North Winds Fall (Xianxia - Survive the Protagonist)

With a gust of wind, Autumn escaped the main palace building, but her attempt to impede the growing group of Snow family pursuers wasn't as successful.


Swooping up into the air long enough to find the warehouse building on the far side, she flew over the rest of the Palace, landing at the doorway to the warehouse The Snow family can't have been at the Palace long, as no one was guarding the building, so Autumn went inside, hurrying as fast as she could to find something the Spirit considered useful.


Bashing open boxes with bursts of wind power, she only had to wait a few seconds while the spirit evaluated their contents. The first three boxes lead the spirit to give a mental shrug, while at the fourth and fifth, he had Autumn take a few small objects that didn't mean anything to her.

In between bashing open yet another box, an older gentleman arrived in the doorway. He stood with two other young men of the family.


The smooth control of her winds she had previously achieved was gone leaving her clumsy. She tried to blast the three Snow family members away, but all that she produced was a small breeze, instead, she charged at them with her blade.

"Bound to happen eventually. The Winds shift. Every sailor finds the night when the winds die, adrift for a long night, until the late morning gale brings power again."

The elder was trying to use some sort of magical device, and had no choice but the abandon the attempt, and deflect her blade with his staff. Her Dao blade had it's own wind properties, and one of the younger fighters was sent flying backwards when she struck at him.


Deflecting the second youngster's sword, she swiftly blocked and returned a strike against the elder.

While her blade step was a rather inefficient wind power, according to the spirit, it was still effective, as she appeared behind the elder, landing a strike which cut deep, also sending him tumbling into the warehouse. She tried corralling the winds again, and they responded as she surged out the doorway and into the sky. A couple of Snow family members had bows, but Autumn dodged one arrow, and actually deflected another with her Dao blade.

"Just what did you have me pick up back there?" she asked the spirit, as she rose higher and higher, and turned south, leaving the Palace in the distance.

"Last time, I found bargaining chips desired by pirates and ship captains. This time, I found two treasures your own locals may find priceless. Use them to bring more allies on your side."

The spirit nudged her to change her direction. "I have no idea where this village is, but following Grandpa Yang's directions you need to go further west."

~~~

Vong Bo stopped as his father went to ask the men and women who were standing with weapons in the middle of High Town. He recognized some of them, merely acquaintances, but now they all had armbands with a green leaf symbol on them.

What, was this Lin Tsu's personal army now? How couldn't he know all about the "gardener", it was all anyone talked about. His father was not impressed with the Wu family or Lin Tsu and he agreed. These had all been rather pathetic families who suddenly saw themselves as rulers?

"Chun, Le, Lam, and more," Dad said. "They're all 'Enforcing Order'. Someone stole everything from the bank, but I don't think it was the Yang family, they were always good stewards. How could Wu Baozhai and her husband resist the pile of gold?"

"What are we going to do dad?" Bo asked.

"It's time to strengthen your sword arm. I've got contacts with the Park family, we'll find out where they stand."

~~~

Park Li was sitting down for lunch. His wife was organizing his cousins and nephews et all in the treasure search, while he coordinated and gathered information. His sons were his eyes to see what was happening.

Park Meng returned to report in. Finally they had brought over their servants to the Western Palace, and Meng got himself lunch from them before sitting down to give his report.

"The main palace is still empty. We can use it, but we'll need more people if we want to bar it from other families."

Li pondered that. They couldn't split their focus much, being just one family. They had interests in two cities in the west, which meant the West palace had always been their best bet. Recruiting from smaller families in the surrounding area would be needed to build up their strength, but even still, they needed to find out if the Snow family was interested in working together.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"Lin Tsu and the Wu family are moving quickly. They've got a lot of the minor registered families around them, and now they are making a play on Hightown. Sang and Conner familes were around earlier this week, but I haven't seen them since the Wu militia started taking over. The Snow family wasn't at their Capital home. They've probably gone for the North Palace."

"Your brother already reported talking to the Sang and Conner families. They are working together, claiming that they put forward Princess Tia and Princess Kasi as next two in line to the throne. They are demanding that we submit to their claim. But it wouldn't be a Xue family rule, it's not Sang Tia running things, it's the rest of the family. We're not joining sides with them unless we have no other option," Li said.

