"What are you afraid of?"

The question woke Jessica up. She'd been on the walls, the ones that lacked a decent parapet. All morning she has been waiting like a mother whose daughter has exceeded a reasonable curfew, except she wants to be known as the friendly mom so rules and boundaries are for other families.

"Elder?"

"Oh, nothing," She lied, "Just waiting for the scouts."

"They haven't returned yet, have they?"

Fa Zas' normally cool voice was extra buttery this time. In the early morning light, his stark handsome features were overlaid with long shadows.

"I would be worried too. This Sect, these people have gone through a lot."

Jessica had zoned out and it had been hours probably. If this was the old Jessica she would have ached, but her new body felt fresh.

"It’s just that, well you know that I am not from here. I don't know what I don't know."

For the first time since she had met him, he looked confused. Jessica tugged on her formal winter hat, the glorious one with the soft ear flaps. It was a must buy, one of the aunties had told her when she handed it to her. She was curious but it was so soft that she never looked back.

"This world is full of dangers, and until recently I thought that the most dangerous thing was man himself. I find this idea of a divine beast that can kill even fifth level cultivators such as ourselves to be problematic. Not only that but the amount of destruction and death that it caused," He trailed off.

The two sat in companionable silence for the first time she had known. Off to one side of the wall, an auntie approached with a tray of tea and three mugs. It was Mary.

Jessica vaguely remembered that Mary had either made a friend or a romantic partner among the scouts. Or had she just developed a crush?

She must have been affected as Jessica was. They expected the scouts before nightfall, not in the morning.

Fa Za accepted a mug of tea gracefully. Jessica's hands warmed at the touch of her mug and she simply stood there breathing it in.

"No news, elder? Elders?" Mary said.

Jessica shook her head.

"Ah but there will be," Fa Za said, his voice strained. He was bearing down.

If bearing down was a part of some cultivation ritual, Jessics had no idea. The man looked about to shit himself.

"Elder Jessica, if you would extend your nascent soul as far as it can go? Sorry to intrude on your thoughts, but there is something that you might want to see."

Jessica narrowed her eyes but did so. The cold cut Fa Za's ability, he had said so many times, but the cold didn't affect her. It was an ally so she knew that she could reach out with her mystical sense and probably reach as far as he could now.

It was getting quite far now. If she was inclined to judge it by meters or feet it would still be far and she still wouldn't have a meter stick.

But there on the end of her senses, she could hear the crunch of snow and she made out one cultivator followed by more.

They were walking, and more importantly, they were alive. Jessica almost threw her tea up.

"They’re here. Thank you Fa Za. This is most unexpected," Jessica said, "we're going to need more tea, Mary."

***

Four scouts were missing. Jessica wanted answers because as they filed in Fa Za was at her ear.

"The two fourth realm cultivators are gone," he whispered.

"I can see that," she snapped back, in a low voice, "I am sure that there is a good reason for it."

Fa Zas shoulders untensed as he saw Hu holding Sa Kon, demon shish kabob of the kitchen.

"This will be okay," Mary said, after passing out mugs of tea,"they would be mourning if someone had died."

Jessica's pursed lips battled each other for dominance. Her eyebrows won out.

She knelt in front of the scouts, and Fa Za took his normal posting in the corner, observing everything.

Hu stood to address her. His cup drained, Mary ran immediately over to fill it. Jessica caught her smile, and noted that ahu was blushing.

"Thank you sister. This one needs to speak of the events that transpired yesterday. This one took the scouts north by northwest along the trail of destruction, looking for what caused the yak migration."

Hu briefly explained what happened and how the scouts saw the threat of the Divine Beast being on the move again.

"We must alert the town, then?" Jessica said.

"Elder it is moving in another direction, the four missing scouts, we packed them up with months of supplies and they were instructed to track and run ahead of the path. We will be sending supplies and support," he nodded to a fully awake and ready Jung, "to them directly."

Something was off about the young scout but Jessica resolved to ask him later.

"Now what direction did you say that they were going, again?" Jessica said.

"East, slightly south."

Not for the first time Jessica wished that she had a map.

A mug clattered to the floor behind her, smashing into pieces. The sound was deafening in the small room.

"Did you say… east?" He said.

Jessica felt a twinge in her lower back. In her old life this probably would have caused her to spend the day laying in bed. Now? She worked around it.

"What is east of here?" She said.

By the door, a frightened An Yong stepped inside. He looked distraught and, stopping at the door, she waved him in.

"My school…my Sect is there," Fa Za said, shakily.

Seeing the scouts back, An-Yong collapsed.

"Mary, get this man some tea. Apparently we're going to war, and I need my map maker up to strength."

The scouts hooted and hollered at that.

***

For ten minutes An Yong drew a giant map of the continent that they were on. In the center of the room on the floorboards that Mary loved so much.

The librarian had a strong steady hand as he passed her the stones that made up the Sect. Strong soft hands that made Mary a bit jealous if she were honest. She always appreciated a man who took care of himself. And a man who could eat, of course he also had to have a tiny moustache to complete the picture.

Mary was on the verge of the second realm when the scouts returned. She was so joyous to see them, that it didn't occur to her to count.

Hu explained that he had directed some of the scouts in various ways, while Mary sat in rapt attention.

It wasn't until she was sure that her scouts, when she had started thinking of them as her scouts- were accounted for that she allowed herself the space to advance.

Of course she also wanted to purely out of curiosity see the map that An-Yong made and see how Elder Jessica would send the school to combat the threat.

For ten minutes Jessica tried to get the distances on the map right. First she dismissed all of the scouts except Hu. She nearly ordered them to sleep for at least six hours before returning.

Jung protested but she ordered him to advance. An-Yong gave him some notes about advancing and he took heart at those words.

Then An-Yong and Hu highlighted some of the places that the beast could go before hitting the ocean and Jessica started bringing rocks out again.

She placed two rocks up ahead of the divine beast, who got its own rock of course. Then two more ahead of those, warning people in the path. There were not many villages along the path in the northern tundra and snowy forests, but with each one she asked the distance, and- if it was known- the population.

Then she started giving Hu options.

"If Jung leads a contingent here," she said, showing the closest village, still hundreds of miles from where the beast was spotted, "then he can leave a message for the spear siblings. We need these people to evacuate if they are going to live."

"These are the most important, Elder?" Fa Za said, from behind her, "If so, I can fly out there myself. I can take someone with me. I need to alert the rest of my school.”

"Of course," Jessica said, "but before you go, please double check our map if you can. We need to see if there is anything that we can do for the people around Heaven's mountain school."

Fa Za dropped his stoic expression for the briefest moment. Then he immediately returned to his blank professor face.

"Your help would be appreciated, Elder."

Fa Za and Jessica faced each other, and Mary knew that something passed between the two of them. Briefly she considered asking if she could send an auntie with him, but thought better of it.

The two elders bowed deeply, neither a centimeter lower than the other. But Mary saw the hint of a smile there on both faces.

Fa Za nodded to Hu, then stepped out of the room.

Crouching down, he leapt up and flew.

And Mary could feel a desire in the pit of her stomach to get there. More than her desire for the scouts to return, more than her desire even to hide from the divine beast. She was jealous of that power, hungry to fly.

How long would it take her to get there? Years? Yeah that would be her new goal.

Once she got that cute scout to notice her, that was.