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Chapter 37: "Gifts and Goodbyes."

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They passed through the town's gates. The guard was surprised to see them, but quickly recognized Fairy Yun as a cultivator.

"I think I'll need to come up with a gift for the next time we meet." Yun mused.

"Huh? Why's that? I should be thinking of something for you! You've already done so much for me."

"Oh, because I've never had a younger sister to spoil!"

"What!" Shae tried to act offended but couldn't fight her wide smile.

"Do you have any specific interests, yet? Profession wise? The four arts are always a classic choice, and you do need to get me a picture of your past self."

"Oh." She covered her face. "I hoped you had forgotten that."

"Haha, well, a painting set for sure then. If only to tease you with. Then something else, maybe as an apology for that?"

"Hah. If that's what it takes to get gifts from big sis Yun, I'll suffer through." She snickered.

"Ah but what to give? Alchemy or forging?"

Shae frowned. "Neither of those, please. Alchemy will just set me into a rage about science. Forging might do the same, materials science and all, but really it would be uncomfortable, I don't like the heat that much. Hmm." She placed a hand to her chin to think.

"That's too bad, both would benefit from your mental focus. Forging especially would translate well from singing an ax to a hammer."

The younger cultivator just shrugged. "There are a few that I need to look into. But I'm not sure I'm fully interested in them yet. Oh! I made progress with a formation symbol yesterday."

"Formations? That's unexpected. And yesterday? Quite the busy day. What did you do this time?" Yun asked with no enthusiasm.

"Don't sound so excited. It was just getting better at a single form, something Elder Ghon showed me to start campfires."

"A formation for campfires, of course, a valuable skill at least. Sooo~, this was back when you were on Pilgrim's Rest? What did you do before that?"

"Not a lot. I had a striking steel, but traded it for food. Bad trade, but I was hungry that day." She sighed. "Most things can be eaten raw, anyway."

"Ah. That's unfortunate." Yun reached down to grab the young woman's hand. "I hope you never need to feel like that again."

"Thanks Yun." She smiled.

"But, well, that doesn't quite answer my question. On the mountain, what were you doing for fire? Just keeping it going, or was Ghon lighting it?"

"Ugh. No. That jerk kept letting it die out overnight. Then I'd have to relight it. But his stupid formation only worked some of the time."

"Oh. So there was another formation there already? I can see how a mortal would have a hard time with it." She nodded in understanding.

Shae looked up at her with confusion. "Just the one formation. The one he taught me the first week I was there. I would carve it into a log, cover it with kindling and a stack of logs. And it would take a few hours, either burn the formation out or light into a full fire. Shoddy thing only worked about a third of the time."

Yun remained silent for a long breath. Then another. "You absurd girl. Mortals can't use formations, let alone make them."

"It was only one symbol and a circle."

"Show me."

"Ugh, not you too!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're doing the same thing as Long. You need proof, like you can't just accept what I say."

Yun picked the young woman up into a hug. "Don't you dare compare me to that geezer." She squeezed and tickled her. Lifting her up to eye level, she locked eyes and spoke sincerely, "I'm not trying to test you, Shae. I'm honestly impressed and interested in what you've done."

Shae couldn't stop a smile and laugh from escaping, shattering her previous anger. She switched to hugging Yun. "Thanks, Linnuan."

Yun squeezed back, then broke the embrace. "Do you want to show me? I'm no formation expert. Ok, much less than that, I might not even understand what you've done."

"Heh." Shae tried to break her sudden guilt, she hadn't been fair to Yun. "Sorry, Yun. I jumped at nothing. Hmm. Yeah, I can show you." She looked around, they were still in the town, nearing the far gates. "Huh, I could probably just draw in the dirt?"

"Hmm, well we don't need a fire now, so I suppose that could work. Should have some qi flow I can sense from just that."

They found a spot that was open like a public park. A gravel path became Shae's canvas. She quickly sketched two fire symbols and circles around them.

"This one is without qi or focus. So it's closer to how I originally made them. Though, like I said earlier, I would make them with wood and charcoal." She scattered some torn grass over the symbol. "And kindling which could be lit by the gathered heat. Most of the time the wood burned and broke the symbol."

She drew a second symbol, circle first, as she had learned from her earlier practice. "This is what I learned. Use qi and mental focus while drawing or carving and it improves the effectiveness dramatically." She sprinkled grass over this one and it withered and started to smoke immediately.

"Very good." Yun smiled, but stared at the first symbol more intently.

Shae waited, she could start to feel the heat of the second symbol. She threw some more grass into it and it was dry ash when it hit the ground. No flame started on the grass, there wasn't enough to actually start a fire, Shae guessed. She frowned at it, deciding not to swipe a foot through it to break it up. I like my shoes not crispy, thank you.

"It is actually drawing in fire qi. Impressive!" Yun said quietly while still staring at the first symbol.

