It turned out Kaoru’s lover was named Zhong, and that he’d known more than he let on when we’d last seen him. Kaoru didn’t remember much from that night, aside from not ever wanting to get that drunk again, but apparently she did slip up and drop her seeming when in the throes of passion.

Fortunately, Zhong just thought it added to her mysterious allure.

When the Tortoise King’s army came to occupy Rivermill, he’d had a long period of time to think about Kaoru, and the child they’d created. It terrified him to think they could both be murdered for such a petty thing as not being altogether human, and he approached Mistress Fu on what he could do about it.

She’d smacked him for nearly blowing her cover, then began teaching him the absolute basics of cultivation. Though it had not quite been a year since we’d met, he’d apparently worked hard, and made a great deal of progress as an Initiate. He’d wanted to join the monastery to be with Kaoru and their child… but then the Tortoise King paraded his trophies through Rivermill on his way back to his fortress.

He hadn’t been allowed to know where we were until now, and for a clear reason.

Kaoru greeted him warmly, and told him that while she was glad he wanted to be a part of their daughter’s life, being a part of hers would be another task altogether. They didn’t really know each other after all, though she was glad someone cared for her. He accepted this, but noted that his profession as a carter would make all their lives easier.

Apparently, the wagon was his, and he made his living transporting goods from Rivermill to smaller nearby settlements and back again. This village was a normal stop for him.

I nodded, seeing that this would be an advantage getting through any soldiers or spies that remained behind to ensure that there were no survivors of the Tortoise King’s sport. And how obnoxious is it, that he wasn’t even truly angry? There was no wrath in his attack, just a sadistic glee. Even now, it filled my little bunny heart with rage. Still, facing him was a long way off yet. We packed up, and Kaoru adjusted her seeming to look a bit older, and more out of shape. A farmwife who had known far more work and far less cultivation than a mischievous red fox with four tails. Little Song couldn’t be similarly disguised, but proper swaddling hid all evidence of ears and tails anyway.

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Chang and Chen would be passed off as little Song’s siblings, while I hid away in rabbit shape. Just a tired widow and her three living children, going to the city for the hope of a better life. The rabbit in the bed of the wagon just being a stowaway.

It worked like a charm, passing through the redoubled guard as Li travelled separately with a group of Mistress Fu’s children. Expert Gin had been rewarded for his part in the recent atrocity with full control of Rivermill and the surrounding lands while we were gone.

Already, what had once been a colorful and bustling city had changed for the worse. Cultivators in black armor were everywhere, doing whatever they pleased to anyone who caught their eye. The townsfolk stayed in their homes and shops whenever possible, ignoring any screams or pleas for help they heard.

And there was plenty of both to cut the unnatural silence that comes when predators control the land.

Fu’s husband had closed their shop and home, and moved the family to a hidden stronghold near the gate, beneath the waterwheels that gave Rivermill its name. Here, anyone with a scrap of cultivation knowledge or talent remained hidden, training as if their lives depended on becoming stronger. And, as I looked at them all… I could only say that was the case.

Among the Novice class was the wife of my twins’ father, who apparently had made her husband disappear. She apologized for her reactions that day, but there was nothing to apologize for. And we bonded over our respective children by the man, even as we discussed what we would do next.

Mistress Fu had apparently been planning for this day for her entire life. She had connections throughout the world, all training cultivators in secret against the day when war would be declared on the Four Heavenly Emperors. There were Masters and Experts everywhere who awaited the day when someone would not only amass the power to defeat the tyrant Elders, but would have the will and desire to do more than simply leave a void where they had been.

It was a lot of weight on my shoulders. But the die had been cast, and my number was up.

I could only hope it wasn’t a one.