Edit: The end of the last chapter got cut off I'm putting it here in case you read the last one and missed it over the last two days
"Several Moon clan members joined with the intent to feed us back information. They were assigned to menial foot patrols for years and then kicked out one by one when one let something inconsequential slip. They don't just want slaves, they want zealots."
"That's something," I whispered, "loose lips sink ships or something like that."
"What a curious mantra. This one is certain that the gondoliers will embrace the expression, as well as the sentiment drawn from it. Their partisanship is a pale imitation of the blue robes zeal, and they are all the better for it."
Min darted in right before Moon Lee did and we both stepped away to clear a path for her.
"If you're expecting a trap, then I don't see one. All the same, you need to develop the backbone of your Nascent soul soon, and that will expand upon your innate senses in ways that are surprising. Your spirit should be able to help you with this soon, but it is a long road."
Min rested upon my shoulders, her form that of a small white dragon with blue eyes. When Moon Lee mentioned her, her eyes sparkled.
"This one lives to serve," Min whispered.
As one we all turned to look back at the grief stricken actress.
"I want to hurt someone," she said standing up and composing herself.
"Well, that's a start."
Begin Chapter 25
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It took hours for Moon Xiru to get an audience with his friend. Before long we were at the scene of the crime itself. It wasn't much to look at and the blue robes at the scene looked to have largely left. One man stood out as a remarkably conspicuous uniformed officer who just happened to be reading a large scroll near the sheer cutoff to the canal. It was blatantly obvious that he was casing the scene to anyone with five seconds to spare.
The moon clans compound was on the main land, so we had to go a fair bit inland around the canals to find the last resting place. Moon Lee kept a tight lip but she pressed us to at the very least imagine the last moments of the dead cultivators life. The walk along the side of the canals which lined the neighborhoods of this city gave us the three to fire meter look over the brown brackish water.
"Do you think that they're so egotistical that they left a calling card, or sign of some sort?" I asked her in hushed tones from the top of the canal.
The water sloshed evenly as the far western canal was just shy of the sea. As we got closer the color had gotten clearer and the amount of plants sticking up next to docks increased.
In stark contrast to the Moon clan, the Daoist clan had their compound close enough to Jade Home to throw a stone and hit it. Instead of building out, since there was no land to do so, they rented out courtyards and had their clan compound built up to five stories. It was a mere walkway away from the canal and could be clearly seen from the waterside. I briefly wondered if they could just build and park a yacht nearby or something but thought better of asking.
"Malice? Ego? It matters not in the end," Moon Lee said, "Either way they will burn for this."
I paused to take her words in. She had been good to me so far. Far more than the needed to me. I briefly thought about the rage of a calm man quote and how many of my contemporaries posted a lot about being loyal but dangerous and how she would have fit right in with that crowd.
"Yes, but-" I wanted to go into crime theory and how evidence wasn't always straightforward and about ten other things, but she gave me a look. I turned to see Xueyie bowing.
Xueyie, by way of a tortured comparison, had walked at a neat clip but slouched. When we reached the closest spot we could, she began to pray silently. Her bowed head and clasped hands stayed that way for a long time.
I hadn't learned any specific prayers or after life rites that seemed appropriate here, so Moon Lee and I just waited back. She had her head on a swivel about like a tourist. I had never seen her so outwardly interested in anything except me.
Min slunk around for a bit in dog form, looking for trouble the entire time.
"I've seen it many times. Blue robes taking their time, hemming and hawing, never coming to an answer. It's a blessing and a curse. It means that things like this can happen and they sometimes turn a blind eye to lesser crimes. I don't know how that can face themselves at the end of the day, knowing that they're impeding justice. They have a bad hand and they play it terribly. Nothing good will come of this for anyone involved," Moon Lee said, her voice a whisper in my left ear as she stood close.
"Back on my world, we have a similar institution. They are the armed extension of the state and... they sound about as useful. I could go on about abuses of power and statistics of violence and other things at length."
"It's strange. The more you tell me about your world and it's strange parallels to ours. The elders whisper about this technique to bring in people from other worlds, but they are so rare. Do you know how you were brought here?"
