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

Ling Qingqe and the Dream Horse, Gallop 1: Upon Fields and Plains Below Distant Stars

It had not been the best day she'd ever had, but it'd been far from the worst. She rode on Lightning, and Lightning she wielded, and a dozen bandits that seemed to be barbarians had fallen… but where had they come from? She had been riding for many days, hoping that her leave of absence would extend this far--the Sect being generally at peace and her work against bandits being appreciated by plenty of Lords--but she knew that chasing down rumors of a Dream Horse was a little bit beyond her remit.

But Lightning had been curious. She was not much of one for the Liminal, Ling Qinqqe preferred the pure physicality of it, of being stronger than anyone who'd look at her and see the child of servants, of that smell of grass and freedom when you run through a meadow… or indeed ride through it. Of sweat on your brow from honest work, but not servile work. Of everything that was lacking whenever she visited her family in that dreadful city.

At some point she had begun to like sleeping under the stars and seeing no great buildings for miles around if she could help it. Such was the nature of Cultivation, that you climbed and climbed and shaped yourself into something odd. She'd noticed it, just how odd and strange all of her peers were… those who did not hate her, for she was known as a very lucky commoner indeed. There is no such thing as fate, but Chance is a part of the beautiful chaos of the world.

Lightning's sire… if she ever reached impossible heights of Sovereignty, Lightning would be able to naturally keep up with her. A truly powerful spirit, a truly kind and spirited friend… if sometimes easily spooked. It was the nature of horses, though, to be spooked sometimes, even those who were as much spirit as horse. She had in the last year discovered a truly impressive Cultivation Art, and she'd always been very lucky in battle and peace as well.

Such was life!

The only thing she hungered for was a second bound spirit, because perhaps a hawk or dog would be good for her. Good for hunting and good for company. She didn't regret seeking Freedom, but if you wanted not to have to go from perch to perch, it was best to be free in company, so that your wings can be strong indeed.

She had the Savage Dirge, a new Art she was working on, but that was hardly company.

"You're lost in your thoughts again, friend," Lightning whinnied out. "Right! I can see something in the distance." There were signs of battle in the distance, or rather her eyes saw that there was conflict and violence in that direction. She headed towards the danger, because that's what it meant to be a hero, and her Way could hardly accommodate otherwise.

A Hero ran towards danger, so that others could be safe!

---

These mountainous plains were not hard to traverse, but as she did she readied herself. She had fought often in her eighteen years, in small ways and big. She'd seen the beasts of the field, and understood that humans are not as different as they think from them. For better and for worse. She was an animal, with her own habits that she could only hope did not become predictable.

She could smell the blood on the ailr, she could take in all the little details of the rolling hills, the way this area has clearly not seen harvesting and planting, but has seen pastoralism and grazing. She can feel with each breath the condition of the world, and she has Arts aplenty that tell her information, because there is no unimportant fact. If you want to live in the world, if you want to be a different kind of animal, free and yet not wild the way the ravening Cultivator of myth and rumor is, you have to understand it. She almost laughed, at the feeling of the reins in her hand that she had only because they had their own craft to them… abilities that had nothing to do with directing Lightning, who hardly needed it.

She was riding into battle, but she knew that she'd try to save whoever it was whose blood was up, whose wounds had made this sign in the very world itself.

Still, when she rounded the hill, she was not prepared for what she saw.

She knew what a Xuanwu said. She'd had a very pleasant month of casual encounters with the scion of a Count family that lived, of course, on the back of a Xuanwu. He was a wanderer, chasing impossible rumors and legends all the way down south, and in truth Ling Qinqqe did not know of a more attractive quality in a man than wanderlust, unless it was basic respect that she too had stories to tell and adventurers to go on. She'd ridden him hard, knowing her control of her body made it entirely safe, and in the hazy afterglow they'd talked long hours of nonsense and stories of growing up.

So she knew what a Xuanwu was, and roughly what they looked like.

A small hill of a turtle, with an young ice-spirit and a beautiful, dark-skinned, tall and ethereal cultivator on it was not what she expected to see at all, ringed on all sides by enemies and danger and yet in the whirlwind as calm and controlled as could be imagined.

She had invented an Art or two in her time, but she was proud of her Body Tale Evaluation, for the body even of those who were more spirit than flesh, told stories of what it was: more physical cultivators were easier to read, and the lower one was, the easier it was to read, but she could tell that this noblewoman was seventeen, almost a year younger than her, and yet well into Framing, a step ahead of her. A prodigy, and the thought always made her want to double and then redouble her efforts.

She was surrounded, and while a few were Yellow, most of the enemies were well into Green, and as powerful as she and her two spirits were, it was certainly not a fair fight, plus there were all those beasts, in this case mostly hounds but also a few birds of prey! It was time to even the odds!

The birds were the first problem, because a fortress the likes of a Xuanwu could only be assaulted from the air. Especially since the ground was frozen, and the music of the howling win dominated. But Lightning, a thunderer, feared no ice and snow, no cruel terrain, and so she called upon one of her Arts:

First comes the lightning…

She drew her shortbow and shot a perfect, streaking shot that slammed into one of the raptors and killed it instantly.

Then comes the thunder…

The others had moved to get out of the way, but not far enough, as the boom of thunder accompanied damage to everything in that direction, and she'd angled it so that the Noble Lady would not be there. Several birds fell from the sky, more stunned than dead, but all at once the pressure on the Lady had eased up.

The hounds and others leapt towards her, trying to drag her down, but she tossed her bow in the air and drew a spear in a single motion, and stabbed down again and again. Strike, strike, strike! This was its own sort of music, because after each strike came a thunder boom of sorts, knocking the enemies not hit around. She could hit a single target, she could hit a thousand, and it was all about throwing the enemy around. Most of them were still alive, but now many of them were wounded and disorganized, and she suspected with how widespread the ice was, the way the chill caught even her, that…

This voice could kill.

At once the ice spread, at once the wind howled, at once people shattered like so much ice, and a battle that they'd already been won turned into a slaughter.

And standing above all of it, on a back of some strange Xuanwu, turtle and serpent both, stood the Lady. Elegant, in control, in command, a prodigy. She battled a moment of insecurity, before this woman who seemed as if she had never known a day of her life when she did not expect and get service, that moved in every motion with power and authority that Ling Qinqqe had struggled with… though she knew that she could never know another's struggles, that to assume these things…

But it was one thing to know, and another thing to feel it. Standing amid the glittering chaos and death, she said to Lightning, "Be on your best behavior, we're meeting a Lady."

"Of course, I'm not the one who would probably pick a fight with a snake, just because it's fun," Lightning whinnied.

Ling Qinqqe nodded. Fair enough! She did sometimes do things just to get a rise out of elegant, well-born people who thought they knew the servility they were owed.

But, let it begin on a good note.

"Hail and well met," she began, and on a whim, she grinned. The Lady was staring at her, as if trying to figure something out… but not quite managing it.

Huh.

…why did a conversation with someone high-ranking feel more terrifying than an army of barbarians?

Wait, why was she asking stupid questions, of course it felt more fraught! But she'd do it anyway!

To be continued! Bold is a Concept, underline is a sort of expression of an Insight, albeit sometimes framed slightly differently to actually fit into the dialogue. Their conversation comes next!

Also, what's the Dream Horse? You'll learn later!