Chapter 2- Every Test is One of Character

The group traveling to the testing site was a motley bunch, gathering on a rocky patch of mountainside that was clearly memorable to the birds, but struck Tian as completely indistinguishable from the rest of the mountain. They weren’t the first to arrive, and they weren’t the last. It took another two hours before the leader of the expedition made his appearance.

Elder Rui flew in on Elder Redmane. He gave Tian and Liren a complicated look, then turned to the rest of the assembled birds and humans. It wasn’t his show, however. A truly ragged looking crane flew in. It had all its feathers, but somehow it looked like it had caught the worst of a windstorm on a mud flat. Tian could see the red face and white feathers under the mud. A snow grace crane, like Burning Heaven.

“Alright. You all know me, so I’ll skip the usual.” Tian did not, in fact, know the Elder, though his voice was familiar. It took him a moment to make the connection to Elder Deepwalker, who had placed Burning Heaven in his care.

He… looked a bit different, compared to his fisherman disguise.

“The honorable emissary is in a mood, as you might be able to tell. Still, opportunities like this come considerably less than once in a thousand years, so all you cute little juniors better jump on it with both claws. I’m taking you on the safer route up to Wildhunt Valley, but I can’t guarantee it will remain safe if you lag behind.”

And that was apparently all there was to say about that. He turned, and with a mighty leap, began flying. A flock of spiritual birds started flapping behind him, taking wing, taking their daoist friends up into the sky.

Tian took a moment to look at who they were traveling with. Cranes, mostly, and most of them of the red crested variety like Elder Redmane. There were swans as well, and the very first peacock Tian could remember seeing. There were hawks, an eagle, and a couple of falcons. There was even a crow, ridden by a cheerful looking, if scruffy, daoist who was happily sipping from a calabash despite the early hour in the day. The other birds were giving the crow some space. Tian had the impression that it wasn’t fear. It was respect.

“How interesting. How very interesting!”

Heh. Make friends with that crow if you can. Be polite, and don’t be pushy, but do try.

“Oh? What makes him so special?”

He’s a crow.

Grandpa didn’t elaborate.

“Grandpa…”

Hah! Alright, alright, crows… Well, crows are the sort to return a favor tenfold and a grudge a hundredfold. They treat favors and grudges as a sort of ancestral property, transmitting them through generations. Forever, potentially. Make friends with one, and you will never have a more loyal friend. Anger one…

“I should get used to living in caves.”

That wouldn’t stop him. Nasty bastards in a scrap, famously willing to get utterly filthy to get a job done, and their ruthlessness is only matched by their intelligence. And yet, social. Look how the other birds are around him. He has many colleagues who respect him, a rare few friends, and no living enemies. Not a bad way to live. Not at all.

Tian agreed with Grandpa, and shifted his gaze to take in more of the mountain. They hadn’t been flying long, but they were already higher on the mountain than Tian remembered being before. Liren was as curious as he was, peering down into the leafy forests.

The texture of the air was changing. It wasn’t consistent, sometimes thick and syrupy or cold and piercing. Sometimes the qi was so rich, he felt drunk. Other times, it thinned to the point where he could imagine being in the low country once more.

The qi density change was first really noticeable when the whole flock took a detour. Elder Deepwalker took them on a long dip, dropping their elevation for ten minutes before quickly turning and climbing hard for height. Tian wasn’t sure why, but he could sense a vortex of elemental energy below. Some kind of twisted mass, seemingly too complicated for animal life, but he couldn’t imagine what else it could be.

“The Knotling,” Burning Heaven explained when he asked. “They won’t chase after people so long as they stay out of their territory, but they aren’t consistent about what is their territory. Flying over them pisses them off, though. A group this size isn’t afraid of them, but fighting them is unpleasant. Or so I hear, I’ve stayed well away.”

“Them? That’s a group of heavenly creatures I’m feeling?” Tian could hardly believe it. It was such a mess of elements, he couldn’t begin to decipher it.

“Whether there is one Knotling or many isn’t easy to answer, according to the seniors. I don’t know the details, but it seems that they are both. The reason we are climbing so fast is that just up ahead is the One Eyed King, an ancient Blackfire Tiger.” Burning Heavens dipped her beak.

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“Self named?” Liren grinned.

“Don’t know. But his range is hemmed in on three sides, so maybe.”

Tian found his grin matching Liren’s but quickly wiped it away. If the tiger could hold a territory on Ancient Crane Mountain, even one hemmed in on three sides, that still made him an expert worth fearing even for other Heavenly People. He gave Liren a warning look, and she was sensible enough to firmly shut her mouth.