Ling Qi hesitated.
She disliked the idea of bringing even minor harm to her family for the sake of strangers. Yet, could she really say that? They were strangers to her, true, but not to her Mother. Could she, who clung to her friends so tightly, rightly chastise her mother for doing the same? She was hardly in a position to judge their character pre-emptively anyway. It was pure luck that she was not still scrabbling in the streets of Tonghou.
That was the trouble with forming connections with others Ling Qi thought wryly, each bond tied you to a wider network still.
"Congratulations, you've rediscovered the roots of this whole 'civilization' thing," Sixiang teased.
'Hush you,' Ling Qi thought, giving her spirit the mental equivalent of an annoyed swat. "Your going to have to make it clear that this isn't going to be easy," she said aloud. "We'll be heading to the border in a couple years, you know?"
"I am aware," her Mother replied. "Yet, my daughter, can you say that you would not have taken that chance?"
That was fair, Ling Qi thought, glancing at Biyu as the little girl looked back and forth between them, not quite comprehending the serious atmosphere that had descended. "I won't condescend to you about responsibilities Mother," she said finally. "I know you understand."
She wasn't concerned about her Mothers management skills, she had always been good at squeezing out the full value of every copper penny in their little household. This was a bigger project, but having learned more of her mother's background, she was certain that she had education in such matters. "I'll make the arrangements," she said.
"Thank you, Ling Qi," her mother said bowing her head.
"None of that," Ling Qi said uncomfortably. "Are you thinking of anyone I know?" She asked curiously.
"I doubt you would recall names," Ling Qingge replied with a small smile, raising her head. "That was never your strong suite."
"She has you there," Sixiang drawled.
Ling Qi coughed into her hand self consciously, glancing away. "...Perhaps. In any case, I will take care of the background work. I will leave the letter writing to you."
She could think of a few ways to spin things, to at least give the move some public respectability, she would run them by Cai Renxiang later as well, but for now she was just glad to see the content expression on her Mother's face.
She spent the rest of the morning with her family, chatting with her mother, reading to Biyu, and otherwise allowing herself a short time of relaxation. Ling Qi could not afford to do so too often, but she still remembered Elder Su's lessons. It didn't do to lose oneself entirely in cultivation.
Still as morning turned into afternoon, Ling Qi took her leave, she had another appointment to keep. Her path took her well outside the village, to a travelers inn that sat a few kilometers down the road that lead further into the province.
Meizhen wanted to avoid disturbing the village, Ling Qi thought wryly as she entered. She hoped her friends fine control caught up to the raw power she had cultivated into her domain soon. The inside of the inn was fairly homely, but well kept, with polished wooden floors and undamaged furniture.
She paid her respects to the inkeep, a wizened stick of a man with a full white beard and many many scars at the peak of second realm. From their she received directions up to the room that her friend was currently occupying. It wasn't hard to find, being one of only two rooms on the third floor. The formations work that wound around the stairwell, absorbing spiritual energy from above was rather professionally done. She couldn't so much as sense a hint of her friends aura until she reached the third floor.
Taking a deep breath, Ling Qi stepped up to the closed door and loosened her grip on her own aura, to be sure that Meizhen could sense her, then knocked. She could feel a second presence inside but her friends rather overwhelmed it, preventing her from getting a feel for this 'cousin' just yet.
"Ling Qi, you may enter," she heard Meizhen call from the other side of the door. Ling Qi's eyebrows rose in surprise, she had expected her friend to be more stiffly formal, with one of her family present.
Still, she opened the door and stepped inside the meeting room without hesitation. The room was windowless, and lit by a series of fireless lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It's center was dominated by a heavy polished table surrounded by nearly a dozen chairs. Clearly this was a room meant for larger meetings.
The ones she had come to meet rose from their seats to greet her, and Ling Qi gave Bai Meizhen a polite bow of greeting before turning her gaze to the other person present. This new Bai was… different. Where Bai Meizhen was a head shorter than her and the very picture of imperial grace and beauty outside of her odd coloration, this girl was whipcord thin, and almost tall enough to look her directly in the eye. Her features were narrow, and had a subtly inhuman cast.
Her brows were hairless, with a ridge of fine black scales taking their place, and her lips had a faint blue tinge. Less obvious were the precise shape of her eyes and contours of cheekbones, which all leant her the air of inhumanness. Ling Qi was quite sure that she would have found it incredibly unsettling a year ago. Her hair was a silky black, and worn long like Meizhen's, though she gathered it into a number of braids, two hanging in front of her ears, and the third making a long tail that reached her lower back.
Ling Qi could see the metal glinting among the braided strands. Some kind of weapon, perhaps? Ling Qi wondered. Her gown was unsurprisingly one of the standard Argent uniforms, though the underlayer of the gown was black, peeking out beneath the silver around her collar. The girls expression was studiously neutral, but she was only of the early second realm. Ling Qi could tell that the girl was studying her intensely.
She offered the second Bai a somewhat shallower bow and smiled as she shut the door behind her. "Bai Meizhen, thank you very much for your invitation," she followed her friends lead, and sure enough the younger Bai bristled, a flash of irritation crossing her bright yellow eyes.
"Ling Qi, I am very glad you came," Bai Meizhen replied evenly. "May I introduce my cousin Xiao Fen."
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance," the dark girl, Xiao Fen said stiffly.
"I am pleased to meet you as well," Ling Qi said, examining the other girl more closely. If she had to compare them. Bai Meizhen was a towering serpent, hood unfurled, radiating fear and majesty… this girl was a tightly coiled viper, hissing in furious warning at the human whose foot had just landed in its burrow.
