“I am the Lord Liao Weilong,” Hua declared, and by that declaration, the mountain knew a new lord.


    Old formations were bound to her in a great surge of light and power. They were powerful things, ancient, millennia old. She felt every year. The sudden influx of sensory information almost sent her to her knees. There was an awareness of everyone in this room that was greater. Before, she could only vaguely make out the tethers that tied the elders to the elemental anchors at equidistant points—that knowledge entered from the ether—around the lodestone, but now it was clear as day.


    Hua was exhausted. She felt it everywhere. Body, soul, Qi. Everything that was her had been passed through a grinder and remade to tie her to the lodestone at the centre of her clan’s formations. But she stood tall if only so she could savour Elder Shenyu’s pinched expression. There had never been a chance she would be friends with them.


    “This has been a thoroughly unpleasant time,” said Elder Shenyu, who was thoroughly versed in making the lives of courtesans unpleasant by putting a bastard on them.


    “Let us not do this for the third time in a decade,” Said Elder Shenyi, the older brother who had yet to make an unpleasant nuisance of himself.


    “I, for one, have spent enough of my day on this matter. If nothing else remains, I will take my leave,” said Elder Shenhou, the foremost elder of the Shen generation who were likely to all prove themselves nuisances in the future.


    Before he could take a step, Hua asked, “Are you certain nothing remains?”


    If Shenyu had expressed a complex cocktail of distaste, fury, and impotence, then Shenhou revealed only a deep-abiding indifference to Hua’s existence. If Yu was the wildfire, Hu was the glacier. Her petty powerplay meant nothing to him. Her very existence was little more than a nuisance.


    Hua immediately took it personally. If the gods were her enemies, then she would make the elders acknowledge her.


    “Is this old man wrong?”


    “Quite,” she said sharply.


    “Then will you tell this old man?”


    “It should be quite simple to understand even for an old man.”


    Elder Qiang walked forward, interrupting the tense stand-off, and offered Hua a nod. “Excuse me, Lord Weilong.”


    “You are excused.”


    Elder Shenhou’s indifference was marred by a flash of irritation she almost missed over Shenyu’s expression of studied outrage. It was an immaculate look from the latter, his sheer affront worthy of the history books. But the former’s expression vanished so fast Hua might have missed it in the flickering lamp light if not for her new eyes. Good, he as well felt the sting of disrespect. So long as she could affect him, it would be enough.


    Hua would make concessions in the future. Dangle her compliance like rope and watch them tie it around their necks, thinking that because it was held in their hand it couldn’t kill them as well. But for now, it would need to be said again and again until everyone saw her and saw a lord as well.


    “Truly, you mean to—”


    “Yes.”


    “Would a lord excuse this elder?” he asked flatly, using the most passive and indifferent tone she had ever heard in her life.


    “You may.” She nodded to the two brothers. “You may go as well. I am sure you have much to discuss.”


    Hua turned her attention away from them, making the dismissal final. Elder Shenyu sounded like a steaming pot in his fury, but Hua ignored it as he was pulled away by his brother.


    “This ritual could have killed someone less prepared,” Hua said lightly, carefully, to the last occupant.


    Grandmother shrugged. “Anyone of sufficient talent and strength would survive. I didn’t raise a weak successor. If you’d died, it would prove you were too weak to survive the coming trials.”


    “It would have killed me two weeks ago. Would you have mourned my loss?”


    “Stop wasting time on dead possibilities. Live in the now and focus on the days ahead.”


    “Grandmother, I suggest you leave me be for a few hours before I do something truly foolish.”


    “I’ll give you a final tip. Showing off your claws is all well and good, but if you do it too often without drawing blood, people will think they are blunt. They will ask if you are a paper tiger or a true dragon.”


    “We fly the kingfisher banner,” she said pettily. “Your analogy could use work.”


    “As you say, Lord Great Dragon.”


    Her new name. Her new station. How petty to make that an insult.


    Grandmother left her like that, stewing in her irritation.


