Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

"You know, I don't think I ever congratulated you on winning the Production tournament," Ling Qi mused, swaying back and forth with the motion of her ride.

Gui trundled along cheerfully beneath her, while Zhen's warm coils rests comfortably around her shoulders like a heavy scarf. Keeping her balance on his shell was a bit tricky, but she was getting the hang of it.

Beside her, Xuan Shi strolled, the rings on his staff jangling with every step. He had gotten a new one she noted, with rings of carved white jade hanging around decoratively forged head of gleaming bronze. The body of the staff looked to be carved from stone. "Are not sweet words meant to come before the call for aid?" he replied, looking at her over the high collar over his robe.

Ling Qi glanced away feeling a little embarrassed. "I don't mean it that way."

"Do not be mean to Big Sister," Zhen hissed from above her shoulder, turning his burning gaze on her companion.

"This one is aware of the baroness Ling's foibles," Xuan Shi replied dismissively. He seemed more confident and at ease than before, and his speech a touch less impenetrably flowery. "And meant no offense."

"You can just call me Ling Qi, and thank you again for your help," Ling Qi replied. "If you need help with something yourself, please just ask."

"This one will consider the use of thy favor carefully, O herald of the riptide," he replied, amused.

"I will choose to take that as a compliment," Ling Qi replied with faux haughtiness.

"Mmm, I think you need one of those little fluttery fans to pull that off, maybe you could ask Xiulan?" Sixiang mused

Maybe another time, Ling Qi thought sarcastically, giving Zhen a quelling look, as he began to rear up to glare at the young man beside her. If Xuan Shi wanted to banter a bit she wasn't going to stop him.

"Thy mercy is as boundless as the heavens," he replied, unruffled. "Then, might this one inquire as to the status of thy ladies others hand?"

Ling Qi frowned, adjusting her balance as they started down a hill. "Gan Guangli has his own task, and the rules of the Sect mean that what can be done is limited. "I have left him my furnace for his use, and Lady Cai will fund his cultivation though. Were you friends?" She asked curiously. She hadn't spent much time with either boy.

"The right hand is a man of honor whom this one respects, and perhaps a friendly ear at times," Xuan Shi said, a touch of regret entering his voice.

"The big man was nice," Gui agreed guilelessly, with the earnestness of a child.

"I suppose he was," Ling Qi said, she would just have to hope her fellow retainer was able to tough it out. She was leery of the idea of a duchess chosen replacement for him in Cai Renxiang's circle.

"If it's not rude," she continued carefully. "Might I ask why you grew more distant from us?"

Xuan Shi reached up, tilting his shell patterned hat downward and shadowing his face further. "This one grew busy with his projects, and… realized the foolishness of certain childish impulses. Let it rest at that."

"Well it's not like this guy is blind, he probably saw that it was pointless to pine after that," Sixiang muttered.

Ling Qi frowned, quickly working out what Sixiang was talking about, there was only one person the jovial Sixiang referred to like that. That said… she didn't think Sixiang was messing around again, was it really something like that? Nonetheless, she nodded dropping the subject as he requested. "Well, in any case," she continued, after the silence stretched on uncomfortably. "Just how big should I expect my little brother to grow by the time he's done?"

"Gui will be like a mountain!"

"Zhen will be big enough to eat the stupid river eel," his twin voices chimed in, to answer her query.

Xuan Shi chuckled, giving the now bickering heads of her spirit beast a sad look. "Perhaps in time," he spoke over their non-verbal squabbling. "For a Xuan Wu reaching the earliest stages of maturity… his shell will be between seven and ten spans of imperial measure from front to back."

Between seven and ten meters, Ling Qi thought her eyes widening. That was… quite big. "Just how big do Xuan Wu grow?" She asked curiously. She had read some things, but she had assumed embellishment on the authors part.

Xuan Shi's eyes twinkled in amusement. "As great as mountains and more. The clans of Xuan live and work upon the backs of of cousins, more than the lonely stones of the true islands of savage seas."

"...Huh," Ling Qi mused, looking down at Zhen, who looked positively smug. She flicked his snout playfully, and he let out a whining hiss of complaint. "You're still a ways from that little brother," she chided.

"Gui will grow fast! So Big Sister and Little Sister and Hanyi and everyone else can live with him forever," Gui asserted with childish confidence.

"He will not disappoint," Xuan Shi said quietly, glancing at Zhengui with a look that was difficult to read.

"Fishy man can visit, if he brings treats." Zhen said haughtily.

