She was a bit sad to see Su Ling and Li Suyin go, but they had their own lives and their homes and projects to get back too, and she wouldn't deny them that. So she had bid them farewell with a smile as the sun dawn the next day, and turned her attention back to her duties at Shenglu.
After making her report to Cai Renxiang of course. She had to let her liege know they were sitting on something ancient beyond words after all. She might have been losing her touch though. Either that or Renxiang was being inoculated against her.
Regardless she now had a writ to covert he cost of a simple barrier over the cave entrance and a minor outpost for long ranging patrols. She supposed she'd be overseeing that for the rest of the week.
"Haha! Indeed Miss Biyu, I AM very tall!"
As a result of both of them lingering to report to Renxiang, discuss potential routes to the cavern and have a brief spar to check themselves for lingering impurity, Gan Guangli had finally met her family. Honestly. Biyu hadn't looked so starry-eyed since she flown the girl up to the room of their old house.
Her little sister was up against the railing dividing the outer walkway from the training yard, hands up on the rail, stretched up onto her tiptoes to peer over, wide eyed and gleeful. Mother was behind her, still lingering near the doors inside.
Since they had only been lightly sparring gan Guangli was
only some five meters tall.
"Can I go up?" Biyu asked, all but pulling herself up the rail.
What was this? She was right here, hovering at the same height as Guangli's head, her hair fanned out and sparkling under the light of the early morning sun, in the way that usually made her little sister's eyes sparkle.
"Oh no, little sis is cheating on big sis," Sixiang chuckled.
"Ah, Biyu, you should not pester Lord Gan and your elder sister, I am certain they are busy," Mother said, drifting forward to lay hands on her shoulders.
"Awwww."
"If Madam Ling is not against it, I am certain we were just wrapping things up," Gan Guangli said, looking to her. She nodded grudgingly.
Her Mother sighed, rubbing her forehead. Ling Qi could see she wasn't really worried though, she understood at this point, just how difficult it was for them to be harmed while Ling Qi was nearby.
…Biyu crashing head over heels down the stairs while running in the halls had just left her crying in confusion rather than hurt after all. It hadn't made her mother's scolding any less severe though.
"Very well, if Lord gan will allow it," Ling Qingge said.
"Haha, of course!" he grinned as he crouched down, holding out his open palms like a platform.
Biyu leapt in, and giggled with delight as Gan Guangli made a show of slowly standing up, raising her higher and higher into the air. Biyu turned a bright smile to her, waving furiously. "Hi Sis! I can fly too! See!"
"Of course you can," Ling Qi chuckled. Well that was fine then. She swooped down, scooping the little girl out of Gan Guangli's hands to do a loose, slow spin on the way back to the ground, making her sister shriek in delight.
But, as she set her sister back down on the porch, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. She raised her hand, and allowed the paper bird to land in her palm, unfolding into a neatly pressed paper missive.
"Oh, what is that?" her mother asked as Gan Guangli allowed Biyu to leap into his outstretched hands again.
Her eyes flicked across the neat characters painted on the page. "It looks like we have a guest. I wasn't expecting him to have a free moment too soon."
"Who?"
"Xuan Shi, I asked if he could check the installation of the panic room formations."
***
He hadn't changed too much, physically. The same dark heavy robes decorated with geometric patterns, dark green cut through the lighter lines and hemmed in black, but the high collar of the outer robe was unclasped in the front, showing a little more of his broad featured face. He hadn;t replaced the gauntlets she had destroyed, using amidst the General's flames either,but his shell patterned hat was repaired, no longer riven by cracks.
It had also acquired a new occupant, or rather, she had outgrown the little hidden shelf beneath the brim, and had claimed the top of it. The little bobbing chick had rapidly sprouted up into an imperious hen. Xuanji was a fine, sleek specimen with lustrous black feathers, shading to midnight blue at their edges and a sharp hooked beak. Her comb was a stark blue white shade, a shocking splash of color. But though she was much less plump than the farmyard hens Ling Qi was familiar with, she was still, unmistakably a chicken.
She was also already in the second realm, despite not being more than half a year old.
"Thank you for coming so swiftly," Ling Qi said, clasping her hands and bowing her head, she stood before the door of the manor house, having arrived to greet her guest on the steps
"This one would not leave this waiting, a builders pride still beats in this chest. A deviation in such a vital work is unacceptable."
"And yet it's only at a chance because we disturbed it with our move. It could hardly be called an obligation," Ling Qi said, straightening up. She considered him. No different in body, but… he felt more solid now. He had always been a formidable if subtle presence, but…
He felt like a castle, standing on her doorstep, with foundations of bedrock and unscaleable, invulnerable walls, free of any defect. Though standing here, the gates were open.
