“First flooding, now trouble in the Western Kingdom, and here we have Face Eaters appearing far outside their territory and managing to set up an entire nest in a heavily logged forest,” Liu Xie listed things off idly on his fingers, eyes upturned to the ceiling. Face Eaters came from the Northern Kingdom, which had long created an entire bureau of officials to specifically deal with the issue, but them being so far out was strange. What was happening in the North? The lack of news from the Eastern Kingdom he took as a good sign, they were isolationists with delusions of being the most favored of the heavens but at least they seemed to contain any possible issues they might have.

He, Rui Yifu, and Bo had managed to acquire a private room in a teahouse to drink and talk. Rui Yifu suggested it as a way for them to leave the Li Family Compound, Bo agreed because he said being among wealthy merchants made his skin crawl, and Liu Xie had accepted since Idony was still sleeping.

His gaze turned downwards onto the floor. Idony’s wound had been terrible, and were it not for Li Baobao’s father’s men already searching for them he had no doubt she would have bled to death in Li’s arms. If only he wasn’t bound to his oath, that he had been a bit more demanding in the agreement reached. He had the power to keep Eona’s child safe, but what good was it if he was not able to use it? What good was he? He couldn’t even remember to feed her! He tried to assure himself with the fact he did not even know human children had to eat frequently until just recently, but his frustration at the limits of the body he was using still gnawed at him. He could just imagine the Lady of Calm Waters being absolutely floored from laughter at his failure.

“I heard of the Hags tombs being uncovered by a flood, but so many things are buried along the Black River that it was probably inevitable. I admit though I haven’t been keeping up on politics though,” Rui Yifu said.

“Oh the scholar doesn’t know something?” Bo hissed.

“Shut up, dog,” Rui Yifu returned with equal venom.

Liu Xie dragged himself from his stewing resentment, “...the Western Kingdom is dealing with some sort of instability,” he explained as he reached for the bottle of alcohol he found himself becoming frightfully acquainted with. “But why and what kind, I don’t know. Maybe Fish People?”

Rui Yifu’s hands fiddled with his fan. “...No, I think it has something to do with the King’s sons,” he muttered. “They’ve never gotten along but… their father is only forty-six. If he had died, wouldn’t we have all heard about it? It’s customary for the other three kingdoms to go into Half-Mourning in times of peace when a ruler dies. Maybe it’s something with the Free Cities?”

“I don’t know what is going on, but I don’t like it. Not one damn bit,” Bo announced as he got up. He gazed down at the other two men with something distant and sad in his eyes, “it’s always the lowest who suffer the most when nobles and royalty throw fits.” His gaze then grew hard as he balled his hands into fists.

“Eh? What are you going on about? You planning a rebellion?” Rui Yifu asked as he reached over to pick up a small cup that still had tea in it, sipping at it with a frown. “Found your own Free City?”

“No,” Bo snapped. “I’m just saying that... -” he turned to look at Liu Xie, “Boss, I think that… I think that we need to be more aware, just in case anything happens.”

“You’re talking like we’ve had nothing but bad luck,” Liu Xie said. “It’s only been two weeks since we’ve met. Calm down.” Liu Xie did not feel calm.

Bo huffed, “I’m going to go get another hawthorn snack,” he announced before he left the teahouse room, his heavy steps echoing down the hall as he left Liu Xie and Rui Yifu alone.

Rui Yifu got to his feet as well, the various talismans clacking and clicking as he moved over to the door of the room and shut it. Then he turned around in the spot to look at Liu Xie with a deep frown, “I saw that.”

“Saw what?” Liu Xie set the bottle of alcohol down and pretended to be dumb.

“When you drew your sword, I saw what it did,” Rui Yifu said.

“It’s a sword. It was daylight.”

“The light would reflect from the blade then,” Rui Yifu pressed, “not appear for the brief instant it touched the beast’s flesh. I have seen enchanted swords before, and held a few myself. I’ve done much research on qi, all four flames, geomancy, and even foreign spirit pacts. I know what I’m talking about. ”

Liu Xie only looked at Rui Yifu from the corner of his eyes, “you should always be direct in your accusations,” he advised coolly.

“You’re on a dangerous path, ‘Liu Xie’, if that even is your real name,” Rui Yifu spoke darkly. “Those who choose to dabble in the White Flame can become powerful, yes, but no mortal can handle it without ultimately being consumed in some way. Even the Black Flame is tempered by the will of the Empress of Hell. The White Flame has none of that. It’ll eat and eat and eat, it’s more a poison than anything else, at the very least you need to use a medium to handle it however briefly!”

Liu Xie clicked his tongue. Rui Yifu knew his stuff it seemed. “I had my sword.”

“But you drew the Flame from within!” Rui Yifu stomped on the ground, raising his voice. “You never do that with the White Flame! Human bodies are not meant to handle those things by themselves! Are you not listening to me? This is dangerous. It can reduce souls to ash! Very few Immortals will touch it! Even Lady Gu herself avoids it!”

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“Dangerous?”

