"I've discovered that our foreign guests have their own troubles in the east. The fires of the Sun were not stopped entirely by the Wall," Ling Qi said. "I'd considered that a meeting between their experts on the damage, and ours might be able to speak. A benefit that could be negotiated between us?"
Han Jian cupped his chin and let out a thoughtful hum. "I see, yeah I suppose that would be in my families wheelhouse huh? Surprised your boss isn't going through the Guo though."
"They've been silent, and not showing much interest, would you have any insights?" Ling Qi asked.
Han Jian considered her. "I've
heard that there's something in the eastern wastes that has Grandfather Fortress and the Guo Patriarch occupied. Enough so for the Ancestor to leave his yearly route."
"Sands shift, winds shift, rise and fall, the heart of the waste remain. The Ashes are stirring," the black tigress said, licking her paw.
"That would match what I've been hearing," Ling Qi said slowly. She did still trade letters with XIulan even if they'd been growing more sporadic as her friend got busier as well. Her Father had taken her out on a minor campaign, but apparently the scope had been expanded. According to the last letter, her father had been meeting with some other lords to combine their efforts.
"Gu Xiulan huh?" Han Jian chuckled. "Surprised you even need to ask me."
"Xiulan's perspective is a bit too close to the ground right now, and we both know she gets bored with politics," Ling Qi said, smiling wanly.
"Yeah," Han Jian said with a sigh. "Is she…"
"I think she's happy," Ling Qi said simply.
He let out a breath through his nose. "...That'll do. Anyway. I can send a request up through my clan, see if that's something we might do. I give it decent odds the clan craftsmen will be interested enough to want a chance to chat."
"Not every day one gets to speak with an entirely different lineage of geomantic study, huh?"
Han Fang raised an eyebrow at her. Han Jian was more polite.
"...I have been studying some basics. I'll have an experienced teacher arriving at our fief soon after the summit. I don't want to make him waste time on things I can learn myself," Ling Qi said, crossing her arms and lifting her chin challengingly.
"Yeah, Big Sis, is hitting the books hard!" Hanyi piped up from over her shoulder, where she had remained silent while they spoke formally.
"Sorry, sorry, you're right though," Han Jian said, lifting his hands as if to ward off her ire. "That's what I'm thinking. Someone will at least want to have a chat and size up the other guy. Craftmasters are a lot like roosters that way."
"Puffing themselves up and strutting in circles, plumage on display?" Ling Qi said dryly. "How disrespectful, Han Jian."
"Aw, c'mon, I'm doing you a favor here, don't tell me you're gonna tattle," he chuckled.
She smiled, glanced over the rest, and let some of the tension flow out. "Thank you, Han Jian. I really do hope you've been well."
"The slacker has been… acceptable," Heijin rumbled, his tail lazily thrashing, kicking up little whorls of wind.
"I'm honored your majesty, really," Han Jian said dryly. Han Fang grinned at him, his hands flashing through a few signs.
…That was bold of him.
"C'mon Fang, not you too," Han Jian complained. He looked back at her. "...It's been a good year, I feel like I'm not wandering to nowhere."
She brushed his cultivation with her senses. Felt the wind screaming through the dry grass, whirling in the sands, a cutting blade, though she couldn't see its aim from a polite glance. She dipped her head. "I'm glad. I've… found purpose, unsnarled some things. I too think I know where i am going now, or at least the direction of it."
"The direction is the most we can manage, at this stage. If you think you know your destination already, you're probably mistaken," Han Jian said.
Ling Qi tilted her head.
"Quoting something?"
"Paraphrasing, turning a complex text to a mere pithy anecdote, how shameful," Heijin said, ears flicking. "Cold one, what are you delaying for, your permission to pet me has never been rescinded."
"Ah, is that so," Ling Qi said, crouching at the tigers side, she reached up, scratching behind his ears, and received a rumbling purr in return.
"Sis, you shouldn't indulge stuffy guys like that. They're the ones who should coming to you," Hanyi said, finally dropping off her back.
"The young miss is wise," Sidao said, not looking up from her paw.
Heijin lifted his nose into the air and declined to respond to either.
Han Jian dropped back down into a seated position, his elbows resting against the tigers side. "Still can't really believe all the stories about what you've gotten up to."
"They're probably only… half true," Ling Qi said.
"You hesitated there a second."
"There are some fairly silly rumors around," Ling Qi said.
