“Liao Hua!”


    The voice startled her. The Qi signature was not another delusion haunting her. Down the shattered road was one of her kinsmen running at a dead sprint towards her. She turned with her heart in her throat. They shared the same cascading silver hair and green eyes that sparkled like gems in the light. They may even have shared the same sharp facial features if his weren’t loosened in sheer relief as he closed the distance to them, loping strides making quick work of the gap. A cousin of hers descended from her father’s younger brother. A cousin she had grown up beside.


    “Cousin Ji,” she said wonderingly, still struggling to reconcile this living, breathing version of her cousin with the thoughts of his death that had plagued her. He was the last member of her clan she had seen before leaving for the city and he had been in her thoughts. His potential death had haunted her. Now she knew she would not have to wear white cloth to mourn him.


    His dizi had survived through the world breaking, even if his robes were in a similar state to her clothes. Filthy, caked with mud and soot. And blood. The white and blue threads of his clothes were lost beneath shades of brown, yellow and red.


    We match, she thought nonsensically as he drew closer.


    She worried he would hug her and give her cause to weep. He was one of the few in the Clan taller than her, so she’d be utterly engulfed in a hug by him. He skidded to a stop at a respectful distance and bowed to her.


    “Hua,” he said, savouring her name. Saying it like he was invoking a fundamental truth upon the world. “You don’t know how relieved I am to see you alive. I feared the worst when I couldn’t find you the last two days. The moment I heard you were here, I came straight away. Please, forgive me for not finding you sooner.”


    “You searched for me all this time?”


    “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I? I could not do anything less.”


    She felt the barest stirring of warmth in her cold heart. Weiji was the sort to trip over flat ground and embarrass himself on the training field. She had mocked him relentlessly the moment she realised she could get away with it. And yet, he still looked for her when she wouldn’t have been surprised to find him cowering in a dark hole. Against his own inclinations, he acted with bravery. For her. For kin and family.


    Weiji rose from his bow, startled when he saw Hua’s eyes.


    “Your eyes—”


    She shook her head slightly before he said anything more. She didn’t want to talk about whatever he saw in her. If eyes were the portal to the soul, then Weiji would be seeing her grief and fury. Those things burning her away from the inside.


    After a moment, he tore his gaze from her eyes. Only then did he notice Liu Xin. His shocked relief morphed into a snarl, revealing sharp teeth. That right there was a familiar expression. She saw it in the mirror sometimes. Saw it on her grandmother when she was irritated and even from her brother when they trained.


    Quickly approaching, Weiji inserted himself between her and Liu Xin with no attempt at subtlety. Entirely unlike him, but then again, he didn’t usually walk around in bloody robes.


    “In these times we are all friends, Weiji.”


    “Not all are friends. May I know the name of the man standing so close to you?”


    She almost sighed. Almost. It would take more energy to straighten her back if she loosened it now. Had Weiji’s nervous disposition morphed into paranoia in the span of a few hours? Well, Hua had practice dealing with that. Give them something to focus on, something simple that required effort.


    “Will you use that information to kill him behind my back?”


    “Of course not. I’d do it right in front of you. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure no blood lands on you. It won’t take me more than a moment.”


    Hua couldn’t help her smile. There was a reason they were related. Ruthlessness was in their blood. Maybe more so than lightning and silver hair.


    “I missed you, Cousin.” Weiji startled at that, looking down over his shoulder at her. A lance of disquiet went through her at his surprise. “Now, Liu Xin, give us space. I would speak to my cousin privately. Make sure no one approaches. Kill any spy you see.”


    “As you wish,” the man said, bowing. His expression was pinched, eyes narrowed at her cousin.


    If she allowed the man access to their Clan pills, and he ascended, would he try to kill Cousin Ji? He’d fought a losing battle against four opponents for something as ridiculous as scholarship. That spoke of a man willing to do whatever it took to live. Clinging to Hua’s protection, yes, but would he kill pre-emptively?


    I’m going to have so much fun with this, she thought with only a little bit of malice. It wasn’t that she disliked Weiji or any of her relatives, but she did have to find ways to relieve her boredom.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    “You’re uninjured?” she asked, pushing down her plans. She looked him over again and once more found no visible injuries.


    “Nothing a bit of Qi and a few pills couldn’t handle. My Elder wasn’t so selfish this month and that might very well have saved my life. The mortals weren’t so lucky. Lightning struck and before I knew it, I was surrounded by flames. Those near me were… they were less fortunate. They did not survive the blast. There was chaos as that part of the city was engulfed.”


    “Chaos everywhere. That’s the common theme today. Chaos and stupid mortals.”


    “Unfortunately, so,” he agreed with an exhausted sigh. “I don’t know what caused this, but we’ll endure. I know we will. We have no choice.”


    She agreed. They would endure. Nothing more, nothing less. She needed Clan resources to stake her blade in the heart of heaven.


    “Tell me what the sky looks like to you?”


    “I don’t understand.”


    “The sky. Just tell me what you see. What you sense.”


    “The sun is red from the smoke. We should be able to see stars this late in the afternoon, but they’re hidden by the haze. A few smokestacks in the distance. But nothing else beyond the lightning strikes. Nothing special.”


