David

On the way back to Earth Peak, Feiyan was nothing but apologies. She clung onto Alice like a limpet and cried without pause, stopping only to wipe away her tears on the other girl's sleeve.

"You have to forgive young, stupid Feiyan," she muttered, over and over again. "How could she have possibly known a little meal like that would have cost three hundred taels? I'll write Grandmother and she'll put them out of business for sure! Feiyan promises!"

Taels were roughly fifty grams of silver - and even though David wasn't quite sure on things like purchasing power or the general cost of goods in this world, it was clear that the House of Fleshly Delights had scammed them. The nicest hotel in Dongjing charged a hundred taels a night for a suite for four - and even that had been considered a scam by Li, who had unfettered access to the funds of her sect.

But the disciple at the door had been clear - they were not to make trouble in Tianbei.

When they had sat down and totalled their wealth, Tai Kanhu withdrew ten taels and told the table that he would do his best to win some money later. Leng Qitai, who was from a relatively wealthy family, reluctantly showed them his coin purse, which had fifty taels and an old spirit stone in it, which he valued at twenty or twenty five taels, depending on who was buying.

After seeing this, Alice promised that she'd pay for the meal, on the condition that Feiyan would write to her family and split the cost with her. None of them knew that it would cost three hundred taels - and the food, as Kanhu had predicted, hadn't been great, even if it had been arranged prettily on jade plates.

David and Alice's pile of silver had shrunk to roughly two fistfuls of taels after they slowly counted out three hundred silver taels and left them on the table of the jiulu.

Qitai had asked them in a low voice how many people they'd robbed on the road to Tianbei, and looked at David and Alice differently after they stepped back out into the city.

"Please, you have to understand-"

"You're forgiven," said Alice, between gritted teeth, if only to get Feiyan to shut up.

"Feiyan never wanted to- Oh, I'm forgiven?" Feiyan perked up. "Thank you for your kindness!" She immediately stopped crying."

"Right." Alice's lips were pursed. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, after you've written to your family for funds."

Feiyan hummed to herself, and put together an expression that was meant to be thoughtful. "Well, recently, I've not really been on Grandmother's good side. It might take a little while to repay you in-"

A set of four glares pinned her to the road.

"But Feiyan will be brave! She'll take any scolding she gets, to repay her senior sister, who has been a kind benefactor," she finished quickly.

David thought that Alice would have come up with something rude to say had it really been their hard earned money they'd paid with, but the two of them shared a private guilt about the way they'd taken it from the nice people of Cloud Mountain City.

So Alice said nothing allowed her hand to find his own again, and she tapped out a steady, frustrated rhythm onto his palm with her thumb. David also said nothing, preferring to look around instead, because the late afternoon sun had given Tianbei a different character once again.

In the morning, when the city's attention was drawn eastwards at the rising sun, there was something innocent or even vulnerable about the green valley. By noon, the city had been quiet and quaint, idyllic and well-experienced.

In the red glow of the setting sun, David found that his prior belief that the city was unsettling and without history was completely wrong. Tianbei Valley and the peaks of the Ascending Sky joined together into its true shape - a hand pointed skyward, that had lost two of its fingers in battle - scarred, powerful. The bell towers no longer rang merrily, but in defiance. The words carved into old concrete didn't get more legible, but their intention felt more clear.

As they walked past the entrance to Earth Peak and up the mountain path, David found himself wondering how many disciples had died defending the valley, what sort of desperation they'd felt and whether or not the Skybound Scripture had helped. He could almost see them, trapped like rats beneath a besieged peak, reading sticks of bamboo left behind by their predecessors in a huddled mass.

And David also wondered how long ago that had happened, if it had happened somewhere other than his imagination.

The sun was a hair from setting fully as the five new disciples approached the little square building. This was where they were to reside, until the initiation rites had been finished and they would be given housing by the sect.

David stopped suddenly, pulling Alice to a halt.

The sound of wind chimes carried up the mountain from gardens across Tianbei Valley, but parallel to it was the sound of the Song on the wind. It wasn't an unpleasant sound, but it was sharp and dangerous. It grew louder.

Kanhu and Qitai stopped too, in front of them. Feiyan carried on walking, talking about life in Xijing in the Emperor's court.

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A high pitched, keening wail grew out of the sound of the Song and David recognized it immediately. Swords.

David scrambled back, pulling Alice with him. Kanhu dove to the ground in a crouch.

A sword fell from the sky and buried itself two feet deep into the dirt path, five paces from the door and inches from Feiyan. She screamed.

From the angle it lay in stood in the dirt, the clean, silver blade had been sent from one of the other peaks. Attached to the pommel was a tightly rolled bundle of bamboo sticks, tied with twine.

David approached it slowly and put his hand on the bundle of bamboo, which came away from the pommel easily and unrolled it. The message was written in black ink.

"Disciples who do not reach the initiation rites at the summit of Sword Peak by the lighting of the last lantern will exit the sect," he read aloud. "It's signed Su Buxuen, the hundred and second sect master of the Ascending Sky."

