140, 1/2

Elder Mirizo Star Song leaned back in his chair, behind his desk, frowning.

Sikali wasn’t happy, either.

Mirizo was one of three Elders of Enforcement, and had been for the last thirty three years, but Sikali rarely ever saw this particular boss of hers. She usually worked for the other two Elders of Enforcement, doing exterior work. This was why Mirizo contacted her when it came time to find their lost alchemist, for that was both an interior and exterior job. Mirizo had himself been contacted by Elder Doniro, for Mirizo was the Elder in charge of ensuring smooth operations inside Eralis, and that meant when the branch families or lesser Clans needed some proper Enforcing done of their own.

Elder Mirizo was a politician, and for this reason, Sikali rarely worked with the man. She found the simplicity of proper Enforcing to be a beautiful thing, but not when it got mired in politics. She didn’t care about which son of whatever clan was summoning demons, or which baker on which street was cutting the bread they baked with plaster. All she needed to know was that her targets needed to die, and so, when she went out on assignment, the guilt of her targets was assessed, and then her targets were never heard from again. This was why Sikali had been tasked with finding Tadashi…

Elder Mirizo had it out for Sikali, but she still didn’t know why. It was infuriating.

This recent shit storm with Alchemist Tadashi had upset the grain carts of multiple intertwined assets of Eralis. Sikali had failed to pull Tadashi out of the proverbial fire before they all got burned, and thus, Mirizo was now deeply involved.

Thus, Sikali was punished for her failure to retrieve the alchemist, and thus, she was talking to Mirizo again, for the tenth time in three days.

This was all a punishment, for sure. But why, though?

If only she had gained that fortuitous encounter with Tadashi in the Tribulation Mountains, instead of Scion Phoenix. If only she skipped the play, like Xue had wanted, and they had investigated Scion Phoenix before the truth of his station was revealed.

… Sikali wasn’t quite sure how such an actual encounter with Ezekiel would have changed things, but something would have been different. She wouldn’t be working this closely with Elder Mirizo, at least, and that’s for damn sure.

With disdain upon his face, Elder Mirizo demanded, “Report, Enforcer Sikali.”

Sikali Star Song stated, “Alchemist Tadashi’s reintegration into the Potion House of Diligent Scribe has been a small scale disaster. He has only been back for a day, and the man has managed to break a dozen expensive [Ward]s and wilt three expensive treasures, including an Arbor Seed, a Thunder Nettle, and a patch of Radiant Grass. He claims the Arbor Seed was an accident, and it might have been, but the second and third were the result of a War Response and his own bad positioning. In his rush to rid the building of himself, he walked the quickest path outside, and thus killed the other two treasured plants. He is now near-inconsolable, and is being tended to by Elder Doniro’s servants.”

Mirizo said, “It seems you are capable enough when it suits you.”

Sikali did not respond to the barb. Of course she could subtly enforce certain events to happen, but most of the time it was beneath her to use anything except utmost force. She was an Enforcer; not a lackey.

It occurred to Sikali, that in addition to the obvious reasons for her current punishment patrol and assignment, she had overstepped herself the other day when she spoke of ‘butt boys’ to Elder Doniro and Mirizo. And thus, she was being forced to work for Mirizo, and forced to use underhanded means to ensure Star Song’s continued prosperity.

Elder Mirizo asked, “Are they working to make him a separate Potion House?”

“There have been whispers, but nothing solid.”

“What of his brother? Any news since his attempt to break through containment and get to Tadashi?”

“There is renewed talk of exiling Alchemist Wabi from Diligent Scribe, mostly centered around the fact that Tadashi was captured, but Wabi escaped, and no one has been happy with Wabi’s excuses. Since Tadashi’s return, both brothers have expressed desire to see the other, but Doniro is not letting that happen. Tadashi’s containment is well constructed and likely to deepen, and Wabi knows this. He is not happy about this, either.”

“Has Tadashi expressed words about his brother?”

