see if she could take it back with her. She ultimately decided against it. It was a beautiful qi-forged straight sword with inlaid decorations on the pommel and guard, but it was too distinct. If she was caught with it inside the city, she’d give herself away immediately. Not to mention she didn’t know if the sword was enchanted with any sort of tracking art or some other hidden feature. Beating back her inner greed, she left the valuable item where it was and had Silas direct her to the location where the trio had abandoned their equipment in their flight.

It was carnage. The contents of the bags were strewn haphazardly across the muddy ground, clothing, rations, and odds and ends all scattered. There were several bundles of packaged herbs that were ripped through, but only half of one was left intact. All that remained of the other bundles were discarded stem or root bits. Samantha glanced over to her companion, noticing for the first time that his stomach was distended to a near comical degree—making him look almost pregnant. Was the lingering discomfort that she felt in her stomach from the freshly healed wound, or was she actually sharing in Silas’s stomachache? She checked her notifications and didn’t see “As One” activating, but she wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

She decided not to tease him about his new look since he had, in fact, actually saved both of their lives with his prodigious gluttony, but did pick up the remaining herbs to protect them from being eaten. She recognized them as more minor healing herbs, which could come in handy later. The rest of the items were useless to her, as the sword had been. The clothing was branded with the house insignia, and all the other supplies were things she didn’t need—like more cooking pans. She couldn’t rationalize adding more weight to her pack unless it was something truly extraordinary, so she left it all where it was.

On that note, she retraced her steps with some difficulty to the place where she had originally dropped her equipment when she had felt Silas become trapped. The rain washed away much of the signs of her passage, but using the metal trap as a landmark, she was able to manage it. She shouldered her supplies and groaned as it awakened a thousand small aches and pains, but pressed on. She was tired and cold, but she felt like she needed to push through to Yivesh instead of stopping to rest. If people were sent after her, she didn’t want to be so easily discovered near the site of the fight. Her cultivator’s body protected her somewhat from the bad weather, but it would be an unpleasant journey, nonetheless.

As she walked, she thought about all the ways that she could change her appearance to give herself the best chance of success of remaining hidden. The most visibly striking things about her currently were her robes and her lack of hair. The safest option would be to sneak into one of the farms around the city and steal a set of robes and some sort of hat, as much as she found the idea of theft distasteful. From there, she’d have to gauge whether she could make it into the city over the protective wall without being caught, or if she’d have to risk passing through one of the standard entrances. If the Braxands had told the guard about her, the front gate was the most dangerous option, but if they hadn’t? Getting caught trying to illegally enter the city would just be another unnecessary problem added to her growing list. Ideally, she just needed to not be seen or noticed entering, but she couldn’t decide one way or the other without evaluating the options in person.

The fight had fortunately occurred this morning, so she didn’t need to fear night falling before Yivesh was in sight. She and Silas stayed vigilant for additional hidden traps or other Spirit Beasts, but it seemed that the other animals were wisely staying out of the wet and cold, unlike them. Occasionally, Samantha would lift Silas into her robes to prevent him from getting too chilled, but the trip was blissfully peaceful otherwise. Just as the sun was nearing the horizon and the skies turned vibrant shades of orange and pink, she saw it: home.

The first floor of the tower was primarily forested lands, with the odd plain, lake, or river thrown in to break up the monotony. Yivesh, a city of around 300,000 people, was situated where two such oddities met. A wide plain of tallgrass several miles in diameter was bisected by a moderately sized river, and this was the place where Yivesh laid down its roots millenia ago. Originally built around the precious water source, over the centuries the city had evenly expanded so that the life waters always flowed through its center.

Yivesh’s construction was mostly circular, with the wealthiest and most powerful members of society concentrated near its center. As one got further from the center of town, typically the societal class of the residents decreased, with the poorest and weakest living nearest the edge of the city. This put them closest to the protective wall and also made them the first to be endangered by a Spirit Beast incursion, but Samantha could not recall a single instance in her lifetime where this had happened. Yivesh was encircled by sturdy stone walls 20 feet high and 6 feet thick, and, upon these walls, patrolled the cultivator guardians of the city.

All around the outside of the Walls of Yivesh were fields upon fields of rich farmland, which she was just about to reach with a few more minutes of walking. These farmsteads were all maintained and worked by mortals, only feeling safe enough to leave the walls behind due to the regular protective patrols by guardians. Out here, the risk of spirit beast attacks was much higher since the cultivators could not watch and be everywhere at once, but there was still only an attack or two that made it through each year. Most beasts have learned by now that to approach the city means death, and stayed away. Samantha was hoping that, like the occasional spirit beast, she too would be able to slip through the cracks in city security. Once she retrieved a new set of clothes, she could figure out a definitive plan for getting into the city.