"Should I visit the North Palace next, and see if we can contact the Snow family there?" Meng asked.

"Very carefully. It's intruding on someone's territory, right at their front door. Announce your presence and wait for them to come to you," he said to his son.

"One more thing, of course, we've all heard Xue Chi wasn't captured in the fight with Lin Tsu, but it looks like Xue Thu also escaped, and there's reports that she's still around the city somewhere."

"That daughter never had any importance or influence anyway. Don't bother investigating her."

~~~

As she approached the Lake Grandpa Yang had mentioned, she saw snow melting, and ice starting to break up on the lake. Fishing was always a curiosity of hers, even though she had only gone fishing once. She knew a lot of the people who lived as fishermen would fish on the ice during the winter. The western sea never froze over, but lakes like this one were frozen for much of the winter and early spring.

In between the Ice fishing season and regular fishing, the locals must be taking a hard earned break, she guessed.

She didn't want to cause alarm, so she landed near the waterfront, sheathing her dao blade and walked the rest of the way into town. From the Arctic Chill at the North Palace, it was a sunny spring day, with only an occasional gust of wind reminding her of the season.

The village probably didn't see many strangers. Who knows what family had authority over the village tax rolls, but they probably interacted with the Capital rarely. She couldn't tell if the village had a central location. There were a few people about, either outside their homes or walking somewhere else, but it was very quiet she felt.

Finally, she asked a women who was carrying a pail filled with snow. "Do you know where the Yang family lives around here?"

"Who's askin'?" she said.

"Friend of the Yang family of the Capital city. They were planning on meeting their relatives who live here. I expect I'm here ahead of them."

"On the way out of town. That way," she said pointing. "Pa Yang was taken ill last fall, there's not been much good around those folk in a while."

"Is there anywhere I could pay for a room around here?"

The lady laughed. "Ol' Uncle will set you up. Do they even use copper coins in the capital?"

"Copper?"

"Kent exactly be paying silver for our taxes, now ken we? See, copper coins. Twenty for a shiny silver. I've got a few squirrelled away."

She had never seen a copper coin like the ones the lady showed her. They were small and dull.

The lady winked at her.

"Where do I find Old Uncle?"

"Com' on."

While the man called Ol' Uncle was rough looking, with a scraggly beard, he was very excitable. He nearly offered to sell his place to Autumn when she offered 15 silvers to stay, but instead he told her she could rent a room forevermore for that. She found that his rate was 2 coopers a week after he talked her ear off for a while. She didn't plan on being there much, but it was nice to have, so she would deal with the rustic furnishings.

She didn't dare show her gold coins for fear of causing the man to have a heart attack. "Uncle" as he insisted on being called, wasn't too fond of the lady who had introduced them.

"She's just bat lady. Ignore her, everyone around town does," the man said.

She had only what she carried on her person, so she was about to leave when Uncle spoke up. "Where 'ya headed?"

She told Uncle that the local Yang family had relatives from the Capital city who were on their way. She decided it wouldn't be smart to reveal that they were bankers.

"I'll take you over there in the mornin'. There's a fair few who would like to be introduced. I thought I'd make supper as appreciation. There's a stream a ha' mile out of town if you want to clean up. I didn't expect any guests so I didn't pull water ahead of time."

She contemplated immersing herself in cold spring waters to get clean. The last time she had taken a bath was just before bed, the night everything went crazy. She would hold off for another day. Maybe the spirit would give her an idea. Going straight from heated water in her own tub to a freezing cold stream sounded extreme.

"I'll see you at dinner then. I have a few other things to get done in the meantime," she told the man.

She spent the rest of the afternoon doing a few simple things. She got a good view of the village from the sky, finding no signs of anyone from the big families of the capital in the area. She found an out of the way area, and practiced her Dao blade and wind powers, trying to integrate them more thoroughly into her fighting style. It would take a lot of practice but she wasn't afraid of that.

She didn't land in the village, but instead made sure she wasn't spotted by landing a few miles out of town and walking the rest of the way back.

Autumn was impressed by how well the village had saved and preserved it's past year's harvest, as "Uncle"'s rural dinner party included roasted potatoes, and pickled vegetables in addition to chicken as the main meat. Whatever was in the cup he handed over was pretty foul however. She nearly gagged on the overwhelming power of potent alcohol tickling her throat.

It wouldn't do good to let herself get drunk, she really didn't know these people.


She missed this kind of thing. Despite being a much simpler affair, and not knowing these people, she appreciated the attempt to welcome her. While she took a few sips of the drink handed to her, most of the farmers and villagers around "Uncle"'s table were on their way to drunk by the end of dinner.

One of the ladies who had been telling many of the tales about all of her neighbors to the table suddenly asked Autumn, "Wha's exactly between you and the Yang family anyway? Are you engaged to one of the City Yang boys?"

