Dai Shun exhales loudly and watches her breath fog as she makes her way down the mountainside. The sheer scale of the Everfrost Glacier never ceases to amaze her despite living atop it for her entire life. While many sects are based on a mountain and are oft even spread across several the White Rose Sect has no need for more than the Everfrost. All other mountains within the northern half of the continent pale before its size, perhaps only those within the very depths of the northern wastes able to compare. Not that any would be able to tell, for that desolate place has not been ventured into for many millennia, perhaps even ever at all.
For all that the sharp cold of the glacier chills her Shun would not wish to reside anywhere else. These short moments before her monthly briefing are one of her private pleasures. Just her and the biting frost, the surroundings still and serene as she makes her way from the Li clan holdings down to those of her Dai clan. It is not a long trek, a mere twenty minutes at a walking pace. She could close the distance within minutes at a run. The sole reason she doesn’t is tradition. Not of the clan, but her own. Ever since the first time she returned from her then new charge, too nervous to think of speeding up before gradually being calmed down by the cold air, she has always done it this way. A steady pace and her heat cloak inactive, just one step in front of the other without a single duty to fulfill.
Not that she minds her duties of course, she takes great pride in serving her mistress. Looking back up the mountainside towards the Li holdings she thinks to herself that she is quite lucky it is Ling she was chosen to serve. Not all of her fellow Dai are as fortunate. Even so, it could be worse. As she turns back to face her destination she closes her eyes and continues on, each step of the path memorized to the point she has no need to see where she goes. In her mind’s eye she pictures the mountain. The Dai clan holdings just below those of the Li, practically in the same place when it comes to the sheer scale of the earthen behemoth they inhabit. Equally as high as the Li’s palaces and properties are those of the Cai and Du, the three’s holdings forming the points of a triangle around the mountainside. It is their shared responsibility to stop any intruders from advancing beyond the circle of the Three Great Clans and as such they maintain many patrols between them.
In truth it is a thinly veiled excuse, few outside members of the clans ever make it this high. The patrols are mere posturing, probes and threats against each other, for the White Rose Sect’s great clans are constantly vying for power. All of them aim for the sole thing above them, the White Palace. Laying at the very peak of the Everfrost Glacier it is a true marvel of craftsmanship millennia old. A building sized artifact capable of changing according to their owner’s qi allowing it to take a different appearance under each sect master.
Of course, Shun only knows this through tales and hearsay, for she herself has never set foot within that hallowed place. Once, her elder brother had taken her along, allowing her to assist in carrying some of his burdens. She remembers the pride burning within her chest at being allowed to carry such an ornate tea set to the residence of the sect master himself. Her face flushes at the memory. She didn’t even make it a tenth of the way up the Ancestral Steps before she collapsed.
Her cousin had to hand his baggage to her brother and use his heat arts to pry the set away from her frozen hands, her efforts only resulting in more hardship for her family. She suspects it was a lesson in humility and certainly if this is so, the trail of frozen tears she remembers sticking to her face was an efficient one. Never has she dared to ask though, fearing that perhaps the very asking of that question would cause her to lose something valuable.
“Hey there, xiao1little Shun! What’s got you so worked up?”
“Good morning, cousin.”
“Haaah, so cold. Lighten up a little, you brat.”
“This junior disciple shall take senior disciple’s words into consideration. A thousand thanks for venerable senior’s wise words.”
She adds a deep bow to emphasize her words, the corners of her lips twitching up at the exasperated sigh her cousin lets out. When she straightens again he feigns a swing at her, the back of his spear whooshing through the air and coming to a stop just in front of her nose. She doesn’t even twitch.
“Haah, always so serious.”
“Enjoy guard duty, dear cousin.” She adds over her shoulder as she steps past him, eliciting a deep groan. They both snort as they part.
Walking through the familiar grounds of the Dai clan’s holdings she feels utterly at ease. Her childhood home has not seen any change since as long as she can remember, even her own room is still exactly as she left it despite her having moved out years ago. No, perhaps no change is a bit much. There have been many small changes. Handmade decorations hung in random places by one member or the other, left in place for weeks before an elder finally chastised them for it and took it down. Tiny markings on the walls, some left by accidents, others carved intentionally as reminders of important moments. Her fingers trace one such scratch as she passes by her previous abode. She’d put it there herself on the very day Ling shared her cultivation method. A warm, fuzzy feeling blooms in her chest at the memory.
“Senior Brother Guanyu, this one has come to report and be debriefed.”
“Welcome home, little flame. It’s good to see you again, been too long.”
“Exactly one month now, brother. Same as always.”
“Far too long, I say, far too long. But I digress. How are you doing, sis?”
He asks as he pulls her into a hug. She leans into it and enjoys their shared heat, like a hearth in winter, the warmth of family at one’s side.
“I’m doing well, brother.”
“And how’s the seventh?” He asks cheekily as they break their hug and proceeds to yelp when she grinds her heel into his foot.
“Ling is doing fine as well.”
“Ouch, that hurt!”
“Should I have aimed for your rear instead? On that note, how is Ling’s father?” She teases in the same cheeky tone.
“My my, asking about the sect master? Has our little flame awoken to men as well?”
“Of course not, I'll leave that to you my dear brother. I simply mean to inquire as to the status of his collection. Given that you’re on your feet, I'm assuming it’s currently in storage?”
“Oh ho, is someone a little insecure now that Ling has the Shen heiress serving her as well?”
Shun takes a moment to ponder the matter or at the very least pretend to. She tries her hardest to stop her lips from curling up into a smile as she goes for the coup de grace. Guanyu sees the sparkle in her eye a moment before she speaks.
“I’m not quite sure, brother. Could you explain what that feels like?”
-----
A warm smile still adorns her features when she leaves her clan holdings carrying a large chest. Her heart feels light and her steps follow suit. Trading banter with several more of her family members has brightened her spirits greatly. As loath as she is to admit it she realizes that she was in fact a bit insecure despite knowing how irrational it is. Ling wouldn’t abandon her. Not now, not ever.
She finds herself looking forward to the future, her gaze slowly rising as she makes her way back up the mountainside. A glint further up catches her eye. Things have changed so much since the time she walked those hallowed steps. Fire flows through her veins, given to her by the person she loves the most in the entire world. Her cultivation has progressed leaps and bounds, tied inexorably to Ling’s much like her fate.
Gazing at the mountain’s peak she wonders if she could make it there now.