    ***


    Hua found herself walking back to her estate, taking a long, winding path to soothe her annoyance. She made certain she was seen, but truthfully, she was just basking in the solidity of the mountain beneath her. It was home and now she could feel it, truly, in her Qi and soul. Those bright pinpricks who shared it with her, bleeding together in a collage that brought her calm.


    Her home came into view, those sweeping roofs familiar. It was then that she stopped and addressed the presence that had been following her for the past three minutes.


    “Ming, what do you want?” Hua asked without turning.


    “How did you know—sorry, not important, um, I need your assistance. Please. This is important.”


    Cousin Ming had never asked her for anything besides mercy at the training grounds. Hua turned and gave her the full weight of her attention. Her cousin flinched. Swallowed nervously.


    After a moment to square her shoulders, Ming said, “We need permission to move the Bronze Cauldron.”


    “I distinctly remember telling Weiji to help you with anything you needed and Weiji is many things, reliable and terrified of me included.”


    “He did.”


    “Then?”


    “He lacks the authority. His Elder lacks the authority. Without the Patriarch, moving the Cauldron specifically needs the Lord’s permission,” Ming said slowly, carefully, glancing away when Hua’s expression shifted.


    There had been no grand announcement made of her binding ritual, but it was obvious to anyone who could put three thoughts together. The Patriarch hidden away. The heir Weijiang missing. Hua as the strongest of the new generation. Even the most ignorant and far-removed member of their Clan would know by noon that she was Lord.


    It was also a subtle admonishment even if Ming did not mean it as one. She should have known the limits of authority. It was her duty as well now.


    “Follow me.”


    Her father’s office had never been a place she spent time in. Maybe when she was a toddler but she doubted it. Mother was alive and they had minders to watch them. Certainly not after her grandmother entered the picture and took Hua as part of the internal politics that were increasingly becoming every aspect of Hua’s life.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    This sunlit domain would be hers now. That the wards allowed her to unlock the door was proof enough of her station. It took three guesses before she found the box she was looking for. Lacquered wood varnished a deep black red, easily mistaken for black if not for the morning light. It unlocked and in it, she found stacks of flat bamboo.


    Bamboo slips were an old way to write a message, but these ones could not be faked. They were spirit plants they purchased from the Zhao Clan, and once they were infused with a certain Qi signature, they could not be removed or replaced.


    She laid one on the table and laid out her father’s writing equipment. Ming immediately set herself to making ink from the block as Hua found an appropriate brush. If there was one lesson she hadn’t been able to miss, it was calligraphy. Her father and grandmother found common ground in that. She dipped the brush in freshly made ink and wrote her first missive as Lord Liao.


    <blockquote>


    By decree of Lord Liao who guards all lightning and the Five Thunders on behalf of the Thunder Bureau, the Radiant Tenth Cauldron that Refines to Origin is to be immediately released for use by the priest or priest-in-training carrying this permission slip. All members of the Bronze Guard are to be raised to battle readiness and accompany the Cauldron to all environs that the bearer of this missive visits in service of setting the dead to rest.


    Let it be known that any and all attempts to impede the bearer of this missive will be considered treason against the Liao Clan. Let it be known that they walk with the full authority of the Liao Clan and all resources are to be availed to them as they exorcise the restless spirits of the dead.


    This I write with my authority as Lord Liao Weilong, Anchor of the Formations, and Heir to Liao Xiaosan, the Radiant Lightning Body.


    </blockquote>


    Her first formal missive. When its purpose was complete, it would be taken and added to the clan annals for future generations to judge her by.


    She did not yet have a personal seal. She took her father’s Clan Seal, a block of clear jade with characters carved upon the base and infused it with Qi before stamping it down on the slip. Upon the bamboo permission slip, the Kingfisher symbol glowed a vibrant red.


    Hua waited until the ink had dried before passing it over to Ming who took it reverently.


    She read over it with careful eyes that widened as she went through it.


    “Thank you.”


    Ming bowed low.


    Hua felt a great bitterness.


