“I know we’ve all been here a bit longer than the norm,” Yun Ka says, gesturing, the whirring and slender mechanical apparatuses on her beginning to shift and move until thin mechanical limbs like that of a spider have formed an array around her. “Frankly now that we’re done dealing with the politics, we’re going to be helping the governor out with the reason we originally showed up; the attack on Paleblossom city.”
Kaena raises their hand. “Isn’t that also politics?” they ask, all sweetness.
“Hush,” Yun Ka replies. “We’re going to be leaving the city and heading towards the projected launch site of the modular bioframes we encountered. Runemaster Boriah and I haven’t been able to accurately replicate the exact specifics of the weapons yet, which indicates additional sophistication we can’t track, or potentially interference like Demonic or Truth-based techniques.” As she speaks, the arrayed limbs begin to glow, small shards of jade, glass, and metal in different pincers letting off faint whisps until Raika smells a circuit kick in, a mix of ozone-without-ozone and powdered dust and sharpening and the whole array lights up. Projected in front of Yun Ka, like a glowing ghost of a terrain, floats a translucent map of what looks like a section of woods with a large mountain nearby, the model three-dimensional and detailing both most of the mountain and a hazy, solid chunk of earth beneath the “floor” of the image. The only really notable details about the area being projected is the mountain and a small village a few miles off from its base, next to a river which flows downhill past it.
“This is the area we think the weapons were launched from. We’re unsure if they were sent from the mountain, though it’s most likely, so we’ll be including the village and surrounding countryside into our search. While we’ll have access to Imperial soldiers, we’ve been asked to only call them in if absolutely necessary. You guys know the drill.”
Kaena and Hao Kai both nod, and Maen just looks confused, while Raika just watches, her face perfectly and utterly still.
“Monitoring conditions are the same as normal; any major changes in cultivation or techniques is recorded by our trackers, but check ins will be weekly only. Hopefully we can settle this before the week is out, but if not, know that missing your check in will be taken as a sign you’ve been incapacitated in some way, and if this is proven incorrect, will lead to severe reprimanding. Those without chaperones and who don’t volunteer, you’ll stay well away from the village unless commanded otherwise.”
“Kaena, you and I will set up shop in the village with the soldiers. Your job is to keep the peace and negotiate with the local lordling, make sure everything is set up properly, while I set up a more detailed on-site detection array for the Divination Division to get a good look with. Taran, you and yours are on guard duty; we’re bound to get an influx of spirit beasts or worse, setting up an array in such a usually Qi-stagnant area.. Command wants to get a better look at some of the varietals you can equip, so if you can switch armaments here and there, please do.”
“What… um, what exactly are we looking for?” Maen asks hesitantly.
Yun Ka gives her a smile. “We’re not sure!” she smiles. “Underground lair, secret mountain base, dimensional portal, massive skeleton house, who knows. Trips like these tend for the underground lair, but you never know when you’ll find something unique!”
“Speaking of you, though, Maen, you’re assigned to stick close to you, Raika. Command wants to see what you two can do together, since Taurus has you both as a package deal to some extent and Raika, I understand you can’t use Qi to operate a communicator.”
Raika shrugs, face as flat as she’s kept it the whole time. “Haven’t tried.”
“Well, since your Qi is internally limited, until your first batch of official tests once we’re back home in the Division headquarters (which I cannot wait to see the results of) we’re operating on the assumption that it’s so. Maen, that means it’ll be your job to send out alarms and perform check ins, with Raika present as well of course.”
Maen hesitates, looking over at Raika, but when she gives no sign or response, nods her head.
“Speaking of, though, Raika, you’ve been tasked with the widest exploration range. It’s..” here Yun Ka hesitates. “Well, I think it’s a big sign of trust, maybe, considering what happened, but-”
Something cracks near where Raika’s sitting. She looks down, noticing how hard she’s gripping the stone step she’s been sitting on.
Yun Ka hesitates. Raika notices Kaena and Hao Kai both looking at her, with Hao Kai hesitant and Kaena focused, tracking every movement, worrying at their lip a bit.
