Now that they were here all they could think of was whether they will still be alone in this place. It seemed like a certainty, given just how lonely it had been. It was just the two of them and the head of the place. Zhixun told her that someone had to be in the area, at the very least. It was something that had to be enforced.

And it was him, he could do normal missions in the city but was not allowed to head out and was to be on call. "Looks liked Feiyu returned." From the carriage parked outside the room, it was the normal conclusion to have come to. The way that there wasn"t even one, and then it appeared. She knew that visitors were rather rare, at least from the past few days.

"I wonder how does anyone seek us out?" That was the one question she had on her mind. It made sense, a lot of sense.

"They send a letter. We don"t want this place to be known." And that it was a sanctuary to them. She knew that they often seek those who had ties with the Master of Fate. And it seemed to have made more sense to be doing this than anything else. This was a place for them to teach apprentices and recover, as well as to send them out on others.

"That makes sense." And in case they lost their objects, which she knew had to be rather often if apprentices were holding ones made by apprentice forgers. And thus making sense that it was best for them to have hidden this at the end of the day.

They entered inside, with it being close to the night. It had taken them a long time to finish, before eating a meal from them in exchange for the work they did for them. Something they had been more than happy to even accept since they did think it was fair if it was offered to them. As a form of thanks.

Inside she came face to face with two. One which was lugging around a large sword, while the other held something small. A scarf on her hands. They turned around. The woman was older, with a couple of lines in her faces but still looking rather youthful. Dianyu will have put her somewhere between the ages of thirty and forty. She remembered that her mother was far more beautiful in her youth, but her looks faded with time. While the other was the epitome of a general. Or at least the air of one. "So, you were stuck here to hold the fort?"

Zhixun twitched for a moment. She had the feeling that they weren"t close if they were judging just how they were acting here. It did seem that way, with how he had remained a safe distance. "I mean it can"t be that bad since you prefer to be lazy."

"Says the guy who is now back, when he promised that he won"t return and see my face the last time." It seemed that way, given just how Feiyu looked at it in annoyance.

"She wants to see the both of you." A boy came before them. He was slightly older, wearing nothing but a simple blue tunic with trousers underneath. His hair was loose, with the feeling of boredom. Before he gave a wink to Dianyu. Zhixun stepped back.

They followed her, with Feiyu as well. Even as he remained there. "I didn"t know you had a friend."

"Well, Feiyu should have told you who she is." He nodded.

"I was honestly surprised that she took you on as an apprentice." Before he came down. The first thing he looked was down, to her parasol. "It"s the parasol."

She nodded. "No wonder you get along so well."

He gave a chuckle. Before she looked at him, he carried nothing. With the sole exception of the instrument. The dizi as she recognized. Before he took it, showing that it was indeed his choice. While Zhixun took his empty birdcage. Only to be filled when he needed an explanation why he was carrying around one.

"So, whose story do you know?"

"A little of his. But a lot of Feiyu"s." Although whatever she knew about Zhixun had come all out the moment they were dealing with Zhen Yan. "What"s your name?"

"Yuan Shao, the two you saw earlier had been Xianlie and the other is called Liu Jin." He gave a smile. "Call me Xiao Shao."

"Chao-Dianyu?" She had almost forgotten that she no longer went by Chaoyun any longer. It was a name of her past, and it didn"t matter to bring it up now. Not when it was no longer of any use.

"So, I a.s.sume the previous had been your real name." She nodded, it was a slip of the tongue. Because she didn"t have the need to introduce herself, or even have to really use her name. But he had shrugged it off. "Tell me your story."

She looked at him in surprise. Before she was patted on the back by Zhixun. "He does this to everyone new."

From what she could see, she doubted it was even a common occurrence. Given just how no one else, but she couldn"t be sure as she was only dealing with Feiyu and Zhixun either way. No one else other than them at this point.

"I can"t help it as that was what I did growing up." So he was in this since he was a child. It didn"t make sense, she turned to Zhixun who gave her a pensive look.

"That"s right, when I first came you were already here." He looked for a moment.

"Although you are the most junior of us all, you only have been here for over a year." And probably why he had been mostly doing this when he could have gone out. And clear that Zhixun had been older than Yuan Shao, as the boy still retained his boyish features, with a little roundness in his chin. Whereas Zhixun was mostly angular and rather thin.

