The next morning, Dian didn't ring a bell.
Xuan woke up on his own, which was suspicious enough that he lay there for a moment waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. The room was quiet, or as quiet as it got, which meant the usual ambient hum of the sect going about its early business was present but nothing else. No bell. No Dian standing over him with the specific expression of a man who had decided that sleep was a personal failing.
He got up, got dressed, and went to find out what was wrong.
Dian was in the main room, sitting at the table with tea, looking perfectly normal, which somehow made it worse.
"No bell," Xuan said.
"Observant," Dian replied.
"Is that bad."
"Sit down."
Xuan sat down. There was a second cup on the table already, which meant Dian had heard him waking up, which meant the awareness thing worked both ways at this level and Xuan was going to need to think about that later.