It feels performative. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Either way, Raika forces the tendons in her hand to uncoil and relax. She hadn’t meant to do that, and she still needs Yun Ka for her insight. Later, once she’s figured out how to use her without being used herself.
“Well, it’s, uh-” Yun Ka stutters, looking a bit ashamed and awkward at the slip, “it’s a lot of trust. Theoretically, your senses have the highest chance of detecting the target from the furthest away, besides the array and the Divination division, so you’ll have the largest search quadrant. Runemaster Boriah, on the other hand, will be focusing his attention on the mountain proper. Any questions?”
“Um…” Maen hesitates, but, looking at Raika and apparently gaining some courage from her, asks- “well, why are we doing this, exactly? Why not just have the soldiers do it?”
“Oh, geez, you guys haven’t even really had the intro, huh?” Yun Ka pauses, reflecting. “Well, synopsis, soldiers are for killing and guarding normal stuff, we’re for finding and catching weird stuff, and the more we use your cultivations and abilities, the more we can learn about them to help you grow and see how best we can benefit the Empire. Plus, it’s so fascinating this way! I mean, what other scientific Division in the Empire can you go out on adventures like this for?”
Maen… doesn’t say anything to that, looking possibly more confused than when she started.
Raika is still and silent.
“Well, if that’s everybody,” Yun Ka says, “then… briefing over! Glad I caught all of you, always suuuper awkward trying to find everybody on their own. But it’s so exciting! Ah, it’s been forever since we had an adventure together!”
Then she pauses, collects herself, girlish enthusiasm briefly overtaken by professionalism again. “Oh, and before I forget,” she says, “Raika, Runemaster Boriah wanted to talk to you, if that’s ok.”
Raika says nothing. Her plate is mostly empty, but she still sets it down slowly and carefully.
It is difficult to move slowly and carefully right now.
“Um, now would be good?” Yun Ka says, anxiously.
Raika gets up, slow, not that much taller but towering over the smaller woman.
She moves her flesh into the proper shape, smiling politely and bowing just a bit. “Of course,” she says. “I’m always honored to be called upon by master Boriah. In his study, then?”
Yun Ka brightens, either too oblivious to read the room and Raika’s failed attempt at controlling herself or too bright and relieved to think on it. “Yes! If you’d like, I can send you both some tea for while you talk! Any requests, maybe?”
Raika shakes her head, holding the polite smile. “Not necessary, but thank you,” she says, softly and warmly. I’ll find my way to him now, if that’s alright!”
She begins to walk off, and is surprised when a second set of steps begins to follow her.
“Ah, thats-” she hears Yun Ka say, before she’s cut off by some unheard gesture or signal.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Raika turns, expecting to see Maen perhaps, and is surprised to find Kaena at her side. Looking back, she can see Maen hesitating, and gives her a small shake of the head. Better to not put her in front of Taurus, see if she can’t get him to speak more freely, perhaps. And yes, she has to admit to herself; she’d rather kill someone than let Maen any closer to Taurus than she has to. Perhaps not necessarily an appropriate reaction, given their limited relationship to each other and the limited amount of time they’ve had, but… Raika doesn’t have a lot of people.
Kaena walks beside her, giving her space and not reaching out for any sort of contact. She just makes sure she’s not alone.
A part of Raika marvels at how perfect this is. With her Qi sense, there’s every chance she might pick up on a slip from either of them, get more insight into their dynamic, into its potential weaknesses.
Another part of her is grateful for the company.
Neither part is stupid or unhelpful, she thinks, which makes holding onto both a bit of a strange affair.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Come in,” Taurus rumbles in a voice like a rockslide as Kaena knocks lightly on his door. Same as always, she can hear the sound of a quill scritch-scratching on paper constantly, even from down the hall, and it doesn’t stop when they open the door and step inside.
“Hey, boss,” Kaena says softly. “Kept her company on the way over. Mind if I sit in?”