"Well, I never felt the need to break with fate until then." And it wasn"t a bad thing.

"How old are you Dianyu?" Even as Zhixun widened his eyes at such a question, clear that something like this was often off limits. She doubted it really was so.

"Fifteen."

"I"m seventeen." He proudly declared. "There is someone here who is finally younger than me."

Dianyu merely blinked for a moment. Wondering what sort of proud declaration could come from that at the very least. Or wondering just how it will affect them when the time came.

"He is the youngest."

"He almost jumped for joy when I came before I told him my age." Given that he could take the imperial examination he had to be twenty now at least. "After a single year of failure, I could not take it anymore."

"And I am never happier that I never went into it. I was tempted to do it, but it was only upon realizing the content that I found it to be nothing more than pure memorization." He went off. "And that is used to determine the best men of the country, the only the exam is good for is showing how good one"s memory is."

"Not completely so. As those are the foundations used to build the country, understanding them is important but not the only focus." He wasn"t clearly happy at this as well. This didn"t seem to be really concerning him on this level. For the most part, she found it incredibly difficult for her to even think of it.

"But what is the point of forcing such drudgery onto others when many of us won"t even be selected."

Zhixun tried to come up with an answer, although clearly that he didn"t really know. "To influence us. It is to make us follow the principles and to prevent anyone from questioning traditions when everyone does it." The same thing that she knew, the countless traditions. The expectations that she will marry.

"That makes sense to a certain extent. Although the imperial examination seems unfair, doesn"t it?"

It benefited the rich than the poor. She remembered Xiao Yan, how he never learned to read or write much despite being a boy simply because there was no chance to afford it. He had to work to support his own family, and there wasn"t much time for an education. Or even any sort of education. Her mother had taught him to read basic contracts, and even that had been a luxury. Enough for him to get by in the world.

"Yes, it does. Families who are rich don"t need to have children help out just so they could make ends meet." She was one of them too, having to learn that. "I grew up working for my mother"s restaurant."

He gave a nod. "And not to mention the books, even those families who can are poor but have their sons studying they don"t have the resource of having a personal teacher. Some are at local schools, while others grew up in monasteries."

She knew that it was so. She spent most of her childhood helping out in serving tables because there simply wasn"t another choice. She learned more than most girls, even as many found her unusual simply for being so. She had been limited, as much as she was free.

Zhao"en spoke of an education but it never stretched beyond just learning basic literacy and the works of Ban Zhao and on women. "It is so."

Even as he was almost curious about it. "So, you were a server?"

"I was happy." Even as it didn"t seem to have made any sense the moment they were here. The moment they did have a chance to fully think about it at the end of the day. It didn"t make sense why she was here. If she was happy then what she was doing here. "It was something that I enjoyed doing. Mostly because of the people I met, the town had travelers who stopped by for a while."

"So, you wanted to travel." He had come to that conclusion.

"I was entranced with the idea of traveling the moment I was old enough to remember." And the moment someone told her of the many things in her life. It had been a woman as she remembered, someone who had traveled by. Before there was Feiyu, it was her. Her name remained all but forgotten, but after that, she had always worked towards the idea.

"I doubt this is your idea of traveling."

"I"ll tell you what happened if you tell me why you"re here." Since it was fair to trade a story for a story.

"I"ll be leaving because I rather not talk about my own." Figuring that it was his decision after all that spurred them on far more than anyone else.

But it left the two of them on their own. Entirely so in fact.

"I"m a runaway bride."

He blinked. Before realizing that it was almost nothing. Nothing that seemed to have made sense. He laughed in the next moment, baffling her. "I"m just surprised that you were actually about to get married."

"It"s normal for girls to marry before they were even my age. I was considered an adult and a little older than usual."

"Well, I forgot about that." It was almost certain that he never truly had the chance to know. "For me, I was found by Mother. She brought me here and took care of me."

That was a kind thing to do at this point, most certainly. With how it made much sense especially in such an environment.

Just as Feiyu stepped out, interrupting their conversation. "We"ll continue another day."

Waving before he left, just as Feiyu raised her own eyebrow not knowing what was happening. "We had a nice chat with each other."