threads 73-Normalcy 1

“Are you sure you want to be doing this now?” Yu Nuan asked.

“Would you prefer that I forget the favor I owe to you for another month?” Ling Qi asked back tiredly as they walked the steep mountain path, ascending toward the peak and the clouds.

“No, just…” the girl began awkwardly before shaking her head, her piercings jingling in the wind. “Y’know what, fine. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Not like I can afford to stay without a spirit the way things are.”

Ling Qi hummed in agreement. She understood what the girl was getting at.

Zhengui was still in a restorative sleep. The way he had forcibly broken through to the next stage and forced the evolution of his techniques all at once had exhausted him; her poor little brother had not stayed conscious for much longer than her. The sheer quantity of diseased ichor that had stained him didn’t help matters, weakening his regeneration a great deal. The Sect’s physicians had assured her he would wake within two days however.

She had already visited her family, hugged her trembling mother and little sister. No physical danger had come near them, and the soldiers assigned to her home had come at her mother’s call to kill the thing that had tried to crawl out of the basement with things remaining safe otherwise. Biyu’s distress seemed wholly born from sensing their mother’s distress. Mother, being awakened, had been able to sense just enough to know that something was terribly wrong. Ling Qi would return in the evening once the chaos in town had subsided to hear their story in full.

Suyin was busy, dragged off to collaborate with several higher cultivation disciples, including a member of the Core Sect. Xiulan was with her sister still, the battle and her extensive use of qi having agitated her injury. Meizhen was dealing with inquiries from her clan, and her liege was corresponding with the capital. The mountain was a hive of activity.

Her wound still throbbed. Even with Gu Yanmei’s intervention, much of her flesh had been ruined, and the physicians had had to cut it away and induce the growth of new flesh to replace it. Her throat had been saved by the sheer concentration of qi which moved through it, thanks to her specialties. Yanmei’s healing had saved her, but the raw solar qi poured into her veins had also misaligned her cold and dark meridians, leaving techniques that used those meridians difficult to use for a time. It would pass soon, but it left her feeling itchy and intemperate.

“You know, you said we needed to go up the mountain, but what are we looking for? I thought you were looking for something by the waterfalls.”

“I was, but if you’re helping, I might as well get ambitious,” Yu Nuan replied, giving her a curious look. Ling Qi noticed then that she had slipped back into more common modes of speech. She really was tired. “I want to bind a thunder beast,” the other girl said with finality.

“Oh? The things that’ll nest in your navel if you sleep outside too often?” Ling Qi asked.

“That’s just a dumb story,” Yu Nuan scoffed. “They’re powerful, aligned with wind and thunder, and can even grow to cyan now and then. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not much of a fighter. I need something that can keep enemies back while I play. It’s not like I’m gonna find a qilin or a dragon so a thunder beast is my best bet.”

“What were you looking for before then?” Ling Qi asked.

“Was trying to attract fairies – wind and sun types,” Yu Nuan admitted as they reached the top of the path. “Thought I had time to experiment, find something compatible. Your little… Hanyi bumbled right through and broke the attraction formation I’d bought.”

Ling Qi grimaced, dipping her head in apology. “Alright, thunder beasts then. Do you have a plan?” She eyed the storm darkened clouds above.

“I composed something, yeah,” Yu Nuan replied, shading her eyes as she peered up. “Figured I would find the highest solid perch I could, and then you could fly around… and, uh…” She paused, looking unsure.

“You want me to play sheepdog?” Ling Qi asked, amused.

“That’s about right,” Yu Nuan answered, chagrined.

Ling Qi wished the girl would stop being so leery of her, but it was to be expected. On the other hand, there might be a better way. <What do you think, Sixiang?>

To her chagrin, silence was her answer. She felt her shoulders droop at that; Sixiang hadn’t spoken since she woke up. She could still feel her muse. They were healthy and hale, just turned inward. Ling Qi shook her head. Sixiang would speak when they were done cultivating. She was sure.

Still, she glanced between Yu Nuan and the clouds. Herding spirits was all well and good, but wouldn’t they respect someone who met them in their own element more?

“That sounds fine,” Ling Qi started, “but wouldn’t you have better odds of a willing binding if you met them on their terms? Thunder is ambitious and proud after all.”

“Maybe, but we can’t all have priceless talismans of flight,” Yu Nuan said irritably. “It’s the best I can do.”

Ling Qi gave her a sidelong look. “It’s not like you’re that heavy. I could just carry you.”

The other girl shot her a suspicious look. “What?”

“I could just carry you,” Ling Qi repeated. She didn’t care for such close physical contact, but it really was the best solution. “It might be a little awkward to do so and leave your hands free to play, but it’s not hard either.”

Yu Nuan stared blankly at her as if Ling Qi had just suggested something absurd. “And you would be fine with that?”

“I would not have suggested it otherwise,” Ling Qi replied archly.

Yu Nuan studied her expression but then finally shrugged. “Alright. How do you want to do this?”

Working out the carry was more difficult than she would have liked. Even if she was taller than Yu Nuan, having the other girl sit on her back was awkward, and lacking Hanyi’s bond and nature, Yu Nuan tended to fall through whenever Ling Qi sped up, maneuvered sharply, or crossed distances without moving. Since her hands had to be free, she couldn’t keep a hold on Ling Qi’s shoulders either. Still, they eventually came to a solution.

“Gods, just make sure you don’t slip,” Yu Nuan muttered as they soared up toward the belly of the clouds, her legs dangling freely toward the ground so far below. Ling Qi had her arms looped under the other girl’s. Her vision was blocked by the other girl’s head and hair, but that was what her mirror motes were for.

“It’ll be fine.” Ling Qi grimaced, pulling her head back to avoid the other girl’s hair from getting into her mouth, and a tiny gust buffeted the longer strands out of her face. “Just tell me where we need to go. You studied their habits, right?”

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“Yeah,” Yu Nuan said nervously. “Well, since we can… go up, right above the clouds, I’ll be able to see the storms channels better from above.”

Ling Qi restrained the urge to shrug. If the other girl could handle the altitude, that was fine. Without being able to use her techniques, the flight was painfully slow, especially since she had to remain cautious and careful of her own solidity. “What were things like back here on the mountain?” Ling Qi asked.

Yu Nuan strummed a few basic chords on her lute, more out of nervous habit than anything else. “The tribes didn’t get this far, but things still came outta the earth. A whole lot of them,” she said. “It was pretty chaotic on the first mountain, but a pair of Core disciples came down and put a stop to the squabbling.”