Tian gently touched his heart. It was a little easier now than it had been when he woke up. Liren walked out, and looked at the empty bowls speculatively.
“I maintain that tea needs no adulteration. Any point in which the tea is lacking is really evidence of a failure to properly process or transport it. The failure is in human skill, not in nature's creation.” Tian smiled at her.
“Of course.” She nodded, her face serious.
“But we must also consider the question of spirituality. Where does the heart of tea lie, if not in the hearts of humans? What is the tea ritual, however it is formed, but an exercise in warming that heart and connecting it with others?”
“A rarely considered question, and it should be considered.” She continued to nod, her face not twitching in the slightest.
“Things are hard on the steppes. Deprivation is met with courage, hardiness, and adaptability. These are commendable traits, utterly commendable. Should we despise someone for what they have done to live? Especially when that adaptation harms none and brings comfort to many? I, at least, cannot.”
“Your heart is as broad as the grasslands, and as open as the sky. Truly, I am moved.” Liren clasped her fist in her hand. There was a long pause. “You can’t bring yourself to admit you like it, can you?”
“A tasty abomination is still an abomination. The world has gone mad.”
“Can I have a bowl?”
“There is some life left in the leaves. Sit, sit. Daoist Ma just staggered off, and he left his milk jug. I have my own honey.”
“He looked like he was in the throes of a religious revelation.” Liren made herself comfortable, and watched Tian prepare the tea with interest.
“Hmm. He didn’t say anything, just looked up at the sky, gasping.”
“There were tears on his face, though I couldn’t tell you what expression he was making. A mighty revelation, I think.”
“He is only level seven, so it won’t help him break through straight away. Still, it all adds up. Besides, it was very satisfying figuring out how to communicate what is in here,” he tapped his chest, “in a way his own spirit could understand. It sounds pretentious, but my tea dao has advanced a step.”
“You know, I always thought I got the better deal, leaving the Six Turns Cavern. A top quality spear art, or a knack for tea- it should be no contest. But for a while now, I’ve wondered if I wasn’t wrong.” Liren shook her head. “What are we looking for, exactly, out on the steppes? Other than Heavenly tier shaman?”
“I have a thought about that. Right now…” Tian’s voice trailed off, then he refocused. “Right now, I just don’t see how the Broadsky Kingdom can hang on to the steppe land. Maybe Burning Flag City could just about be preserved, but the rest? All the forts and little villages and things? They're dead. Looted, enslaved, and carried off to who knows where by the Yuu.”
“Not many farms this far south. If I remember right, it’s mostly ranches, cattle, horses, sheep, that kind of thing.”
“Exactly.”
“So? It’s an unpleasant thing to think about, but it’s not something we can change.” Liren shrugged. Tian could see she was trying to sound unbothered.
“Yeah, we can’t. And the thing is, I don’t think we could even negotiate some kind of deal with the Yuu where the Kingdom evacuates the province and leaves them the land.”
“Right. From their perspective, they already have all the land outside the immediate range of the forts or the city. All that’s left is collecting the loot.” Liren’s shoulders tightened. She ran her hand through her red and black hair. It was more red than black these days. Tian could remember when she just had a few rare red hairs. “But it’s not our job to fix it, and we can’t fix it, so why think about that and not figure out how to keep Han alive?”
“It’s related. We kill a hell of a lot of shamans. All of them that we can find. Soon enough, they will call for their seniors, and that will bring out the grand shamans. At which point, we run away. They chase us, and we fall back towards the kingdom. They stop chasing, we press inward. Slowly exhausting them, killing them.”
“There are a lot more of them than there are of us. And trying to out-endure a steppe nomad is a bold choice.” Liren tilted her head and watched Tian. “It's been steeping too long.”
“It has. And yet, that is how it is supposed to be made. I agree with you about the chances of the plan working, but there are two things I keep coming back to. The first is that it is Heavenly Realm heretics behind the push that is moving the shamans. At least, I think that’s what the Venerable was saying. And the second thing is that the Yuu are going to be particularly unhappy about going anywhere where there are a load of shaman spirits. Particularly if some of them were sorcerers.”
“Still not getting it.”
Tian poured the tea with a sigh, admiring the courtyard once more. How much longer could it keep this beauty? Not long, probably. He swiftly stirred in the milk and honey, then presented the bowl to Liren.
