Twisted Skies, Chapter 18 - Shallow Talk Over a Deep Glass

After another long day of cultivation, Thurain left his shed and stretched his waist in the light of the local street lamps.

“You’re still working, young man? What are you doing, wasting your youth in there? Come with me, let’s have some fun.”

A sudden voice surprised the young cultivator, but before he could react, Theodoro had grabbed his arm and dragged him away. Once he realized, Thurain could have resisted the scammer’s weak pull of course, but he was done with his work for the day anyways. Any more cultivation would be harmful to his body, and he still owed Theodoro a favor. Thus, a few minutes later, the two of them entered a local bar one street down from the apartment.

This was the first time Thurain had entered a bar. Before, he had only heard stories, so he had all kinds of thoughts what such a strange place could look like, a somewhere that attracted so many different kinds of people. However, when he saw the inside, he didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

The city air outside was already bad, but in here it was even worse. Thick smoke hung in the room like a haze over a bog in winter, and the sharp smell of alcohol mixed with the dark aroma of wood to form an oppressive, saturated air. He had barely entered and he already felt drunk. Even though the place didn’t look dilapidated, everything was covered by a thin film of grime, permanently stained by the environment it had been steeped in.

Many benches and tables had been put up around a small stage deep inside the bar, though the stage itself was empty at the moment. However, Theodoro didn’t lead them to any of them. Instead, he brought them directly to the ancient wooden counter next to the stage, which was already half occupied by local drinkers. When Thurain sat down on one of the bar stools, he found the counter to smell like a sour glass of wine. Decades or centuries of use had soaked the wood in spirits, and not even all the cleaning of the barman could remove its traces anymore.

Though at the moment, the barman was too busy to clean anything. Instead, he was pouring his wares from one of the many barrels behind him. Soon, a full mug of alcohol was pushed in front of another customer and the coins in front of the man disappeared, which gave Theodoro the chance to get involved.

“Master, two Deepwines for me and my friend,” he shouted to the barman, though the ‘master’ didn’t move as the cheater wished. As soon as he turned towards his two newest guests, the shallow smile he had put on when he had collected the money disappeared.

“So that means you’re here to repay your tab, right Theo?” the man stated in a blunt tone. “You wouldn’t be shameless and come here and order without paying your debt first, right?”

“Uhm… my financial situation recently-” As Theodoro was gearing up for another one of his lies, Thurain interrupted him.

“Don’t bother,” he said towards the scammer. “I’m paying for us today. I still owe you from the mask, and from all the advice you gave me.”

Not only did Thurain want to repay his debt as soon as possible, but he also wasn’t comfortable watching Theodoro’s little play. Wasn’t he embarrassed at all to act so shamelessly? Even worse, he was a cultivator, although a lousy one. As someone who was proud of his heritage, Thurain would rather pay up than embarrass himself. Thus, he turned towards the barman and put some money on the counter, roughly double of what he had seen from the previous customer.

“Of course!” Theodoro beamed with a smile that was as cheap as he himself. “That’s only proper, isn’t it?”

The barman nodded at the young cultivator as he took the money, his shallow smile from before back on display. While they were waiting for their drinks, Thurain was searching for a topic of conversation. But before he could find one, the changing mood in the bar drew his attention.

While they were talking, a tall woman in a long dress had stepped onto the small stage. Thurain squinted through the smoke and realized that the unknown beauty was actually Amelle. With her new look, he almost hadn’t recognized her.

As soon as she came on stage, her presence immediately took over the room. The customers of the bar all stopped their conversations and turned towards her. Apart from a few whistles and indecent comments, everyone was quiet, and soon the wavy sound of array music rang into the hall. Arrays had made many things easier and cheaper, and music was one of them. There were still real musicians around who would certainly sound better than the warble of the arrays, but for many owners of places like this, it was cheaper to simply install an array once and be done with it. As a result, the distinct sound had turned into a common musical style.

After a short musical intro, Thurain’s neighbor began to sing. He had heard her pleasant voice before, but somehow hadn’t penned her for a singer. As her smooth sound put color into the slow and low song, it changed the mood in the bar. Now, the air seemed even smokier than before.

“So that’s why you came here,” Thurain said towards Theodoro.

No wonder the scammer had dragged him here. They had come to watch his girlfriend perform.

“Don’t be silly,” Theodoro replied in a dismissive tone. “I was a regular here long before the young miss showed up. Who do you think got her this job? Without my expert fate reading, how would she have ever become a singer?”

Although the scammer tried to change topics, Thurain was far more interested in gossip.

“So are you always here when she sings?” he asked with a smirk.

“What, do I look like I’m made of money? Though I do like to appear as often as I can. The lady needs someone to look after her, after all.”

With that indirect confession, Thurain felt like he had pried enough into the love life of his neighbors. Rather than prod more, he turned to the drink that had since changed places with his money on the counter. The clear drink in the short mug looked suspiciously innocent, so Thurain took a sniff. Yet in this environment, all smells just blended together. Still, with the soothing sound of Amelle’s song behind him, he gathered his courage and took a sip.