Shae gasped, "You didn't believe me!" She threw her handful of grass at Yun. Right over the second formation symbol. It smoked and a few cherry red embers started.

"Oh, that one is working well. Actually I'm more surprised that the weak one is working at all with the other right there."

They both stared at the stronger formation as the nearby grass started to brown.

"Should we do something about it?"

Yun shrugged. "Probably. Too bad neither of us is a fire cultivator, they could suck it up right quick."

"Hmm, so is this like a qi gathering formation then?"

Yun shook her head. "This can only draw in the local fire qi. There is a bit of each element around us all the time. Well, the basic ones. Depends who you talk to, though. This can't make more, or pull from that far."

"So, it should stop heating up at some point?"

"Hmm, depends on what you were thinking. It will bring in less and less fire qi. Yet, heating up is a different matter."

"Uhhh. Okay." Shae looked sideways at the symbol. They watched it for another few breaths. "Oh! Oh I get it. The existing qi can keep heating the area, even without more qi."

"Correct. Though if you were thinking about a campfire while making it, it probably won't get much hotter than one, which will let it last longer."

"Hmm, right, makes sense. So this is a campfire symbol now? Paint it somewhere and instant campfire without the wood?"

"In a way. Though there are pros and cons. No light, for starters. Fire qi tends to be more aggressive, burning instead of heating, so cooking with it may not work."

"But that's based on my intent when I created it?"

Yun snapped a firm gaze onto the young cultivator. "Please tell me you just used intent by coincidence."

"Uhm, yes?"

She sighed. "Good. You're not allowed to be that advanced already."

"Well, maybe... Maybe Elder Ghon just explained it poorly? He mentioned giving the qi ideas. In that intent?"

Yun rubbed her face. "What are we going to do with you? You're going to be a menace." She sighed out her exasperation. "That's more or less correct. You said you didn't want to talk about cultivation, however. So I will use that as an excuse to not explain it further."

The young woman made a noise between a growl and a hum.

Yun frowned at the symbol again and threw something into the center, resulting in a puff of dirt. Then she kicked through the weaker symbol. "Be careful with this in the future. Breaking the edge of the circle could be dangerous. Disrupt the symbol first, to break the control it has over the qi. Then wait and break the circle later."

Shae watched and waited.

"We don't really have time though."

"Oh! Can I absorb it?" She sat down and prepared to meditate.

"You're not a fire cultivator."

"Yea but I can-"

"Wait." Yun held up a hand. "I'm not sure I can handle another absurd Shae trick tonight."

She pouted, "It's not a trick."

"You can say that. And yet it feels like a bunch of tricks and pranks." She pitched her voice up. "Oh, I've only been cultivating for a month but I can match knowledge with someone a decade my senior."

She continued to pout. "I don't sound like that."

Yun sat beside the younger cultivator and bumped their shoulders together. "No, you don't. But maybe slow down a bit. Mistakes are cheap early on, but you don't want to get in the habit of making them." She wrapped an arm around Shae. "That fire qi still thinks it's a campfire, it will be very painful to draw in. Even a fire cultivator would think twice about it."

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"Ah, right. I suppose it would." Probably way worse since I was thinking about the sun. She glanced at Yun. I probably shouldn't open that can of worms right now.

They say in silence for a bit longer.

"Okay, I think I've prepared myself." Yun stated. "What nonsense do you have this time? Why can you absorb fire qi? Is it just fire qi?"

"You're making me self conscious." She squirmed.

"Good, you should be very conscious at all times. Especially about yourself."

"Pffft! I mean you are making me worried about what I say. About how weird all my stuff is."

"Oh. Hmm. Well, you are a lost soul. You're all supposed to be a bit weird and special."

"Supposed to?"

Yun shrugged. "You are special just by avoiding the normal cycle of reincarnation. Or whatever cycle you believe in. To be selected for that, you must be special somehow. Maybe you saved enough lives in your last, or something else to generate a lot of good karma. Who knows? I've never heard of a lost soul just being a farmer or carpenter, though. You always get up to something."

"Hmm." Shae shook her head. "That's confirmation bias. If a lost soul farmer existed, you wouldn't know about them."

"Huh, look at you. Smart and succinct."

She snorted a laugh. "Flattery will work wonders on me." She huffed and inhaled deeply. "I don't know where it came from, but I have-"

"Wait!" Yun clamped a hand over the young woman's mouth. "I'm not ready anymore."

Shae tried to glare at the woman.

"And we should probably get more privacy, I didn't bring a ward, so we'll have to leave the town."

Shae mumbled into her hand.

"Right, and we should fix the fire qi." Another flick of her hand broke the circle along the edge nearest the road. "That, uh, should be fine."

Both women stared at the broken formation for a few breaths.