I sighed. It had been a serious bone of contention. I hadn't been summoned here to fulfill some grand purpose, or if I was, the system wasn't giving me answers about it. And if it did, they were opaque.
"I don't know. To tell the truth I really miss my daughters and this... if there was a clear way home, I would be taking it."
I suddenly had her full attention. I hadn't so much as uttered those words out loud but
"Daughters? As in more than one?"
"Yeah they uh...." I blanked tying to think wha I could tel her that would make sense,"They're both very smart and show a lot of promise. When I left, they were younger than Egiya."
"You miss them."
"Terribly. It's an ache that I- I have counseled people on grief and this feeling- it's not going away. I don't think I ever want it to. What would it mean if I didn't still want to see them? Would it mean that I have turned into something else? They didn't die. I went somewhere else. I would give anything to be back with them."
"I don't know this kind of pain, but I can sympathize. It must be difficult."
"If it's all the same to you, I would appreciate it if we didn't mention it to her right now. I don't know what her cousin meant to her, but Xueyie has enough going on right now. I'm sure that Min would tell her if I gave her the chance. I don't want her thinking that I'm hogging the spotlight or something. She's been very good to me. I'm sure you understand."
Xueyie, still out of earshot, rose to stand. Her immaculate straight black hair did not so much as move as she got up. I had to give the barbers here credit, they did amazing work.
"You being who you are will not stop her from being all she is. We can be joyful or grieve together."
Min slunk behind Xueyie.
"Did you two find anything?" Xueyie asked.
"We did not. There's-Min what is that you're holding?" Moon Lee said.
"A problem," Min said, "Let's talk about this elsewhere."
Her alien features betrayed her. She knew something and I was itching to see what it was.
"Do you want us to meet your family? You can feel free to say no. I completely understand," I asked Xueyie, "If we need to come back later."
"We're right here. Just... just come meet them. I think I need you to come with."
The feeling every dad gets when his kid asks for help- a warm feeling of home and purpose, a duty to protect and nurture- rattled through me.
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"Of course. Lead the way."
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"We'll have to fill her role. This is inexcusable, with the performance tomorrow, you're her understudy. You'll need to take her place. This is the only way," the stern man said, "You're going to need to report to rehearsals tomorrow afternoon and perform the following evening in her stead."
Xueyies face was her mask of disassociation. It was that not focusing on anything but wishing for a fast forward. I see a lot with my neuro divergent community. Like if she could press a button and be done with whatever her parents are about to put her through, she would. It's the skipping part that she wanted and I could see it in all of it's barely controlled self. If her parents had about one ounce of emotional intelligence, they probably would have seen it too.
I had known that she was in a theatre troupe, part of an acting family and sure she had gone on about the plays that they put on, but I was surprised at this particular change. I was still buzzing with anticipation about what the page that Min was holding meant.
"She'll be busy evenings from the early afternoon," Min whispered into my ear, "she told me that she feared this outcome while you were talking to Auntie Moon. She thinks that they're going to ask her to give up medicine. For the family of course."
Min could feel my mood, a swirling mix of unease and uncertainty. She didn't need me to say anything to catch my meaning.
We were standing a fair distance behind her in the open courtyard on the ground floor of their compound. The marble slab was immaculate grey and Moon Lee and I were waiting to speak. I had my cowl up as I did instinctively now every time I was outside.
I wanted to say something, but nothing I could say would stop the inter generational violence from claiming another victim. This was the last thing she would need and they clearly could find another cousin to take Xueyies new spot, but in the absence of another understudy, I could only vaguely understand their position. It was their clans family business after all.
A woman with a severe taste in decor and decorum stood straight as a mannequin on fifth avenue as she addressed Xueyie. If she has spent anything less than two hours on her appearance this morning, she would have had to employ a dedicated team. She probably did, all things considered.
"The governor himself will be attending the play this week and he is rumored to be bringing several visitors from the emperor's court," the woman who I assumed was Xueyies mother said, "So you will need to be on point. This family has a lot riding on this. You have a lot riding on this."
