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

"To think, you finally choose to change your style, and I am left out of it," Xiulan said, aggrieved. "Ling Qi, am I truly so poor a friend that you would not even ask my advice?"

Ling Qi rolled her eyes at Xiulan's dramatics. "And I told you that it was something that got sprung on me suddenly, and who am I to refuse the advice of an apprentice to the Duchess."

"Hmph, you could have at least angled to get me an invitation, you terrible girl," Xiulan grumbled, looking over to study her. "I suppose I cannot argue with results."

Ling Qi shifted a little uncomfortably under her attention. She still felt a little odd about changing her looks on the regular, since she was worried about messing it up. Since they were heading out into the wilderness and the whether was cooling, she had gone for an 'autumn-winter' look, not that she had more than a basic understanding of what that meant.

Her winged mantle had been traded for a thicker cloak that covered her shoulders and chest, and hung down almost to her feet, with a high fur trimmed collar that brushed her chin. She had switched out the front panel of her gown for one showing falling snowflakes that seemed to move as the cloth shifted. A few of the underlayers of silk had been switched out for thicker cloth, lending the gown a bit more 'weight' and the hems had been drawn in and trim of dark purple fur had been added. She did like the sleek black calf skin boots that she had picked out though, even if she was less fond of the fact that they were visible beneath the raised hems.

"I assure you, next time that I am going to be poked and prodded and measured for hours, I will be sure that you get an invitation," Ling Qi replied dryly.

"Be sure that you do," her friend replied imperiously, the gravel of the road crunching under the soles of her own boots. She gave Ling Qi another assessing look. "Really, I do think you chose well though. It is not my style, but that sort of cut suits your style

LIng Qi reached up, tentatively brushing her fingers through her hair. Lin Hai had convinced her to lighten up on the straightening elixirs. Her increasingly long hair was now bundled at the base of her neck, with a tail of wavy locks reaching almost the middle of her back. The whole thing was held together with a silver butterfly pin in defence to her liege. She still wasn't quite sure if she liked it or not.

"...Thank you," she said, instead of voicing any of those doubts. "I see you've been experimenting yourself." Her friends glossy hair had been woven through complex golden hairpiece made to look a bit like a rising sun, with rays that radiated out, supporting the bundle of hair behind it. The girl had also been working some dark red highlights in, though whether that was an effect of cultivation or dye, Ling Qi did not know.

"Ah, do you like it?" Xiulan asked, tilting her head to let the piece catch the sunlight and gleam. "I am considering commissioning a talisman, but I wished to wear a piece of similar make before I invested."

"It's very mature," Ling Qi replied with a slight smile.

Xiulan made a face at her. "Ugh, must you put it like that?"

"I don't know, it does seem like something your Mother might wear," Ling Qi teased. In her thoughts, she felt Sixiang's amusement.

"Human's are weird, you should just let your hair grow long and pretty without tying it in knots," Hanyi muttered mutinously. "Can't believe the big lump fell asleep."

"And what is wrong with that? Mother is the peak of fashion," Xiulan replied proudly. "I can hardly go wrong in emulating her."

Ling Qi did not think Ai Xiaoli was the sort of woman to be caught outside in less than three dozen layers of silk, let alone something like the mere three layered light yellow gown Xiulan was wearing, with it's scandalously bare shoulders and hems that came down only to the calf.

"I hate to interrupt, but I can see the walls," the third of their number, previously silent as he walked a few paces ahead of them. Shen Hu had not changed much over the last half year, though he had unfortunately taken to wearing a loose shirt of dark green silk.

...She was pulling ahead of them further, and noticeably so. Xiulan was only at the appraisal stage, and even Shen Hu was only recently reached full foundation cultivation. It couldn't be helped, Ling Qi supposed. "We're still pretty early. Do you suppose we should have a look around the town then?" She asked.

"I doubt there is much to see," Xiulan replied, giving the low stone walls ahead a faintly disdainful look. "But I suppose it is not a bad way to spend an hour or so. Will you escort us then, Sir Shen?" She asked sweetly.

"I suppose," the older boy said, his hands held together casually behind his head. It seemed that over the course of the last few months, he had become inured to Xiulan.

Ling Qi glanced over as a briefly disgruntled look passed over her expression. She had a feeling that she had missed something. Sparring and shopping was all well and good, but she recognized the signs of mounting frustration in her friend, it looked like they needed another girl's night sometime in the near future.

"Well, let's have a look around then," she said brightly, before the silence could grow awkward.




