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

"The services of the geomancer, for certain." said Ling Qi, after a long pause for thought.

"I do find our methods are better in lands not prepared for human settlement." said Meng Dan affably. "I am sure it will serve you well."

Ling Qi nodded absently. With Wang assistance for architecture and Meng assistance for settlement planning, things would probably turn out interesting if they invested their efforts well. Considering what she had glimpsed here in Xiangmen, something unusual wouldn't be out of place in the Emerald Seas. Their land could use some unique character.

Of course, her choice had really been motivated by Zhengui's interest. He wanted to learn more about the flows of natural and spirit energy involved in geomancy, and now she could do better than her own fumbling efforts copied from beginner's texts on the matter.

Yes, given that and the supporting reasons, choosing the geomancer was easy. The other choice was more difficult, however.

The work of a sixth-realm master craftsmen was immeasurably valuable, as were the notes and works of masters in the footsteps of a music Grandmaster. She could see value in both, and the time was coming in Ling Qi's cultivation for her to shape the jumble of arts she practiced into something cohesive and unique to her. Yet, if she was honest with herself, she didn't have a huge grounding in human musical theory. Her knowledge came from the lessons of spirits and her own impulses.

...Of course, going by the legends, that wasn't too different from the Grandmistress herself. Still, a chance to study and more fully understand the music of the Emerald Seas was powerful.

The other problem with the flute was simply... she didn't yet know how to handle the loss of her first. She still had not really confronted the ugly, confused feeling that had been lurking in the back of her mind. Right now, setting herself on a sure path didn't seem right.

"I think I would like the notes and works. I need to think of my future land, but if I can't develop my own cultivation it's meaningless. I don't know when I would find the time to go reagent hunting, either."

"Well, I can certainly understand the choice. It is important to be able to rely on one's seniors in a field, if only indirectly," replied Meng Dan.

"An unfamiliar experience, but I'd like to try it out," Ling Qi said dryly.

"Then, let us proceed to the details," Meng Dan said, sweeping aside the unchosen contracts to leave the two she had chosen. Ling Qi sighed as she tugged the first one over, preparing to focus on all the niggling little details.

Even if the Meng were friendly, she was not about to sign anything she hadn't thoroughly read and understood.

Digesting and haggling over the rest of the details was a lengthy task, but she found no sneaky little clauses or deceptive wording - for legal contracts they were both refreshingly straightforward. The Meng would provide the geomancer's salary, cultivation supplies, and reagents for his work. There was a small tangle in the form of an arbitration clause, indicating she would have to renegotiate with the Meng if she asked the geomancer to undertake a project which exceeded the supplies he was given and couldn't provide herself, but she suspected she would have to undertake something quite absurd to trigger that.

The notes were less complicated. What she would receive were full copies of the works in question, and while the contract stated that she was only to share direct access with members of the Ling Clan, derived work was naturally hers to do with as she pleased. It was fairly standard for this sort of transfer, from what she understood, though it was highly unusual for a count clan to make such a deal with a mere Baroness. The copies would be available in one month's time, in order for the necessary rites to be performed for the spirits of the original copies. The Geomancer would be made available at her leisure, with his term starting when she made the request.

She'd have to talk to Renxiang, but it might be a good idea to put that off until they'd finished surveying things in a few months to avoid wasting anyone's time.

It was growing dark by the time they left the Meng manor. The meal provided by the household staff had been delicious, and of limited enough size that Ling Qi didn't feel too wasteful for it. The tea had been good too, comprising a number of dark and earthy blends. Together with the negotiations, she really did feel like things had gone very well. She might still be dancing on the edge of her ability, but times like this made her believe she was actually making some headway in this whole nobility business.

"Ah, you're too hard on yourself." chided Sixiang.

Maybe, thought Ling Qi, leaving the misty grounds behind. She rejoined the main street that wound along the immense branch of Xiangmen, with the leafy green canopy still so unimaginably far above. It was strange - there wasn't a single person walking around below the second realm. There was much less of the reflexive obedience she had grown used to from the residents of the Sect town. The palanquins and processions of greater nobles still earned more familiar reactions here, but Ling QI felt... mundane. She was someone of status, but not someone of note.

It was a confusing feeling. Her life had gone from one extreme to another, and now she didn't know how to feel about balancing in the middle.

Everything was so bright up here - lanterns, qi lights, and paint that lit itself with inner flame. The upper reaches of Xiangmen were a riot of competing artistry, each building seeming to metaphorically shoulder to the front of the crowd as if to proclaim 'Only I deserve attention!'

Tonghou was a hideous little hovel of a city, wasn't it? But did it have to be? If a few stones spilled down from these branches and into those streets, wouldn't they be transformed?

Probably not, ruminated Ling Qi, stopping to look through the window of a shop. It sold glass ornaments and statues, from the look of it. Beautiful work, really, even if it was a little gaudy. If those stones did spill down, they would only vanish into powerful pockets and the streets would never see them.

"Feeling a little philosophical, huh?" drawled Sixiang. "I think you know it doesn't have to be that way."

Maybe not. Well, not everywhere at least. She didn't know much of ruling, but she liked to think she could at least do better than Tonghou.

"Nobody should be hungry," proclaimed Zhengui solemnly.

Ling Qi hid a small smile behind her sleeve and stepped into the shop. She emerged a few minutes later with a small padded package in her storage ring. Her Mother would probably appreciate the blown glass flowers. A novelty, from a world far away, for her.

"Hm. What is the plan?" Sixiang asked. "It's getting pretty late."

They would drop off Hanyi and Zhengui and then, well, have a night on the town.

"Hah! That's more like it! If the mortals are this lively, my side is gonna be great!" Sixiang exclaimed.

"Not fair I have to stay here." grumbled Hanyi.

