"Ah Yuet."

"Si fu."

Late in the night, Sou Yuet and the Master of Yuen Mei sat together with a pot of black tea. Everyone, even the restless necromancer, was fast asleep, and the temple was quiet.

"How is our honourable guest?"

"They seem to have been enjoying themselves these few weeks. Honestly, I think they're relieved to be in a place such as this." Sou Yuet went to sip their tea, but hesitated. "Si fu... Is there any chance they can stay here while I travel? They seem happy."

The Master sighed and produced a note from his sleeve. "I received this today."

Sou Yuet took the slip of paper and scanned it, brow furrowing. "This...?"

"It seems as though something is happening to the world right now. I remember receiving an message a month ago, about the disappearance of a nest of kei-leon. It was unusual but a single occurrence, by all accounts. But after this..."

Sou Yuet looked back at the note.

'Deaths or disappearances of legendary creatures happening across multiple kingdoms. Investigative assistance requested.'

"... it seems like this is not an isolated incident after all."

"And our guest's talents will help here."

"Exactly."

Sou Yuet finally took their delayed sip of tea.

"Ah Yuet... You are very smart and capable. But you've only seen the world in terms of this country. We've lived in peace for so long now, and for that, I have been so grateful..."

His voice trembled a little towards the end of the sentence. Sou Yuet raised their dark eyes toward him. "Si fu?"

The old man seemed to retreat below his long eyebrows. "Ah Yuet, do you remember when I first took you in, and started to teach you my herbal knowledge?"

"And how long it took you to finally decide to teach me, even though I begged continuously."

"Do you remember why I was reluctant?"

"You said... You said you were not worthy to be anyone's Master."

He sighed heavily and drained his tea. Sou Yuet quickly poured another cup. The leaves had steeped so long that the liquid was almost as black as their eyes. When he spoke again, it was in the common tongue. "I was the head disciple of another temple previously. The temple... We thought we were safe. How naïve! We were caught in the crossfire of politics and ideology and... one day, when I came back from gathering herbs to... They had burnt it down."

His disciple said nothing, eyes intensely fixed on the old man's face.

"With... With everyone inside. They had barred the doors."

"The monks in the cemetery..."

"Most of them were nuns, specifically. And children. Some burnt so much I... I don't actually know if some of the boxes only contain the ashes of one person. I don't know who some of the people are." His hands were shaking. Sou Yuet quickly steadied them before the tea spilled.

"As head disciple... Ah, I know in reality that there wasn't anything I could do. I didn't know. And yet over and over, I kept thinking - if only I had been less... I should have known better, Ah Yuet, after what I have seen in my life. And yet..." His hands squeezed his disciple's. "I hope you will never..." His voice choked. Sou Yuet squeezed the old man's hands in response.

After a few moments, the Master composed himself and rose to his feet. "It's time for me to take my old bones to bed. Good luck, Ah Yuet."

"And you, honourable guest," he called out to the apparently empty, moonlit courtyard outside the room. "Look after each other."

Sou Yuet bowed as their Master retired, then stepped outside. The necromancer was squatting like a hooligan outside the door, looking grumpy. "How long did he know I was there?"

"Well if he noticed when I did, it was when he handed me the note."

"...so the whole time then. I knew he'd caught me when he changed into common tongue. "

Sou Yuet smiled cheerfully.

"Let's go then." The necromancer stood, limbering one shoulder. She was back in her feminine form now.

"Go?"

"And talk to those old friends of yer Master." She scratched her nose abashedly. "Ye fed and looked after me. I repay me debts. Besides, there's a reason why he was speaking in Common, right? He wanted me to know-"

“Si fu wasn't asking you to do anything-”

“I know, I know, but I hate debts.”

"Even though we're technically keeping surveillance over you?"

"Do ye want me to do this or not?"

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That morning, at daybreak, the Master of Yuen Mei Temple walked slowly to the cemetery as he always did, to pay his respects to his long-gone Junior Brothers and Sisters. At the entrance, he paused. The boxes looked different.

Every box that had previously been unlabelled was now marked with Sou Yuet's precise script. There were names on all of them. Some had more than one, but nowhere was there an empty label.

The Master sank silently to the floor, his eyes roaming over names he thought he would never see again, until tears blurred his vision beyond seeing.

He bowed until his forehead touched the floor.

Thank you.

And then, out loud, "It's so good to see you all again."

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"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Stop bothering me! Keep walking!"

Sou Yuet and the necromancer were slowly walking down a winding mountainside road, the witch clutching a cloth to his nose. The cloth was red with blood.

In raising the dead monks and nuns long enough to speak with, the necromancer had pushed through the innate incompatibility between his own powers over death and the healing powers over life of the Yuen Mei School, and was now suffering for it. Sou Yuet had offered to put him back into a healing sleep, as -

"After all, I hypothesised that a healing sleep would be safe for someone with your abilities, since sleep is the closest a living being can come to death," Sou Yuet explained. “I wouldn't risk anything else though.”

A bloodied cloth slapped them directly in the face.

"So I was yer test subject? That makes me feel so much better," the necromancer growled, snatching at a clean piece of fabric that the monk offered him. Sou Yuet carefully folded the other bloodstained cloth away, smiling slightly.

"Are ye enjoying me pain?"

"It mustn't be that bad, you're so lively."

The second bloodstained cloth came flying over, but Sou Yuet caught it neatly. "Oh? You're done?"

The necromancer grabbed it back with a huff and marched away.

"We need to take this path down here..."

The witch turned around without a word, and stormed down the small path that Sou Yuet was pointing to and that he had not noticed before.

