Year 45 Month 10 Arc 1-7
Their journey into the mountains began early the next day. It didn't take long to return to the base of the mountain where they had confronted the fairies of the snowstorm the previous day, but now it was time to go beyond that, up toward the mountain peak where the most potent concentration of icy qi slept. This was not going to be like the other confrontations. They were not going to overbear the spirit she could sense sleeping beyond the fold in the northern mountains where a great sheet of ice slept, cradled in a great gorge that cut into the mostly impassable mountains in this corner of the fief. Thankfully, the mountain was not its place of power, or even she would have turned back to do this when she had properly recovered, but the temporary sight formed by the heavy winter clouds would be good enough to…. Communicate.
Especially as they had tamed or made contract with its components, one by one. The icy mountain was a barren thing, all gray stone and gravel, streaked with frost and snow. Here and there, stone gave way to thin soil and here hardy boreal trees clung with their deep roots sunk into rock as well as dirt. Throughout the morning, they picked their way toward the peak, following narrow trails or scaling cliffs with Bao Qian's help, shaping stairs or elevating pillars from the hard mountain rock, which grew more and more icy as they climbed, shot through with streaks of blue and white, frigid to the touch, even beyond the temperature.
"Strange stuff, light and porous rock, but not quite like anything I'd recognize. I wonder how much of it is material property, and how much is just the emanations of the site," Bao Qian wondered. They were stopped for a rest just below the cloudline, one a boulder strewn strip of barren clifftop. He crouched before one of those boulders, which itself looked almost like a single chunk of jagged opaque blue ice.
"It is certainly not actual ice, I can feel the cold qi in it, but the pattern and arrangement is wrong. It is actually stone then?" Ling Qi wondered, leaning on her junior sister's shoulder.
"It is not certain it would retain its properties away from here though," Bao Qian said, dusting the snow off his knees as he stood up.
"Well you can take a chunk down with you," Hanyi said, rolling her eyes. "C'mooooon, I wanna get to the top!"
Ling Qi could tell her little sister was agitated, and she could understand why, the ice qi at the top of the mountain was potent, while hanyi's last meeting with someone like her mother had not been…. Enthusing, she wondered at Hanyi's hurry. Was she just trying to get it over with?
"Ruin my fun will you young miss? A man doesn't get to prospect a novel mineral every day you know," Bao Qian groused jokingly.
"Its a rock," Hanyi said dully.
"Ah but so is a spirit stone, and I know you enjoy what you can buy with those."
"That's not the same at all. Big Sis, tell him!"
"Please take a sample back with you. I'm afraid Hanyi or myself carrying count taint the evidence for whether its stable without a continuous source of cold qi," LIng Qi said instead.
"Done," Bao Qian replied, a rock chisel appearing mid twirl between his fingers.
"Big Siiiiiiis," Hanyi complained.
Ling Qi ruffled her hair, looking up at the clouds in the sky, forming a dense barrier to every one of the senses. "No rush little sister. I suspect we'll be up here awhile regardless."
Not that it took long for them to get moving again, following a winding natural path upward, they soon entered the cloud layer, the moisture hung thick and cold and heavy. Frost crystalized on their clothes, and the air Ling Qi breathed was so dense with moisture than she had to manipulate the air to strain it before she could breath it comfortably. The Whiteout was here, the fairies were hear, other spirits were hear, cowed or curious, they did not block the group's assent.
The world was thin here, Ling Qi could feel, there was barely any barrier between material and spiritual space, up here where this small winter had settled in to begin its season over the valley and hills they now called home.
"We're one step into the shallows here," Ling Qi said into the clouds, where her companions were only vague silhouettes, though Hanyi's hand resting in hers was good and solid.
"I thought I felt a certain itch," Bao Qian said. "Will it break through entirely you think?"
Ling Qi considered their surroundings, the filmy feeling of the wavering border between real and dream brushing over her skin like a silk curtain flapping in the wind. "...No, no the mountain is too much of an anchor for that."