“He wishes to see his brother if only to scream at him, though I doubt that portion of their conversation would last very long. The only thing standing in the way of such a meeting is Diligent Scribe, itself, for they strongly wish to acquire Tadashi’s invention.” Sikali said, “Unbeknownst to me until after I started this proper investigation—” If she had known, or been allowed to know, she certainly would have done a better job. For one, she wouldn’t have gone out to that damned play. “—Tadashi’s invention has thrown every single protocol of Diligent Scribe’s Potion House into complete disarray, and the truth of this full upheaval was revealed today when a man bypassed the usual chain of command and came right up to the Clan House and complained to Elder Doniro’s face about missing mana potions. They want what Tadashi made, and they’ve stopped everything they were currently doing in order to make this happen. Over four of their exterior Potion Houses are already working on what he pioneered.”

Mirizo narrowed his eyes. “How large is the information breach?”

“They are openly speaking of it within the Potion House. It is a matter of hours before the rest of Clan Society knows.”

And what a strange creation it was! The greater outcome upon high-tier society would be immense, if any other nation but the Highlands were to get their hands on it, but only if Tadashi could make it work. But if Tadashi actually could get his potion to work as intended, then…

The Highlands were sure to go through another bloody expansion period. Maybe to the north, into the Warring Clan lands. The Highlands would do well to control the headwaters of the Wanzhi river.

And wouldn’t that be fun! Now there was some proper Enforcing.

Elder Mirizo stood up from his desk, a look of scheming upon his face. “It is time for me to step in.”

Having easily seen through Mirizo’s plot and desiring to cut it down to something quicker, Sikali spoke up, “I can make the man come to Star Song if you wish, Elder. There is no need for this subterfuge.”

Elder Mirizo glared. “If I wish for several dozen swords to appear in the backs of the Potion Masters, Professors, Teachers, and Elders of Diligent Scribe, I will consult you, but until Diligent Scribe decides they don’t like being a branch family of Star Song, this is your punishment, Sikali. We do not raise our hands to each other. We do not harm our own—”

Sikali almost laughed.

“—Your bloodlust does us all a disservice at the moment, and until you learn that, or until I grow tired of hammering that into your head, then you will do as I wish, and nothing more.”

Sikali kept her mouth shut. She let her raging emotions flow through her, and away; she was a rock in the stream and would not be moved by her desire for blood. Not in the face of her Elder, anyway.

Mirizo waited for Sikali to say something, but she did not.

Mirizo said, “Let me know the second that Scion Phoenix attempts contact.”

Sikali briefly saw red, and then she let that go.

Mirizo noticed, and not only because he was purposefully baiting and waiting for such a response. He said, “You are a naked blade, Sikali, and no one has ever bothered to rein you in, but I have been given the opportunity to do so, and I will. Get used to this assignment. You will be on this case until either Tadashi creates his potion, or I deem the endeavor useless. Fuck it up, and you’ll get worse assignments.”

Yup. Sikali did not like Mirizo.

“Keep your watch. Keep your team active. You are dismissed.”

Sikali tapped her chest with her fist, saying, “By your command.”

– – – –

The day before yesterday, they had dropped Tadashi off with his people, had a confrontation with a few other Scions, and then went back to the hotel, since it was only a few hours since sunset, anyway. They ate dinner at The Sour House, and went to bed and got some good sleep in preparation for a large tomorrow. Ezekiel used a [Prismatic Ward] throughout the room this time, since that ship had already sailed once Tadashi saw them use the spell. 9000 mana from an Odin turned into a 54,000 point Solid Ward around their room. They’d be safe from most threats, which was good enough.

Yesterday began with shopping in the city of Darzallia, the suburb outside of Eralis, in order to turn their monster cores into gold. They tried to spend that gold on new clothes as befitting their stations, only to fail.

The robes, sashes, and accoutrements of Scions and the Scion-adjacent were well outside of their budget of 75 gold. It seemed that some things about the economy of the Highlands were the same as they were in Spur. Ezekiel and his people could have gotten clothes of almost any style for dozens of silvers, at the most, but the colors of such clothing would have been limited to browns or tans, or off-white. Actual good clothes, made in any color other than the ‘peasant colors’, would up the price to tens of gold for a single piece.

Going from cotton to silk, or to the even rarer spider-silk, was an even larger jump of, in some cases, a hundred gold per square foot of fabric used. At least in the case of spider-silk, Ezekiel understood that price, but everything else was the way it was because of the law of the land dictating certain price floors.

There was no law against wearing colors ‘outside of your station’, but from the hints the sellers gave Ezekiel, there didn’t need to be laws of those sort; wearing such ostentatious clothes would draw the eye of any noble he should happen to meet, which would likely not be a good thing.

