Threads 315-Parting 1

“You have my approval to focus your efforts there.”

“Thank you, Lady Renxiang. You will not regret it.”

“I won’t,” her liege said. The brush in her hand tapped thoughtfully against the ink pot. “It is your ability to form unlikely connections which has made this possible at all.”

“I accept your compliment.” Ling Qi smiled.

Renxiang considered her from behind the desk. “I do not fully understand your ease, but at this moment, I will be glad for it. The trials of this month have gone as well as could have been expected. I have been able to avoid the upset of the ministry. The general has been calmed.”

“A good position to be in,” Ling Qi agreed.

“We will need some focus on the counts of the Emerald Seas and our extraprovincial guests to ensure there are no misunderstandings, but I am pleased. Will you be ready for the journey back?”

“It feels a little painful, doesn’t it? To leave the Argent Peak Sect?”

Cai Renxiang looked at her curiously.

Ling Qi smiled wryly. “I suppose not. You don’t get attached to places, do you, Lady Ren?”

“No.”

“Lady Renxiang,” Ling Qi corrected herself.

Her liege silently slid a completed form away and pulled a new one from her stack. “I am not heartless. I have some attachment to the sect, but the elements I most value are largely following us.”

Ling Qi grinned. Renxiang met her gaze with a narrowed look. She raised her hands in surrender.

“I do have more I will miss. But this moment was coming from the day I gave you my oath.”

“Life does not wait,” Renxiang said after a moment.

“It doesn’t. What will you be doing?”

“Reviewing our land’s supply contracts and meeting with Sect Head Yuan He to offer our formal withdrawal and thanks for the hospitality of the sect. I have also scheduled tea with both Bai Meizhen and the Bai ambassador. Yourself? Personal meetings, like Gan Guangli?”

“Mostly,” Ling Qi said, considering her friends. She’d still be traveling back and forth. Her family would remain in White Cloud Town for some time yet, but this would be her last visit as a member of the sect rather than as a visiting noble.

***

“Time really does fly,” Ruan Shen said ruefully. “Really can’t call you a cute little junior anymore, can I?”

“I was never particularly little.”

“Details.”

They sat in the archive room they’d always booked for their study sessions, surrounded by books and scrolls filled with music theory, history, arts, and qi composition. Ling Qi could feel the faint strains of music that lived between these pages, the melodies that had long since soaked into the shelves and granted this place a soft background song of learning for those with the ears to hear it.

With her on the padded benches and chairs were Ruan Shen and Bian Ya, seated side-by-side. The older girl was dressed up in lacey, billowing finery, all soft pinks and greens, with a wreath of flowers in her hair. Ruan Shen wore an open chested, wine red tunic with black hemming. His arm curled around Bian Ya’s waist, and her head rested on his shoulder.

She was happy for them. She hoped that their affection would last until the betrothal ran its course in some decades. Maybe she would be invited to the wedding? It was strange to imagine events so far from now when her life up until recently had barely the freedom to think beyond tomorrow.

On the left, sinking into a plush chair, was Yu Nuan with her dog, a ball of fuzzy cloud, peeking out from beneath the chair legs with a panting doggy grin. Her hair was spiked out and stiff with some product, dyed to an actinic blue shot through with white. She rearranged her piercings. Dangling iron spikes etched with the symbols of the thunder court and crackling with lightning hung from her ears, a set of three silver rings were wound through her lip, and a stud of blue-white jade pushed through her brow.

Ling Qi wondered if her mother was the one who had convinced Yu Nuan into the dark navy blue tunic. Mother was still trying to push on clan colors, last Ling Qi had checked.

Another thing she needed to do, She had to get her household in order and see how everyone was settling in with the changes coming.

Ma Jun was here as well today, the newest member of their little troupe, now that she had been brought into the Inner Sect. With her flowing petal-patterned gown and flowers in her hair, she seemed to be taking her cues from Bian Ya, although hers were metal and stone rather than real ornaments of gold and jade.

“I just hope none of you were too troubled by our project,” Ling Qi said.

Bian Ya chuckled, fluttering a silk fan before her face. “Oh, we are always happy to support the heiress. It’s no trouble at all.”

“Got an earful from a couple uncles and aunties, but what’s new? Keeps things where I like ‘em,” Ruan Shen said with a careless grin. “Ha! My old man was pretty amused, actually.”

“My sister and I can only support Lady Cai and her kindness. We follow your wisdom on these issues,” Ma Jun said shyly. “But I thought it was a very good play.”

She glanced at Yu Nuan, who snorted. “Some folks have given me shit, but hey, I know where my bed is made.”

They’d sent the forms in. The adoption of Yu Nuan into the Ling clan would probably be official soon after the summit ended.

“Let’s not worry about the little stuff today. You came by so we could see you off, not chat politics,” Ruan Shen said. “You’re still too serious!”

“If I’m too serious, it’s only because I keep getting up to my neck in serious business,” Ling Qi retorted, but he was right. Today wasn’t the day for that.

Yu Nuan snorted. “I’m pretty sure you seek that shit out.”

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Not the point.

“Lady Ling is very responsible,” Ma Jun said demurely.

She gave her former bodyguard a pleading look. She wasn’t helping!

Also, someone looking at her with such admiring eyes for a reason like that… She couldn’t help but feel a bit fraudulent.

Ruan Shen chuckled, looking at her with a knowing smile.

“But really, do tell. What is it like trying to wrangle so many high ranking nobles in one place?” Bian Ya asked.

Ling Qi laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Honestly, the ducal representatives have been getting along on their own. Thankfully. I’ve been more focused on our guests, but so far, there haven’t been any major disputes.”

Bian Ya gave her a disappointed look. “Ling Qi, I understand the appeal of the exotic, but you still can’t let these opportunities pass you by.”

“I’m familiar with Bai Meizhen and Xuan Shi already,” Ling Qi protested. “And Meng Dan and I have been taking time to speak on how I can keep the Meng interested.”

“That isn’t how you made it sound,” Bian Ya groused good-naturedly.

“Ah, we all know she’s buddies with the white serpent princess,” Ruan Shen drawled. “However that works.”

“The Bai aren’t actually vengeful spirit beasts.”

They all nodded quickly. Why did she feel like she was being humored?