v7c35: The Lady of the Lake

Meiling was very quickly coming to enjoy spending time at the beach. The water was the perfect temperature; the sun was shining bright, and there were so many interesting things! Shells, plants, animals… she had found some of the reagents mentioned in the medical scrolls Jin had brought for her as a part of her betrothal gift. It was so exciting seeing them fresh, and being able to pick them herself. And yes, while she did have access to much better herbs than this back home now… these ones were still interesting

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And there were so many experiments to run!

 

Bei Be was her assistant today; the ox and his plow practising their fine cuts on the Pale Moon Mugwort root—it wasn’t a spirit herb, but it was good for fevers. She had to see if dicing them, slicing them, shredding them, or pressing them produced the best results. His cuts were clean and precise—so clean that the plow was shaving off pieces of herb finer than a strand of Xiulan’s hair.

 

“How is it?” she asked.

 

‘A good challenge. It requires a lot of concentration to get the cuts this thin,’ Bei Be replied. ‘Sun Ne is very pleased.’

 

She got the feeling that the plow, painted with happy yellow suns, was preening. She chuckled and glanced up from her work.

 

Suyan was waiting on the beach, her eyes directed to the gentle waves of the lake. She was sitting with her feet in the water, humming a nameless tune that was being copied by the bees, pitching up and down with her like somebody was playing an erhu.

 

Finally, there were her two boys. Wa Shi and Zhuye had originally found a very long piece of lakeweed washed up on the shore—Jin had called it kelp. Zhuye had picked it up and started dragging it around behind him— then began making excited noises, pointing at Wa Shi, and twisting the partially dried plant into strange shapes… which Wa Shi then copied, twisting his body to match the long piece of kelp, to Zhuye’s delight.

 

It looked more like a snake than a dragon, but Meiling wasn’t about to spoil their fun.

 

Eventually, however, the piece of kelp snapped, already fairly old. Zhuye had looked to be on the verge of tears… which prompted his brother to swiftly retrieve another, much fresher piece.

 

She looked to them, expecting to see them playing the same dragging game. Instead, both boys were sitting side by side, chewing on another fresh piece of kelp.

 

The skin did have a rather appealing shine to it…

 

“Is it tasty?” she asked, and the dragon nodded.

 

“Very! I also have an idea—slice the stem into rings of this, dress it in vinegar and soy, topped with sesame seeds… it’s sure to be a new masterpiece!” the dragon raved.”You both should try it! You too, Suyan!”

 

Zhuye clearly liked it. And it did look satisfying to chew on.

 

Jin stepped out of the water to find them like that. All of them lined up in a row,crunching on a long strand of lakeweed. Suyan flushed and coughed. Wa Shi and Zhuye lifted a hand in greeting. The bees snapped to attention. Bei Be didn’t react, and just kept chewing, the long strand hanging out both sides of his mouth.

 

Meiling followed Bei Be, and just took another bite. Wa Shi was correct, it was very nice to chew on.

 

Jin smiled warmly at the sight… before that warmth switched to amusement. He straightened up and marched forward like a soldier, then dropped to one knee before her.

 

“Scout Jin reporting to the Empress!” he declared, clasping his hands together in the gesture of respect.

 

Meiling’s ass was covered in sand, she was wearing only her dudou, and she had kelp juice running down her chin. She swallowed her newest mouthful.

 

Naturally, she lifted her head with regal style and grace, and drew herself up to her full majesty.

 

“Speak, soldier,” she commanded. “Is it as the preliminary reports suggested?”

 

Jin had wanted just one of them to ‘stress test’ the link, in case venturing into the Qi Void could cause them harm. Tianlan had been prepared to signal to Meiling so that either Washy or Suyan could jump into the lake to drag Jin back out.

 

That, and he wanted to make absolutely certain there was nothing down there that would pose a threat to them. Jin indulged her medicinal worries, so she indulged his safety concerns.

 

“It’s perfectly safe. I had some worries about the center of the lake… but the only danger down there is if you’re foolish enough to go into the holes,” he grimaced, dropping the act.

 

“Oh?”she asked, interested.

 

“You’ll get it when you see it.”

 

Meiling nodded. “So… what is the plan?”

 

“That is something to talk about,” Jin stated. “Suyan, could you look after Zhuye for a bit?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

 

“Of course, Master. I shall return to the ship, and see if the Young Master wants to nap,” Suyan said, giving us a bit of privacy; and Zhuye seemed agreeable to having a rest.

 

They quickly arranged themselves into a circle.

 

“This won’t be like the Ironfields,” Jin began. “There’s nothing to change back. The people here rely wholly on the lake—and not just the people here. The rivers that flow from Pale Moon Lake are the main trade route through the Grass Sea, and the river itself is navigable all the way to the ocean, connecting with the North Twin of the Twin Rivers.”

 

They all nodded along to his explanation.

 

“The main plan here is to simply repair the Dragon Veins as much as possible, as stable as possible—but how do we go about doing that? We could use the modified formation that Xiaoshi once used. We could try and do something else. What does everybody think?”

 

The question was put to them all. He wanted their input, as always, sothey discussed things together. They debated different ways they could arrange the Dragon Veins in the earth. Where they should put the formation points—and if they even needed them.

 

They discussed the logistics of cutting into the lake’s floor, drawing their plans into the sand— with one goal, and one goal only.

 

How to help Tianlan.

 

Their friend occasionally spoke, in the back of her and Jin’s heads, adding her own thoughts when something felt like it wouldn’t work… but for the most part, Meiling felt the Earth Spirit concentrating—dragging forth power from where she could reach, and stockpiling it for them to use later. Experimental pushes of gold pressed at the edges of the void.

 

Until finally, Tianlan sighed.

 

“This is going to take a very, very long time.” she murmured into Meiling and Jin’s heads. ”Yes, it will be faster than connecting to another province, because we can use the little fragments that remain, but even if we go all out for a month… it’s not going to make that big of a dent.”

 

All of them paused to consider the predicament after Jin relayed it to the others.

 

‘Could we cut in guides for you to follow, and then you can just keep pushing forwards without us having to be here?’ Bei Be asked.

 

“It’s a good idea… but it will be unstable at best. It needs my attention to keep the veins from collapsing… and to do that I need an anchor.” Tianlan replied. “I could do this more easily in the Grass Sea—the Dragon Veins there were also broken, but they at least had large stretches with minor blocks or disconnects that weren’t as hard to repair.”

 

By this point, the moon had risen; dinner had come and gone, and all of them were stuck scratching their chins.

 

“Let’s sleep on it, and do some more exploring tomorrow, talk to some of the locals,” Jin decided. “Get started in the morning again. For now… let’s just enjoy the beautiful night.”