“Actually,” Taurus rumbles, “I’d rather you didn’t.”
There’s a moment of silence in the room. Feigned or not, the tension feels plenty real as Kaena stands right where they are for a while longer.
“Kaena,” Taurus says softly, “it’ll be fine. We’ve been through this before. It’s no different.”
“It’s a little different,” Kaena whispers.
Taurus looks up from his desk at them, meeting their gaze. He’s hunched over the miniscule, human-sized writing aid, his horns making him, even while seated, a good five and a half feet tall. His eyeline is barely under Raika’s chin while sitting down, and his shoulders are wider than hers by a solid foot of distance. To call the half-man, half-bull a giant would not be inaccurate, and even in the surprisingly alien features of a muzzle, all-black eyes, and strangely ivory teeth, his displeasure is clear.
“You’re not helping, Kaena,” he rumbles.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be,” they retort.
Taurus snorts, the sound animalistic and letting out a blast of air, a bit of Qi slipping through and making the runes all around the room flare very lightly. Kaena shudders slightly, but (and this, Raika immediately shifts to take notice of) their ever-present cloud of Qi sort of… buffers them from the pressure. Raika, of course, can’t really sense Qi pressure directly except as a smell, but with enhanced control she can sense how it changes the air pressure on her skin, makes the jelly of her eyes tremble, makes it slightly harder to breathe. It’s something that damages her, but eventually, rather than the overwhelming impact it can have on those who are open to and perceptive of Qi.
But Kaena shoulders the burden of pressure from a being that might be a full realm and change above their level with minimal stress, the cloud of Qi they seem unable to stop emitting compressing under the omni-directional pressure and protecting them.
“You’re being uncourteous, boss,” Kaena whispers, voice surprisingly low and dangerous this time.
Taurus meets their eyes, and, to Raika’s surprise, Kaena doesn’t back down before the higher cultivation.
Then Taurus sighs, and the pressure disappears. “You’re right,” he says, softly again. “I apologize. The promise still stands, I hope.”
Kaena nods. “It does,” they say. “But I’d rather stay, if that’s all right, because quite frankly, honorable leader, you’ve fucked this up pretty royally.”
Taurus matches their tone with a look. “I did what I felt I had to,” he replies.
There is silence for a while.
“Fine,” he grumbles. “Sit. Not like there’s much secret here. But if I make it an order, then you leave.”
Kaena nods.
Raika sits, kneeling on the floor before the desk, which itself is enough to put Taurus’ eyeline a good two feet above her head, Kaena following a moment away. They sit a ways to the side, rather than beside Raika as she was expecting, retreating to the side of the room like a respectful assistant or courtesan, wise enough to be out of line of sight and allow the conversation unimpeded.
But they’re here.
What it means, Raika isn’t sure of yet.
Taurus sighs.
“So,” they rumble, voice a bit deeper and a touch louder while speaking to Raika than it is with Kaena. “You heard Yun Ka. You get to explore the wilds and wander a pretty large search radius.”
She nods, and says nothing, face shifted to hold an expression of pleasant silence and a soft smile.
“I’ll make myself perfectly clear, Raika,” he rumbles. “When you’re there, you’re free to leave.”
She stops the blink from happening. But it almost makes it through.
“I have no intention of putting you on so tight a leash it chokes the both of us, and the amount of effort and enchantment it would take to keep you on said leash may well compromise the whole reason I picked you in the first place. So, while you’re out there, feel free to run wherever you please.”
“But know that you’ll be hunted.”
He holds up a hand, placating some minute signal from Kaena that she didn’t pick up on. “Not by me. You’ll collapse my career, escaping twice, that’s true. Might take me a few years and quite a bit of pain to recover, but I will. This much I have done before, from worse falls than you could cause. Your allies, the healer Li Shu, the-” (and here he pauses, checking a folder) “-lesser cultivator Qen Hou, and their extended relatives and allies are likely to come under scrutiny and harassment, maybe some targeted assassination if you’re unlucky. But they’ll probably live too. Cultivators and healers are lucky like that, and if they keep from rocking the boat too much, chances are they’ll either be recruited or just left under watch for a few decades, maybe after a bit of enhanced interrogation. Hell, you could probably take Maen too, if you can find where her tracker is implanted.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what makes the honored one think I could do such a thing,” Raika says, voice pitched to be higher than normal and pleasant.
