Today was the day of the opening ceremony of the Six Sects Regional Tournament.

Lin Xuan stood in his pavilion in the formal robe of the sect, the colors of Skyedge running clean down the chest, the clan crest fastened above his heart, and the Plain Steel at his hip. Lian was finishing the last details on him before he walked out the door.

"Stand straight, Lin Xuan. We do not want anything looking crooked when you are in front of so many people."

She tugged the crest two millimeters left and a half-millimeter up, then stepped back to inspect her work.

"How do I look, Lian."

"Like a real Young Master of a decent sect."

"That is acceptable."

"It is what you asked for."

He let out a small laugh and they walked out toward the rest of the delegation.

Lin Xuan entered the Arena through the south gate with the Skyedge delegation. Behind him, his stepbrother Lin Kai walked in the formal robe of secondary representative, jaw locked at an angle Lin Xuan had seen on him a thousand times. The audience already inside the Arena registered the secondary robe and the eyes that fell on Lin Kai changed shape. He was the son of blood. He was wearing the secondary robe. The weight of every glance pressed down on his face and he did not flinch, but he did not look up either.

Lin Xuan kept walking.

The Arena opened around him as he reached the edge of the south platform.

Three concentric rings of stone seats. The public already filled them top to bottom, and the rumor of fifteen thousand voices mixed in a low continuous murmur that rose and fell like a slow tide. The fighting floor at the center was a wide circle of pale stone, polished by two centuries of feet, empty for the duration of the ceremony. The moat of running water around the perimeter caught the morning light and rippled along the bottom edge of the lowest ring.

Above the highest ring, six standing poles waited with their banners still folded against the wood. They would unfurl when the Master of Ceremonies declared the tournament formally open. Two additional poles, taller than the rest, rose at the north and west of the Arena. The first carried the imperial blessing flag. The second the colors of Heavenly Sword Pavilion.

Four elevated tribunes broke the line of the rings. The northern tribune was the highest, imperial, empty for now. The eastern tribune sat lower, wide enough for the patriarchs and consorts of the six regional sects. The western tribune, narrower, was reserved for the Heavenly Sword Pavilion delegation.

Lin Xuan registered each one as he walked

The line of delegations formed at the south of the fighting floor. Six parallel groups.

Skyedge took the center. Lin Xuan at the front. Lin Kai a step behind. Senior Elder Ren and the rest of the delegation behind them.

He scanned the others on either side without turning his head.

Frostmoon Ridge stood to his immediate left. Su Qingyue at the front of her line, pale blue and white robe, black hair pulled back with the cracked-ice clasp. Her eyes crossed his for a fraction of a second. She inclined her head one degree. Lin Xuan returned the gesture, every muscle in his face conscious of the fact that less than twenty-four hours earlier he had watched her unmake a man’s ability to father children.

’She is a dangerous woman, Mira.’

[ Be careful, Xuan, or she will leave you childless too. (¬‿¬) ]

Phoenix Mirror Sect stood to his immediate right. Yu Lan, the former fiancée, was in the line as the consort of her new betrothed. The new betrothed was the Principal of Phoenix Mirror Sect this year. Yu Lan kept her face forward with the kind of rigidity that confirmed she had decided not to look at him before walking into the Arena.

’That was my ex-fiancée? She is not all that, honestly.’

[ Glad you think so. But her new betrothed is the Principal of Phoenix Mirror, and the look he is giving you is not friendly. I would tread carefully. ]

The Phoenix Mirror Principal was indeed staring at Lin Xuan from his line, mouth tight, eyes hard.

Lin Xuan considered him for a beat.

He blew the man a slow kiss.

The Principal’s face went a color his robe had not been designed to flatter.

[ It is not wise to provoke your rivals, Xuan. ]

’Oh, come on. Things have to have a little spice.’

[ ... ]

Beyond Phoenix Mirror, the line continued. Greenvein Monastery in green monk robes, hands tucked into sleeves. Iron Cloud Pavilion with the line of their shoulders set in defensive postures even at rest. Thunder Lotus Sect with Lei Yan at the front, jaw clenched as if he were already in combat.

Behind the formal line, separated by a low railing, the thirty-two contestants of the secondary bracket waited in four rows of eight. A handful of them stood out from the rest. Two had sword grips that suggested self-taught training, assured rather than polished.

A girl in a robe Lin Xuan did not recognize stood with the perfect stillness of someone who had been trained without the standard pattern of any sect. None of them were watching the patriarchs’ tribune. They were watching the line of principal representatives in front of them. Lin Kai would cross that railing into their formation when his turn came.

The six patriarchs entered through the side passages and climbed to the eastern tribune.

