Threads 205-Opening Day 3

Ling Qi listened as Cai Renxiang and the ambassador continued to trade pleasantries and small talk with Xia Lushen and Meizhen sometimes cutting in. She did wish she could just chat with her friend, but that would come later when they weren’t in such a formal situation.

She watched the servers set out the refreshments. They did smell good. Ling Qi only recognized a few of the dishes. Fish had never been common in Tonghou, but now, she saw more types than she could name in as many different styles, steamed, roasted, fried, even raw. She eyed a platter stacked high with some kind of orange shelled bug things that were still twitching. There were a few non-fish dishes as well. She recognized cuts of venison and pork arranged artfully and drizzled with some kind of rich red sauce.

There were, she noticed, no vegetable dishes. Spices, sauces, and garnishes were the only non-meats on the table. The Bai were, after all, half-serpent and predators by nature.

“The Bai are generous,” Ling Qi said, turning her eyes back to the two young men. She pitched her voice low to avoid interrupting the conversation of her superiors. “I admit I am a little spoiled for choice. Do you have any recommendations?”

“The dishes served on the black plates are suitable only for Bai stomachs,” Xia Anxi answered lightly. “While the toxins add a kick I enjoy, you would not, I think.”

Ling Qi eyed the plate in front of him on which sat cubes of fish skewered on what looked awfully like organic spines. She was not inclined to make a fool of herself trying something that would hurt her.

“The abalone,” Lao Keung said shortly, gesturing to a series of small shallow bowls on a nearby platter. Each one was filled with a dark brown sauce in which she saw a type of meat she didn’t recognize.

“Ah, as a Coral, I cannot object to recommending our shellfish. It’s a bit simple though.” Xia Anxi bit through the skewering spine on one of his chosen meals with a snap. Something black and sizzling dripped onto his plate, and Ling Qi was quite certain she saw it etching the porcelain. “I might suggest the prawn.”

“Simple is good at times. But the prawn is good too. I suggest the cooked platter,” Lao Keung said. There was a faint crunch as he twisted the head from one of the orange bug things, which she supposed was a prawn. She watched him pop the still twitching body into his mouth.

“Thank you for your advice,” Ling Qi said. She took one of the little bowls and took a moment to try a piece of the meat. It had a strange texture unlike anything she’d had before, but it was very tender. She eyed the other platter indicated, stacked with what she now supposed were more “prawn” already stripped of their heads and shells and battered. She tentatively took two of those as well.

“So, if I may ask, what do you already know of the enemies here?” Ling Qi ventured politely.

“The nomads have begun coalitioning again. A concern, certainly,” Xia Anxi said. “The Bai do have some minor dealings with such barbarians, but that is more my companion’s field.”

“I do not have experience in the south, nor did my father or mother,” Lao Keung said shortly. “The Asp’s rangers deal with such strays.”

Asps… Those were the green, Ling Qi recalled. A memory surfaced of horrified golden eyes freezing over.

“Ah, yes, I suppose it would be. Forgive my ignorance,” Xia Anxi said. “I have studied what texts we have on the nomads. I am certain our hosts will provide us with more.”

Lao Keung grunted an agreement, twisting the head from another prawn with the faintest crunch. “But there is a more dangerous foe, isn’t there?”

“More dangerous in that our knowledge of them is lacking,” Ling Qi corrected. “It is best not to underestimate the nomads in the center of their power.”

“It is true that a cornered rat fights the most fiercely,” Xia Anxi said. “I imagine the fact that they are so hard to corner must make them that much more vicious when you do.”

“Just so,” Ling Qi said. “But as you’ve said, there are many sources for knowledge on the nomads. Experience with these newer enemies is harder to find.”

“Ah, but it is known that you are among those with such knowledge, is it not, Baroness?” Xia Anxi riposted with a smile, resting his hands on his chin.

Lao Keung merely watched her silently.

“It is true,” Ling Qi said, not humbly but with firm confidence. “I discovered and helped eliminate one of their assassins the day that Elder Zhou passed, and I was among the party which scouted their home ground.”

“Significant accomplishments from what I have heard. How do they fight?” Lao Keung asked.

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Ling Qi bought herself a moment by sampling another piece of the abalone. How should she go about describing it?

<Set the narrative you want to tell, and fit your description to support it,> Sixiang murmured.

“Flexibly,” Ling Qi said slowly, allowing Sixiang to help her guide her words and expressions. “They fight flexibly. The assassin I faced first was my equal or better in the arts of stealth. It was only through certain brash action that I was able to leave them open to my fellow disciple’s crippling blow. Some might have called it reckless even, but against such tactical superiority…”

“Victory often comes to the brash,’ Lao Keung agreed.

“Only with much waste,” Xia Anxi noted idly.