"Not exactly," she said, keeping her wits about her. They had no clue who she really was, so she was truthful. "My father was a good business partner of theirs. He passed on recently, and I had to go up north and deal with some business there, but I told the Yang family, I would meet them here."

Everyone at the table gave their condolences over her father's death.


Vote: The next morning

[ ] Take "Uncle" up on his offer to introduce her to the local Yang family.

[ ] Search for Grandpa Yang's group on the roads and accompany them.

[ ] Inform the locals that you are looking to hire some private security. Find out who has weapons and armor to be of use.

[ ] Explore the surrounding region looking for other villages or towns or an accurate map of the region.

If the village was quietly weird but somehow charming, and "Uncle" rough around the edges but a good hearted character, she couldn't say such good things about the Yang family homestead. It was really rough and barely apart from the wilderness around it.

"Uncle" knew enough to complain about the condition of the piglet that they found up the road.

"Sad thing isn't even worth eatin'," he said.

She couldn't quite tell because of lack of experience, and the snow was still on the ground, but there was just something sickly and off about the Yang properties. Even tools were left outside, rusted over the winter, or broken completely.

The smell of the farmhouse as "Uncle" opened the door was awful. She couldn't take another step inside, and instead "Uncle" went inside to talk with who she would later learn was Momma Yang.

Momma Yang's son was younger than Wei but he returned from town a half hour later, walking fast.

"Bo?" Uncle asked the boy.

"Just got done with cousin's."

Autumn felt entirely out of place as the other old Uncle and little boy took care of Momma Yang inside.

A girl who was maybe 4 stared at her the whole time.

Finally a while later, the boy came outside and sat next to her on the crumbling stone half wall, acting older than his age.

"Daddy and me worked with momma's cousin's farm. Feedin' n Cleaning an other chores. Cousin doesn't pay if'n we can't get there. Sisy and momma need cousin's money so daddy went out in the white out.

"Daddy didn't make it to cousin's. He'd been sick so bad when I made him take me to cousin's the first time. I went to cousin's as soon as I could."

Autumn decided on the spot to hire Bo, for what didn't matter. He was obviously a hard working kid who wanted to earn money for his family. She hoped that Grandpa Yang would just adopt the small family.

"Can I hire you to do a few things for me?" She asked Bo.

"I gotta ask Momma and cousin but maybe yeah?" Bo said.

The boy ran inside to see his mother.

Finally Uncle came outside.

"Who is this Cousin, the boy speaks of?" She asked.

"Come on, I'll show you."

So Uncle lead her and the little boy Bo back to another farm.

The Ma farm was thriving, although it still seemed to be an operation run by only Ma Peng, his sons and a dozen or so servants, including Bo.

There were chickens and pigs roaming about looking reasonably healthy, unlike the little piglet of the Yang family.

"The Yang used to be the best farmers in the area, but they were even better at producing sons.

Bo here, his great-great grandfather had 6 younger brothers who lived to adulthood. I guess some of the sons generations back left town working in the army or somethin', and a few others started farms further ways north.

Some of our family fields used to be part of the Yang farm. They grew so big and then that crop blight, and the drought. They've not had any luck since then."

After a very strange morning of farm life, Autumn had Yang Bo's help guaranteed for the next weeks. She got a bag of weird root vegetables out of it too, which she gave to uncle when he mentioned all the ways to cook them up.

With Uncle out in town doing something, she did something a little fun and crazy herself.

"I like to give my employees advanced wages, so you can go take care of your family," she told Bo.

They were sitting on the little rickety bed. She opened up her coin purse, both the little one that she had 2 gold coins, some silvers and now a few coppers. She also opened her secret coin purse that she kept tucked in a hard to spot flap inside her bag, with 31 gold coins and the rest of her silvers.

She explained to Bo, "you've seen these copper coins. This much copper is worth one one these silver coins."

She showed him, and he silently nodded.

"This many silver coins is worth one gold coin. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'll give you one gold coin and two silver coins and ten copper for your advance wages. Now don't expect this much every time you see me. This is advanced wages. When your relatives come, you can put this in the bank."

She carefully put away her secret coin pouch and then filled up her day-to-day one leaving the few coins of Bo's out on the bed.

"Can you keep the shinies for when I need them? I don't want to get beat up," the boy finally asked.

"Sure, but let me write a note, so you know I'm good for it."

She was feeling especially happy-go-lucky about the whole thing, even though she knew it was likely he couldn't read. Even though it made her want to start searching for her younger siblings immediately.

"Advanced wages, for Bo Yang, held for safe-keeping: 1 gold, 2 silver — Xue Thu."

She told the boy that he should take the day off and she'd expect him first thing the next day.

He ran off, taking the copper coins, a bundle of nervous energy.

