“Apologies, but this one thinks that the world you said was… air ship? We don’t have any announced visitors intending to visit.”

“Open your eyes! We must tell the elders! That looks like the signature Za ship!”

“The elders will not be pleased!”

“They will be less pleased, the longer that you wait.”

“Why don’t you tell them?”

“The last time that this one gave them a bad message, this one spend a week recuperating from being punched through a mountain, so…”

“That is understandable. If it is my time to go, it is my time to go.”

***

The thing about dropping in on the mundane people was that Fa Za could see that each of them had a spark of the cultivation fire in them. His spiritual sense could have told him that from the third realm, but his fifth realm sense told him how far certain untrained individuals could advance, possibly barring some other complications.

Fa Za snorted. He’d never had to arrange a meeting like this one.

How could he explain that he needed the entire village to evacuate?

The village of Stone Fish was north of the Heaven’s Mountain school, though only by about thirty miles. True to their name, it was mostly a fishing village, but since they had a port they did all kinds of trade with the other two villages in the area.

He thought that it would take five minutes to speak with the village Patriach, Elders or Matriarch.

He was on his fifth cup of tea and the village people apologized profusely for their taking forever to gather the Patriarch of the village, but they kept mumbling something about a whale or a giant fish, Fa Za wasn’t sure.

At least his tea was strong, and he experimentally tried to see if the brandy he’d added had done much.

It hadn’t he’d need to fill it a bit higher on the next go around.

The elder woman in front of him closed the outer door again.

“Again, Elder this one is so sorry to keep you waiting,” she said,her crinkled brow not moving as she spoke, “But if you have time, this one has three young daughters each who is beautiful in her own right.”

Fa Za smiled. It wasn’t the first time that someone had offered to introduce him to their daughters. It wasn’t even the first time that three daughters had been offered, in fact this was the second time for that particular question, but he took it in stride.

“I speak that I may convey a particularly important and life changing event that will, with near certainty happen soon. Is there no one else that I can speak with?” He said, pulling every ounce of tact he had left out and putting it on the table.

“Alas, no as the patriarch himself would be the one to handle any such emergencies. This one must really insist that you sit and let my daughters entertain you.”

Fa Za sighed internally, trying to be humble. If he could cultivate for days on end, he could wait for some grumpy male Elder to return.

The first daughter came in and brought out a giant stringed instrument which piqued Fa Za’s interest.

“Well, go on then,” he said, eyes wide.

***

“This one assures you elders, that his sister does not in any way require a husband.”

“Then you will provide for her, young master?”

Ki No stared back blankly.

Then he laughed, a barking laugh that told Ah Le is was genuine.

“She can fend for herself. If she wasn’t so nice she would probably be punching you into the ground, but we have been here for three hours, and we need to talk about a very pressing matter.”

The three elders nodded.

“So aggressive, we can discuss this matter tomorrow,” one elder said, “We simply do now move this fast.”

Ah Le stood up. Ki No blinked.

“Elders, we are not here on a social call, if you received any help from the two of us destroying those rock beasts, then please. We beg of you to listen to what we have to say. The circumstances, thay are dire.”

***

The second daughter was an accomplished singer, and after the first one played five songs, the second one came out and joined the entourage.

Fa Za waited patiently.

She sang a song from his homeland and more than once, he caught himself ready to sing along. Instead, he hummed. Perhaps, the third daughter would add another layer to the duo?

Fa Za eyed the matriarch. He’d begun to doubt that the patriarch of the village was ever prompt for anything, and he was absolutely certain that the pitcher of tea was magically infused to keep it going. For his part, he was glad that he’d placed some whiskey in his negative space pocket upon his return. Even though his system flushed the impurities nearly immediately, he still enjoyed the taste.

It was smooth and he could nearly feel the barrel that it had been held in before it was transported to this continent.

That was the problem with this continent. No large wineries along the eastern coast, so they would have to travel far, and no whiskey.

The duo completed their third song and he clapped in appreciation, to get the tiger mom off his back.

“What does your third daughter do, Matriarch?” he said trying to see if he could get things to move along.

“Oh, Elder Za, you’re going to love this.

***

He did not in fact love it. The third daughter was a painter. She wasn’t a particularly skilled painter at that, and if he’d been mildly entertained by the first two daughters, watching the third? It was like waiting for paint to dry.

Quite literally.

Fa Za wondered if he should use one of his potions, offering it to the Matriarch, but he decided against it. He didn’t want to have to go through the steps to get another.