Ling Qi had been sure to do her research before this assignment. While her Senior Brother Liao Zhu would still be there, he would not be there to mind her. After completing the last lesson, she was at least a provisional officer of the Sect's scouting division. She did not want to fail or do poorly now.

The region they were deployed too was a few days east of White Cloud Mountain at first realms pace, a hilly scrubland rich in mineral wealth. The town they were approaching was the regions center, a township of a little over two thousand people, laid out behind neat square walls and sectioned into districts. The smoke and heat of smelters clouded the air here, as raw ore was turned into bars to be shipped out to larger settlements, and heavily laden wagons full of blocks of quarried marble, granite and jade moved slowly through the wide streets.

At the north end of the city was a well kept market district, where traders from outside the province came to purchase raw goods in exchange for foodstuffs, worked goods and luxuries. At the cities very center lay its Immortal district, kept clear of smoke by formations set into the inner marble walls. It was the luxurious barracks there, that she had the others were bound for.

The town had very few cultivator residents, there was a Sect Overseer which the mortal governor and ministers answered too, a man at the fifth stage of the third realm, and a bare handful of early third realm officers in the hundred and fifty strong permanent garrison of first and second realm soldiers.

"How very rustic," Gu Xiulan said dryly as she strode through the inner gates, paying no mind to the first realm soldiers manning it. She did not even acknowledge the bowing men as she strutted past, once again in the full flower of her confidence. "Still, it could be worse."

Ling Qi favored the guards with an apologetic smile as she swept past, but it didn't seem to comfort them. "Perhaps for you, I don't really care for the soot in the air," she said wryly as they left the gates behind. It wasn't too bad, a handful of formation markers kept the worst of it from settling in the streets, but Ling Qi had grown used to the clear, crisp air of the Sect Mountains.

"Breathing in a few sparks now and then is good for your character," Gu Xiulan jested with a smirk.

"It reminds me a bit of the charcoal makers at home," Shen Hu commented idly. "Smells bad though."

"Your family makes charcoal? What for?" Ling Qi asked curiously. She would think fuel like that would be unnecessary for most things.

Shen Hu hummed in thought. "Something about transferring properties to the metals. Sorry, my older brother and sister know more about that kind of thing. Don't really have the head for crafting."

"It has its uses," Xiulan said imperiously, not looking over at the boy. "Of course the deathstone quarried from the outskirts of the Grave is superior."

"Sure is probably," Shen hu replied with an uncaring shrug.

Xiulan made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. "Hmph, in any case, it seems we must part ways here. Good luck Ling Qi, perhaps we might find ourselves assigned the same hamlet sometime during the week."

"Maybe," Ling Qi replied dipping her head first toward Xiulan and then Shen Hu. "Try not to burn down anything we want to keep, though."
"Hmph, just try not to frighten any peasants to death, you wraith," Xiulan shot back with a smirk

Shen hu just gave them both mildly concerned looks and shook his head. He sometimes didn't seem to get jokes. "Yeah, it's raiding season, you know? Keep your eyes open."

Ling Qi left the two of them to enter the barracks and turned down the street herself, heading toward the smaller office where the scouts would be meeting. Passing swiftly down the mostly empty street of the government quarter, the building soon came into sight. An elegant single story building with a peaked roof, Ling Qi recognized it from the description she had been given.

However, as she approached, she slowed down, first feeling and then sighting an unignorable presence. Slowing and then stopping in the tile paved courtyard outside of the building, Ling Qi bowed. "Senior Sect Sister Guan."

The young woman cocked an eyebrow at her, not uncrossing her arms. "Commander is more appropriate when we are on duty, Officer Ling." The tall young woman dressed lightly, wearing only a sleeveless jacket of grey padded cloth, and similarly colored pants tucked into thick mountaineers boots. Formation inscribed bandages covered her hands and forearms, but she wore no other accessories.

"My apologies, Commander Guan," Ling Qi held in a grimace she had spent so much time dealing with nobility that it had pushed some of her military lessons out of her head.

"We are not on the field just yet, so I will forgive the slip. Seeing that you recently visited Senior Brother Lin, I can forgive some slippage in discipline," Guan Zhi said evenly

Ling Qi's eyes widened slightly. "...Is it that obvious?" She asked, glancing down at herself.

"The only thing that flies faster than the barbarians are rumors," her commander said dryly. "In any case, come along officer. You are the last to arrive, and I must debrief you all, and decide upon assignments."

"Still can't believe you left me out Big Sis, I want a pretty dress too," Hanyi grumbled.

