Chương 48: Team Leader

Rowan Rowan's anger with Magistrate Cyrille and the Dao Court hadn't diminished in the slightest over the next few hours. But there was little he could do about it. He tried to focus on the present as he walked to the Lecture Hall. Today, they would be assigned their groups and their team leaders. This was an extremely important day. The Formidable Five, who had been killed by Lieren Nostraga in the Wilds, had been a team.

Rowan would spend the next several years - if not longer - working with his group, forming bonds with them, and going through life and death situations. Even more importantly was the team leader. Some team leaders acted like the students under them were burdens, or used them as servants. Others actually valued training the next generation. Rowan was either walking into his next great opportunity or his next pair of chains. Lee was chattering about something with Ignatius when he noticed Rowan.

"Rowan! How was your trip to the city?" Lee called out. Rowan hadn't told his friend the details about fighting a Malicious Ghost with a disciple of Halfmoon House last night. However, Lee had caught him leaving just before dawn for the Dao Court. Rowan shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it. The two of them split off from the small, nervous Ignatius, walking ahead of the boy. Princess Feathertail had grown too large to easily sit on Lee, so she slithered after him, almost as tall as his waist now.

Every time Rowan and Lee looked away, the Wandering Bulb, which was perched on Rowan's shoulder, aimed a root at Feathertail's face and then retracted it when the princess squawked in protest.

"Stop that," Rowan chastised the bulb.

"And don't aim at her eyes. That's for real enemies." He hoped the plant could actually understand him. It seemed so, because Fang turned away from him in a sulk, folding her roots together like crossed arms.

"These are the Eyes which see past the Clouds, Assistant Helsing," said Feathertail, sounding incredibly offended.

"It would take a True Immortal to damage them!" One of the roots crept past Rowan's back and wound itself out of the princess's line of sight slowly, until it had snuck up behind the chicken's head, then snapped around, nailing her directly in one of her eyes. Princess Feathertail squawked, spinning around. Her wings came up and she pecked at the root.

"It's fine," Lee told Rowan.

"They've spent hours and hours fighting and so far neither Fang nor Princess has actually been injured. I got pretty worried when Princess was strangled for over a minute, but she just popped up after I convinced Fang to let go."

"This Seat can survive for seven days and seven nights past the edge of the firmament, in the Still Night Between the Stars, Chief Assistant. The difference between me and this peasant is further than Heaven and Earth."

"How did you pass the firmament if you can't fly, Princess?" Lee asked, humoring her. She harrumphed.

"You do not meet the qualifications to hear my secrets, Chief Assistant." Lee patted her head and fed her a dried cube of meat from his pocket.

"I'll be sure to cultivate diligently, then." When they finally slid into their usual seats at the Lecture Hall, there were no thin bamboo panels carved with short summaries of the day's lesson, nor any reading materials on Instructor Sutter's table. Instead, there were a handful of senior disciples milling about at the front of the room, speaking softly with one another. Unfortunately, he didn't see Senior Sister Nila or Senior Brother Florimond anywhere.

"What's going on?" wondered Lee. Rowan raised his brows.

"Don't you remember? We're getting assignments today."

"But it's so crowded," said Lee.

"Well, there's a lot of disciples," cut in Damion Decatour, rolling his eyes.

"That's a core disciple," mouthed Lee, pointing at the woman who Instructor Sutter was speaking to. Rowan hadn't actually seen her before, but there was enough gossip that he instantly recognized the thin silver spear strapped to her back, an arm's length taller than her.

"Senior Sister Leonie." The spear wiggled, bending at the tip once in a while, pointing in different directions. It almost reminded Rowan of the way the Wandering Bulb turned this way and that, as if it were looking around.

"Senior Brother Lisandros is here as well," said Decatour, to Rowan's left. Rowan turned to where Decatour pointed. Senior Brother Lisandros was napping at the edge of the room, leaning against the wall. The pommel of his famous saber, which was balanced on its tip, was buried in the floor beside him. When the hourly bell rang, Instructor Sutter stood and began addressing the class immediately, as usual.