"Okay, let's go!" Yun scooped up Shae with casual ease and set her seated on her shoulders.

Shae let out a small yelp, but was growing accustomed to Yun's sudden grappling. The woman didn't run, but made good time to the gates, then out of the town. The guards gave them uncertain looks, but that was mostly because of the way Yun carried the young cultivator. Shae wasn't small like a toddler, so the shoulder seat looked a little awkward with her. Yun didn't let it slow her down, she moved as though the teen weighed nothing.

Once out of town, she picked up the pace a little, but not enough to use her gliding treasure again. Shae wondered if it would even work with her almost sitting on it.

"Sooo? Ready?" The young woman asked.

"Not yet, a little further." Yun slowed in the next breath, not suddenly, just letting her momentum carry and gradually slowing to a walk.

"I have a formation on my Dantian." Shae quickly spit out when they had slowed to almost a walk.

Yun missed half a step then laughed. "Hahaha! I was wondering how long you would wait. I could feel you growing impatient."

The young woman was still sitting on the other's shoulders, so she tried to look over her head, to see her face. "That's it? No reaction?"

The woman shrugged, easily bouncing her up and down. "I'm no formation master. I don't even know what that means, or what it has to do with absorbing fire qi, which is where this started, right?"

"Oh. Yeah. So, the formation can soak up elemental qi. Mostly just the base elements right now, but I haven't experimented much because I don't know what it does."

"Huh. That's weird. What do you mean it's on your Dantian?"

"Like on the surface. My Dantian is a really clearly defined sphere. The formation is on the surface of that sphere. On the outside of the boundary, if I had to say a side. Though, I've not tried feeding it qi from the inside."

Yun remained silent for a couple breaths. "Nope. I have no idea what that is. I think you'll have to talk to a formation master, or a soul specialist. Maybe just a historian, see if another lost soul has had the same thing."

"Hmm, yeah." Shae yawned.

"Heh, back to running?"

"Su- Aahh!" Shae was suddenly tossed up into the air and caught again.

Yun smiled down at her glare and sprinted back up to speed.

"You enjoy that too much." The young woman raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Maybe." Yun admitted and smirked.

Again they stayed silent as Yun ran; the gentle bounce and glide rocking Shae to sleep.

A blink of time later, a pinch on her shoulder woke the young woman. "Huh?" She twitched awake.

Yun had already reduced her speed to a normal run. "I was thinking. That formation, is that what shields your Dantian from scans?"

"Hu-eh?" Shae rubbed her face. "I guess so? Do I still seem like I'm in qi gathering?"

"You seem exactly the same as the other day, even though you said you used a lot of your qi, you should feel slightly weaker. But that is also because of your sword."

"What sword?"

Yun snorted a laugh. "Wake up girl." She chuckled and pinched her again.

"Ow! What was that for?" She frowned, then her mind caught up as Yun intentionally jostled the sword at her side. "Oh. Right, that sword. Uhhh, what about that sword?"

"Your sword is enchanted to shield you from scans, making you feel like a mid-cleansing cultivator. But, it always feels exactly the same, and many people will recognize it as fake. Especially martial and sword cultivators."

"Oh, yeah. I sort of knew that. Though, the specifics are interesting. Hmm, so you think the formation is doing the same thing?"

"Maybe. When you didn't have it, the other day at Jani's, you felt like a new qi gathering cultivator, just a little bit of qi in you. Does it use qi up?"

"Uh? How would I check that?"

"Heh, that's a no. It could be so slow you haven't noticed. When did you first find it?"

"Err, when I was first learning to use qi with Elder Ghon. I pulled in fire qi, and didn't want it in my Dantian, so it floated outside, blocked. Then found a spot on its own and was sucked into the formation, lightning it up. Hmm. Oh, I didn't see any formation before that."

"Huh. And it takes other elements too?"

"Yeah. I have to kind of roll them around the outside until they find the right spot, then the qi is sucked it. There are symbols too, but Ghon didn't recognise them."

"Hmm well, if he already knows about it, there's not much I can do. Maybe send you some information if I come across it. Was this before or after your tribulation?"

"Didn't I say that earlier?" She scratched her head. "After, when I was bedridden because of the divine qi in my limbs."

Yun shook her head with wide eyes.

"But the lightning didn't hit my Dantian. So, it could have been there earlier. And later, the formation did eat some of the divine lightning, before I stopped it. So, it could have done that right away if the lightning had gotten down there."

"Hmm. So, it must be a lost soul thing."

Shae shrugged. "Is that good or bad?"

"I've no idea. The only similar formations, soul seals they are called, are in stories and legends. They are almost always bad, put there to cripple someone or let a demonic cultivator do something nasty. If you had it already, and have always had it. It could be anything. I can't imagine it's bad though. Stories like those are notoriously unreliable sources of information."

