拔刀相助 (bádāo xiāngzhù) - Unsheathe a knife, help another i.e. prepare to rescue someone from injustice.
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“Do you think I did the wrong thing, Lau Yan?”
“I don't know, A Yì. I can't tell you that.”
“I don't know if I did the right thing either.”
“... Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For making a decision when I couldn't. I think... I'm a coward.”
“Does being afraid of making the wrong decision make someone a coward?”
“... I don't know, A Yì.”
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Cheng Guk Lung sighed and rubbed his eyes for the twentieth time that half hour. Shu Kui sat opposite him, silently reading reports. She glanced up.
"Do you need to take a break, Your Majesty?"
"I suspect so. But this work won't complete itself. Any progress in replacing the three dismissed
ministers?"
"We have a shortlist for each position."
"Good... The fact that one of the positions is for the Household Minister really doesn't help." He sipped from his cold cup of tea and pulled a face. "Any... Any sign of Lady Zéyì or Lady Gong?"
"Unfortunately not, Your Majesty. We have not been able to find trace of them, which leads me to the conclusion that they are not currently in the Mortal Realm."
The Regent of Chūn sighed again. "Go and see your family, Shu Kui."
“Your Majesty-"
"I'll retire soon. Go first."
"... Thank you, Your Majesty."
She tidied her pile of papers, bowed, and disappeared like a wisp of smoke.
Cheng Guk Lung pulled out a large map, spread it across the table, and considered it wearily, his joints crackling. It was a map of Ming Yuet, the old capital of Dzue. It had truly been an impressive place, a marvel of architecture. But here and there, a different brush had made notes. Comparison with Mun Gong's writing found a match.
He looked at the notes and wondered what they meant.
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Vurdʑɕahar sat verdantly in a geographical basin surrounded by desert. A huge city, it was a major stop for merchants travelling along the Jade Road west or east.
Zéyì examined the city with professional interest. People of all shapes, sizes, and races haggled at stalls, drank tea together, and wrangled horses and camels. The square buildings were built of stone and mud brick, the same colour as the surrounding desert. In contrast, the clothing of the local people was bright and rich, blue and red and yellow against the soft beige.
They stopped at one of the larger tea shops, where people sat on cushions on the ground, chattering and sipping highly sweetened tea. As they entered, a young boy with large black eyes and a head of thick dark hair approached them with a bright smile.
"Dà jiěs! Welcome! Tea?"
"Yes please." Zéyì smiled at him. "And information."
"Okay. Tea, I get. Uncle, I get." He gestured them to some silken cushions and disappeared behind a curtain.
Not long after, a middle-aged man with a large beard and a hand covered in twinkling rings appeared with a tray of sweet tea.
"Madams, greetings. I am Alam Wesa, the owner of this tea shop."
They exchanged greetings and all drank down their cups of tea. Zéyì tasted spices and honey.
The tea shop owner spoke fluent Xiang, his voice lowered to a murmur as he poured more tea. “You are looking for information?”
"We're looking for a person. Two, actually."
"I can possibly help with that. Who are they?"
"One is a cultivator - you know the term? With pale blond hair and dark eyes..." Zéyì noticed the expression shift on Alam Wesa's face. "Is there a problem, sir?"
"Madam, does this person happen to be travelling with a large black-haired foreigner covered in demonic symbols?"
"I don't know about demonic..."
Actually, that's probably true.
"... but yes. Yuān Yì Fēng and a foreign sorcerer."
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"They're in the dunes," Alam Wesa said bluntly, as he stood. "I will not ask you to pay for the tea or information, but please don't return here again."
"May I ask why not?" Gong Lau Yan's tone was conversational as she downed her new cup of tea in one go. Zéyì passed her her own untouched cup.
"We have bad blood between us. His Eminence, The Hadyahosh, is dealing with them now."
Zéyì and Gong Lau Yan exchanged a look. The air in the store had grown tense, other customers watching them from the corners of their eyes.
"Perhaps we can help," Gong Lau Yan said easily.
"The last time help was offered, we lost the great one who protected us," Alam Wesa said. "Please, just leave."
“Let's go,” Gong Lau Yan murmured, as Zéyì opened her mouth to speak. “There are times when you need to know when to step back.”
They stepped back out into the hot, dry day, Gong Lau Yan filling her flask with water from a nearby well. “Maybe together, we'll make a single functioning being,” she said, rejoining Zéyì.
“So don't go running off and leaving me behind.”
The loong smiled. “Okay.”
The dunes that Alam Wesa spoke of rolled away to the northwest of Vurdʑɕahar. An ordinary person would sink with each step they took, but Zéyì and Gong Lau Yan skimmed lightly over the sand.
“Look there...” Gong Lau Yan had spotted a flame in the distance. As they drew closer, the situation resolved itself; a huge ox, wreathed in flames, four powerful horns curled around its head, faced two humanoid figures who looked tiny in comparison. They were Zéyì's junior sibling and their necromancer companion.
The pair looked as though they had lost weight. As they hurried over, Yuān Yì Fēng smiled at them cheerfully enough, but there was a droop to their shoulders. The necromancer's eyes were ringed with dark circles, and they looked away when Zéyì smiled at him. His wild black hair had been roughly cut short recently, and stuck up at odd angles.
The only one openly pleased to see them was a huge creature that resemble something between a lion and a dog. A pair of fangs protruded from its lower jaw, followed by a lolling blue tongue as it sniffled its way cautiously up to the two women. Its stubby tail wagged furiously.
