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

Baron's Letters

***
Dawn's rays snaked across the small valley that Xing Cheng called home. Slowly mortals began the day. Meals were cooked, clothes donned, and farewells exchanged. Sometimes Xing Cheng envied the mortals he watched over. How long ago had it been since he had gotten a full night's rest?

Not that he needed such things anymore, but it would be nice to feel rested again one day.

His study was situated in such a way that it overlooked the southern hills of his little valley. A large inexpensive window revealed wild flowers growing on the slopes of those hills and hardy herds picking their way through the craggy ground. Visitors often thought that the study was built that way because he enjoyed the wild and changing view it offered. That wasn't true though.

No, this study overlooked the most common approach the cloud nomads took. Pleasant views had nothing to do with it.

Such was the reality of living so far south.

"Dear," a soft voice said, muffled by the heavy pine door of his study, "today's letters have arrived, do you have time?"

"Yes, just finishing up my break, love." Xing Cheng said.

The figure that shuffled into the study was as beautiful as the day he had met her, Xing Cheng thought. Xing Xiuying had the pale features and small stature beloved throughout the Empire, a true jade beauty and something that she took great care to cultivate even as a yellow. Truly their marriage had been a blessing from the great spirits.

He treasured that blessing since other blessings were so hard to come by these days.

"Several letters from baronies and one from a viscount in the central valley." His wife said as she settled into her favorite corner of his study, a chair surrounded by the potted plants she enjoyed caring for. "Finally getting a taste of war has woken them up it seems. Metal prices are jumping up across the province and they are asking how much more we could squeeze from our mine."

"Hmm…" Xing Cheng hummed as he leaned back in his chair, long practice allowing him to hide the flash of pain that the sight of his wife in her black mourning clothes brought him. It had been thirty years since they had lost their eldest to an attack and she had yet to change what she wore.

Jade was beautiful, but difficult to mend once cracked.

"How is the mood among the miners?" He asked, refocusing on current matters rather than his old hurts, his old failures.

"Uneasy." Xing Xiuying said promptly. "The additional guards have quieted the most outspoken among them, but our new foe has sent their superstitions into overdrive."

"Any reply from the sect?" Xing Cheng asked as he reached for a blank sheet of correspondence paper.

"Nothing yet." His wife replied. "Given events in the north, orders for their detection devices are likely flooding through the ministry. A bit of ill luck to send our request right as events escalated."

Xing Cheng sent a pulse of qi across the room, a blanket of warm spring water to encompass his wife. "We'll work through it, just like we always do."

She looked up from the letters and smiled back at him, a bit brighter than yesterday. A win if there ever was one.

"My first idea," Xing Cheng continued as if nothing had happened, "is to write to our local barons and try to get us all to share the costs and use of one of those detection devices. We don't need a full survey after all, just enough to set the miners at ease. Once the miners are at ease we can start digging out more ore."

"That should work." Xing Xiuying said, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Start with Lord Pan. His wife has been mentioning how Lord Pan is biting at the bit to fight these Shishigui. That will get the ball rolling and a larger coalition of barons asking for a service should cut through the noise the Central Valley is making."

Xing Cheng hummed in agreement as his brush slid across the fine paper. An expense to be sure, but so many of his fellow barons got a bit haughty if they didn't think they were receiving their due respect. Better a few more red stones for quality paper than a cold shoulder at the parties.

"Any other letters?" He asked as his brush danced across the white paper.

"The usual droll that I'll take care of." His wife said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "The only other letter that will require your personal attention is one from Lady Ling." There was a strange mix of both pride and deep disquiet in her voice.

"Lady Ling?" Xing Cheng said as he looked up from the letter he was writing. "On behalf of Lady Cai?"

"Thankfully no." Xing Xiuying said. "Just a letter asking for some advice as a new baron to an established one."

"What kind of advice?" Xing Cheng said, laying his brush down on the inkstone.

"It seems our herds have drawn attention." Xing Xiuying said as the letter in question appeared in her hand, there was definitely some pride in her voice at that. She was often the one who took care of those matters. While he had picked up some of what you needed to look for, his wife was the expert among their household. "Lady Ling is asking for advice on what she should look for when she buys herd animals for her new estate."

"What are your thoughts?" Xing Cheng said.

"It's a sounding attempt." Xing Xiuying said without hesitation. "Lady Ling likely has enough funding that she could just buy the advice she needs, and frankly I believe she already has. No, this is an attempt to see who among the baronies of the Foundation are willing to work with her. It would not surprise me if every barony gets a letter from her sooner or later. The poor girl's hand must be cramping by now."

"And should we be willing to work with her?"

Xing Xiuying visibly struggled with herself. "On one hand," she began, "she is far too free in her interactions with beasts and spirits. Far too free. If I was at that party she hosted I would've fainted."

Xing Cheng nodded along. His wife's views on beasts and spirits had always been peak leaning, but her unease had turned to a near hatard after their eldest had died. It was so bad that Xing Jingying, his heir, no longer discussed his plans to get a cave lion cub where she could hear him.

"Yet her achievements speak for themselves." Xing Xiuying continued. "Word has it that she has been at the spear tip for several assaults on the barbarians, old and new. Plus there is her attempt to keep those barbarians from the deep south far away from us. If it works we could finally have a few years of peace."

There was silence in the study. A heavy and deep silence tinged in a hope that neither one of them dared believe in.

"In the end I believe that our course of action can only be decided by you, dear." Xing Xiuying word's broke the silence like glass.

"Very well." Xing Cheng said. "Are there any more letters we should discuss?"

"No, that was the last one." Xing Xiuying said as she stood up.

"Alright, I should be a couple more hours up here, but I'll be sure to be down for lunch." Xing Cheng said.

"Let's have it in the garden." Xing Xiuying said. "The weather is warm enough for it."

"Sounds like a plan." Xing Cheng said as he sent another warm pulse of qi towards his wife. Halfway there it met a similar pulse and they both smiled as their qi twirled around each other.

As his wife exited the study Xing Cheng stood up and walked over to the window overlooking the southern hills of his estate. Beyond them rose the true mountains of the Wall, looming over his little plot of land like the teeth of a beast waiting to devour. Even now he could see clouds gathering, faint wisps in front of the enormity of the Wall. Given enough time though those clouds would gather into a storm that could shake, or even drown, his little valley.

Were those clouds the result of enemy action, friendly action, or just natural processes?

In the end did it matter?

He was a warm spring stream washing away worries and hurt, bolstering the spirit. It wasn't his way to withhold help or advice just because of fear.

"Dear Lady Ling," he said as a sheet of paper drifted onto his desk and his brush was lifted by invisible hands, "It is an honor to hear from one such as you…"

***
@yrsillar Omake