~~~

In the chaos of families coming and going, the Lu family became a neutral source of information on events unfolding.

While the news about Vong and Ho families was interesting, Grandma Su had never been especially fond of the Vong.

The more important news was speculation that the remnants of the Imperial family, at least Xue Thu was confirmed, were working with the Yang, and planned to meet the Yang family in a remote village in the west.

Grandma Su respected the Yang family, and she had seen Autumn around town. Not always smart, but the girl seemed more together than her brothers at least.

After barely resisting an invasion of their home by the Conner family, the Su headed out of town with whatever they could carry. They would at least confer with the Yang if the Imperial family speculation was false.

They happened on the Hsu family, who had already fled their home with what they could quickly gather up. The Hsu were immediately interested in accompanying the Su, and the two families headed west along the road which eventually reached the Western Sea.

~~~~

The Wu family had already let power get to their head. Lin Tsu saw the sons who once were proud to help smaller families, now looked to command the militia for glory and rewards.

"Jun, go with me to the South Winds. I need to find two more power stones. Our friends won't even let me look through the treasures we found. I can't just sit back and let Xue Thu scheme. Look, they control the Sang family through Tia, Conner through Kasi, Park and Snow families just vanished.

Someone's sowing division in the families, and then the Wu go and start accosting shopkeepers and demanding they prove their loyalty. We have to go."

"Should I call in the others?" Jun asked.

"Just the two of us, I don't want to bug Yako and Mari. They've got families left to take care of."

"I might as well not have," Jun said.

"You have me."

~~~~

The Yang family arrived late that night. After another night of dining at the Uncle's table Autumn promised herself she would repay his generosity.

Uncle even woke up and found places to sleep for Grandpa Yang, his wife, two daughters, sons-in-law and 5 grandchildren, the oldest of which had an infant son, being Grandpa Yang's first great-grandchild.

~~~

Vote: Yang, Su, Hsu family meetings

Chose two things to focus attention on when meeting with the Yang family, and later the Su and Hsu families.

Write ins are welcomed.

[ ] Being Open to still cooperate with other groups of families, especially the Vong - Ho faction, or Park family.

[ ] Representing the Xue family as a full member of the Potential faction. Emphasizing finding and rescuing Xue family members and bringing them onboard.

[ ] Making a Fresh start, apart from the Xue family name. Autumn still wants to find her siblings but she's done with the evil and folly of Xue and what it stands for.

[ ] Bringing Rural families and communities full on board as equal partners with families from the Capital.

[ ] Revealing her powers of Wind, and the looming threat of Pirates landing on the island. Autumn wants to focus the group beyond just the civil war.