Threads 232-Thunder 3

“Haha, well it is good to know that we can impress a revelry of the dream,” Leigong said cheerfully, the clacking of his beak punctuating the words. “But! Your arrival is sudden. I will rouse these fellows to listen later, but you have arrived just as we were arranging some games. Perhaps you and your guest would care to join us?”

Yu Nuan looked worried, but Ling Qi just tilted her head curiously.

“What sort of games, honored lord?” Yu Nuan asked.

“Well, I will be arranging a game of chase and capture with many of my sons and retainers. It will be a great bit of fun in flying through the halls, a test of speed, endurance, and wit,” the Leigong said, puffing out his chest. “The winner will be the one who gathers the most jade tokens that will be given to the participants!”

The little god continued, “The other game will be overseen by my sharp-eyed wife. It will be a grand scavenger hunt for things hidden among the palace. It seems a little fiddly to me, but it is her game after all!”

“Please give us a moment to decide.”

“Of course! But don’t take too long, thundercaller.” Leigong laughed, and a beat of his wings carried him back to the crowds.

Yu Nuan took a deep breath.

Ling Qi grinned. “It sounds like fun, but I’m guessing there’s a catch.”

“They’re still friendly games,. But what a spirit considers friendly…”

“Yeah. We don’t really get how fragile you guys are most of the time. I’m guessing it’ll get pretty violent with all the lightning qi here,” Sixiang said.

“The Leigong here isn’t totally wild. He’d not have invited us if any fourth realm spirits were participating, and I don’t think anyone would go for deliberate kills, but it’d also be rude to refuse.”

“I don’t think I’d want to refuse anyway,” Ling Qi said. “Either option seems like a fun training exercise for what we’re working on.”

Yu Nuan blew out a breath. ”Guess so. Got a preference?”

“What is his wife like?” Ling Qi asked, considering.

“The Dianmu? She’s…sharp, a lot more critical than the Leigong. She still likes me, I think,” Yu Nuan said, trailing off into mild uncertainty. “You thinking the scavenger hunt then?”

“Maybe. The chase sounds fun, but I feel like it’ll probably devolve into a big, moving brawl. The hunt sounds more considered.”

“There’s still gonna be some brawling,” Yu Nuan warned, glancing down to where numerous fights had broken out among the revelers to the laughter and cheers of the other spirits

“Not afraid of that. Just thinking of which game would be better for cultivation,” Ling Qi said seriously. “These kinds of games are opportunities. Technique insights come a lot easier in a place like this.”

“You’re not wrong,” Yu Nuan admitted.

“Did you prefer the chase?” Ling Qi asked.

“No, I just—” Yu Nuan shifted from foot to foot. “Ah, well, she intimidates me.”

“All the more reason,” Ling Qi said piously. “Intimidating spirits have the best loot and arts.”

Yu Nuan squinted at her. “You’re joking, right?”

“Of course.” Mostly. “Can you still control this thing?” Ling Qi asked, not leaving herself open for interrogation. She gestured down to the cloud of soot under their feet.

“Oh, yeah,” Yu Nuan replied, resuming her strumming. It was a calmer but still energetic meter. “The big banquet table is usually up in the storm clouds.”

Ling Qi nodded, glancing out to the revel. ‘Any thoughts, Sixiang?’

“Oh, I’m good either way. I think this is gonna be fun!” Sixiang’s tone reminded Ling Qi of the muse’s earlier days.

They rose, carried upward toward the rumbling belly of the clouds. The air was warm and damp, charged with a buzzing static that made strands of her hair jump and the hems of her gown dance, and there, in the center, was a great banquet table. It was a slab of solid rock, roughly hewn flat, and all around it were more spirits, people with the features of birds and bats, bulls and horses, and not a one missing a pair of wings in some shape.

At the center of the table was the Leigong, seated on a cloud, laughing uproariously at something that had just been said by one of the many lesser spirits that shared his features. At his side was a woman. Like Zeqing, she could have been mistaken for a human at a distance and at a glance. But she did not sit much lower than the Leigong on her cloud, towering some four meters high. Her hair snapped and frizzed and sparked, living lightning bound through a diadem of copper wire and sparkling jewels. Her face had an artificial feel like a theater mask placed over a bonfire, and when she turned to speak to the Leigong, heat and sparks washed out. In her hands, she cradled a wide mirror of polished silver with an ornate rim, and her gown was resplendent in white and blue.

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“Hoh, made your decision then?” the Leigong crowed as they came close.

“We have,” Yu Nuan said. “And we thank you for your invitation.”

Ling Qi quietly scanned the rest of the rowdy table. They’d quieted with the Leigong’s words, but there were still tussles and arguments and japes going on. These were their children most likely, Ling Qi thought, the little gods of clouds and rain.

“Don’t keep us in suspense then!” the Leigong boomed cheerfully.

“My companion and I would like to join the scavenger hunt,” Yu Nuan said. “If it wouldn’t bother the Lady Dianmu.”