“This isn’t so bad,” he said, surprised by the experience.

A smooth warmth climbed down his throat, a perfect accompaniment for the song around him. Although Theodoro looked smug about the compliment to his favorite bar, he didn’t reply directly.

“By the way, you’re not working as a day laborer, are you?” he asked instead.

“Did Mr. Artia tell you?” Thurain guessed.

“He did. But it’s easy to tell either way. You’re never out of the house, and on the day I sent you to the market, you came home way too early. Most day laborers work until the sun goes down, so I knew right away.”

Thurain took another sip, and then decided to tell the truth.

“That’s about right. I sold some things, so now I have enough money to get by for the next month. That’s all I need, really.”

“Just a temporary solution… and you didn’t come here with a lot of stuff in the first place. That’s no good, is it?”

“It’s just some things I don’t need anymore, so it wasn’t a big deal.”

Thurain shrugged in response to Theodoro’s suspicious voice. Despite their conversation, he continued to stare ahead into nothing while enjoying his drink.

“And what are your plans now that you’re rich, young master?”

“Well, I need to prepare for the sect’s entrance exam, so I’ll be mostly busy with cultivation these days. I’ve already refitted the old shed in Mr. Artia’s house. Working like a charm.”

“That’s a bit dangerous, is it not?” an alarmed voice answered him. “I thought you weren’t supposed do cultivation without supervision? At least that’s what everyone says.”

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I’m not like those wilted flowers who learn to cultivate in a cramped system. Compared to those coddled sect people, classic cultivators are made from different stuff.”

“If you say so, young man.” Theodoro sighed. He sounded like he had turned around to watch Amelle. “I will just advise you to be careful.”

“I will consider it, old man.”

There were a few moments of silence, which Thurain used to enjoy the mood around him, as well as his drink.

“So you are determined to enter the Elemental Path Sect,” Theodoro said to break the silence.

“Yeah. Is there a problem with that?” Thurain looked over, suspicious about the scammer’s intentions. To his surprise, Theodoro looked like he was thinking hard about a difficult problem.

“Hmmm… why enter the sect in the first place?” he asked. “From what you’ve said, you look down on those modern cultivators, right?”

“Doesn’t matter whether I look down on them or not. You said it yourself: Without their certificate, I can’t do anything, no matter how good my skills are.”

“You don’t have to enter a sect to get a certificate,” Theodoro insisted.

“What, are you gonna sell me one?” Thurain guessed the scammer’s newest ploy.

He certainly wouldn’t be dumb enough to buy a fake certificate, much less one from a guy who wasn’t even confident enough in his own product to carry one himself. Although Theodoro looked a bit embarrassed for a second, the short moment of weakness was quickly gone again.

“Getting one from the city hall can be done as well, so long as you prove your skills,” Theodoro said as a distraction, his finger raised like a lecturer. “Have you not thought about that before? That way, there’s no need to enter the sect, and it’d be much quicker and cheaper as well. You don’t seem to be so eager on the sect disciple status anyways, from what you’ve said. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Again, Thurain hesitated, but something about the mood made him reply again.

“Well, I have my reasons for joining the sect, besides the certificate. Some things can’t be avoided. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Rather than reply, Theodoro put down his mug and took off his glove. Thurain had just wanted to turn back around when his eyes fell onto his neighbor’s hand. Once again, Thurain could see the man’s missing pinky.

“You know how I lost that finger?” he asked.

“Sorry, I didn’t even notice,” Thurain said, embarrassed to realize that he had stared.

“Of course you did. And I also noticed that you noticed. Don’t worry, it’s my job to see these things.” The scammer slapped his shoulder. “Anyways, you wanna know how I lost it?”

“Sure.” Thurain shrugged and took another sip of his drink.

“Well, I had a student once, and that student was always… misbehaved. In fact, that student was a bit of a nasty person, if I’m being honest. Selfish, greedy… ready to really hurt people with my skills. Do you understand? Anyways, back then, I didn’t want to see things for what they were, and tried to do some reform work on my overzealous little disciple. Thought I could change things for the better. Honestly, I was being stubborn, and always thought that I knew better than everyone else. That I was the good guy who could fix everything. In the end, I had to clean up the mess my teachings had caused, and it also cost me a finger. Though all in all, it was a cheap price to pay. Back then, I got lucky, but if you’re too stubborn, you always pay a price.”

As Theodoro spoke, Thurain glanced over. When the scammer was done, he suddenly turned and looked Thurain straight in the eyes.

“Do you understand?” he asked. However, Thurain really wasn’t in the mood for riddles, and he certainly wouldn’t discuss his goals in the sect with someone he had met a few days ago.

“Never get a student,” he joked instead.“Got it.”

“Haha, that’s probably the lesson, yeah.” Theodoro laughed as if his previous, serious mood had never existed. Again, he picked up his mug and turned towards the stage. “Let’s just enjoy the performance, shall we?”