A gong sounded once, twice, three times. All around the room, people grew quiet, turning toward the sound of the gong. Chang-li had been watching a nearby Morning Mist cultivator with pity as the young man stood between two elaborately gowned Gem court girls and stared at them like a deer trapped between two tigers. When the gong sounded the boy almost sagged with relief, as the women turned away from him. The charter sects were arriving.

  Chang-li saw five sets of robes, each sect with at least a dozen representatives. They were led by a master and spouse, and proceeded in according to their ranks, or so he thought. Each sect was announced by the door wardens as they entered. “Master Ahren, of the Shadow Dancers. Mistress Shu, of Climbing Vines. Master Emdi, of Weathered Stone. Master Ha, Light of Stars. Mistress Rim, of Purple Lotus.”

  Noren had said there were seven charter sects, not counting Morning Mist, and Chang-li wondered where the others would be. The masters of each sect approached with their spouses trailing. Two of the masters were women, the other two men. They looked at Chang-li with barely veiled contempt. “Where is your supposed Grandmaster?” one of the women, Mistress Rim, demanded.

  “He is attending to sect business,” Chang-li said. “I am the senior disciple here tonight.”

  Her eyes flicked from him across the room to where Joshi and Hiroko stood. “Not him?”

  Min cleared her throat. “Chang-li and Joshi have equivalent standing in the sect, and Chang-li's achieved cultivation is higher, so yes, he is the senior representative of Morning Mist here tonight.”

  “No one asked your opinion,” one of the male sect spouses snapped. Chang-li noted his robes were bordered with green. He was becoming aware how much some of these people cared about their titles and statuses.

  Chang-li quickly felt out his fellow cultivators. Most of them seemed to be at about the Lux Embodiment stage. Some of them might be Lux Dominators, but the master of Sect Weathered Stone he didn’t think was there yet. Emdi was fairly young, seemingly in his forties, and perhaps had no real reason to push for that.

  “Well,” Master Emdi of Weathered Stone said, “shall we go upstairs and set out the terms of the first contest?”

  Chang-li was all alert now. He shot Min a quick glance, and a moment later Joshi and Hiroko drifted toward them, summoned by one of Min's whisperers. Chang-li cleared his throat.

  “Certainly, lead the way.” he told the Charter representatives.

  He had not seen any way of reaching the upper floors and was expecting them to go to one of the doors in the center core. Instead, Master Emdi gestured. Lux flowed out of him, engaging a script circle Chang-li had not previously noticed. A perfectly circular piece of floor, fifteen feet across and centered under their feet, rose into the air, carrying Chang-li and the other dozen upward.

  He looked up in instinctive fear that the ceiling would crush him, but there was nothing to worry about. A hole had opened in the roof above them, the circle on which they stood sliding gently into the open space as they rose into the air.

  The second floor of the building was an inverse of the floor below. The center core was open, the floor laced with lux technique scripts all through its translucent surface. Around the outer edge were booths big enough for a table and benches that could hold seven or eight people, mixed in with more private cubbies holding a low couch or a pair of chairs. Each of the alcoves had a curtain that could be pulled across the front.

  The walls and floor were all in shades of green. Chang-li could sense the abundance of life lux all around him, giving off a relaxing aura. The other cultivators ignored it as they strode to the center of the room.

  Chang-li let his lux senses stretch outward as he got a feel for what the various techniques here did. There was a confused mass of them layered on top of each other. Sometimes an element from one buried script would be used in another. A trio of lux technicians stood at a small pedestal off to one side. The sect masters turned back to Joshi and Chang-li.

  “Climbing Vines is hosting the first challenge,” Mistress Shu declared. “We have decided to make it a contest of weapons. It will require seven disciples from each sect. You may name your champions now.”

  “Not so fast,” Master Ahren said smoothly. “Morning Mist has proclaimed themselves a Charter Sect, but we haven’t had any dealings with them in several hundred years. I insist on seeing their stakes before we commit to this event.”

  Chang-li felt as though he’d been tossed in over his head, but here Min saved the day, stepping forward. “If this is a certified cultivation trial, the details and stakes should have been arranged weeks in advance by sect representatives according to the Code of Aridmaxtus.”

  “Who bothers with that old thing anymore?” Mistress Rim asked, her tone full of polite disbelief. “We are operating according to the Revised Third Council of Sects Code, of course.”

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  Master Emdi tried to interrupt, but Min was really hitting her stride now. Little pink spots appeared high up in her cheeks as she stated: "A formal cultivation challenge should always be arranged in time for the sects involved to prepare.”

  “That understanding has been abrogated for over a hundred years now,” the head spouse of Shadow Dancers said smugly. She looked down her long nose at Min. Chang-li noted her own robes were only edged in yellow. It felt to him like the lower the noble's actual rank, the more she had to make sure Min knew she was inferior. "I suppose a backwater sect like Morning Mist has become isn't properly up to date with how things are done here in the capital."

  "You mean," Hiroko interjected quietly, "that we follow custom and tradition?"

  The other cultivators fell silent, turning, as Hiroko, her hand resting on Joshi's arm, stepped forward. Her face was calm. The light flickered in her tiara as she spoke. Chang-li saw how the others' eyes were drawn to her indigo robes as they fell silent.