"Big Sis got hurt last time. Shouldn't Gui come too?" asked her little brother worriedly.

Having more people along would make things harder, not safer, thought Ling Qi, stepping to the side of the street as a well-dressed nobleman's procession passed by. Fourth realm, from a count clan, though she couldn't remember which one. She caught him glancing her way, and could see him trying to place her for a moment before dismissing her.

There was still some value in not being too well-known.

"Yeah, I gotta agree... We need more practice before we can bring you guys along. Give us a little time." asked Sixiang, adding to her words.

Her other spirits grumbled and complained a little more, but she knew they understood. The trip back to their guest home passed in peace. She left Zhengui in the garden and Hanyi in her room, with a promise that she'd take her out dress shopping tomorrow morning to mollify her complaints. She stopped by Cai Renxiang's room and left a note saying that she would be out for cultivation until morning.

Then it was back out into the darkening streets. Xiangmen, unlike many places, didn't seem to fully shut down with the falling of night. There were less people, some venues were closed, but music and voices and shouts still filled the arboreal street.

"Do you actually know where you're going to go?" asked Sixiang curiously, materializing a physical form to walk beside her. Slender, pale, in a cream-colored dress with shimmering prismatic embroidery, they looked like an androgynous girl her own age. Even their hair was half-tamed for once, tied back in a braid and only very slowly changing color through the spectrum.

"Not yet," replied Ling Qi thoughtfully. "I think... I think I need to experience the city a little first, and I wouldn't mind some more time to think."

"Well, let's hit the town then!" said Sixiang cheerfully, bumping her shoulder. "Just follow my lead. Pretty sure I know how this works."

"Lead me not into vice, you miscreant," Ling Qi sniffed, imitating Meizhen to her best effort.

"Oh, you don't even know." laughed Sixiang, taking her hand as they stepped along the brightly lit street. "Let's see what weird little corners we can find."

It was funny, thought Ling Qi. For all that she was born in a city, this was the first time she had really explored one. If she was honest, Xiangmen was still so massive that it was hard to think of it as one city. If she looked into the distance, she could see glittering constellations of stars in the distance that were the other settled branches. If she looked down, there was the faint light of the terraces and great city windows shaped in the bark. If she looked up, there was only the great green dome of the leaves that reached beyond the limits of the sky.

It was dizzying.

For now, she chose to stick to this one branch for tonight's exploration. She knew it was officially called the seventh Cloudspire District, but from listening as she strolled Ling Qi learned its colloquial name was the Cerulean Garden. She was a little curious as to the provenance of the name, and a few questions brought her twigward (toward the tip of the branch) where it narrowed to only a few dozen meters across and the broad village-sized leaves clustered close. What she found was a bit mad, to her experience. Built onto the largest of leaves and the branch itself were sprawling apiaries and artificial fields, holding tea plants whose leaves ranged from the deepest indigo to the palest sky blue. They buzzed with bees, mostly normal in size, but there were a handful the size of horses with dark blue carapaces. Human workers and soldiers rode these, dangling from complex slings and harnesses of wood and leather.

Once she spotted them she understood the purpose of the oversized apiary that hung below the branch, suspended on cords of woven metal.

She spent a time wandering the public part of the garden, observing the workers performing their tasks before heading back trunkward. Elsewhere those gardens would be a wonder fit to build a whole settlement around, but in Xiangmen it was but the jewel of a single district.

In the more densely-built part of the district, she came across a theater giving late-night performances. By coincidence she arrived at the start of a show, and after a moment's thought (and some goading from Sixiang) she spent stones on a ticket. The theater was neither low-class nor lavish, but comfortable. There were a handful of boxes for high nobles arrayed about. but Ling Qi chose to merely purchase a seat in the tier above the standing ground. She hadn't even looked at the name of the show, so it was with some surprise that she found herself watching not a historical recounting or an operatic tale but a rather crass kind of comedy.

Despite herself she couldn't hold in a snort of laughter as she observed an actor, painted up in the most exaggerated fashion of a courtier, wailing in outrage after a pratfall into his own lavish office's garden pond. It was such a simple little story, about a clever clerk and his overbearing and pompous superior, with the clerk always finding ways to do his job properly while still finding ways to embarrass his superior when he came to take the credit.

It ended with the superior's final humiliation as his efforts to take credit for his underling's work came undone, and the clever clerk was elevated to be the new director.

It felt so strange for so many resources to be poured into something that was mostly physical humor, quips, and a certain amount of vulgar puns. It was... fun, and Ling Qi could even see the message of it - the virtuous man rises and the corrupt fool falls. She still felt like this show would never be put on in the inner ring of Tonghou.

Leaving the theater, she found herself wandering further, walking the streets among towering manors and sprawling gardens where wealth was on its' fullest display and no walls were needed to keep the streets clear of the twigward neighborhoods' less-wealthy residents. Here she saw palanquins and horses, gardens and courtiers, yards lit with glittering lights and revels attended by swarms of lavishly dressed and painted courtiers. With her aura firmly held in, her dress simplified and her presence masked, she saw the upturned noses at hers and Sixiang's presence - and even once, for the first time, had to let a little power leak into her eyes when she caught a guard approaching with the air of one who was about to tell someone they didn't belong.

How much had really changed? Was it only the surface that saw a cleaning?

She vanished between steps, rematerializing on a leaf hanging from the side of Xiangmen, a small frown on her lips. As interesting as the physical city was, it wasn't her focus tonight.

"It's given us some places to start though," said Sixiang, squatting beside her on the leaf. "The idea you go in with is important, I think."

Ling Qi hummed in agreement. Where to begin, in the dream?

[ ] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
[ ] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
[ ]Xiangmen, City of Light. The glittering luxury above, unchanged and unchanging, or so goes the tale they tell.