"Today, there will be no lecture. As all of you know, there was supposed to be three months of classes after scripture selection, after which you would have been assigned a mentor to further your education. Instead you will be picked today. I will be continuing my lectures at the usual time until the fall equinox. Do remember to attend, for the sake of your education."

Instructor Sutter sat down with a heavy scowl, as if he knew most of them would not be attending, and left the senior disciples of the sect to pick up their students. Rowan looked around at the inner disciples who were picking up their new students and one of them looked straight back at him. Barrett Fross!

"It's a pity you weren't assigned to me," Barrett told Rowan.

"I could have taught you some things."

"It's a pity your uncle isn't here to scruff you," responded Rowan. Barrett spat a glob of saliva at Rowan. Rowan dodged his head to the left, the spit sailing past him. The surrounding students gasped. Stolen story; please report.

"Word from the forge is that your sword is going to be done soon," Barrett hissed.

"Don't bother giving it a name - it'll be mine once I win." Rowan looked over Barrett's shoulder and feigned an expression of shock.

"Elder Fross!" Barrett spun around. When Baudelain was nowhere to be found, he turned back to Rowan with gnashed teeth. A sharp, mocking smile cut across Rowan's face. They were attracting attention from everyone now. Instructor Sutter frowned but he didn't say anything. Barrett placed a hand on Ignatius's shoulder.

"We're leaving."

"Poor guy," said Lee, staring at the short disciple's spooked expression. Within ten minutes, almost everyone in the class had been whisked off by their team leader. Even Instructor Sutter had vanished for the moment. In the nearly empty room, only four outer disciples remained. Rowan shared a glance with Lee, realizing they were probably in the same group. Silvester was there too. And… to their collective misfortune, Damion Decatour. Minutes continued to tick by. No one arrived for them.

"It can't be Senior Brother Firmin. He's supposed to be in closed door cultivation for the next decade," said Decatour, finally tired of the silence.

"I heard some inner disciples say that a few weeks ago. It's probably not Dr. Sutter. He sees patients from sunrise to midnight." Senior Brother Haston Sutter, or Dr. Sutter, had been the one who supposedly saw Rowan after the Highwater incident. The doctor had been so busy that he hadn't even come back to the sect's Medicine Hall for Rowan's final checkup.

"It won't be Senior Sister Nila. She doesn't take disciples either. I heard she had a bad experience with a previous student," said Lee. Rowan remembered that Nila had invited him to the Inner Sanctum for lessons. He planned on going soon. The excitement between the four grew as they considered the remaining core disciples. Silvester muttered under his breath, "Of the sect's eight core disciples, we've seen two pick up students, and three are unavailable."

"There's probably a slim chance that we get Senior Brother Mikael or Senior Sister Azalais," said Lee, who was trying and failing to temper his own expectations. The pair of them were often mentioned together, because everyone had a theory on which of the two was in fact the strongest disciple in the sect.

"I hope it's Senior Sister Azalais," said Decatour, staring at the Lecture Hall entrance, clearly hoping the notoriously beautiful woman would appear.

"But I don't think those two would have time for us," said Decatour.

"That only leaves Senior Brother Sabriel." As if that were a bad option.

"We shouldn't get our hopes up," said Rowan.

"Our team leader is probably an inner disciple who's running a bit late." Suddenly, the door opened. A man with long, white hair loosely braided over his shoulder entered the classroom. He wore golden robes with dagged black sleeves. The uniform of a core disciple. The robes were crumpled, like he had just rolled out of bed. A guqin covered in black cloth was strapped to his back. It was Mikael Maulkin. The man stared at them for a heartbeat. Then, he unfurled a small scroll of parchment.

Like something you would write a grocery list on. He paused.

"Rowan Helling?" asked Mikael, eventually, voice tired.