"Thank goodness for that. I like good stone under my feet," Bao Qian said, voice echoing distortedly through the cloud.
"Lets just keep climbing. These guys are still circling us, waiting to see if we slip," Hanyi said. "Buncha jerks, gonna need more lessons."
Ling Qi supposed they were. It wasn't a once and done thing what Hanyi was going to do, she would have to reinforce her authority again and again, until it was as natural as which way the wind blew in spring. She gave her junior sister's hand a squeeze, and the three of them kept climbing.
It was the better part of another hour before their heads broke through the top of the clouds, and they reached natural foyer of the palatial cavern which awaited them.
Their reflections gazed back them from countless angles. There was a gash in the side of the mountain as if some giant had split it open, a cleave that went deep into the mountain rock on the northern side, and in that cave as an array icy formation. Stalagmites and slagtites of reflective glittering blue ice, like jagged fangs in a horizontal mouth, frozen sheets the rippled and cast rainbow light into the depths of the cave, like waterfalls captured in stopped time, and stranger shapes too, all resting atop a cavern floor so mirror smooth that looked like one could fall into it.
And perhaps one could. It reflected the north after all, it reflected the great mass of ice and stone and dirt that was the little glacier nestled in these mountains, far smaller than that which fed Snowblossom perhaps, but impressive anyway.
Bao Qian let out a low whistle, shading his eyes. "Now that's a site if I've ever seen one. It's not fully material is it?"
"No, I understand why the surveyors missed this, why I missed this. I might not have been able to navigate us here a few months ago," Ling Qi said, shaking her head.
"A good find for you then, but not particularly exploitable then," Bao Qian said sadly. "Shame, though it is a beautiful sight."
"I suppose that depends on how our host ends up feeling about me," Ling Qi said neutrally, peering past her many reflections and into the mirrored floor. There was a strong connection to the glacier, enough so that she was certain the spirit of this place was also its manifestation… or least one reflection of it. They'd have to tread carefully and politely.
Hanyi stepped ahead of them, crossing her arms and tilting her chin back as she gazed into the depth of the cave. "Not even gonna send anybody out to greet us? Rude."
Ling Qi chuckled awkwardly and placed a hand on Hanyi's head. "I think the last few days have counted, lets move in, and find a place where the spirit can be communed with. I think it won't be too far into the cave. Bao Qian, can I ask you to keep defenses up, my sensory arts are mostly recovered, but those are less so."
"As you like, are you certain we need to go into the caves?" Bao Qian asked, eyeing them warily. "I don't doubt that your voice would carry."
"It would but that would be… less efficient?" Ling Qi wondered tapping her chin. "The spirit of the peak and the glacier will hear us better inside."
"I defer to your expertise," Bao Qian said, he fiddled with a pouch at his belt, and his hand emerged with a single dark green gemstone, polished to a shine and many faceted, hold onto this if you would, it will resonate with my techniques if they are needed."
She weighed it in her palm and nodded, the solid metallic qi latticed into the gemstone was easy to feel.
"And one for the young miss too."
She observed Hanyi with a smile as she held a similar gem right up to her eyes looking greedily at its shine.
And they moved toward the cave. The air grew ever more frigid as they passed under the gleaming icy fangs, as if they were walking into the mouth of a beast. The reflection though, was not a natural one. No Under her feet, Ling Qi could see herself and the others trekking over the glacier she could see their feet leaving prints in the snowcap, and their misting breath carried away on the lonely howling wind.
Indeed she felt a little dizzied, as if she truly were in two places at once. They soon came to an open space in the glittering formations of the cave, a wide circle, surrounded by pillars of opaque ice, where she could feel a strong thrum of icy qi
And their reflection upon the glacier stood before an icy spire of rock standing out like a spike driven down into the center of the glacier, a black crack in its center leading below.
Ling Qi contemplated it, and turned her eyes to an arch of stone on the far side of the cavern, inky darkness even her eyes could not pierce lying over a shallow natural stair.
