“Which one of you is An?” A cheery woman covered in make-up and perfume asks while playing with some of the younger children. An can see Zhi shift her posture as if readying to leap into a fight while still maintaining her nonchalant attitude leaning against the wall. Blowing a lock of hair out of her face the gang leader squints at the woman and speaks in a guarded tone.
“What’s it to ya, WeiWei?”
“SuSu’s been telling me all about her students. Congratulations on that by the way, ZiZi. Who’d have thought one of us would become a cultivator.” WeiWei giggles at the thought. “Since I’m here anyway I figured i’d meet An too!”
“SuSu?”
“Yeah, Suwan.”
Zhi and An exchange a glance. Zhi in particular is quite confused, having known the courtesan since they were children. As far as she knows WeiWei has no connections to the world of cultivation, for her to be so familiar with someone as powerful and well connected as Song Suwan catches her completely off guard.
“You know Master Suwan?” Zhi asks incredulously. An shuffles just a little closer to listen properly as well. She stiffens when WeiWei gestures conspiratorially at both her and Zhi. Finding a quiet corner upstairs they huddle together.
“Hehehe, don’t I know her.” WeiWei giggles lecherously. “SuSu’s great. She took me flying once.” Patting both their heads WeiWei titters. “You two are lucky to have become her disciples.”
“I’m not her disciple.” An hurriedly replies, hoping to nip any misunderstandings in the bud before they could cause the awe-inspiring grandmaster’s ire. Weiwei chuckles smugly as if knowing something she does not. Her brows furrow at that and she glares at the woman that’s nearly as small as her own master. She wonders how Mu is doing. They’re not supposed to be back until tomorrow yet An can’t help but worry. The thought that they could have gotten in trouble and there’s nothing she can do for Mu hurts. Almost as much as the knowledge that if she’d gone along she could do even less, if anything she’d have gotten in the way in case of an emergency.
“An! Zhi! We need to go!” A familiar voice shouts from down below. An’s stress instantly vanishes and is replaced by the kind of joy only a child could feel. She knows she should be worried given her master’s words yet she can tell from her tone the situation while requiring haste isn’t immediately dangerous.
“Ah crud, shite fack ancestors damn it!”
She can also tell from Zhi’s words and scrambled dash out of the room and down the stairs the older girl doesn’t share her insight. Remembering to maintain her composure An bows slightly towards WeiWei.
“Our apologies for the interruption, it appears we must consider this conversation another time.”
“Oh, how polite. You’re so well behaved, little girl.” WeiWei replies with a smile and pinches her cheek causing An to cringe back. Instead of being offended at her reaction the courtesan merely titters and rises from her crouch. “It was nice to meet you, An. See you soon.” She adds with a wave and happily skips out of the room.
With hurried steps An follows her out of the room. It would not do to show rudeness to one of the venerable’s acquaintances even if her cryptic goodbye annoys her. The last thing she wants is an errant word of her failure to conduct herself properly to ruin her plans or worse, reflect badly on Gao Mu.
“Please allow me to escort you to the door, Lady WeiWei.”
“D’aww, I’m no Lady but sure, please show me the way.”
After leading her out and receiving another head pat and pinched cheek she heads back to where Gao Mu is excitedly explaining everything that happened to Zhi and a large group of kids that seem to sit just far enough to pretend they’re not paying attention. A group that inches just a bit closer when they hear Gao Mu restart her explanation from the beginning when she approaches. Seeing Zhi pack her meager belongings during Mu’s long rant nearly compels her to do the same until she comes to a realization. She doesn’t have anything. The clothes on her back and the old, rusty tools she uses as weapons to defend herself are all things she carries on her person at all times. She has nothing else. There is nothing to pack for her. Taking a hint from Gao Mu she clenches her fists and looks to what she has instead of what she doesn’t have. A wonderful master. A grand mentor powerful beyond belief. A future. And, she supposes, Zhi. Even if she is a butthead.
-----
Heading to the eastern gate they pass a bunch of merchants regaling wild tales of their entire liquor stock being bought by a single person. Some even speculate the heavenly beauty might have been an immortal descended to play a trick on the locals, her golden locks of hair as radiant as the sun itself. Their mutters fall still seeing the blonde casually saunters past them followed by three youths, one almost a decade younger than the others. An pokes Zhi in the side when she sees a veritable crowd waiting for them, the lord of the Jin merely one amongst them.