Han Fang gestured to her. She frowned.
"...No that one is true. But it sounds a little exaggerated?" She'd hardly carried a whole battalion out of the caldera with her mist. "I only parried the enemy's parting blow."
He let out a raspy sigh.
"You're good Fang, you can do everything I need ya too," Han Jian said. "I guess you were probably always meant for crazy stuff, huh?"
"Fortune and talent are intertwined," Ling Qi said, observing as Hanyi put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue at Heijin, the two spirits bickering. She dug her fingers in behind the big cats ears and turned the angry rumble into a purr. "I'm going to be busy with all this… for a long time."
"You've got a couple projects that you could spend a mortal lifetime or two on, by the sounds of it," Han Jian said. "Me, I gotta sit back and wait for my father to approve deployment."
"You requested that?" Ling Qi said, surprised.
Han Fang looked like he'd bitten a lemon.
"I need experiences and merits to bring home," Han Jian said thoughtfully. "And… there's some interest in what the Han have to offer. It's not just you. Better ties with the Emerald Seas, is important right now, I think."
Ling Qi considered. The Han family were the experts who had built the system of geomantic oasis' that made the recovery of the Golden Fields more than a dream. They would be experienced with the spread of corruptive and insidious energies.
"...It's not fun," she said. Looking up. "It's not fun at all, down in the dark, or under a hostile sky. Don't go into it thinking of merits."
"Survival, Victory, Glory. In that order," Han Jian chuckled. "Sounds about like the advice my Father's been giving."
That was a good, pithy way of putting it. "Most would probably say victory first."
"The Golden Fields learned better. A Victory that costs too much is just a pretty defeat," Han Jian said, shaking his head. "Ah, but we're getting off into serious stuff again. Didja know I've got a match in the works?"
"Really? The fields does things way too soon," Ling Qi said. You'd think explosive fallout like her Xiulan and Fan Yu's arrangement would happen enough to ward it off.
On the other hand, of all the provinces, The Golden Fields would be inclined to make fruitful matches early. They had spent a long time in strife.
"You're not wrong. We're just exchanging letters, but she is Half Guo, so it'd be a good alliance," Han Jian shrugged. "Dunno she seems nice enough but I feel way over my head…"
"I can sympathize, I've only just started thinking seriously about that kind of thing," Ling Qi sighed. "Half Guo?"
He grimaced. "Zheng bein irresponsible."
"Oh," Ling Qi said. So, born out of marriage. That still didn't sit well with her. A person should take responsibility.
"Anyway, you actually got a pick in mind?"
"Moon above, no. I don't even know where to start."
***
She stayed there with Han Jian for a time, just chatting, about the past, about the present, about the future. A future that was coming fast for both of them. Moreso for her, but all the same. It seemed like the day they had met in the Outer Sect was much more than two years ago now.
"Did you have fun with Heijin?" Ling Qi asked her little sister absently.
"Ugh, he was annoying the whole time," Hanyi sniffed.
"So you had fun," Ling Qi said knowingly. Hanyi harrumphed and turned her nose up.
Look at her junior sister go, pretending she hadn't enjoyed needling the haughty tiger to the edge of distraction.
"Zhengui could beat him up," Hanyi said.
Ling Qi blinked at the non sequitur. "...I suppose. What does that have to do with anything."
"Just saying, I can do better."
Ling Qi furrowed her brows at Hanyi, who smiled angelically.
"No," Ling Qi said. Whatever that was. She wanted no part of it.
"Hehe, I got you to make the same frowny face the boss lady makes!" Hanyi laughed.
Ling Qi smiled, wrapped her arm around Hanyi's shoulder, and dug her knuckles into the little brats scalp.
"H-hey. Sis, Big Sis, you can't just do that!" Hanyi whined, batting at her hand as she thoroughly mussed her Junior Sisters hair. She didn't even care that they were still in the square, being stared at by aghast disciples.
"I can and I will," Ling Qi replied, letting her go. Hanyi sprang away, scowling at her holding her hands over her head, like she expected Ling Qi to strike again. "Now be good, we have other places to be."
"Like where?" Hanyi said mutinously, muttering under her breath. "That stung…"
[ ] They were going to the medicine hall, the visit Li Suyin, and Elder Su, her one time teacher in the Outer Sect.
[ ] They were going to pay a visit to Guan Zhi, her military instructor, and Su Ling, who was now healed and undergoing a little tutoring.
