“It’s more than that, of course,” she continued after a moment, back to her usual brusqueness. “The students this year have been rather good. Of course, there’s your proteges—”

“Not my disciples.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “I didn’t even say that.” He did not blush, because he was a peak-existence, so far beyond such mortal concepts as embarrassment that the mere idea that he might fall prey to them was laughable. Any flush of red on his cheeks was entirely attributable to… lighting. Definitely. There was a lot of red light in the room lit by white lights. “They’re good. Really good— one of them is about to become the second strongest— maybe the strongest cultivator in the precinct, purely combat-wise, while another is a budding formations master in their own right. Then, of course, Guxi’s son is in his final year of school as well, and the girl he’s been dragging along with him. Even the Catatapharan boy, though not to the same extent.”

“I didn’t take you to be the sort of person to keep up with gossip.”

Lexi just shrugged. “I’m the chief librarian of a precinct, even if we’re one of the least of them. Exemplary students, Old Saffron politics, sect news, that one Sundering-level cat that’s been causing a fuss in the city… I hear things, every now and again.”

“Really.”

She groaned lightly. “Alright, maybe I’m subjected to the griping and complaining of my far less… agreeable colleagues a bit too often for my liking.” Mingtian just laughed. “You’ll get it eventually. Whenever you start actually moving up the ladder.”

“If,” was the only thing he could respond to that— “if

I start moving up the ladder.”

“Sometimes I can’t make heads nor tails of you, Mingtian…” she sighed, a bit bittersweetly, but… She was smiling. “Well. I can tell you want to get out of here. You still had Janus’s invitation, no? And Lily’s?”

“I can’t go to both of them, and… well. Janus is my coworker, and Lily is my student. It would be awkward to go to the orphanage.”

“Ah. I see.” She looked a bit confused at his decision for a moment… until she caught the slight glint in his eyes, that faint echo of mischievousness… “ah, I see. Well, they’ll have fun. Hopefully not too much fun.”

“They’re not even the same species.”

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“Like that would stop anyone truly dedicated.”

“You know what?” He crossed his arms. “?I don’t think I like the direction this conversation is going.” This time it was Lexi’s turn to laugh. So bright a thing, so rare a thing… joining in crystalline with the murmur of noise of the crowd, of laughter and chatter and the mass despite everything, joyous.

“I jest, of course. I highly doubt they’re like that… but, it's good you arranged that. A blind man could see how good they’ve been for each other.” Beyond even his expectations, and that was saying something. “Before you go…” quietly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box, wrapped in a fine-woven scarlet cloth. “For you.”

“For me?” Gently taking it off her hands, he realized that he hadn’t gotten her anything. He made to put it in his pocket, but Lexi just waved for him to open it, so… “ah. Interesting.” A second passed. “What is it?”

Lexi giggled softly. “I should have guessed that… it’s a network chit.” A little jade rectangle about the size of his pinky nail except a fair bit flatter, engraved with formations densely enough that its smooth surface seemed to shimmer with oil iridescent. It was fascinating, actually. “Consider it… unsubtle prompting to get your own dataslate. And computer.”

“I don’t—”

“You’ll want one when I start giving you more work.” He raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve been thinking… I know you already work more than Janus, but you do the same work as Janus. You’re clearly older than him, and more responsible than him— don’t tell him I said that— so… maybe I can try and wrestle some extra funding out the city if I trained you in some minor administrative matters.” It was… a good idea, actually. More than that though, it was touching. Such effort, such care, expended for him…

A strange feeling curled in his chest, almost breathless, that gratitude… and he realized that whatever he gave her, it had to be good. He pretended to admire the chit in his hands, idly shifting it back and forth, all while he actually cautiously loosened his veils and reached up. Up and up and up, further out beyond the auditorium, beyond the city, beyond the dark sky and to silver starlight and touch of moon, an uncountable sea of stars adrift above Aurelia.

He was the Immortal Sovereign of Boundless Radiance, and— reduced though he was, hiding though he was, he was still a peak existence. The realm could not suppress all of him. In those lofty spheres, where the numinous intertwined and entangled and the primordial drift, he deftly reached out and grasped— not moonlight but the essence of moonlight, not starlight but the very essence of the stars themselves. With another small gesture he summoned it to him, pooling them both in his hand behind his back and immediately beginning to refine them into something usable. Difficult, but not onerous given how much he’d had to do it over the years… by this point, it was second nature.