Chapter 26- The Tiger Appreciation Society

Disciple Shu sat with Tian at a little table outside the hospital. It seemed that where there were hospitals, there must be patios available for the exhausted doctors to cover their eyes with cool cloths, and rest.

“I just wanted you to see what we are doing.” Shu fiddled with her fingers a bit. “You seemed… so angry, and so sad. You said you didn’t want me to understand you, but you really, really looked like you wanted us to understand you when you dueled… when you beat the hell out of Senior Brother Ho.”

Tian nodded. She was right.

“And then you fought Elder Feng. I’ve never seen anything like it. None of us have. I don’t think the Elders have! You and Daoist Hong…” She looked away, letting the sentence drift off. “You were saying ‘This is what a fight is. This is how hard you should be training. Nobody gives a damn about flowery fists and embroidered kicks.’”

Tian nodded again. He didn’t know what flowers or embroidery had to do with anything, but he more or less got what she meant.

“And I thought about the wounded we were treating. I’m not working in the hospital yet, but we are a small sect. I heard about them. And I wanted you to understand. That we don’t understand fighting like you do, but we do care. We work hard. We work really, really hard.” Her voice got smaller and smaller. Shu’s voice trailed off and she hunched in on herself.

It was a beautiful night. The stars seemed a little hazier here than in the desert, but there were still so many of them. They still seemed like a miracle, an impossible wonder- uncountable twinkling gems scattered across the dark sky. Tian looked out into them, and for a moment, he wondered if you could fly to them. Could you pick them from the sky? Collect a pocket full of stars?

Probably not. There wouldn’t be any stars left if you could. Someone would have stolen them all ages ago.

“I can tell. I couldn’t do what you do.” His voice was soft and strong.

“Well the sect-”

“Daoist Shu? I couldn’t do what you do.” He leaned in, catching her eyes and keeping them with his.

She looked lost for a minute, staring into his eyes before blushing and looking away. She coughed lightly, hesitated, and visibly gathered her courage. “Then why are you so mad?”

Tian groped for the right words for something he couldn’t even explain well to himself. He couldn’t find them, so he just shook his head and sat back. “Would it be alright if I came back to the ward?”

“Pardon? You mean, to visit the wounded from Ancient Crane Mountain? Yes, I think so.”

“Thank you.”

He needed to talk to someone, and the omnipresent Elder Feng made talking freely in the Manor difficult. But his senior brothers and sisters in the wards had been in the same hell he had. They had survived when others hadn’t, and been pulled from the field. They would understand him.

Daoist Shu fiddled with her fingers again. “Senior Brother Ho is fine, by the way. He needed a bit of medicine for some organ bruising and internal bleeding, but nothing too serious. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret, so he’s going to have to suffer a shattered reputation.”

“He had a reputation as a fighter?”

Disciple Shu laughed bitterly. “Would you believe he had won several internal tournaments? He had even accompanied our guards on bandit suppression missions. His great uncle, Elder Ho, had accompanied a few caravans as a guard and healer, and Senior Brother Ho always claimed he was inheriting the martial tradition of the family.”

“Your guards?”

“We hire mercenary cultivators to provide external security for the sect and to accompany our inbound shipments. Though after today, I think a lot of us are seriously questioning that. It made sense before.” The finger fiddling had reached the point where Tian began to worry she might never be able to separate them.

“Why spend time on something you will hopefully never use, when you could more productively spend the time studying or tending your fields.” Tian’s voice was gentle as the night breeze.

“Yeah.” She nodded softly. “Exactly that.”

Tian sighed. If the Monastery was flying out his brothers for treatment, it meant the Monastery was paying for that treatment too. They were putting real resources behind this. It was insane that things had to get this bad to force the sect to make an obvious change, but at this point he was just glad anything could make them change.

How the hell do you solve a problem like Black Iron Gorge? How do you solve a problem, when the problem is you?

He rubbed his rosary, then smiled. He couldn’t solve that problem. It was too big, and too complicated. But Daoist Shu was kind. She wanted to help, to explain. She gathered around the lamp in his heart. So really, there was only one thing to do.

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“Daoist Shu, could I interest you in a comparatively terrible cup of tea?”

Morning came with a silent breakfast, followed immediately by not particularly quiet ribbing.

“So. You and Daoist Shu? HMMM? Alone, together, the dark of night? Tell Big Sister everything.” Hong leered.

“We went to the hospital, then had some tea and admired the stars.” Tian said, his voice plain as lukewarm water.

There was a pause. “Well that’s no fun.” Brother Wang shook his head. “I mean, there is material to work with there, but you aren’t blushing or looking away or anything.”