Hanyi held her head in her hands. Her head throbbed with pain. Only the cool mist curling around her shoulders let her concentrate.
Not that she wanted to because Zhengui was being a
doofus again.
"Fishy Man messed up again!" Gui growled, glaring at their companion.
"Hmph, I Zhen, think he is just not trying very hard," Zhen sneered.
"This one can only apologize," the not-quite-human, Xuan Shi apologized. His wide hat shadowed his eyes, but even Hanyi could see the slump in his shoulders.
"Gui does not want stupid apologies!" her friend snapped, stomping forward to loom over Xuan Shi. Zhen just let a wordless hiss of rage.
"Will you just shut up already you dummy!" Hanyi finally snapped, raising her head. "Are you really that dumb? He's not doing this on purpose! Big Sis is…" She cut herself off, looking up to the bundle on Zhengui's back.
It looked like a giant cocoon, woven of seven colored silk, anchored to Zhengui's back by threads of spun dream. Faint silvery mist leaked constantly from it, pooling around their ankles, wrapping around them in wispy strands. Ling Qi, her Big Sis, was hurt. She didn't understand the stuff Sixiang had babbled as they spun themselves into a cocoon, but she knew that her Sis was in trouble. She had gone too far with her technique and hurt herself dragging everybody into Dream. Sixiang had said that she had to be isolated until they got out or she would leak, and lose important stuff.
It wasn't fair, Big Sis wasn't supposed to get hurt like this. Momma never got hurt like this!
In the shimmering nothing that hung around them, a clear night sky shimmered, and cold snowflakes fell. There was a tall outline, a graceful and lovely woman reaching out for her.
Hanyi shut her eyes and tried not to scream. She hated this place. She hated hated hated hated it. Momma was gone, Papa was gone, she had promised to grow up. She wasn't going back.
She couldn't go back, even if she wanted to.
"Hanyi does not know that," Gui snapped stubbornly. "Fishy man is…"
"What is even your problem?" Hanyi demanded. "Do you know how to get out! Cause I don't!" she replied, throwing up her hands. Ever since they had gotten here, Zhengui had been like this. She knew he had been hurt and angry, but this was ridiculous. What was his problem with this Xuan guy anyway? She had never seen him do anything bad, but Zhengui treated him like he was a food thief or something.
And he wouldn't tell her why. It made her so mad! Why couldn't boys just
talk.
"Do not quarrel among yourselves," Xuan Shi said warily. "Sir Zhengui's disposition is understandable. This one is not offended."
She shot him an incredulous look. She had been thinking of trying to help Big Sis bag him, since she was so bad at it, but she was starting to wonder if she should, if he had this little spine. She eyed the slate grey stone under their feet, and the cracks running through it.
...Maybe Zhengui had a point, could they really trust this guy's will to guide them through here?
"This one will attempt to divine a path forward again," Xuan Shi said, turning away to face the formless chaos ahead of them. "The others are adrift as well. If we can but link up with Brother Liao, we may yet ride out the storm."
"We should search for a way out," Zhen hissed sulkily.
For just a second, Hanyi saw Xuan Shi's grip on his staff tighten, whitening his knuckles. "This one does not
know such ways and has said such before, Sir Zhengui. Perhaps thou might consider cycling thy qi to clear obstructions?"
Not hopeless after all, Hanyi huffed.
Hanyi leapt from the stone to Zhengui's back, leaving the boys to bicker, she rested on hand on the glittering curtain that enfolded her sister. Sixiang was a jerk who always acted like they were older and better. Look at them now.
Hanyi crouched beside the cocoon. "Couldn't have maybe given us some directions before you went to sleep, idiot?" she muttered.
She knew it wasn't that easy though. She had seen Big Sis practice, what she did to step through layers was
hard and it wasn't like Sixiang knew how to move people back and forth. Hanyi squeezed her eyes shut, racking her memories for any scraps she could recall from watching Ling Qi practice.
You could kinda relate it to music? Hanyi thought, something about expression and will. Momma could have gotten them out without a problem she knew. Momma wasn't a dumb girl who was too heavy and solid and human to act like a real lady. Big Sis had
started as a human and she was still better than Hanyi. Who did she think she was kidding?
The Mist around her thickened, and Hanyi hunched her shoulders. She stared out into the formless Dream around them, ignoring the flickering images that danced in the corners of her vision and began to hum to herself, one of the songs Momma had sung when brushing her hair.
… She had to stop sulking, Hanyi knew. Big Sis was counting on her and Zhengui too. She had promised to trust them, to fight with them. They couldn't fail her now. There had to be something she could do, if she could just figure out how to move in this place…
Hanyi paused then, blinking. She had just sensed something weird.
"Hey, will you quiet down for a second," Hanyi said, glancing up to Zhen to cut him off mid bicker.
