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

"Well, you've had quite an ordeal haven't you," Xin said with a sigh, withdrawing her faintly glowing hand from Ling Qi's forehead. "The entropic qi still left in your channels is assimilating nicely."

Ling Qi wasn't entirely sure what 'entropic' was, though it seemed to resonate oddly in her ears. Given context it was some form of toxic qi, she was just glad for the examination to be over. Xin stood over Ling Qi, who sat upon a treatment table in one of the medicine hall's many room. Xin wore the same oddly patterned red and blue gown she had been been wearing when they met long ago in Elder Zhou's test. The spirit's silver hair hung loose at her shoulders this time though giving a slight impression of dishevelment.

Ling Qi nodded shallowly, glancing down at Hanyi, who had fallen asleep half lying across her lap. She supposed that given everything she couldn't blame the girl. It made her wonder just how many human-like quirks the young spirit might have though. "I hope I didn't cause the Sect too much trouble," Ling Qi said in a small voice.

It was only after she had descended that she had seen the effects of her tribulation on the surroundings. The mountain was buried in snow, and even with the storm dying down, trees had been torn from the earth by howling winds, and things were in general a bit of a mess. She had not missed the vein pulsing in Elder Jiao's temple when he had appeared to whisk her and Hanyi off to the medicine hall.

"We had expected something of the sort to be occurring soon," Xin replied soothingly, glancing down at the tablet of jade in her hands. The recording device vanished with a flick of her wrist. "Elder Ying made preparations, so the damage was limited to the mountain."

Ling Qi let out a sigh of relief, she had worried that she might have endangered the mortals in the town at the base of the mountain and by extension her mother. "Will the Outer Sect be…?"

"We are treating it as a bit of an impromptu trial, and have rewarded a few disciples for their decisive actions during the storm," Xin replied with a thread of amusement, turning to pace away..

Ling Qi felt her fists clench, her knuckles growing white. "...How can you be cheerful, wasn't Zeqing your friend too?"

Silence answered her, and Ling Qi swallowed faintly as she raised her eyes. She really needed to stop forgetting herself in front of Elders and powerful spirits.

Xin's expression was not angry though, there was only a touch of sorrow in her red eyes."This was the best path available for my friend, why should I not be cheerful?" She asked, crossing her arms under chest as she met Ling Qi's gaze challengingly.

"I'm sorry. I just, you can read the future right? I've been studying some divination, so I know that's the new moon's purview, and…" Ling Qi hunched her shoulders. "Was there really no better way to do this?"

Xin sighed, leaning back against one of the cupboards full of medicinal supplies that lined the room. "There is divination, and there is divination Ling Qi. Clairvoyance and its related disciplines are both the simplest and most reliable. Object reading and postcognition are relatively simple as well, given a reasonable proximity to the present. Future sight or even prediction is not so easy, nor so simple."

Ling Qi nodded, taking the gentle rebuke for what it was. "...But you did say this was the best outcome."

Xin cracked a wan smile. "Peering into the future stretches a human compatible mind to it's limits. It's true enough that battle precognition can be reliable, presuming the enemy does not counter or obfuscate your sight. Peering forward a second or two into your immediate surroundings involves a mere few million relevant factors after all. I might manage as much as a minute, barring interference. Beyond that however… well that is the realm of my greater self. For those of us in the material realm, we must be content with clearsightedly seeking our objectives."

"There wasn't any way for Zeqing and Hanyi to continue the way they had forever, then," Ling Qi replied, brushing her fingers through Hanyi's hair.

"Yes," Xin replied sadly. "Your appearance is what gave me the opportunity to help my friend, it worked as well as could be expected, for everyone involved."

Ling Qi wondered if she should feel resentful at the manipulation, but quickly dismissed the notion. That Xin could more clearly see the outcomes of her actions did not change their character.

"If it makes you feel any better, predicting the future is just a matter of gambling with the odds visible, as I understand," Sixiang murmured.

"As my niece said. Though a wise diviner knows how to weight the die, as it were," she said with a slight smile. "But in the end the world is not a Xianqqi board. The pieces move themselves and there are no players. No diviner can have full certainty in their predictions, and the belief that one can has lead many to ruin..."