As far as she knew, the farmers often stayed out past dark with the assistance of lanterns or light talismans because some of the produce needed tending under the moonlight as opposed to sunlight. It appeared this was the case in one orchard ahead of her, as she watched a farmer’s light blink on as the sky darkened further. When it reached the point when her night vision activated, she moved forward with as much stealth as she could manage.

There was more than one farmhand on the premises, and she often had to use various fruit trees for cover when she had to pass them by. But, honestly, she was shocked at how easy it all was. She had gotten so used to fearing any misstep would give her away to predators in the Eastern Reaches that the mortals around her seemed virtually blind and deaf by comparison. Each time she danced just out of reach of the light’s glow or expertly slid out of the sightline of the workers as they turned corners, she found herself surprised that there wasn’t more to it. She knew before that the gap between mortals and cultivators was large, but seeing it in action when she was now a cultivator herself was a whole different story.

Before long, she reached the head farmer’s home. The lights were on, and a woman—presumably a wife or daughter—was cooking dinner in the kitchen downstairs. Peeking cautiously through the glass window whenever the woman’s back was turned, she could see that the 1st floor primarily consisted of the kitchen and a dining area. There was no sign of any doors, just a staircase leading to the 2nd floor. As Samantha sidled around the edge of the house, she pressed her ear to the wood to try and hear if there were others inside, but it truly seemed that the cooking woman was the only occupant. Looking up, Samantha noted a 2nd story window that she bet led into a sleeping area. That was her ticket to a new set of robes.

She tasked Silas with going Transparent and keeping an eye on the woman to warn Samantha if she came upstairs, and Samantha quietly laid down her pack. When Silas gave her the signal that she was in position, she jumped up and off of the wall to reach the windowsill. The wooden frame was a bit stuck and creaked slightly as she forced it open, but it was no real barrier for her 6 Strength. After confirming with Silas that the woman hadn’t heard her, she made her way into the bedroom.

It was a simple, rustic space without any unnecessary decoration. There was a bed large enough for two people, a dresser, a vanity mirror, a closet, and a bedside table with a bookmarked tome and a half-melted candle atop it. Everything within was well taken care of and functional, and though she liked the clean, uncomplicated aesthetic, she didn’t have the time to admire it.

She immediately checked the dresser for sets of clothes but was dismayed to find that there were only a few clean sets remaining in the drawers—both for the woman and the man. If she took something from here, the occupants would notice right away when they went to get dressed the next morning. So, she went for the next best thing and looked for the hamper. She didn’t need to look hard, as her enhanced senses led her to the closet by the smell of sweat alone. She wrinkled her nose as she approached, and wondered how these workrobes somehow smelt worse than her current rags. She comforted herself in the fact that at least no one would suspect a thief to take nothing but a set of unwashed robes.

She was picking through the hamper when Silas warned her that the cook was moving. No time to be choosy. She took whatever was currently in her hand and rushed towards the window, attempting to leave everything as she found it and closing the window behind her. Well, she tried to close it. The window jammed on the way down and she suppressed a curse as it was less than an inch from being closed. She could not believe her 6 Strength was choosing right now to fail her, against a misaligned window track of all things! She struggled vainly for a few more seconds before she heard the woman’s steps approaching and getting too close for comfort. There was no way that she’d miss the open window, but Samantha hoped that it didn’t stand out as too odd in the other woman’s mind. Maybe weird things just happened in old houses sometimes? She prayed it was good enough, then dropped from the sill and grabbed her pack. Rushing off as quickly as she could, she summoned Silas to her and they kept up a steady pace towards the city walls, not stopping to see what the reaction would be.

After maybe an hour of darting from cover spot to cover spot, steering clear of patrols long before they had the opportunity to spot her or Silas, they reached a safe spot that wasn't frequented by the watch. She took this opportunity to change into the smelly clothes and sighed as Silas laughed at her discomfort. The stench was truly rank, and she couldn't help but lament at the horrible fit. She swore to herself that if she managed to make it into the city unscathed that she would learn how to tailor properly. She was having a lot of clothing trouble lately that a skill like that would solve!

In any case, the robes were obviously originally tailored for a large man, and she had to cut off some of the lengths of the arms and legs so that she wouldn’t get tripped up in the excess fabrics. This left the edges looked rough and ragged, but it wasn’t all terrible. With the extra fabric from the limbs, she was able to form a make-shift head-wrap to conceal her short hair. From a distance, she expected that she would look like any number of young street beggars in the bad parts of town. This suited her needs perfectly.