“We poison the land. We make it clear that we will happily spend the next century or three murdering shamans all across the land controlled by the Yuu tribes, and the Boruski in particular. We will live, if not forever, then for a lot longer than they will. Mess up our job, and we will make their lives constructively unpleasant. We can scram into the depths of the kingdom for a decade or two, come back, slaughter hundreds, and be gone again by the time the Grand Shamans mobilize. The shamans aren’t stupid. They will figure out the game fast. So instead of screwing around themselves, they will send out the Heavenly Realm heretics to solve the Heavenly Realm Cultivator problem. Cultivators should deal with cultivators, this was all your idea in the first place, that kind of thing.”
Liren sipped the tea, then took a big gulp. “Good tea!”
“No. Bad tea. Terrible tea! But a good tea drink.”
She grinned over the bowl at him. “Of course. It all sounds good, but how exactly do we find shaman to attack? And… there must be a reason the Kingdom’s cultivators haven’t done this before. Why not?”
“Vermilion Bird Fort. There are stories of a spiritual horse running around there. If that doesn’t draw the Boruski, what could? And as for the ambush strategy, who says our seniors haven't been doing exactly that? We are the nominal rulers here. That didn’t happen by accident.” This time it was Tian’s turn to grin.
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Liren shook her head. “Doesn’t add up. If the Grand Shaman only live sixty or seventy years, then how could they accumulate the strength to stand up to a half-millenium old Heavenly Realm cultivator, with all his equipment? And if they can’t, why don’t we rule all the grasslands? Because the Monastery’s control out here is as negligible as the Kingdoms.”
“Dunno. Well, I have a guess for part of it. You will notice that even for the low country, the qi is on the thinner side around here. Relatedly, there has been absolutely nothing in the way of Heavenly Realm resources for a long while now. Actually, other than the mushroom from the tiger’s den, I don’t think I’ve seen any growing wild outside the mountain.”
Liren laughed, sharp and pointed. “Adventuring. What kind of adventure could a Heavenly Realm cultivator get up to here? What kind of loot could they take from mortal shamans?”
Han nodded and tapped his nose.
“The Yuu know us. They have been trading with us, been ruled by us, for millenia. They speak our language and have relatives in the kingdom. They know the country is divided and the Monastery is sealed. Most of the Heavenly people are at each other’s throats too. Someone has to be in charge, and they all want to be that someone. How could the Heavenly cultivators waste time and manpower on the dangerous, unrewarding work of suppressing the steppes when the internal situation is so murky?”
By the end, Tian was doing a passable impression of some of the pompous seniors in the sect. Both of them were at an age where they weren’t interested in patently listening to the wisdom of their elders, particularly when said elders appeared to be looking at them through their nostrils.
Liren snickered. “If not now, then when? Clearly the great sky god wants them to seize this moment.”
“We have ample equipment, ample cultivation resources, ample medicine, we even have some talismans. None of the weapons or armor are anything too special, but they exist. I’ll read through the manuals, just to see if there is anything good, but I kind of doubt it. Maybe a better perception spell or something, but it’s not exactly a scripture pavilion. I think we are as set as we are going to be.”
“You know what else we have?”
“Mmm?”
Liren’s smile turned saintly. “A spare flying sword.”
Tian buried his face in his hands and groaned. The sadness of having a flying boat, one that folded up when not in use and would look so domineering to take out at a moment’s notice, but not being able to use it, was reaching a painful peak.
“Truthfully, I liked having an excuse to hold you.” He peeked up from between his fingers.
“Truthfully, I liked holding you too.” Liren looked away, then glanced back at him. “It was really uncomfortable being held on a sword.” She swallowed hard, but didn’t look away. “We should try it when we aren’t on a sword.”
Tian smiled, like a summer moon coming out from behind the clouds. “Lets.” The rest of the day was spent in pleasant ways. While grief often caught him distracted, it wasn’t a hungry abyss. It was something to exist in, pass through, and be comforted by what was on the other side.
Morning came, and with it, a one-time sword-carrying attendant. Han could be forgiven for momentarily thinking his teacher was glowing. There was a distinct brightness to him, quite a change from two days ago. Han glanced at the house where the Heavenly couple had their bedroom, noticed the lady of the house had yet to make an appearance, and drew his own conclusions. Incorrect conclusions, as it happens, but certainly trending in that direction. For Tian, for now, it was an unexpected joy.
“Student Han, good news! We are abandoning you.”
Han’s eyebrows shot up, and his eyes widened. He started flipping through his cards at speed, but Tian pressed on without waiting for him.