    This would be her life. She would be removed from her peers in a way she had never fathomed. Even as they were together, Hua would be beyond them. If they wished this farcical deception to hold, nothing else could be accepted.


    “How long will it take you to set it up?”


    “No more than a sichen.”


    “Then I will be there. Let the Clan know its new Lord will be present and that all members of the main lineage are to attend.”


    ***


    Two hours was not much time for an entire clan to organise. Even Hua wasn’t quite so mad as to demand that. Old Ren and his team would be busy making reagents and healing kin to attend. Too many vassals dealing with the mundane tasks of ensuring the compound functioned.


    “The Liao Patriarch has traditionally led the opening parts of Yu Lan,” her grandmother said before they left for the burial grounds. Even Hua’s snappish displeasure hadn’t made Grandmother leave. “It won’t be expected that you do more than consecrate the Clan grounds since we haven’t made the formal announcement yet. So long as you are present, it will be enough.”


    “You’re going to make the Elders accept a lord who won’t even take part in the most important ceremony of the year? You just cautioned me against making enemies for no reason but here you are, ensuring the entire Council of Elders will loathe me more than they already do.”


    “There was never any chance those Shen boys wouldn’t hate you. You’re at least twice as talented as Little Yu’s grandson and that’s before including Weiji’s natural disposition. No matter how hard you try, you’ll always be the wrong candidate for them. Keep making them mad for my entertainment; I’ll happily watch you cut a head or two.”


    “Much as I would very happily kill someone, I would like to avoid any kinslaying this generation.”


    “More kinslaying, you mean.”


    Hua blinked. “Yes, more. That will not be my legacy. Tell me you understand.”


    “I suppose I can indulge my favourite disciple.”


    “And your only. Technicalities like that are beneath you. Now, what do you read from the Clan cemetery?”


    “Terrible things. Forming a lake over a burial ground is… well, the Trigrams aren’t favourable. Lake over Mountain or Heaven over Lake depending on how you read it. Easy to read something negative out of being told to tread carefully quite literally over our Clan grave and the hexagram for Conjoining. This is one time I wish I’d convinced a Yu Diviner to join us.”


    Hexagrams were the greater counterpart to the trigram. Stack a trigram upon another trigram, and a hexagram was produced. Do it carelessly and your dantian would explode. Hua had never formed one.


    “Oh, I see, because they’re diviners they knew you were coming and fled like any reasonable person.”


    Grandmother smacked her on the head. “No, you silly child. They committed suicide before I got near.”


    “Oh, so they fled like any reasonable person should.”


    Getting one over her grandmother was worth being smacked a hundred times more. It was a strange bit of normalcy before they would put their ancestors to rest. The absurdity of the past week threatened to overwhelm her—Qing, always Qing waiting in the corner of her vision, judging her every act. But only for a moment. Then, she donned the mantle of the person she needed to be.


    This would be the first time she would appear in a formal setting as the Liao Clan’s acting lord.


    She was not alone. Her twins followed her and from them, she drew her confidence. The white robes they wore were of great quality. Hua hated seeing them in anything related to mourning. Had they even lost someone they cared for? Beyond mourning for the sake of mourning blood, was there anyone they knew who had fallen?


    There were still some fires burning across the city or perhaps they were new fires formed in the chaos. The greatest loss of life the city experienced since they took control of the city. She could see the smoke towers from here, but the formations kept them from choking on ash.


    They couldn’t protect the grounds from everything. The great mountain basin that stored water had cracked through. Forever would there be a waterfall down the slopes to the Clan grave and overflowing to the lower hills, down to the city, and eventually the Liao River. It had swelled, yes, but it was almost gentle the flooding it inflicted on her clan grounds. Almost as if it had chosen the mortals to punish and the new lake was an unfortunate byproduct.


    The lake had become a sea of manmade lights after the work their priests had done. Their reserve of lotus lanterns had been unleashed upon the lake, their blossoms lit by the flame at their centre. Altars and headstones stuck out from the lake’s calm surface and occasionally, the lotus lanterns would stop by them.


