- Location
- Colorado
[X] The wound in the heart, the gash torn in Community (+1 Community XP)
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Yrs has answered this on discord once, and yes ice cream has been invented, but it's unfortunately a Celestial Peaks invention
I think we SHOULD have sorbets, frozen fruit juices and wines are pretty low hanging fruit, and we should have basically the greatest availability of fresh fruits throughout the Empire, which should be quite common in the foothills of the Wall.
I think its more of seeing this kind of political interaction as fundamentally zero sum, where Ling Qi seems to have given up numerous opportunities to score points, and left herself open to free shots, and yet somehow, got everything her side wanted, and paid nothing.
Suzhen: Witness.
Some edits needed:
harlot of a princess
Odd capitalization
press -> pressing
on -> one
But what if he comes to pontificate on the acquiring of cute deer horns?
Weird Snakes and Cultivation Problems
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@yrsillar Omakke for the Omakke throne ! Would love to know what you think about those arts if you have time 
Weird Snakes: Cultivation problems
"Ho, Little Miss Hao? I've been told you were looking for me?" A faintly amused voice made Shetong jump. She was cultivating near the spring she had detoxified a pair of days earlier, using the faint Wood qi from the copse of dead trees around her to develop her understanding of the camouflage technique of her Copperwood Scales Sutra when Meng Dihuo arrived.
"Lord Meng," Shetong hastily rose up and bowed at the level she'd been taught was appropriate from a commoner to a noble. "There's one thing I wanted to report and a question I wanted to ask a Senior I could trust." Thinking about it, she did owe the man for her entrance into the Sect, even if her status was lower than she'd like, and she was confident he had arranged her schedule. If there were one person here she could trust without suffering for it, that would be him. Worst comes to worst, the man was infinitely weaker than her mother.
The heavyset man sniffed once and scrunched up his face. "You may call me Senior Sect Brother. I have no doubt you'll make it in the Inner Sect sooner than later, so call that recognition in advance." He grinned proudly at her. "Is this about the remnants of spiritual corruption I feel here?"
Shetong nodded. "Yes... Senior Sect Brother. I dispersed the poison with my mother's art, but there was something... rancid here that I've never felt before at the source of it, and it disappeared while I was dealing with its emissions."
Meng Dihuo approached her and... Did he just pat her head? "Excellent job getting rid of that. I'll report to the Elders regarding that matter. Hopefully, most of that thing's qi was invested in the poison you dispelled. You've certainly earned the right to ask a question."
Shetong drew away from him and glared at his hand, causing him to guffaw. "The method my mother used to make me advance in raw cultivation no longer functions," she explained, keeping a furious eye on the man's hands in case he tried to pat her again. "No matter how long I spend bathing in my venoms, it's no different than just absorbing qi from a spirit stone or digesting a Core"
That seemed to take Meng Dihuo's smile right off his face. He frowned and asked carefully, "Let there be no misunderstanding... Your... Honored Mother... simply instructed to take in qi from an external source? She hasn't told you of a way of breathing or meditations you should accomplish while drawing it in?"
Shetong scowled. "She told me that it should come naturally once I reached my current level. It hasn't."
"That would be because you are not a Spirit Beast, Miss Hao." Meng Dihuo informed her. "Solving this should be no great problem, however. We'll simply need to find you a basic cultivation art compatible with your Honored Mother's. I have no doubt you'll be awarded something more complex when you enter the Inner Sect... I would need to skim over them to counsel you. I shall give you my word I won't share or record them, of course. Is that acceptable?"
The girl grimaced. Her Mother would grumble about it, but almost all of her arts relied on her scales, her talisman sword or her venoms anyways, so showing them was no big loss... Maybe it would even drive him to help her out more to give Mother face, even. She nodded, and took six chunks of colored jade out of her spatial ring.
Once he was done examining the arts, Meng Dihuo turned back to Shetong with a wry smile on his face. "I have a feeling I may have underestimated your Honored Mother, Miss Hao."
Weird Snakes: Cultivation problems
"Ho, Little Miss Hao? I've been told you were looking for me?" A faintly amused voice made Shetong jump. She was cultivating near the spring she had detoxified a pair of days earlier, using the faint Wood qi from the copse of dead trees around her to develop her understanding of the camouflage technique of her Copperwood Scales Sutra when Meng Dihuo arrived.
