Tomorrow was going to be the beginning of the end.

That was the ominous thought bouncing around Guan Po Daiyu’s thought as she stood from the blood. She wiped the blood from her lip, not feeling the pain as her knees failed her and she dropped again. She was numb from the constant, unrelenting combat, but not numb to it.

“Again.” She said, still struggling to stand.

“We’re finished. You have work to do.” Guan Po Shang had already donned his robe. He didn’t even need to bathe, no sweat dripped from him at all. Daiyu gritted her teeth. She was pushing into the star stage, was the gap really so large that she couldn’t push her father after days of intense training?

“I do?” Daiyu’s plan had been to find the coldest room she could, fill a tub with the coldest water she could and then soak herself for an inordinate amount of time. Whatever her father had in mind would surely not allow for such calming alone time.

“Po Kahn is finally home.”

“I thought Brother was going to be in the empire for another month.” Daiyu said flatly. From pure instinct, Daiyu looked over her shoulder, though her older brother was nowhere to be seen. When did that happen? How long had he stalked the shadows of the Jiaoduo without her knowing?

“He accelerated his schedule.” Guan Po Shang said this like it was the most natural thing in the world, but Daiyu knew exactly what her brother was doing in the empire. How had he sped that up?

“So… what do I need to do if he’s here?” He was the problem solver, after all. Guan Po Kahn was an entire army all by himself, Daiyu had to admit that if you wanted something done, the ever capable Po Kahn would be the right choice, regardless of other options.

“You need to correct your own mistakes.”

“But I won!” The steel grey stare from her father’s eyes made certain that was the last time Daiyu would claim victory in that bout. She knew that appearances mattered as much as anyone. She looked pathetic. Weak. She had been pathetic and weak. No more. “Do you have direction for me, father, or shall I act as I see fit?”

Po Shang’s mountainous form turned. He was nearly seven foot tall, but his stature was not built only in the physical. When you get to be as strong and powerful as the man was, you just seem bigger. The discerning eye of her father, a man who could destroy everything within seeing distance, focused solely on her.

“What is it that you see fit to do, daughter?” Like a rockslide, the tone of his words and his unshaking gaze amounted to an immense pressure. The weight of the world, the weight of her world, rested on her shoulders and within her answer.

“Restore my pride. Remove an obstacle.” Kill Guan Ah Dan so that the voice in the back of her head would be silent. Keeping the last part to herself, she allowed herself to meet her father’s eyes. She didn’t see pride, though maybe it was there and she did not know what it looked like in his features. What she saw was something akin to pity, and it set Daiyu ablaze on the inside.

“Your brother will join you.” Like a heavy shadow, the air behind Daiyu displaced. She fought off the instinct this time, and without turning to face him, greeted her brother.

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“Po Kahn. Welcome back.”

“Good to be back, sister.” His words were soft but the sound of his deep voice felt like an echoed scream, pitch dropped by the hollow rocks the sound bounced off. “I’ve missed everyone.”

She would not rise to him, nor his practised and subtle barbs. Instead she bowed to her father and left the room without another word. Po Kahn was about to follow her but as he made to take a step, Daiyu’s mana screamed. She let it rage and the floor between her father and her brother, and herself, exploded into splinters.

“I’ll find you when we move.” Daiyu’s voice was like a frozen dagger’s point. She left and decided that the ice bath was paramount.

Emerging, some time later, from the chilled water, Guan Po Daiyu’s emotions had cooled and hardened into diamonds. Black thoughts pressed down and crushed into the finest crystal clear motives and ideas. Guan Ah Dan was the cause of all of this anyway. Him and her annoying grandmother. Arrogant she may be, Po Daiyu knew that there was no angle by which she could harm her grandmother - except this one.

The boy was her soul stone vessel, clearly. Maybe Guan Shi Ai even thought that Ah Dan should inherit the patriarch’s soul stone. He didn’t seem to know that, according to her father’s words, but it didn’t really matter what he knew. If he received her grandmother’s soul stone, the landscape of the Guan family would shift in dramatic and unpredictable ways. Unfavourable ways, for certain.

That couldn’t happen. Guan Ah Dan needed to be removed from the equation, the rest would balance out without him. The freezing cold bath was still working its magic, keeping Lian’s thoughts on ice, allowing her train of thought to glide calmly over these large ideas. The fiery, dampened part of Daiyu’s mind was still burning red with anger, frustration and wounded pride. Assassinating the boy was not how she wanted to clear her own name of him.

She could overpower that line of thinking, swallowing a mouthful of bile was simple enough. That was all this was going to be after all. As easy as swallowing down bile. Especially if, though she would choose otherwise, her brother was to join her. He alone could likely tear the Jiaoduo apart in its entirety, no help needed. His methods were less than subtle, however. She was the silent knife to his explosives.

Po Kahn was waiting, like a bad smell, in a communal area. This wing of the Jiaoduo was entirely under the control of Po Shang and his branch family. People may have a certain view of her ambitious father, but he consistently inspired loyalty from others, enough to swell his support. Enough for him to become as powerful as her uncle, despite the patriarch’s gifted advantages.

Po Kahn was playing. That would be what he called it. The shivering youth that was currently surrounded by explosive globs of mana, dancing around them and tickling their skin with the static electricity of the payloads. Daiyu flared her mana, sent it coursing out in a controlled river, and slashed his mana to shreds. He looked up, and the teenager he was tormenting scuttled away cautiously.

“You always ruin my fun, sister.” The edge on Po Kahn’s voice was hidden, but Daiyu had been avoiding confrontation with her brother since her first memories. She knew how to manoeuvre around the man.

“I know, brother,” she said cooly, feeling dirty as she made her voice placating, “but we have a job to do, and somewhere you can have a lot of fun.”

“Father said that we would be quiet.” Po Kahn was sullen about it. That was probably why he was tormenting the first person he could find.

“He gave me no such instruction. I’m simply to do what I deign. Can you follow an order or two today?” When they were younger, Po Kahn’s mana had been so influential to his moods and actions that being a calming presence was now all Daiyu knew when dealing with him.

Po Kahn smiled. Daiyu found it gruesome, but not because her brother was physically ugly. How could someone who did what he did smile as though it were natural? Taking his unnatural smile as confirmation. Daiyu turned and made to leave the common area. She had decided that she hated this room now.

“Get something to keep yourself… contained. Father has an impressive new cloak he might give to you. Meet me near the triangle stage canteen. Twenty minutes.”

Daiyu didn’t bother to wait for his answer. Either he would do as he was told or he wouldn’t. Daiyu knew she had no control over him anyway. All she could do was hope he would act as a good little attack dog today. When they met, he had at least done as he was told and gathered the cloak of obfuscation from their father. Daiyu herself hadn’t bothered to ask. The answer for her was always no, the answer for Po Kahn always yes. She tried not to react to it outwardly, but on the inside she was ready to bubble over.

“Come.” The smells of the canteen were brutal. Daiyu was only able to notice her hunger when the smell of curry filled the air. Today would be a nice meal.

Or the kitchen will be caught up and everyone will go hungry. Daiyu was having intrusive thoughts about calling off her plan, and was having increasing trouble holding them at bay. Was this the right thing to do? Was it fair? As they arrived at the girl’s dormitory, she squashed those feelings. She looked at her brother, from the corner of her eye. His green covering made it painful to look at him right now, the cloak of obfuscation was potent, if also very simple.

“Follow my lead, stay quiet.” Daiyu punched the door, smirking a little as she heard a small yelp from just behind it.

“Of course, Sister. I would never make a scene.”

Daiyu slid the door open and entered.