Ruyi cleared her throat and looked out over the crowd. In the past two years, The Alchemist Guild—now the intercontinental alchemist guild—had nearly doubled in size. Out there, she knew, were rows upon rows of humans seated next to rows of demons. From where she stood, with the light shining in her eyes, she could barely make out the outlines of their faces; they almost looked the same to her.

She smiled. "Welcome, one and all, to the second annual meeting of the Intercontinental Alchemy Conference, headed by me, Ruyi Yang, Chairwoman of the Board." She waited for the cheering, closed her eyes, and sighed, basking in it for a little longer than was maybe necessary. Everyone had been handed a pamphlet as soon as they stepped into the auditorium, with the week's program—her face, naturally, was the logo. Her likeness was also captured in the huge statue she'd commissioned and placed right outside the ceremonial hall; really, she needed no introduction, but she figured it was good to make sure everyone knew.

She'd been preparing for this for months, going back and forth with the branch leaders from the human world and the demon world, setting everything up. This would be great, she just knew it.

"First to present," she said, "Master Tingting Song!"

She yielded her stage to a quivering Tingting. The former Princess had been practicing her public speaking for months, and she'd gone from nearly fainting to only badly stuttering. But she was still able to enrapture the audience with her project: she'd spent the year recompiling the 'Encyclopedia Alchemica' to include a breadth of demon land plants.

In the years since the integration, alchemy had undergone an explosion of research. As it turned out, the flora of the demon lands and the human lands made unique synergies no one had known about. Well—no one except maybe Marcus, the Lord of Demons, who stood in the background, clapping politely with a little twinkle in his eyes.

When Tingting finished her speech, she was greeted with raucous applause, and Sen embraced her. Ruyi still wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she was glad they were happy.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

***

It was still a little shocking to see demons and humans alike just milling around. The humans were dressed in their flowing ceremonial garb, while the demons wore a tenth of the fabric. It was funny to see those white-haired old alchemists blushing and stammering, not knowing where to put their eyes.

The chief Brewers from all the great tribes were out on the convention floor, talking shop with the great human alchemists of the time. It was funny—most of those brewers weren't talking to each other; their tribes were feuding, but here they agreed to an intermission. This conference started from a place of peace and goodwill, to share knowledge and to better each other. Ruyi had imagined it as a place of love, not war.

She saw Mother and Father in the upper booths; they were here to support her. Father was loath to come out publicly like this, but Mother had forced him. Ruyi grinned and waved to them, and Father gave her an almost imperceptible nod, but she saw it.

These days, Ruyi spent most of her time running the Intercontinental Alchemist Guild, doing research, walking Dow, petting Dow, sleeping on Dow, giving Dow makeovers, and eating good food, and even drinking a little from time to time. It was weird; she found she didn't feel the urge so much anymore. That was back when she wanted to forget, to make herself unexist, but right now, life was good. She felt safe. She felt loved. As it turned out, she didn't really need anything else.

***

Where the mighty White River met Jade Dragon City, it split into two streams. One stream hugged the city walls to the east, the other to the west.

The eastern stream basked in the sun from dawn till mid-day. Its currents ran warm and sparkled playfully, like there were diamonds hiding in the water. In the lazy days of summer it was beloved by children and trout alike.

The western stream was shadowed by mountains which stole its fair share of sunlight. Its currents were clear and wicked cold. If you got too close, its waves seemed to snap at your toes. When the fish came through the White River, they knew better than to go west.

Yet when they curved around the city, they joined once more.

And together, as one, flowed into the vast blue sea.