Certain jobs with certain uniforms were exempt from this price increase, the most common exceptions being the blue and white clothes of various couriers, and any clothes one made themselves.

And so, Ezekiel ended up thanking every clothier they met for their time, but not buying a single thing. They did eat a nice lunch, though, spending little for food, before they killed the afternoon by going back to the Tribulation Mountains and killing more Mist Stone Gluttons. At the end of that excursion, they were now up to 162 gold, which was more than enough to give 40 to everyone for their own purposes. Maybe they would go hunting for gluttons when they got low again, but that shouldn’t happen for at least a few days.

And then they were back at The Sour House, for another night spent in Darzallia, where they got some good sleep in preparation for a larger tomorrow.

They woke up to birds singing outside, just as they had the previous morning. Nothing untoward had happened at all, for the second night in a row. This boded well for the future, and Ezekiel said so.

Julia stirred brown sugar into her bowl of congee as she said, “I’m almost disappointed we haven’t been attacked.”

“Let’s not tempt fate quite so hard, please,” Paul said, also dumping brown sugar into his congee.

Tiffany stirred redberry jam into her white breakfast glop, saying, “If we see that green guy again and he says a single thing about me, I am going to punch him in the face. I’m telling you ahead of time so that you’re not mad when it happens.”

Ezekiel smiled as he cracked an egg into his congee, and then stirred the bright orange into the disintegrated rice. The egg cooked in the heat of the meal, as he said, “He expects you to punch him, you know.”

“Oh yeah. I know. Still gonna do it, though.” Tiffany said, “He looked thick enough to be a Juggernaut, so I bet he’ll test his Immovable Object against mine. Probably what he tried to do before White Boy interrupted him.”

Julia eyed her, and asked, “What would happen there? Immovable Object versus Immovable Object?”

“Heavy damage to both.” Tiffany smiled. “But I can take more damage than him.”

Ezekiel changed the subject, saying, “So, Julia? Want to try to weave threads into cloth and then into clothes, after breakfast?”

“Yes.” Julia said, “I can only make white thread, but we could go hunting for a specific spider called the Nacreous Weaver. Or more like, we could go hunting for an idea of where some hidden groves of them might exist. They’re impossible to keep in captivity.” She added, “But that’s for making threads of every color. For specific colors, there’s the Blood Weaver, for red, or— Heh. A Ballooning Spider for transparent. Don’t know about any others— Oh. There’s the Sand Weaver that makes tan and brown threads.”

“Should’ve gotten a Balloon Spider when they were falling out of the sky,” Tiffany teased.

“Yeah yeah.” Julia said, “I am reminded, once again, of that fact.”

“They have to have some spideries around here, somewhere.” Ezekiel asked, “Or? Are there?”

“They exist.” Paul said, “They’re rather guarded locations, though. You’d have to get an invite from a noble, for sure.”

“Maybe we can get one. We’ll check, anyway. Anyone else got anything specific they want to do today? Otherwise it’ll be weaving for a while, then we could try to find a spidery which sounds like a dead end, and then we’re going to visit the Void Temple inside Eralis.”

“A visit to a bookstore,” Paul said. “I need something to read in the downtime.”

“I want a veil before we go into the actual city. Can I get one of those?” Tiffany added, “And some books, too, if you’re going to be locked up studying magic again.”

“I’m sure I can make a veil,” Julia said, “And if I can’t, dad can.”

“Works for me.” Tiffany said, “I also want to get some bottles of good liquor. That stuff we had the other day was great. That stuff we had last night? Not so much.”

“We will be doing all of that,” Ezekiel said, with a smile.

– – – –

Xue lounged next to the viewing mirror, watching his target teach his daughter how to weave spider silk into garments, as he spoke of history. The Scion was patient and thorough, while the daughter was enthusiastic, and yet reluctant at the same time.

Ezekiel spoke of traditional methods, where a captured spider was stuck in a holder, and the silks were teased out of the animal onto a spinner, and then the animal was released back into the garden where they lived. The process usually happened once every other day, for several minutes at the most, as gathering threads for longer would stress out the mundane, animal spider.

