Xiao Fen moved, center of gravity low, limbs tucked in. Her tread left cracks in the stone, and black fire burned on her brow, a crown of eyes that made her awareness of this space absolute.
The crack and hiss of tal lashes displacing air around her was louder than thunder. One tore her sleeve, another kissed her cheek, drawing a weeping slash in her skin, another nearly caught her ankle.
But she yanked her foot up, hopped over, the back of her hands bloodied as they batted away two more ribbons of immortal steel. Terrifying. In her short life, the black viper had never experienced such gut churning terror. Her heart in her throat, her eyes prickling with sothing close to tears.
Her arm trembled, almost spasd as she lashed out, a sharp knife hand strike, ant to drive her fingers between the enemies ribs and dig into their vitals, injecting toxic qi directly into their ridians.
Her breath caught in her throat, and her hand jerked, shooting past her opponents side and into the open air.
“That is your point, Xiao Fen. I suppose I have been neglecting my physical arts,” Bai izhen said, lowering her hand. The tal lashes skirled and hissed, dragging across the sparring room floor.
Xiao Fen’s breath hitched and her shoulders hunched. “N-no, my clumsiness- I- Your form is much superior, my Mistress.”
“Ah, I did not understand how hard this might be for you,” Bai izhen said. Xiao Fen could feel her frown, and felt even more miserable. “Nonetheless. I am proud of how far you have co with your clan arts, to be able to touch in a spar.”
“Mistress, I did not-”
She stiffened as she felt her lady lay a hand on her head. Fingers cool and soft in her hair. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her Mistress, Lady izhen, was truly beyond compare. Every Black Viper must think such of their White Serpent, but she was certain that among her generation, only her estimation was correct.
“It was I who asked you to go against your training in this. You have no fault. But I am pleased to have a companion who can show where my guard is lax.”
“...Lady Bai very slightly favors her right, and the pattern woven by your fangs leaves a very small gap when switching between the third and seventh movents,” Xiao Fen said quietly. Criticizing her Lady made her stomach churn, but it was what she had been commanded to do. She wouldn’t shafully fail her command twice in a row.
The hand on her head did not leave, nor tighten its grip, digging nails into her scalp and injecting venom as so of her youth instructors had done to show the folly of opening one's guard to affection.
“I see, I will have to redy that. Thank you, Xiao Fen.”
Warmth in her chest helped to wash away the nausea in her stomach. Her Mistress was uncommon among her kin. Xiao Fen had begun to understand this. But it failed to dispel the deeper discomfort in Xiao Fen’s heart. She had considered many expectations in what her White Serpent would ask of her as a young girl.
She could not comprehend her Mistress’ intent even now. It was her failing, and it shad her, to not be able to follow her thinking.
Bai izhen’s hand slid out of her hair, and Xiao Fen straightened up. They were in the sparring chamber of her Lady’s domicile, a compact space not fit for greater battles but well enough for martial displays.
“I have pushed your limits a great deal, haven’t I Xiao Fen?” Bai izhen said, she flicked her wrist and tal slid across tal as the lashes of the ribbon blade curled themselves back up and vanished from her grasp. “How is your friend, Liu Xin?”
She straightened herself, shaking out her sleeve, the small tear was repairing itself, and she flared her qi, cold fire burning away the blood of small cuts, cauterizing them. They would be healed within an hour. Mistress had been holding back a great deal. “He is well. I have ensured his physical cultivation does not lag while he focuses on his alchemy.”
Stolen from , this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“I see,” Bai izhen said.
“And I am perturbed by his infatuation with this Wang Chao. It will only hurt him. Their ranks are too far apart, and I have so reason to believe Wang Chao is already engaged in indiscretions with another disciple.”
“Ah.”
“Which I have inford him of, but he has discounted my efforts to gather intelligence on this. It is frustrating.”
She only realized how much she had rambled as the final words left her lips. She felt her cheeks grow hot with sha. An apology began to form on her lips.
“Do not, I am pleased with your answer.”
Which should have filled her with relief, but instead only made her furrow her brow. She did not understand. But then, did she need too? She was only a vessel for her Mistress’ command. She observed her Mistress as she took up a warm cloth and delicately patted her brow.