"Lord Meng," Shetong hastily rose up and bowed at the level she'd been taught was appropriate from a commoner to a noble. "There's one thing I wanted to report and a question I wanted to ask a Senior I could trust." Thinking about it, she did owe the man for her entrance into the Sect, even if her status was lower than she'd like, and she was confident he had arranged her schedule. If there were one person here she could trust without suffering for it, that would be him. Worst comes to worst, the man was infinitely weaker than her mother.
The heavyset man sniffed once and scrunched up his face. "You may call me Senior Sect Brother. I have no doubt you'll make it in the Inner Sect sooner than later, so call that recognition in advance." He grinned proudly at her. "Is this about the remnants of spiritual corruption I feel here?"
Shetong nodded. "Yes... Senior Sect Brother. I dispersed the poison with my mother's art, but there was something... rancid here that I've never felt before at the source of it, and it disappeared while I was dealing with its emissions."
Meng Dihuo approached her and... Did he just pat her head? "Excellent job getting rid of that. I'll report to the Elders regarding that matter. Hopefully, most of that thing's qi was invested in the poison you dispelled. You've certainly earned the right to ask a question."
Shetong drew away from him and glared at his hand, causing him to guffaw. "The method my mother used to make me advance in raw cultivation no longer functions," she explained, keeping a furious eye on the man's hands in case he tried to pat her again. "No matter how long I spend bathing in my venoms, it's no different than just absorbing qi from a spirit stone or digesting a Core"
That seemed to take Meng Dihuo's smile right off his face. He frowned and asked carefully, "Let there be no misunderstanding... Your... Honored Mother... simply instructed to take in qi from an external source? She hasn't told you of a way of breathing or meditations you should accomplish while drawing it in?"
Shetong scowled. "She told me that it should come naturally once I reached my current level. It hasn't."
"That would be because you are not a Spirit Beast, Miss Hao." Meng Dihuo informed her. "Solving this should be no great problem, however. We'll simply need to find you a basic cultivation art compatible with your Honored Mother's. I have no doubt you'll be awarded something more complex when you enter the Inner Sect... I would need to skim over them to counsel you. I shall give you my word I won't share or record them, of course. Is that acceptable?"
The girl grimaced. Her Mother would grumble about it, but almost all of her arts relied on her scales, her talisman sword or her venoms anyways, so showing them was no big loss... Maybe it would even drive him to help her out more to give Mother face, even. She nodded, and took six chunks of colored jade out of her spatial ring.
- The Breaths of the Five-Color Serpent
- Lunging Serpent's Coiling Strike
- Three Journeys of Mountains and Rivers
- The Trackless Mantra
- Copperwod Scales Sutra
- Molten Sword Shedding
Once he was done examining the arts, Meng Dihuo turned back to Shetong with a wry smile on his face. "I have a feeling I may have underestimated your Honored Mother, Miss Hao."
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] The wound in the heart, the gash torn in Community (+1 Community XP)
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
reads through @Oliver_Twister 's posts
mmmm, seems compelling of an argument enough. I'll go along with the vote that targets the Sun Family code.
[X] The wound in the heart, the gash torn in Community (+1 Community XP)
[X] The wound in the mind, the aching scars of Isolation. (+1 Isolation XP)
I however am self-obligated to vote for anything Isolation-related so I'm approval voting this as well
mmmm, seems compelling of an argument enough. I'll go along with the vote that targets the Sun Family code.
[X] The wound in the heart, the gash torn in Community (+1 Community XP)
[X] The wound in the mind, the aching scars of Isolation. (+1 Isolation XP)
I however am self-obligated to vote for anything Isolation-related so I'm approval voting this as well
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
I agree, but I'm reading the consequences as isolation. She was isolated all through her sect journey, knowing that her family were the ones she was in community with, as she always had been.
But when her family betrayed her, she had nowhere to turn to, and is suddenly actually and completely alone. I think isolation in that sense is novel for her- but knowing that a community can turn it's back on you is like the founding myth of the sun clan, so I don't think those thoughts are new.
