The convoy was a week out from Burning Flag City. They would pick up the pace now that the ambush had been sprung, but wagons moved slowly no matter what you did. They had wounded to care for, and the threat to the city was now much less urgent. The Great Wolf Tribe was decimated; the surviving warriors would be more worried about their fellow nomads than the Kingdom. A tribe with few warriors but many horses was delicious prey indeed. Perhaps their Great Shaman could protect them. Or perhaps not.
Tian and Liren didn’t hang around. Traveling at the speed of a mortal caravan sounded impossibly irritating. Instead, they took a token from Hanshen and flew directly to the City Lord’s Manor. They were immediately arranged a very nice, very secluded courtyard, where the only questions they were asked were whether they would want meals delivered, did they want servants attending them, and would they receive mortal guests. To which they answered “Yes, no, and here is a short list,” respectively.
The battle had confirmed what they already knew. They were powerful for just beginning the Heavenly Realm, but only compared to other rank beginners. The centuries of accumulation by their seniors were not easily overcome. Equipment was probably the most urgent need, followed in short order by better combat spells, then everything else. Even combat experience was lacking. All those hundreds of hours spent practicing on the martial squares in the West Town Temple, weren’t they to prepare him for combat in the Earthly Realm?
The lack of brothers to train with was painful, and surprisingly lonely.
“It sure would be useful if there was a senior expert, possibly even one in the Human Realm or at least the peak of the Heavenly Realm, that could guide our development. They would be doing us a massive favor, practically acting as a second parent for us.” Liren’s mouth was twitching. Tian threw up his hands in frustration. He didn’t think anything he said before was wrong. It’s just that he had not sufficiently understood the sacrifices he would make by going without a master.
“Think this is all a scheme by the seniors? Or at least a happy side effect from their perspective? I’m certainly much more likely to be open to persuasion when we get back.” Liren settled into a bitter grin, no longer bothering with trying to keep a straight face.
Tian groaned and buried his face in his hands. He glanced between his fingers at Liren. “The shaman was weird.”
“Well. A foreign cultivator using foreign magics-”
“No, not that. His qi was weird, his vital energy was only a little better than an ordinary mortal's, and he was properly using his weapons. None of that “Treating a sword like a dart” nonsense. His horse was obviously magical, or spiritual or whatever, but he was riding it. I could see he was guiding the horse with just his legs and his intent. Some of the troopers can do that, it seems to be something normal for horse archers.”
Liren hummed a little, her eyes hooded. “Those wolves were magic, though. He just threw out a fistfull of teeth, and out popped those not-ghostly-enough wolves. Who were yin, but not cursed or necromantic that I could tell. You are right, that is weird as hell.”
They shared a helpless look. Who could they even ask for answers?
Their battle against the tribesmen had been a success, technically, as the person they were sent to protect was still alive. On the other hand, they left with no loot and in Tian’s case, badly damaged equipment. Worse, their neighbors and rescuers from the Radiant Dawn sect had a very clear grasp of their equipment and capabilities now. They only intervened when they did because it was their best opportunity to kill the Grand Shaman, not to save Tian or Liren.
He wasn’t even sure they had managed that much. Tian would believe the Grand Shaman was dead when he sawed his old head off.
Really, the only thing he could take comfort in is that the “kind seniors” in the Radiant Dawn sect would be absolutely certain Tian and Liren had nothing worth stealing. Truly, the protective power of the path of the Brokie was unrivaled, if uncomfortable.
Don’t have it? Figure out how to get it, make it, or do without. They needed equipment. Armor was particularly urgent. They had the mermaid silk. Now they just needed to find someone who could craft it into armor. They needed weapons. Usable weapons. Tian could upgrade his darts and make more, even if the ones he made were rather shoddy. Shoddy and usable beat nonexistent. He would spend more time on it. Need better spells? Wasn’t he already developing his own palm art?
A lot of good thinking going on. You are neglecting a key resource, however.
“Oh? What’s that?”
Me. I can’t efficiently give you a new spell, but I can help you make your own. Mostly by guiding you away from mistakes, and nudging you to look in the right directions. You will still be doing the heavy lifting, and it’s slow, but in the end, you will have something very suitable for you.
Tian looked upward for the first time in what felt like days. The sky of the steppes was enormous, and endlessly blue. It spread as wide as his smile.
A week passed. To a mortal, they must have looked rather idle. It’s hard to persuade anyone you are working hard if you are sitting around all day, mostly with your eyes closed. Liren and Tian felt like they were working flat out. Liren had a very good combat art, she just lacked the strength to use it. Bitter cultivation was the answer, steadily burning through their stock of spirit stones. They weren’t in immediate danger of bankruptcy, but they knew it was coming eventually.
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Tian had more things to take care of, but he didn’t neglect his cultivation either. Power was the foundation of everything, after all. It was what the Dawnlight Lark had told him. The tool wasn’t important. He was. Though without the right technique, he could hardly show off his capability.
The day the military convoy arrived, Burning Flag City turned out to watch. Not only was it the arrival of elite reinforcements, (though disappointingly few of them) it was the arrival of military supplies. That, in turn, eased the restrictions on supplies for civilians. A very welcome arrival indeed, though older heads knew it wasn’t enough on its own. Cities needed constant streams of food and goods to survive. A single convoy, no matter how welcome, couldn’t meet that need.
