Twisted Skies, Chapter 14 - Day Laborers

After he said his goodbyes, Thurain's strange new friend turned and disappeared among the masses of the day market. Even now, he still didn't know what to think of this acquaintance he made on his first day in the city.

At first he had seemed to be the perfect image of a heartless scammer. Despite everything, Thurain still hadn't forgotten about all the money he had stolen from him, or about the way he had tricked Ria at the train station. Not only had the lack of money caused Thurain a lot of problems, and was also the reason he was looking for work in the first place, the young girl may also be harmed by his actions if she ever tried to practice Theodoro's fake cultivation method.

After their second meeting however, he had proven helpful again and again. In fact, he had gone far beyond what could be expected from a total stranger, not even from one who had caused the mess in the first place. Without his timely help, Thurain's current situation would be a whole lot worse, even if he had kept his money from before.

Thus, he decided to stay with the day laborers to look for work, despite his reservations. After all, if he wanted to repay Theodoro for his help, he would have to make money as soon as possible. The only way to do so was in this fast-paced profession, where he would get his pay at the end of every day. Even if he somehow found higher-quality work right away, his new boss wouldn't pay him in time to afford a room by tonight.

Thus determined to make some quick money, Thurain trotted over to join the other laborers-in-waiting. Yet despite his decision, he still stood a bit apart from them. After all, he wasn't one of their group, and he was sure that they would see it the same way. Not only did he not want their association, he also felt like he may break unspoken rules of their profession were he to get too chummy with them on his own initiative.

Rather than fraternize with them, he observed them with a lowered head, out of the corner of his eye. Not only were all of them tanned from constant exposure to the sun, they were also haggard. Their eyes were dark and sunk deep into their sockets, even compared to those of other Heliana citizens. No wonder, since they spent most of their time working in the yin-dominated lands between the spirals.

With long exposure to the sun, their skin turned dark. With long exposure to the yin energy of the fields, their bodies would be affected even if they were young, healthy, and took precautions. At least in the last regard, Thurain could tell that the day laborers weren't completely hopeless.

Although all of their clothes were simple and well-worn, the young cultivator could sense a powerful yang force emanate from parts of everyone's body. He assumed that all of them had splurged on some form of yang protection so they could work here, most likely cheap talismans. Without them, he thought, employers wouldn’t even give them a second look.

Within Heliana, even day laborers would need to invest some money before they could find a job. Otherwise, all of them would die after only a few days of work. Yet the constant work in the fields had still worn on them, and their appearance told Thurain that many of them had been sick for a long time already.

“Hey kid, you new here?” To his surprise, the sick men didn't shun him the same way he shunned them. Instead, someone came up and spoke to him. First, a hand that was missing its ring and middle fingers entered Thurain's sight, waving at his face. When he turned, he was confronted by another tanned figure, an older one, whose state seemed even a bit worse than that of his companions. His cheeks were so dark they looked almost blue, but his crooked smile still gave a friendly and approachable impression. His eyes were sunk deep into their sockets, but they still shone bright in the darkness around them, like gemstones in a mine.

“Yeah. I'm looking for some quick work,” Thurain answered in a small voice.

In response, the old man sighed. “It's a shame. Even the young ones have to go farm the yin these days. If you can, you'd better look for something better to do. That's only if you ask me though. Most people don’t”

Unsure how to answer, Thurain just hummed in understanding. For a second, the old laborer stared at the unresponsive newcomer, and apparently made the wrong conclusions in the process.

“I'm not saying that to drive off the competition either, so don't get the wrong idea,” he said. “It’s just that this isn’t the kind of job I would wish on anyone. It's hard work, and most folks who start don't do it for long. Even though the pay is good, you're paying with your life too.”

“But you're still around, aren't you?” Thurain asked. The man looked like he was maybe in his sixties, surely he would have worked in this industry for decades. However, the old man laughed at his assertions.

“For now, yeah. But how old do you think I am? Still hoping to reach the big fifty at this point, and I'm the oldest one here.”

Shocked, Thurain stared at the man who had aged long before his time.

“Then why are you still doing it?” In his confusion, he asked an idiotic question, but the old man was still kind enough to reply without sarcasm or anger.

“I don't have a choice.” He just shrugged as he stated the obvious. “Have to take care of the family. If I save up for another year, I can pay off the right people and buy my oldest a permanent place in one of the spiral factories. Then he'd have a cushy job, and be better off than his old man in the future.”

“Is it the same for the others?” Thurain asked with a glance over to the other sorry figures on the market's corner.