- Location
- United States of America
[X] The wound in the mind, the aching scars of Isolation. (+1 Isolation XP)
- Location
- Spain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Location
- CA
But the founding myth of the Sun clan contains that rather than being that. The founding myth of the Sun clan is "see how people will betray you when they are not truly your kin," hence the family motto. It's a Community wound because the potential takeaways from being betrayed by family become, in that light, either "this means I am not truly kin" or "this means what I was taught was a lie" and those are still tangled up in Community rather than Isolation. The Isolation wound is lesser because she's doing her best to ignore and deny the new sense of distance, while the Community wound is going to be more prominent in her mind. A wound can't heal if you can't stop scratching at the scab.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Unless the liminal suddenly unlocked the secret to time travel...
[/QUOTE]
Cai Renxiang:*pinches nose* what did you do this time Ling Qi?
[/QUOTE]
Cai Renxiang:*pinches nose* what did you do this time Ling Qi?
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PowerLeca
Rapidly aging
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Meng Dihuo had a lifelong dream to headpat a
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
He may be reminded soon of Bai clan policy: there is no mercy, only snek.Meng Dihuo had a lifelong dream to headpat aBaisnakeperson, and he saw his one chance.
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly, at this point, Shetong might react more violently to being called a Bai than to getting a head pat. her mom wasn't a fan, and her remedial lessons are taught by a Meng inner disciple.
Turn 18: Arc 5-2
If what she was doing was noticed, then this whole effort would be for naught, ignoring for a moment all of the other consequences. Part of her was a little fascinated by the interlocking web of pains which she could barely perceive between the most prominent wounds. A puzzle she would like to pick apart, to give Ji Rong the best answer, but it was beyond her ability. Beyond what she was even willing to attempt.
Community, that was the concept she saw with the most clarity. Sun Liling's was harsh. A ringed fortress. There was no room for uncertainty or diffusion in it. A fastness where one was either inside a wall or outside it, with no uncertainty. But here, the outer wall was dust and rubble, the middle walls were breached, and blood oozed from the stones of the citadel.
"Feh, you're not wrong either way. There's folks who study that junk, but frankly we don't have the time or resources to dig them out of their workshops right now," Sun Liling said in the waking world. "Rong can talk to you about the pass, about our claims n' plans. We don't have any obligation to dig into the rest."
"I see," Ling Qi said, pursing her lips. "Would you object if I asked for whatever cursory knowledge your people here might have?"
"You wanna pick up barracks rumors and tall tales from the lads 'n ladies? Pft, go for it. I won't tell you you can't," Sun Liling drawled. "Is there anything else I gotta hear out?"
"There is one other matter…"
Her searching gaze passed over the 'outer wall' Here lay trust in the Empire, the air was rank with the bitter scent of betrayal. Silence from the throne, silence from far distant kin. Here she heard the scurrying feet of rats and vermin, hungry and opportunistic.
Ling Qi could understand this, to Sun Liling, those who had backed away from the Bai the moment they had begun to find their feet were no better than that. But for all her brashness that first year. She had not believed it so, until her loss and had stolen all pretense of their dedication to her family's cause.
Rats would scurry, rats would bite, what rats would never do was stand and fight. But you ignored them at your peril, you fed them fat, lest they gnaw your foundation to ruin at another behest.
It was an ugly way to see the world, but Ling Qi could not fully disagree. There were so many who would bite the open hand at the first opportunity. Out of reflex, out of malice, even if it helped them only for a moment in exchange for years of pain.
Seeing past the haze of immediate hunger was the first step to being more than a beast.
The Middle walls were different. Breached and crumbled, blood poured through the gaps. Here lay the men and women of the West, though looking down upon them, she could feel them blur before her eyes defenders and assaulters blurring in a mist of blood and stinking fear. Uncertainty lay here. She loved them still, were they fools, was she?
The Blood was a lie. It never mattered from whence it flowed.
There is the great gatehouse of the citadel. It was a battered thing. It had fallen once, been rebuilt with painstaking care. She could see the ash on the walls where the gates had burned before. See the shapes in the scorches.
A tall, broad chested man with crimson hair and a kind, easy smile. A silent wooden casket, laden with flowers, too light to contain such a man whole. A woman, far away and blurred to start and getting further, back turned and never looking back.
On the ramparts of the new gate burned the lightning star, small and spitting furious, burning bloody mist to belching black ash, but refusing to disappear.
But beyond the gates lay the bleeding citadel, and here there was the molten wound at its freshest.
