A Snail's Wisdom

She shook her head once and said, "He left a letter."

Appearing unsatisfied, Elder Kazane grabbed the letter and furrowed her brows as she read it. Her eyes relaxed as she read the letter, but her lips turned into a frown. She spoke out, not to anyone in particular.

"Good for him, I suppose. We lost a valuable disciple, but I am sure your junior sisters will feel better with this."

She looked at the blue-haired disciple who carried a face of indifference.

"Good work, Rin."

She motioned to Hanabi and Kenja.

"These are my new disciples, Hirai Hikaru and Ryu Hanabi. They are your juniors from now on, so watch over them."

Rin bowed her head to them without changing her expression.

"Disciple understands, master."

Then Elder Kazane turned to Hanabi and Kenja.

"Hikaru, Hanabi, this is Aoi Rin. She will be your senior sister, so seek her out when you find something troubling you. Other than you three, I acknowledged two other disciples yesterday who will also be your sisters."

After acknowledgement, master and student were akin to a parent and their child. Formality was replaced with intimacy as the master addressed their students by their given name. The master"s students were all siblings to each other.

Hanabi and Kenja smiled and bowed to Rin.

"Please take care of us senior sister."

Rin nodded to their request without a word. They smiled awkwardly at the frigid response.

"She"s as cold as her name. Disciple, we might have to forget about her and focus on the elder. I don"t think you can melt that block of ice," Snail a.n.a.lyzed.

Kenja paid no heed to Snail; he was concerned about his sisters who caused Elder Kazane to go look for him. Unable to hold back his worries, he asked her directly.

"Are our other sisters well?"

Elder Kazane blinked in surprise from the question.

"You haven"t met them yet, and you are worried about them? What a good sister!" they thought.

Hanabi beamed at her caring big sister, full of admiration, and Souji smiled, pleased with Kenja"s show of concern. Rin merely blinked, unaffected.

Kazane chuckled lightly before explaining, "Yes, yes, they are fine. After they were initiated, they immediately entered into seclusion, sulking. I was concerned, so I asked them what was wrong. It turned out their elder brother had failed to draw Qi into his body for the examination, yet he was the one who instructed them in their cultivation. So I planned to fetch him and initiate him into the sect. Your sisters would break free from their melancholy, and the sect would obtain a proficient instructor."

She paused to wave the letter around.

"But this brother of theirs was able to find a master to instruct him, and they left Ryuga on a journey together. He left some kind words for his sisters though, so your sisters should perk right up."

She finished the lengthy explanation and gave him a rea.s.suring smile. She looked young and beautiful, but her tone carried the weight of a person who had lived a long time.

"I disappear for one day, and I have a princess and a sect elder looking for me?! Will a king come for me tomorrow? Will an Immortal descend from the sky and ask for me by name?"

Since when did Kenja become so popular?

If Kenja had stayed put one more day, he could have been admitted to the sect without ha.s.sle; Kenja inwardly laughed at the irony. He didn"t regret the events that happened over the past day because even if he had joined the sect, without Snail and Sakura, he may have gone through his entire life without pa.s.sing through the Body Tempering stage.

At this point, Souji coughed to gain everyone"s attention.

"Senior sister, I think it is time for me to take my leave. I am deeply grateful for the favor you have shown me and the princess."

Elder Kazane casually waved her hand.

"Think nothing of it. I should thank junior brother for introducing me to such promising disciples. Here, let me walk you out."

She turned back to Rin.

"Take your new junior sisters and give them the two rooms next to the others. Answer their questions and guide them while I am gone. I will be departing after seeing Junior Brother Souji off, and I won"t be back for several moons."

"Disciple understands."

Forgetting himself, Kenja posed a question to Elder Kazane, "Master, will we be living here or downstairs?"

Elder Kazane"s manner became imposing, and she furrowed her brow angrily at Kenja.

"Hikaru, how did you know about the arrangements downstairs?"

Kenja was surprised to see his master"s sudden interrogative stance. Over the years, he had seen a total of several thousand different faces come out for morning cla.s.ses. He knew that this building couldn"t possibly house all those disciples, so he a.s.sumed there were living accommodations beneath the hill.

"My apologies, master. I only speculated that the sect was built on a hill in order to use its volume underground for a bas.e.m.e.nt level." he lied. "I did not know the matter was meant to be hidden. Please forgive disciple"s rudeness."

Elder Kazane continued to stare at him sternly. "Clearly, we haven"t hidden it well enough."

She relaxed and adopted her usual caring temperament.

"Your rooms are not in this building. Only the Elders and Sect Leader have a private room here. The other rooms are for lectures, tests and studying," she clarified.

"Rin will show you to your room, so be good students and cultivate well in my absence."

"Disciple understands," they bowed.

Souji approached them.

"Princess, study hard and make me proud! I await good news from senior sister."

He turned to Kenja.

"Hirai-sama, please take care of the princess in my absence. Use this if you need to reach me." He neared Kenja and placed something in his hand before bowing to him in grat.i.tude.

Kenja nodded resolutely at Souji. "Understood, Souji-san. I won"t let anything happen to Hanabi while she is in my care."

Souji smiled once more and nodded before turning and leaving with Elder Kazane.

Kenja looked at what Souji gave him. It was a seal of some sort, and he had seen a similar seal before.

"Is this the same seal I found in the royal storage ring?" wondered Kenja.

Hanabi smiled at Kenja and explained, "Souji-sensei gave you his royal seal."

She needn"t say more. Royal seals were given only to royal family members, official advisers and trusted confidantes. Souji"s gift was his way of showing approval towards Kenja"s relationship with Hanabi.

Kenja and Hanabi heard footsteps leave the room, and they turned around to see Rin had disappeared. They quickly followed after her.

"A woman that plays hard-to-get is a woman worth getting," Snail philosophized. "No worries, disciple. I will help you tame her just like I helped you tame the princess!"

"Since when did you help?"

Kenja frowned at Snail"s shameless attempt to gain credit for things he didn"t do. He exited the chamber with Hanabi and followed his senior who had reached the halfway point of the hall. She walked into the courtyard, and when they finally caught up with her, she was approaching the well.

"I guess she was just thirsty. Such a tease! Give me one breath of time...I think I have some water-related jokes written down somewhere that we could use to make her laugh." Snail"s voice disappeared deeper into his sh.e.l.l.

Kenja and Hanabi continued to watch Rin approach the well as sounds of papers flipping quickly echoed in Kenja"s right ear. He started worrying that Hanabi might hear the sounds Snail was making when Rin suddenly jumped into the well.

"Okay, found them. Let"s see... "Have you heard the one about the three holes in the ground?""

Snail stopped for a dramatic pause.

"Well, well, wait...where"d she go?"

Kenja was trying to understand the same thing when he saw Hanabi approach the well. She turned to Kenja and warned him.

"We"d better hurry, or big sister Rin will leave us behind!"

She fearlessly jumped backwards into the well.