Fenghuang Yu was sprinting across the bridge from the Earth Mountain to meet her brother for dinner at one of the private restaurants in the city. It took silver as well as points so Yu decided she would use some of the silver coins she’d earned at home and buy dinner for them both. She bathed, put on fresh clothes, grabbed Bai’s basket, and ran with him to the Dragon’s Dumpling Diner in the market area public to all disciples. She saw him waiting outside looking around for her.

Yu squealed and ran up to him. She could see his startled expression and then a smile formed as she lept at him and embraced him in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his shoulder, tears falling down her face uncontrollably. She wasn’t even touching the ground, and poor Bai was in one of her hands around his back, just hanging there in his basket.

Fenghuang Lei, the only brother (well, half-brother) who cared for her, even when she was crippled in her childhood, was her favorite family member. He said in a voice lower than Yu remembered, “Yu’er, let’s go eat and we can catch up.”

She nodded into his now wet shoulder, still not releasing her death grip on him. He chuckled and patted her head. She tried, but her arms wouldn’t move and her tears wouldn’t stop falling. Yu heard a sigh and then a soft, “Yu’er, people are going to talk and we are holding up the line.”

Yu nodded again but this time let go of her brother and fell back to the ground. He was always much taller than her but he seemed even taller now. She gave him an up and down while wiping her face with her sleeve and said, “You’re a lot bigger.”

He chuckled and led her inside. She held his arm with one hand and Bai in the other. They found a place to sit and Yu said, “I have so much to tell you,” the moment their butts hit the seats. “Oh. Before I forget.” And Yu took out the letter from their father and handed it over.

He took it and thanked her before saying, “I’m pretty sure you have never forgotten anything in your life.”

Yu blushed and shrugged. Then she whispered, “My mother’s pregnant.”

He was just picking up the menu and froze, his eyes widening. “Again? Wow.”

Yu nodded. “Don’t tell anyone though. I’ve caused enough trouble and they don’t want to draw any more attention.”

His half grin showed then and he said, “Yes, you have. I was in the crowd in the arena. Speaking of which, thank you.”

Yu blushed but blinked at him curiously. “Huh? For what?”

“I bet on you.”

Yu gaped at him and hissed, “You gambled?”

Her brother blushed then, which looked a little odd on him since he never blushed, at least around Yu. He always seemed so confident. “You won me a lot of points. Around 6,000.”

“Seriously? Are you insane? I could have lost you know!”

He scoffed at that. “Don’t be ridiculous. You easily won every match like you were sparring with children. Well, except with the seventh prince, which incidentally is where I won the most points. I had great odds.”

Yu never gambled with anything except her life in combat, but she understood how it worked. “Ummm. How bad was I the underdog?”

His grin was huge then, “I got ten to one in your match against Bao Qing, and fifteen to one against the prince. The others were less. Nobody would take my bets on your last challenge.”

“Wow. Bao Qing was an idiot; who would have given him those odds?”

Her brother cleared his throat and said, “His family.”

Yu slapped her forehead with her hand and shook her head. “That match must have cost them a lot.” He nodded.

“Ugh. Well, I doubt it made things worse. They already hated me the second I arrived, although I have no idea why.”

The pair ordered when a server came by and Yu spoke while wearing a massive smile, “So, I saw you ranked already.”

Lei blushed again but smiled and nodded. “All the top competitors are very tough.”

“Our family is very proud of you. You’ll make a great heir.”

He looked down. “You know, you’re probably more qualified than me.”

Yu scoffed, “Oh, please. You and I both know I’m not. Not only am I a girl, but I am also completely disinterested. You run the place and I’ll just fight or heal or enchant. That way all the annoying people, mostly boys, talk to you and leave me alone.”

He laughed and, attempting to change the topic, said, “I hope I am around to see the day you decide boys aren’t awful.”

She muttered, “Don’t hold your breath.”

Laughing again, he asked how her first week was going so far.

She shared how she made friends and said, “I have to warn you. One of my suitemates has kind of a crush on you. She is an Air Warrior, has more energy than a lightning bolt, and won’t leave me alone if I don’t introduce you. So, be prepared because you don’t have a choice but to be assaulted by her.”

He coughed up his tea at that. “Sorry. What?”

Yu went on to explain about her three suitemates. Lei listened while his sister talked about the three girls in detail but he stopped her when she got to Gui Ai. “Wait. You are friends with the third princess?”

Yu shrugged and described her. “I don’t know which royalty she is or even if that’s her. But she is a very sweet, shy girl. She is so timid, I wonder if sending her here was the right thing to do.”

