Crippling (3)

The chief cultivator of the sect suppressed any show of displeasure at the unannounced opening of the door of his study, to only show a serene expression to whoever might be intruding into his peace and privacy.

He would have to have a quiet word with the disciples working in the anteroom later, they were, after all, supposed to guard that door.

They were, he concluded, dismissing his fleeting idea of taking one of them as a second, junior disciple yet again, by and large incompetent.

Or maybe he had been spoiled by his senior - and only - personal disciple, whom he had, more than two decades ago, brought personally into the sect.

An orphan in the outer world, if taken in as a companion to their only son by an old, prominent family. 

The boys had been a striking pair: