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

"Hm, these sapphires would match you well," Gu Xiulan mused, letting the intricate silver necklace dangle from her fingers.

"Oh, I'm not sure, it seems much too extravagant for me," Li Suyin demurred.

Gu Xiulan shot her an unimpressed look as the smaller girl twiddled her fingers. The motion only drew attention to the gleaming monstrosity she wore on one hand, capping her fingers with metallic talons held together by a webwork of chains and a dark glove. "I am beginning to think that you are merely being contrary, Sect Sister," Xiulan drawled, replacing the necklace on the vendor's stand. She ignored the crestfallen look on the face of the disciple running it. It wasn't her fault he was a poor salesman.

"Oh, I would never, Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied pleasantly. "Particularly when you so suddenly and generously chose to grace me with your presence on a mere reagent run."

Gu Xiulan gave a haughty sniff, ignoring the ill concealed implication. "Well, it isn't as if Ling Qi is going to keep you out of your cave for long. Someone has too."

"My apologies for concerning you, Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied blandly. "It hurts me to know that I have inconvenienced you so."

Gu Xiulan huffed. When had this girl gotten so sassy? There was nary a sign of the shrinking mouse who had trembled under her gaze last year. It still irked her that Ling Qi had shown up her judgement of character. "Oh do stop that. It's not as if you haven't benefited you know. You certainly purchased enough gowns from the tailor I showed to you."

Li Suyin pursed her lips. "I am not ungrateful. I did need to expand my wardrobe for all of these business meetings that keep cropping up," she sighed. "I'm just a little unsure of your motive, Sect Sister."

"Can I not simply enjoy the process?" Gu Xiulan replied. "Goodness knows getting Ling Qi to consider anything not made for cultivation is like pulling teeth. At least you change your clothes on occasion."

Li Suyin laughed, only to swiftly cover her mouth. As they moved through the market crowd. "She is like that, isn't she?"

"I could be more unkind, but as we are friends, I will restrain myself," Gu Xiulan replied airily.

"How kind and generous of you Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied. She began to drift to one side of the market.

Gu Xiulan grimaced as she saw that they were going to another reagent stand. "It is quite generous of me," she said with a put upon sigh. "How I manage, given my friends lack of taste is beyond me."

Li Suyin let out a put out huff. Xiulan was proud of her, she sounded almost lady-like. "There is nothing wrong with minimalism as a style."

"What you do is not minimalism," Gu Xiulan replied flatly as the other girl began to sort through a selection of beast bones and bottled bloods. "I worry for your mental state if you think it is Sect Sister."

She glanced behind them, toward the looming presence of the girl's construct. The skeleton of a bear warped into a man's shape and clad in silk and polished steel, it's motions were eerily silent and ever so slightly off kilter. Hideous thing. At least it made for a good porter.

"Hm, haven't we had this conversation before Sect Sister?" Li Suyin mused, examining a crystal vial of lilac blood. "Ah sir, how much would it be for these…"

Gu Xiulan glowered at her as she finished up her purchase. "We have, and you remain wrong. Skeletons are not minimalism. Not at all."

"How ridiculous," Li Suyin sniffed, passing her package to the looming construct behind them. "Skeletons are the most minimal of all."

Gu Xiulan pinched the bridge of her nose as they left the stand. "Honestly, I know perfectly well what you are doing."

"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about Sect Sister," Li Suyin replied, but Xiulan did not miss the smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. Infuriating girl. Gu Xiulan was almost proud.

"We are, at the very least stopping at a stylist," Gu Xiulan said stubbornly, falling back in beside her. "For goodness sake you have actual split ends. What are you, a mortal?"

Li Suyin frowned, reaching up to tug at a strand of her hair. It was at least growing to a respectable length. She'd stopped the ridiculous girl from cutting it again. It still lacked proper volume however, to Gu Xiulan's frustration.

"Ah, I suppose i have been forgetting the treatments you recommended. I've just had so much work to do…" Li Suyin said.

"Of course you have," Gu Xiulan sighed. "Even Ling Qi was not so lax once I taught her good habits."

"My work is very important you know," Li Suyin shot back. "I can hardly neglect my products and still maintain my clients interest."

"And you will lose clients if you start looking like a vagabond," Gu Xiulan shot back. "Eccentricities are fine, but lack of hygiene is not."

Li Suyin pursed her lips, if she were being unladylike, Gu Xiulan might have called it a pout. "...Very well, we can make a stop at a stylist."

"And you will listen to my words when I recommend ornaments for your hair?" Gu Xiulan said with a sly smile.

"I will listen to your advice, Sect Sister," Li Suyin sighed.

"And something new to replace those tatty things you call shoes?" Gu Xiulan asked playfully.

"I am working on something with Du Feng already," Li Suyin replied stiffly, crossing her arms.

"Ah, how could I forget," Gu Xiulan laughed. "Far be it for me to break up your… intellectual courting."

"Our collaboration is nothing of the sort," Li Suyin replied, her cheeks darkening.

"Of course, of course," Xiulan dismissed. It was fine to let these stubborn girls think that they had won a victory, so Gu Xiulan would let it go. She clapped her hands in satisfaction. "Regardless, to the stylist. My sister actually helped me book a session with one of the newer core disciples, a year mate of hers…"

Her friends were always so very stubborn about the most foolish things. When would they accept that when they came to such matters, she simply knew best?

AN: Almost forgot the public commission release, enjoy you guys!

The warmth was palpable in the iron halls long before Ling Qi came into view of the shrine. Elsewhere in the foreigners' redoubt, the air held the chill of an early spring morning, but here, in the hall leading to the shrine, it approached the warmth of a cool summer.

The shrine itself was a circular chamber with several entrances spaced around its circumference. It was paneled with what Ling Qi now knew to be expensive white wood. The walls were decorated with columns of carved bone depicting spirits and beasts in stylized form. Each was topped by three faces. Facing forward, toward the center of the room, was the visage of a young man, bright and smiling, with a crown of sunbeams in his golden hair. On the right of the columns was the face of a red bearded man, whose visage was wild eyed, his teeth bared in what seemed more a snarl than a smile. Last was an old and withered man, whose carved flowing white beard flowed into the art lower on the column. The man's face was deeply wrinkled, and his sunken eyelids implied that nothing lay beneath.

In the center of the shrine was a pool of clear water, which sparkled under the light of intense sunlight that emanated from the round stone that floated above it. It seemed like an immense mass of amber, shaped carefully into a perfect sphere, and shining with an inner radiance that was near blinding to look at even for her.

Ling Qi's attention was drawn away from the shine and the art by the sound of a familiar strained grunt of effort. She blinked as she looked beyond the shining mass of amber and saw what was happening on the other side.

There, set in front of the glittering pool was an altar of black iron topped with speckled white stone, smudged by the ash of countless ceremonies. Around it were gathered the men she had glimpsed before, dressed in robes of white, marked by varying degrees of stitch and beadwork to break up the plain white. Two chairs were set upon either side of the altar.

In one of them sat Gan Guangli, and in the other sat an immense foreign man with dark brown hair, held in place by an iron circlet that glowed faintly orange with heat, and a short beard. A gleaming golden mantle wrapped around his wide shoulders. Their hands were clasped over the altar, their elbows resting upon it, and both were straining mightily against one another, apparently seeking to push each others arms one way or the other.

She could see the veins standing out in Gan Guangli's neckand the sweat on his brow as, millimeter by millimeter he was forced to give way. The strain on his opponents face was no less apparent. A moment after she stepped into the room, the slam of Gan Guangli's fist hitting the altar top echoed through the shrine, followed by laughter from the men around and hearty slaps on the back for both.

...Well, at least he seemed to be getting along with them.

"While I stand by my word. I will not deny your dedication to excellence," The foreign man rumbled as he stood up, flexing his hand.

"I apologize for my earlier words Sir Ostrik, they were spoken in ignorance," Gan Guangli said. Standing as well, he bowed his head.

"Youthful impetuousness, I am well acquainted with it," the older man said, waving off his apology. "But we have guests! My apologies for not noticing your entry, Emissary!"

Ling Qi felt a faint stirring of her old nervousness as all the eyes in the room turned to her. She put aside her discomfort and offered a small bow. "Please do not mind me. I was just hoping to check on my companion and view your shrine."

The man, Ostrik gave her a toothy grin and spread his arms wide. "Be welcome then, though it is but a humble place we have built so far into the wilderness we are."

"You're carvers and painters have certainly done amazing work," Ling Qi agreed. The faces carved upon the pillars seemed almost alive looking down on her.

"They might be just a little," Sixiang murmured.

"But please, let me introduce myself. I am Ling Qi, and this is my junior sister Hanyi," Ling Qi said politely. "And Zhengui my brother is on my right."

"I am Ostrik the Sunsoul, keeper of this little place, be welcome Lingche of Tsai," The man boomed. He waved his hand, scattering the assumed, lesser priests back to their duties. Gan Guangli followed him as he came around the well. His gaze turned down to her companions and for once his expression didn't fall or change as he stopped in front of them. Ling Qi blinked as he knelt down, reaching under his mantle to rummage for something.

His hand emerged holding a faintly glowing object, at first Ling Qi thought it was a spirit stone, but the qi was not right for that. In fact, it looked almost like a sugar candy. He extended his hand to Hanyi and smiled kindly. "Hello there young miss. I've heard good things about you. Do you think you would care for a treat?"

"I'm not some kind of little baby," Hanyi huffed, but she glanced up at Ling Qi. "...I guess I'm a little hungry though."

Ling Qi curious, met Ostrik's gaze and gave a little nod.

"I, Zhen hope that Sir Sunsoul is not going to be stingy," Zhen hissed.

Ostrik blinked. "What an odd little god, to speak like a man, but let none say that I am ungenerous." Two more candies were flicked out and caught in two mouths. Both of Zhengui's heads hummed in happiness.

Ostrik dusted off his trousers as he rose back to his full height, towering near a full head over even Ling Qi. "I apologize if I might have overstepped myself Emissary, but I know it can be difficult to care for Children."

"I do not mind," Ling Qi said slowly, watching Hanyi. She was rolling the candy around in her mouth. Her eyebrows were scrunched together, she seemed intensely focused on the flavor. "If I might ask, what was the contest between you and my companion about?"

"I spoke too quickly," Gan Guangli said, dipping his head. "I still find it strange that you would disdain martial valour so, Sir Ostrik, when you are clearly a man of great might."

"It is not a matter of disdaining valour," Ostrick grunted. "A man should not raise his hands against his fellow man, save in friendly sport."

"If you do not mind my asking, why is that?" Ling Qi asked curiously. It seemed something of what they learned from the letters was accurate at least.

The foreign man rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering her for a long moment, before gesturing to the columns. He spoke in a clear, rolling voice that commanded attention. "It is as you see around you. The three aspects of the sun are the three aspects of men. Joyous, inspirational Koliada, Lord of the dawn, Raging, mercurial Perkunas, the Stormbringer, and the wise, mysterious Crowfather, who walks beyond the Gates. A man who raises his hands to other men has allowed Perkunas to master him, giving in to his natural tempestuousness and rage. Such a man cannot stand among the suntouched, for he is open to the whispers of the Outer Night."

Gan Guangli frowned during the speech, but she got the impression that he had already heard it. "I am not inclined to agree of course. Discipline and martial practice go hand in hand."

"It is good then that you speak to a man as radical as I and my comrades," Osrik chuckled. "Some of my crustier colleagues regard even sport as too much. But you held up against me, in Koliada's light, so let us argue no more. Perhaps in your strange, northern lands where the Night is weak and the Sun is ascendant, things are different."

"I will say no more on the matter, sir Ostrick," Gan Guangli said. "I must say, I was expecting you to defeat me more easily, given your power."

Ostrik's thick eyebrows rose. "Under the light such contests are not a matter of strength, but spirit and discipline."

Ling Qi had been wondering that Ostrik seemed like he was at the peak of the third realm although she was of course unsure how accurate her senses were among these people. Still, it was a good thing to know that these people different from their more southerly peers. Something to note for her report at least.

"Is that how you come to accept the men of the Cloud Tribes?" Ling Qi asked, drawing his attention back.

Ostrik's lips briefly twitched into a grimace. "Yes, it is a hard thing, but they are not quite men as we are, yes? Their beast souls protect them from the whispers of Night. They cannot be suntouched, but their ways do no harm, so far from the Gates"

He referred to the cloud tribes cultivation method where they bonded with their mounts to the point of combining cultivation, she supposed.

"Let me ask you a question in turn Emissary," Ostrik said. "Could you explain to me this business with you and these children? The being behind your eyes is certainly the sign of your pact, as your husbands sun shadow is, but I do not understand what I feel between you."

She and gan Guangli shared a look, and Ling Qi grimaced. "Ah that really is another misunderstanding. There are no marriages among our group."

Sixiang stifled a chuckle in her head.

Ostrik blinked, a look of mild surprise crossing his features. "Are you seeking to seal a marriage alliance then? That seems hasty for a first meeting."