  Lady Shadow Dancers crossed her arms. “Princess Hiroko, Morning Mist will be honored by your joining the sect once it has occurred, but that joyous event is still some time off. I am sure you will take matters in hand and ensure—"

  Hiroko held up a hand. "Any slur on Morning Mist reflects on me," she said coolly.

  Master Ahren visibly drew himself under control and turned back to Chang-li. "Regardless, it has been held for over a century that any leading sect must be prepared to answer a challenge at any time. We are willing to discuss rules for who is to compete, but the arena has already been chosen, the challenge set."

  "What are the terms of the challenge?" Chang-li asked.

  Mistress Shu smiled, her expression reminding Chang-li of a snake's. "Seven competitors from each sect will demonstrate their knowledge of the classical weapons forms, as established by the great master, Iram Dos. Each cultivator contestant will be given a quantity of orange lux appropriate to his rank. Traditionally, we would have three cultivators who have reached the Peak of Bodily Refinement, three at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement, and one higher rank to demonstrate. But as Morning Mist is the challenged sect, you may change that if you wish."

  Chang-li and Joshi exchanged a look. Chang-li had never heard of this master, nor of the seven classic forms.

  "As the challenged sect, of course, Morning Mist is permitted to choose whether to go first or last," Master Ahren added as though in an afterthought, "but your representatives must be chosen ahead of time.” Ahren leaned forward with a snear and talked slow, as if explain to a child. “If you go first you get to pick the weapons. If you go last, you can watch all that come before."

  If he was understanding this correctly, the representatives would use the orange lux to create a weapon and then demonstrate these supposed classic forms. He didn’t see any way to avoid this. “All right," Chang-li said. " Morning Mist will go last."

  "Excellent!" Ahren said, lip curling. "Then there is only the matter of stakes to be decided."

  Chang-li stiffened. Beside him, Min's hand was on his sleeve, her fingers digging into his arm. "What are the usual stakes in an affair like this?"

  Mistress Rim gave a quick harumph, dismissing Chang-li's ignorance, then said, “For a feat of this standing, at a sanctioned banquet hosted by the Gem Court, then a sect treasure suitable for a cultivator at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement is the usual stake. Or the equivalent amount in kwam. I believe the value would be somewhere between thirty and forty thousand kwam?” She cocked her head expectantly.

  While the bank loan had temporarily filled their coffers, Chang-li knew exactly how much of that money he had already spent on license fees. Min's budget for the upcoming wedding was eating up at least half of what remained. He had no confidence they would win this competition. It sounded as though it had been designed specifically to humiliate Chang-li and his people. "Just a moment," he said. He drew Min aside and wove a quick circle of lux around their heads, again granting them a moment’s privacy.

  She was looking pale. "They said two challenges. We can’t refuse either, but the cost — We need to find out what they’ve arranged for the second contest. I don’t know how we can afford to lose both.”

  “I have an idea.” Chang-li opened his soul space and withdrew the small mirror they had taken from the body of one of the Golden Lux disciples. With a pang, he showed it to her.

  Her eyes went wide. “That’s—”

  “Yes.” He cut her off. She looked at him, then shrugged. “Whatever you think is best,” she agreed.

  He stepped back to the waiting masters and held out the mirror. The cultivators leaned forward. They heard a gasp from Ahren. Mistress Rim looked somewhat impressed.

  "This is a treasure suitable for a Lux embodiment cultivator," Chang-li said boldly. He didn't actually know what the mirror was good for and would regret very much losing it before he could find out. "I wish to propose... double or nothing."

  His enemies' eyes narrowed. Chang-li felt a giddiness wash over him as he plunged recklessly along. "If Morning Mist loses both competitions, we will give this up to be divided between the winners. But if you do not beat us both times, we keep the mirror."

  "That's preposterous! We—" Rim said.

  Ahren interrupted her. "I accept on behalf of my sect." He turned and stared pointedly at Rim.

  Chang-li saw the greed and dislike passing over the others' faces. He understood what they were thinking. They had set up these two trials to ensure Morning Mist's complete humiliation. By offering a treasure worth far more than the sum of two spiritual refinement trinkets, he was playing on their greed very well. Every sect here wanted that mirror.

  Rim said at last, “The terms are accepted. You will need to provide us with your champions as quickly as possible.”

  “We’ll need a few minutes to arrange that,” Chang-li said. While he didn't expect to win, he hoped that the junior disciples would manage to put on a good show.

  They excused themselves, Joshi and Hiroko joining them on the ride back to the first floor. Chang-li spoke rapidly. "We'll get Brother Stone to help us select champions. I don't think we'll win this one," he said, "but what we've got to do is find out what the second competition is, and see if we can prepare for it in time. I'm not worried about losing the treasure," he said. "Considering what Noren gave us for our loan, Morning Mist's coffers are full. But I don't want us to be completely humiliated."

  "Right," Min said. She turned to Hiroko, her eyes gleaming. "That sounds like a job for the two of us."

  "Let's go find Brother Stone," Chang-li told Joshi grimly.