Ancient One looked at the floor tiles where Mordo had vanished. The fingers holding her Spicy Strips moved, and she popped a fresh strip into her mouth with a smile.
"He's still alive, and he's doing fairly well. For me, as his teacher, that's enough."
"Exactly. It's best that you can think that way." Su Ming wiped Strangler Sprout's mouth, finished his cappuccino, and tucked the empty cup away in his belt pouch. "China has an old saying: a miserable life is better than a good death. I have a way here to free you from those heavy spiritual costs of the past and let you live happily. Why are you so determined to die?"
"I'm just too tired. Still, you do have a point. But let me look around some more. Let me see."
With that, she drew a circle beside her with her bare hand, opened a spatial portal, stuffed the chips and everything else she was holding inside, then closed it and headed toward The Playground.
Kamar-Taj had been built in the Himalayan Mountains. Though the terrain was rugged, magic had solved many construction problems, making it equivalent to moving half of the Forbidden City onto a mountaintop.
Chinese architecture had always emphasized squareness and grandeur, so Kamar-Taj as a whole resembled a massive block, divided into courtyards of varying sizes and connected by covered bridges and gardens.
The largest main hall was the grand lecture hall. It was rarely used in ordinary times, mostly only during festivals like Spring Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, when students and teachers would gather there for meals and events.
Su Ming occasionally used it to convene meetings of the Council of the Sky, though more often they were held in Sepulk, where it was more convenient.
Their destination, The Playground, lay