"Can I ask a question?" Su Yao asked hesitantly.
"Of course, you can," Wu Ling said, pouring another cup of tea for the young calligrapher. Inwardly, he wished he hadn't started talking about important things until they'd each had a chance to drink a cup, but now that they had finally gotten over their shock enough to drink, he could see the tea slowly starting to take an edge off the fear and anxiety they felt at his revelations and a bit of curiosity building within them as well. Mother Cang's Five Flavor Fruit peels were still the best that could be found.
"I didn't bring you here because I wanted to deceive you," Wu Ling said warmly. "Ask whatever you need."
"How is it that you're so comfortable with this? I always thought you were more like Cousin Xiang and the Shining Blade Hall," she asked, sipping the tea and allowing the soothing effect of the tea to help her relax in what still felt like a very dangerous conversation. For her cousin's sworn sibling to be like this, there must be good reasons. She just needed to hear them so she could understand.
"I grew up here," Wu Ling answered. "I didn't know at the time that most children raised in the sect were raised in the Light Half of the sect. My mother kept me in the back of the sect. I thought she did it to keep me hidden, but truthfully, this is the part of the sect she called home. I played games like most children do, but when you play hide-and-seek with thieves and assassins, you learn things most kids don't," he said a touch wistfully, remembering days spent running around the many gardens of the sect while playing games with a few of the senior sisters who loved having a 'young girl' to play aunty to.
"One of the things you learn growing up here," he said warmly. "Is that the wicked assassin that everyone outside thinks of as a ruthless killer also keeps a trio of house cats and makes the best sweet sesame buns in the back of the sect," he said with a light laugh. "Senior Sister Xuan Yu used to spoil me if I could find her in less than an hour's time, and if I couldn't find her, she'd give me treats to console me."
"My Master once said that to be one person's Hero you have to become someone else's Villain," Wu Ling continued. "The past several days since the Hall Master forced me into the sect, I've talked to my mother about what I might do as a member of the sect. Hall Master has already assigned me a Dark Mission," Wu Ling confessed. "But that mission is to gather the materials needed to cure my mother. I'm not going to argue against a mission I'd have undertaken anyway, but if I want the sect to help me, I need to help the sect."
"I've heard that there are sects where you have to watch out for betrayal from fellow disciples," Yao Meifeng said, fidgeting with her teacup and struggling to meet Wu Ling's gaze. "In a place full of thieves, assassins, and spies, is it really safe here?"
"That depends," Wu Ling teased. "Do you intend to spy on, steal from, and assassinate your fellow disciples? The world outside has enough of that sort of thing, don't you think? Why bring it home?"
"So everyone gets along? Like a real sisterhood?" Su Yao asked. It sounded strange, fantastical even, but the more Wu Ling spoke, the more she started to accept something she'd never truly considered. Wu Ling's mother was an assassin. At the same time, her cousin had been visiting and taking meals with the crippled elder ever since she reunited with Wu Ling. Her former classmate talked about assassins making sweet steamed buns and Su Yao started to realize that these 'wicked' people were… just people.
They didn't go home to torture small animals because they lived for cruelty, they went home to their house cats because… because why wouldn't they? And if the people they were assassinating were wicked men, how were they any different than the people in her cousin's sect who ventured into the world to hunt criminals and protect justice? In her mind, it was like a firework had gone off and the entire world glowed in new colors and different shadows. Like a firework, what Wu Ling had offered her was only a glimpse of a bigger, more complicated world, but that glimpse had a profound impact on the young artist.
"I guess it's like a real sisterhood," Wu Ling agreed, bringing Su Yao's attention back to the conversation. "But real sisters don't always get along, you know. I'm not trying to say that this is a paradise. It's just that the world outside can be cruel enough that the sect tries to cultivate a gentler, safer interior for its members to return home to. Come for a walk with me and you'll understand."
"Senior Sister Yao, what do you think? Should we give it a look?" Su Yao asked the petite doll-like musician. Now that she'd begun to see the world in a more complex way, she was interested in seeing the reality of the world Wu Ling described.
"I don't think Junior Sister has ever done anything that would harm me," Yao Meifeng agreed, finally putting down her teacup and looking directly into Wu Ling's silver eyes. No matter what she'd thought of dark, shadowy assassins and their ilk growing up, her friend had made his heart incredibly open and vulnerable to her while talking with them. More than that, when he spoke of helping her find power to keep herself safe and free from her family, his words had sounded as pure as a note from a freshly tuned zither."
The least I can do is look at things with open eyes. If I decide not to join the sect though, can I still move in with you to hide from my family?" She still wasn't entirely convinced that this was a place where she could truly thrive. She didn't want to join a sect just because she was running away from home, she wanted to join a sect because she felt it was a place she could dedicate her life to. As long as she had the option to stay with Wu Ling even if she didn't join the sect, she felt that she could make a decision about the sect on its own merits rather than turning it into a place she ran to just to escape her family.
"Of course you can." Wu Ling said with a warm, inviting smile. "You know that my door is always open to you Sister Yao. There's even room for two in my bedroom if you need it," he added with a wink.