The Righteous Stair
One hundred and seven white marble steps separated the valley floor southwest of Hiparkes' Eye from the broad stone outcropping above. Mite Xu lowered the final, hundred and eighth, marble block into place with a grunt. He looked down the long stairway, dropping over seventy feet to the ground, switching back on itself a dozen times in its climb, and he grunted again. He had done his work well; the stair was plain as day from the outcropping, but would be challenging for anyone of insufficient virtue to find from below. He turned back, towards the heart of the manse, and said, "done."
Inam Niu looked up from her work in the manse's antechamber - a circular pool set in the center of the floor to be filled with water for ablutions - and smiled. "Thank you, Xu. Without your strength, this would've taken me forever."
Mite Xu flexed his huge, hairy hands and tried to smile. It came out more like a grimace. "We're close enough to God Crossing that I didn't want to see it come out a mess."
"Uhm... Thanks," Niu said.
Xu shrugged. "Just saving myself work for later."
"Right. I have some more work to do here," Niu waved towards a pot of blue glaze and a brush, still waiting for the pool's basin, "but that won't take any time at all. Walk with me while I make sure we've cleaned the rest of the tools out?"
"Sure."
Inam Niu stepped away from her work. Her joints popped with the sound of stone against stone as she leaned her head back, put her arms up and stretched. The ceiling sat far above her, a great dome supported only by five white marble columns - the rest of the antechamber was open to the air - and sporting the mighty, regal face of the Unconquered Sun. The amalgam let out a sigh and started off, her fellow beside her. "What's your next project, Xu?"
"Roads in God Crossing. The new council hall's bigger than it was supposed to be. I'll have to move buildings and roads to make it all fit."
"A craftsman's work is never done, eh?"
Xu grunted. The pair had followed the right-hand path away from the antechamber and now walked through a series of vestries, each ready to receive incense, purified garments and the tea and other essentials for monastic life.
They had wandered from there to an open-air courtyard that fronted the vegetable garden before Niu spoke again. "I hear that Hatsu Shi's coming back soon."
Xu gave a noncommittal grunt and looked down; a mosaic of the five gold caste marks of the Solar Exalted set in a field of red was set into the floor.
"It'll be nice, don't you think? Having everyone back together again for a little while?"
"I've never really liked any of you," Xu said, and he walked away, towards the cloisters. Those four, long hallways stood open to a central garden courtyard, complete with a second pool, and off each hall stood rooms with beds, desks and shelves - the future home of the monks.
Inam Niu caught up with him. "Don't be silly, Xu. You talk to the others all the time.
"Hey... Tell me something about Shi, will you?"
"What?" Xu didn't stop walking; he let the path carry him up a ring of stairs and right into the central chapel; open to the sky, the wall's upper edge and the floor recounted the story of the Seven Season's Widow's redemption into the Night Caste Open Skies Above. The chapel promised redemption, but it did not promise escape, and Xu's tormentor followed him right inside.
"We got pretty close when we were down south, that's all. I thought he might like me, maybe."
Mite Xu shook his wooly head. "Twice in one week. I've had enough of this." He ran, blindly, away from Niu. He climbed another set of stairs to the altar and a set of stairs behind that, to...
"Xu, don't!"
The urgency in Inam Niu's voice stopped Xu cold. He looked ahead. He was two steps away from crossing the freestanding arch they called the Door of Salvation. The hearthstone, the Pearl of Castigation, would form there. Though it would not kill a living man, Niu had arranged the geomancy so that, when in place, anyone who stepped through with a prayer to the Unconquered Sun on his lips would gain merit for his next incarnation upon his death. Those who stepped through without a prayer...
Xu backed slowly away.
"Right," he said. "Nothing left behind. Let's get back to God Crossing and see about your boyfriend."