    “And the lightning doesn’t feel odd to you?”


    His attention sharpened. “I have decent sensory capabilities, but that lightning feels like normal lightning to me. A lot more Qi than expected, but there’s a lot of Qi everywhere right now.”


    He couldn’t perceive the Great Net of Heaven that loomed over them like lightning sewn into the sky. Qing hadn’t seen it. Weij, a formally trained Cultivator, couldn’t perceive it. No one else had mentioned it. So was she alone in seeing the cause of their devastation? In knowing of heaven’s betrayal? Fury once more took root in her chest. No one else would understand, not as she did. But maybe that didn’t matter? So long as they pointed their swords in the right direction, it could be enough. If she led them to heaven’s gates, did it matter that they did not see the steps below them?


    “Your eyes are different,” Weiji added, watching her carefully. He blinked those brilliantly green eyes that they might no longer share. “Golden. Like looking at the sun through a veil. They might even be glowing. What happened to you, Cousin?”


    “I was struck by lightning. I endured. Nothing more. Don’t be hysterical about it.”


    “You always manage to surprise,” he said eventually, nonsensically. Only a little hysterical. “Always another miracle with you whenever we look away. You’re not good for my heart, Hua.”


    She scoffed. “I could do a lot worse if you aren’t careful. Now, what news do you have?”


    “What I suspect is the same news everywhere. Earthquakes, the ground swallowing whole buildings and streets. The mountain’s water basin broke and flowed down to raise the level of the river and make sure everything was flooded. That wiped out a lot of the fires before the entire city caught alight. Dampened the wood. Future fires won’t be as easy to start or spread. Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s become of our kin. I came down the mountain on my own, so I haven’t seen any of our kin.”


    “And the soldiers? Ours or the Imperials.”


    “Some of the Clan soldiers were working without prompting, doing their best in rescue operations. The others, I had to beat my way through till they remembered just who it is they owe fealty to and why. I can’t believe these mortals are willing to waste time and effort with base looting. Give mortals a moment of hardship and stop breathing down their necks, and watch as they naturally turn to banditry. It took a while but there’s some semblance of order in the areas west of the residential district which I hope will hold.”


    “You’ve done well.”


    A smile bloomed across his sharp features. The dimples it produced weren’t familiar to Hua. She had never seen them in the mirror. They were inherited, she suspected, from his out-clan mother. Or maybe Hua just didn’t smile enough to ever notice.


    “Things could be better. I wish I had news of the rest of the clan for you. Their absence is uncharacteristic. I know Aunty Qiang would have been here by now. Maybe even some of the Shen Elders. At the very least, someone from our vassals.”


    It had bothered Hua as well, that absence. Thankfully, Weiji had just volunteered himself. “When did you enter Qi condensation?”


    “I did so alongside your brother.” His smile strained. “Though he has far surpassed me since then. May I know why you ask?”


    “I require a favour from someone who can overcome any obstacle in their way.”


    “I think I can manage a favour for you today of all days. The ancestors would never forgive me if I refused. My Lady mother certainly wouldn’t.”


    “Return to the clan compound. Let them know I live and that I organise the city in the name of our clan. Tell them we’ll need to perform cleansing rituals for the dead.”


    “And leave you alone with this Yeren?” He whirled on the spot to glare at Liu Xin, the supposed wild Jurchen, who was standing far enough to maintain the fiction that he was not eavesdropping. But he was keeping other eavesdroppers away and that was more important.


    “I am a scholar of history and a trained scribe, born and raised in Liaojiangkou,” he answered calmly which was commendable. Weiji had the distinctive silver and green colouring of her Clan, even if his hair was dirtied and his eyes narrowed almost to slits. Liu Xin had seen her kill mortals without hesitation. Maintaining his composure against a Cultivator who had threatened to kill him added to the murky painting that was Liu Xin.


    “Worse, a peasant who thinks that because he can read, he is worthy of standing beside those blessed by heaven. I know your tricks. I see you for what you are. At least the wandering Yeren are honest about their savagery.”


    “This unworthy scribe can trace his lineage three centuries, Young Master. This one’s descendants gave blood in defence of the Amber Sea against both Goryeo and Yellow Cap.”


    “Any savage can make up a lineage. You will never have the name Liao no matter whose legs you try and cling to.”


    “Liao Weiji, I am no blushing jade beauty about to be abducted to a cave. Now, will you obey my order?”


    For a moment, he hesitated. Warring between two different kinds of loyalty. Then he saw the many who were watching from afar, realised the image he was creating with his defiance. He bowed deeper than was necessary. There was an apology in his courtesy. Another needless thing. Weiji was a fellow Cultivator and family besides. Politeness had never been necessary.


    “As you say, Young Mistress. Please, do not hesitate to use your Thunder Palm when the peasant reveals his true nature.”


    “I will,” she promised with a small smile, enjoying this bloodthirst. Weiji kept it hidden but he was just as much a leopard who enjoyed eating faces as Hua. It was rare to see him bare his fangs so readily or unsheathe the knives he kept hidden away.


    “Take these,” he insisted, pushing a medicinal pouch in her hands.


    Even leopards could love their kin.