"Come onnnn, I bet I can do it if we just try one more time!" Sixiang complained, glaring at the game stand where colored rings jittered across the floor, crawling back up to the counter. The bottles set out for them to be tossed over rattled with muffled laughter.
The fluffy pinkish antenna poking out of the bushy hair of the mothlike muse behind the counter smirked brightly, leaning on the counter. "Yah! You got it cuz, just one more toss, you almost had it that time!"
The rings rattled, spreading themselves across the counter enticingly.
"You know I could see them contracting mid-throw, right?" Ling Qi said, frowning at the game keeper.
"You know I could hear you trying to sweet talk my rings, right, beanpole?" the muse replied, amused. "And see you fiddling with the wind before that."
"Like you weren't moving the platform the bottles were on," Sixiang grumped.
"Right! That's the game, ya idjits. Now, if you want the next round, that'll be a memory of a breeze at sunset or two of your red human rocks, step up or step out!" The muse said, spreading their upper set of hands while the lower gestured to the line of festival goers behind them.
Sixiang shot her a pleading look, but Ling Qi turned up her nose and huffed. Honestly, those little rings, not staying bought, they were worse than a Tonghou official. "Lets play a different game, Sixiang."
"Fiiine," Sixiang huffed. "Cmon, I see a game table over yonder!"
He tugged at her hand, and she followed after, her frown shifting to a wry smile. "Festival games sure are cutthroat, hm?"
"That's what you get when you're born of the dreams of a big city," Sixiang agreed cheerfully. "So, games?"
"I've seen paiju and mahjong played, but I don't really know the rules. Paiju is the simpler one, right?" Ling Qi wondered. There was no point in gambling games for someone like her on the street, not when she'd just have been robbed by her opponent if she did win.
Sixiang clicked his tongue. "You can see it that way, yeah. It does look like that's what they're playing over here; it's definitely more of a street game. I'll show you the ropes!"
"Sure," Ling Qi said. "Assuming I don't get banned from the table.
"Pfft, come on, you heard my cuz back there, the cultivator cheating is part of the game," Sixiang dismissed. "Though… speaking of you, sure you want to stay out, when you got that big meeting in the morning?"
Ling Qi blew out a breath, as they passed under the gate that led to the little 'park' full of dancing flowerbeds and acrobatic fountain waters, where the game tables had all been set out. "I think I'm well prepared. Fretting over it more won't improve that I think."
"Yeah, " Sixiang said, turning his head slightly.
"...The Minister of Spiritual affairs likely wants to establish where I stand on methods… and maybe chide me for disrupting others, I can handle that," Ling Qi said. "The ith… thats a trickier question, but I have some ideas."
"You'll knock it out no problem, and I'll help ya," Sixiang said cheerfully as they reached the tables. "Now, paiju plays like this…"
Ling Qi listened to Sixiang's instructions intently. If she was going to learn a game, she would learn it well.
***
It was early, the lower edge of the sun still touching the horizon when she met with the Minister. She came to him, not at the temple of Bountiful Earth, but rather at the nondescript but well-appointed office of the ministry of spiritual affairs in the administration district. One might think the Ministry's headquarters in the capital would be less austere, but Ling Qi could see the logic to it.
The Ministry of Spiritual Affairs oversaw a vast web of spirit pacts and served as a congregating place for many varied priesthoods. Anything truly grand could easily offend
some spirit or court. So, simple lines, dun roof tiles, a clean layout. And just a bit of draconic imagery woven into the scrolling of the rails and painted into wallpaper, quietly asserting the Celestial Dragon's spiritual supremacy.
They met, not at a a fanciful shrine, but in a simple office, lit brightly by a formations lamp on the ceiling.
"Minister, thank you for granting me the honor of a conversation, even before the time of the meeting with Law," Ling Qi said, paying respect to the mans position, bowing low.
"As the young heiress' closest spiritual advisor, it seems only sensible that I speak with you, considering the influence you have already shown in the south," Zhu fan said, stroking his beard idly. He did not have a staff in hand today, and though he wore the horned band of his order on his head, his robes were much less intricate today. They were clean, soft earth tones with only a bit of geometric embroidery.
"It is a role I've found came naturally, though not one I received any classical training for," Ling Qi admitted, choosing her words carefully. "I, of course do not mean to cause disruption, merely to aid where I see it is needed."
"Understandable, when one is young, it is easy to see only numerous problems and easy solutions," Zhu Fan said agreeably, gesturing for her to rise and moving to take a seat himself. "And those youthful eyes are not always wrong. There are many lingering problems left behind from Ogodéi's wake."
Ling Qi nodded cautiously. That was a relatively good start to things. It certainly hadn't been the polite rebuke she had feared would be coming her way.