…

……

………

Ling Qi had thought of those words many times in the days that followed. The implications of divination were not something she had thought deeply on before, but with her plans to cultivate the Curious Diviner's Eye, it seemed relevant.

She had found herself thinking about these kind of things much more often of late, hadn't she?

"Big Sister, that scary girl is still following us, are you sure we shouldn't try to get rid of her?" Hanyi asked in her head.

"I gotta agree with the squirt," Sixiang added. "...Uh, if we mean losing her anyway. I don't think we wanna pick that fight yet."

Ling Qi grimaced, ever since she had departed Elder Heng's lessons, Sun Liling had been trailing along at the edges of her senses. The hostility and bloodlust leaking from the girl was just enough to put her on edge and keep her there. Something she couldn't help but feel the girl was doing on purpose. It confused her though, they had not interacted since the tournament. She had barely seen hide nor hair of the girl in months, so why start stalking her now?

Ling Qi strongly considered taking her spirit's advice and simple flying off the path and vanishing from the Sect's beaten paths. However, something in her rebelled at that. She had every right to walk the Sect's paths. She could go and visit her friends without having to duck and hide and skulk.

With that thought in mind, Ling Qi turned on her heel, and put on a perfectly polite smile as she began to walk toward the place she could feel the other girl lurking. For a moment, the faint feeling of Sun Liling's qi wavered, but it rapidly stilled. The other girl would hardly give the impression of running away, would she?

Very soon, she turned down the mountain path, and brought the other girl into sight. Sun Liling sat cross legged atop one of the trail markers, looking out over the sheer cliff below, looking for all the world like she wasn't paying any attention at all.

"Princess Sun," Ling Qi greeted nicely, coming to a stop a polite distance away. "I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be seeking me, can I help you with something?"

Sun Liling looked at her without bothering to turn her head, but only briefly. "Hmm, paranoia's not a good look you know. No reason to get worked up about someone walkin the same direction as you. I was just lookin for a good meditation spot."

Ling Qi scowled internally, but there was no point in arguing with the other girl.

"How come, she's obviously lying." Hanyi said guilelessly in her thoughts. "Does she think you're dumb? Big Sister should beat her up."

Ling Qi sent a silent thanks to Sixiang as the spirit pulled hanyi deeper into her dantian to explain. "Well my apologies then," she replied sweetly. "If I might be so a little rude princess, you might wish to talk to someone about your troubles, if they've affected your restraint so badly."

Sun Liling shot her a withering look. "Well thanks much," she said in a voice as dry as a desert. "Let me give ya a little advice in return little doggie. Your mistress is gonna have some real trouble in the future. You both made some real bad choices last year."

"Is that so," Ling Qi replied blandly. "I'm sorry princess Sun, I must be misunderstanding, because that almost sounded like a threat."

"Your forgiven," the redhead replied with a smirk. "Just informing ya, opening borders with the Bai… it's just asking for trouble you know? They're pretty bad at policing their domain. It just hurts my poor heart to think of those emerald seas folks living near the border."

Ling Qi narrowed her eyes. "Are you certain you weren't seeking me out, Princess Sun? That seems oddly specific."

"Hm, maybe I was? Well you know how it is, little stuff can slip the mind," she shrugged. "Go ahead and run along then."

Ling Qi restrained the urge to grind her teeth at the flippant dismissal, but instead simply turned away. If Sun Liling had so openly stated something then the information wasn't valuable. She supposed it wasn't exactly a secret that the Sun family would not be taking their humiliation lying down.

Aside from informing Cai Renxiang, there was nothing to do about it for the moment. While things remained peaceful, she could only keep pursuing her goals.

AN: Alright let's get turn 4 started to begin with, we'll just be choosing the order in which certain 'locked' events proceed in. They will both happen, but the order may cause some changes in how events proceed

[] The time has come for you to fulfill your promise to Bai Meizhen, and begin 'tutoring' her cousin Bai Xiao Fen. Though you will mostly be acting to gather intelligence on the Outer Sect, you will also be legitimately be tutoring her, and hopefully learning more of the Bai than your reticent friend will say.

[] While you have provided for them, and you visit from time to time, you cannot help but feel that you have neglected your family. Your mother in particular deserves to be respected enough to know more of the goings on your life. You need to take a day and really talk to her.