She would…
[ ] Stop here in the glittering foyer, with your twin standing reflected on the glacier beneath raise your hands a sing for an audience with the winter of the region [+2 Xp to Expression]
[ ] Go deeper still, where light and reflection fades, where even the ice grows black, and call to the winter maiden of this region in her home. [+2 Xp to Isolation]
Especially as they had tamed or made contract with its components, one by one. The icy mountain was a barren thing, all gray stone and gravel, streaked with frost and snow. Here and there, stone gave way to thin soil and here hardy boreal trees clung with their deep roots sunk into rock as well as dirt. Throughout the morning, they picked their way toward the peak, following narrow trails or scaling cliffs with Bao Qian's help, shaping stairs or elevating pillars from the hard mountain rock, which grew more and more icy as they climbed, shot through with streaks of blue and white, frigid to the touch, even beyond the temperature.
"Strange stuff, light and porous rock, but not quite like anything I'd recognize. I wonder how much of it is material property, and how much is just the emanations of the site," Bao Qian wondered. They were stopped for a rest just below the cloudline, one a boulder strewn strip of barren clifftop. He crouched before one of those boulders, which itself looked almost like a single chunk of jagged opaque blue ice.
"It is certainly not actual ice, I can feel the cold qi in it, but the pattern and arrangement is wrong. It is actually stone then?" Ling Qi wondered, leaning on her junior sister's shoulder.
"It is not certain it would retain its properties away from here though," Bao Qian said, dusting the snow off his knees as he stood up.
"Well you can take a chunk down with you," Hanyi said, rolling her eyes. "C'mooooon, I wanna get to the top!"
Ling Qi could tell her little sister was agitated, and she could understand why, the ice qi at the top of the mountain was potent, while hanyi's last meeting with someone like her mother had not been…. Enthusing, she wondered at Hanyi's hurry. Was she just trying to get it over with?
"Ruin my fun will you young miss? A man doesn't get to prospect a novel mineral every day you know," Bao Qian groused jokingly.
"Its a rock," Hanyi said dully.
"Ah but so is a spirit stone, and I know you enjoy what you can buy with those."
"That's not the same at all. Big Sis, tell him!"
"Please take a sample back with you. I'm afraid Hanyi or myself carrying count taint the evidence for whether its stable without a continuous source of cold qi," LIng Qi said instead.
"Done," Bao Qian replied, a rock chisel appearing mid twirl between his fingers.
"Big Siiiiiiis," Hanyi complained.
Ling Qi ruffled her hair, looking up at the clouds in the sky, forming a dense barrier to every one of the senses. "No rush little sister. I suspect we'll be up here awhile regardless."
Not that it took long for them to get moving again, following a winding natural path upward, they soon entered the cloud layer, the moisture hung thick and cold and heavy. Frost crystalized on their clothes, and the air Ling Qi breathed was so dense with moisture than she had to manipulate the air to strain it before she could breath it comfortably. The Whiteout was here, the fairies were hear, other spirits were hear, cowed or curious, they did not block the group's assent.
The world was thin here, Ling Qi could feel, there was barely any barrier between material and spiritual space, up here where this small winter had settled in to begin its season over the valley and hills they now called home.
"We're one step into the shallows here," Ling Qi said into the clouds, where her companions were only vague silhouettes, though Hanyi's hand resting in hers was good and solid.
"I thought I felt a certain itch," Bao Qian said. "Will it break through entirely you think?"
Ling Qi considered their surroundings, the filmy feeling of the wavering border between real and dream brushing over her skin like a silk curtain flapping in the wind. "...No, no the mountain is too much of an anchor for that."
"Thank goodness for that. I like good stone under my feet," Bao Qian said, voice echoing distortedly through the cloud.
"Lets just keep climbing. These guys are still circling us, waiting to see if we slip," Hanyi said. "Buncha jerks, gonna need more lessons."
Ling Qi supposed they were. It wasn't a once and done thing what Hanyi was going to do, she would have to reinforce her authority again and again, until it was as natural as which way the wind blew in spring. She gave her junior sister's hand a squeeze, and the three of them kept climbing.
