“If yer corn ain’t knee high by July, you might as well kiss it goodbye.” I said to myself as I ran my fingers along the fresh green shoots that were sticking out of the mounds I had planted them in. They were strong and I could feel their vital energy, their vigour as they took root, pointing up towards the sky.

There was no real way I would be kissing these little ones goodbye. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more like chest, or even shoulder height, by what would be July here. Shoulder height and laden with climbing beans.

I let out a breath, feeling my energy sinking into the land beneath my feet, and mentally crossed this last task off my list.

The spring planting was done. Normally, this would be a period where things began to wind down. The summer didn’t actually have too much work to do in it. It was mostly maintenance and waiting. The time of year where I would sit down and enjoy myself, maybe get a bit better at knitting.

But instead of our onset of lazy days, there was a tension in the air.

My friends and family would be leaving soon. Heading out into the world, trying to hunt down demons or to cut through a thousand years of conflict and forge a brighter future. Big D. Tigu. Xiulan. All three of them were going to go, and others might follow them.

They had all asked me for my permission and my blessing. It was still strange, to be regarded so highly, after two sets of memories painted the portrait of a very average man—but I would like to think I was growing into my position. They trusted me and my judgment. The least I could do was be worthy of that trust.

I'm going to be honest, though, their plans had made me feel... maybe just slightly inadequate in some ways. I idly wondered if it should be me going out there. Me, being the one to right every wrong and save the world.

After all, that's what a normal person given power like mine would do, wouldn’t they?

The thoughts had troubled me, keeping me up at night, until I came down to have some water and I overheard them talking.

Tigu was looking forward to seeing how much her little brother would have grown when she came back. Xiulan had mentioned that she couldn’t wait until Meiling made her pancakes again.

And Big D just said one line:

“It shall be good, when we are all home again.”

There may still be a day where I have to go out. There may be a day where trouble comes to find me.

But for now… I was a farmer. I was what I chose to be. They would go out and fix the world.

And I would make sure that they still had a home to come back to.

=========================

Xiulan stood with her eyes closed and her face towards the sun.

She took a deep breath in, then out, slowly opening her eyes. A small smile stole across her face as she looked at the world around her. The gentle, rolling green hills. The full rice paddies, the stalks waving in the wind while the occasional flash of movement heralded a fish, leaping out of the water to catch a passing insect. Formations of bees patrolled the sky, collecting nectar with inspired industriousness. Fields of wheat, corn, peas, and every other assorted fruit and vegetable Jin grew lay in their ordered rows. The sheep were gathered along the fence, and the cows were lazing near the river. Chickens clucked and squawked as they reigned in their flock, hunting for their next meal. The Glass House sat serenely, while today, Bowu’s drop hammer was silent.

It was beautiful land; pulsing with life and growth and… a feeling of home.

In some ways, more a home than her Sect, and she could admit that now. But it was fine to have two places to rest one’s head.

She sighed contentedly and looked more closely at her surroundings. Xiulan bent down and picked up a dandelion. It had bloomed early in the season, and already its yellow flower had turned into white fluff.

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The dandelions were a common flower; ranging far and wide across the Empire according to the Archives. From the Howling Fang Mountains past Crimson Crucible City, east, west, and south, one would normally find the mundane blooms.

A common flower, without Qi, that had spread as far as the wind took it.

She raised the flower to her lips and blew, sending the seeds on their long journey. She idly wondered what sights they would see, carried on the wind, and where they would end up. Would they stay here, in the Azure Hills? Or would they fly far, far from their homeland and set down roots?

She set the stalk down, returning it to the earth, where it would nourish other plants.

Then, she turned. Her back straightened, her intent sharpened, and Xiulan went from a young woman enjoying the breeze to a cultivator.

She looked to her two companions who were waiting behind her.

Tigu opened her eyes from where she had been sitting in the shade. She was dressed in her too large Gi and shorts, her arm bracers reflecting the light of the sun. She had recently added paint to them, highlighting the intricate carvings with delicate colours. Her hair was done up in two tails as it always was, but today she had a flower beside her ear, a vibrant pink bloom.

Xianghua leaned against a tree, her arms crossed. She didn’t have her furnace on today. The fur on her dress fluttered in the breeze, like the mane of a dragon. Her storm grey eyes looked on at Xiulan with faint approval.

“Let's begin.” Xiulan said.

