Threads 28 Siblings 2

Ling Qi was not able to cultivate as much as she would have liked that night, even though with her new rank, she had moved to a new residence with a better argent vent than before with the start of the fourth month. She knew it was her own fault for putting off preparations for this though.

By the time the sun had risen the next day, the proper forms had been filled out, permits paid for, and permissions granted to rent out a carriage that could navigate the rough hilly and wooded terrain. Zhengui’s hill was still well within the Sect’s grounds, so there was no need to hire more than a handful of guards to ward off the dimmer sort of spirit beasts without having to flex her own spirit and scare her family.

When they set out the next day, she could tell that her mother was on edge, and the consequences of confining a small child into even a spacious carriage didn’t help matters. Still, as first an hour, and then another, passed without incident, Ling Qingge seemed to find a reserve of nerve and calm herself.

For Ling Qi’s part, the transportation was interminably slow. While the carriage never so much as bounced or jostled them, no matter what terrain was outside the window, it didn’t help Ling Qi from feeling stir crazy as time went on. She could run faster than this thing. But she trusted that this was the best that could be done while keeping mortals in mind. It was worth it, she felt, when they reached their destination, a clearing next to a shallow brook that ran sluggishly around the base of Zhengui’s hill.

Here, the second part of her preparations came into play in the form of a couple of trinkets she had picked up overnight at the Inner Sect market. She had bought a “pocket pavillion,” a block of formation-carved wood that rapidly unfolded into a wide wooden platform with self-adjusting stilted legs to ensure an even surface, and a single use storage talisman meant specifically to hold prepared meals in good order.

Ling Qingge looked on in bemusement from inside the carriage as Ling Qi finished setting up, holding tightly onto the squirming little girl in her lap. Behind Ling Qi, the platform settled, and a faint mist hissed from the thick rug which made up the storage talisman, revealing in its wake baskets full of simple fare.

“Come on out, Mother,” Ling Qi said cheerfully, giving the platform a subtle nudge, causing it to pop out a couple of steps in a puff of sawdust-scented smoke.

Ling Qingge stepped slowly down from the carriage, looking left and right as the guards who had been driving the carriage and riding along on the back spaced themselves out, forming an out-of-sight perimeter for them.

“It really is this easy, is it not?” her mother asked wistfully as she stepped down onto the dry earth.

Ling Qi understood the subtext in her mother’s words and smiled. “Cultivation does make the world a much bigger place,” she agreed. “Come on though. Relax a little, and enjoy the fresh air. It could be a little while until he actually wakes up.”

Hesitating only a moment more, her mother set Biyu down, who immediately scrambled up onto the platform, following the smell of food rising from the baskets and the containers. Ling Qingge followed a moment later, settling herself carefully on the rug. “How long did you spend preparing this?”

“Most of the night,” Ling Qi admitted. “But I rarely sleep anymore.”

“And food is something you need only eat for the flavor,” Ling Qingge mused, looking out over the spread. “… I suppose that explains your lack of concern for nutrition.”

Ling Qi laughed sheepishly, glancing at the copious number of sweets among what she had ordered. “Well, even for you and Biyu, it doesn’t hurt to indulge once in a while, right? Besides, I have other food as well. You still like those lotus seed dumplings, right?”

Ling Qingge shook her head, the last of the tension draining from her frame. “It is so very easy now, isn’t it?” she asked again.

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Ling Qi replied bluntly. Neither she nor her mother or anyone else in her family would have to scrimp and save just to have their favorite food once a year. “These little things – everyone should have that. It’s not like there’s any shortage of things to strive for.”

Hanyi said within her dantian, her qi conveying a pout.

“I suppose I will just accept my good fortune,” her mother replied with a small smile before glancing to the side, her eyes widening. “Biyu, no! Do not put your hands in that!”

Ling Qi darted over, expertly removing her little sister from the desserts basket, much to the little girl’s protests and the amusement of the muse in her head. This had been the right decision.

Over the course of the next few hours, Ling Qi found herself growing more comfortable and relaxed as she chatted with her mother and drifted over from the platform to the banks of the little brook after the food had been finished. Still, she kept an eye on the slowly thickening stream of smoke rising from Zhengui’s hill and the mostly imperceptible tremors rippling out through both dirt and qi alike.

So, when the ground began to rattle and rumble, she was ready, snatching Biyu from the edge of the brook and placing a steadying hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Looks like the guest of ho