78. Misunderstandings

"Seriously?" Citar gasped in surprise, when master Chá's students initiated the team into the circumstances of the master's disappearance. "Seriously?" He repeated the question and looked at his team, but he only managed to get Rahul to hit him.

"Yes, as you can see seriously." Rahul rolled his eyes.

"But, but, but..." Citar started to mumble, but when Rahul raised his hand again, he immediately covered his mouth.

"So can you help us find the clan leader?" One of the students in brown asked the question. The Athamanas looked at each other and then at Razvan, who had been standing in complete silence since his last statement and seemed to be completely thinking about something, although no one had any idea what this something could be exactly.

"Tapló boss!" Rahul snapped his fingers in front of the boy's nose, making him blink and smile at the chüvigh.

"Yes Rahul?" He asked the question, and the team members looked at each other and exchanged a knowing look.

"Can we help the cháns?" Rahul rolled his eyes and asked the question again.

"Gentlemen, leave this to us!" Razvan stood up suddenly and dusted himself off.

"Please, that's impossible, it's about our clan leader." One of the clan students said, but Razvan only pulled his lips into a mocking smile.

*Do you know where he is?" The answer to the question was clear.

"You ask as if you know." The student who spoke earlier narrowed his eyes.

"Benkó, take out a seven-mile tower, we're traveling." Razvan ignored the comment and turned to the Bokló boy, who immediately saluted and the next moment started to look for the bricks in his bag.

"What is that?" One of the chám boys leaned closer to Benkó, when he took out the hot ice bricks and started building the small tower.

"Hot ice, for the seven-mile tower." Benkó answered the chán. "How tall should a boss be?"

"The lowest one, he is not far away." Razvan shrugged.

"What do you mean, he is not far?" The eyes of one of the apprentices widened.

"How do you know where he is, Tapló boss?" Rahul asked the question, causing Razvan to turn towards him with a smile.

"I feel his kí." The team leader winked. "That's enough." He turned to Benkó again, who nodded and put away the remaining bricks of hot ice.

"Boss, the honor is yours!" He straightened up from next to the small tower and spread his arms, indicating that Razvan could pull out the appropriate brick.

"Athamana, to arms. I don't know what awaits us on the other side, it's better to be safe than sorry." The team leader said seriously.

"Yes sir!" The team spoke as one, and they all immediately grabbed their weapons.

"How does this thing work?" Asked Rahul suddenly, but only received wide grins in response.

"Like this." Razvan declared as he pulled out one of the central hot ice bricks and placed it on top of the tower, making the team disappear from the cháns' sight.

Meanwhile, in a cave on a nearby deserted mountain in Chájna, Mo Ching was calmly eating his dinner. The past year was full of new things for him in many ways. Most of the news was related to the Athamana at some level. When he decided to accept the team as students, he had no idea that he would have to teach them almost nothing. The members of the team represented an exceptional force both individually and together.

Perhaps this was the reason why he fell into deep thinking, and when the chán man fell into thinking, sooner or later, an idea that changed everything always crossed his mind. This is what made Mo Ching special, one of the greatest inventors of Chájna, whose mind was always looking for new challenges and whose curiosity always encouraged him to push the boundaries of the perceivable world. However, his reflection two weeks ago did not end with the idea of a new structure.

His thoughts went in a completely different direction then, beyond the ranges of Karrabata far to the east, to the land of Chájna, his native country, his clan. As much as it was hard for him to admit it, his own clan disciples were nowhere near the Athamanas. However, he wasn't sure what level they really were, how much they could do without him, what they would do if they knew he wasn't there when they needed him, that they couldn't ask for his help with a single message.

That's when a plan, a plan for a test, sprung up in his mind. For a test that he wanted to use to assess the ability of his clan students. He quickly implemented the plan. He didn't need much, just a few letters, which he could quickly send to the recipients with his own inventures, and when he received the answers, he went back to Chájna. His plan was simple, he would go back, appear in front of the clan and make himself be kidnapped that night, then wait for his disciples to find him. According to his calculations, even if his students are completely idiots, they still needs to find him before the Athamana showed up in his backyard for their annual shooting.

"They're running out of time." Master Mo shook his head disapprovingly as he looked off into the distance. At the foot of the mountain were the pair of Rázsian bandits he had hired to kidnap him. According to their agreement, they will stay here for two more days, then they will go back to Rázsia to do who knows what. If Mo Ching was being honest with himself, he didn't really care what the Rázsian bandits were up to. He didn't even want to deal with them more than was absolutely necessary, it was not for nothing that no one trusted these people, their sinister reputation far preceded them.

"Anyway, if they don't get here in time, I'll go back to Madüjawr and take care of the kids, then I'll come back." The man finally shrugged. So far everything had gone as planned, although he was hugely disappointed in his students. It seemed that now would be the time to come to their senses. "Maybe I should develop a new kind of training plan for them." He stroked his beard and drank into his tea. "Yes, this will be the best solution, then..." He began to explain his train of thought aloud. It was a kind of mental training for him, if he thought something out loud, he always saw things much more clearly.

Now, however, he couldn't finish the thought, as the sounds of turmoil hit his ears. Frowning, he put down his tea and stood up. He thought he'd better look into it. Maybe those useless students of his had finally come, then he could finally go home. However, he barely took two steps towards the exit of the cave, when a very familiar figure stepped in front of the mouth of the cave. His hands were on his hips, the kind of smile on his lips that fathers used to show to bad kids when they had to scold them, yet they were proud of the little ones. The figure's red clothes were blowing softly in the wind, the motionless black birds in its pale orange eyes sent shivers down the man's spine just like they always did, even if he knew that the boy standing in front of him could very well see him.

"Well, well. You gave everyone a heart attack, Qiguai." As soon as these words left the boy's mouth, Mo Ching's eyes widened.

"How do you know this name of mine?" The question floated unanswered between the two of them until a sincere smile appeared on Razvan's lips.

"Come, Qiguai everyone is looking for you." Razvan turned on his heels and left, but Master Mo didn't take a step.

"You did not answer!" He swallowed. "How do you know this name of mine?!" He repeated the question, the chief of the Athamana looked back at the chán man with a broad smile on his lips before he spoke.

"Well, how could I not know it if I was the one who gave it to you?"