Ling Qi hurried to follow Guan Zhi as she turned and stepped toward the door, glancing over at the young woman. She assumed she was young anyway. It occurred to her that she had no idea how old Guan Zhi was. "...Can I ask a question of you Commander?"

"You may," the girl replied tersely as she lead them inside, past rooms populated by first realm cultivators, cartographers and messengers going about their tasks and crafts.

"What should I expect from raiders?" Ling Qi asked, with a touch of nerves. "I have read reports and such, but my home city is far into the interior."
Guan Zhi briefly looked her way, assessing Ling Qi. "Young men out to prove themselves warriors by looting and killing," she replied calmly. "The typical raid is a quick affair, a half dozen or so low ranking cultivators swooping down to smash homes, destabilize quarries or mines, and steal livestock and metals. It is unusual for them to stand and fight, and a show of force will typically scare them off immediately. However, sometimes this is only a feint to draw glory hungry soldiers into chasing them."

Ling Qi nodded slowly in understanding.

"However," Guan Zhi said sharply. "Recently, things have grown more dangerous, but I will get to that in the debriefing."

Ling Qi dipped her head in reply as they reached a closed door. She could sense the other presences inside, and was a little surprised by what she felt. Stepping into the room a pace behind Guan Zhi, she found not only Liao Zhu seatedc in a meditative pose against the far wall, but also two other faces she recognized, among the handful of other third realm disciples in the room.

Alingge and Sha Feng both nodded amicably too her as she took her seat beside them, and Guan Zhi moved to the front of the room to stand behind the speaker's podium. Liao Zhu stood smoothly as she took her position, sidestepping into a deferential position behind her.

"The region you all have been assigned contains three major landmarks and five settlements," Guan Zhi began without pre-amble. Her voice was crisp and clear. "For the next week, the safety of it's inhabitants will be in the hands of you and your counterparts. While this is normally not a terribly arduous task, a number of factors lead the Sect to believe that trouble may arise. Firstly tribesman have been spotted in greater numbers than is normal throughout the year, and this has not tapered off. Secondly, a new mine and its attendant village is currently under construction and development, meaning that there is a gap in our defenses and potential for trouble with the spirits of the mountain. It is suspected that the barbarians may strike there specifically, as records indicate that some local tribes once used it as a site for certain rites."

Ling Qi listened closely as her commander began to lay out the situation. The region to the south of this village contained two major peaks, comparable to White Cloud Mountain, the first, Cyan Peak, lay just a half dozen kilometers south and east of here and was the site of two well established quarrying villages, who harvested the rare sky jade which composed much of the mountain. Further out from that was a stretch of hills with a single major river flowing through, where two additional villages lay, farming the fertile valley to provide crops for the rest of the region. Furthest south was Icebreaker Peak, a tall and forbidding spike of a mountain that rose high to pierce the clouds.

It was the site of the new village, on a location discovered to hold iron as well as higher grade metals and seams of diamond. There had already been troubles from the spirits there as the mine shaft had been dug. Liao Zhu would be assigned there, to ensure that the completion of the mine went smoothly. Guan Zhi herself intended to range out into the outskirts of the wall itself, to keep a watchful eye on known Cloud Tribe gathering places and sky routes.

"...Which leaves the matters of the villages themselves, each region will require a scouting division compliment. I will also require a squad to act as rangers and messengers, remaining on the move between all points to maintain communications between myself and the Captain here," she concluded. "I would hear your suggestions now, regarding where you believe you are best deployed.

Ling Qi leaned back in her seat as others began to speak. Where would she and her spirits do best. The villages on Cyan peak seemed as if they would be the safest, and from the description were relatively well fortified already, which meant it might not need her.

No, one of the other positions would suit her better. The valley villages were more sprawling and less well defended by nature, but she was fast, and her arts could cover a great deal of ground. Plus well, it might benefit Zhengui to be in a position to defend something.

On the other hand, being in the messenger cadre would make the best use of her mobility and she could even use the techniques she had studied in the Curious Diviner's Eye art to help facilitate communication. It might be a better use of her talents.

...Of course, there was a third option too, while it sounded a little arrogant, but with Liao Zhu assigned to the mine, there was no one else quite as strong to back up Guan Zhi herself in the mountains of the Wall, the commander had not asked for additional help, but she could always volunteer. Of course, anything that could threaten a cyan cultivator, even a new one, would be a deadly threat to her.

[] The river villages.
[] The messenger cadre.
[] The front line.

I painted Ling Qi in her new dress @yrsillar This piece took way too long to finish. And that pibo was kind of tough to make. But I liked the way it turned out overall.