She still managed to land on her feet, wincing as she rubbed the top of her head, which throbbed with the force of the impact. She peered warily through the gloomy room to see who had startled her so. It took only a moment to recognize the person in question, her portrait had been staring at her all week after all.
Xin stood beside her seat with a bemused expression, and one hand on her hip. She wore a gown of dark blue and black which glittered with starry light at her every movement. Her white hair was put up in an elaborate updo though pinned in place with glittering onyx pins and jewelry. "Feeling a little wound up dear?" She asked compassionately, though Ling Qi could see the twinkle of humor in her red eyes.
Ling Qi lowered her hand as she got her breathing back under control, and did her best not to glower at the older woman… spirit. "My apologies," she said with a bow. "I was only startled by your presence honored…"
Xin clicked her tongue and… for lack of a better word, flickered, appearing directly in front of Ling Qi to peer down at her. Had the woman been tall enough to do that before? "Do not be like that now young lady," she admonished, examining the point where Ling Qi had banged her head. "There is no call to speak to me so formally."
"Ah… sorry?" Ling Qi tried instead, thrown off balance as she felt the woman's cold hand come to rest on top of her head, washing away the minor ache with a feeling like cold water being trickled down her neck. "Why are you here?" she blurted, feeling tongue tied in the woman's presence. "I mean… did something happen with Elder Jiao?"
Xin took a step back, examining her with a critical eye. It made Ling Qi feel vaguely childish, like it was her mother standing in front of her, checking to see if she had torn one of her gowns. "Oh, he got a little delayed is all," she replied dismissively, finally looking up to meet Ling Qi's gaze with her own slightly luminescent one. "You have grown so well, haven't you," she said warmly. "I can hardly compare you the skinny, dim spark you were when last we met."
"Thank you?" Ling Qi said, feeling uncomfortable at the examination. It was true that she was no longer quite so malnourished, and she had grown much stronger. "I… you're looking well too?" she tried, only to remember Jiao's words at the end of the test. "Ah, I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."
"It was nothing dear," she responded easily, waving her hand carelessly to brush off the apology. "Becoming a voice for my greater self is merely uncomfortable at worst, and you have grown for it," she continued, her gaze drifting downward to fix on Ling Qi's stomach, or rather she suspected, her dantian. "While I admit I had a little hope of poaching you for myself. The Grinning Moon will not treat you poorly though."
Right, Xin was an aspect of the New Moon, Ling Qi thought, it made sense that she could tell what choice she had made. "I hope not to fail in meeting her expectations," she replied agreeably. "I did consider your offer strongly as well though."
Xin looked pleased, raising her eyes back to Ling Qi's face. "I suppose we will see, you are hardly ready to choose a Way properly yet regardless," she mused. "Your still in that experimenting stage," she added impishly. "Trying anything and everything, your spirit is quite muddled as of yet."
Ling Qi's expression grew concerned as she looked down, as if to examine herself. "...Is that bad?" She asked cautiously. "And what do you mean about choosing a Way?"
"Hardly, you haven't found your true drive yet, which is hardly unusual for your age," Xin replied reassuringly. "As for a Way, all cultivators must eventually choose the concept which defines them, it is impossible to advance beyond what you call cyan without…"
"XIN," Ling Qi flinched as Elder Jiao's voice boomed through the cavern, rattling the furniture, the shadows in the room roiled and swelled, tendrils of absolute darkness, opaque even to her vision writhing across every surface as the light of the lantern flickered wildly. Worse still were the eyes, wide and glaring, gleaming like kaleidoscopes, that opened by the dozen across the shadows in the room.
"Oh bother. I really thought that would hold him for a bit longer than this," the spirit sighed, resting her cheek in her hand, but seeming otherwise unperturbed. Ling Qi shot her an incredulous look.
"Twelve layers," the elders voice no longer rattled the furniture, but it was still painfully loud as the shadow of the divan boiled upward, bubbling like a pillar of tar as it took on Elder Jiao's features. He ignored her entirely in favor of glaring at Xin. "Why would you leave a twelve layered dream cage around the workshop you insufferable woman!"
Ling Qi quietly scuttled off to the side, not wanting to be in the Elder's line of sight, his qi was nearly suffocating as it was.
Xin crossed her arms, turning a frown on the Elder. "Do not take that tone with me, and cease the dramatics, you'll scare the poor girl to death."
Ling Qi hunched her shoulders, instinctively trying to appear small as the Elder glanced her way… and let out an irritated huff, the twisted reaching shadows receding along with the suffocating weight of his qi. "Did it occur to you just to ask if you wanted to accompany me?" He said pointedly to Xin, still sounding quite irritated.
"Is it not my duty as a wife to ensure that my husband does not grow lax?" Xin asked flippantly.
He stared at her for a moment, unmoving, unbreathing, utterly still, and then turned to Ling Qi. "I," he declared. "Am ignoring you," he said as if handing out a proclamation from on high. "You," he continued, pointing at Ling Qi. "Will also be ignoring her, or this lesson will end."
"That is hardly fair," Xin protested. "Come now, it was not that bad."
"Which of my teachings do you seek this week, Disciple," Jiao continued airily, as if he hadn't heard her.
Ling Qi glanced between the two, feeling terribly off kilter. Somehow, her image of the Sect's Elders had been changed in a fundamental way. SHe fumbled a bit, trying to remember her rehearsed speech. "I… that is… I was hoping for the honored Elders advice on the matters of retrieving enemy resources from guarded locations or containers, as well as their person. If…"
The grey skinned man gave her a flat look. "You are asking me to tutor you in the arts of thievery. Is that truly what you want to ask?"
Ling Qi looked down, shuffling her feet a little, ignoring Xin's laugh. "...Yes," she said in a small voice.
"My, what an insightful girl," Xin said, sounding smug.
Jiao ignored her utterly and merely palmed his face for a moment. "You know, why not. Come disciple," he replied, flickering from the divan to the doorway.
"What are we doing?" Ling Qi asked, hurrying after him, and slipping from her formal speech. She also cast an apologetic look at Xin, who drifted after them, no longer pretending to walk.
"Live targets are required for this training," Jaio replied evenly. "You shall be testing yourself against your fellows at my instruction. You will of course, be required to deal with the fallout of failure on your own. You will not mention your training."
Ling Qi grimaced. She really should have expected something like this. She supposed she would just have to do her best to avoid ending up in trouble.
What followed was… tense, incredibly so. Elder Jiao would set her a task, like pilfering stones or pills from a disciple, or slipping into a home unnoticed and planting tokens in specific locations, with nary a hint of advice, and only a few casual pointers for improvement in the aftermath. It ramped up quickly. It ramped up quickly, as they proceeded to the part of the mountain where many of the older disciples lived apart. She switched the contents of people's bags, broke locks, planted pills and tokens in bedrooms and bathrooms, rearranged furniture and knick knacks in the instants when their owners were out of the room.
...And she managed without getting caught once, even when he commanded something ridiculous, like replacing a girls hairpins from her dressing table without her noticing, while the girl was putting them in.
Her success did seem to put the man in a better mood at least, and with each success, his advice on improving her cultivation of the more larcenous parts of sable crescent step grew more useful. Xin was encouraging as well, but sadly she had to ignore the spirit. Xin did not seem like she took offense though, focused as she was on needling Elder Jiao, who ignored her every attempt with great dignity.
It was, overall, quite a useful evening.
...Even if the news which reached her later of a spree paintbombs, surprise hairdyes, and other prankish things, as well as fights breaking out over stolen property made her hope desperately that no one ever discovered what she had been doing. She knew those tokens he kept handing her were suspicious.
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