"If I may," Ling Qi began carefully. "May I know something of your grandson, so that I may speak more clearly in my recommendation?"
"Meng Dan is a scholar," Meng Diu said, turning her gaze back to the rest of the guests. "And attends the Blue Mountain Sect, he follows the Way of the Hidden, with more singularity than yourself."
Sixiang chuckled in her head, and Ling Qi coughed uncomfortably. She didn't think Meng Diu was speaking directly against her scattered focus, but still. "I see, you believe his knowledge will be useful then?"
"That child has always been focused on the past, to his detriment at times," Meng Diu said musingly. "However, his mind is sharp and his ability to collate and analyze large amounts of information into useful form is exceptional."
"Well, given your arguments for doing this, that kind of thing does seem useful," Sixiang mused. "You're probably gonna be asked to go over every word and gesture they make with a fine toothed comb when you report in."
It seemed like it, Ling Qi thought. "Thank you very much, Lady Meng."
Archivist of the Hidden Moon huh?
A Secret History build?
His Way sounds like a database.
One more bow, and then Ling Qi turned to leave, not letting the sigh of relief that wanted to escape out into the world. Leaving the range of the Meng's domain, she was soon greeting guests again, but only for a short time before she took a conspicuously empty seat next to Meizhen.
"You are well?" her friend asked evenly. She didn't turn her head from the stage as the lanterns arrayed around the room began to dim, signalling that the performance was nigh.
"Yes, just some negotiations," Ling Qi said, leaning back in her seat as she mentally prodded Zhengui to wakefulness. "I'll tell you about it later."
Meizhen raised an eyebrow, glancing her way, but made no more of it.
No getting it past Meizhen it seems, its patently obvious that Ling Qi is stressed and frazzled by the negotiations, but not overly so.
The curtain on the stage rose. If Ling Qi wasn't intimately familiar with her aura, she might not have recognized Hanyi. Her hair was done up and threaded through pale white flowers, and somehow, between the lightning and the cosmetics, her deathly pallor looked ethereal instead. As the curtains rose, Hanyi stepped forward, her hands clasped together, and began to sing.
Ling Qi breathed out, and let the melody wash over her and carry her away.
Hmm, something faintly luminous should do it, if you had UV lighting.
I suppose its not like radium powder would bother anyone around there....
A soft wind blew, cold and brisk. The flakes began to fall, dancing like airy crystals under the pale silver light of the moon. The cold wind blew from the mountain high, where lives cold eternal and with it descended the maiden. Daughter of ice, maiden of winter. With a train of purest white, and lilting song descended the maiden to the valley below, and with her came the snow.
Peace, Peace, whispered the wind.
And the snow did fall.
So the story is a carefully paraphrased and artistic version of Hanyi going "this valley is so noisy I wish they'd shut up.".
:3
Branches bare of leaves swayed in the soft wind, cold wind, and withered grasp whispered along to the maidens song as the flakes fell, to paint the world in white. Across the valley brook danced the maiden, with long hair of black, woven with crystal flowers. In her steps trailed calm, burbling waters falling silent under the spread of ice. In the forest around did the tall and tired trees bow at her passing, branches heavy with snow. They passed into slumber well earned through the year, and the creaking of wood joined the song of the wind and snow.
Under falling snow the detritus of fall hid away, painted smooth by drifting white. Under maidens feet did signs of toil vanish, leaving only a land pristine and stark. Under the light of the moon, the maiden sang the silence of winter sleep. O beautiful maiden, most lovely of all; gone was the wilting decline of autumn, and distant were the chaos of spring and the toil of summer!
Winter as rest probably is a perspective hard to find amongst humans, where part of the perils of Winter is that everything ELSE has gone to sleep but humanity remains awake and active, but none of the natural resources they'd normally draw upon are.
Drawing a blanket of snow across the earth, wood and water, such that they'd rest because they would not stop moving otherwise.
O winter, time of preservation and tales, when all the world quiets. O winter, when the people gather and share the spoils of a year hard won.
O winter, time of remembrance, when past becomes present in the mind, and memories of days gone by warm the soul. O winter, the time of cherishing, to hold tight what you have in the face of the cold.
O winter, who lives eternal upon the high mountaintop, forever and ever.
And this calls to Zeqing for Hanyi, but most people could remember what they once had, but no longer do. Winter a time for family, because all else is cold and silent.
Outside danced the maiden, her train was the wind, and her laugh the rattle of window frames and the groan of roofs heavy with snow. Outside was the maiden, who would never return home. Daughter of ice eternal, the drifting snow and the whispering wind, who belonged now to the valley below.
And the meat of it for her. A bit more oomph in this bit than the earlier portion.
Though I wonder, if the bit of winter would not leave, then would she sleep in the coldhouse?
A little bit of domesticated winter in summer.