    The Great Bronze Cauldron was transported by guards in full regalia, blue and gold armour glittering even at night. Priests accompanied them. Led the procession, really, beating on small leather drums with bamboo sticks. They chanted a song she had hummed along with every year.


    Finally, the Cauldron was set down. The head priest approached Hua. This would be Ming’s mother, knowing it in the same way she had felt Ming, and could now tell which of her relatives were in the field overlooking the new lake.


    Liao Hua accepted a torch and infused it with a spark of her Qi. She inserted it in the cauldron. Flames roared to life, burning the same shade of gold as her eyes. This was not a colour she had ever seen from a flame. Murmurs rose. Or anyone, it seemed.


    But there were things that must be done and so she accepted a sheaf of golden joss paper, the customary offering. She threw it into the Bronze Cauldron and watched as the hungry flames consumed it. One by one, their clan added their offerings to the Cauldron. And one by one, the flames grew higher and burnt hotter.


    Lights rose from the formed lake. At first, Hua thought they might be a lotus lantern burning. But then the light rose and formed a sight she had witnessed upon returning to the clan grounds and seeing the lake for the first time.


    The spirits of the dead would not let themselves be forgotten.


    Hua looked around and confirmed that yes, others were seeing the dead now. There were murmurs sweeping through those in attendance.


    “Ghosts,” Elder Qiang said in a fearful voice.


    “No,” the head priest countered strongly, “these are our ancestors.”


    Small fingers wrapped around Hua’s left hand. She glanced down and saw Song’s white-knuckled grip on her hand. On Song’s other side, Meiling was wincing, her had crushed as well.


    One of the elders gasped. “Is that… surely that is not Xiaoyuan?”


    Grandmother huffed and said lowly, “Even in death that boy can’t leave me be.”


    With no choice, they continued the ceremony. The smell of camphor, cloves and burning metal choked the air. Hua breathed it in calmly, never faltering. There could never be a moment of weakness again. Not so long as she was Lord.


    When the chanting reached a crescendo, the ghosts rose from the lake and drifted toward the Cauldron. Everyone moved away to give them an unimpeded path and they watched as the first of their ancestors approached the Cauldron.


    It paused to look at Hua.


    “We will endure,” said Lord Liao Weilong for all those listening, living and dead. “Liao has always stood sentinel over the Amber Sea. So long as I live, I will stand sentinel over this clan.”


    Whatever the ghost—her uncle—saw in her, it was enough for him to reach past her, toward the Cauldron. As his ephemeral hand touched the flames, they spread across his form. He rose as though buoyed by the fire and the fire roared in turn.


    It was like a floodgate opened, the dead eager to go to another place beyond their sunken graves. A place they could finally lay down their heads and find whatever peace was awaiting them.


    With each of the restless dead, the flames rose until there was a golden beacon reaching towards the heavens. Radiant warmth that washed over them gently despite the power of the fire. It was… sacred. Beautiful and haunting, the act of burning away her ancestors.


    And then all at once, silence.


    A cavernous quiet that engulfed them as the flames died away. No evidence would remain but the memory they carried. No sign or proof but what they kept in their hearts and defended by telling of this night to future generations.


    Cousin Ming tugged on Hua’s sleeve. Hua turned to her, seeing that she had lifted the veil of her headdress.


    “That hasn’t happened in centuries. A true exorcism like this, where we see them—even the Yu Clan can’t make that claim. Something is terribly wrong.”


    “Did you not hear me the first time? So long as I live, we will endure,” Hua promised. “We will make it through these dark days. So long as you hold true to clan and lightning, we will make it to the future. This, I promise you, on my new name.”


    “But—”


    “Do you doubt me, Cousin Ming?”


    Ming swallowed and could not meet her gaze for long. “No, Lord.”


    “Then tell me what you need and this Lord will resolve the matter.”


    “I think we might need the local priests.”


    Maybe killing a local priest was a mistake.