118 — Gossip

Yin stepped through shrubs near the Qi vein, feeling the gentle breeze rustle her hair. There was a jute back sewn together that hung by her wait, tied with two little strings that kept the thing firmly in place. Searching through the grass, she picked up stalks of spirit grass, before placing it into the basket. Just another day as usual for her, if not for the two people accompanying her.

“I still don’t know how you can pick these without any Qi sense,” Yan Yun said, walking behind Yin. The girl had been accompanying Yin in her task the past few days, insisting to help out. Yin had been hesitant at first, and not just because the girl’s stature and beauty intimidated her. She’d been worried Yan Yun would slow her feet or throw tantrums when she found the task to not be what she’d imagined it, but the girl had been a great help, finding far more spirit herbs than Yin did.

“There are ways to separate them with sight as well,” Ying Hua said, her basket far more filled than Yin and Yan Yun’s. The girl seemed skilled at this. Enough that Yin couldn’t help a little pang of jealousy at how unfair things were.

She tried not to sigh at the image of the two girls behind her. It felt like the number of cultivators simply kept multiplying in the village. A good thing ultimately, but she couldn’t deny feeling a bit intimidated. At the end of it, any quarrel with cultivators would hurt mortals like them the most.

Even putting aside all the cultivator business, there was the legacy of her grandfather and Lu Jie… What did he intend to do with the books and the knowledge her grandfather had kept aside? She’d just told them to Lu Jie, thrilled to find someone from her grandfather’s world, but what if that had been a mistake? Would she be in trouble? Her family?

Her grandfather had told her of terrible weapons that they’d built in their world. All with the power to wipe out humanity itself if they so wished. Yin couldn’t even imagine such a thing. Even if an extremely powerful cultivator decided to do such a thing, there were others who could fight back. What if Lu Jie decided to build similar weapons as well? A swirl of anxiety and uncertainty filled Yin as she continued to silently pick her herbs.

“Is something wrong Yin? Your basket is barely filled,” Yan Yun said, pulling Yin out of her thoughts.

“Huh? N-no, nothing. Just got distracted,” Yin replied, realising she’d been dazing out.

“Are you sure? You had a concerned expression on your face. You also seem awfully distracted today.”

Yin looked at the girl, feeling a strange emotion. Here was a heiress to all these cultivators and sects, so beautiful that even Yin found herself blushing at her sight, asking what was concerning a mortal like her. Was all of this some cruel joke from fate? To have someone like her mingle with cultivators like these. To give her dreams she shouldn’t have. It’d be so much easier if they’d maintained their distance and left them to their lives. Everything felt so much more complicated now that cultivators had started to appear human like the rest of them.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit tired,” Yin replied with a quiet smile.

“If we’re going too quickly then do let us know. I’m not too used to doing these tasks, and neither am I familiar with mortal limits too well. So I apologise if we’d been rushing you,” Ying Hua said in the stiff and polite language she used from the capital. Did they all talk like that in the Azure city?

“Or, you can take a rest. Ying Hua and I should be more than enough for gathering as much herbs as is needed,” Yan Yun added, picking up another stalk of spirit grass.

Yin looked at the girl who’d started to open up to her. She’d hesitated to engage too much with Yan Yun because of her stature, but… she knew how lonely she’d been. Abandoned by her family and left on her own, it must’ve been devastating on her. Perhaps she could be honest with her? She’d heard that Yan Yun had lost her cultivation, she didn’t understand how things like that worked, but wasn’t she a mortal now too, or close to it? She may understand her fear for having made the wrong choice.

“I… it’s about someone I trusted with something precious to me recently. I’m wondering if that was a mistake. It’s not something I’ve ever shown to anyone before, and this was my first time doing so,” Yin said, fidgeting awkwardly.

Yan Yun’s frown increased before a red flush rose on her cheeks. The girl looked around as if to scan for people before walking closer and whispering in Yin’s ears.

“Was it Lu Jie?”

Yin looked at the girl with wide eyes, before nodding. “Did he tell you?” Yin asked.

“No!” Yan Yun exclaimed abruptly, louder than she’d anticipated by the look on her face. She coughed, calming herself, before continuing. “No he didn’t, he never would. I just thought it might’ve been him. The others did not make sense.”

Yin saw a sparkle flash through Yan Yun’s eyes. The girl seemed positively excited about the topic, though Yin couldn’t tell why.

“So, what’s the issue then? Don’t tell me he forced you?” Yan Yun asked, her voice turning grave.

“No, no he didn’t. I went to him on my own. At the time, it felt like the right thing to do. All this time, I’d thought there would be no one who would know, or understand. But then there he was, and I’d felt so swept away in emotion.” Yin paused when she heard something that sounded an awful lot like a squeal from Yan Yun. She spotted the girl looking at her with glowing eyes, eager to listen more. Yin, still confused, continued.

“But now… I don’t know. Did I make the right choice? Was I too hasty? I don’t even know him too well, and no matter what, he was still a cultivator. I just… don’t know,” Yin said, feeling her anxieties starting to swell, as they began to pour out of her. She felt tears gather in her eyes, and she quickly wiped them, feeling embarrassed.

Yan Yun closed in, grasping her shoulders. “It’ll be fine. Lu Jie is a bit quirky, yes. But he’s a good guy. And he cares for people close to him. You don’t have to worry about him being a cultivator or anything either, I’ve never seen him treat mortals or cultivators differently. Perhaps the reason he tends to get in so much trouble,” Yan Yun said, and Yin laughed. He’d once seen the boy being pushed into mud by some children. The entire village had held their breath in fear, when instead of getting angry, the boy had called for his spirit turtle and shouted something silly before drenching them all.