Pretty conciliatory, but I wouldn't expect him to just pat ya on the head and tell you good job either. There's gonna be a lot of buts to those words, I'd bet," Sixiang murmured.
"The calamity of that invasion has left many deep scars," Ling Qi agreed aloud. "Though I do not fully understand the hows of it all."
"The cloud tribes do not interact with spirit courts as we do, and so they have no respect for the rituals and rites and pacts they do not make," Zhu Fan said. "When the people of the South were slaughtered and driven from their homes, the spirits they had cultivated as their neighbors were merely collateral, uprooted and replaced by wilder spirits born from the torrential floods."
There was a heavy beat of silence.
"Great Tsu became the bountiful earth, and ordered the seasons, which were themselves but expressions of Yin and Yang energies in the world. Rising heat, highest heat, falling heat, lowest heat," Zhu Fan continued. "This he made a cycle, rather than a chaotic jumble, and man's wars cannot disrupt this. But the smaller details…"
"When do the rains come, how often, in what quantity. Which rivers flood and where, when does the first crop killing cold come? These things are the work of much smaller spirits," Ling Qi said, filling in the answer to the unspoken question. "This is one of the things I have sought to stabilize, the coming of the snows at least.
"It is a unique method," Zhu Fan said, dragging his fingers slowly through his beard. "Unstable. Your spirit does not have the potency to be such a far-reaching lord."
"She may grow to be so. Her mother was much more potent than she."
"And yet that spirit was only the cold of the mountaintop, not a matriarch of winters to stretch across the province," Zhu Fan replied. "Caution, be wary of what you change. However, I know you act at with the blessing of certain interests among the Meng, so there is clearly a plan. I hope you will convey that I would like to hear it."
That was rather pointed, as far as these things went.
"I mean… Hanyi's thing seems to be working out, but yeah, it's starting to get kinda serious too. That's probably a talk we need to have with Granny Meng," Sixiang said.
"I will raise the matter where I can. If I may, we have some plans to expand to more of a… troupe model to spread the authority involved. Hanyi has also been… learning to cultivate lesser spirits into local agents who can act in her absence," Ling Qi stated frankly.
"That is somewhat reassuring. A roving court is not a new thing, among man or spirit, but it has its own complications," Zhu Fan agreed after a moment's consideration. "But primarily, I would like to speak with you about your thoughts on spiritual organization. You are a rising star of the south and the likely new wave of settlement that will be arriving."
"The Minister thinks so highly of me?"
"I recognize youthful ambition and the success which has granted you influence," Zhu Fan replied neutrally. "The heiress has taken the first steps of solidifying a position. It behooves a wise man to observe the new growth that survives its first winter."
"I cannot say I have no intentions of ordering things toward my own vision of harmony, in the regions that come under my purview," Ling Qi said. "...Nor holding myself back from advising my neighbors."
"Who would be influenced by the extensive spiritual infrastructure being raised before they have done much more than break ground, regardless," Zhu Fan observed, in a voice as dry as dust.
"...I don't know if it could be called extensive."
"It is."
She ducked her head and Sixiang chuckled. "I will defer to the Minister's judgement."
He did not quite sigh aloud or anything so crass, but the flicker of irritability in his aura told her he did not believe she would. "There are several strains of thought, in the purpose of spirit pacts."
Ling Qi nodded. "Meng Duyi has taught me something of this. The Weilu method prioritizes minimizing natural disruption."
"That is how they would put it. I would say, rather, they prioritize taking advantage of and long-term shaping of already present phenomena. The imperial method prioritizes constructing optimal environments for human safety and health. I will not ask you which of these you favor, as it is obvious. But instead, I would ask what you believe the priority of a lord and their priests should be in arranging their environment."
"Is it the ease, health, and happiness of their citizens? Is it the long-term harmony and stability of one's fief, past any mortal man's lifetime, forgoing growth? Is it the productivity of the land, bolstering the wealth it produces? I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter."
Ling Qi rubbed her fingers against the armrest of her chair thoughtfully. That was an interesting way to frame it… How to answer though…
[ ] The health and happiness of one's citizens was the priority, and their ease too, as far as it contributed to those things.
[ ] Without long-term stability all other gains are ephemeral. Nothing lasts forever, but sometimes today's struggles bore tomorrow's bounties.
[ ] The productivity and bounty of a land were the direct foundation of any prosperity its people could have; it only made sense to prioritize that.
[ ] Write-In
AN: Tentatively allowing a write in here, please keep it to a couple sentances, as this is primarily a prompt to discuss spirit and land management and human/spirit relations, so keep that in mind. I retain the right to veto any particular write in.
