"This is a fine blend, very rich," Meng Dan said, setting his cup down with a faint clink.
Around them, the mild susurrus of conversation from the rest of the Inn's common room provided a pleasant background. The room was open and airy, with pleasant lightning. The scents wafting from the kitchen added the homely atmosphere. Most of the guests were disciples and servant cultivators, messengers and drivers. Ling Qi and Meng Dan sat at a small table in the corner.
She had been surprised when Meng Dan had ordered a table rather than a room, but she couldn't say that she objected.
"It is pleasant enough," Ling Qi admitted. She had come to enjoy cold brews, and more bitter blends. It was all still frippery in her mind, but one could not spend so much time learning the art of tea making without developing some preferences.
Meng Dan's air of amusement didn't waver one bit. They had spent the last few minutes while their tea was brewing in companionable silence. Watching him during that she had seen his attention drift from table to table observing their fellow guests one after another. Not for a moment did he ever seem less than pleased with what he saw.
It made her wonder precisely what he was seeing.
"Hm, I think he might just like people watching, but there's more to it of course," Sixiang whispered. Their voice was more 'quiet' than usual, since it seemed possible that Meng Dan could overhear them.
"So," Ling Qi began, swirling her tea in its cup. "I'm curious about what insights you have on the hill tribes. Lady Meng indicated you have some specialty on the subject."
"It is a subject of significant interest to me," Meng Dan said lightly. "To begin I must unfortunately turn the question around. What do you know of the province's past, Baroness? I would hate to waste precious time explaining things you already know."
Ling Qi dipped her head, that was fair enough. "I know that the Weilu were primarily a northern polity, although they had interests in the south."
The Blue Moon Sect that Meng Dan belonged to was one, formerly a great temple of the sun and moon. Then there was the site of the Bloody Dream. The Weilu rebels may have fled to it, but it was still a point of interest. There was also the tomb on Sect lands, where a horned skeleton stood, bleeding forever in a maze of broken space.
In the depths of her dantian, Ling Qi felt her domain blade stir at the memory. She closed her eyes for a moment before continuing on. "I know at some point that they had a civil war, and that the groups that lived to the South of the Weilu were independent and had their own traditions. Under the Xi clan, they were gradually brought into the Empire."
"A simple summary, accurate as far as it goes," Meng Dan mused. "I am surprised you know of the Mason's war. It is not a commonly taught subject."
It took only a second to make the connection. "Mason's… because the rebelling faction was using stone building materials and practicing northern city building.."
"Quite," Meng Dan seemed pleased. "It was as much a religious schism as a practical matter, given the spiritual pacts in those days. Might I ask where you got your information?"
"There is a location steeped in Dream that causes some events from the war to play out again and again," Ling Qi said quietly, flashes of blood and death in her memory. For a second she tasted blood on her fangs again. "Under the auspices of the Bloody Moon."
"Ah," Meng Dan grimaced. "Well it is a shame you had to experience such a thing."
"I would think a historian would be more excited for a primary source," Ling Qi said wryly, dismissing the lingering discomfort from her thoughts as best she could.
"I would be, save that such… records have their own distortions," Meng Dan replied. "The will of the Great Spirit's involved, the participation of dreamers in the events… Are you familiar with Master Lao's First principle of the liminal?"
"My study of dream's has not been academic," Ling Qi admitted.
"Of course," Meng Dan mused. "The First principle is, observation of a dream alters a dream. Memories and dreams are fundamentally personal, and viewing another's memory inherently alters it as it is filtered through your perceptions. That is before actual personal interaction with the events is considered. In the case of long lasting phenomena such as you describe…"
"It will have been viewed many, many times," Ling Qi said slowly. "Do you mean to say that what i experienced was false?"
She wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I am certain that the general shape of events is correct, but I would not trust the details, no," Meng Dan replied, tracing his finger around the rim of his cup thoughtfully. "False is the wrong word."
Ling Qi was silent for a long moment. "I suppose I had thought in light of such things that determining the truth of history should be easy."
