Chapter 372 - The Power to Choose

  “The Heaven’s Gate Monastery…” Yuzu pondered, “I wonder if we will see Ming Ru there.”

  “Ming Ru? You mean Edwin’s master?” Char Char asked, brow creasing as she tried to think back to the st time she saw Edwin.

  “Yes.”

  It felt like ages ago, when Edwin first showed up at her grandfather’s mansion and showed them the candle-lighting technique as after-dinner entertainment. The following day Char Char, Yuzu and Edwin had gone up to the old shrine in the woods, which from Char Char’s perspective had been the start of… well, everything, really.

  After that, Edwin spent a lot of timing assisting the police with the search for his master, while staying at the Zhao mansion. This arrangement continued until the night of the ball in the Zhao mansion. That night, Char Char and Yuzu had saved her grandfather and averted disaster. After the excitement was over, Edwin had been escorted back by the police covered in blood.

  After that, Edwin disappeared. To be honest, Char Char hadn’t even thought about the teenage monk or where he’d ended up at all.

  At this moment Yuzu was actually sitting on top of Char Char after wrestling the girl to the floor in their previous squabble. Of course, even in such a silly position they simply chatted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

  “Wait, Edwin said the reason he was able to become a Candidate was because of the White Maiden… that—“

  “Was me, yes.” Yuzu nodded, “Ming Ru paid his respects to the White Maiden several times.”

  “And Edwin? What happened to him?”

  “After his Master was arrested, Edwin fled the city to get away from everything happening back then…” Yuzu said.

  That was to say, the resurrection of the God of Life, the trouble with the Cloud Peak monks, the scrutiny of Lord Noga…

  “Ming Ru was arrested?” Char Char also hadn’t heard this news. “By Lord Noga? For what?”

  Killing police officers, helping the Cloud Peak monks revive the Prince of Life. Yuzu mused to herself.

  “A few things…” Yuzu said, not wanting to eborate, “But I might have… well, pulled a few strings and gotten him out.”

  “Yuzu!” Char Char gasped, her mouth opening in a big O. She pushed herself to her feet, causing Yuzu to fall off her back, “You helped a criminal escape?”

  “How should I say it…” Yuzu frowned, “He’s not a bad person. And, trying to revive the God of Life wasn’t a terrible thing in and of itself.”

  “How can you say that! The devileyes, the monsters! The resurrection ritual almost wiped out all of Kumin.” Char Char stood up with a huff, pcing her hands firmly on her hips as she looked down at Yuzu, “So many people died!”

  “It’s not that simple.” Yuzu’s eyes were cold, her lips were a thin line. She really did not feel like justifying her actions to her friend, “The God of Life and His followers weren’t evil. Lord Noga’s hands also have blood on them.”

  Hearing this, Char Char felt her mind shift gears. A feeling of shameful embarrassment bubbled up as her knee-jerk, naive words repyed in her mind. In this moment, py fighting with pillows while chatting with her best friend, Char Char had fallen into her previous mindset.

  Once upon a time, she had believed that good and evil were bck and white. But the world wasn’t like that for her anymore. Char Char wasn’t like that anymore.

  “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t criticize.” Her posture softened as she shook her head, smiling sadly, “You don’t need to expin it to me, I’m sure you have good reasons for helping Ming Ru.”

  “You did the best you could.” Char Char paused, then added in a quiet tone, “I believe in you, Yuzu.”

  Yuzu nodded, acknowledging her friend’s sentiment.

  Ming Ru was not directly involved in the God of Life’s resurrection. However, in a way he was tricked to support the Cloud Peak’s Abbot, after the Abbott’s assistance to help him rise to Adept. With this heavy debt on his shoulders, Ming Ru could not simply refuse to assist the Cloud Peak monks.

  Furthermore, once the pieces started falling into pce, it started a cascade of events that could no longer reasonably be stopped. Any course of action would result in countless deaths, even inaction itself was not victimless — one could argue that it was the worst action of all, as the people of Fuha slowly rotted into oblivion.

  Without the God of Life to revive their nd, without the destruction of the bck spire, the people of Fuha had no hope of survival.

  On the night of Prince Deka’s failed resurrection, Yuzu had been in contact with Goro, Firuzeh and Kai’s boss. The Red Lion Security Company was already in the Tye-Ann Cathedral, having been hired as bodyguards for one of Noga’s Ministers. With Yuzu’s assistance, the Body-aspected boss descended into the depths of the cathedral, using the distraction of the God of Life’s rebirth to break through the Cathedral’s defenses.

  On the lowest level of the Cathedral they found an ancient runic crystal atop a ptform suspended above an endlessly deep bck pit. The boss destroyed the crystal, then under Yuzu’s assistance escaped up to the floor where they kept the Exalted prisoners.

  Goro dispatched of the guards, then found his way to Ming Ru, whose thread Yuzu recognized from earlier. Ming Ru’s ability to travel in the spiritual pne enabled the two Exalted to escape, completing the sabotage mission without a hitch.

