Chapter Five - Doki Doki

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The air of the camp had changed the next day. Instead of a bustling war camp, it was bustling now with a hopeful sort of buzz. Disciples were smiling and talking loudly, instead of sitting hushed at their posts, knuckles white on their sword-hilts. It was strange to see the two different types of camps, honestly. Especially since Nie Ruyi had never expected to see a war camp in the first place.

The food line that morning had been loud and joyous, rather than the subdued worry of the night before, and Nie Ruyi had eaten the food to the low-lying din of a living body of people. Now, as she walked into Lin Baiwei's meeting tent, she realized that it was because new people had arrived.

Indeed, one of those new people, in particular, was standing at the table, profile turned towards her. Nie Ruyi didn't believe in love at first sight, not really. But she was certain her heart almost stopped when those warm russet eyes turned to her. An impish grin spread on oddly plush lips and Nie Ruyi could feel the blood rushing to her face. She had to tell herself to calm down, all the man had done was smile at her. Why was her heart beating out of its chest?!

"Oh! So this is our new Nie-shimei! No one told me she was a lovely fairy!" His voice held a tinge of laughter to it, making Nie Ruyi feel almost as if she were being made fun of. The heat in her cheeks was set to boiling, as he continued, "Nie-Shimei, I'm Cai Bingtian, but you can call me-"

"Cai-shixiong." She interrupted, snapping out the honorific before he could say something else embarrassing. "Nice to meet you." Turning every ounce of her will to iron, she turned away from this asian adonis, and towards Lin Baiwei instead. "Lin-Shijie, Song Fengling asked Lao-Shixiong for some training, so he told me to come here until they're done. Do you mind if I sit in here for a while?"

"Not at all, Nie-Shimei." Lin Baiwei turned to her guest and continued their conversation, "That being said, we will need you to accompany us to negotiations today with the Dragon. That being said, you are not to speak beyond your technical capacity. You are not to attempt diplomacy, nor are you to make any jokes."

"Oh come on, Lin-Shijie! I can be helpful in the negotiations! I'm practically best friends with the dragons I know." Cai Bingtian complained, leaning against the table to get closer as if that would prove his point. The careless curls of his half-updo spilled over his shoulder in a dazzling spill of light that distracted Nie Ruyi for a whole 5 minutes.

She shook her head and dropped her eyes back to the book she'd brought. It was full of tips and tricks on how to live an off-the-grid life. Farming, animal husbandry and preservation techniques. Super useful, considering her situation, and she'd made it through a good quarter of the book since the day before.

"No. You've caused enough political mishaps that the Sect Leader has made it clear to me that you are not to speak. I will put a silencing charm on you, if I have to." Lin Baiwei pointed a finger at him, her sharp manicured nail right under his nose.

"Finnnneeee," he whined, before moving back a little so she wasn't poking him. "So who all is going on this mission?"

"You, myself, and a couple of Juniors. If I can convince him to come along, Lao Xiaojun." At the name of her bodyguard, Nie Ruyi looked up.

Speak of the devil, and Lao Xiaojun walked in just as they were discussing him. Song Fengling followed quietly, limping just a little, bruised but smiling so bright the boy could be used as a lantern. He trudged over to stand next to Nie Ruyi, who offered him a soft smile. The two of them turned back to the three surrounding the table just in time to catch Lao Xiaojun's sniff of derision as his eyes dragged over the messy Cai Bingtian.

"Cai-Qianbei," Lao Xiaojun drew himself down in the frostiest bow Nie Ruyi had seen outside of a harem drama. Nie Ruyi's eyebrows rose as she watched Cai Bingtian's bright grin falter for a moment, before it cemented itself wider.

Stolen story; please report.

"Ah, Lao-Shidi, you know I've been part of your sect for years now. You really could call me Shixiong, if you wanted to?" Cai Bingtian tried, his voice almost pleading.

Lao Xiaojun tilted his head so that he was looking down his nose at the shorter man. "I don't." Nie Ruyi blinked, and then tilted her own head. Were... Were his cheeks pink? No. It must be the light, right? Lao Xiaojun turned to Lin Baiwei again, and decidedly ignored Cai Bingtian's pouting cheeks. "Who are you sending into the forest?"

"I was hoping you might be willing to come along, Lao-Shidi. If things go south, we'll need your expertise." Lin Baiwei explained, rolling up a map and setting it aside. "Your charge can stay in camp. We'll assign a few shidi to guard her, but I don't anticipate the need for her protection."

