I wrote this partly because I adore Biyu and Ling Qi together, and partly because I want to practice using dialogue more (and try and implement some of the feedback from @FixerUpper), instead of my usually ponderous and clunky paragraphs full of internal monologuing (I'm sure some slipped in regardless).
xxxXXXxxx
Secret Missions
Ling Qi mulled over her sisters' request. It would be no difficult thing of course, though her mother's approval was not nearly as certain. An amused huff escaped her lips at the thought, who could have foreseen the difference a few years would make to her priorities.
"Sissy's being weird again." The words were muffled, spoken directly into her midriff as they were.
Ling Qi allowed her thoughts to pass from her mind like gossip from Xiulan's lips, that is, freely and without effort. Ling Qi huffed in playful haughtiness but continued running her fingers gently through Biyu's hair.
"Oh, silly am I?"
"Extra-extra silly."
"I guess you changed your mind then?"
The scandalized gasp she received in response caused Ling Qi's lips to twitch upwards, though she was sure to wipe the fond expression from her features before the younger Ling turned her face upwards, eyes wide in perceived indignity and the evidence of earlier sweets still smeared across her lips.
"Sissy no!" Dessert-stained lips turned down into a pout. "You promised!"
Ling Qi arched a brow. "Oh did I?"
"You did!"
"I don't remember promising anything. I said I
might get you another piece of nian gao if you were good." As much as she wanted to simply spoil her, Ling Qi always did her best not to cave to her sister
too easily.
'Do not fret. I've heard it takes a Cyan cultivator to fully resist the power of a beloved sister's begging eyes.'
Ling Qi pointedly ignored her chatty muse's teasing, getting a faux sniff from the spirit in response as she settled back in her dantian.
"But I
have been good."
"My, you sound awfully certain."
"I am—I was good all day, nanny even said so!"
"What of mother?"
"Mommy?"
"Yes, would she say you've been a good girl if I asked her?"
"Yes!" Biyu looked up at her pleadingly from where she had wrapped herself around Ling Qi's arm. "I even ate all my pea shoots when mommy told me to. I didn't complain at all!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Not even once?"
"Y-yes, not even once."
Ling Qi let the silence linger and after only a few moments of tension, Biyu broke. "But Sissy." She whined. "Pea shoots are the worst! And I ate them anyway…" She trailed off petulantly.
Ling Qi leaned close to whisper conspiratorially in her sister's ear, a sly smile on her lips. "Can you keep a secret?" A furious nod was her answer. "Pea shoots really
are the worst." Ling Qi fibbed.
"So Sissy will get me nian gao?" Biyu said, absolutely delighted, eyes bright and cheeks flushed with the joy of a child. She reminded Ling Qi of a puppy exuberant at finding a playmate.
"Mhm, I don't know…" Ling Qi tapped her chin, relaxing back into the armchair she and her sister were curled up in. A merry fire burned in the hearth and softly glowing lamps lined the walls, providing more illumination than the stars and halfmoon high in the sky otherwise would have.
"Please, please, please!" The young girl pressed her face into Ling Qi's side, again muffling her words against Ling Qi's dress.
"Well…" She feigned stubbornness for a moment, before making the mistake of looking down into hopeful eyes peering soulfully up at her. "Oh alright." Ling Qi finally relented, smiling slightly, and ruffling her sister's hair as she gave a satisfied cheer. "But how are we going to get you some nian gao without mother knowing?"
Biyu's brow twisted with confusion. "How would mommy know?"
"Doesn't mother
always know?" Ling Qi returned knowingly.
Biyu's eyes grew wide in realization. "She does?!"
"Of course."
Silence lingered as Biyu seemed to absorb this new knowledge, before eventually coming to a conclusion. "But Sissy is sneaky-sneaky right?"
Unsure if she liked her hard-earned skills being summarized as "sneaky-sneaky", Ling Qi nonetheless gave an assenting nod.
"Then Sis can get it and not even mommy knows."
"True, but you would have to come with me."
"But Biyu is warm." The little girl whined.
"I don't want to leave you here by yourself." Ling Qi's tone was firm and Biyu wrinkled her nose in response.
"Oh well that's a shame, I suppose no snacks for you then." Ling Qi sighed unconvincingly. "I thought it could be fun; like a secret mission…"
Ling Qi saw the exact moment Biyu connected the words "secret mission" with the idea of a game. Her eyes lit up like shining stars, and she jumped up, digging her bony knees into Ling Qi's thigh as she scrambled off her sister and onto the floor. If she were a mortal, she'd likely have had the air driven from her by a careless elbow.
Ling Qi could only smile ruefully as Biyu dragged her from the cozy sitting room chanting "Secret-secret mission!" repeatedly at a volume that, if Ling Qi was not muffling the sound with her Qi, would have been counterproductive.
It seemed stealth was not her sister's forte.
Before allowing herself to be pulled from the room, Ling Qi did manage to send a quick mental message to Sixiang.
A small gust of wind stirring a nearby tapestry was the only sign of the muse as Sixiang exited her dantian. Ethereal and unbound, the muse sent a gentle caress of air to flutter Biyu's messy locks before floating upwards, towards the top floor where the Ling family's sleeping quarters were located.
xxxXXXxxx
The house her family lived in, while much larger than anything she had imagined possible as a child, was still not so enormous that a journey to the kitchen should take Ling Qi more than a minute or two, even at a mortal pace.
