Chapter 6: Cold Wind in Ruby

Chapter 6: Cold Wind in Ruby

The two boys finished eating their evening meal in silence. Despite Guan Li being a near-total stranger, Paike didn’t mind the company. The silence didn’t feel awkward, forced, or anything other than companionable. He could get used to this. Unlike when he was with his sister, he didn’t get the sense that Guan Li was waiting for him to fill the lull in conversation with something insightful.

Guan Li occasionally shot him an indecipherable look, but Paike let it slide. It would have been odd if he had been trusted right away. It’s not like Paike had stopped studying the other boy since they met. Besides, the look wasn’t hostile but more assessing than distrustful.

As they were putting away their dishes, Guan Li spoke up. “This Han fellow, are you going to face any repercussions for fighting him?”

Paike frowned, thinking about it. “hmm, maybe,” he said after a moment. “For the most part, it’ll likely not go beyond being an inconvenience.”

“Really? You humiliated them pretty thoroughly.” Gaun Li stated with the slightest hint of incredulity in his otherwise flat tone.

Paike nodded. “True, but it was in a duel. At least the pretext of one. This will constrain any official retaliation to formal actions. If he starts attacking me out of nowhere, it’ll make him look extremely petty. If I had surprised him or something, it would have been acceptable for him to ambush me. But now, he likely wouldn’t do something like that. Besides, he wouldn’t want to offend my family by taking it too far.”

Guan Li frowned. “Family? Should I—” He paused, thinking through his words carefully. Paike hid a smile. It was good to see that he was wary of stepping into the politics of cultivator’s families. That was always something to be approached with care. It could get messy otherwise.

“Kong Paike, what should I know about your family?” Gaun Li asked after some consideration.

Paike was faintly surprised that he didn’t know about his family. Still, if he supposed he was right about Guan Li’s origins and apparent lack of education, it wasn’t that surprising.

“Maybe a few things. Amongst the right circles, we are fairly well-known.”

“Well, are you some sort of lords?” Guan Li asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Paike shook his head. “No. Some number of great-grandparents ago made it a point to reject any such titles. A tradition in my family has kept that left us a bit mercenary.”

He didn’t explain more, and Guan Li seemed to understand, simply nodding.

“Speaking of family,” Paike said after a couple of seconds, “I should probably go talk to my sister.”

“The girl you were with earlier?”

“Yep, I’ll introduce you tomorrow at class… Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said as he left with a wave. Guan Li was left still sitting thoughtfully at the table.

***

The sun was sinking toward the horizon, casting long shadows all over the mountaintop, when Paike finally found his sister. Liming was not far from where they had parted, standing in the courtyard by herself. She had a bubble of nearly ten feet around her where people skirted, no one daring to approach her. She watched the top of the stairs with an icy expression on her face.

When Paike got too close, he could feel the sharp bite of cold wind around her and was surprised. He knew she was talented, but usually, this sort of manifestation around someone, intentionally or unintentionally, didn’t happen until Topaz, not in Ruby. And she had just awoken a week ago. Was she trying to do this, or was it subconscious? He didn’t know, but still, he pushed through, much to the shocked gazes of everyone around her.

He forced his qi throughout his channels, just underneath his skin, and began to feel the difference. It took a while for his qi to complete one revolution, but once he had it flowing, it worked as armor against foreign influence. The cold didn’t seep deeper than the first layer of skin for him as he strode through the mystical effect and touched his sister on the shoulder. She jumped slightly, whirling to face him. But even as their eyes met, her face softened somewhat, and the chill in the air diminished significantly.

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She greeted him with a polite bow. “Hello, big brother.”

“Little sister,” he said. “Any notable entrances?” He indicated the entryway to the sect’s courtyard with a tilt of his head.

She shrugged one shoulder in an elegant motion before bouncing slightly on her toes, ruining the display of poise she had been managing so far. “Not really. A few members of notable families, but so far, no one’s beaten our time.”

“Really?” he said with a raised brow.

She nodded. “You’re just too fast.”

“I’m pretty sure you beat me.” He teased her slightly, and she looked down, blushing while covering her face with a raised sleeve.

“Oh, stop it,” she said, not willing to get into the why in front of so many people.

Giving her a break, he changed topics. “I just wanted to find you and check in to make sure everything was going all right.” He gestured to the area around them that had been filled with the biting wind. “You seemed slightly upset.”