Monstrous spiders were different beasts entirely, in that they were captured as soon as they were found in the garden and then drained dry till they were dead, in a process that lasted several hours. You couldn’t let a monstrous spider back into the garden meant for animals, and a garden meant for monstrous spiders was an incredibly difficult thing to do, and not just because of the danger posed for the people who would be tending to the monsters.

But all of that process was circumvented because the daughter just turned the underside of her wrists into spinnerets and then proceeded to spin out pure white spider silk onto a large spinner. In minutes they had kilograms of the stuff, all ready to work with.

Xue was jealous. He glanced to the left, toward a wall he shared with a different Loremaster.

Loremaster Riri was not a simple Polymage, but she was not whatever kind of Polymage Julia was, either. Riri was an Arachnid Polymage, and she made all her own clothes, but never for anyone else. It was infuriating. She did run Star Song’s largest spidery, and Xue could have gained silk that way, but it would be mundane silk, and who wanted mundane silk when magical silk was an option? The level of enchantment that could be made with true magical silk, taken from a person with sapient blood in their veins, was a hundred times more stable than that made with the mundane shit…

Hmm.

Maybe he could ask Julia for some of her silk?

It was an… Option…

Xue lost some of his words, as he focused on the viewing screen in front of him.

Over the course of half an hour, he watched as Ezekiel, with some of the greatest [Greater Lightwalk] control Xue had ever seen, took threads and manually formed them into cloth. Julia failed to do the same. Ezekiel kept helping her, though.

Ezekiel then conjured a small, basic loom, to help his daughter. It was little more than two parallel pieces of wood with a hundred tiny dowels on each side, through which thread could be wound, but it was proof of what he was doing and Julia followed along. With more care, and the same amount of control already displayed, Ezekiel wove thread onto the loom, wrapping threads between dowels—

The loom burst from the pressure of the wrapped threads.

Five minutes later, one of Ezekiel’s magenta birds returned to the room carrying a real hand loom.

He had likely just made that, hadn’t he? Out of a tree somewhere? Well, they guessed that he already had [Treeshape] due to the basket with which they had delivered Tadashi, so this smaller magic here was no mystery, but the speed of which the summon had been sent out and then returned did much to show off a great amount of skill, and power. It also proved that Ezekiel had made Tadashi’s basket.

Xue wasn’t sure which person was more lucky to encounter the other, Ezekiel, stumbling upon Tadashi, or Tadashi, for having the fortune to be rescued by a Scion truly worthy of being called a mage.

This much magic happening in real time was proof enough to firm up some other theories that Xue had acquired in his time watching Scion Ezekiel. He wrote a few more of the truths he had seen down on a piece of paper to the side.

The Scion almost assuredly had the Class Ability Sculpt Spell, as well as Light Dedication. Xue had seen more than enough to prove this much. He didn’t know Ezekiel’s Class yet, though.

Xue’s guess was currently tied between Warder and Summoner. [Prismatic Ward] pointed heavily toward Warder, as did the strength of his [Personal Ward]. But Odin’s existence pointed toward Summoner, for sure.

As for Ezekiel himself, he was a Scion of Focus. This much was known. He kept up ten Odin at all times, which meant a great amount of mana was either flowing into the summon at every moment, or else Odin was able to hold onto Ezekiel’s mana to a much greater degree than most other summons.

Another needle pointing toward Summoner was that Ezekiel had not cast [Personal Ward]s onto each of his people, which is what a Warder would have done.

But also, Tadashi, and Xue himself when he went [Witness]ing Tadashi’s rescue, had seen multiple Solid Wards cast at the same time, which pointed toward Warder—

All questioning vanished from Xue’s thoughts as he watched Ezekiel [Fabricate] himself an exquisite robe of pure white spider silk.

It was beautiful, dammit, with squared shoulders that came down in a V toward a nice waist wrapping, while the rest was a nonrestrictive robe with a full-leg skirt and full arm coverings. Sure, the arms were tight-wristed and barely loose-sleeved, but that was because it was obviously a warrior’s cut. Everything had perfect edging, and tight threading. The center V and waist sash even had decorative embroidery of geometric design. Sure, it was all white, and the embroidery was barely visible, but understatement was beauty, too! If color was needed, that could be fixed in another attempt. Just add some dyes to the damnable silk first!

Ezekiel’s robe wouldn’t look out of place in any part of the Alluvial District!