"Hanyi should stop being so rude," the serpent glowered. "I Zh-"
"No, keep arguing if you want, afterward," Hanyi dismissed. "I think I felt something, so I want you to quiet down for a second."
Zhen looked affronted but he stayed quiet, and Gui stopped walking. Xuan Shi turned to look at her.
Hanyi huffed and turned away, closing her eyes. She hummed the first bar of the tune again, and focused on the ripples it sent out through the dreamspace.
She felt something ripple back, warm and melodious.
Hanyi's eyes widened. She recognized that! She'd been feeling it all the time these past couple days! "Ah, it's the Flower Lady!" Hanyi exclaimed, clapping her hands.
"This one feels nothing. What is it you sense?" Xuan Shi asked, frowning behind his collar.
"Don't worry about it," Hanyi said smugly, standing up atop Zhengui's shell. "It's not your fault that you two are tone deaf.
"Is Hanyi sure that she isn't just imagining things," Gui asked suspiciously.
Hanyi puffed out her cheeks in irritation, "Of course not!"
"...It is a destination, is it not sir Zhengui?" Xuan Shi asked. "Brother Liao remains elusive."
"...Maybe flower lady will have a better sense of direction than Fishy Man," Gui grumbled. "Where should Gui walk?"
"This way!" Hanyi announced haughtily. Not that the physical direction really mattered. But they did have to move to cover distance. She hummed her song again and waited for the response.
They were finally getting somewhere!
It took some time, and more than a little frustration, but eventually they made it. One moment they were by themselves in the nothing, and the next there was someone in the distance. A few someones actually. Bian Ya stood with her hands on her forehead, murmuring under her breath, and beside her stood another woman. Behind them, Su Ling sat, leaned against the side of a large fox, pressing a bandage to her forehead.
"Thank goodness," Bian Ya slumped a little as she saw them. "Someone heard."
"Where's Ling Qi?" Su Ling asked gruffly, immediately leaping to her feet from where she had been leaning against the side of a battered and bloody fox.
The two girls looked battered. Their gowns were ragged around the hems, and Hanyi was pretty sure that the Su girl didn't usually wear half a vest. "Big Sis is here, she's just hurt," Hanyi announced. The fox lady was one of Ling Qi's friends, so she know. "Sixiang is taking care of her though, she'll be fine." Obviously.
"Hehe, how lucky, right? Told ya it was worth the gamble," Hanyi frowned as she looked at the third speaker. She didn't recognize them. They weren't a human. In fact, the lady felt kind of like Sixiang but… weird. Dressed in a shimmering red and pink gown, she wore a face that had narrow eyes and golden hair, and she grinned in a way that made Hanyi immediately distrust her. "I'll try not to enjoy my winnings too much."
Bian Ya pursed her lips, giving the spirit an unhappy look.
Xuan Shi stepped forward and bowed his head. "This one must offer the deepest apologies Sister Bian. As a defender, this one failed in their task, and allowed your concentration to be muddled."
"Izzat what you think happened?" the spirit chuckled. "What a responsible guy."
Bian Ya shot the spirit a quelling look. "It was not your failure Brother Xuan. Something… beyond us interfered. It was only Sister Ling's emergency maneuver which allowed us to escape unscathed."
Xuan Shi frowned in dissatisfaction.
Hanyi almost tripped then as Zhengui stomped forward. "How do we get out. Big Sister needs to get out now," Gui said bluntly, overriding everyone else with his booming voice.
"I'm afraid we may need to wait some time yet. If you were able to detect my signal, surely the Sect will as well, but-" Bian Ya began.
Hanyi's eyes widened as she felt the volcanic shell beneath her feet warm. Zhen let out a hiss like a steam vent. "Hey, d-dummy, don't take it out on everybody else!" She shouted up at him.
"Hanyi…" Zhen hissed in irritation, and for the first time she felt a little worried by Zhen's temper.
Su Ling, who had walked closer to peer at Ling Qi shot him a worried look. "Hey, I want to get out of here too, but at this point wandering around won't do any good, this place…"
"Nightmares are quite a thing in the proverbial flesh huh," the blonde spirit chuckled, her grin stretching wider than a human face could normally manage. "You held up pretty well, cuz."
"I ain't your cousin," Su Ling snapped.
Hanyi grimaced. Everyone was fighting still, it was really making her head hurt. The churning of the Dream wasn't helping, She turned away, at least the part they'd come from seemed quiet…
Churning darkness writhed, stilling and devouring raw dreamstuff. Hanyi's eyes widened as she saw a pale figure rise from the center, surrounded by ribbons of shadow. A single black veined eye, growing like a pustule from a pulsating heart spun and met her gaze.
To be Continued
AN: Here's part 1 you guys. Part 2 will be out by the end of the week, and at last this turn will finish. One way or the other.
