"They aren't afraid of me," Wu Ling said, nodding slightly to other sect disciples they passed on their way to the back of the sect. "They're afraid of my mother," he explained. "The token marks me as her direct disciple so they're afraid of offending her by offending me."
"Is a sect elder so scary here?" Yao Meifeng asked. "I've heard that some elders in sects reign like tyrants but I always thought your mother was a kind and gentle woman. That was her outside your home wasn't it?" Yao Meifeng said, thinking of the apparition that had appeared to deal with the men who were hunting her.
"She, she dealt harshly with those men," Yao Meifeng added. "But she was protecting all of us. That's not a reason to be afraid of someone."
"It was a little frightening," Su Yao admitted, recalling the scene outside Wu Ling's home. "But also reassuring to know that she could watch over us. I think that's how an Elder should be."
"You'll understand soon," Wu Ling said, having found the entrance to the tea house he'd been looking for. "Come, the place we're going is downstairs so we can have a quiet conversation," he explained, leading the two women down a narrow stairway that ended in a doorway three meters underground.
As the trio entered, they could feel the faint prickle from passing through a defensive formation and both Yao Meifeng and Su Yao suddenly understood that the disciple in the reception area hadn't been joking when she'd said they would need the guest tokens to move around. But what kind of tea house needed such elaborate defenses?
"Little Ling," a matronly woman sitting behind the counter of the small reception area greeted. "It's been too many years since you've visited," she added, walking around the counter to give Wu Ling a welcoming hug. "Look at you, even more refined and beautiful than when you left. It's good that you're back."
"Mother Cang," Wu Ling said with a smile, returning the hug affectionately. Mother Cang might only be a late-stage Aesthete, not much further along in her cultivation path than he was despite being nearly a century old, but she'd been the matron of the New Moon Teahouse for as long as Wu Ling had been alive and several years before that as well. "I missed you too. Has Aunt Hyacinth visited recently?"
"Naughty scoundrel," the older woman chided. "If you want to know if there's any Red Phoenix Leaf available you should just ask, stop pretending like you care for the niceties," she teased with a smile.
"To be fair, she raided my tea cupboard when she last visited Mother," Wu Ling protested. "If I get to the Red Phoenix Leaf you have stashed here before she does then that's just righting the scales," he said, relaxing into a familiar banter with Mother Cang.
The instant he'd stepped into the tea house and inhaled the soothing fragrance of dozens of different blends and varieties of tea, it felt like he'd finally returned to a home that he hadn't realized he'd missed. When they'd been cast out, he'd filled his heart with resentment for the Bamboo Silk House but after his mother's explanation, he'd begun to set that resentment aside.
Now that he was here, looking at Mother Cang's faintly lined and smiling face, he was enveloped with the warm comforting sensation of home, as though he had never left. The front of the sect might fear people like his mother, but here, in the back of the sect, there was only respect and a bit of affection.
"Unfortunately, you're out of luck," the matronly woman said with a shake of her head and genuine regret in her voice. It had been so many years since the little princess of the back of the sect had been here. If she'd known that Wu Ling would be returning, she'd have set something special aside, if not Red Phoenix Leaf then something equally precious. "I do have lavender-smoked Dragonwell though, will that do for you and your guests?"
"That and some Five Flavor Fruit peel," Wu Ling said with a smile. Red Phoenix Leaf was one of the best teas for warming the heart and calming nerves, which made it one of his favorites for any conversation that might become emotional. Lavender-smoked Dragonwell was less calming, but it still wrapped the heart in enough of a haze that it was difficult for shocks to produce outbursts. Adding the Five Flavor Fruit peel would stimulate curiosity which should help in the conversations to come as well.
"Which room should I take them to? I need to explain things to them before I bring them to the Midnight Lily Hall," he added. So far, both Yao Meifeng and Su Yao had taken his mother's actions in stride, but he'd have to reveal quite a bit more in the conversation ahead before he could introduce them to one of the sect's Florists.
"I see, I wondered about your new friends. Good girl, it's good that you remember your home," Mother Cang said with a wide smile before she turned to address the young ladies.
"You two are very lucky," she said to Su Yao and Yao Meifeng. "There aren't many people who can measure up to Elder Hyacinth's standards for preparing tea you know. Your Senior Sister Wu is very talented and very thoughtful when she makes tea and not many people have a chance to enjoy her skills," she explained.
"Now, Little Ling, you always liked the Starlit Corner, didn't you?" Mother Cang said, finally thinking of an appropriate way to welcome their young lady home. "Take it. I'll make sure you're not disturbed."
"Thank you Mother Cang," Wu Ling said with a grateful bow. "Follow me," he said, taking a tray laden with tea, tea cups, and a pot of hot water from the older woman before he led his companions down a narrow hall and into a small sitting room.
No sooner had the trio entered the room than several spirit crystals scattered around the room began to glow as a formation activated. When the door slid closed behind Su Yao, the paintings on the walls took on a life of their own until it felt like they'd left the underground room entirely and taken a seat on a lush hilltop overlooking Silver Sword City from the distance. Above their heads, the ceiling had darkened to rich midnight blue moments before a starry night sky twinkled into existence above their heads.
"Welcome to the New Moon Tea House," Wu Ling said, smiling at the shocked expressions on his friend's faces. "Take a seat, there's a lot for me to explain."