Radeon finished the pills by midnight and used Campion's broad back as a temporary bed.

When the first thin light of dawn bled into the sky, he woke, ate a quick bowl of dried meat gruel, then slipped back into the camp on quiet feet.

He went to where Fay had taken the book and returned it to its place, neat and untouched, as if no one had ever breathed on it.

Fay woke an hour later feeling lighter, refreshed, happier, like something her body had held too tightly and finally released.

Then she sniffed and felt her ears burn. Her scent still lingered in the tent.

This was not a simple shelter. This was Radeon's armament.

For a moment she wondered if she should leave it alone and pretend she had never been in it.

Her mind, clearer now, refused.

She robed herself and looked at the bedding. It needed attention.

Fay took a clean cloth and started to work. First she opened the leather flaps and let the air move through.

Radeon did not show himself. He did not hover. He gave her privacy without making a ceremony of it.

Fay cleaned thoroughly. Water first. Then the animal fat Radeon called soap.

Then a light fragrance to cut the lingering tang. Last, the protective coat he always applied to his gear.

When she finished, her hands were steady again.

Radeon showed up with a bowl of gruel and set it in her hands.

The first thing he noticed was the change in her, a quiet brightness behind the eyes.

He did not touch the subject. He only passed her a small bottle.

"This is for you," he said.

Fay understood their master and disciple bond had not shifted. That steadiness helped more than comfort would have.

Still, color crept into her face when she thought of asking him anything.

"Fay," Radeon said, plain and final. "That's the last time. Handle your own needs from now on."

Fay nodded silently and kept eating. To her it had not felt like a reprimand.

She had read it in medical texts, the body had needs, and a woman's were no less real.

Still, it was not an easy topic to voice. Not to anyone. Least of all to a man.

While she ate, Radeon cultivated in silence. When the qi around him thinned and settled, he rose.

Fay swallowed, then forced herself to speak.

"Master... have you any defensive arts I might learn?" she asked.

"We'll talk later," he said. "Right now, I'm going to see Challah."

He whistled and Campion came. Humphrey lifted its head, eager to follow.

"Stay," Radeon told the boar. "Don't wander."

The crowd parted as Radeon rode through on Campion's back, with measured swiftness.

Someone tried to be clever. A child stepped forward with an egg, guided by an adult's hand and an uglier intention.

The egg slipped and dropped. Radeon saw the thread that had tugged it loose.

He saw Biscuit's son. By now he knew all their names. Shortbreads, with his father's eyes and none of his patience.

He also saw the men with him, the same ones who had been whispering at the far end of every camp.

They thought distance made them safe. Radeon had heard enough.

The jokes that turned into threats. The plans that turned into powders and needles.

Even talk of special poisons to drop Fay without a fight.

That was the real danger. Not the boar. Not the wolves.

Radeon inhaled once. The Paradoxical Devouring Art turned.

He stripped away the small stores of good fortune those men had hoarded in their bones, then pulled away the malice and the resentment, the sticky parts that made them bold.

He left the misfortune they had gathered. Misfortune was common as wild grass. Radeon did not need to steal it from them.

They would feel lighter. They might even believe they had found a new perspective. Without malice, they would also go soft.

Radeon could only hope they did not fold when the world demanded hardness again.

Challah's tent came into view. A chubby woman in her thirties or forties, eyes bright, amber without open malice.

Radeon could read her anyway. She already knew he wanted something.

"Venerable Radeon," she said with a practiced dip of her head. "What wind's blown you into this poor woman's humble dwellings?"

"I need to talk," he said while dismounting.

Challah reached as if to take his arm, eager to show warmth and make him feel received. Her fingers met a qi barrier instead.

"I'm cultivating," Radeon said, letting the words carry so others could hear. "You don't mind?"

A mortal given face often softened. That was the angle he offered. Challah smiled and nodded.

Inside, the tent did not smell of sweat. Incense burned in eight directions, careful and expensive.

She had prepared the moment she saw him coming. She offered him a seat.

Radeon stayed by the tent flap and smiled.

He took out a paper and lit it with a controlled flame. The fire did not consume it. It traced. It carved.

Fine details formed on the surface, faces emerging as if drawn by an invisible hand. Four of them.

Challah's breath caught. Cultivators could make flame. Control like that was another matter.

She accepted the paper with both hands, eyes flicking from the portraits to Radeon's face.

"I am but a mortal," she said carefully. "Lucky a wandering scholar taught me to read and write."

"I also know with one flick of your hand you could take what you want, and just kill us all."

Radeon did not warm. He did not chill. He simply looked at her.

"I wouldn't press a hard bargain," Challah said quietly. "They say you divined our fate. I'll place my trust in you, and take whatever you judge I must."

Smart. That was Radeon's impression of her. She could list the good and the bad, then make the comparison.

He did let her hanging, then raised three fingers.

"Purity. Youth. Vitality." Radeon stated flatly.

Challah did not answer at once. She turned the words over, and when understanding finally struck, it struck hard.

Was the man in front of her truly offering to return all three?

Challah had once asked the wandering scholar, half curious and half afraid.

"Teacher, if a cultivator could reconstruct a mortal body back to youth, what stage would he be at."

"A god living among men," the scholar had answered, flat as stone. "Mortal apotheosis."

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