"This isn't one of the shi zi from that auction, is it?" Gong Lau Yan said, as her hand was carefully sniffed and then washed by the blue tongue. Antlers and scales had sprouted once more from her head and across her face as she cast a glance towards the flaming ox.
"Their puppy," Yuān Yì Fēng explained. They bowed politely. "Greeting Shijie. Greeting Lady Gong."
The necromancer grunted as Zéyì returned the greeting.
Gong Lau Yan looked a little shame-faced. "I apologise for my behaviour the first time we met. I hope you can be gracious and look past it."
"Has Shijie looked past it?" Yuān Yì Fēng asked mildly. Gong Lau Yan glanced at Zéyì.
“For now. We're working on it." She turned and bowed to the enormous ox, who had stood patiently as they spoke, fire curling around him. "You are Lord Hadyahosh, I believe?"
“That is so.” A pair of dark, beady eyes considered first Zéyì, then Gong Lau Yan. “You must be the envoys from the Empress-Under-the-Sea.”
“I am Gong Lau Yan, niece of Tin Yeung Wong.”
“Zéyì. I am the Senior Sister of this cultivator here. I understand my Junior Sibling has caused a disturbance.”
“Indeed.
“I'm fecking fed up with legal bullshite,” the necromancer growled.
“Who was killed?”
“The one who guarded this place, the Anqa. This one slit her throat. I let them leave once, on the promise they returned. And now they are here.”
“Yuān Yì Fēng, is this the case?”
“Yes, Shijie.”
“Are ye just going to leave out the whole part where she was trying to kill ye, ye damned fool?” the necromancer yelped, grabbing Yuān Yì Fēng's cheek with strong fingers and shaking the cultivator's head back and forth. The shi zi wuffed disapprovingly.
“What are your laws on self defence, Lord Hadyahosh?”
The ox snorted, and small flames flickered briefly in his nostrils. “It is a difficult matter. The taking of a life, whether deliberate or accidental, whether with malice or reluctance, is a grave thing. Those who commit manslaughter must seek asylum, lest blood vengeance be brought upon them.”
“Lord Hadyahosh...” Zéyì looked boldly at him. “... you are reluctant to punish my Junior Sibling, aren't you? But you are aware of the calls for vengeance from the people here. You're in a difficult position.”
The Hadyahosh said nothing, simply met her eyes in silence.
“Yuān Yì Fēng, why were you forced to kill the Anqa?” Zéyì asked.
“The foxy bastard murdered her kids,” the necromancer snapped, before the cultivator could reply.
“Her grief was... unmanaged,” Yuān Yì Fēng said softly.
“Tsaam Lei killed her children?”
“He was attempting to steal her eggs to sell them, it would seem. But they broke in the process.”
Gong Lau Yan spoke to the Hadyahosh, her scales gleaming. “Then this works out. The one who harmed the Anqa's children, and therefore caused this situation, is still out there, and a lot of people are very eager for him to be caught. These two here are perhaps the best chance of catching him.”
“This would solve your dilemma,” Zéyì continued. “If the one who killed the Anqa was tasked with capturing the murderer who drove her mad in the first place, and he was brought here to face justice, the people here might be satisfied.”
The ox nodded his huge head. “It is good. Then it is decreed that the cultivator Yuān Yì Fēng is to seek out, capture, and bring to justice the one who set this chain of events in motion. I will speak with the wise ones of the people of the region.”
“Thank you, Lord Hadyahosh.”
Zéyì and Yuān Yì Fēng both bowed. Gong Lau Yan and the Hadyahosh nodded to each other. The necromancer rolled his eyes.
As the ox turned and slowly, majestically disappeared over the sand dunes, the necromancer pulled Yuān Yì Fēng close, leaning on the much smaller cultivator's shoulders. The shi zi leaned on Yuān Yì Fēng's other side.
“Thank you, Shi jie, Lady Gong.” They were unable to bow, caught as if in a vice between the witch and the shi zi. “Should we be going?”
“Away from here to start, at least,” Gong Lau Yan agreed. She tipped a pill onto her hand and chased it down with a gulp of water, before shaking her body out into her enormous dragon form. The shi zi backed up in confusion, but Gong Lau Yan lowered her head gently and blew a light puff of air into the lion-dog's whiskers. “What is your name, little one?”
The shi zi made a noise somewhere between a cough and a whine.
“Cute. Climb up, San Hei. Oh, Sunny, is it? And the rest of you. It will be faster this way.”
“Where exactly are we going, Lady Gong?” Yuān Yì Fēng asked as they reached down to pull the necromancer up Gong Lau Yan's scaly foreleg. Zéyì had already settled in her usual place on the loong's neck, her hands wrapped around the warm antlers.
“East. To the border of Shisuan and Dzue. Have you seen the pine forest before, Yuān Yì Fēng?”
The cultivator confessed they had not.
“Then we should probably start there.” A sigh took hold of the loong's entire frame. “We should all probably start there.”
With everyone now seated, she launched herself skywards, until the desert was far below and the green edges of grassland could be seen in the east. Yuān Yì Fēng, the necromancer, and the shi zi, Sunny, crouched low as a tight group.
Zéyì turned back to face the approaching edge of grassland, caressing the bases of Gong Lau Yan's antlers. “Are you sure about this, Gong Dze?”
“About what?”
“Going back there again, so soon.”
“I've got to go back sometime, A Yì. I can't keep running.”
“I'm here with you. I'm here.”
“I know. Thank you.”