Sky Pride

Sister Su sighed and pulled out her portable desk. It rested easily on the arms of her chair, having just enough room for paper, ink and brushes. There was no applause. Everyone just watched the man who nominated Brother Mao helping him off the floor and half carrying him out of the hall.

“Thank you, Brother Tian and everyone else for your trust. While I do not take as extreme a position as Brother Tian, progress requires clarity about the past and present.”

Her speaking style was rough. The tempo of it wasn’t right, she clearly wasn’t used to speaking to crowds. Still, the certainty of her tone and the cadence of her words made every syllable authoritative.

“We were losing the war against Black Iron Gorge. Our economic system had become hopelessly corrupt, inefficient, cruel, and immoral. The way descendant families were managed varied from careless to decadent and obscene. Morale in the Outer Court was mixed, morale in the Inner Court was borderline treasonous, and for the majority of people notionally members of the Ancient Crane Monastery, the Monastery itself was near mythical.”

Her unblinking eyes fixed the room. There was no heat in her words. They simply pressed on the room, driving the air out. Precise, pointed, and unsparing.

“It has become clear that this state of affairs was due in significant part to the Monastery not considering the Inner and Outer Court as true members of the sect. Merely servant disciples. The blood of thousands of loyal disciples, and millions of mortals, is upon their hands.”

Tian could feel the brainpower, the shen, in the air convulsing. He had been certain the Heavenly People were giving the meeting at least half a mental ear. It seems that Sister Su was giving them quite the earful. He wondered if Brother Wang hadn’t managed to talk her around on a few points through their nightly debates.

One of the older Level Nines couldn’t take it, and coughed. “This is the less extreme position?”

“This is an accurate description of the state of the sect prior to our being confined on the mountain. I did not, however, insist that our current leadership prove it is worthy of leading before determining the direction in which we should be led. That would be conclusory, and thus extreme at this stage of the discussion.”

Tian disagreed, but kept his mouth shut. He had said his piece. Su got the meeting rolling with commendable efficiency, breaking up the room into little committees with uncontroversial subjects to consider like “Morally and ethically, should the Monastery continue to exist?” or “What is the Monastery for, exactly?” Related questions like “What are the currently expected qualifications to assume leadership roles in the Monastery, and what should those qualifications actually be?” would surely have seen her whipped, if not imprisoned, for spreading dissent, two years ago.

Tian couldn’t hide his little smile. Brother Wang really was quite formidable. Tian joined the group focused on “What would we like any future organization to prioritize?” It was an interesting sort of question.

“Mutual security and transmission of the Dao with the hopes of cultivating immortality- that’s what a sect is for, isn’t it?” Someone asked.

Tian nodded in agreement, and was mildly surprised to see some shaking heads.

“We need to include preservation of our lineage in that, and material considerations. At the very least, you can buy high quality weapons, equipment, medicine and arts here. Maybe you could lump that under ‘mutual security’ or ‘transmission of the dao,’ but it should be specified.” A grizzled Level Ten chipped in. He probably gave up on breaking through decades ago. Brother Fu’s example notwithstanding, he had other concerns than the pursuit of immortality.

Tian could understand the position, but couldn’t agree. Maybe he was too young and too ascetic, but he didn’t think those should be included. That sounded like problems for the Kingdom, or good reasons to trade with other sects.

“Aren’t we ignoring Ancient Crane in all this? The core of the Monastery is the teachings of the Ancient Crane!” Someone loudly insisted. Something about the tone needled the ear.

“An interesting point, Senior Brother. What are they? Please be specific, or, better, tell me where I can find them, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen them.” Tian smiled at the protesting senior. The senior brother had a rather sharp looking mustache and goatee, Tian thought. Very learned-looking.

“Obviously the true teachings are reserved for the Direct Disciples, but derivative teachings inform-”

“So her words are irrelevant for ninety-nine percent of everyone who ever wore the blue and white,” Tian concluded, and he felt the shen convulse again. He was quite certain he was in for more than a talking-to after this meeting. So be it. They were free to exile him if they liked. He wouldn’t even need to pack. If they wanted to confine him in a cell, well, he would be pissed off, but he reckoned they wouldn’t want to go that far. Not with everything.