"Bleh. Now I'm glad I stopped feeding it qi."

"Hmm, maybe, but maybe you should give it a lot more, see if it does something."

"But... Didn't you just?"

Yun raised an eyebrow and glared at the young cultivator. A fairly useless gesture in the dim light. "I said old stories shouldn't be trusted. Fiction is fictional. You should know this, you're no child."

"Hmm. Yea." Shae thought and turned to silence.

After a few breaths, Yun picked up the speed of her run again.

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Shae was still awake and pondering her future when Yun slowed.

"Do you want me to approach with you?"

"Hmmm, I want you to stay and not leave." Shae twisted to wrap her arms around Yun.

Yun giggled. "I would also like to spend more time with you. But we both have responsibilities."

"Hmm, I'm not sure I do."

"Heh, you might, or might not. I'm no philosopher. I think you want to see how your path works out, yes? See what your future looks like at the sect?"

"Yeah, I guess so. And I need to finish that whole Manifold Journey practice-thing."

"And that, yes. I'll tell you what." She set the young woman down on her feet. "If I find something really interesting or something that I can't share in a letter. I'll come visit."

Shae smiled. "That would be nice. I'm supposed to visit the Golden Orchard Monkery sometime too. So I assume I'll have to pass through and see you then too!"

Yun smiled and nodded. "The Orchard? Hmm, if you can plan in advance, let me know. I may be up for a road trip."

Shae bounced on her toes excitedly, "Yeah! That'd be great!"

"And don't forget to write! Once a month, at least. The first as soon as you're settled, so I know you're safe." She removed Shae's pack from her spatial storage and lunged in for a hug, squeezing the young woman tight. "It was nice to see you again. Even with the trouble involved."

"Thanks so much for helping, big-sis Linnuan!" She cheered enthusiastically and squeezed back.

The hug continued until Shae relaxed and tapped Yun's back. She gasped for air when the woman relaxed, but smiled easily instead of complaining.

"Oh, one last thing." They stepped apart and Yun pulled out a letter. "Give this to Master Long. It's a brief account of what happened and detailed notes about your hospital stay. So that you don't have to try to explain anything to him. Are you still upset with him?"

"Eh. Yeah. I think I will be for a while. Not for any one specific thing." She huffed and looked at the letter. "Thanks for saving me the explanation." Her smile faltered momentarily.

"Well, I feel I should warn you. The sect is rather strict about showing respect."

"Yeah, I know. Elder Ghon gave me some lessons. Though, his info might be out of date. Do they really need us to say Elder at every sentence."

Yun giggled. "Kind of, yes. It depends on the setting. Classrooms are very formal. Out in the town or market is informal. Everything else you kind of have to get used to."

"Ugh, depends on the elder?"

She nodded. "Don't tell them you've had lessons already, they'll cut you some slack, but not for long. And-" she paused. "And talk to Master Long. You don't have to forgive him, but a conversation, a fair conversation, can go a long way."

Shae worked her jaw twice, "I don't know if I should be upset at the implication, or that pun."

"What pun?"

"Err," she dragged a hand over her face, "Right, it doesn't translate. I'm tired."

"You slept a lot this afternoon, I bet you'll wake up after the last few steps to camp."

Shae turned to look down the road, the lights of the campfires could be seen in the distance, at least a li away. "Last few steps?"

"Ah, right, your strides are shorter than mine." She smirked.

The young woman shook her head and chuckled, a smile creeping back on her face. "Thank-"

"You've thanked me enough for one day. Maybe for many days. Thank you for being you, Zhi Shae. Now go do night-camp stuff, and put the day behind you. You've survived and maybe learned a few new things."

Shae's smile turned into a wicked grin. "Just a few things, yes. I want to chat more but you're right, we could be here all night if I don't say farewell. Give the inspectors a mess of a headache for me. I don't even need anything in return if you can make them improve things."

"Oh? Now you're a philanthropist too? Or should I scold you for greedily expecting anything out of that mess?"

"Anything is greedy? Look who's taking care of it for me? I bet best-Fairy Yun Linnuan can get me half the city!"

"Hah! Well if you want to lose a bet I'll take that one."

"Hmm, I think you might have a conflict of interest in doing so. Wouldn't really be honorable."

"Well, good thing I'm no longer an honorable cultivator." She leaned in and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Hahaha. Fair point!" Shae laughed.

A sharp whistle from the camp caught their attention.

"Well, that'll be the guards spotting us, time to go!" Yun grabbed Shae in one last hug, spinning her in a circle, and setting her down. Then she grabbed the young woman's face. "Stay safe, cultivate well." Then kissed her on the forehead and took off into the night.

Shae blushed slightly at the attention then waved into the darkness. "You too!" She shouted.

She waited for a response for a breath, but none came. Slinging her pack into her back, she set off for the caravan's camp.

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