How Jao Li could pout and chew her dinner at the same time was baffling to Fenghuang Yu. She was the only one upset that Yu didn’t tell her new roommates about her situation. She tried to explain it to them and be as honest as possible after moving her stuff in.

The girls had already placed all of Qing Bao’s belongings outside the door of their suite so Yu just had to grab her stuff, which she did without speaking to her suitemates, and went up the six floors and moved right in. The setup was identical but Yu left Bai in the outer suite room so he could roam around and the girls could give him attention. She also left her room door open enough that he could go in and hide or rest if he wanted to.

Li repeated herself for the millionth time, but with a full mouth. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us!” Or some muffled version of that at least.

Yu just shook her head and kept eating. Jao Lu reached over, bonked her sister on the head, and said, “Will you stop saying that? Yu explained everything already.” Yu told the girls to call her by her given name at that point. They reacted in a way that Yu believed real friends would react - with surprise but no honest bitterness despite Li’s joking around. Most importantly, they didn’t ask her for anything. No favors, no connections, no knowledge about the sect leader. Just about why she felt she had to hide it from them.

Li pouted again, “I know. I feel so stupid now though, telling you how I was going to challenge the guy.”

Yu laughed at that and nodded. “Yes, you were quite excited. But don’t worry, I’ll still introduce you to my brother as soon as I can find the time to meet up with him.”

That perked the petite but fiery girl right up. Then she started asking all about him. Yu laughed through the entire onslaught because the questions came so fast she didn’t have a chance to answer even one. Lu was just shaking her head and telling her sister to shut up because she was embarrassing them both. The entire episode put the already happy Yu into an even better mood. Even Gui Ai was smiling and laughing quietly while eating. Yu was worried she might have done something to hurt the girl in regards to her royal relative but she didn’t seem concerned about it. Yu would ask her about it in private when she felt Ai was ready to speak on the topic.

At that point, Yu was getting all kinds of looks from strangers in the sect, but she honestly couldn’t have cared less. She had friends, a nice living situation, a good amount of points stocked and classes would start tomorrow morning after breakfast. And, hopefully, she could meet up with her brother soon and talk to him. Yu still has that letter to deliver from their father even beyond wanting to see him for herself. She wondered what classes her brother could be taking.

Yu blinked and interrupted Li’s diatribe on her fitness as a girlfriend and asked all three, “Did you all get your schedules yet?” They affirmed that they had and Yu scrunched her face. Could her master have sent it to her old room? Looking around, Yu saw the vice leader who said he would be around to help those with scheduling issues and excused herself to the girls, asking them to take care of Bai, which of course they were thrilled to do. In a way, Bao Qing was right about one thing - cute things really did enamor these girls.

She wandered over to the head table, which was only used by whatever sect elder or leader ate on the bottom floor that day, and headed to the back of a line of fewer than ten disciples who wanted to speak to the vice leader. Every eye followed her but Yu ignored them. She found herself behind a familiar massive form. As usual, his neck was bent far forward as he said, “Hello again.”

Yu smiled up at him, tilting her head all the way back. “Good evening, Neng Po.” She chuckled and asked, “Hey, can I ask you a question? Well, two actually.”

He smiled and said, “Sure. Not sure how I can help considering everything though.”

Yu huffed, waved her hand as if flinging away a bug, and said, “No no. I wanted to ask if your neck is ever sore, looking down at everyone all the time.”

He blinked at her and then laughed. People turned to find the commotion and he covered his mouth with his huge hand but couldn't stop laughing. His face was flushed when he finally got a grip on himself and he said through a smile, “Before I was a cultivator, yes. All the time.”

Yu nodded up at him. That made sense. “I feel like I need to learn to fly to have a conversation with you. Or put a large stool in my ring in case we meet up again. Cause it would be way more comfortable for both of us.”

He released another hand-covered laugh and could only nod through it. Still smiling Yu said, “My second question was about Darkness and Aura. I was thinking, we could meet up at the Skills Library sometime when we are free and look through that skill section. Likely neither of us will be able to afford anything yet, but planning is important.”

He raised his eyebrows and said, “You’re willing to help me?”

“Sure. Why not?” Yu responded while nodding.