"Here, sir." Without acknowledgement, the man continued to the next name.

"Lee Lothly?" The four students exchanged looks.

"Um... present, sir."

"Damion... Decatoid?"" Decatour, sir," Damion corrected without shame.

"As in Lord Protector Decatour the Wise, as in Eremion Decatour of the Sylvan Pass, just like the Decatour Tea–" Mikael went on.

"And Silvester?" The last student - the merit student - saluted very seriously.

"That would be me."

"Last name?" The boy looked down, fidgeting slightly, then opened his mouth with determination. Before he could say anything, Mikael continued.

"Only one name. Nice and simple. I like it." He pointed the grocery list at Silvester.

"I choose you - everyone else, get lost." Rowan, Lee, and Damion gaped at the sudden dismissal. Did they misunderstand? Rowan thought they would all be the core disciple's students, not that they were in competition for a single spot.

"Sir," broached Damion.

"I don't know about the rest of my peers, but the sect did promise my family that I would be your student." Shameless! The elders had certainly not promised the Decatours such a thing.

"Oh, shove off, Decatour. The sect promised your family nothing. Senior Brother Mikael deserves to guide the most promising student, so how about we duel to figure out who that is?" said Rowan. He wasn't going to let Damion Decatour convince Mikael Maulkin of all people that this was something the elders had decided. And he certainly wasn't going to let Decatour lie about his family's involvement.

"Hmm?" said the core disciple. Rowan wasn't sure if Mikael was even listening. The man leaned deeper into the grocery list, squinting. Decatour shot Rowan the most venomous glare he could.

"My father would be very happy to meet up with my new instructor," continued Decatour.

"I understand a core disciple spends far too much time and effort acquiring materials that the sect has short supply of. If it wouldn't be too much of an imposition, you can come to the Teahouse at any time and he'll be happy to help with anything you might need."

"Well, if that's what it takes," Lee cut in quickly, "then you might as well skip the three hour dinner and just come straight to the auction house. Our acquisitions department already travels far and wide to fulfill specific orders for Righteous Mountain. Anything the Decatours can find, the Lothesbys will find faster. All of my instructors get a ten percent discount. This would be on top of the ten percent we already give all Righteous Mountain disciples." Rowan scowled.

He was pretty sure there hadn't been a 'disciple discount' even fifteen seconds ago. Lee realized what he had said.

"For core disciples, that is," he amended quickly.

"I'll have to remind Senior Brother Lisandros about that," said Decatour with a nasty smile.

"I heard him complaining about how much he'd spent at the auction house recently. I'm sure the Lothesbys are just waiting for him to come back to collect his money." Rowan wondered how much trouble Lee and Decatour would be in if their fathers had heard this conversation.

"Fellow sect brothers, let's not question Senior Brother. Wasn't I the one chosen?" asked Silvester. He turned to Mikael.

"I am a merit student, Honored Instructor. I don't have anything to bribe you with. But I've always had the best grades in the class, despite…" He slid a testy stare from Lee, to Damion, and then to Rowan. Rowan wasn't even sure if Mikael was listening. He was still staring intently at the list. Silvester continued, "I'm also the only one here who'll be willing to run errands, or complete any clerical work, or do any chore that would make up for the inconvenience of guiding me." Mikael slapped his forehead.

"Ugh. I heard my beloved junior sister decided to take on an apprentice, so I asked the elders if they could give me one too. I can't believe those greedy bastards assigned me four." Rowan was suddenly glad that he hadn't also come up with an embarrassing pitch to be the man's sole student.

"And all guys, at that. Why are none of you cute girls, huh?" Mikael rubbed his forehead some more.

"Whatever. I can already tell trying to get out of this will take more effort than it's worth. Come on. Let's go to my pavilion."

"Not your qi cave, sir?" asked Decatour. Mikael spread the fingers over his face to give Decatour a flat, deadpan stare.

"If there are five people cultivating in my qi cave, how long do you think the spirit energy will last?"