"Is it... not working?"

Two days later, they sat by the lakeside once more, Miss Fén tracing patterns across Lián's face with her fingers and water from the lake. The deepening frown on the demon hunter's face had made Lián ask the question.

Miss Fén muttered something to herself in Zhū, then said, more loudly, "Maybe the face is not enough."

"Sorry?"

"Take off your robes."

"Sorry?" Lián drew back in alarm, crystal drops of water slipping down her face.

"Ah." Miss Fén shook herself. "That was very... Sorry, what I mean is, I may need to draw glyphs on your torso too, not just your face. Are you comfortable taking off your robes? We're well hidden here."

That somehow didn't seem to be the point to Lián, but she wasn't sure what was. Her mind was in a whirl. Rather than responding to Miss Fén, she said, "Fan Ze... are you... alright?"

Miss Fén smiled calmly, tipping her head, her hair slipping off her shoulder in a chestnut-coloured stream. Lián's dark eyes narrowed suspiciously. She had spent enough time with Miss Fén to start realising that this bland expression and mild smile usually meant the demon hunter was hiding something. In the past she had let it go, but she had never truly thought it was a good thing.

"Fan Ze, you've been distracted and serious ever since you've come back. Please tell me what is going on."

"Just thinking about what to have for lunch."

Lián gave a strange laugh. "And what did you decide?"

The demon hunter made a face, tucking loose hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ears. Her pearl earrings gleamed as she did. She began to fiddle with the laces of her black leather bracers.

"Tell me, what's wrong?" Lián asked, her voice soft and gentle once more.

"Nothing, Xiǎo Lián."

"Of course it's not nothing."

"Could you... pretend that it is though?"

Lián fell silent. She took off her outer robe and folded it neatly.

"The inner one too. Your shoulders and upper chest need to be bare."

Why was she so nervous? Lián breathed out slowly to steady herself, then let the inner robe slip off her shoulders. Miss Fén helped her out of it and tossed it on top of the folded outer robe. With expert speed, she began to draw along Lián's arms, face and chest with the lake water and her long fingers, her usual playful air controlled under intense concentration.

Lián, for her part, found her skin and scalp tingling almost beyond endurance. She shut her eyes and rapidly brought her consciousness to focus within her body, retreating from her skin to bring her overstimulated nerves in check.

Still, Miss Fén did not seem satisfied. Rather, she sat back with a confused expression on her face, once more muttering to herself in Zhū. Lián opened one eye cautiously, letting herself return to her outer body. "Miss Fén?"

The demon hunter, legs and arms crossed in annoyance, was frowning ferociously at the lake. "It's all over the place," she muttered.

"What's all over the place?"

"... Your Highness, you understood that?"

"Yes? Of course I did."

"I spoke in Zyu just now."

Lián stared. A slim, tan hand caught her chin.

"Let me see..."

Miss Fén brought her face so close to Lián's that, rather than being flattering or embarrassing, it was almost scary. Lián thought their eyeballs might touch.

"Hm."

"W... What is it?"

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"How much do you remember about your cultivation path, Lián? Your master? Your abilities?"

"Only bits and pieces. I'm... ashamed to say I can't remember my master at all. After listening to you speak about my past, I came to understand that my practice is supposed to be Water-based, yet sometimes it just doesn't feel right. And then, other times, it does."

"The curse has interfered with your cultivation, surprise, surprise. Did Zyu Ji Sang say anything to you about qì deviation?

Qì deviation! A cultivator's worst fear, the internal tangling of the energy pathways in the body when a practitioner loses their way. Lián patted herself reflexively.

"I... don't feel like..."

"You haven't had a qì deviation, no, which is... pretty amazing, all things considered. Those with a high Water affinity are more prone to it, and considering how you've spent the last hundred years... Still, that's not to say you've been completely unscathed, although Zyu Ji Sang had to do a fair bit of work."

"Are you saying I'm still at risk?"

"Unfortunately. If I can remove this curse, it'll help things a lot." A fierce energy was bubbling up from within her, strong enough that Lián could feel it lapping around her, and for a moment she had an immense sense of vertigo, as though she were standing at the edge of a deep, rushing river.

"How strong are you really, Miss Fén?"

Miss Fén's head jerked back. The bubbling energy abruptly disappeared and the cheerful grin was back on her face. "Strong enough. Sorry this is taking so long, Your Highness."