Lao Xiaojun's brow creased and his lip curled. Before he could say whatever acerbic thing he was about to say, Nie Ruyi called out, throwing out both hands as if to physically stop him. "Really! It's fine! I'll just stay in here with Song-Shidi, and we can spend the afternoon talking!"

Song Fengling looked startled by her declaration, but Lao Xiaojun seemed to be considering it. Eventually, the broad man nodded, and then turned back to Lin Baiwei.

"That will be acceptable." At his response, Lin Baiwei nodded, and gestured for the two men to precede her out of the tent. When they did so, Nie Ruyi turned to her little guardian and smiled. Marking her place in the book, she put it inside her sleeve so she could get to it later. Carrying her purse with these sleeves was a pain, so she had just started doing what she'd seen people on dramas do.

"So, Song-Shidi. You and I haven't gotten a chance to be introduced. I'm Nie Ruyi, I'm 34, unmarried and I used to live in America. It's nice to finally meet you."

He seemed aghast at her introduction, and his eyes darted left and right, as if someone would save him. The sparring must have knocked him around some because there were little strands of hair falling from his tight, neat bun. "W-Well... This shidi is Song Fengling, grandson of the minister of Finance for Silk Citadel. I am 12 years old, betrothed and I used to live in Silk Citadel. It's... nice to meet you too?"

Nie Ruyi grinned encouragingly, "That's wonderful. So... is Silk Citadel in the same country as the Sect compound?" She figured a good place to start getting to know this world would be to learn about its countries.

"Mn. Although Sects are set apart from the countries they inhabit. They're very similar to city-states, in that they pay taxes but have autonomy." Song Fengling explained, "I've... never heard of America, though. Is it over the great river?"

"Great... no, Song-Shidi. It's in another world entirely. It's a country in that world. The city I lived in was called Springfield." She watched him try to parse the strange language that was English. Then, she translated it for him. "It means 'Field of Spring' and it was a fairly large city. About fifty thousand people, all living, working, and breathing together." She felt that inexplicable sadness roll into her heart like a heavy fog, and she sighed out the pain.

"...That's a lot of people." Song Fengling looked absolutely floored at this news. "Was it a capital city?"

"Oh no, not at all." Nie Ruyi waved away that possibility, "Just a city. Our world was much different from yours. We had carriages that didn't require horses, only a noxious liquid to go, and devices that let us speak to anyone around the world in an instant, with almost no delay between replies."

"You're lying." Song Fengling declared, scowling. Nie Ruyi couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm really not! Honest. It's just that, instead of magic, and qi and demons and monsters, our world only had people and animals. And we conquered the animals long ago. So, we made machines instead. You know plows? We made machines that could plow by themselves, at a hundred times the speed one person might. All because we couldn't stand it taking so long." Nie Ruyi waved at the forest, "We have huge machines that could eat that forest in two weeks and spit out enough logs to build houses that could house over a hundred families."

"No way!" Song Fengling declared, looking unwilling to believe it, but he was leaning closer as if to a good story. "If you made huge machines like that, they'd be monsters themselves!"

"Well, not really, since they're controlled by humans. But I see why you might think that, given your world's rules. ...so, about Cai Bingtian. Lao Xiaojun doesn't seem to like him. Is there a reason?" Nie Ruyi asked, hoping the boy wasn't too shy to talk about such things.

"Probably because Cai-Shixiong keeps teasing him. They bicker like that all the time. I've never seen them get along unless the Sect Leader is in the room with them." Song Fengling seemed much more comfortable, now that he was on a topic he knew was real. "I heard they met when Lao-Shixiong was 15, and Cai-Shixiong had just skipped out on his old sect. He liked us better, I guess."

Nie Ruyi nodded, feeling like she'd just unlocked a cut scene about some character's tragic backstory. "I see. So, what are their specialties?"

"Well, Lao-Shixiong is a Pill Master and a very strong pugilist. Strong enough that swords can't even cut his skin! And Cai-Shixiong is a Seal Master. He uses a sword too, but his tricks are what you have to watch out for. One time, he strung me up from a tree during a spar and I didn't even realize until I was upside down." He had the same sparkly look in his eyes that little kids did about their older brothers. He hero-worshiped those men, she could see it, and it made her smile fondly.

"You must train ha-" Her words were interrupted with the sound of screaming.

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