“That’s her. A lot of people know or presume they know about Princess Gui Ai and her condition.”

Blinking at her brother, Yu noted, “Apparently not me. What condition? She just seems shy and scared to us.”

Lei shifted uncomfortably in his seat and said in a whisper, “She was hurt a few years ago. The rumors are that she was kidnapped and when they found her she was. . . not in good condition. She was a very lively and gifted young woman from what I understand; but since then, all she does is paint. She refuses to cultivate anymore.”

Yu’s eyes turned wet at that. “Oh.” Yu reflected how terrified she was of the crowds and loud noises and especially boys. Poor Ai.

He nodded and said, “She was supposedly exceptionally gifted in her family’s two special affinities. The first in generations with both Fire and Ice.”

“Why did they send her here? This place is so violent.”

He said, “I can only speak to what I heard. But the word is they were hoping she would find herself again.”

Yu looked down at the table and struggled with her emotions. Should she talk about it? Should she tell the twins?

Lei interrupted her thoughts with a cough and said, “You never told me about your classes.”

She nodded and told him over her dumplings. After getting through it Yu threw her chopsticks onto her plate and expressed her frustration. “How do I even keep up with the Qi usage? I go from one class straight into the next. And what am I supposed to do about all the skills I’m missing? I need five more to have one for each class. Never mind how I am going to deal with the Baos in my Water Warrior class, whenever I actually manage to get a skill that is.”

Yu put her head in her hands as she leaned over the table. “What am I going to do, Lei?”

Her brother put his chopsticks down, reached across the table, and engulfed her hands in his larger ones. “Yu’er, calm down. If there is anything I know, it's that you thrive in adversity.”

He then put his hand under her chin and lifted it. “Break it down into one problem at a time and solve each. First, the Qi. That is the easiest to solve. Eat.”

Yu blinked at him and then looked down at her dumplings. She sighed, picked up her chopsticks, and stuffed an entire dumpling in her mouth causing her cheeks to bulge. He laughed and said, “That isn’t what I meant, but yes. You need to eat dinner.”

She raised her silver eyebrows at him and he explained, “Why do you think they offer the expensive food? It isn’t so the students just burn points for no reason.”

Yu’s eyes widened, and she took a huge gulp.

He continued as she drank. “Eat the special food they provide. And more than that, eat the food that offers the affinities for the classes you are about to enter. I can’t say for sure of course, especially given that your master is an utter madman, but one of the reasons he set the whole thing up in the arena was probably so you could earn points to keep up with the classes.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Why would you? You'd eaten infused food, what, three or four times before arriving?” Yu nodded. It was four, once for each meridian.

“That is also likely related to the skills. He got you started with points. I’d wager those mission days were set aside to make sure you could keep up with the points. And of course push you to grow, which you would do regardless. Now it’s just structured.”

Yu opened her mouth at him and stared for a few moments. “Were you always this smart?”

He looked offended. “Of course!” Then he huffed and stuffed a dumpling in his mouth.

She giggled and said, “You haven’t met Bai yet,” and she lifted him onto the table. His one red and one blue eye were open and staring at her brother.”

Lay scratched his head and the cub purred. “Thank you for the heron by the way. Xiao Baise is amazing although I spend most of my points on her.”

Yu giggled. “Cute name. You’ll have to introduce me.”

He nodded. “I will. And thank you also for all the resources too. They helped me grow strong enough to get into the rankings.”

“Oh right! One more thing. How big is your spatial ring?”

He blinked at her, looked thoughtful for a few moments, and said, “Somewhere between 5 and 7 paces cubed. Why?”

Yu reached into Bai’s basket, pulled out a plain but highly-polished copper ring, and held it out to him on her palm. “You can sell that one for points or whatever. Use this one from now on.”

He looked skeptically at her. She saw it and said while smiling, “It’s about forty paces and the last thing from my tournament win. I assume you heard about that?”

He looked at it wide-eyed. “Of course I heard and that’s really big. Are you sure?”

She nodded. “I have one that I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of,” and showed the stunning silver one on her hand Grandma Huan gave her.

“Oh. Thank you, Yu’er. You could sell this for a lot of silver or points you know.”

She waved it off. “This was my plan from the beginning. You need it more than I do. Being a big tough handsome ranker, you probably have a lot of gifts for girls and need space to store them all.”

He blushed and looked down. She looked at him shocked and gasped, “You do?” He blushed brighter and she laughed uproariously. After catching her breath and being glared at by her bright red brother, Yu managed to say, “You always were a target for the ladies. Speaking of which, I never finished telling you about Jao Li.”