“Mistress, I do not understand.”
Bai izhen turned to face her. Xiao Fen felt as if she would shrink to nothing and disappear. The admission burned.
“What do you not understand, Xiao Fen?”
“Anything,” she admitted, lowering her head. “From the mont I ca into your service, I have not understood your intentions.”
Bai izhen was silent, and Xiao Fen waited for her reprimand. She had more than earned it. But she could not continue to serve with so little comprehension. It only led to errors and her acting in ways which hard Bai izhen’s interests.
“I see. I would like to know what your best guesses are then, Xiao Fen.”
Xiao Fen pursed her lips. It was frustrating, so frustrating. Why could her Lady not simply tell her what she was ant to think? And that pernicious little thought, that criticism hurt too.
“I assu it is part of Lady Suzhen’s program,” she said slowly. “That you want to better understand outsiders. Hence your command to ‘make a friend’. I was not suited to a diplomatic role. But then it seems you intend to keep by your side, as a bodyguard? If it is about not bringing you sha at public events I could rely be your shadow, but…”
“You’re not wrong, Xiao Fen,” Bai izhen said. She took a seat on the stone bench set against the wall and gestured for Xiao Fen to follow her. “My Aunt… After being here for nearly two years, I truly believe she is right. But I wonder sotis if she does not go far enough.”
Xiao fen tucked her hands into her sleeves, taking a seat beside her Mistress. She listened carefully. There was a relief in finally unburdening herself of her failure to comprehend her Mistress’ desires.
“The Bai clan is broken,” Bai izhen said, and Xiao Fen stiffened. “Did you know I have been studying our history under the Ambassador? My Aunt has begun to provide with my Mother’s journals and manuals as well.”
Xiao Fen silently shook her head.
“We have, through the ages, made ourselves mighty. We have grown beyond reproach or challenge. But I think sowhere, we deviated from the proper path. In making ourselves impossible to challenge, in seeking that goal beyond all others…. We have excised our own ability to recognize errors. We have not rotted so much as… grown brittle.”
“...And I admit, the pure eyes you look at with Xiao Fen. I find them frightening.”
“Mistress-”
“I am a woman prone to errors, to temper and ill thought out passions. Do my indiscretions with Bao Qingling bother you?”
Xiao Fen bit down on her reflexive no. She understood implicitly that her Mistress would not be satisfied with that. She feared for her Mistress’ safety, sotis stewed on what she would do if the gangly foreigner hard her Lady’s heart, but… no. It was just one of her Mistress’ secrets, one more thing for her to keep and protect.
So Xiao were moved by lust. Those caught in congress with each other during their education were harshly punished and underwent severe revisionary training, but she knew that there were those in her creche who had so fantasies of being with their Master in such a manner, this was allowed. She had not lied to Liu Xin back when he had asked her intentions. She had never felt such impulses. She would gladly comply if her Mistress commanded it, but she did not feel any jealousy.
“It does not. I only worry for the danger it brings you.”
“I see… that is relieving,” Bai izhen said, looking down at her own hands, folded in her lap. “Xiao Fen, you asked for my intention. I do not believe the Xiao clan’s thods are good. Your training leaves you incomplete. I will admit, at the beginning when you ca to I did not have a clear plan. I only knew that I needed more than obedience. Ling Qi-she, well she ruined in so ways.”
Pride in her clan warred for a mont with deference to her Mistress. Of course the latter won out, even if it left her feeling unpleasant. Dislike flared in her heart. If there was anyone who she envied it was that obnoxious girl, who was so close to Bai izhen, who laughed with her and traded teasing barbs as if they were…
Friends.
“I am afraid I will continue to be a hard Mistress to serve, Xiao Fen. Perhaps I have been too long among those who do not show reflexive deference, and listened too long to Cai Renxiang speak. I am going to have many enemies. I will need you to walk beside , not behind.”
Xiao Fen felt a lump in her throat, but she nodded. “I understand.”
For the first ti, she felt like she actually might.
Reviews
All reviews (0)