Morning came to the Zhao Family estate the same way it had come the day before, the spiritual energy density producing a light quality that was different from Blue Star's dawn, richer, more present, the kind of morning that active cultivation made productive rather than just the absence of night.
Lin Yi was already moving before most of the estate's disciples had left their quarters.
Zhao Yuexin was waiting at the eastern path.
He had not told her he would be there at this hour. She was simply there, her white robes exchanged for a more practical version of the same color, her hair bound differently for movement. She looked at him when he appeared and said nothing by way of greeting.
"You came back," Lin Yi said.
"You need an escort through the middle zone boundary," she said. "The Zhao Family's territorial markers require a recognized member to authorize continued access."
"Is that the reason?" Lin Yi said.