Ling Qi breathed deep as the song went on, the image's of deepening winter dancing in her minds eye. Hanyi had been a little dishonest, to say that the maiden was not her. That was fine though, Ling Qi thought. It had taken a great deal of prodding from Sixiang to really tease things out.
Think she just doesn't like showing weakness personally.
"I guess I just think I've been trying too hard to be different from Momma," Hanyi had said dejectedly. "I want to do new things, and live like she said, but I still want to be her daughter, you know."
"I don't think there's anything wrong with that," Ling Qi had said. "It can be hard to find the right balance, between who you were, and who you want to be."
"Especially when most of us can't even easily really say what we want to be," Sixiang had mused, their voice a chime among the hanging ice.
Hanyi had nodded, scuffing her foot in the dirt. "...I'm not like Momma, but I'm still the winter. I don't think I can be anything else, not really. I don't really wanna be."
"And there's nothing wrong with that," Ling Qi had said, resting her hand on her shoulder. "So, let's figure out how to work that feeling in, okay?"
Spirit nature again. They must remain true to their nature, but to grow beyond their current spot, they'd need to be different. Different in detail but same in nature.
Ling Qi closed her eyes as the song reached its finish, a clash with the oncoming spring, a doomed battle that the maiden could not win, with the spring came the melt, and the rain, deluge and chaos.
But winter would be back, and peace with it, if they only endured.
And that, I think came from the recent battles.
Seems she's feeling it a little bit more than she pretends to. Just enough to have a sense for what is a doomed battle, that all she could do is endure, survive and rise up once more.
Its a little unusual for a spirit normally of cold, winter and endings, the flavors of endurance and regeneration.
Drawing a bit from Zhengui eh?
Polite applause rang out through the hall. Ling Qi gazed around her, and saw that the guests seemed all in good humor. Most did not seem particularly excited or touched really, but here and there were a few.Beside her, Meizhen offered quiet applause with a thoughtful look, and somewhere behind them, she heard Wang Chao giving loud approval.
Those few would be pretty highly prized for a debut song.
Hmm...probably those who have known true loss in some way would feel it better.
Also Wang Chao seems to be vaguely missing the point of the song being "its nice and quiet in winter"
Peering out of the corner of her eye, she saw Meng Diu, her expression indecipherable. Yet, as she watched, she saw the older woman shake out her sleeves, revealing dainty hands as powder white as her face. She clapped three times.
A very deliberate action, in a way which draws attention quite well.
Hmmm, can't read through her higher cultivation, but I like to think that given the Meng origins, giving unearned praise to music would be looked upon poorly.
Though the deal didn't hurt.
On the stage Hanyi beamed as she lowered her upraised hands, and bowed to the audience as the curtain fell.
In the time after the show, Ling Qi got around to mingling with the rest of her guests. Hanyi stayed at her side the whole time, and was unfailingly well behaved. Sweet almost. It actually took Ling Qi a bit of effort not to laugh at what an inaccurate picture these young men and women were getting of her spirit, but she wasn't going to ruin Hanyi's fun
Its her public facing facade!
Lots of celebrity types are hard to get along with in private where they let their masks down!
Eventually, things wound down, and guests got on their way, leaving Ling Qi with her spirits, and bao Qian backstage. Hanyi sat balanced on Zhengui's back, who had shrunk himself down to the size of a big dog to avoid doing any damage, and Bao Qian stood before them, counting out the nights proceeds.
"And this is you're share, young Miss," he said, Bao theatrically as he placed a small pouch in Hanyi's hands. "A wonderful first performance certainly. I hope you are ready to compose more songs in the future."
"Uh huh!" Hanyi said excitedly, tugging the drawstrings of the pouch open, inside were many glittering yellow stones and a single green one, shining like an emerald.
Hanyi gains 1 green stone, 75 Yellow Stones
"That's surprising, for just entrance fees. How does this place stay open, charging in green stones?" Ling Qi asked curiously. It didn't seem like the clientele was that wealthy.
"They do not," Bao Qian admitted. He cast her a searching look. "However, Lady meng approached me to commission the first recording. That includes Miss Hanyi's part of the initial fee."
"Oh! Somebody is wanted to buy my song already! Isn't that great Big Sis?" Hanyi said happily, picking through and counting her stones.
"Mmhm, Hanyi is good!" Gui agreed cheerfully.
Bao Qian gave her a look, and Ling Qi just smiled. "I'm glad, you'll definitely be really popular," Ling Qi said, reaching down to muss Hanyi's carefully arranged hair. "Did anyone else see Lady Meng buy?" She asked bao Qian.
"They did, though I am certain no one immediately recognized her. She was quite restrained," Bao Qian said shrewdly. "I shouldn't be surprised if word gets around however. I may have to prepare more materials."
Oh yeah...thats big money there. She's made it, in some small way,
fashionable, and now the copycats will copy.