They had to stop by midday. Despite his protests, the necromancer was even paler than usual, with a waxy tinge to his skin. At the nearest village, Sou Yuet attended to sick villagers in return for the room so that the necromancer could have another healing sleep.

The monk was taking a break with some freshly brewed tea when a stranger saluted them. "Hello there!"

Sou Yuet looked up from where they were seated. The stranger was a foreigner, with a skin tone like the necromancer's, only a little darker, and somewhat sunburnt. He had a luxurious moustache that was clearly a point of curious gawking from the villagers, in a shade of roasted orange, and blue eyes like the sky.

The monk stood and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, sir. You speak our language?" For the foreigner had spoken Xiǎng confidently, although with a marked accent.

"I make it a point to learn the language of wherever I'm travelling. Well, forgive me manners, my name is Spideóg. I'm a travelling bhard."

"This one is called Yuān Yì Fēng. I am head disciple of the Yuān Wěi School of Healing."

"Ah, I see. Nice to meet ye, um... Excuse me, I'm sure ye'll think I'm an ignorant foreigner, but how should I refer to ye?"

"Disciple Yuān will be fine."

"Right..." The bhard had apparently been hoping for a different answer, but in the face of Sou Yuet's innocent smile, he had nothing to say. Instead, he gestured to a nearby chair. "May I...?"

"Certainly."

They sat together, and Sou Yuet poured some tea for the bhard.

"Thank ye, thank ye." Spideóg raised the cup gratefully and took a sip. "Ah, that's good. Well, I'll get to the point. News is me trade, so I'm always keen to swap information for information. I wonder if ye might have anything interesting to tell? I have all sorts of news from various places."

"Do you have information on supernatural happenings?"

"Ah." Spideóg eyed Sou Yuet shrewdly. "I see this is not a casual stroll for ye, Disciple Yuān. And that's useful information for me. In exchange, yes. The disappearance of legendary beasts is not common knowledge, but there are a few who have noticed and become concerned. So a request of assistance has been made of yer school, the Yuān Wěi School?"

"That's right. What disappearances have been observed?"

"The nearest were some shī zi, guardian lion-dogs in the main shrine in Zhàng Country. But there's news from other countries too. A one thousand year-old cat disappeared east of the sea several years ago, which seemed to be the earliest known case. A herd of púcai has gone missing from me own home country."

"P... pew... tsa?” Sou Yuet's tongue stumbled on the strange word.

“Shape-shifters. This lot liked to run around in the form of horses.”

“And the nest of kei-leon, a day's walk south of here?"

“Kei-leon?”

“Ah, qílín. I meant to say qílín. Head like a dragon? Body like a deer?”

"I haven't heard about them. We're now even in terms of information given and taken then." The bhard finished his tea. "Any other..."

His voice trailed off as his expression grew complicated, eyes fixed over Sou Yuet's shoulder. The monk glanced back to find the necromancer suddenly standing behind them. His piercing green eyes were narrowly glaring at the bhard.

"Spideóg the Noisy, isn't it?" he said in common tongue.

The bhard's eyes took in the necromancer's long black hair, the tattoos visible over the edges of his clothing, the pale skin. "The Dead-Talker. Disciple Yuān, ye have a dangerous travelling companion there."

"Ha!" The necromancer's teeth came together with an audible clack, and he crouched down to rest his head on Sou Yuet's shoulder and wrap a possessive arm around the monk's waist. "Ye creepy lickarse, when did ye learn how to speak the language here?"

He yelped as Sou Yuet pinched the skin on his cheek. The monk smiled. "Is this what is known as a 'dick-waving competition'?"

"Where the feck did you learn that from?"

"Thank you for your time and information, Bhard Spideóg."

The bhard stood slowly, eyes darting back and forth between the scowling necromancer and the smiling monk.

The necromancer, rubbing his cheek, glared back. "Imigh leat!” he snapped, standing fully upright with a surge of power. He was bulkier and taller than the bhard, a menacing presence beside the delicate-looking Sou Yuet, and the whole effect caused Spideóg to stagger backwards.

"It was nice meeting ye, Disciple Yuān. Good luck. Ye'll need it." He quickly turned and hurried away. The necromancer immediately took his seat and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Little fecking bastard. What was he saying to ye?"

"He's hardly little," Sou Yuet smiled, peacefully finishing off their own tea. "You're just very big."

"Do ye know what that sounds like?" the necromancer grinned suggestively over the table.

Sou Yuet smiled blandly back. It was almost as if there was a giant question mark over their head. "Hm?"

"Ugh. Nothing."

"Are you feeling alright, using your power like that?"

"It was nothing, just some tricks to scare him off. I'm sure he'll make some kind of story about it. He always does."

"Is that why you dislike him? He made some stories up about you?"

There was a crunch as the cup in the necromancer's hand broke. He dropped the pieces, annoyed. Sou Yuet quickly pulled a cloth from inside their sleeve and began to pick cup shards out of the necromancer's hand before binding it.

"Shite, sorry..."

"I'll leave some herbs to pay for the cup, don't worry."

The necromancer bit his lip. Before Sou Yuet's eyes, he visibly morphed into his feminine form. She readjusted the clothing around herself. She was just as tall as in her masculine form and still muscular, but obviously her clothing fit differently.

"Ye're too soft," she grumbled, standing up. "Don't let me take advantage of ye."

"I won't?"

"Let's go. I've rested long enough."

She left before Sou Yuet could even respond. The monk presented a small bundle to the bemused teahouse owner, then followed behind.

A pair of sky-blue eyes followed them.