“More or less,” the old man answered. “We all have our sob stories, really. Point is, no sane man would do this work without a good reason.”

Again, Thurain looked over the group, and this time, he didn't judge them. Instead, a profound sadness overcame him. Unlike them, Thurain was quite well-suited for this kind of work. As a low-level cultivator, he didn't have the same limitations these normal people did.

After all, he could just dispel any excess yin qi with his own internal powers, so there was no long-term danger for him. Even more, he was a natural yang body, so any yin had a hard time invading him in the first place. At the same time, the physical work would be a breeze for his strong physique.

However, all of a sudden, he didn’t feel like working anymore. He was sure that competition for work would be fierce, and there were always more workers than necessary assembled in this place. Any job he got here would mean that one of these men's families would go without food for a day. He wasn't willing to take their spots from them for his own selfish reasons. In this city, they didn't have any other place to turn to, but it wasn’t true for Thurain.

“You know what?” he said towards the old man as he patted down his clothes, “I don't even have a yang talisman. Do all of you have one?”

“Youngster, if you don't have a talisman, then you definitely can't come along!” the old man shouted in shock. “Why are you even here without a talisman?”

“A friend pointed me here for easy work,” he said with acted innocence. Theodoro hadn't informed him about the talismans, but of course Theodoro would understand that Thurain wouldn't need one.

“Some friend that is” the old man huffed. “You better be careful who you trust these days, there's nasty folk everywhere.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you.” Filled with gratitude, he waved to the old man and turned to leave. Although his advice didn't have meaning for Thurain, the old man's sincerity in this indifferent city still touched him. “I'll be going now. Maybe I will come back if I get my hands on a good talisman.”

“Hope you won't.” The old man waved back. “Good luck, youngster.”

After Thurain left the area with the desperate corpses, he turned towards a dark corner hidden between two stalls and took a deep breath. No matter what, he couldn't work as a day laborer. His conscience wouldn't allow it. Still, he had to make money somehow.

Even if he couldn't get enough money together by tonight, he was sure Theodoro's landlord would allow him to stay in a room for a few days. At least that was the impression he had of the reticent Mr. Artia. However, he didn't want to rely on others, and he didn't want to accrue even more debts in the city.

His teacher had taught him that the greatest cultivators were all self-reliant, free and unfettered. Such an attitude would help him forge ahead without restraint in the future, ever further on the eternal path of cultivation, which was often lonely and dangerous.

Thus, he took off his backpack and checked all his worldly possessions. If he could find something decent to sell, he could get all the money he needed right away, without any work. To his luck, there was a market right close at hand. The only problem was his lack of property.

In truth, he didn't have much. First, he picked up a small jade bottle filled with clear and shiny pills. These were his cultivation resources for the foreseeable future, and the last pills his master had refined for him before his departure. This wasn't something he was willing to part with even in the best of times, but even less so now that he had to prepare for the sect's entrance examination.

Further down inside the pack, beyond some daily necessities, he also found a selection of dried herbs which he had taken from the mountains of his old home. Back then, he had always scoured the mountainside and brought with him whatever plants he could find, for his master to identify and teach him about later.

Although selling herbs sounded like a nice idea, most of the ones he had left were cheap, everyday remedies that wouldn't make him enough for rent anyways. There was only one exception. Among the many herbs in his back was also the crown jewel of his collection.

Within a closed dome of glass sat a small, blue flower. Its head was drooped down and its stem had begun to turn brown. By tomorrow, he expected the flower to dry up and be fully wilted. Yet despite its state, he wasn't willing to sell something so precious. Not only was the flower crucial to Thurain's cultivation, it was also a rare treasure. Once he sold it, he was unsure if he would ever find a second one again.

In the end, his eyes fell on a small ring of green jade at the very bottom of the pack. Back during his time on the hill, the ring had served as the keystone to his master's formations. Not only had it provided the hill with protection from outsiders, but it had also gathered qi into the training rooms and into his master's herb gardens. Now however, his master was dead and the hill was lost.

Now, the ring was useless. Not only did Thurain lack the skills to set up his master's complex arrays, he also didn't have any place to set up such a large-scale formation in the first place. Although the ring had great sentimental value as a memento, it didn't have any immediate value to Thurain, and thus was dispensable. By now, even he had realized that he had taken the city too lightly. If he wanted to get through the next month and cultivate in peace, he would need to make some sacrifices.

With the ring clutched in his hand, Thurain marched through the market, in search of a place that would give him a good price for his precious memories.