“Why don’t you go watch the parade?” Tian nudged Liren.
“What parade? It’s a bunch of wagons and soldiers walking down the street.”
“There will be food vendors, people selling ornaments and knick knacks, musicians, probably. You should go take a look.”
“You should go take a look.” She nudged him right back.
“I don’t wanna. I have a scheme.”
“A scheme.”
“A scheme.” Tian nodded, very seriously. “A tea scheme.”
“What kind of tea scheme could you possibly have?”
“Me sitting here and drinking some. And I want snacks. And I don’t feel like stirring around in the crowd.”
“Tian Zihao, are you sending me for snacks?!”
“They do great lamb skewers, from the look of it, and I still haven’t tried them. Lamb and leek, please, lots of them. And see if you can find some rice crackers, I’m pretty much out. OH! There are a ton of potters in this city, maybe you can see if any of them are a bit special? The Wangs made those malachite cups for us, and they are lovely, but I just don’t enjoy drinking out of them. Too busy, too fancy looking.”
“You… want me to do some shopping for you.” There was a hollowness in her voice. A certain coming together of the eyebrows.
“I do, yes.” Tian nodded, his own eyebrows raised wide in encouragement.
She gave him a long look. It bounced off his blythe enthusiasm.
“Haaah. Fine. I was bored days ago. I’ll see what I can find out in the city. You…”
“I won’t run off. I’ll be right here, and if I go somewhere else, I will send you a message. Also, you know perfectly well that you can feel my breath just about anywhere in this city. Shoo. I’m scheming.”
Liren shook her head and pulled on her hat. She was almost at the entrance to the courtyard when she came to a dead stop. “You are scheming.”
“I am. I said I am.” Tian had his tea tray out, and was warming the kettle. The snack situation wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t dire either. He would make do. Perhaps some of the abominable sweets could be balanced against a woodier aged white tea, or possibly that rolled dark dragon tea he found in the storage rings in the tiger’s midden.
“You are training me. To be more trusting. To be less anxious.”
Tian looked up from his tea set and caught her eyes. “That too. But this scheme comes with a reward for you.”
“It does?”
“Yes. Happiness, and a peaceful heart.”
They gazed into each other. Liren looked away first. “It’s a good reward.”
Once Liren had left the courtyard, Tian rubbed his hand in what he believed was the approved manner for schemers. “Wheels within wheels, schemes within schemes. You thought you found my secret plan, but really it was merely a distraction from the true secret scheme! Ahaahaha… no that doesn’t sound right. Maybe Ohohohoo? No, now I sound like Ming Yue calling me a peasant again. Hmm. Another thing to work on.”
He rubbed his hands together again. He was pretty confident in the hand rubbing.
“Bwush… Bwahaa.. BAwaaha… damn. It’s hard to laugh right. Maybe there is an art for it or something.”
He quickly finished his setup. Tian laid out his little table, and the tea set. He arranged the special equipment he got from the Begger’s Guild in No Gate city behind him, just behind the cushions he had picked to recline on. The trees and bushes were swiftly pruned into a more pleasing shape, and some of the prettier flowers he had harvested were “artlessly” put in a pot on the table. Tian checked his books once more, concluded the scene looked just right, then settled down to wait for his prey to return. Liren had put herself under immense stress, and had been carrying it for a long while now. She deserved a chance to release some of it, and making a big fuss for her should probably do the trick.
He looked around the courtyard. It was perfect. He rubbed his hands. Then frowned. Liren was still heading away from him. He could feel her as clearly as she could feel him, and she was definitely still headed away. He glanced up at the sun. It didn’t appear to have moved much since he started redecorating.
In retrospect, it had only taken him a few minutes. He had sent Liren out on errands that would probably take hours.
He rubbed his hands again, but his heart wasn’t in it any more. “Fine, fine. Not every scheme goes perfectly according to plan. This is fine. It will keep. I’ll just brew a fresh pot when she gets closer. This is fine.”
He drummed his fingers on the table. He was bored too. And wanted to watch the parade. He could eat skewers fresh from the grill then, and that’s when skewers are at their best.
“Truly, schemes are best left to schemers. This is too dark a fate!”
No fresh skewers, no investigating pottery shops, no getting Liren to buy him things, and worst of all, no one to blame but himself. Tragedy upon tragedy. How cold the southern sky could be! No matter how wistfully he stared up into the blue infinite, no rescue could be found.
Tian collapsed back onto the cushions and pulled out his flute. Perhaps music could express what was in his heart. He lifted the bamboo to his lips and gently blew, sending his emotions up into the sky. Flying high, free and happy. He and Liren, soaring together. Others would come with them from time to time, Burning Heaven, the Wangs, all the other lives that had touched his. Then they would part from him, to return again further down the road. But it would be him and Liren, soaring through the vast heavens together.
A sky road. A dao as broad and open as the heavens themselves. A heart as unfettered as the clouds. He poured his heart into his flute, letting the notes fly upward, yearning, joyful and alive.
When he was content, he lowered his flute and looked away from the heavens. Standing at the entrance to the courtyard was the young man they had been sent to protect. He looked a bit kicked in the head. Careful instruction would be needed.
“Han Zicheng, of Bluestone City. This little daoist has the surname Tian. For the next little while, I will be your teacher.”