Tigu and Xianghua both nodded and turned, revealing the alterations to their clothes.

On their backs was something new.

The character for Azure stood out in a white circle.

The symbol of their home and sect over their hearts; the symbol of their cause on their backs.

The same alterations that had been done to Xiulan’s new dress. The whites and soft greens of her original had changed to more vibrant colours; the bright green of grass and the blue of the sky courtesy of Meiling and Biyu who were certainly handy with a needle and thread.

Xiulan kept her eyes forward as Tigu and Xianghua walked beside her and into the little orchard that Jin had built with her wedding gifts. Peach and apple trees resided here, and the peaches were just beginning to shed their pink petals. The mature trees grew alongside little saplings.

Tie Delun, Dong Chou, Zang Wei. Those three had heeded her initial call and were already seated. Tie Delun was clad half in steel and half in stone, as he began to incorporate his ancestor’s teachings. Zang Wei looked inordinately happy with the robe Meiling had made for him, the boy looking less like a wild boy, and more like the confident and powerful young cultivator he was.

Rags, on the other hand, was still Rags. He managed to look scruffy even in new clothes.

Two others had joined them. Yin was sitting calmly on her knees. Her top actually fit right, unlike Tigu, and if she kept her mouth shut the beautiful woman would pass for an elegant and refined lady.

Xiulan would have thought she would attempt to go with Bi De, but instead, the rabbit had asked to join them.

Her reason?

“If they aren’t fighting, I’ll have an easier time seeing everything they can do. And besides, I hated Sun Ken as much as Shifu. If I can stop the next bandit before he becomes a problem… I owe it to Shifu to try.”

The last one to round out their group was Zhang Fei, the Torrent Rider. The young man’s rooster mask was firmly over his face, and Shaggy Two was sitting dutifully behind him. Young, naive, idealistic… and burning with a passion for the world he had heard Xiulan speaking of.

Bi De had given her his trust with his disciple, and she would take care of the young lad as best as she was able.

They were seated in a rough circle, each with a cup of wine in front of them.

It felt wrong to go through an undertaking without something to bind them together. So they decided to take an Oath, before the Heavens and the Earth—and those who had come to watch.

Jin and Meiling were there, as were Gou Ren and Yun Ren. The Old Man and Bi De. The rest of Fa Ram’s disciples.

Xiulan, Tigu, and Xianghua sat. All that was left was the trickle of the rivers and the gentle breeze.

The world seemed to hold its breath as Xiulan looked each of her companions in the eye.

“My friends. We gather today, to join our hands for a great undertaking. Our circumstances and surnames are different. But we shall come together as siblings. From this day forward, we shall join forces for a common purpose: to save the troubled and to aid the endangered.” Xiulan’s voice echoed through the courtyard. It grew in power as she spoke.

“We shall honour the past, and nurture and protect the future—not merely of our own kin, but all who live in these Hills. We seek not glory, or to advance our station above all others—only to put into practise those ideals that we know to be true. Though not born on the same day of the same month in the same year, we hope to die so; long in the future, with our task complete.” The words were from an ancient oath—one carried out in a peach garden, by three brothers who would turn the tide of an era. The power of the earth below them seemed to be pulsing and welling up as Xiulan reached forward and picked up her cup.

“If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may Heaven and the people of the Earth both strike us dead!”

Xiulan could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and could feel the roiling power of Tianlan—this as much an oath to her as the others. A warm summer breeze blew through the garden, as the others raised their cups in unison.

“We shall honour the past, and nurture and protect the future—not merely of our own kin, but all who live in these Hills. We seek not glory, or to advance our station above all others—only to put into practise those ideals that we know to be true. Though not born on the same day of the same month in the same year, we hope to die so; long in the future, with our task complete. If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may Heaven and the people of the Earth both strike us dead!”

Golden threads connected between them. The pact was witnessed. As one they drank—and as they did, the world pulsed.

It felt as if the entire world trembled. The air filled with a resounding tone.

“To the Azure Hills.” Xiulan said, her voice even, yet resonating all over Fa Ram.

“To the Azure Hills!” Her companions chorused.

=====================

It had been passed down through generations, the affliction; it stunted growth and made those who left the hills feel as if they were drowning in air. Every cultivator since the breaking had been afflicted, the final curse of a demon denied. It had lasted for thousands of years, silent, and crippling. Broken souls, like their land and their people.

Until those in a peach garden swore an oath to make it whole again.