"No, we are not," Gan Guangli said, a little too quickly.

"We are not," Ling Qi agreed.

Ostrik shook his head, he seemed a little disapproving in the look he gave Gan Guangli now. "Well, regardless, you haven't answered my question Emissary."

"It is a little difficult to explain quickly, Ling Qi said, looking down to Zhengui, who was now peering around curiously at the room. Zhen seemed a little hypnotized staring into the light radiating from the amber at the center of the chamber. "Under the Imperial methods a cultivator," she saw Ostrik's incomprehension of the word and corrected herself. "A person of power can choose to join their qi with a spirit or beast. The beast provides strength and companionship to the person and the person offers the spirit new avenues of growth."

"So it is like the bonds of the Cloud folk, but less deep and permanent," Ostrik mused, combing his fingers through his beard. "Yes, I suppose that makes some sense."

Ling Qi pressed her lips into a thin line. It really wasn't the same at all.

"I don't think he's wrong exactly. If he is, it's just a matter of degree," Sixiang chided.

Maybe, Ling Qi allowed grudgingly, it wasn't worth arguing over regardless.
"Hey, Mister Ostrik, do you have another one of those candies?" Hanyi piped up from her side, smiling sweetly.

The foreigner let out a chuff of laughter and reached under his mantle to procure another. "Only one more young miss. You'll get yourself sick otherwise."

"Thank you!" Hanyi chirped, all but snatching it out of his hand.

Ling Qi huffed, it was amazing how fast that girl's mood could turn around. "Well, thank you for your time and kindness sir. Will you be staying awhile Gan Guangli?"

"I think I should like to," Gan Guangli said. "If sir Ostrik would allow it, I would enjoy conversing further on our differences and similarities."

"I can free the afternoon, particularly for a young man in so much danger, given the sensitivity of all this" Ostrik huffed. "Better you stay with me than find yourself in the barracks."

Ling Qi coughed uncomfortably, the implication was bizarre. The foreigner sounded like a scolding grandmother. Gan Guangli's expression screwed up in disbelief as well.

"Well," Ling Qi said a touch too loudly. "I meant to ask, Sir Ostrik, is there a place like this for those of my type. If I am to speak in the role I have. I think it would be better to understand your customs better."

The sun priests were interesting and she had definitely learned more of how these people organized themselves socially, no matter how strange it was. If she wanted to succeed though she thought she likely needed to think of the counterparts, she still didn't know precisely what the title they assigned her meant.

Ostrik looked thoughtful as he nodded. "I suppose so. You'll find the shrine of winter, the lesser one at least, further along this hall here," he said gesturing to the entrance on the far wall. He gave her a series of directions, and with a final bow, Ling Qi parted ways, leaving gan to his discussion on the nature of the Sun with the older man.

The path she took was not a long one, though it took many turns. This place, Ling Qi decided would be a nightmare to invade with peer forces. She trailed her fingers along the wall, and found herself unable to press through the densely qi rich iron. It was like trying to push through another cultivator.

As she drew closer to the shrine, the painted sky overhead began to burst into the rich colors of sunset, and then fade into black. With every step she took, the light dimmed. Had she been a mortal still, it would have been pitch black by the time the passage opened into a tall cylindrical room with a domed roof.
Arranged around the room, she saw three statues of iron, their heads near the ceiling some five meters up. On the left was a young woman in rich furred regalia. A spiked crown similar to what Jaromila had worn in battle rested on her head. A scepter was clasped in her right hand and raised toward the roof. Her left hand clasped a sparkling orb of crystal to her chest.

In the center was a mature woman, whose hands held weapons of gleaming blue ice, a pair of axes, raised over her head. The mature womans expression was a defiant snarl and her hair hung loose and wild about her shoulders. Scandalously, the woman was garbed in only the hide and fur of some unidentifiable beast, wrapped around her shoulders like the cloak. The rest of her body was wholly bare and rendered in uncomfortable detail.

On the right was a crone. Hideous, with sagging jowls, a pointed chin, a bulbous nose and wild strawlike hair. The crone bent over a table and held a mortar and pestle in her hands. She was garbed in shapeless robes and furs, and her expression was a snaggle toothed smile exposing crooked fangs. A necklace of human skulls was carved hanging about her neck.

Which statue did Ling Qi approach?
[] The Young Woman
[] The Mature Woman
[] The Crone