Taurus grunts.
“Either way, you’ll still be hunted. The Division won’t just let you go. You might make it a while, but, and please understand my perfect sincerity when I say this, there are many in this department with far more power than I and far more willingness to be cruel with it. And they will treat you as a curio, to be torn apart and studied under a blade and scope, alongside anyone you’ve touched they think might be of interest. And they’ll do it, too, because the Grandmaster and Emperor themselves will it to happen.”
“Maybe someday you will understand why I acted as I did, maybe even agree, but I do not deny that it was cruel, and that you need not forgive me for it. In fact, I’m banking on it. Because I think that you think you could survive, maybe even overcome these other individuals before they could reach you. I don’t believe you can, and I have seen dangers which grow far faster than you fail to do so. So I’m going to do what I perhaps should have done from the beginning.”
Raising his hand, Taurus begins to circulate his Qi. She can sense the weight of it, the way it changes the flow of the air in the room, the way it dries her throat and makes her blink with how much of it he is gathering. In his palm, a single dot of what looks like a strange, iridescent black liquid forms, slowly, moment by moment.
He tilts his hand, and lets the droplet roll over his palm and fall onto a tiny circle on the right of his desk.
Immediately, Raika realizes her hearing has gotten a lot better than she’d noticed.
She can’t hear the wind, the creaking of stone and wood throughout the building, the slight whine of metal, the sound that air makes when it goes through her hair, or over Taurus’ fur. Everything goes silent.
And into that silence, Taurus speaks.
“Perfect honesty,” he rumbles, his voice even stranger than normal in this impossible silence that pressed upon the room, upon her and him. She can see Kaena getting up, hesitating, confused and clearly unable to hear what they’re saying.
“Perfect honesty,” she says, quietly.
“Keep up the act,” he says. “Pretend to be broken. There are some who’ll buy it, and that’s useful. But I haven’t, so in the spirit of cooperation, I’m going to make you an offer.”
“On top of the continued safety and protection your people of interest enjoy so long as you remain in my unit,” he continues, “and on top of the relatively loose hand on your leash I intend to maintain whenever I can, I’m going to tell you a secret.”
She’s not sure she cares. She’s almost certain that whatever he’s about to say won’t change the vision she has of his throat in her teeth.
But she listens.
If nothing else, she has learned the value of being patient as she plans.
Taurus smiles at the look she has. It should be no look at all, if her arrangement of muscles is correct, but he sees something.
“If everything goes according to plan,” he whispers into the silence, “I won’t live to see five years from now. And by the time of my death, three of the Empire’s divisions will be unmade, including the one which protects Feng Gui.”
She does not dare let herself breathe. She can feel his teeth closing in around her, a deal too good to be true prepared for her to sink into. Worse, she can see in his eyes that he thinks he can make her sink into it willingly, and the longer he speaks, the less sure she is that he’s wrong.
“By the time of my death,” he continues, “I intend to have you strong enough to kill me, Feng Gui, and maybe even more if you start feeling righteous enough. And I intend to have you do just that.”
He leans in, closer. “Don’t thank me. Don’t care for me, don’t forgive me. But stay with me, and I will sharpen you into a sword sharp enough to kill me and anyone else you choose. And then I’ll be dead, and you’ll have your revenge, and what comes after matters little, doesn’t it?”
The silence around them flickers, sound and smell and a hundred other nuances and touches she’d taken for granted flooding back in, and she takes in one, shaky breath.
Taurus smiles.
He extends a hand. An archaic custom, one from before contracts and bowing and the Empire itself.
“Do we have a deal?” he asks.
She feels the teeth of the trap close in.