  After that, Yuzu did not know where they ended up. However, she had a suspicion that they might have made their way back to the Heaven’s Gate Monastery.

  Ming Ru no doubt would look favourably upon requests from the White Maiden. Having a powerful Adept on her side would likely be beneficial for their task of reaching Lord Matsuhara.

  “It’s settled then.” She said, “Let’s head to the Heaven’s Gate Monastery.”

  ~

  Outside the Chief’s manor, Kai sighed as he leaned his arms against the cliff-side fence looking over the vilge. The spiky haired mercenary’s eyes were dark and brooding as he rolled a singur chain link absentmindedly through the fingers of his right hand.

  His ears perked up as he sensed the familiar, soundless footsteps of his closest companion behind him. She waited behind him patiently as he pretended to ignore her presence.

  “Boss isn’t going to be happy.” Kai said at length, “He might kill you. Then he might kill me.”

  Firuzeh didn’t answer immediately. After a moment she stepped up beside him, pcing her hands on the railing as she looked across the vilge with quiet eyes.

  The memory of the first time they had met pyed in her mind. They were street rats, living in the shadowed alleys of Tenyuan, the majestic capital of Banbajan. They had been part of different crews, in different parts of The Gutters. Hard lives, full of pain and fear, blood and hunger.

  Then they met Boss, then Rados. Rados fed them, taught them, and made them Exalted. From the moment they’d crossed paths, he owned them.

  “We’ve never had a choice.” Firuzeh said, “We’ve never chosen where we go. What we do. Who we protect. Who we kill. My life, our lives, belonged to Rados.”

  The light of the midday sun glimmered off the silver chain as it twirled across Kai’s knuckles.

  “Before Rados, we didn’t have any power to choose.” Firuzeh smiled, painful nostalgia in her eyes, “After Him, we had power, but still no choice.”

  “Up until recently I thought I was fine with that.” Firuzeh said, then scoffed at herself, “No, I relied on that. I gave up on myself, telling myself that a powerful life with no choice was better than a pitiful life with no choice.”

  “But then you met Char Char.” Kai muttered.

  “Then I met Char Char.” Firuzeh replied.

  Firuzeh had no idea that that happenstance meeting in the market of Tye-Ann with the spoiled, rich brat of a girl would have changed her the way it did. It began as a business arrangement, a political py— Rados wanted ties into the Kumin nobility, Char Char’s naiveté was easy to take advantage of.

  Firuzeh did her part, nurturing Char Char, bringing her in closer to Rados, so that He could use her to accomplish His goals.

  Char Char, a girl who had never known hunger or pain, who had had all the choice that anyone could ask for in the entire world. At first, Firuzeh felt it was a pity that such a person would end up shackled by the heavy chains of the Exalted world, her fate slowly and unknowingly wrapped around Rados’ finger.

  After seeing Char Char’s potential, after realizing how He could use the girls’ connection to the White Maiden for his own gain, Rados grew more and more interested in having Char Char for himself.

  And at the same time, even as she felt powerless over her own fate, Firuzeh realized that she found herself caring more and more for this naive girl. She became jealous of this silly girl who was in possession of such a carefree life that she could afford things like compassion and hope.

  Firuzeh saw Char Char go through terror and pain far beyond anything the sheltered girl had ever experienced or imagined. Firuzeh thought those things would break the girl, make her run away, make her cry for help.

  But those things only made Char Char’s conviction stronger. In the face of adversity this girl doubled down on her naive hope and dreams… and in doing so made them into reality.

  Somewhere along the way, somehow without realizing it, Firuzeh began wanting that same hope for herself.

  For the elegant, beautiful Exalted woman who always conducted herself with poise and confidence, grasping onto this permission to hope was worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

  And even as Firuzeh didn’t realize these changes happening within her, Kai was watching quietly from the side. He knew Firuzeh better than anyone else in the world, and he saw her change as Char Char continued to influence her simply by being Char Char.

  “The White Maiden…” Kai said, “Do you really believe She can protect you from Him when He comes after you?”

  “I don’t know.” Firuzeh said with honesty, “Maybe not.”

  “Well.” Kai said, closing his fist on the chain link as he stopped leaning on the fence, straightening to face her. He extended an open palm toward Firuzeh, the chain link having disappeared somewhere without fanfare, “In case she can’t… Perhaps you’d be interested in hiring a… former… Red Lion to protect you.”

  “Perhaps…” Firuzeh’s lips curled with a hint of a smile, “How much are your services?”

  “I… have no idea.” Kai’s serious expression broke into a wry grin, “A lot? But not so much that you’d refuse, I guess.”

  Firuzeh extended her hand over top of Kai’s, letting just her fingertips touch his palm. Kai’s eyes widened as he couldn’t help but blush.

  For a person from Banbajan, this method of contact was an incredibly intimate gesture.

  With her signature cool and impenetrable look in her eyes Firuzeh smiled, “I accept.”