Gods dammit.

Fuck Riri, then. If that damned woman wouldn’t give him a robe that he had been after for a literal decade, then he would get one from Ezekiel!

He got up from his chair—

Nope. Wait.

… no.

… He sat back down. He watched the daughter fail a few times to get anywhere near Ezekiel’s competency. She was obviously not a mage (and she likely did not have Sculpt Spell, either) but to hear the four of them speak, Julia was the real danger on the battlefield. That was understandable. Polymages were like that. Especially Polymages with a Unicorn form. Impossible to hold down, and she obviously had the Class Ability of Shifting Form. Any single encounter against her would need to account for her [Beautification Aura]—

A knock came from the door to his rooms. Seconds later, Elder Arilitilo stepped into the room.

Xue stood up from his lounge. “Greetings, Elder.”

“Loremaster Xue.” Elder Arilitilo shut the door behind her, saying, “I have had an interesting talk with Elder Mirizo. He says your Sikali is bordering on unwelcome bloodlust with regard to this new Scion in our presence. Waking dragons is unwise, so rein her in before the rest of us do so.”

Xue’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of ‘dragons’. Of course he had considered that Scion Ezekiel was some pretender, and one of those considerations was of the draconic variety, but to actually hear it stated so openly?

He asked, “Is that… What he could be?”

Elder Arilitilo casually said, “It is only a saying, until it isn’t. Let us step back from any potential edges before we get too close.”

“I will inform her of her need to temper herself, and, if you will give me the go ahead, I may have just found a way to initiate contact with Scion Phoenix.”

“Oh?” Elder Arilitilo stepped around to Xue’s side of the viewing couch and took a seat in another nearby chair, saying, “Tell me of your idea, and then we can discuss what else you have seen.”

Xue retook his seat on his couch, briefly gesturing toward the still-active viewing screen, saying, “Yesterday Scion Ezekiel spent half of the day visiting various tailors and finding the selection inadequate for his personage. The other half of the day was utilized to gain cores, and then turn them into the Clan Exchange. This morning, Ezekiel began instructing his daughter on how to weave cloth out of her own spider silk.”

Elder Arilitilo’s eyes had glossed over the viewing screen as she listened to Xue, but then she really looked. She asked, “Is that a full dress robe made of spider silk?”

Xue could not keep all of his excitement out of his voice. “Yes. I wish to approach him about buying such a robe.”

“Do so. I also want one.” Elder Arilitilo’s decision was instant. “See if he will take commissions— Be circumspect about this, of course. And frugal. I would prefer a blood garment, if possible, but base thread of any sort is fine.” She asked, “What sort of spiders does Julia have?”

“They have spoken of scouting for a spidery for Julia. All she has is white thread. Her current goals are for a Nacreous Weaver, or a Blood Weaver, or a Sand Weaver. They spoke of Ballooning Spiders, temporarily, and Julia lamented over being reminded that she had missed out on that chance.”

After a moment, Arilitilo said, “Loremaster Riri has not been able to identify the spider silk used to create the pile that was wrapped around Tadashi, or else Riri is lying to me. It would not be the first time for her to lie when it came to her silks. I, personally, will see about getting those two together in some fashion, if Riri is amenable. You will stay out of that.”

Xue almost said that if Riri and Julia got together, then Riri would surely tell Julia not to sell her silk anywhere within the Highlands… But he did not.

Instead, Xue said, “I was planning on visiting the Void Temple today since that is a part of their itinerary. If Ezekiel wears what he has made, then it is through that garment and the opportunity of his access to spider silk that I will strike. If not, then I will find another way.”

“This plan is agreeable. Do it. According to what we have seen, and if you have nothing too egregious to add, then we will be allying with Clan Phoenix.” Elder Arilitilo paused to let that sink in, then said, “But, that letter from Clan Grey Cloud painted a dangerous picture of our new Scion, proving that Ezekiel and his people might be harder to take down than most, so a good reconnaissance will be important if we need to shift priorities. If you can get Sikali calmed before you meet with him today, and if she is available, take her with you. Having your capable Enforcer of a wife gain a closer look at Clan Phoenix will do well for all of us if we need to go down that dangerous path.”

Xue nodded in understanding. “It will be as you desire.”