The third daughter, a gorgeous jade beauty was an accomplished painter, and the scene she was making was worth all of his time, but Fa Za still wondered how long it would take that runner to go, find a boat, then row out far enough to find the Patriarch of Stone Fish village and then bring him back. It was already noon and anywhere else he would have worn out his welcome.

A knock sounded on the door and he visibly relaxed.

***

“So, you think that a giant rock beast, a divine beast will be coming soon, in this direction?”

Ah Le nodded.

“It crushed Frosthaven, and our school. We spent weeks rebuilding, and right now we are on a mission to warn everyone in it’s possible path.”

The first elder, the one with the long thin beard, tugged at it. When she explained the situation, a bit of light had left his eyes and hadn’t returned.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

“And you want us to do what?”

“We want you to move.”

***

The talk with the patriarch was not going well.

He too wanted to talk about his family, offer his daughters hands in marriage, and talk about the weather for another two cups of tea.

“Patriarch, I thank you endlessly for your hospitality, but truly I must speak to you of a matter that concerns your village, and everyone in it.”

The Patriarch grabbed his mug and looked nervously at his wife. Something unsaid passed between them.

And Elder Fa Za, realized who the true power in the Village was. He shifted, turning to face the Matriarch head on.

***

“You want me to do what?”

***

“Matriarch, there is a very good chance that a divine beast will come through this way. Understand that a named beast, lik Rahelish is a freak occurrence that cannot be predicted. We only have the slightest hint that..”

***

“... the beast will come through this way and crush everything in it’s path. Goodbye hot springs, goodbye huts and goodbye people. This is one is telling you not out of the goodness of her heart…”

***

“But because this Elder believes that we can avert this crisis. It will take all of your people mobilizing at once, to move…”

“And we don’t know where you could go, but your people would be welcomed at the Cold Steel Sect grounds until this crisis is abated…”

***

“The Heaven’s Mountain Sect grounds… until this crisis ends or …”

***

“We don’t think that the beast will avert it’s path much and since we have been tracking it, it has gone generally in this direction. Please Elders…”

***

“Consider the people, Matriarch. We can save them all, if you move now. My Sect will hellp you rebuild when it is safe.”

***

“My Sect will help you rebuild when it is safe.”

***

“I will spare no personal expense.”

Fa Za’s plea found him actually considering groveling in front of the woman, her husband and three daughters.

“Well, when the elder puts it that way,” the Patriarch said.

“Hold on, husband. We can’t just go on the words of some young master. What proof do you have?”

The three daughters shuddered as their mother loomed over the room.

Fa Za’s tea went cold in his hands.

For the first time in a long time, he was at a loss for words. He had warned them, but just likewhen he’d spoke to his elders, their obedience wasn’t to him, it was to the Sect. He was just a minor inconvenience.

He would have to get his father and…

And what? His father was a continent away?

Rahelish was here.

What would his father do that he could not?

And in that moment, Fa Za knew that he was powerless.

***

“Your Sect will make a space for us?”

The elder tugged at his beard again. Something passed between the three men and Ah Le wondered if she should have spent more time working on her diplomatic skills.

“This one will do it herself if needed, but Elders, you must move quickly. Where the divine beast moves, it leaves a path of destruction, and for miles around, new spiritual beasts destory things, and the pressure of it’s qi… it will flatten buildings.”

A gasp rose up from the three men.

“And you are certain of this?” The bald elder said.

“This one will swear a soul oath to the truth of the matter.”

More than anything, Ah Le wanted the men to believe. Well, she needed them to move their people away from the path of destruction, but she also wanted them to believe. Wants and needs were just funny in that way.

***

Jessica came out of her cultivation refreshed.

Today, she wanted to have an off day. At any other point in her life, she probably would have called her friends and had a girls night or a gaming night.

But today she had some inspiration.

She wanted to… well, she didn’t quite know?

She felt the urge to go out and mingle but she didn’t want to look like she was… how did her friend call it that one time? They were out at the bar and an asian woman in her mid thirties walked in that neither of them knew.

She was gorgeous, and Jessica told her friend Karl and while she was mid sip, he whispered into her ear.

“I got the inspiration, I gotta ride this tiger mom like I'm an SAT tutor,” Karl had said.

Jessica snorted. A steady diet of korean drama told her that the woman was probably used to people coming up to her, so she took Karls advances in stride.

Jessica had considered briefly making an advance on the woman something that she’d never tried before or after.

Karl struck out big though and she didn’t blame him for walking back with his tail between his legs. He was on leave from the Navy at the time and she was meeting a tinder date, and it was definitely not him.