Xuanji clucked once, looking down her beak at Ling Qi
"You are fortunate my Father is kind."
"I suppose I am," Ling Qi replied back without pause. Spirit beasts could grow up so fast. She remembered the chick's exciteable babble. Her smile conveyed that, and the hens feathers puffed up indignantly. "Would you please come in."
Xuan Shi glanced upward with a huff. "Peace Xuanji. My apologies, she is not usually like this."
Ling Qi nodded agreeably. She didn't voice what she saw, in the young beast's demeanor. It was a bit funny, she was a dutiful daughter indeed, standing between her Father and a woman who might prey on his feelings.
"Oh you can bet that bratty cousin of mine has been giving her ideas," Sixiang whispered to her from further in the manor.
"Got the work space cleared out by the way!"
Ling Qi sent back a feeling of acknowledgement along their bond as she stepped aside, allowing Xuan Shi to to step past her and enter. The door closing with a moment's thought and a pushing wind from her, she stepped ahead and began to lead him down the hall. "I've heard the news of the Sect recently, but how have your own projects been going?"
He hummed thoughtfully. "Fire and lake, purgation and preservation, the fragments of the old fascinate. The version two now well underway. Another two or three months, to be worthy of removal from the workshop shade."
Ling Qi bowed her head. "I am still very grateful and hope I may find ways to repay the labor and wealth that you sacrificed for my sake, in lending me your gauntlets, but I am glad you've gained something from it."
"This one gained greatly, without any such thing."
She lowered her head a little. Yes she probably wouldn;t have survived without those gauntlets. Sixiang definitely would not have survived without them.
"Lady Ling has recovered swiftly, recovered and grown still, impressive."
She smiled. "Ah, I might go mad if I sat still for too long, remind me to tell you about the trouble I've gotten into just these last months. Though I am curious, do you intend to march with the Sect?"
"One who is sheltered well, shames himself should he shirk his duty when war comes calling… The Sect has been a second home."
So he would be, yet another joining them down in the dark. "And your clan has no objections."
His smile turned wry. "Nay."
"I suppose that is a foolish question. They would want to show solidarity with their allies," Ling Qi said.
"To chide Father for his honor would be beneath a great family," Xuanji clucked.
She could feel Kongyou commenting too… She could have listened… but she knew their internal rapport was not for her.
They made their way further into the manor, speaking casually, of their plans for the coming months, he, mostly in research and craftwork, her in preparing for the expedition, like Bao Qian he would by the nature of his cultivation probably be in the rear echelon, securing and fortifying ground as they took it, rather than being in the tip of the spear as it was, as Cai Renxiang expected them to be.
Sonn they emerged into the rearmost section of the manor, here where it abutted the cliffside, there had been some tentative chambers carved into the rock, little was in them yet, and it had made this area the secure place to install the panic room formations.
"Heya!" Sixiang greeted, waving from near the end of the still rough stone passage, where the now incongruous room which had been removed from the old house was installed after being carefully disassembled and transported. They bounded up, the faint whirr and clatter of components under their illusory figure audible in the cramped space. "Oh wow, you've gotten cute quick huh, Hats here is raising you right."
"Of course," preened the hen.
"And… cuz. Can feel you in there, still squirmin around huh? You should prolly try comin out more often," Sixiang continued only giving the beast a nod.
"Oh buzz off cuz, most us aint into jamming ourselves between dead wood and gears," Kongyou's voice oozed from the shadows in the room, distorted and warbling.
"But it
pinches so good," Sixiang shot back in a faux breathy voice.
Ling Qi swatted them on the back of the head. "Hey, whatever that was. Too much."
"Awh, fiiine."
Xuan Shi had unfortunately frozen stock still, dark color rising on his cheeks. She was concerned for a moment, before he shook his head violently, causing Xuanji to squawk and flap her wings for balance. "This one would examine the the arrays please. Cold stone is no open air and constructed wood, the components will not be efficacious."
He still sounded a little choked, and was absolutely avoiding Sixiang with his eyes.
What exactly was untoward about pinching, she wondered.
He strode swiftly toward to open door of the room, and she trailed after. Sixiang followed, laughing into their hand.
Ling Qi shook her head. "I'm sorry for them."
"This one understands well how a muse may say unfortunate things," Xuan Shi said, staring ahead at the array he was examining.
"Yes," Ling Qi agreed, peering over his shoulder at a respectful distance. She frowned as she considered the words she was about to speak. Even now she was a little uncertain of them. "Ah though before you get too deep into your work, I did have a question."
"This one will hear it."
"Once this is done, will you accompany me out for the day. I was thinking that…"
[ ] I would show you along the lakefront
[ ] We could could walk the hill trails, and see the geysers
Perhaps learning how to kill with pure musical doots was the child born that day...