“Yes, we are heading off into the steppes. Taking the battle to the enemy, seeing if we can’t lure out some Grand Shamans, or better still, run down the Heretics we think are behind this sudden push by the Yuu. Hopefully, we will kill the people who we have been contracted to protect you from. Whoever they may be. With a little luck, we may even earn some honest coin in the process.”
Han breathed out in a long sigh, his shoulders falling as the tension left his body.
“I have summoned some people who you will need to meet. Just some fellow daoists and the mortal grandmasters in the city, not mighty figures but very useful to know nevertheless. They will help you, should you need it. Up to a point. I will also send a note to the City Lord, asking him to keep feeding and housing you. See Liren for some gold, just in case.”
Han’s eyes flew open once again, the tension pulling his shoulders back up.
“Use this time to do some self directed study. Urgently study. Train as though your life depends on it, because it does. It is also a good chance for you to make some connections. Useful things, connections. Everyone needs a network, believe me.” Tian’s voice turned wry. He was finding life outside the sect far lonelier than he thought he would.
“You will have an elite network in the civil service thanks to Hanshen, for as long as he lives. When they turn on him, and that day is coming, that network will vanish, and all the people who flattered you will be cursing you instead. Every hand will be against you, and holding knives. They will run you down, Han. They will tear you apart. They will come for your family, your friends, everyone who owes you money or a favor, they will destroy every single piece of your life in the ugliest ways they can, because they can’t pour enough pain into killing Hanshen to vent all their resentment. They have to hurt everyone even remotely connected to him too.”
Han staggered and nearly fell. Tian grabbed his arm, and guided him safely to the ground.
“You have been given books to read, I know. Books on ethics and history. You read them, but did you understand them? It seems you didn’t, or this wouldn’t come as a surprise. Are you starting to understand now why I keep calling you a man of the rivers and lakes? Why I have been spending so much time teaching you to survive ambushes and fight as one against many? To survive where others could not? The lotions you have been treated with are things that simply do not exist in the low country. I believe I am one of two people who knows how to make them at all, and the only one who would. I didn’t do it for the love of medicine. It was to keep you alive. I am quite certain you know where students fall within the ‘six degrees of familial extermination.’ Think you need every edge you can get?”
Han nodded, a jerky, uncontrolled motion.
“The Emperor’s mercy won’t stretch further than a clean death, and I wouldn’t stake a bent copper on even that much grace. You cannot possibly rely on others for your safety, but the further someone is from the civil service, the more reliable they will be for you. Wandering cultivators, martial artists, beggars, you could disguise yourself as a wandering monk from the Pure Lands Temple. A very reliable disguise, that. You could even try to rely on my name, and Liren’s, to protect you. Though I wouldn’t. We don’t have names that inspire fear.”
Tian sensed Liren getting ready to leave the house, so he decided to wrap up quickly. “The Dragon Suppressing Palms was originally refined by the founding emperor’s grandfather, who was the third generation Sect Master of the Ancient Crane Monastery. The Imperial Family lost the art during the reign of Empress Zhu. The only mortal who knows, other than you, is Hanshen. Just something to keep in mind, because if the Imperial Family figures it out, they will have views. There was something else…” Tian wracked his brain for a moment.
“Got it!” Tian pulled out a nice piece of bamboo, and poked holes in it. He carefully recreated his flute. He tested it, and the sound was a bit different but still nice. It should probably be lacquered, but that could be Han’s problem.
“Here. I learned to play the flute to try to say all the things words could not. I know so-called gentleman-scholars play the qin, but they also have rooms to store them in. A roof will be a rare luxury for you while you are running for your life. However long or short that time might be. A flute is nicely portable, and has a wonderfully calming effect. Perhaps you will find your voice in it, or your dao. This pamphlet on how to play the flute was given to me by someone who had more power in the tip of one of her feathers than I have in my whole body. She picked it up randomly and gave it to me lightly, but I will still want it back if I survive the expedition into the steppes.”
Tian patted the stunned Han on the shoulder. “Right, I think that’s about everything. You have a brief, brief moment before your entire life turns to hell. Practice hard. Should we live, and we are pretty good at surviving things that should kill us, we will come find you again. Maybe soon? Maybe not. Use your own judgement about if and when to run. I’d head for Mountain Gate City, nobody gives a damn about mortal nobles up there, but it’s entirely up to you. There is only safer, nowhere is safe. That’s what life is like, when you are a man of the rivers and lakes.”