Now, the hard part, getting in without being seen. She knew that going over the walls was pretty much her only option other than going through the front gate, but that didn’t make this any less daunting. She wished for once that the city was less secure and that their aqueducts or sewers were unsealed so she could sneak through, but she wouldn’t get anywhere whining about what could have been. So she settled into a small dip in the earth, hid in the tall grass, and watched the walls with rapt attention. If this didn't work out, maybe she could sneak in with another group during a rush hour or something.

She spent the next several hours noting the movements of the wall guardians. It seemed that one thing she had going for her was that, despite being somewhat close to the wall at this point, they had never so much as glanced downwards in her direction. Their eyes were always glued to the distant tree line past the plains, watching for monstrous intruders. It made sense, she supposed. These cultivators had been trained to protect from hungry beasts, not a single human girl trying to sneak in. She doubted that her hiding in the grass, noting the patrol movements, and scaling the wall during a gap was something that they would even be worried about.

Based on her observations, all cultivators on duty were stationed within shouting distance of one another—which was quite far considering the relative quiet of the night. She estimated there was anywhere from 700-900 feet between them, and every 5 minutes, each cultivator would shift their position about 50 paces to her left, moving along the path of the circle. During the last several hours, she had firmly decided against trying to make it through a standard entrance--even among a group. The wall formation was more than wide enough for her to slip through if she timed it right, and this plan had the least risk of her being seen by anyone on the way into the city.

A cycle was coming soon that would place her directly in the middle of two watchers, and that would be her best chance to make a break for it. She wouldn’t be able to scale the wall with her pack weighing her down, but she was fairly confident that she could at least toss it over by utilizing her enhanced stats. Then, once her bag was up, she could use the traction enhancing properties of Swift to jump up the wall while carrying Silas. From there, she just needed to toss the bag down and jump down before the 5 minutes were up and without making too much noise. It sounded easy enough in theory.

When the next cycle finished, she moved. She slunk over to the wall, trying not to move too quickly to avoid catching anyone’s attention with the motion. Taking off her pack when reached the base of the wall, she began to try and swing it up. She found that there was one minor issue as she attempted this, though. While she was strong enough to lift and throw the 350 pound object around, it didn’t change the fact that her 130 pound body would also be moved by it in turn, threatening to unbalance and knock her over with every swing. Thinking fast, she used a point of qi on Swift to help her feet stick to the ground and tried using the force of a spin to lob it up the wall again.

This time, she managed to spin the bag around without falling and releasing it in a toss towards the wall, but her aim was off and the bag hit the wall. Scowling, she caught the falling weight and listened closely. No shout arose from up above, so she was still in the clear. So, she tried again. Again, her toss with Swift fell short and she had to play catch.

She quickly double-checked her qi pool. 9/18? She had a few more tries in her at least before she’d have to give up and come back later.

It ended up taking her 3 more tries to get the angle and force just right for the equipment to barely make it over the wall edge. However, now time was running short. She didn’t know how much longer the 5-minute gap would last, and with the bag over the wall she was fully commited to the task. There was no turning back with evidence of her presence so clearly on display. Tying Silas inside her robes, she took a few steps back, then ran at the wall to gain some momentum. Activating Swift at 1 qi/second, she jumped and scrabbled her way up the semi-rough surface, trying to make as little noise as possible. Her heart raced as the edge of the wall got closer and closer, eventually within her grasp. She stretched her right arm up as far as it would reach and gripped hard... success!

She canceled Swift as she pulled herself up and over the wall onto the pathway on top. The bag was right in front of her, so she lifted it and started running for the opposite edge. She didn’t bother checking if anyone was looking or facing this way, because if they were looking, they had already seen her, and it was too late. She held the bag strap in one hand as she lowered herself down the other side of the wall, hanging in mid-air. She feared that if she landed while carrying the extra weight that she would break her legs, but hopefully dropping it “gently” from partway down the wall would soften any noises the bag would make.

Even with her Strength, her fingertips strained to hold her own bodyweight and the heavy bag suspended above the ground, so she sent up her second prayer of the night to whoever might be listening and dropped it. A second after, she let go of the wall herself and let herself fall the remaining 15 feet.

Even though the distance was somewhat reduced by her hanging off the side, Silas still shrieked into her mind at the freefall. His mindless terror of heights threated to affect her own concentration, but she ignored it and focused on the landing. The bag gave off a muted thump as it impacted the ground, and she hit a second after it. She gracefully tucked her body into a backwards roll away from the wall and cradled Silas’s body with her arms to protect him.

He still hadn’t stopped mentally screaming this whole time. Man, he really hated heights.

Samantha activated Swift one last time to get over to her bag quickly, keeping her Prey’s Perception focused on the wall to see if anyone had noticed the sound, but it appears that her caution and careful planning had paid off. None seemed any the wiser that she had slipped through.

She was in.