She stiffens and her eyes widen when she hears Suwan brazenly insult him in front of the entire crowd without a moment’s hesitation. To cause him to lose so much face, perhaps Mu’s interpretation of them still getting along after the disastrous clan meet was wrong after all. She fears a fight is about to break out hearing the young lord insinuate she committed acts of lechery with most of the women present. To her surprise the both of them simply burst out laughing after finishing their ribbing. Pushing down her panic she chides herself. She’s already seen them act this way before in the past, why is she now jumping at shadows? Because her books on etiquettes and rules claim such a thing is a deadly offense? What would a Song care for such petty trivialities? Why would a dragon amongst men, the ruler of a province and comrade of a Song care about the opinions of prostitutes and urchins? Especially given that his fiancee seems to know of Suwan’s strength as well if her demeanor is anything to go by.
Her breath catches when she sees Zhi head straight for the nobles. What is that woman doing? Should she stop her? She can’t risk anything going wrong now, she has to be taken along. An takes a deep breath. If she gets left behind now, her future will be destroyed entirely. She wants to reach out and stop the gang leader, to prevent her from rocking the boat but… she just stands there frozen as always while another takes the risk. While Zhi fights her way through her fears and risks her life to ensure the future of people she would never even need to see again should she choose not to. Would she have done the same were their situations reversed? Somehow the knowledge that she wouldn’t have pains her. Would Mu have? She doesn’t doubt for even a second that the optimistic girl would have. It’s just her, just her that’s a sad thing, a cold and selfish one. Looking at her master encourage Zhi, she swears that she will stand there one day. She’ll protect them. She’ll protect Mu.
-----
She couldn’t. Nothing she’d have done if she got involved would have made a difference so she ran. Again. Her throat burns and her lungs gasp for air as she rushes through the streets with all the speed she can muster. Just like during their trip through the mountains she’s simply a burden when she stays with them. So she doesn't. Instead, she does the only thing she can. She runs as fast as her legs can carry her.
Cursing the size of this city as she weaves through crowds she makes her way to Song Suwan as quickly as she can. She hopes she’s mistaken and that nothing’s going to go wrong but she doubts it. She recognised that look in the young master’s eyes when he looked at Mu, the cruelty and callousness hidden in his gaze. If she’s wrong and she interrupts Suwan’s recovery for nothing she’ll get down on her knees and kowtow in apology a hundred times but she’d rather be expelled from their group than risk Gao Mu getting hurt.
Running through the streets she arrives at a busy crossroad. She puts more power into her steps to pass through it before the large caravan coming from the left fully blocks off the road. Moving faster than ever before she is unable to adjust her course in time and is about to collide with a large man. At the last moment she tries to twist herself to the side in order to avoid him but she knows its not enough, she’s going to hit him. She strikes his side yet the impact doesn’t rattle her nearly as much as it should nor does the man stumble, almost as if part of her slipped through him instead of colliding fully. Nevertheless it’s enough to throw off her pace and send her stumbling right into the caravan’s path.
A loud thud resounds as An hits the front wagon’s wheel, the enormous wagon barely shaking from the impact. Her now cracked ribs ache from the blow and she just narrowly manages to roll away before the wheel runs her over. Shouts of concern ring out at the same time the caravan master starts to shout at her for being careless. She ignores them both and pushes through the pain. Biting her teeth to the point blood begins to leak out from between them she forces herself upright and pushes on with a slight limp, stumbling and panting as she forces her battered body to continue on.
“Grandmaster Song! Please save Mu!”
Suwan doesn’t even question her words or ask for an explanation, she simply stands up, pulls her clothes out of her ring while putting Twelve down and rushes over to her before promptly picking her up.
“Show me the way.”
An’s eyes sting from the wind pressure as they dash over the rooftops but she guides Suwan without complaint, her voice hoarse and cracking as she shouts and points towards where the young master was. She can feel Suwan’s emotions surge out before she can see Gao Mu. Anger at her own failure, fear of losing Mu and hatred at the worm that dared to hurt her disciple. All these feelings course through her with an intensity that makes her breath catch in her throat and spots dance across her eyes as she hovers on the edge of consciousness. She drops onto her hands and knees when Suwan puts her down, coughing and sputtering while she scrambles towards her injured master.
She wasn’t fast enough. The world seems to move in slow motion as Mu takes a shallow breath, Suwan’s medicinal pill crunching between her teeth. The sound of her raspy breath sounds thunderous to An’s ears, a green fog making its way out alongside her exhale the last clear thing the child sees before her vision grows blurry. Wiping at her eyes her fingers come back covered in tears. They shake as she stares at them and lets out an ear wrenching cry. The rest of the day passes in a numb haze. Not once does An separate more than half a meter from Mu. It is only when Suwan speaks in a soft tone by Gao Mu’s bedside that the fog over An’s mind lifts and her vision regains clarity.
“I guess there’s no choice. I can’t heal lost limbs. We will have to go visit my master,” The voice of salvation, of purpose and of hope intones. “We shall go see Song Huan.”