The citadel was one man. A grandfather, heavy lined faced shrouded in a lion's mane of white hair. Strong and immovable. The steady mountain that held up the sky and pinned down the earth.
With eyes that were open pits of blood. A comforting hand becomes a pitiless grasp. Roots writhing under her skin. Soldiers marching, marching, to the tune of a drum, never hearing its beat.
Everything for Family. Family is Everything.
+1 Community XP
A bitter lilt to words that should have been the foundation of everything. Community could crush, community could kill. There was no thing in the world that could not be a weapon.
…
"...And that is?" Sun Liling asked.
Ling Qi blinked, and tried to drown out the beating drums. "My apologies, I was lost in thought for a moment."
Even with all of her preparation, she'd almost lost herself there, teasing out even those garbled visions. Sun Liling was looking at her with narrowed eyes. "I wished to know if the Sun family plans to coordinate with the Emerald Seas in their military operations."
"Your boss really gets cut out of the loop by her mum doesn't she. Sad that," Sun Liling said.
"Her grace prefers for Lady Cai to prove herself at every step."
"Sure, sure," Sun Liling said. "I know gramps talked to her. We ain't exactly planning joint operations, but we ain't planning to move any further south till your Duchess makes her move. Ain't I generous?"
"You are, thank you very much," Ling Qi said. "I believe Baron Ji should be able to answer the rest of my questions."
"He better," Sun Liling drawled, rising from her seat. "After making me come out here. You agree, Rong?"
"Yeah, I know what I got to work with now. Thanks Princess," Ji Rong said, standing by the door with his arms loosely crossed.
"Don't you of all people call me that," Sun Liling snorted. She brushed past Ling Qi a bit more roughly than was proper, and jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Take care o' this and meet me out back. I want to blow off some steam."
There were several interpretations to that, some of which were wildly inappropriate. It showed a great deal of carelessness, disregard for Ling Qi… or simple confidence.
Sun Liling's voice drifted in her mind, one last scrap of dream from the closing connection. "You really gonna do this gramps? Deny me this?"
Ji Rong gave a grunt of acknowledgement. She didn't turn around until Liling had left. When the doors clicked shut, they were both silent for a beat.
"Shall we get down to details, Baron Ji?" Ling Qi asked.
"Yeah, no use wasting time."
A few words they'd prearranged. There were no far listening or recording formations in the room then. Ling Qi relaxed a hair.
"You see anything useful? Your lucky you already have a rep for spacing out," Ji Rong grunted, passing by her to collapse in one of the richly upholstered chairs. He looked like he'd bitten into a lemon.
Ling Qi considered, gliding to another. Taking her seat with more poise. "...Of things you likely don't know already… She's aware of the drums. She's conflicted about them. Something about it makes her feel like her people are being tricked."
Ji Rong's brows furrowed so deeply that his eyes were almost shut, and he let out a frustrated growl.
"...and she feels like King Sun betrayed her trust, and deeply," Ling Qi said. "....I do not think you should take any chance of her finding out what you asked me to do."
She didn't know how the princess would react but… she couldn't imagine any good outcome there, no matter that his intention was to help her. By the spirits, if she were a worse person, she could already see a path there, a path to breaking something fundamental in Sun Liling.
There was no concept that was not also a weapon.
"Ffffuck," Ji Rong said.
Ling Qi considered saying something pithy, and instead just lowered her head. "Yes."
Though he couldn't be aware of her own position, she couldn't help but be a little sympathetic, as one challenger of Sovereigns to another.
"So its not just in my head, and she knows it's some kind of bad news," Ji Rong growled. "Dammit."
"For what its worth, I think you're doing some kind of good, just being where you are," Ling Qi said quietly.
"The hells that mean?"
"She trusts you."
Little star, heaven star, spitting defiance and burning blood. Ling Qi let a little qi seep into her voice, to convey the depth of that feeling that simple words could not.
He looked like he'd been stabbed in the gut. His expression twisted.
"The hell am I supposed to do with that?" Ji Rong whispered.
"I can't tell you that."
"Fuck," Ji Rong repeated.
"I'm surprised you aren't declaring yourself the hero who'll solve everything with your fists. Isn't that how things go in the Ebon Rivers?"
