Alice

At first, the Peak Master's outburst had been a cause of amusement for the waiting disciples. Slowly but surely, however, there was a growing realization amongst the inner disciples near the front of the line. The herd of disciples standing outside of his door began to thin even further as those who remained asked one another worriedly if they had pertinent questions.

In a few scant minutes, most of the disciples had come to the conclusion that their questions for the Peak Master were likely less important than potentially angering him.

Most disciples left through the silent corridor, but many of them seemed to habitually haunt the atrium when it wasn't used for official functions. They were one and the same with the crowd of people always present when Alice wanted tapioca tea.

Furniture that had been reappropriated for the event found their way back to their usual spots and stalls began to open for business. Games of mahjong and cards were started and along with them came arguments. The various stalls for tea and for trade opened for business along the walls of the atrium and some formed lines longer than that of those who still wished to speak with Peak Master Feng.

Disciple Hu was now quiet - which seemed slightly uncharacteristic.

"You're wondering if you should leave too," Alice guessed.

Hu nodded, then gave her a sheepish grin. "I'm not quite sure if the questions I'm planning to ask would be considered a waste of the Peak Master's time," he admitted easily. "I've waited many months for a breakthrough, but what one cultivator considers a breakthrough might be as plain as day to another," he said.

Alice decided that Hu would be the sort of person who dressed up a notification about his cultivation progress in the form of questions he didn't really have.

"Besides, I've waited many long months for this. It won't hurt to think it through more thoroughly and present it to a less impatient ear. Peak Master Feng has always been a very busy man, very busy. The next Peak Master to give us a lesson will be, of course, Master Ling. He is infinitely patient with untalented disciples like myself."

Alice held back the funnier things she had to say to that. She was tired of being around Disciple Hu, and the more polite she was, the quicker he'd leave.

"But seeing my beautiful junior sister with such resolve has given me the courage to stick around and see if I could impress the Peak Master!"

Alice hated Disciple Hu.

Perhaps he'd leave if she stopped giving him attention. She went back to observing her sectmates. Alice noted that she was beginning to recognize some of them. There weren't actually that many people in the sect - they just tended to travel in large groups. With time, Alice expected she'd know everyone by name.

After a little while, Alice split those who remained in line into two categories.

The first were those with an air of bravado to them that was something between charming and infuriating. They simultaneously proclaimed to anyone who would listen that they had something important to ask the Peak Master and loudly doubted that the people around them were as worthy. This was mostly made up of outer disciples. Alice realized with a prick of embarrassment that she was likely guilty of the same crime.

The second group didn't bother with such theatrics. They were mostly inner disciples. Alice didn't doubt for a second that they meant business.

The first truly dangerous test in a cultivator's journey was the process of Ignition - the opening of the first meridian after a core had been formed and facing the first tribulation from the skies for doing so. Surviving this tribulation as a disciple of the Ascending Sky was the only way to become a core disciple.

The inner disciples of the Ascending Sky, outnumbered ten to one by the outer disciples, were all capable cultivators who had managed to establish their foundations and form a core. The chances of breaking through and advancing was a horridly unfair number.

Most of the inner disciples who'd chosen to come to the Peak Master's lecture had arrived with friends, but after the en masse exodus of the crowd, Alice could count on one hand how many groups were ahead of her.

Those inner disciples who were still grouped together spoke in relative silence, practicing what they would say to the Peak Master. They reviewed the most obvious questions that would likely be asked and corrected one another with a sharp insistence born of a deep, shared unease.

Her attention was drawn to the front of the line, to one man who looked not a day older than fifteen. His qi was quite erratic and, upon examination, told a story that must have spanned several centuries at least. He balanced a thin slab of marble on his left hand, which he used as a flat surface to take notes on sheet after sheet of his parchment-color paper. Every time he filled a page, he would replace it from a fist-sized bag at his waist.

Alice peaked at the notes as he penned them feverishly. They were filled with calculations and efficient little diagrams and direct quotes from the Skybound Scripture. When he paused to think, his thumbnail chipped off flecks from the stick of charcoal he was writing with. It was roughly as thick as two fingers width and stained the man's hands many shades of black.

Feng's door opened again. The disciple he’d been speaking with left the room and headed directly for a group of his friends at a tea stall.

"Next in line, please." The Peak Master sounded exasperated.

The daoist Alice had been staring at wandered into Feng's study, leaving a trail of dark soot on the ground in his wake. The door closed silently.

"He's not going to make it," said Disciple Hu. Alice jumped, then spun around. The man hadn't spoken in a few minutes.

"I thought you'd left," said Alice, glaring. "Also, what do you mean?"

