Threads 238 Spymaster 2

Ling Qi reached up and flicked the cat-xiang’s nose, making them recoil. “I’ve just been thinking about what family really means. Everyone treats the connection as important. Even our doubters grudgingly acknowledge that some ancient marriage gives us a veil of legitimacy. That tapestry we found is going to sell for enough to fund the start up of a whole town. But you know from talking to my friends and watching people that not a lot of people seem to value it. A clan, especially a big one, isn’t a family, although it might have families in it.”

“Seems like a harsh view on it. What’s that got to do with this?”

“I feel like it’s not really different. We all organize ourselves by family, but family isn’t necessarily blood. It isn’t even really exclusive. I consider Meizhen like a sister, and even if she won’t admit it, she feels the same, but her aunt never would. You can be part of several families, and they can only sort of overlap.”

“Ah, the same as you were thinking about with the folks at your house.”

“Right. Those people are important to my mother. I won’t pretend they mean that much to me, but I care a little anyway because of her.” Ling Qi rapidly read through the letter and set aside the next. This one was a response from Wang Lian now that they had a site in mind for settlement. Soon, a branch would come off the road the Sect was building toward their site to connect them.

“So you’re thinking of this as people choosing to connect up to a bigger family?” Sixiang asked. “Most of ‘em will never meet though.”

“Isn’t that fine? I can’t do that. I don’t think like that. But I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

Each person only cared about a small number of others in her experience, but those groups overlapped. When enough did, you got a community. The trouble came with people who didn’t fall into circles or who fell into very few circles, places where there was no overlap, and thus, they had no understanding of others.

Was it really bad for there to be a story that many people could invest in? The Empire was that already in some ways, but…

“I can see why you’d not want to say that out loud,” Sixiang drawled. “But I’m sorry for distracting you. Are you actually going to reply to each of these by hand? There’s a ton of ‘em.”

“I was thinking of involving Mother for responding to some of the merchants and ministry employees. I think she’d like to have more to do.”

“That you don’t want to write them all’s got nothin to do with it, of course.” Sixiang laughed. Their feline form twisted, reshaping back into a fairy-sized Sixiang perched on her shoulder.

“The true sign of a good leader is the ability to trick everyone else into doing the work while taking all the credit,” Ling Qi said primly.

“Don’t let your boss hear that.”

“I know. I already listened to her deconstruct the whole work that line came from.” Ling Qi rolled her eyes. “It was just a book of funny little sketches about the ministries. I had no idea she’d take it so seriously.”

Sixiang gave her a look. Ling Qi looked away first. “… Okay. So I might have been teasing her….”

In the silence that followed, more letters were read, and Ling Qi sketched out further notes of her own in a lazy hand, organizing what information was relevant and what would need to go into the responses.

“This all still feels overwhelming,” Ling Qi said absently, tucking another finished letter into storage. Her ring was beginning to resemble the storage ring of that Hui on the inside. “Building communications with so many people is difficult, no matter how surface level most of it is.”

Sixiang blew out a sigh. “Yeah. I gotta admit, this is not what I picture when I think of being a spymaster.”

“It’s a lot like soldiering.” Hou Zhuang’s notes had put it succinctly. Intrigue was ninety percent simple pleasant conversations and correspondence and only ten percent daring escapades.

“Still, I should probably pick a place to focus on building a network first.”

“What’s this? Accepting a limit?” Sixiang asked in mock disbelief. “Have you abandoned your pursuit of the heavens, cultivator?”

Ling Qi huffed. “I have too many things to do. I should start with building contacts in the southern Meng lands. It will help Hanyi’s concerts gain greater penetration, it would help with the Meng reformers’ efforts, which I committed to assist and would want to promote anyway in the Meng clan, and it’s a relatively unestablished area so I shouldn’t be competing with too many other networks there. What do you think?”

“What would I know?” Sixiang asked innocently.

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“I know you’ve been paying attention, even if you don’t look like it.”

“Central valley would be my suggestion.” Sixiang shrugged. “It’s in the name. It’s central. Almost everything going down in the south goes through there at some point. Might take longer to see results though since you’ll be competing with established networks.”

“You’re not wrong. It might be better in the long term to start there.” Ling Qi sighed. “Ugh, is it tomorrow yet?”

“Looking forward to going out with Su Ling and me that much?” Sixiang grinned.

“Compared to this, definitely.” Ling Qi placed down the newest letter and rubbed her temples. “There’s just… so much there to see.”

“I get you. But business first, yeah?”

Sixiang then paused, dawning horror on their face at the words they had spoken. Ling Qi let out an unladylike snort of laughter. Truly, she had corrupted her spirit with the impurity of this base earth.

“I think you might be right though,” Ling Qi thought aloud.