With Biyu as her companion, it took ten.
Every corner needed to be peeked around, every shadow investigated lest they be a barbarian spy, and all the while Biyu giggled, running from one imaginary scenario to the next, never straying too far from her exasperated sister. It was as if Ling Qi was a base the child could return to before absconding back to an existence nowhere near as boring as the drab thing adults called 'reality'.
Eventually, after valiantly fighting off a beast horde and three separate enemy agents, they reached the kitchen. Where, with the capricious nature paradoxically belonging to children and beings of great power, the game was quickly forgotten in favor of Biyu's grumbling stomach.
Ling Qi lifted the younger girl onto the counter before turning to retrieve a pair of plates and the sweet rice cakes hidden in the pantry.
For a while they sat like that, Biyu's dangling legs kicking carelessly as she munched contentedly on her late-night snack and Ling Qi leaning against the counter watching her. The feelings that rose as she watched her sister stuff her cheeks until she reminded Ling Qi of a chipmunk were mixed. That she could give her sister the peaceful life Ling Qi herself had never received was something she was grateful for, yet it also acted as a reminder of missed opportunities.
To take her mind off her suddenly melancholy thoughts, Ling Qi sent a few questing fingers poking into her sister's stomach as Biyu, having finished the rice cakes, began to lick the stickiness from her fingers. "Little Sister must be careful. If she eats too many sweets she'll grow so big even Zhengui won't be able to carry her."
"Sissy!" Objects the little girl, affronted. "Sissy take it back!" Biyu turns her nose up, scrunching it cutely when her indignation turns to giggles as Ling Qi's continues tickling her stomach. "Biyu is not a fatty!"
"Look I can barely lift you." Ling Qi sweeps the child into her arms, groaning.
"Sissy no!" The little girl is now stuck between indignation and laughter, burying her head in her sister's modest chest so she does not have to choose which she prefers.
"Sissy is only joking, Biyu." Ling Qi says warmly, setting the younger girl down gently.
"Hmph." Ling Qi can practically feel the pout in her sister's voice. "Sissy is mean."
"Maybe so, but it is getting late, let's get you to bed, okay?"
Biyu let out a wordless whine at the pronouncement.
"Biyu…" Said Ling Qi, a hint of warning entering her tone. The younger girl knew she was already up later than she would be otherwise.
Biyu deflated slightly. "Fine Big Sis." She said somewhat dejectedly.
Ling Qi smiled, in truth she wouldn't mind squeezing a little more time out with her little sister, but her superior senses let her know they were about to have a visitor. Sure enough, a few moments later when Ling Qi was making sure Biyu's face and hands were clean of any sticky residue, she heard the door creak open slowly and, once she was done, she turned to face their observer.
Ling Qi's mother, Ling Qingge, stood in the doorway dressed in a conservative nightgown, an exasperated look resting on her prematurely aged features. "And what might my two daughters be doing, skulking around the kitchen when my youngest should be in bed?"
Though she was immaterial to mortal eyes, Ling Qi nonetheless felt Sixiang flow past her mother into the room proper before returning to her dantian, mission completed.
"Mommy really knows everything!" Biyu exclaimed, shocked to see proof of her big sister's earlier words.
Sixiang gave an internal '
D'aww' even as Ling Qi had to suppress her own smile at the genuine amazement on her sister's face.
Bemusement crossed Ling Qingge's face for a moment, before, with the poise of an experienced mother, she accepted the nonsensical words of her youngest. "Of course my gem, have I not said as much before?"
She turned to Ling Qi next, raising a delicate brow in a silent question.
As Biyu continued to stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed at their mother, Ling Qi stepped forward with a wry smile on her lips. "Unfortunately mother, I can tell you no more than your all-knowing powers tell you. It was a
secret mission after all." She shared a look of mischief with Biyu.
Ling Qingge gave her eldest a fondly exasperated look but seeing the spark of excitement return to Biyu's eyes at her sister's words, decided she could leave her curiosity unsated. Besides, she suspected this 'secret' mission may have something to do with the two crumb laden plates laying innocently in the washing basin.
"If my daughters are set in their decision I can only accept it. Though, secret mission or no, I think it's time to get this little one to bed."
Biyu looked like she wanted to protest for a moment, but a
look from her big sister is enough to remind her of her earlier agreement.
"Can Sissy tell me a story?"
"Only if mother agrees."
"Mommy?!"
"Nothing too exciting Ling Qi, I want her to be able to sleep when you leave."
"Hmm, maybe the tale of Chenguang and the Moon Spirit then."
Ling Qingge paused briefly, giving her daughter a complicated look. She thought back to Ling Qi's large, wonder filled eyes as she had told the same story to her, curled up together in the small room they'd shared once in Tonghou. The half-glance her daughter gave her when she mentioned the story told Ling Qingge that Ling Qi remembered as well. It was like that for many of the memories they shared, even the good ones were tainted with a bittersweet flavour.
Though, lately, Ling Qingge found herself thinking that maybe that was okay.
After all, she mused, watching as her eldest carried her youngest up the stairs to bed, the three of them would have plenty of time now to make new memories.
xxxXXXxxx
Not going to lie, I had no idea how to end this so it likely feels a little abrupt. Oh well, I hope it was enjoyable regardless.
Oh, always looking for feedback btw.
@yrsillar
).