"Have a seat, I have arranged for drinks to be brought shortly," Bai Meizhen said, paying no mind to their mutual staring contest.
Ling Qi nodded politely as they moved to take their seats. "I am curious, how are you cousins if you do not share a name?" That might have been a little mean, she supposed, given the way the younger girl nearly twitched.
"We do not follow imperial convention in that regard," Bai Meizhen replied. "The eight branches of the Bai clan are as one, we do not cast them off as separate clans. Her full name would be Bai Xiao Fen, I consider her my cousin regardless."
"You do me honor," the other girl murmured, taking her eyes off Ling Qi for a moment. The look she gave Meizhen was… difficult to read. Still, Ling Qi found herself relaxing a little, whatever this girl was she didn't hold ill will toward Meizhen.
Bai Meizhen glanced briefly at the other girl. "It would be foolish to insult the devotion of the Black Viper with less," she replied. "Regardless, allow me to make the full introduction. Bai Xiao Fen, this is Ling Qi, she is my best friend, I would like you to treat her with utmost respect."
Ling Qi froze at that blunt declaration, and across from her the younger girl did the same. "Ah, Meizhen, are you sure…?"
"Xiao Fen can be trusted," Bai Meizhen said with finality. "Though we are both younger than usual for this pairing."
Uncertainty still roiled under the surface of Xiao Fen's expression even as she drew herself up. "Of course I would not reveal my cousins… business," she replied with afronttedly.
"I will trust your judgement," Ling Qi replied slowly. There was a backstory here, but this probably wasn't the time for it. "In that case, allow me to repeat myself. I am glad to meet you Xiao Fen. It's good that Meizhen has someone else she can trust."
The girl twitched again when she used Meizhen's name with such familiarity, but nonetheless it didn't reach her voice. "It is good that my cousin has dependable allies," she replied a touch woodenly. "Cousin, the business you mentioned," she added a touch desperately.
"Man, she's kinda thrashing to stay above water there isn't she?" Sixiang mused. Ling Qi had to agree, the younger Bai was clearly very uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken.
"Ah yes," Bai Meizhen replied, giving the younger girl a significant look that told Ling Qi she was aware as well. "In the future, once the initial truce has ended, Xiao Fen will be placing tutoring requests, which I would like you to answer, Qi."
There was that twitch again. She was beginning to worry after Xiao fen's health, Ling Qi admitted. "I… do not mind," Ling Qi began in confusion. "I am not certain how helpful I could be to someone of the Bai clans…" she continued only to pause.
"...Ah, this is about Gan Guangli isn't it?" Ling Qi asked.
"As a matter of furthering our alliance against the vile Sun," Xiao Fen replied, seeming to regain a bit of her balance. "My Cousin has asked that I align myself with his block when the time comes."
"And us meeting during tutoring is a deniable way to pass information around," Ling Qi mused. She took another look at the dark haired girl. Her aura was steeped in darkness around a core of cold fire. Yeah, it was believable on a surface level that the tutoring would be legitimate.
"Among other things. I trust that you will convey my intentions to your Lady?" Bai Meizhen replied.
Ling Qi nodded thoughtfully. Sun Liling was a spiteful girl, and she had no doubt that the outer sect would see… meddling this year, so she supposed it made sense. "I will look forward to working with you then," she said, turning her gaze back to Xiao Fen.
"I will be in your care," Xiao Fen replied, if she had been less self controlled, Ling Qi thought she would have grimaced. "Do you have any advice for success in this… Sect?" Despite that it was clear, to Ling Qi, that the words came to her with difficulty.
Ling Qi thought back over the previous year and everything that had happened. "Find some people you can trust and stick with them."
"Quite," Bai Meizhen added. "Unprecedented situations sometimes call for unprecedented solutions. Heed her Xiao Fen."
The younger girl glanced uneasily between them, and they fell silent as they felt the approach of the server, coming with their drinks. It was strange Ling Qi thought to herself as she accepted the cup of rich cider. She had turned her friend into quite the radical, by the standards of the Bai.
"I'm so proud of you," Sixiang laughed.
Conversation turned to lesser subjects after that, discussing their cultivation plans in the immediate future, and trading commentary on the lessons given thus far. It was she and Bai Meizhen who carried most of the dialogue. Xiao Fen spent most of the rest of the meeting observing them both with a hooded gaze, as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of what she was seeing.
In the end, they parted ways after another hour or so, and Ling Qi turned her thoughts back to less social matters. It was about time that she began thinking about how she wanted to spend her time in the Sect archive.
Oh boy, its that time! Now, I have seen the discussion regarding the archive and this is how it is going to work. Archive actions will allow you to research a particular subject, which will reveal a number of arts for your perusal. Arts generated this way will be placed in an unlearned arts category in the encyclopedia. Now the key thing here is that for arts researched can be slotted into plans for learning at any time, with no further archive AP spent. Once you have done your research it is done, and you can learn the arts as long as you have access.
Now the way this vote is going to be structured is somewhat experimental. Each person may vote for three keywords, which can be elements, weapons, or miscellaneous things like Unity, or Loss. I will then take the top 5 or 6 most popular and generate arts from that, interspersed with more general research into art construction to give the following update some narrative backbone as I go through the rest of the turns cultivation. There may depending on some factors, be a chance to vote on a secondary research topic. The first month is already pretty long and there's still one miniarc left though, so I'm uncertain.
The more exotic the keywords the smaller the number of arts I will be generating though, for both in and out of story reasons.
So votes
[] Keyword 1
[] Keyword 2
[] Keyword 3