“The cost of using the White Fla-”

“Rui Yifu, how do you know so much about the White Flame? Are you an immortal or a cultivator? Or maybe something else?” Liu Xie asked, turning his head to see Rui’s face had become pale. The question had wounded him in some way. Pleased with the result, Liu Xie got to his feet and brushed non-existent dirt from his pants, “when Bo comes back, tell him I’ve gone back to the Li Compound. I’m going to see if Idony is awake yet.” He walked up to Rui Yifu, towering over the shorter man. “Please move.”

Rui Yifu held his ground, staring down at the floor. Then after a moment he budged a bit to the side, pulling the door open for Liu Xie to step out.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t think…” Rui Yifu’s voice was hard. “...Don’t think I don’t know what your sorts are capable of doing. Of what you inevitably start doing the moment you feel your own life’s essence at threat of it.”

Liu Xie was already out the door but paused to look at the man with a disinterested gaze. “You don’t know anything about me, don’t make assumptions.”

He left the room, walking through the hall and into its entrance where a young lady stood with a tray that held cotton satchels on it. The moment she noticed him her eyes widened slightly as she looked him up and down before she straightened up. “Excuse me sir, before you leave would you like a sample of our tea to take with you? It’s free!”

He smiled slightly at her, taking one of the offered satchels. Her face suddenly flushed pink. “Thank you so much. Is this for a celebration?” He asked, admiring the fine stitch work on the bag which included a depiction of a snake.

“In a way, usually with the turn of the seasons we offer a new set of samples from our tea blending master. All are made in house,” she nodded quickly. “Since it’s turning to autumn, we’re giving out our snake blend.”

“Does it have… snakes in it?” He knew plenty about snake wine but somehow the idea of tea with shredded snake did not sound appealing, even medicinally.

“Oh, oh goodness no! Not at all. The blend was made with the idea of it being smooth, with a dark liquid. Like a snake’s scales. It’s also very good at soothing liver and kidney issues. It’s named after a story here about a snake blessing a farmer’s wife.”

Liu Xie put the satchel of tea into his sleeve, thinking about giving it to Idony later. He idly ran a finger over a slender scabbed over line at his wrist. “I have a bit of time, what is the story?” He leaned a little closer to the young lady, still slightly smiling.

The serving girl’s face was almost luminescent. “Ah! Uh, there’s a lot of versions. The one the teahouse uses is that many many many years ago, a poor farmer’s wife was very ill. They had six children, and the harvest was poor. The farmer broke his leg while fixing the roof of their hut, so the wife took his job in the field. She found a starving snake which said that if she could feed it some of her blood, it would bless the family with fortune. So she fed it several drops of blood from her finger. Six days later, one of their children uncovered a bunch of gold! So we use six different tea leaf types to make this blend.”

Liu Xie looked up thoughtfully, wondering if it was an actual snake or some minor god wearing the shape of one in the story.

“That’s basically it though,” the girl said.

“Well it was a very charming story,” Liu Xie said. “Thank you for telling it to me. I’ll have to come here again as the seasons change to try the next blend.”

“A-ah, ye-yes. Please do!” The girl’s head bobbed up and down enthusiastically. Liu Xie gave her another smile and slight bow before he turned around to walk back onto the main road.

The town was very prosperous, enough so that there were regular migrant workers who came to work and could expect two full meals of meat and warm lodgings comfortably. The homes of the Li family were in a connected compound that was sectioned off from the rest of the town by a large orchard of orange trees that the excitable young merchant had spent over an hour elaborating on how much they cost his great-grandfather to plant and the dividends that came from being the sole orange producer in the area.

Another thing the merchant had rattled off quickly was how the family organized themselves and their business under the guidance of the Bridgewater Sage’s classic tome on business organization. He had even tried offering his own worn down book to Bo, who could not read and awkwardly turned it down. Liu Xie had no mind for money and economics but managed to pretend to be interested enough it didn’t upset their young host.

“Boss! Boss, wait for me!”

Liu Xie paused in his step to look over his shoulder as Bo raced up to him. “Oh, there you are.” He had forgotten that Bo had still been at the tea house.

Bo paused a few short steps away from Liu Xie, holding one of the tea sample satchels in one hand. “Hey Boss they were giving out free tea!”

“I know.”

“Why did you leave without me? Or at least tell me you were going? I went back into the room and the crossdresser told me to go,” Bo complained as he followed Liu Xie. “When I went to find you, the lady there said you already left!”

“I went out to think a little,” Liu Xie answered, “but since we’re both out we might as well head back to the compound and check on Idony.”

“Id…Ihd… who names their kid that?” Bo scoffed, kicking a rock that was on their path.

Liu Xie felt something tug at his mouth. A feeling squirmed in the hollow of his chest. “Bo actually, since you do want to be trained, lets work a bit more on endurance. Run to the compound.”

“Run? All the way there?”

“Yes. Run all the way there, then run back until you see me and we’ll walk the rest of the way together.”

Bo looked like he had a question but shook his head. “What if I get tired?”

Liu Xie crossed his arms, putting on his most unimpressed face. “What are you? A child? I had a student before you who could do that run in the time it took you to say that. She also didn’t question me when I gave her tasks to do to build up endurance and strength,” she just questioned him about everything else he remembered in amusement.

The young man looked even less certain, but stiffened his expression and turned around to start at a brisk jog in the direction of the Li houses.

Liu Xie made sure to walk at a slow leisurely pace.