“How can you say they are irrelevant? They are at the core of who we are!” The goateed senior shouted. There was a lot of shouting going on in the Hall of Harmony.

“Senior presumably knows better than this junior. How, exactly, are they relevant? What specific portion of doctrine transmitted by that ancestor governed salt manufacturing and distribution in the mortal kingdom? Which doctrine permitted our involvement with the slave trade? Did she approve the practice of exterminating inconvenient families to free up a spot near the Mountain for mortal descendants? I’m not being sarcastic. I want to know. And if none of her doctrines did, then they were irrelevant for one hundred percent of the sect, because nobody is following them.”

Tian tried to keep a friendly smile on his face. From the look of the other people in the group, he wasn’t particularly succeeding. Lin picked that moment to cut in.

“Having a core doctrine or ideology is necessary. Without it, we are just a mutual interest society, unable to withstand-” She glanced at Tian. “Unable to endure difficult times or achieve great things. However, all these are purely human concerns. I notice no one has mentioned the hundreds of cultivating birds and beasts in the sect, to say nothing of the dozens in the Heavenly Realm. Some of them are, quite literally, elders of the sect. But are they really integrated into the sect? They are not, and should be.”

He had wondered why Starsieve had wanted Lin on this side of the ward. It seemed that someone educated on the Windblown Manor, capable of speaking on behalf of the cultivating birds and beasts, was valuable in her own right. He could only agree with the old monster’s assessment.

Tian circulated through the room, rapidly making himself unpopular. Underlying almost every discussion was an assumption- the eldest knew best, and even if you disagreed, proper moral behavior required obedience. Tian ruthlessly attacked that pillar of propriety. All objections were met with a barrage of questions, generally starting with “How many more brothers are you willing to lose, and do they know you think they are better off dead?”

It hadn’t devolved into a riot. Nobody was an idiot, and Starsieve had already removed the scumbags. But nobody was hiding the fact that they were eager to catch him outside. Tian couldn’t bring himself to care. His lamp of compassion was blazing, but the bright light cast shadows behind everyone, making the world a riot in shades of grey.

“I just don’t want more of my brothers to die on the red sands. I don’t want more kids to go through what I went through. I’m not saying we can let heretics live. Never that. I’m saying the old ways aren’t good enough, and I’m going to keep saying it until it’s the orthodox opinion. Sister Su and Brother Wang can make the policy. I’m…

Hah. I’m going to be the yin to their yang. I’m going to define the negative case. What an absurd thing. I was sure I was being very yang just now. Rigid, unaccepting, insisting on purity and righteousness. But no. I’m doomed to be a yin man to my dying day.”

The debate raged for hours, skipping lunch and only briefly pausing to have a large snack delivered. Su insisted on maintaining the tradition of silent eating, which was a welcome reprieve from the noise. There were two rounds of tea, then they were straight back into it. Tian was increasingly out of it.

For some inexplicable reason, everyone seemed to dance around the main points. It wasn’t about the right way to bring in what resources the sect needed, or how disciplinary squad members were selected, or how to balance moral and practical education. Those details were secondary, a distraction.

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What mattered was breaking the whole idea of relying on one or two powerful figures to anchor everything. You needed people like that as a point to rally around and keep off rivals, but you couldn’t rely on them as the core of the sect. Once they went bad, everything collapsed. How was it possible to lose sight of that?

Tian struggled not to brood. Just keep his mind on his breath, and watch the thoughts fly past. He kept feeling the urge to run off. First from this hall, then from the whole Monastery. Not an unusual feeling for him, but something felt a bit different this time. Thoughts of running felt almost habitual, but now… now there was an itchy quality to them. He wanted to run, but at the same time, he didn’t, and he didn’t know why. He closed his eyes and picked at it, until he was jolted from his reverie by the sudden appearance of Lin in the seat next to him.