“A missive from Sect Master Su himself,” breathed Feiyan, who had forgotten that the sword had nearly impaled her through. “The true genius of our times, the most important man in the Middle Continent. He’s the one who will oversee our initiation into the Sect!”

“Is he?” said David. The bundle of bamboo was dated and, somehow, dusty - even though it had flown through the afternoon air from one of the peaks. The timbre of the qi from the sword was also familiar - he would have bet anything that it was Fairy Guan who lobbed it from Sword Peak, indubitably from the same place that she had played the bells earlier.

“Of course!” said Feiyan. “My father says he’s the man who is most likely to ascend in all of the world, the master of many weapons and many more formations. Even the Emperor has to respect Sect Master Su.” Her face took on a darker cast. “He refuses to marry any of the Zhu princesses.”

“Are none of the eleven Zhu princesses good enough for him?” asked Kanhu, with a smirk that Feiyan clearly hated.

“If you’re a great cultivator, you can’t just go for anyone,” explained Feiyan. “That would look bad. Life can be defined as the push and pull of guanxi and yenching. This is the foundation of our dynasty.” Relations and debts, respectively - it was a rather mercenary way to view the world, in David’s opinion.

“And that’s what love is about, isn’t it?” said Alice, lightly.

“Why of course!” said Feiyan. “What else could it be about? We do one another favors, which lead to benefits for one another, and then when the time comes, and we’re in need, we owe it to our friends to treat others as we’ve been treated. Marriage is simply one of those favors that the Emperor can grant his trusted allies. Thus, I’m a valuable person to know.”

“Right, that’s what makes you a valuable person,” said Alice. “Who you can potentially marry.”

Feiyan blushed angrily. “I’m also a fantastic cultivator, thank you very much. I’ve been trained from youth by the specialists of the Paper Flowers.”

Alice chose only to grin at her, as the group walked into the building together, leaving the sword stuck in the ground outside.

As they stepped into the parlor, Kanhu took the bamboo sticks from David and chucked them at the twins, who were cultivating in the corner. The sticks landed with a clatter a few feet from the pair. Neither of the twins reacted.

“I’ll be in my room, until it’s time to leave,” said Qitai, excusing himself.

Alice nodded and then, before Feiyan could stop them, pulled David into their own room and closed the door behind them.

“It’s happening!” she all but squealed in excitement. She gave the cushion a flying tackle and sunk into it face first, shrugging off the guqin. “This is it!”

David smiled and sat beside her, as Alice flipped herself over and stared up at the ceiling, her hair pooling about her, in a lustrous black river. Her face was cast as he knew - with high cheekbones, deep dimples and long lashes. Paired with those deep dimples were bright eyes.

“Your eyes,” he realized. “They were brown.”

“What?” She didn’t sound displeased, just confused.

“Your eyes aren’t brown anymore.” They were a shade of hazel that was closer to green now.

“Curious,” said Alice. She blinked rapidly and ran a finger along her chin. “Have you seen any mirrors around?”

David shook his head.

She examined him now, frowning. “I can’t see anything different about you. You’re still as cute as you were the day we met.”

Her fingers grasped his chin and pulled his lips onto hers.

Alice

“Five more minutes, mom,” said Alice.

The banging did not stop - it was loud enough that her bed seemed to shake. The alarm hadn’t rung, so she was probably late, but she was a senior now, so it didn’t matter. This was precisely why she’d taken first period as her free this year.

Alice snuggled deeper into the crook of David’s arm, which was warm and inviting. “I said five more-”

She blinked.

The doorframe rattled.

Alice was not in her room, not on her bed and she was not going to high school.

They didn’t need sleep now, but it felt nice. Alice didn’t used to dream much, but the few times she’d slept since arriving in this world, she dreamed in vivid colors and brilliant sounds. Most of the dreams were about the boy she was clinging to.

David was still asleep.

The banging continued.

Alice stood, marched over to the mahogany door and threw it open. Outside stood an angry Zhu Feiyan and an indifferent Tai Kanhu.

“You can’t jeopardize Senior Brother’s chances with the Sect, you loose woman!” Feiyan shouted, the moment the door opened. “We’re going to be late!”

Alice folded her arms. “Excuse me?”

“Y-you were sleeping with him!”

Alice put on her most indulgent smile and patted Feiyan on the head, then stretched lazily.

“Anyway, the others are already gone. The evening bells have already rung.”

“What’s going on?” came David’s voice from the bed-cushion thing.

“The lantern lightings have begun,” said Kanhu. “I don’t think any of us are in a hurry to exit the sect, so we should probably make our way to Sword Peak.”

David slid Alice’s guqin back into its case. Alice had been trying to compose something on it. She was unsuccessful, unfortunately, for several hours before they’d decided to sleep a bit.

He handed it to her with a smile and she strapped it onto her back before they followed Feiyan and Kanhu out of the room and out of the building.