[Hsin]

Mystics, rightfully, possessed a reputation for intellect and cunning even amongst their infamously intellectual and paranoid brethren. Whist other spheres reveled in showy destruction, the Disciplines of the Psionic Plane conducted their conflicts with far greater subtly and caution. The masters of illusion and the very mind preferred trickery to outright confrontation; smoldering proxy wars to Empire-destroying campaigns. Characteristically their spells dealt in similar currency: invisibility, mind reading, illusions, and the like. There was even a spell for the ambushes of pesky (but still loveable) younger siblings. Hsin Zhou cast Astral Transcendence every brightening before departing the Rainbow Towers lest his enemies plot an abduction, or worse. It was a middling matter to spot the characteristic curly black hair and glistening emerald eyes of Tsai. Without further ado, Hsin pulled the long grey formal coat over his plain grey garments. The eldest Zhou son had changed greatly since his last encounter with Tsai. His face still possessed the same balance between sharp lines and gentle curves, but strangely more feminine. Long, silky hair as black as midnight had been carefully fastened into a bun on the back of the mystic’s head by a pair of bo shuriken. It took a mere moment to re-cast the weak illusion disguising his scarred and burned eyes beneath a façade of normalcy. As precious as family was, they hardly needed to know everything.

Hsin took two slow steps beyond the heavy oaken doors of the Rainbow Towers before inexplicably stopping to produce a deck of tarot cards from a coat pocket. The exquisitely crafted cards began to flow from one palm into the other; the familiar shuffling of cards filling the Kemite with an unexplainable calm. ”Tsai Yuzhu Zhou,” called the mage in a soft, gentle voice. His expression was utterly neutral, as if meeting one’s sister after three eras of separation was an utterly normal occurrence. The next sentence was spoken in the family’s native Kemite. ”Where are you, dearest sister?”