Hu shrugged, looking uncomfortable, then swept his gaze over the inner disciples who were within hearing distance, one at a time. He turned back to Alice and continued in a low voice. "There are some inner disciples who are quite content with having formed a core. The next part is really hard and really dangerous."

Alice nodded.

Hu bit the inside of his lower lip and frowned, and gave the inner disciples ahead of them another sweep with his eyes. None of them paid a shred of attention to him.

"Sometimes, people encounter trouble with their cultivation and they decide to take a little break. A few weeks or a few months turns into a few years. A few years turns into a few decades, then into a few centuries. Each step along the path of cultivation buys you many lifespans compared to those who don't cultivate, but unless you find the ultimate success, there will be an end to it."

Alice thought of the haunted look on Li's face when the woman had confessed that worry on the Iron Road - that she didn't deserve to be her master's disciple, and had only become so because he was in the twilight of his life.

"After you've lived for so long that everyone you even recognize in your extended family has passed on, it's really easy to forget that the end still approaches if you don't continue to cultivate. It's easier to visit the graves of your friends who've lost the heavenly gamble and easier still to let your contact with them fade into history. It's too depressing to consider, after all."

There was no derision about his tone, just disappointment. Said in a different way, Alice expected his words could spark a fight to the death.

"It's a rare occurrence, but some people do manage to make peace with their long lives before they move onto the Wheel to begin anew. Cultivators often begin their lives in a crib of desperate circumstances." Hu stared up at the lamp which hung like a globe in the atrium. "By luck and grit, we survive the tragedies that surround us from eight sides. When faced with death, most of those who've given up for most of their life end up discovering that desperation again."

"But usually it's too late," whispered Alice.

"It is," Hu agreed. "And even if they won't admit it, the way they move, the way they speak - it's obvious."

The door opened again with a bang. It not only caught the eye of not only those in wait but also silenced the hundreds of disciples who called the Ascending Sky their home and treated the atrium in Earth Peak as their living room.

The disciple that Alice and Hu had been discussing didn't leave immediately, but when he finally did, he stormed out of Feng's office looking absolutely furious. His footsteps echoed against the stone walls of the peak - a brisk, deliberate walk. His fists were clenched tightly around crumpled remains of the notes he'd undoubtedly shown the sect master. His hands shook. When he passed Alice, she saw the glow of the soft lamps on his wet cheeks.

Nobody could bring themself to make eye contact with him. When he finally disappeared into the silent corridor, a handful of the spectators hurried after him. Alice assumed they were his friends.

"Next in line, please."

The silence grew. The inner disciples ahead of Alice lost even more of their nerve and took miming at each other, hoping someone else would be willing to go before them.

After a minute, no one had taken a step.

"Next."

Alice had the distinct impression that Feng liked the idea of being available to his disciples far more than he liked being available to his disciples. The inner disciples were now arguing with one another in furious whispers - no one wanted to enter the Peak Master's study when he was in a bad mood.

Another minute passed. There was a scraping sound - wood on stone, likely a chair. Feng appeared in the doorway, then took a single step outside of his study. He looked from one inner disciple to another. Alice recognized the expression as disgust.

The inner disciples - nine of them split across four groups that huddled together like islands in a hurricane, all seemed to realize that this was quickly becoming the worst possible outcome for them.

"It is my understanding that there are disciples from the Outer Sect who have been waiting for a very long time to show their seniors courtesy," said Feng, in a tone that was so neutral the man could only be apoplectic.

Silence. The clack of a mahjong tile echoed across the room.

"Now, I've had many, many years to grow accustomed to donating my time," he began, each word louder than the last. He was clearly addressing the inner disciples - something Alice was thankful for. "So I am quite used to it by this point. What is unforgivable is your willingness to waste the time of your juniors."

The inner disciples looked a bit sullen, a bit worried, and, surprisingly, contrite.

"You were so eager to display your status with the sect when you pushed them out of the way because you're inner disciples, and now you can't even decide amongst yourselves who wants to speak with me first?"

Feng sneered. "Show a bit less of your shamelessness in the way you conduct yourselves."

Feng's voice reverted to something more serene as looked past them to address the outer disciples and Alice. "If anyone wishes to speak with me, they may step into my office. I will see any members of the inner sect after everyone else has spoken to me."

After he disappeared back into his office, the door remained open and still no one moved.

Alice had a suspicion that Feng didn't really care too much about the time of his outer disciples, but if no one was willing to take the initiative, she would. She stepped towards the door. Disciple Hu made a noise that sounded like a protest, but he didn't try to stop her.