"Heroes are the dipshits who show up to hit things after people are already dead, and then swan off without fixing a damn thing," Ji Rong spat, and she was surprised at his venom. "You wanna fight?"
Ling Qi grimaced. "Sorry, I was trying to lighten the mood."
"And we're relying on you to talk down the barbs. Empire's fucked."
She scowled at him, but the tension was broken. "I've held up my end of the bargain. How about we get to yours."
He grunted, straightening up his posture. He was clearly still troubled. But was putting it aside. "Alright, so why don't we get down to the way the army is getting positioned first. Liling and I swung by to show the flag on our way here, so I can tell you what I saw."
"That would be most helpful, Ling Qi said, resting her chin on her hands. "Just what are the Sun's intentions for the mountains?"
AN: Cutting for length here, next update will have a vote.
Community, that was the concept she saw with the most clarity. Sun Liling's was harsh. A ringed fortress. There was no room for uncertainty or diffusion in it. A fastness where one was either inside a wall or outside it, with no uncertainty. But here, the outer wall was dust and rubble, the middle walls were breached, and blood oozed from the stones of the citadel.
"Feh, you're not wrong either way. There's folks who study that junk, but frankly we don't have the time or resources to dig them out of their workshops right now," Sun Liling said in the waking world. "Rong can talk to you about the pass, about our claims n' plans. We don't have any obligation to dig into the rest."
"I see," Ling Qi said, pursing her lips. "Would you object if I asked for whatever cursory knowledge your people here might have?"
"You wanna pick up barracks rumors and tall tales from the lads 'n ladies? Pft, go for it. I won't tell you you can't," Sun Liling drawled. "Is there anything else I gotta hear out?"
"There is one other matter…"
Her searching gaze passed over the 'outer wall' Here lay trust in the Empire, the air was rank with the bitter scent of betrayal. Silence from the throne, silence from far distant kin. Here she heard the scurrying feet of rats and vermin, hungry and opportunistic.
Ling Qi could understand this, to Sun Liling, those who had backed away from the Bai the moment they had begun to find their feet were no better than that. But for all her brashness that first year. She had not believed it so, until her loss and had stolen all pretense of their dedication to her family's cause.
Rats would scurry, rats would bite, what rats would never do was stand and fight. But you ignored them at your peril, you fed them fat, lest they gnaw your foundation to ruin at another behest.
It was an ugly way to see the world, but Ling Qi could not fully disagree. There were so many who would bite the open hand at the first opportunity. Out of reflex, out of malice, even if it helped them only for a moment in exchange for years of pain.
Seeing past the haze of immediate hunger was the first step to being more than a beast.
The Middle walls were different. Breached and crumbled, blood poured through the gaps. Here lay the men and women of the West, though looking down upon them, she could feel them blur before her eyes defenders and assaulters blurring in a mist of blood and stinking fear. Uncertainty lay here. She loved them still, were they fools, was she?
The Blood was a lie. It never mattered from whence it flowed.
There is the great gatehouse of the citadel. It was a battered thing. It had fallen once, been rebuilt with painstaking care. She could see the ash on the walls where the gates had burned before. See the shapes in the scorches.
A tall, broad chested man with crimson hair and a kind, easy smile. A silent wooden casket, laden with flowers, too light to contain such a man whole. A woman, far away and blurred to start and getting further, back turned and never looking back.
On the ramparts of the new gate burned the lightning star, small and spitting furious, burning bloody mist to belching black ash, but refusing to disappear.
But beyond the gates lay the bleeding citadel, and here there was the molten wound at its freshest.
The citadel was one man. A grandfather, heavy lined faced shrouded in a lion's mane of white hair. Strong and immovable. The steady mountain that held up the sky and pinned down the earth.
With eyes that were open pits of blood. A comforting hand becomes a pitiless grasp. Roots writhing under her skin. Soldiers marching, marching, to the tune of a drum, never hearing its beat.
Everything for Family. Family is Everything.
+1 Community XP
A bitter lilt to words that should have been the foundation of everything. Community could crush, community could kill. There was no thing in the world that could not be a weapon.
…
"...And that is?" Sun Liling asked.
Ling Qi blinked, and tried to drown out the beating drums. "My apologies, I was lost in thought for a moment."