The common refrain that she drew back to made me think that this was a common thing that she said a lot. I attempted to glower under my Jedi robes, doing my best dark Anakin impression. I had a lot of short hand phrases that I used a lot. I really hoped that my girls would be comforted in my absence by memories of me and- I really needed to take some time to process them.
"Now, we understand that you have brought us the man who we hope will deliver us a blow against the Red Fang," the middle aged man said, finally turning to address us.
I could now tell that he was stronger than me from our distance, nearly as strong as Moon Lee was. His wife was about as strong as I was. This was a new trick, from a passing glance with my budding Nascent soul. If I focused on them, I could get a better read but then they probably would feel the attention.
If you put a bunch of asian men into a pool and then began to play the dadliest catch game- one in which there are no winners- he would have been the first picked. He looked as is he had been ripped straight from a sitcom about a fat but doting father who marries a model housewife.
"Moon Lee," she said, "Well met."
"Well met, Jin Jeena, Jin Wong. This as you may be pleased to know, is Pidge Joseph."
"A pleasure," I said, bowing to the two elegant performers.
"When our daughter came to us with the idea of working with an outsider, especially one without hair, we had a debate on the merit," he said, "If she sees something then who are we to argue. Thank you for accompanying our daughter. You'll understand if she cannot be as available after this."
I wanted to present a case but I probably needed more firepower. 'Please let my protégée work for my semi legal crew more regularly' probably wouldn't fly too well. I took the hair comment in stride as I had long ago accepted that I would be picked out without my own k drama perfect weave. Somehow Jin Wong had the body of Peter Griffin and the hair of some dragon ball supervillain, at least one of the human kind.
"Sir," I said, beckoning for Min to approach, "To cement our relationship, we believe that there is something that the blue robes missed in their inquiry."
Powdered eyebrows rose between the power couple as Min produced a ripped sheet of paper with brown writing on it.
It took them a long moment to take in what they were seeing. An almost imperceptible rage built up in the father as he turned the page over, passing it to his wife in disgust.
"I...thank you again Cultivator Pidge. The heavens have shone down upon you. We had our suspicions and this all but confirms it. This was found at the scene?"
"It was close enough that Min has argued that it fell out of the perpetrators pockets. There can be no other way as this material, this..."
"This is banned under imperial edict," Jin Jeena said, "just us holding this would nearly be enough to have us executed."
Min accepted the paper back, then returned to me for scritches. I obliged. She had been a good nonbinary moon spirit.
"Then you will understand the implications. That we are part of a bigger machine that cares little for us, despite our realm," I said, "a machine that will see us chewed up and spit out without recourse, for we are the product."
"The script is in the demonic tongue and it had part of a ritual circle. This paper has," she gasped, "this paper has qi!"
A silence that I could only call reverent dropped over us.
"Cultivator Pidge," Jin Wong said, "we must analyze this to see if we can find a path to the maker. This boon is something that we cannot ever repay you for."
"Pardon me?" I said, "What do you intend to do?"
"If they think that they can threaten our family without recourse, and kill my niece, whoever did this has another thing coming. We will be in contact."
His speech had an aura of finality.
"If there is something, we will find it, rest assured," his wife said, "Now, please allow my husband to do his part. Xueyie?"
"Yes, honored mother?"
"Please do see them out and then attend to us. We have much to discuss inside of the family."
Moon Lee used her tone to whisk me away, our arms linked as we departed. We thanked them as we left.
---
We went back to the safe house to debrief Xiru. His hair was about as disheveled as I had seen it, with a near frizz on about half of it. He quickly straightened himself up as we came in and he poured us two cups of tea. Lee and I knelt down around the little table both a bit out of sorts.
"That went about as well as it could have, I take it?" He asked, handing me a cup.
My stomach growled.
"Better than that," I replied, "Lee? What are you thinking?"
She held her cup.
"I was thinking about what you said about your daughters. How you would do anything to get back and, I'm sorry. I wish I knew a way."
Xirus brow furrowed considerably.
"Daughters? As in more than one? Are congratulations to be in order?"
"No, Xiru. They're teenagers now. Or they were when I was pulled from my world."
"They're teenagers, but you are..." He paused to sip his tea.
I would like to think that he dropped the thread out of a regard for his own life. Later I found that Min had been glaring at him from my shoulders and he reluctantly stopped it.
