Threads 200-Festival 1

The garden had turned out well, Ling Qi thought. Thankfully, the rest of Hanyi’s tour had been much less stressful. Traveling a circuit of the valley viscounty, she had the opportunity to speak with many more minor nobles, cementing an overall good impression. More importantly though, she was able to see Hanyi’s smaller performances.

Out in the countryside, the rites she took part in were not on stages surrounded by nobles, but in old growth groves, at important lakes, and in the center of fields, and though they held a respectful distance, the public came to watch.

Ling Qi had never been familiar with priestly rites and organized festival days. In Tonghou, very few temples and shrines existed in the outer city. There were the quiet men and women who oversaw funeral rites and scattered shrines out in the agricultural lands. The people of the outer city had their personal rites, like the thieves whose slapdash shrine to the Grinning Moon she had observed once. The Liu clan that oversaw the Tonghou viscounty was content to leave it at that.

So it had surprised Ling Qi to see so many mortals gather for these services. Even if they were dull to her senses, there was a certain solemnity that had struck her as she watched the rites performed in the face of the coming winter with Hanyi’s song drifting through the air. The scent of burning candles held tightly in hundreds of hands, the sight of softly lit lanterns heavy with offerings drifting down the mountain streams, and the sound of prayers whispered too softly for mortal ears to hear all marked these smaller rites.

The closest thing she could compare it to was watching new roads carved into wild earth.

“Ah, Big Sister is back!” Gui’s voice reached her as she stepped into the shadow where two slender trees came together in an arch and emerged in the center of the garden where the heat from the boiling mineral springs sent streamers of steam into the evening air. Earth and stone shifted, gravel falling as Zhengui rose from the depression, the nest he had dug out for himself, his footfalls sending ripples through the bubbling waters.

“That’s right,” Ling Qi said with a smile, reaching out to pat him on the head. “There were some snags, but Hanyi’s tour went well.”

“I, Zhen, suppose I will have to congratulate her then,” the serpent said haughtily. “But she is not the only one who has been working hard. Look upon our work, sister!”

Ling Qi looked behind them to the garden surrounding the mineral spring. The bright colors of the flowers contrasted with the cool shadows and drifting mist. Shaped stones had been raised throughout the garden center as well, silent silhouettes in the steam and mist. They were a little crude, and Ling Qi couldn’t quite work out how they had been shaped. Passing Zhengui, she knelt down in front of the closest. It seemed like it was only a boulder at first glance, but a closer look revealed that the low slung stone was shaped roughly like a tortoise.

“How did you make this?” Ling Qi asked, brushing her fingers over the shaped stone. Already, moss was growing over it in the crevices that provided it detail.

Zhen puffed up with pride, and Gui seemed to do the same. “Well, Gui had the idea when he saw some crafty-humans. Since Gui can make wood very hard to burn, he can make ‘molds’ if he really tries.”

“And I, Zhen, can easily produce molten stone. Glass, too, will be within my reach,” Zhen said proudly.

“Glass is weird! Every time we tried, it was ugly and cloudy,” Gui grumbled. “Rock is better.”

“Hmph. Glass would be more beautiful if Gui could digest things properly,” Zhen hissed.

“It’s a great idea,” Ling Qi said, cutting off their argument before it could really begin.

“Heh, he’s pretty creative,” Sixiang piped up, their eyes materializing over her shoulder to look over the sculptures. “Gotta admit, even I thought you needed hands to do sculpture.”

“Yes, Gui is very smart,” he chirped, earning a complaining hiss from Zhen. “I wanted to make one of everyone, but Hanyi and Big Sis are hard. The Sixiang is harder.”

“Wouldn’t look right with rock anyway,” Zhen grumbled.

“Hm, hm, I bet I could figure out some tips now that I think about it,” Sixiang mused.

“Probably. We did need to add ward stones to the garden anyway,” Ling Qi mused. Their presences kept malicious spirits out, but if they let anyone in, it would be good for the developing spirits of the gardens to have boundaries. “Sculptures would be more interesting than just stone posts.”

It would be good practice, Ling Qi thought. Between the dream realm and thresholds and the creation of this garden, Ling Qi was beginning to come back around to her formation craft. Warding stones, which provided the boundaries between the lands of man and spirit, were something any noble needed. Her exploration of dream had given her some insights and renewed interest in formations relating to the liminal such as doorways, thresholds, and borders.

“Zhengui will keep making them better then,” her little brother agreed happily.

Ling Qi nodded and stood. “Anything else interesting happen while I was away?” she asked.

“Um, I don’t think so. I went to play with Mr. Avalanche and the Rockhead, but I spent most of my time here.” Gui said.

“That’s good. Did you have fun?” Ling Qi asked, strolling to the edge of the mineral spring. They had come a fair way from blowing up the hilltop.

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Zhen made a hiss of agreement as he moved up beside her, his presence making the bubbling water snap and hiss more violently. “Sister, do you really like the garden?”

Ling Qi blinked. “Of course, Zhengui. We’ll get better with practice, but I think this attempt turned out really well.”

Gui scuffed his foot across the flat stone that lined the pool’s edge. “But Gui knows Big Sister couldn’t do everything she wanted with her art.”

Ling Qi frowned. It was true that she had intended to work with the Winter Hearth’s Resounding art with the idea of cultivating it alongside Zhengui. The art had advanced, growing past the early stages, but at the same time, it never felt like the cornerstone of what she was working on.

“Well, of course not. You had me helping too,” Sixiang chuckled. “This has been a really fun project, you know?”

Ling Qi shook her head, turning to meet her little brother’s questioning gaze. “I wanted to cultivate that to make the garden better, but our ideas changed. I… don’t really regret that.”

Besides, although she had not gone through with actually altering the art, she did have some ideas for it still. Perhaps it was a little inefficient of her to change course like that, but this was more important.

Zhengui looked at her for a long moment. “Okay.”

They looked out over the garden in silence for a few minutes in comfortable silence before Zhen spoke again.

“When can we show grandmother and little sister the garden, sister?” Zhen asked.

“We’d need to finish up a few things, but we can probably show them before the tournament starts,” Ling Qi said thoughtfully. This was a place for Zhengui, but also because of that, a place for kin. It would be safe.