It was the better part of another hour before their heads broke through the top of the clouds, and they reached natural foyer of the palatial cavern which awaited them.
Their reflections gazed back them from countless angles. There was a gash in the side of the mountain as if some giant had split it open, a cleave that went deep into the mountain rock on the northern side, and in that cave as an array icy formation. Stalagmites and slagtites of reflective glittering blue ice, like jagged fangs in a horizontal mouth, frozen sheets the rippled and cast rainbow light into the depths of the cave, like waterfalls captured in stopped time, and stranger shapes too, all resting atop a cavern floor so mirror smooth that looked like one could fall into it.
And perhaps one could. It reflected the north after all, it reflected the great mass of ice and stone and dirt that was the little glacier nestled in these mountains, far smaller than that which fed Snowblossom perhaps, but impressive anyway.
Bao Qian let out a low whistle, shading his eyes. "Now that's a site if I've ever seen one. It's not fully material is it?"
"No, I understand why the surveyors missed this, why I missed this. I might not have been able to navigate us here a few months ago," Ling Qi said, shaking her head.
"A good find for you then, but not particularly exploitable then," Bao Qian said sadly. "Shame, though it is a beautiful sight."
"I suppose that depends on how our host ends up feeling about me," Ling Qi said neutrally, peering past her many reflections and into the mirrored floor. There was a strong connection to the glacier, enough so that she was certain the spirit of this place was also its manifestation… or least one reflection of it. They'd have to tread carefully and politely.
Hanyi stepped ahead of them, crossing her arms and tilting her chin back as she gazed into the depth of the cave. "Not even gonna send anybody out to greet us? Rude."
Ling Qi chuckled awkwardly and placed a hand on Hanyi's head. "I think the last few days have counted, lets move in, and find a place where the spirit can be communed with. I think it won't be too far into the cave. Bao Qian, can I ask you to keep defenses up, my sensory arts are mostly recovered, but those are less so."
"As you like, are you certain we need to go into the caves?" Bao Qian asked, eyeing them warily. "I don't doubt that your voice would carry."
"It would but that would be… less efficient?" Ling Qi wondered tapping her chin. "The spirit of the peak and the glacier will hear us better inside."
"I defer to your expertise," Bao Qian said, he fiddled with a pouch at his belt, and his hand emerged with a single dark green gemstone, polished to a shine and many faceted, hold onto this if you would, it will resonate with my techniques if they are needed."
She weighed it in her palm and nodded, the solid metallic qi latticed into the gemstone was easy to feel.
"And one for the young miss too."
She observed Hanyi with a smile as she held a similar gem right up to her eyes looking greedily at its shine.
And they moved toward the cave. The air grew ever more frigid as they passed under the gleaming icy fangs, as if they were walking into the mouth of a beast. The reflection though, was not a natural one. No Under her feet, Ling Qi could see herself and the others trekking over the glacier she could see their feet leaving prints in the snowcap, and their misting breath carried away on the lonely howling wind.
Indeed she felt a little dizzied, as if she truly were in two places at once. They soon came to an open space in the glittering formations of the cave, a wide circle, surrounded by pillars of opaque ice, where she could feel a strong thrum of icy qi
And their reflection upon the glacier stood before an icy spire of rock standing out like a spike driven down into the center of the glacier, a black crack in its center leading below.
Ling Qi contemplated it, and turned her eyes to an arch of stone on the far side of the cavern, inky darkness even her eyes could not pierce lying over a shallow natural stair.
She would…
[ ] Stop here in the glittering foyer, with your twin standing reflected on the glacier beneath raise your hands a sing for an audience with the winter of the region [+2 Xp to Expression]
[ ] Go deeper still, where light and reflection fades, where even the ice grows black, and call to the winter maiden of this region in her home. [+2 Xp to Isolation]
. This arc has been partly about characterizing Bao Qian (alongside developing FFS and I say we go deep.
