Threads 334-Tension 2

“Will you agree that we should at least hear the matter from the other side?” Ling Qi strode forward, leaving the medical tent behind. Her longer stride carried her a bit faster than Jin Tae, who had to hurry to keep up.

“For the sake of thoroughness, of course,” Jin Tae replied. “But I am curious as to what it is that you think could change our course.”

“While I agree that the White Sky soldier striking her was an escalation, she should not have laid hands on the other worker, no?”

“Overly permissive. I would expect one worker to stop another if the other were doing something dangerous, especially if a verbal warning was ignored.”

“Misunderstood,” Ling Qi corrected. “It was my mistake in not considering that there would be so much trouble in communication.”

It was easy to forget that not everyone was like her, a third realm. Learning new languages was a significantly more difficult endeavor for lower realms.

“As you like,” Jin Tae said dubiously, following her off the dirt path and onto the paved road. “But although I am curious what the foreigners will concoct to explain this situation, it does not change the result.”

“What would change the result for you?” Ling Qi asked. “Would anything?”

He considered her question as they walked, moving south toward the checkpoint where the imperial and White Sky camps met.

“A severe enough geomantic malfunction, I suppose. Something which produced mind-altering malice would change my opinion. I would think the many experts available would have noticed an effect so severe though. And if it was so subtle… That would raise the question of how and put the fault somewhere else entirely.”

Ling Qi dipped her head. In Jin Tae’s proposed case, it would be her and her lady’s fault for greenlighting this project without sufficient study that it could cause such problems. “Thank you for acknowledging such a possibility at least.”

“Geomancy may only amplify and soothe. It channels energies. It does not create them. Frankly, Lady Ling, I do not think workers placed under such pressure and conditions need a spiritual explanation for reaching a breaking point and acting foolishly.”

“You’re dangerously close to the conclusion that everyone involved was in a similar pressure.”

“I have never thought otherwise. You may think that I’m hidebound, but the truth is, I understand which side I am on and who is owed my loyalty and protection.”

Ling Qi read what was unsaid. The ministry was concerned that she was less than clear in her appearances on that.

They soon reached the checkpoint, passing through their own side’s security. Ling Qi stopped before the White Sky guards standing on their side of the gate. This checkpoint was symbolic when both sides could bypass it trivially, but symbols were important.

“Emissary Ling presenting herself. I would like to speak with those involved in today’s altercation. I will speak with any of your authorities involved as well,” Ling Qi announced.

One of the soldiers there stepped forward, raising her fist to her chest and speaking in thickly accented imperial. “Emissary Lingchee, this one will send a message. Please wait here.”

Being made to wait was fine with her, but perhaps not to her own side. It was not as if the White Sky could not know that she had already arrived and begun investigating. In imperial culture, one was expected to preempt such requests like this with superior senses. It was considered rude to prevent yourself from being noticed and rude for the other to not notice.

Ling Qi chose to be silent on the matter. She did not think the White Sky thought that way.

The wait was not too long, a matter of some ten minutes, before a guard came back and asked them to follow. Jin Tae, to his credit, did not speak up while they were waiting, having slid his mask down at their end of the checkpoint.

He remained a shadow to her steps as they were led off to a collection of circular hide structures, like Inzha and Rostam’s home, but much less intricate. The medical tent was not too different from the one on their side, save for the strings of herbs and dried reagents hanging from the ceiling, giving it an earthy sort of smell rather than the sharper alchemic tang of the imperial medical tent.

There, the guard with them spoke to someone she assumed was the physician in charge. The man wore a mantle made of fresh leaves and a rough spun brown robe belted with a wide leather band with a huge iron buckle depicting a beast she didn’t recognize. His bushy beard, wild hair, and protruding eyebrows left little of his face visible. He looked the two of them over with suspicion.

“We cannot allow you close to the initiate. His purity is already damaged, and restoring his balance will take time,” the bushy mass of hair said.

Ling Qi understood the words individually, but translated directly, it sounded odd. If she took apart his intent… Purity was referring to something like cultivation. A method which required the user to remain out of physical contact? There were stranger limitations. Restoring the balance was then referring to repairing some deviation in his qi.

“May we speak with the warrior?” Ling Qi asked.

“She is here, but only to cool her head. You may speak with her. Do not pass the white curtain,” the white sky doctor grumbled, turning and stalking back among the hanging herbs.

“I apologize. His mantle is not one suited for speaking,” their guard explained diplomatically. “But it is the most suited for overseeing a place of healing.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I understand,” Ling Qi said. “Please show me to your fellow warrior.”

She glanced back at Jin Tae, and though his mask performed its role, she could feel his disapproval. But that she could sense it was only because of her greater cultivation. He was making a significant effort to merely be her shadow here.

They found the woman in question sitting on a bench against the wall of the pavilion, arms crossed with one leg over the other while she tapped her foot. Without the bulky armor and furs, the woman was only a bit shorter than Ling Qi and perhaps half again as wide. Her head swiftly turned at their approach.

“The emissary of the north will speak with you now,” said their guide. “Speak with wisdom.”

Ling Qi gave the guide credit for making the silent “please” attached to those words so clear without saying them.

“I only wish to ascertain the full picture of the event,” Ling Qi said, switching fluidly to the White Sky language. “First, may I ask why you are here in this place? Did you sustain injuries as well?”

“I did not.” The woman met her gaze without flinching. Like Ling Qi had gleaned, she read as freshly into the third realm. “It was decided by my captain that I needed to immerse myself in Koliada’s calm.”

“I think you disagree,” Ling Qi said mildly.

“I was not wrong!” the guard exploded. “We have endured your condescension since the beginning. I have watched my charges’ words be dismissed and sneered at, and then, one of your women would lay hands upon my brother, as if she claimed him, disrupting his purity and ruining his ability to commune with the earth!”