Ch 12. The Young Master
John handed the day's special pastry from Hilda’s to Andressa who peeled open the bag and took one donut out with a smile. She folded it and ate it from the hole outward, her sharp teeth making short work of the first one before she grabbed another.
John was grimacing at such an incorrect display of how to eat a donut. “You really try to be efficient, huh? Getting two meals at a time out of this?”
She looked at him innocently as she wiped some frosting off of her ruby red lips with a napkin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He sighed. “I’m making some coffee, would you like some?”
“Please,” she responded with a small nod.
John went into his office and started his kettle, preparing two mugs before poking his head out while he waited for it to come to a boil.
“What’s the day looking like?” he asked.
“You have a full schedule today. Jim Clark, Actius, Loon-shirt, mostly regulars. You do have a new patient first though, Li-Zhenhai of the Heavenly Tyrant Sword Sect. He was signed up by his father for having difficulty with patience and causing trouble. I put the notes on your desk.”
“How old is he?”
“Let me check,” she rifled through her papers for a bit and then nodded when she found what she was looking for. “Around 300.”
“So, pretty young for one of those cultivator types… I have a feeling it’s going to be a rough morning.”
“Are they that bad?” she asked.
John sighed. “I don’t know that ‘bad’ is exactly the right word. They come from a very different world and set of norms.” He frowned. “I’ll need to get out the special tea set and get it started.”
John went back into his office and scarfed down his meal quickly before he began to prepare the proper tea set and get his notes ready. He’d sometimes considered disallowing any clients from cultivation worlds for all the trouble they could cause, but he felt too guilty. Very few people had as many mental issues as those from worlds where you could spend a century contemplating the dao of dirt. Add in incredible power on top of that, and the help he could grant in couples counseling for them alone was worth it. His intervention had definitely saved lives at this point, perhaps even entire planes.
Li-Zhenhai’s arrival was heralded by the smell of gunpowder and roaring flame. Four jade beauties spread rich red flower petals on the ground in front of him so that his feet would never touch the ground, and he was attended by a half-dozen eunuchs that whispered in his ear and seemed permanently bent down in supplication toward him. The young master himself was handsome, with long black hair and fine regal features marred only by the sneer which seemed permanently affixed to his face. He wore a flowing red and orange silk robe that seemed to somehow reflect light back twice as strongly and gold jewelry of the finest quality had been polished to perfection and placed all across him.
He did not wait for Andressa to acknowledge him; he simply walked straight back to the office and sat on the couch, placing his legs up on the back of one of his accompanying servants who thanked him for the placement of his feet. He fixed a glare at John as he sat, and John took a moment to take the tea tray to him, and carefully pour him a cup. They both shared a cup, and a small measure of the intensity in the room left.
“Li-Zhenhai of the Heavenly Tyrant Sword Sect, I welcome you to my office.”
“The honor my mere presence bestows upon this building should be enough to have it treated as a landmark and place of important history for the rest of time,” his voice was higher pitched than John expected, and had a bit of a whining quality to it.
“Well, you’re definitely not here for any self-esteem issues,” said John with a smile.
“No. I am only here because it is the will of my father. You are one thousand years too early to be capable of giving me advice.”
“Well, I don’t necessarily give advice. Sometimes I just listen. How about you tell me why your father sent you here?”
“Because he underestimates my power. He doesn’t have enough faith in his bloodline.”
John nodded along, trying not to get too swept up in the melodrama.
“Is there a particular incident that you think may have led to this?”
He frowned and took another sip of his tea.
John had to resist offering one to the living footstool at his feet as well, but for what it was worth, that man had a wide smile on his face as if having the young master’s feet on him was the height of luxury.
“I came to blows recently with a pathetic worm my father overestimates.”
John nodded, encouraging the man to continue.
“I was walking through the streets of the town on my way to hot springs, when an old man refused to remove himself from my path at the speed I desired. I asked that he be removed from my sight and this man defended him.”
John pretty immediately believed that this other person was in the right, but since he wasn’t his patient he waited to see what else Li-Zhenhai had to say about it.
“I immediately let him know of my displeasure, told him that to go against the wishes of the favored son of the Heavenly Tyrant Sword Sect was to court death!” He paused for a moment and adjusted his feet, painfully driving a heel into the side of his footstool.
“He simply helped the old man to the side of the road and walked away. I was so surprised that I didn’t strike him down as I had planned then and there. Instead I have been seeking him out through those he loves in the hopes that he will come to me and I can show them the meaning of respect.”
John nodded patiently.
“How do you feel about the Heavenly Tyrant Sword Sect?” he asked.
“It is the greatest and most powerful sect in all of the plane! The mere mention of it makes peasants bow and our enemies cower in fear.”
“And your father is the leader of the sect?”
“When he awakes in the morning it is as if the sun is rising upon us.”
“You value his judgement and power?”
“Above all.”
“But you still think you should be going after this guy even though your father told you to leave him alone?”
Li-Zhenhai’s eye twitched.
“Do not twist my words, worm.”
John held up a hand. “Alright, let’s try a different tack. What do you think will happen if you crush this opponent of yours?”
“I will enjoy the satisfaction of having an insect crushed beneath my boot for the thousandth time and all will remember their place in the divine order of things.”
“And you don’t anticipate that your father would have any consequences for going against his wishes? How does he usually handle disobedience?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it.
“And that’s your best case,” said John. “I know it’s not possible, but what might happen if you lose?”
“That’s not possible,” he responded with certainty.
“Your father seems to think it is. Let’s say you start something with this man it seems you’ve done only cursory research on. What if he crushes you, shatters your sect, and takes all your jade beauties and property for himself?”
The young master went crimson and stood, killing intent coming off of him in powerful waves.
The office had a few dampening spells for this kind of thing, so John stayed where he was and relaxed.
“I will listen to this no longer! I have come here as my father requested, but this foolishness will not continue.” He stood up and started walking out the door, his servants quickly rushing to throw down more petals and stay ahead of him.
“Have a nice day,” said Andressa as he walked out.
He whipped around to look at her. “Silence, hag!”
“Hey!” said John, causing Li to whip around with such speed his long dark hair knocked over one of his eunuchs. “You aren’t to speak to my employee that way. I hope your father sends you back, because I think you need more sessions, but if you don’t apologize then I’ll let your father know you aren’t welcome here.”
Li-Zhenhai was in front of John in an instant, towering over him now that he was no longer sitting down.
“I should kill you where you stand for such impertinence.”
John looked him in the eye. “I’ve provided services for cultivators, demons, vampires, kings, gods, and physical manifestations of concepts. I think they would be rather upset to find that I’d been killed.”
The young looking man stared down at him a bit longer before turning to Andressa, and gesturing to his eunuch.
“The master apologizes,” said the eunuch for him, and they walked out leaving a floor covered in far too many flower petals.
John collapsed onto the ground clutching his chest as he tried to will his heart to stop beating so quickly that it would explode.
“Fuck me that was scary,” he said trying to force himself through some of the calming exercises he’d gone through with Gnost Treebeard only a few days prior.
“Oh, but you were so very dashing,” said Andressa leaning out from behind her desk with a smile.
“I have a pretty high limit on nonsense, but he took things a little too far.”
“What minor concept did you treat?”
“The embodiment of Sunday brunch.”
“Was she as delightful as she sounds?”
“Aside from the crippling anxiety and mimosa addiction? She was great.”