“That is true, yes. I feel better… thank you Yan Yun,” Yin said, smiling at the girl. Yan Yun looked at her in surprise, before returning a bright smile of her own.

“Anytime, Yin. Though I can’t claim to understand… I never had the chance to develop something like that. But I have always wanted to have some female friends of my own age to whom I could talk about such things, and laugh and share stories with. It’s something of a dream for me,” Yan Yun trailed off.

Yin looked at the girl, seeing that same expression of sorrow. Moving in, she grasped Yan Yun’s hand, feeling the tender skin that was perfect beyond measure rest in her palm, as she looked up into her pear green eyes. “I can be your friend,” Yin said, before she paused. “I-if you’d like me to be. And if that isn’t rude.”

Yan Yun looked back into Yin’s eyes, surprised by her words. A moment later, she nodded smiling brightly as little tears filled her eyes. “I’d love to be your friend Yin! If you don’t mind, call me Yun,” Yan Yun replied, laughing.

Yin nodded at the girl. “Alright… Yun,” she said, watching Yan Yun’s face light up.

“Anyway, enough about me,” Yan Yun said, before leaning closer once more. “Does your father approve of things with you and Lu Jie?”

“My father? He doesn’t know of it,” Yin replied, confused by the question.

Yan Yun nodded. “That’s fine for now, but you’ll eventually have to take it up with him. Lu Jie is not very normal, and now with the Lord protecting him, it may not be strange if he’s made to marry for politics, and that’ll put your position in jeopardy. It’s best to clear these things out in due time. I’ve seen far too many mistresses and how they get treated, and I don’t want to see that happen to you,” Yan Yun said.

Yin stared blankly at the girl. “I… don’t understand? I don’t intend to marry Lu Jie?”

“Oh. Are you sure…? That seems… awfully scandalous…”  Yan Yun said, her voice getting quieter with each word by the confused expression on Yin’s face.

“I… think you misunderstood. I’d been talking about my grandfather’s legacy. I’d shared it with Lu Jie because they both shared the same home, a place beyond our empire,” Yin said.

She watched Yan Yun’s face slowly but surely turn a bright red as her eyes darted around in embarrassment. “Oh, I thought— people had been gossiping since they saw Lu Jie leave your place late at night and you’d been with him.”

Catching the implication, Yin found her own face lit up. “No! Heavens no! I-I could never. If anything I thought Yan Yun was… I’d never even entertained the thought because of that.”

Ying Hua, who’d been quietly watching the two of them, suddenly spoke up. “Lady Yan Yun would never. She’s from a respected family, and even if things are a bit difficult right now, she carries the name of Yan. She would never do any such thing with a commoner like Lu Jie—“

“That’s not true,” Yan Yun interrupted, glancing back at Ying Hua. “I’m aware how things work in Azure city, but… I have been stripped of my family’s ties and have lost my cultivation. If anything, someone like Lu Jie who’s favoured by the Lord currently would never look at someone like me twice, if he’d been a man like that.”

Ying Hua stirred, feeling as if she had to say something, but the girl remained silent. Yin, feeling awkward starting to grow, continued. “That isn’t true, Yan Yun. You’re so pretty, any man would be glad to have you. I on the other hand am merely the daughter of a small village’s head. Someone like Lu Jie, a cultivator of such strength… I could never.”

The three girls drifted into an awkward silence, resuming their herb gathering tasks for a while. A few minutes of silent work later, Yan Yun spoke up once more.

“So… before I’d misunderstood, you’d been mentioning your grandfather’s legacy and that they shared a home?” Yan Yun asked.

Yin nodded, plucking another herb and putting it in her basket. “Yes. Not the same home, but they’d been close by to one another from what I know. It’s a very distant land,” Yin said, glancing at Yan Yun.

“Now that you mention it, Lu Jie has always known strange things. He’d taught a class about lighting and such, and I’d been meaning to ask him where he’d learned such things, but we’d gotten interrupted, and then the thought slipped my mind,” Yan Yun said, looking at Yin. “Where is his home?”

Yin grew silent for a moment, picking up the little herbs, before glancing back at Yan Yun. “Truthfully, I don’t know either. It’s a very far off land, and my grandfather said that he could likely never return to it.”

Yan Yun frowned at Yin’s words, but didn’t pursue the question.

“Perhaps you could ask Lu Jie directly?” Yin Hua added, glancing at the girls. “He may have arrived here from one of the continents beyond the Azure sea.”

“Do you truly think so?” Yan Yun asked. “He looks to be from the empire. I hear the people beyond the Azure sea have much more colour hair and eyes. We get some traders on the coast every so often.”

“I wouldn’t want to pry too much. If he wanted to share, he would’ve. That being said… I would like to know more about my grandfather’s home. Before he passed away, he told me stories about his home. I was hoping to know how things were.” Yin said, quietly looking in the distance.

“You should talk to him. I’m sure he’ll be glad to tell you,” Yan Yun said.

“Do you truly think so?” Yin asked, receiving a nod from Yan Yun. She thought over the topic, feeling a strange joy at the idea of hearing more of her grandfather’s home.

Surely it wouldn’t hurt to ask? Yin decided to ask Lu Jie, the next chance she saw him.

The three girls continued to talk about the topic as the hours passed by. With the sun starting to cross the sky, they made their way back to the village. Arriving into the village Yin paused at seeing a crowd gathered around her home. Walking faster, she made her way in, asking one of the villagers what had happened.

The old woman looked at Yin, a deeply concerned look on her face. “Oh Yin, you’re here. The sect… sent a messenger. They’ll be cutting us off from their contract. The village will starve without them!”