He blushed again and looked genuinely appreciative. “Thank you. I’ll send you a message once I get my schedule worked out.”

You blinked at him and said in a questioning tone, “Send a message?”

He tilted his head and looked down at her. “In the city, there’s a message center. You should go and register there so you can receive messages. I’m sure a lot of folks would be trying to send you requests for your time.”

Yu rolled her eyes at that. “Well, I do want to send a message to my brother. I’ll go register and see how I can control what I receive.”

He chuckled and opened his mouth to reply when he was called by the vice leader. He waved and headed to loom over that man instead of her.

He seemed like an ok sort. Maybe after some time researching, they can get to know each other and become Darkness partners, assuming that is going to be public. Her schedule would tell her if her master wanted it known or not.

After not too long, Neng Po left waving at her one more time, and Yu walked up to Vice Leader Long Mingchen. Before she could speak, he said, “Ah. Disciple Fenghuang Yu. I was wondering if you would come. Your master has asked me to personally hand you your schedule and give you some instructions.”

Yu bowed and said, “Thank you, vice leader.”

A jade tablet appeared in his hand. He held it out to her and instructed, “Tap it to your badge and you can pull up the schedule any time by day or week. His message is that your joint lessons, which are marked, will start exactly on time whether you are ready or not.”

Yu blinked at him while following his instructions and said confusedly, “Umm. Ok. Thank you, vice leader,” followed by another bow.

Yu turned around but was stopped when he said, “One moment, disciple Yu.”

Turning she looked at him. “Vice leader?”

Smiling he said, “Two more things. First, your. . . time in the Mission Center will be at the end of Day 1 and is to last for ten hours total spread out however you work it out with Elder Ting. And second, you should not forget about the missions you are currently holding. Failure would remove much of your point gains.”

Honestly, Yu hadn’t thought about that whole thing since she walked away from the elders. She barely even read the mission details at the time with all the emotions and confusion. Yu bowed and said, “Thank you for the reminder. I will not fail the sect.”

He simply nodded and she returned to her seat. The girls had all finished eating so they headed back to their suite when Yu said, “Can we stop at the message center? I want to register and send a note to my brother.”

Of course, Li bounced and clapped. “Mention me, will you? Or maybe don’t. Or. . .” Yu shook her head and placed her hands on her energetic suitemate’s shoulders. “Calm down, Jao Li. I promise I will introduce you. All of you to him but first I need to have a private chat about family stuff. Then I’ll arrange a meet-up. Ok?”

She nodded and said with crossed arms and a scrunched face, “You better not forget!”

Yu promised repeatedly and Lu was forced to slap her hand over her sister’s mouth to get her to shut up about it. Heavens. . . where did that little body store all that energy?

When they finally entered the message center, Yu saw a single large room about the size of her old training courtyard at home. At the end opposite the door were four counters, two of which had mortal service people behind them. Yu led the girls to one and said, “Hello. I’d like to register and send a message,” to a middle-aged blond mortal woman.

The bored lady wearing a bland and inexpensive hanfu spoke as if she has said the same thing hundreds of times, “To register requires 10 points, and each message costs 1 point per sheet of parchment if within the sect. Prices outside of the sect vary. Your name please?”

“Fenghuang Yu. I’ll need to write my message out, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to expect.”

The woman spoke again, just as blandly, “We sell 10 pieces of parchment for 1 point. Ink and a brush is another point. Present your badge, please. You will be notified if you have any messages.”

Yu did so and the woman said, “Fenghuang Yu, your messaging service is set up. When you recei-” She stopped speaking abruptly when she looked closer at the information showing on her jade tablet. She blinked and looked up at Yu. “Fenghuang Yu?”

Yu blushed and nodded. That could not be good.

“You have quite a few messages waiting for you.”

“Is there a way I can control who I get messages from?” Yu said with a sigh.

The woman responded with some interest in her tone. “No. All messages are here and will be picked up or destroyed if not received within one month. However, you can use your badge to set up a control for when it alerts you. By default, you will be notified for all messages.”

Li said, “If any boys are looking for a date, you can send them to me. I’ll decide who's worthy of your time.” Ai giggled and Lu slapped her hand to her forehead. Yu just sighed and changed the settings on her badge.