"I don't think that this is productive right now. I'm still processing their loss and this whole thing had me wanting to make something or get this energy out. When I was married, my ex wife used to hand me some of her unfinished projects to complete. My ex wife, Maxine, used to be an agent for a well to do artist, so I'm familiar with the life. after we broke up, I got with Lauren. We were together until I-" I gulped, "Lauren used to make women's undergarments, well she used to design them at least and she- she knew that I knew how to see things so often she would ask me to put a few pieces together."
"This wife... She died?" Moon Lee said.
"She...Maxine- We drifted apart. She wanted someone with a bit more ambition, at least I think. She was a famous agent to a musician. I don't know that there is something similar here. Lauren was my rock until the end."
"Ah yes, the woman that designed underclothes. How did that work out for her?"
"She was a respected woman in the community and her brassieres- her work employed a team of ten. Lauren was an inspiration to a generation of young women."
"And you... left her? You mentioned that you had an argument."
"Lauren and I... I was being an asshole when I left and I didn't realize that my actions would be so... permanent. Maxine though, something got into her head and it poisoned her over time I think. It's the same way that everyone here is so deferential to those stronger than them or their families elders. She thought that I wasn't ambitious enough for her and..."
"I see a lot of heart here. You're doing a lot of good things for your community, but she couldn't see that?"
"It's what drove me away. This relentless pursuit of money above all else. She stopped being home and the girls and I stopped missing her. It was always another thing she needed to take care of that required travel and... as a therapist my work was pretty sedentary."
Xiru coughed, probably trying to get a word in.
"Money is quite nice," He said.
I grabbed a sheet of paper and began to doodle one of those full coverage bras that Lauren used to draw. I drew the supports, straps, connectors how she would and pushed it out to look like a blueprint.
"Lauren drew these in her spare time or when she was trying to solve a problem. This one? This was her masterpiece. It had the perfect amount of coverage, no underwire and it still looked and felt amazing."
Moon Lee looked at my drawing for a long minute.
"The women in your world wear these? On their-"
"It's quite clear where there wear them, auntie," Xiru said, his face as red as a beet.
I chuckled.
"If you want me to make some for you, Xiru, I can. There are some men on my world that prefer to wear women's undergarments. We are open minded here, after all," I said.
Moon Xiru looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel. I cam clearly recall years where making fun of cross dressers was the joke du jour and I realized too late that it wasn't hitting the tone I wanted to hit.
"I'm sorry. This whole mess has me a little flustered. I shouldn't have said anything like that to you. If you take offense, then that is on me."
"This one is fine. Worse things have been said about me. It's just... the assets required are," he vaguely gestured at the drawing.
"Could you... draw these in a few different perspectives? May I? I know several prominent seamstresses," she said before trailing off.
Faster than I used to, several drawings flew off my table as I drew some figures in various poses trying to show what she was looking for. With each drawing her face became more manic pixie dream girl. I shuddered after handing her the fourth one.
"That's enough, I think," she said,"And judging by you face that's about all I'm going to get."
I unclenched my jaw.
"No, no it's fine. By all means ask the therapist to keep drawing women's underwear. It's not like there's more important things going on right now."
"Ah, yes," she said.
I could tell that she was a bit absorbed with the drawings because she barely looked up at me when I began to wave my hands.
"I think that we all need some time to process the days events."
"What oh, sure," she said.
Xiru grunted.
"She'll get back to us," I muttered.
The investigation of the incident combined with me breaking through to the third realm made me feel a lot more than usual. It was like getting your feet wet then putting them in sand. Pleasant for a short while so long as you can dip them back into the water.
"Tea?" Xiru said.
"Yes. Please," I said.
The territory that we could potentially cover tonight was rapidly getting away from me. I resolved to try let it go. Moon Lee was utterly absorbed in my drawings, which to be honest were good but not really professional grade. Some therapist take notes while they're talking to their patients. I tended to draw as it calmed my nerves and kept my focus on the present moment, one of the few things that helped when my inner mood reflected the erratic day.
"I think I'll do a few more drawings," I said, "Now, this one is shounen style."