Their morning meal consisted of pastries with fruit filling, sauteed root vegetables, three different flavors of congee[1], breakfast meats, and a variety of juices. Of course the Lin twins gravitated towards a sweet wine, even going as far as grabbing a bottle each when leaving the sitting room.
The others had noticed at the coronation, but now that they were standing shoulder to shoulder in the hall it was painfully obvious how much Ku Qin Zemin and Ming jia Ying had grown. No longer little children, their height demanded they be recognized as adolescents rapidly approaching adulthood. Ku Qin Zemin was even a bit taller than Tsubame now, while Ming Jia Ying still lagged behind a bit. However, the Lin twins still stood a full head above the rest with Lin Liqiu beating out her brother by the smallest of margins.
As they approached the end of the hall Ku Qin Zemin's majordomo[2] rounded the corner holding a large scroll, “There you are my Lord. We have a lot of ground to cover today and I'm afraid I must insist you come with me.”
Tsubame arched an eyebrow at a servant making a demand of the lord they serve but held her tongue as Ku Qin Zemin explained, “This is Tai[3]. He's been my attendant since I was born and is now one of my closest friends and confidants. I'm proud to have him as my chief of staff, but it does mean that his job is to nag me to do mine.”
“Yes it is. You have delegates from the other provinces here to meet with you. They want to congratulate you on your coronation and confirm the Qin Province will continue to uphold any current treaties between the provinces under your rule. Basic formalities really, but it would be best if your first official act wasn't making them wait, so we really should get going,” Tai spoke so fast that it left the others feeling breathless.
Ku Qin Zemin gave a nod showing his agreement before turning to embrace Ming Jia Ying. There was no need for words between them, they simply rested their foreheads against one another. Then, with a wave and one of his signature smiles, him and his majordomo were off.
It wasn't long until the others arrived at the smithy. Lin Liqiu and Ming jia Ying sat at a nearby table to finalize the designs. Meanwhile, Tsubame and Lin Liqin began preparing the furnace, while neither had talent for forging they'd spent enough time with Lin Liqiu to do at least this much.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Lin Liqiu asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
“Yes, I want to Ki forge a Siege board,” Ming Jia Ying's confidence left little room for doubt.
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“I'm aware of the game, but I'm afraid I've never seen the board before. I assume there is one in the palace I could study before we get started.”
A pale golden aura envelops Ming Jia Ying's hand as she reaches into her cosmo sack. “No need. I have my own set here for you to look at.”
As Ming Jia Ying is setting up the board Lin Liqiu's own Ki flares up a bright blue as she begins retrieving Ki crystals of varying colors from her cosmo sack and places them along her end of the table. “Do you know what type of Ki crystals you want it made from? If you haven't decided yet I can help you choose based on what your intent is for it.”
“I want to use it to display my surroundings in real time. Obviously, it will need purple Ki crystals for their ability to detect and monitor the area around them. I was thinking red for the surface of the board so it could show what the purple finds.”
“An interesting project for sure. I don't think red is the right choice though. It expands and contracts, but the overall shape remains the same. Not ideal for showing details.” Lin Liqiu falls into deep thought for a moment before pushing forward a dark blue Ki crystal. Unlike the others it is round and lacks sharp edges, but instead of rolling from Lin Liqiu's nudging it almost seems to spill across the table before reforming into a sphere. “Dark blue is known for it's flexibility, but as you can see it wants to return to a specific shape. I can set the base shape during the forging process, but we will still need a way for the purple crystals to push it based on what they detect and that's where light blue comes in,” Lin Liqiu continues to explain as she holds a light blue Ki crystal above the dark blue sphere.
Ming Jia Ying is shocked as she watches the two crystals acting like magnets, sometimes attracting and other times repelling each other. “So, you're saying we should do a layer of purple Ki crystals that will relay the data it gets from the surroundings to the next layer of light blue that will push the dark blue on the surface into shape to show off the details, right? You mentioned complexity being an issue. Is there anything I should look out for?”
“It's true that it makes the process more strenuous on you. For a piece this large and this complex you'll have to pour plenty of Ki into it while I'm forging and you'll have to stay focused on the function of the item and feed your will into it along side your Ki. But you're already in your second Ki refinement, so depth of Ki shouldn't be an issue.” Then, with a laugh, Lin Liqiu added, “You're also one of the most willful women I've ever met, so you should be all good on that front too.”
“The furnace is ready to go whenever you two are,” Tsubame came to report while Lin Liqin continued to work the bellows.
“No time like the present,” Lin Liqiu said as she sauntered off towards the forge to give it one final inspection.
Despite the nervousness she felt, Ming Jia Ying didn't hesitate to follow after her. Tsubame fell in beside her and summoned her dagger as she began to reassure the girl, “Her skill is incredible. You're in good hands. She'll tell you when to add your Ki and when to hold back. Just stay focused on what you want and the whole thing will be over before you know it.”
Author's Notes:
[1] Congee is a type of rice porridge
[2] Majordomo is the title of someone that runs a noble's house for them. It has Latin and Spanish roots and is therefor more Euro-centric, but I feel it fits well within the government structure I've established for the Gaian Empire
[3] Tai can mean extreme or habitational. Combining the two meanings fits his position as majordomo well