Threads 395 Recovery 3

“Moving on from that, has Miss Hanyi mentioned the plan to expand the talent pool yet?” Bao Qian asked.

The garden was close now.

“I haven’t,” Hanyi interjected. “Look, getting me minions is fine, but we don’t need any other ‘talents’!”

“Hanyi, minions is not what you should call your subordinates,” Ling Qi chided. “This is the first I am hearing of you having any.”

“Oh, it is nothing so concrete. The young miss has merely attracted or subdued a few minor spirits during her tour,” Bao Qian said.

“They were gonna mess up my blessings! I made them stop.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Ling Qi said. “What do you mean, Bao Qian?”

“It’s an odd thought of mine, but I am getting very invested in this tour business. My current spirit’s contract is about up, and they are looking for more northern climes. I thought I might do a little roughing it to seek out another seasonal spirit, spring or harvest, maybe, one who could tour in Miss Hanyi’s off seasons,” Bao Qian replied. “I can hardly recreate Miss Hanyi, but I am interested in trying a new relationship. I wondered if you might be interested in assisting me.”

“I might… I do have some limited time away.”

Time camping and communing with spirits did sound like a relief. It would have to be after Hanyi’s tour, so she could even bring Hanyi and perhaps Zhengui.

“Big Sister!”

Twin voices called her from the garden as they came out onto the veranda, booming in the night air.

Zhengui towered in the center of their garden, taller than a big warhorse and much more broad. He rose with a rattle of falling stones and spreading dust from the patch of earth he had nestled himself in, the planters fit into the scaffolding on his back rattling and swaying with the motion.

“Zhengui, did you enjoy your dinner too?” she asked.

“Gui did. It was very good.” He strode up the path, pushing his head past the railing, and she put out a trembling hand and rested it on his snout.

Zhengui had taken her injuries better than she feared. He had regarded her burned up state with stoic resolve and merely informed her that he was going wherever she went with her. It would probably hold back development back at Snowblossom for him to be here at the sect town instead, but she couldn’t look him in the eye and deny him.

Zhen arched over his shell to peer at her. “Is Hanyi making sure Big Sister takes all her medicines today?”

“Of course!” Hanyi crossed her arms.

“I’m not going to forget myself,” Ling Qi grumbled.

“Even the one that makes Sister’s qi fuzzy?” Gui asked.

She grimaced. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be cycling her qi, but…

“She took it early,” Hanyi promised. “I made sure.”

She would have taken it without prompting.

“You are in good spirits, Sir Zhengui,” Bao Qian said.

“Yes. I, Zhen, have been doing well. I see Shiny Man has become even shinier.”

She let them trade their greetings, observing Zhengui. He really was growing well. While she had been at the summit, he had been hard at work at Snowblossom with that gaggle of scholars enriching the soil with the heat and fertility of his ash, growing his domain over the earth of the valley.

Over and over again, he had tread the lands around Snowblossom, the hills and fields, the cliffs and snowfields. In doing so, he had been shrouded in a cloud of fallen ash rich with the qi of his stomach from the expensive reagents and cores she had set aside for his cultivation diet. It was the same ash that Bao Qian sold in much smaller amounts for such a high price.

Zhengui had lingered most at the farms they had built and were slowly expanding as settlers moved into the prepared homes. Infused with his will, he had spread his ash across fields after their harvest and over the fallow earth. The initial reports from the fief of the bounty that followed was as much an indication of success as the growing power in her little brother’s aura. He had always felt like deep roots warmed by the boiling blood of the earth, but Zhengui, as he stood before her now, had become anchored. He was solid and immovable, even here, so far from where he had laid down roots. Zhengui was growing into his role as Prince of the High Garden and the Earthflame Lord.

Granted, these lofty names were undermined by the racks he had allowed to be mounted on his back and the pots and planters full of flowers and fruiting plants he had let the household place there in an impromptu festival for his arrival. They were all growing very well, but the mishmash of colors and rattling pottery did make him look adorably silly in her opinion. However, the farmers in Snowblossom had begun offering their first buds and blooms like this.

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“I will take that compliment, young master Zhengui. Your scales are well polished indeed,” Bao Qian said. “Your house certainly has a splendid garden for its size.”

Well, the garden was bursting with life, even with autumn fading.

“Of course! Gui does not hold back when it comes to growing things.”

“I can tell. Your ash has been making quite a stir after this last harvest. The ones who bought from me are very satisfied.” Bao Qian crouched to bring himself closer to Gui’s eye level. “How much more do you think you could make available compared to last year?”

“I, Zhen, am pacifying all the little spirits of soil and stone and giving Lady Snowblossom my regards. But one supposes we could allow…”

“It’s okay,” Gui interrupted. “Gui has had the nice men collecting and boxing ash up all year. Gui thinks we could manage two or three times more!”

“Foolish Gui! Let Zhen negotiate properly!”

“Silly Zhen, there is no point in lying about how much we have to sell!”

“I’m sure Bao Qian will give you a fair deal,” Ling Qi interrupted the growing squabble. “You are his valued supplier after all. He can hardly replace you.”

“Mister Manager isn’t gonna gouge us,” Hanyi supported. She crossed her arms as she hovered by Ling Qi’s side.

“I am pleased to be so well trusted. But Sir Zhengui, an accurate amount will let me determine how many orders I can fill and so, set my prices from there.”