Even with all of her preparation, she'd almost lost herself there, teasing out even those garbled visions. Sun Liling was looking at her with narrowed eyes. "I wished to know if the Sun family plans to coordinate with the Emerald Seas in their military operations."
"Your boss really gets cut out of the loop by her mum doesn't she. Sad that," Sun Liling said.
"Her grace prefers for Lady Cai to prove herself at every step."
"Sure, sure," Sun Liling said. "I know gramps talked to her. We ain't exactly planning joint operations, but we ain't planning to move any further south till your Duchess makes her move. Ain't I generous?"
"You are, thank you very much," Ling Qi said. "I believe Baron Ji should be able to answer the rest of my questions."
"He better," Sun Liling drawled, rising from her seat. "After making me come out here. You agree, Rong?"
"Yeah, I know what I got to work with now. Thanks Princess," Ji Rong said, standing by the door with his arms loosely crossed.
"Don't you of all people call me that," Sun Liling snorted. She brushed past Ling Qi a bit more roughly than was proper, and jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Take care o' this and meet me out back. I want to blow off some steam."
There were several interpretations to that, some of which were wildly inappropriate. It showed a great deal of carelessness, disregard for Ling Qi… or simple confidence.
Sun Liling's voice drifted in her mind, one last scrap of dream from the closing connection. "You really gonna do this gramps? Deny me this?"
Ji Rong gave a grunt of acknowledgement. She didn't turn around until Liling had left. When the doors clicked shut, they were both silent for a beat.
"Shall we get down to details, Baron Ji?" Ling Qi asked.
"Yeah, no use wasting time."
A few words they'd prearranged. There were no far listening or recording formations in the room then. Ling Qi relaxed a hair.
"You see anything useful? Your lucky you already have a rep for spacing out," Ji Rong grunted, passing by her to collapse in one of the richly upholstered chairs. He looked like he'd bitten into a lemon.
Ling Qi considered, gliding to another. Taking her seat with more poise. "...Of things you likely don't know already… She's aware of the drums. She's conflicted about them. Something about it makes her feel like her people are being tricked."
Ji Rong's brows furrowed so deeply that his eyes were almost shut, and he let out a frustrated growl.
"...and she feels like King Sun betrayed her trust, and deeply," Ling Qi said. "....I do not think you should take any chance of her finding out what you asked me to do."
She didn't know how the princess would react but… she couldn't imagine any good outcome there, no matter that his intention was to help her. By the spirits, if she were a worse person, she could already see a path there, a path to breaking something fundamental in Sun Liling.
There was no concept that was not also a weapon.
"Ffffuck," Ji Rong said.
Ling Qi considered saying something pithy, and instead just lowered her head. "Yes."
Though he couldn't be aware of her own position, she couldn't help but be a little sympathetic, as one challenger of Sovereigns to another.
"So its not just in my head, and she knows it's some kind of bad news," Ji Rong growled. "Dammit."
"For what its worth, I think you're doing some kind of good, just being where you are," Ling Qi said quietly.
"The hells that mean?"
"She trusts you."
Little star, heaven star, spitting defiance and burning blood. Ling Qi let a little qi seep into her voice, to convey the depth of that feeling that simple words could not.
He looked like he'd been stabbed in the gut. His expression twisted.
"The hell am I supposed to do with that?" Ji Rong whispered.
"I can't tell you that."
"Fuck," Ji Rong repeated.
"I'm surprised you aren't declaring yourself the hero who'll solve everything with your fists. Isn't that how things go in the Ebon Rivers?"
"Heroes are the dipshits who show up to hit things after people are already dead, and then swan off without fixing a damn thing," Ji Rong spat, and she was surprised at his venom. "You wanna fight?"
Ling Qi grimaced. "Sorry, I was trying to lighten the mood."
"And we're relying on you to talk down the barbs. Empire's fucked."
She scowled at him, but the tension was broken. "I've held up my end of the bargain. How about we get to yours."
He grunted, straightening up his posture. He was clearly still troubled. But was putting it aside. "Alright, so why don't we get down to the way the army is getting positioned first. Liling and I swung by to show the flag on our way here, so I can tell you what I saw."
"That would be most helpful, Ling Qi said, resting her chin on her hands. "Just what are the Sun's intentions for the mountains?"
AN: Cutting for length here, next update will have a vote.
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Wonder how they are doing over in JiRongQuest land.