She did not finish the sentence.
She did not need to finish the sentence.
The daughter understood the architecture.
She looked at him.
At the flat, present, standing-in-the-courtyard, not-managing-the-expression quality of someone who had made an arrangement and was letting the arrangement land without assistance.
She had always believed, the flat, Foundation-Establishment, sect-raised, old-master-who-had-been-celibate quality of a girl who had been taught the cultivation path was celibacy. Her old master had been celibate. The sect had cultivated through abstinence and purification. She had cultivated through abstinence and purification.
She had never—
She was looking at him.
He was not looking at her.
He had turned.
The flat, present, turning-toward-the-sect's-main-structure quality of someone who had assessed the compound and had noticed something.
He walked.