Lin Xuan followed his father’s path. Lin Zhen went up alongside Madam Mei. The patriarch’s face was neutral.

The moment Lin Zhen lowered himself onto the cushion, Lin Xuan caught a small tension in his father’s shoulders that lasted half a second and went away.

Lin Zhen was watching the lower ring of the public.

Lin Xuan followed his father’s line of sight.

[ Xuan. Lower ring, northwest sector. Two older men in merchant robes. There are empty seats around them, but the section is not empty. People are keeping their distance. ]

Lin Xuan focused on the spot.

He recognized them at once. The faces lined up with two men from the cortege that had returned with his father from the capital three weeks earlier. Faces he had seen once, briefly, in the Skyedge courtyard the day Lin Zhen had ridden in. Faces that should not have been here.

’Mira. Those men rode from Tianzhao with my father.’

[ They did. The question is why they are here now. They could have stayed at the sect. They chose to come. They are not simple merchants. Keep them in mind, Xuan. ]

’Capital. My father was held there because of the Second Prince’s faction. Could these be men sent by the Second Prince?’

[ That is a good deduction. It could be. Stay aware. I am glad you reached that conclusion on your own. ]

Yan Wuji entered through the western gate.

He walked alone to his tribune.

[ That is the invited disciple of Heavenly Sword Pavilion. He is close to crossing into Foundation Establishment. The most dangerous man in this Arena, Xuan. By a long way. ]

’I see him.’

He let his attention follow Yan Wuji to the cushion and away.

The Master of Ceremonies climbed onto the fighting floor. An old man of Yuncheng, gray robe, parchment in hand.

His voice carried clean across the Arena. The protocol was old and the words were older. The imperial blessing was read in the formal cadence. Recognition of the six regional sects. Recognition of the presence of Heavenly Sword Pavilion.

The six sect banners unfurled simultaneously above the highest ring. Green of Greenvein. White and blue of Frostmoon. Gold and black and red of Skyedge. Red and white of Phoenix Mirror. Gray of Iron Cloud. Purple and yellow of Thunder Lotus. The imperial banner unfurled on the high pole at the north. The Heavenly Sword Pavilion banner on the high pole at the west.

The presentation of the delegations began.

When Skyedge was called, Lin Zhen rose from the eastern tribune. Lin Xuan stepped forward from the line, bowed deep toward the imperial tribune. The imperial functionaries returned the gesture with a minimal nod. Lin Xuan straightened and stepped back into the line.

A murmur ran through the lower ring of the public.

He caught fragments without turning his head.

"That is Lin Xuan? The one who was bedridden?"

"He looks fine."

"He looks more than fine."

"The patriarch returned, the boy stood up. Heavens know how."

The murmur did not die down quickly. It traveled around the lower ring as the next delegation was announced.

The Master of Ceremonies brought the ceremonial urn to the fighting floor.

Each Principal Representative climbed up in alphabetical order of sect. Each one reached into the urn. Each one drew a folded paper.

When his turn came, Lin Xuan climbed onto the polished stone, reached in, and pulled a paper.

He unfolded it.

"Thunder Lotus Sect."

The regional rival of the Lin clan. Four generations of duels in the sect archives. Two centuries of mutual obstruction that came back, every five years, to find each other across the same circle of stone. And the principal of Thunder Lotus this year was Lei Yan.

’Mira. The rival sect. And Lei Yan himself.’

[ Correct, Xuan. The arena operators gave you exactly what they wanted to give you. Your father will be very pleased if you put them down. ]

He returned to his line with the paper in his hand.

The other draws followed. Su Qingyue against Iron Cloud Pavilion. Yan Wuji against Phoenix Mirror Sect. Greenvein Monastery would face the winner of the secondary, who would take the eighth seat of the principal bracket.

The ceremony closed.

The delegations walked out of the Arena in reverse order of entry. Lin Xuan moved at the front of the Skyedge line toward the south gate with the paper still folded in his hand.

Lin Zhen came down from the eastern tribune and fell into step beside his son for the last stretch.

"Well done, son. You handled it well."

The patriarch kept walking and was gone in three more steps.

Lin Xuan kept walking too.

He had taken three steps toward the Skyedge carriages when a voice came from his right.

"Young Master Lin."

He turned.

Yu Lan stood five paces from him. The Phoenix Mirror Principal a step behind her, the color of his face still uneven from the kiss Lin Xuan had blown across the line earlier. The man’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

Yu Lan’s face was pale. Her mouth was set in a way Lin Xuan recognized from two birthdays in the borrowed memories.

"Young Master Lin Xuan. We have not been introduced properly. Allow me."

She stepped aside.

The Phoenix Mirror Principal stepped forward.