Fishy man? Where in the world did that name come from Ling Qi wondered, Xuan Shi's aura was nigh solidly a thing of earth and rock. "Be more polite," She scolded. "I am sorry for his behavior Sect Brother Xuan," she said, bowing as politely as she could manage from her perch.

"Think nothing of it, and if thy name is open for use, it would be rude to withhold mine," Xuan Shi said, tilting his hat back as he peered up at the next hill. "This one believes that our destination is nigh."

"D'aww, look at you two dorks," Sixiang laughed. "You should invite him back home for tea, as a thank you."

Ling Qi rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond to the moon spirits teasing.

Ling Qi looked up at the wide low hill rising before them. The rocky soil was dotted by tall trees with long trunks, and steam rose from cracks in the stony earth. Thick scrub brush grew over the rest, giving it a mix of dull green and brown colors. The faint scent of smoke seemed to cling to the air and the natural qi alike. A glance to her left and right saw small formations totems lining the base of the hill, marked with characters for the containment of fire.

"It smells good!" Gui chirped, startling her as he began to trundle forward faster.

Well it might not be pretty like the vale Heizui lived in, but she supposed if her little brother liked it this was fine. "So, what should we do first?" She called back to Xuan Shi.

The boy picked up his pace, the rings on his staff jingling. "Thy little brother shall dig his nest. It will be our task to find the choicest cuts from the wood," he said, almost cheerfully.

"Do not forget tasty cores for Zhen," the second half of her little brother hissed. "Lazy Gui will chew on trees, but not Zhen!"

Ling Qi laughed as his two heads fell to bickering again. Thankfully her storage ring was full of quality second grade cores and even a few low grade third ones. Yet another boon gained from her liege.

The rest of the morning and much of the afternoon was spent on that hill, working together with Xuan Shi to carve and move cuts of qi infused wood to the edges of the ever deepening pit Zhengui was digging for himself. She was rather displeased when her little brothers digging pierced an underground valve, releasing both boiling water and the unchecked scent of sulfur, but she endured it anyway as he splashing around happily in the growing pool of hissing bubbling water at the bottom of his nest.

Xuan Shi showed good humor about the whole thing, for which she was thankful. She wondered just what had happened to affect his demeanor so. Perhaps he had earned enough praise from his family to boost his confidence?

It was not any of her business she supposed.

There was a certain satisfaction in the simple labor of cutting supple strips wood and brush alongside Xuan Shi and weaving them together into blanket like mats. She wasn;t particularly good at it, but with the scholarly boys slow, even voice instructing her, she was able to successfully create patterns and characters which enhanced the natural flow of qi through the whole construction. Building up a stacked logs around Zhengui's burrow like a tower for a truly massive bonfire was much more difficult. Even if she could lift a whole log, moving it around was a whole other matter, it was far too ungainly to manage without Xuan Shi's help. At least the gobbets of mud being kicked up by Zhengui's digging were useful in packing the whole thing.

By the time the sun was fading from the sky, they were both patched with mud, sawdust and bits of plant matter, even if Ling Qi's gown cleaned itself meticulously remaining unmarked despite that. Zhengui rested invisibly at the bottom of his burrow, covered by layer upon layer of woven branches and brush, from which smoke was already beginning to rise. All she could do now was wait for her little brother to finish his breakthrough.

The days that followed quickly became routine. Elder Heng's lessons continued, and she learned to her chagrin, that she had been making things harder for herself all of last year as his lessons touched upon the proper way to read the information encoded in Jade Slips. She had stumbled upon it in dribs and drabs during her previous years cultivation, but in the future, she would not have to stumble into the workings of her arts with so much of a blind eye.

There were physical lessons as well, though sadly no Elder Zhou, and Ling Qi quickly took to the physical cultivation which she had left by the wayside somewhat in recent months. Between picking up the workload of the lessons and completing the rest of the work settling in, it was nearly a week before she found herself with free time to travel to the Sect village.

She chose too…

[] Meet Meizhen first, and see who she wanted to introduce, she would visit mother after
[] Spend the morning with her Mother and Biyu, and meet with Meizhen after


AN: Alright, first don't get thy shorts twisted, not all epc bonuses are accounted for yet in the above. Secondly I have updated the arts page, giving the xp progression for arts your working on. You will also be able to see the next level of arts you are learning if you are of the appropriate cultivation. Thirdly, I know updates have been shorter, but I do intend to work toward a more rapid schedule to make up for it. Apologies if the super long updates were more your thing, but those were really burning me out.

In any case, I should be able to pick up the pace now that I have certain issues with scheduling worked out, and... most of the mechanical issues done.