"Unfortunately not, we have many resources, but none are perfect," Meng Dan said, gaze scanning around the room again.
Ling Qi let out a sigh, despite it being a little rude. "The tribes then?"
"Not anything like a unified culture," Meng Dan replied, switching subjects easily. "Common parlance calls all who lived south of the Weilu and North of the Cloud tribes Hill Tribes, but this is misleading."
"I had some inkling," Ling Qi replied. "There was a group that lived high in the mountains and practiced self mortification, nomadic groups and settled groups in the hills."
The burning library of lost knowledge she had briefly browsed on her trial of the moons had been helpful.
Meng Dan's perpetually amused expression didn't fade, but he did give her an assessing look. "Quite, why recently, the library discovered a number of old Xi era poems. The translation butchered the meter but they have been informative."
Ling Qi very carefully did not react at all. "How fortunate."
He hummed to himself, but didn't pursue the subject further. Instead, he began to pour a second cup of tea before the empty seat on his side. "In any case, getting back on subject, the grouping known as the Hill tribes consisted of three major groups. There were the nomadic tribes, the settled tribes, and the mountain tribes. However…"
"However," Ling Qi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"This is not considered polite conversational material, but…" Meng Dan began, an twinkle of humor in his eye.
"Regional human physiology did not diverge until the introduction of beast blood," Yinhui said, blowing softly on a cup of tea. Around the just materialized spirit, a fading silver light suffused the air.
Ling Qi pursed her lips. "You are saying the Weilu were Hill Tribes themselves."
"I am saying that academic distinctions aside, there were few hard lines between the cultures of the Emerald Seas in the pre-Tsu era," Meng Dan replied. "There are numerous records of Weilu mingling with tribesman, allying and warring in turns even after the Diviner's rise. What scattered records remain show a great migration of the southlands in the face of advancing ice and the end of the dragons. It was only after arrival that differences began to show."
Ling Qi frowned, wondering just how far that went. "Advancing ice huh, that sounds like it may be relevant."
"Indeed," Meng Dan replied, seeming delighted. He rested a hand on Yinhui's head, in human form she was tiny, shorter even than Li Suyin. "The mountain folk are our likely link. We have few enough records of them,it seems that they were well into decline by the time of Tsu, with most of their people following the glacial ice back into the Wall. They are the most mysterious of the three groups."
"But you have something obviously," Sixiang drawled aloud, materializing in the chair beside Ling Qi. They leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Man, you're theatrical. You sure you're not one of ours?"
"He is not," Yinhui said softly, not looking up from her cup.
Meng Dan chuckled, rubbing the spirit's head affectionately. Ling Qi eyed the both of them, wondering if he was like Elder Jiao… but that didn't seem right. She was hardly experienced in that kind of thing, but his affection seemed more like a siblings.
It hadn't made her uncomfortable after all.
"I do in fact have something. In my own researches and expeditions into the Deep Archive, I turned up a partial journal, and some fragments of a treaty signed by the Successor of Tsu, marrying one of his daughters to the son of a Queen of the 'Frozen Sky'. The journal is that of a court diviner and contains a number of observations on the young man in question and his people. I have since been able to collate further information."
"How useful," Ling Qi mused, sharing a look with Sixiang. She was almost certain that he was referring obliquely to a moon quest of his own. "What happened to them?"
"Unknown," Meng Dan replied, some mild frustration bleeding away his humor. "They were a significant polity, but the next records a bare few centuries later refer to them as a remnant. My Professors concluded that they had simply gone the way of the others, assimilated or destroyed by the Cloud Tribes in their southern migrations."
"Then your report occurred," Yinhui said.
"Just so," Meng Dan said. "Rather convenient, no?"
"Convenient, yeah," Ling Qi said slowly. She was beginning to feel even more nervous. It seemed very much like whatever was happening, even Great Spirit's had an interest.
AN: This is gonna be a lengthy one, so I'm splitting it here, next update will be on Tuesday.