They had fallen back into their previous modes of speaking, to Lián's discomfited realisation.

But what could she say? In reality they had not known each other that long, and their relationship was really one of a client and a service provider.

Yet Miss Fén was also the first person who had reached their hand out in over a hundred long and lonely years, who had comforted her when she was at her worst, who had travelled long distances to find the truth of her curse.

Lián could make a joke here and brush it off, or she could be sincere.

"Fan Ze. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done for me. I truly see you as my benefactor, and if you permit it, as an older sister. If you feel uncomfortable telling me certain things, please feel no obligation to speak, but I... I don't know if I have the right to say this - I wish that you would not shut me out."

She remained bowed as she waited for a response.

Miss Fén stared, then smiled ruefully. "Xiǎo Lián, I'm sorry. I'm dealing with some personal things at the moment that have nothing to do with you, but I've let them distract me and it's affected you."

She sighed, then suddenly flopped backwards, spread-eagled on the lush grass by the lake, in a warm patch of sunlight. Lián raised her head to observe the demon hunter, evidently enjoying the warm sunshine combating the slowly cooling autumn air. Miss Fén, eyes closed, patted the ground beside her.

"Come and lie down here for a bit too. The sun's great."

Lián lay down beside her, shutting her eyes against the light. As the minutes stretched out, she could feel herself slowly relaxing, and presently began to feel a low, almost imperceptible flow of energy beside her. They breathed in and out in unison.

Miss Fén.

She's strong, Lián thought, realisation slowly dawning on her. She already knew this was the case to a certain extent; Miss Fén was a successful demon hunter after all, but her ability to hide her strength from Lián, who was a Second-dāntián Expert(1), gave her much to think about.

"Xiǎo Lián, can you tell me what you remember about your cultivation path?"

"The Still Heart... There are some things I still don't quite remember, but the basis is deep contemplation of the existence of water. What it is, how it moves, and how this can teach us to live well."

Miss Fén sighed. Strangely, it seemed to Lián that she was about to cry.

"... How would someone with such a deep connection to water be... I just don't get it!" Miss Fén sat up suddenly. "Xiǎo Lián, let me check your condition again."

Lián sat up too and offered her wrists, one of the places where she could feel resistance when she tried to leave the lake. Miss Fén's cool hands wrapped around them, and she felt a wash of energy through the area. Eyes closed once again, Miss Fén's face showed intense concentration. She suddenly released one of Lián's hands and pressed her own palm flat against the cultivator's chest.

Oh no. She's going to notice how fast my heart is beating...

But Miss Fén seemed to have other things on her mind. A look of understanding was growing across her face, and with a short, fierce laugh, she made a sudden snatching movement over Lián's middle dāntián.

Lián felt something catch and tear in her chest, not painful but very uncomfortable. She felt the pull in her wrists and ankles as well, as though Miss Fén had somehow seized the invisible chains that held her captive to the lake and was drawing them out through her body. The unpleasant feeling of the long, chain-like curse being extracted made Lián grit her teeth with a sharp intake of breath, screw her eyes shut, and draw herself once more within. This time, she focused on her middle dāntián, feeling at the curse's anchor there and testing it, pulling and washing it away with her qì.

"Careful," she could hear Miss Fén say directly into her mind. "Think of it like a lizard's tail. It can break any second."

The foreign energy within her felt muddy and confused. Flashes of oily fire burst up and she quashed them her own Water energy. Waves of stagnant water trickled through her meridians and she could feel the powerful currents of Miss Fén's qì boost hers to clean it out. She felt as though someone was trying to pull her guts out through her stomach and breathed deeply to avoid being sick.

"Ah!"

She felt it, the final uncomfortable slip of the curse from her body, then a sudden wave of energy from Miss Fén as she crushed the curse with sheer power. Shaking, drenched in sweat, Lián opened her eyes to the bright blue sky and an incredible lightness. It seemed as though the whole world was in flow and she could begin to see the patterns that traced through all things.

Miss Fén seized Lián's hands, almost as elated as Lián felt.

"It wasn't her! She didn't curse you, she didn't..." Miss Fén's eyes glowed. "It wasn't..."

Lián had no idea what she was talking about, but neither did she want to disturb the demon hunter.

Miss Fén drew a steadying breath. "Meí Guī, the person who cursed you... it wasn't that woman."