Threads 29-Siblings 3

That night wouldn’t be the last time she tarried longer at home, Ling Qi promised herself, but for the moment, it would have to do. She would have to change some of her plans and half-formed schedules, but she believed that she could accomplish her goals

and

spend more time at tasks aside from cultivation. Her liege certainly managed, even if she was starting to strain under the workload.

This reminded Ling Qi that she had never actually asked just what all that paperwork she so often saw Cai Renxiang going through was for or just what it was that took up so much of her time. When she had realized that on her way back up the mountain, Ling Qi felt briefly uncomfortable. Cai Renxiang had never offered to share the information, but Ling Qi had never really asked either. When she thought about it, their relationship was still pretty distant, wasn’t it?

Unfortunately, Ling Qi would not have time to currently act on that realization. Not only was she moving to more advanced lessons under her senior brother in the Scouting Corps in preparation for live exercises next month, but also she had the first of her “tutoring” sessions with Bai Meizhen’s cousin scheduled for the afternoon after said scouting lessons and the evening was set out for cultivation. Plus, if she recalled correctly, Cai Renxiang was going to be busy herself for some time. Cai had taken up some sort of major sect duty, assisting the Core Disciple that had made Ling Qi’s gown with a project.

It seemed that the slowing of cultivation with age was not just a matter of decaying talent and the nature of qi. Staying engaged with the people and the world around her was quite a time sink. Ling Qi couldn’t afford to just play hermit or space out and cultivate whenever it suited her anymore; she had to consider so many other things.

Ling Qi was still contemplating that problem by the time afternoon had rolled around and the time for her first meeting with Bai Xiao Fen had arrived. In her letter confirming the tutoring, she had picked out a mostly barren spot a good distance from the Sect town. It was the site of a clearcutting; the Sect was overseeing an expansion of the fields around the settlement, it seemed. For the moment though, it remained empty, and so it was still good for her purposes.

Ling Qi sat atop a small, stony hillock as she waited for her “junior sister” to arrive, idly playing a contemplative tune on her flute as her thoughts wandered. Sixiang hummed along in her head, and Hanyi was back at her sect lodgings soaking up argent qi at Ling Qi’s upgraded standard vent. Hanyi was frustrated; apparently, her transformation and breakthrough during the escape from Zeqing’s home had left her unable to use some of her channels properly, and it hadn’t cleared up yet. As for Zhengui…

Ling Qi perked up as she felt Xiao Fen enter the range of her senses. The younger girl’s aura had not changed much since their last meeting three months ago, but she had advanced well into the mid stage of the second realm in both forms of cultivation. It was only a few moments later that she caught sight of Xiao Fen picking her way through the rolling stump-strewn landscape at a dignified pace.

Xiao Fen had switched out the basic argent uniform for a new gown, black in color and simple in cut. The second layer of the gown shimmered silver, as did the trailing sash around her waist and the pins and ties in her hair. Like the threads of sharpened metal woven into her braids, Ling Qi could tell that the sash was a weapon too; she could see the faint gleam of needlepoints on its trailing hem.

It seemed impractical, but then again, Ling Qi hit people with concentrated artistic expression, so who was she to judge?

“Hello, Junior Sister!” she called cheerfully, lowering her flute and raising a hand to wave. Senior Brother Ruan was right; being able to say that was fun. “Come on up, and have a seat.”

She watched as Bai Xiao Fen peered up at her from the bottom of the slope with narrowed eyes and then glanced around, seemingly unsettled by something. Ling Qi hid the grin that tried to surface as she stared down at the other girl.

Xiao Fen gave their surroundings one last distrustful glance and then began to ascend the hill. “Greetings, Senior Sister Ling,” she replied with stiff formality. “Shall I assume this… site is a gift?”

“Something like that,” Ling Qi said, keeping her expression straight. “How have you found the Outer Sect so far?”

“Mildly stifling. This place is both too dry and too cold, and my simpering peers are an irritant,” Xiao Fen said, reaching the top of the hill. The girl glanced around briefly before finding a flat spot to kneel like a retainer at attention. Ling Qi raised an eyebrow, glancing down at her own informal seating on a raised boulder. Well, whatever made the girl comfortable.

There was also that reply. “Are you alright, Junior Sister? I don’t really mind, but that is a little rude, isn’t it?”

“Bai Meizhen has asked that I speak plainly in private with her and said that I should treat you with the same respect I do her.” Xiao Fen seemed to twitch uncomfortably at the admission.

This girl was very literal, Ling Qi thought, bringing a pulse of amusement from Sixiang. “You