“And now for this.” Elder Arilitilo picked up the pad of paper that Xue had scribbled his notes upon. She began reading as she flipped through, commanding, “Summarize.”

While Arilitilo read, Xue began speaking of what he had seen over the last day, and also what he had not seen, which was mainly any real clue as to where any of them had come from, aside from Julia. While three of them were from somewhere in the Tempest Forest, or nearby there, Julia was an actual adventurer from Kal’Duresh.

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Elder Arilitilo interrupted, “Either hers is a fake cover story, or she certainly got out of there in time. Have you seen any instances of your usual assignment?”

“I have [Witness]ed none of the usual signs of Particle Magic. No airs of combining water out of thick air or any [Cleanse]s turning whole spellworks to mana. The man certainly uses enough [Cleanse] that I feel I would have. If he is using Particle Magic, then he has made none of the usual toxic or poisonous byproducts that are the usual results of such magic, or else he is on his best behavior and he has chosen not to use any Particle Magic, which is entirely possible, and rather likely.”

Arilitilo nodded. “You recall that Tadashi spoke of Ezekiel speaking of ‘particular magic’ and ‘antirhine being a particular’.”

“Yes. Tadashi was not convinced that Ezekiel used the wrong wording on purpose, but he was rather distressed by his own admission. As for my own opinion, I believe that Scion Ezekiel knows a great deal about Archmage Flatt, and if nothing else, Ezekiel has a great respect for the Particle Mage. His Odin occasionally has many more eyes than a normal bird and he shifts sizes all the time, which means the template Ezekiel used for Odin was stressed in a way that doesn’t happen if you’re emulating a true bird.”

Arilitilo said, “It’s a stretch to say every odd bird [Familiar] is an Ophiel.” She added, “And while I agree about there being something strange regarding Odin, and also something strange about Ezekiel’s understanding of Particle Magic, you must keep in mind that we have seen Copy Mages before.”

Xue sat up straight. “You think he’s a Copy Mage? I thought him a simple imitator.”

“Imperfect copies, for sure. It is a known phenomenon.” Elder said, “Continue with your observations.”

Xue gave a lighthearted jest, instead, saying, “But what if he isn’t a Copy Mage. What if he’s actually Archmage Flatt?”

Elder Arilitilo raised her eyebrows at him, then simply said, “If Ezekiel is actually Archmage Flatt then we will never speak of this fact. We will pretend that we are blind, for he obviously doesn’t wish to be found, and the Highlands would rather Erick Flatt move on, unmolested. If you bring the wrath of dragons down upon the Songli Highlands, then you will be offered up as a sacrifice to appease those same dragons, no matter which direction they come from.”

She had said the words so calmly that they didn’t truly register until after she had said them. She had said them before now, and Xue had even been there when some of those proclamations had been delivered, but she had never said those words to him.

Her words struck Xue like an unexpected glacier.

Xue attempted to mitigate some of the disaster that suddenly loomed, “He is not, though, right?”

“Minimal chance. Not zero chance.” Arilitilo continued, “Don’t fill your head with overlarge ideas before you know the truth. We are still in the investigation stage and you might end up pushing out the true answer for one that is merely more shiny.”

“… I suppose he doesn’t conduct himself like a Planar would.”

With sudden small vitriol, Arilitilo said, “His people are barbarian nobodies and his daughter is even worse, but he is a perfect Scion.” Calmed, she said, “I doubt Archmage Flatt could accomplish such a deception considering what we have heard of the man, but I have been proven wrong before. So what do I know? Continue with your report.”

Xue continued his report in a much more clinical manner, listing everything he had seen and heard, and all of the spells he had witnessed. They even went over the spells shown in the [Witness]es of Ezekiel’s flight out of the Tribulations.

Xue asked, “That Super Large Area Thunder nullification spell… I’m not sure what to make of that. It has the whispers of Particle Magic, but also…” He dropped his voice a fraction, saying “Other magics.”

“He was not lying when he spoke of his desire to learn from the Songstresses. He has already touched upon many of our own Truths, so when you go see him at the Void Temple, do so with respect.” Arilitilo added, “You speak of Archmages, but the much more probable truth is that Clan Phoenix is a hidden branch family of High Clan Void Song, and that he doesn’t even know this himself. Archmage Flatt isn’t the only one with a bird [Familiar], Loremaster Xue.”