“Brother Mao wasn’t nominated at random. He’s well respected, with almost two centuries worth of contributions to the sect. He has also had some experience managing a temple, which would make him a natural fit for running a difficult meeting.” Lin had plainly decided to skip over any preamble or easing into the conversation.

He nodded slightly. Just because someone gave him an itchy feeling didn’t mean they were bad at what they did.

“I can tell by the complete absence of change in your face that this new information in no way affects how you feel about your actions.”

Tian nodded even more slightly. He actually felt a hair more justified now, but that probably wasn’t a useful nuance. Lin snorted, then shook her head.

“And yet, here you are.”

“Here I am. Do I have to stay here?” Tian asked.

“No. Which everyone is keenly aware of. You might be… aggressively apolitical, but most of the rest of the sect very much isn’t. Believe me, more high speed math was done in the two minutes after you stood up than most academies manage in a year. I know what you want, Brother Tian, and you can’t get it.”

Tian jerked, twisting in his chair to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we do not, in any way, live in a world where the masses of people have any guarantee of safety from the predation or indifference of the mighty. It’s useless to gang up on them, and we can’t get them while they are sleeping. The weakest Heavenly Person in the sect could wipe out the entire Outer Court, even if we ambushed them. And we can’t ambush them either. It’s just how it is, and the further you get from mortality, the more exaggerated it becomes. Everyone’s safety relies on the forbearance, character, and self interest of the mighty ones.”

Tian slowly closed his eyes and sat back in his chair. He knew all that, but still, there should be some way-

“Nor is running off on your own and living like a hermit a solution. There is always the chance of some wandering mighty one coming past and destroying you. Worse, there would be no one who could stand up for you, no one who could deter that mighty one.”

“How deterred-”

She cut him off with a soft wave of her hand. “I know, I know. It’s not the external enemies that scare you, it’s the internal ones. It’s the notion of being sent out to die for some evil thing like the corrupt salt trade. You, and your brothers, and sisters, everyone.”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “There are always red sands, Brother. Always. In every sect. For mortals and immortals. Sometimes they are in our own homes. There are always lousy parents, always treacherous siblings, always squabbles over resources, and attention, and affection.”

“One might think that such behavior could be unlearned, if one cultivated their character. Perhaps they should retreat somewhere, reconnect with nature, cut themselves away from such petty desires. For example, a monastery high on a mountain where they could study Daoism.”

Lin softly snorted. “That would be good. It’s just that everyone is cultivating and not has cultivated.”

“So what? Be satisfied with little changes? Content that all this will happen again? Cycles are the answer to everything?” Tian could hear the bitterness in his voice. The taste of it puckered his mouth.

“To a degree.”

“I can’t accept that.” Tian shook his head. “Even if I don’t know what the best way is, there must be one.”

“There isn’t a best way. There are only better ways. Constant incremental improvement and adaptation. Learn from the past, try not to repeat the same mistakes. Understanding that “best” is situational. What is “best” for a burning man isn’t “best” for a drowning one. One thing I’m pushing for, as are Brother Wang and Sister Su, is creating a culture of constant reformation and improvement. None of us are in much of a rush, and the Heavenly Realm seniors can let things slide for centuries. We should change that.”

“Progress, not perfection, should be the goal.” Tian concluded. It was revolutionary, for all that the words seemed bland and bloodless. The traditions and regulations of the past weren’t sacrosanct, merely guidance. He could imagine the throbbing veins on the foreheads of the Elders.

“Basically.” Lin nodded.

Tian sat back with a sigh, closing his eyes. It made sense. Why not constantly push for “better,” if he couldn’t say what “best” was? It made complete sense. It was just that his heart couldn’t accept it.

“I’m aware of my hypocrisy, by the way.” Tian’s mouth twisted. “The second I decided I disagreed with a policy, I declared my fist was bigger and forced my opinion on everyone. I do see it.”

“I did kind of wonder.” Lin’s voice sounded like it had a smile in it.

“And I can be high handed because there genuinely isn’t much I want. Because I really do feel I could scram and be content with whatever came. Which isn’t true of most people.”

“Correct.”

Tian settled back into silence for a minute. Then, seemingly irrelevantly, “How do you awaken a bird’s spiritual intelligence? Actually, is that even a requirement to advance to the Heavenly Realm for them?”

“It is, yes, though what it means can vary depending on how it awakens. Our techniques, which are what is used by pretty much every younger cultivating bird or beast on this mountain, cause them to awaken an essentially human intellect. I say essentially, because their senses are different, they were raised differently, have radically different instincts, radically different education…”

“Got it. So how do you do it?”

“Either they figure it out themselves by observation, which is rare enough to qualify as a miracle in my opinion, a natural treasure triggers some kind of awakening, which is the most common way in nature for predators or non-social species, an older animal guides their awakening, or the Lin Clan uses bloodline resonance to guide their awakening.”

Tian nodded, then opened one eye just enough to peek at Lin. “The last bit seemed particularly important.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Bloodline Resonance?”

“We aren’t descended from beasts, if that’s what you are wondering,” Lin said.

Tian hadn’t been, but he was now.

“We did, however, nurse an animal back to health that was later revealed to be a god. And as a reward, our bloodline was blessed with the ability to nurture animals. Awakening their intelligence only manifests in a very few of us, and only in those who cultivate immortality.”

Tian blinked hard at that, his eyes opening wide as he looked at Lin. She waved away his interest with enormous indifference. “It sounds amazing, but let me ask you this- how many animals do you need to nurture at all? More to the point, how many animals would you be okay with possessing strength at the Heavenly Realm and enough critical thinking to know exactly who was deserving of their revenge?”

Tian still wasn’t able to move off the ‘god’ thing. Did they mean the bird was an extremely powerful cultivator? That would look like a god to nomadic mortals, wouldn’t it? “Good point.”

“Most people want their beasts to remain beasts. It’s not great when dinner starts cultivating and your oxen can force you into the yoke. Fortunately, most beasts have a sense of gratitude, so our clan has survived a long time and in a lot of places.”

She grimaced. “It’s why the Lin family has such an unusual status in the Sect. Not a single one of us was ordered to fight in the Wastelands, and those of us who did go strictly worked on raising and training animal cultivators. None of us were on the front line. We are a major bridge to the animals and birds higher up the mountain, and they are not existences the Monastery can take lightly.”

Lin smiled. “It’s about that time?”

“She’s been giving Liren and I a lot of looks, and I get the feeling that even she isn’t sure what she’s trying to communicate.”

“Ah well. I’ll talk to her, see if it’s what she wants.”

“What do you charge for it?” Tian asked, remembering the sting of Sister Su’s eyes when he brought the rock to be cut and carved.

“To you? Nothing. The Sect pays a stipend and a bonus per awakened animal.”

Tian nodded and cupped his fists. “Sooner would be better than later. She seems antsy.” Tian looked back over the room. The biggest argument at the moment was on whether more mortal cities should be built on the mountain, as there was clearly ample room. Tian sighed and closed his eyes again.

Running really did seem like a charming idea. It was comforting to think about. There would be natural treasures to find, hidden caves to explore, new foods to experiment with, all gathered freely from what the mountain offered. Once the ward came down, he could grab his friends and just leave.

So why did that thinking twist his stomach and pain his heart now? It was more than itchy, the thought hurt. He had always run when he had to. Why was now any different? He pressed his hand to his chest, trying to ease the ache. It just grew heavier and sharper.

“You know, by your own logic, as one of the mighty people, you have a duty to guide the sect in the right direction.” Lin’s eyes seemed to see right through him.

“I said what I needed to. Raised my hand to a brother, even. I know the truly mighty ones heard me. So now what? Keep shouting, and hope I persuade someone before I’m driven away?” Tian shook his head. “Please do see her Highness soon. I think we could all do with a change.”