Sky Pride

Tian and Hong gathered on the road to the Monastery after breakfast.

“You look better. Less… I don’t know. Despairing. Moody.” Hong nodded approvingly.

“Since when am I moody? I’m a cheery, optimistic youth full of good feelings about people and the world.” Tian declared.

Hong just looked at him. The seconds dragged on. Tian eventually rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

“The very best things about Ancient Crane Monastery are the Outer Courts, and the very best of them are here in West Town. My brothers looked after me. It felt good to be able to return some of their kindness. It’s not about balancing scales, it’s about…” Tian struggled to put it into words.

“About being part of something healthy. Something that doesn’t just flow in one direction.” Hong smiled.

“You are looking better too. Less brittle.” Tian smiled back.

“Yeah. Less brittle is a good way to put it. Sometimes I wonder if it’s your blood and qi affecting me.”

Tian blinked. “I like to think I’m a positive influence on you.”

“Heavens save me from midgets. Speaking of, where is the crane?”

Tian flicked a finger upward. The crane was lazily circling, looking for a promising pond or riverbank.

“Next stop Mountain Gate City.” Tian rolled his shoulders. “Lovely day for a stroll.”

It was not. Heavy rainclouds were steadily rolling towards the mountain. A solid wall of grey, coming in faster than a galloping horse. Peasants shouted and raced for their homes. A bare few did last minute checks on irrigation gates, the state of dams and walls, whether they had left out their cattle or chickens, before they, too, raced home.

It was something innate in humans, running before the storm. The countryside emptied quickly around them.

The rain would land like hammers of water at first, before slowing into a steady, inexorable, pressure thickened by cruel humidity. It never really got cold in the Broadsky Kingdom, but there were definitely more and less pleasant seasons. As far as Tian was concerned, the rainy season was the worst of them. Wet or dry, it felt like drowning. He had a powerful urge to turn around and dive into his cozy cell. The notion of running through the misery all the way to the mountain did not appeal.

Hong didn’t look much more enthused about the rain than he did. “Race you to Mountain Gate City.”

Tian’s eyes went wide. A race? Since when did they race? He felt a laugh bubbling up in him. Apparently, since today. “Alright, you are on!”

The two young immortals raced towards the mountain, pounding their stray thoughts into the dirt. They both had light body arts, and while they weren’t exquisite, they were well honed. Each step landed like thunder and propelled them forward like lighting. Around them, peasants scrambled through their doors, slammed shutters closed, frantically herded their chickens back into their coops. The ducks were left to fend for themselves, and why not? They would be just as happy in the wet as the dry.

Merchants plied their whips, driving their heavy draft horses to rolling canters. That was the best they could do, hauling heavy wagons. The horses could smell the rain and they didn’t like it either. They could go much faster if it wasn’t for the wagons, of course, but that didn’t suit the men with the whips.

Men who inexplicably found themselves without whips as something too fast to properly see raced past them.

“Really? REALLY?” Hong yelled.

“Really. If they want to go faster, they should get out and pull too.” Tian yelled back, his grin brilliant under the darkening sky.

The two immortals, close as brother and sister could be, ran up the wide stone-paved road, alongside the irrigation ditches and way markers. The country was running towards the sky, foothills rising, then falling, but always rising again.

The wagons appeared closer together, carrying flags of merchant houses, or painted with the colors and name of great clans. So many of them, it looked like they were flocking birds, or ants carrying food back to the nest.

“They can’t all be headed to the city!” Tian yelled.

“Bet?” Hong shook her head. She had taken off her wide hat. It would have blown away at the speed they were running, and besides, the dark clouds were blocking the sun.

“I thought only the Inner Court and their family could go into the city?”

“Only the Inner Court and their families can live there. These merchants won’t go past the city walls. There are big depots and warehouses just below the city, handling distribution. Local haulers bring things from the depot into the city if that’s the final destination. Otherwise, they are just shipped onward.”

Up the hills, moving steadily closer to the mountain. “Horses die when they see the mountains.” Tian had heard that expression from some of the wanderers on the rivers and lakes, but had never understood it. He did now. Ancient Crane Mountain looked close enough to touch, but no matter how far they ran, they never seemed to reach it. How many had exhausted their horses, whipping them on “Just a little bit further, we are almost there?”

Their clothes whipped around them, blue robes fluttering in the wind, snapping and yanking at them as the silk caught the air. Hong swore a blue streak when she saw Tian tying up his sleeves and taking a small lead. It was a strictly temporary setback. She had her own sleeves tied up barely a minute later, and quickly made up the ground.

Tian wanted to be back on the boat so badly, he could taste the river water. He could smell the marshes and reedy banks. He would build a little awning over the middle of the boat like some of the fishermen did, and he would hide under there as Liren poled them along.

The mountain still seemed far away, but the rains were on them now. You could watch the shivering wall of water roll across the countryside, fast as the wind could drive it. There was no gentle transition- you were dry, then you were soaked. Cool rain fell, turning cold with the speed they were running. The fine silk robes of an immortal cultivator might be unstained by dust or water, but they certainly weren’t waterproof. Tian felt his long hair soaking up the rain, the bun suddenly a heavy weight on the top of his head. He imagined Liren must be chilly, given how short her hair was.

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He would warm her up with a nice cup of tea when they arrived.

The mountain was on them as suddenly as the rain. They had been running up a slope, and the slope kept going up. It flattened and dipped slightly, but the trend was up, up, and up. Rising over the foothills and the floodplain, threading its way into the cooler air.

The wagons labored against the mountain now. No longer thinking they could race to a warm stables and an inn, they were focused on safely navigating the road. It was a wide road, immaculately maintained and well drained. It was the only thing keeping it passable in the downpour. The road ran alongside steep drops. It would be easy for a horse to slip or a wheel to slide. Then you would never worry about being wet again.

Liren accelerated into a sprint. This time it was Tian’s turn to swear, scrambling to catch up.

“Liren lived around here until she was six. Her granny still lives here. She must know how far we are from the city. Cheating! Blatant lack of martial virtue! I must scold her as soon as I win.”

He could see the city walls now, though no guards walked them. They had no crenelations either, nor watchtowers. What use would they be, when the only people who could threaten the city could fly over any wall?

Tian lowered his body, exploding the water covering the paving stones with every sharp step. Liren was doing the same, her lustrous skin brilliant with gems of rain. They reached the gate in a sudden spray, the guards sputtering with outrage.

“I win!” Hong declared with a victor’s smile.

“Naive!” Tian didn’t slow down, taking two explosive steps and slapping his hand on the gate itself. “Fallen at the final step. This is because I am older. One step ahead in life, one step ahead in races.” Tian shook his head as he clasped his hands behind his back.

The crane flew down out of the rain and landed on his shoulders, spreading her wings wide as she glared down at Liren.

“After all the fish I sneaked you, you betray me like this?” Liren cried.

“This was fun. We should do that again sometimes. Maybe you will run faster. Ah well. West Town Outer Court’s Tian Zihao and Hong Liren, coming under orders from Direct Disciple Fu.” Tian reported to the guards and displayed his ring. It moved them from pissy to respectful immediately. Tian had a sneaking feeling it wasn’t the ring but Brother Fu’s name that had them straightening their spines.

Mountain Gate City was a gray haze in the rain. Water ran through the gutters in white torrents, while the locals dashed from shop to shop, or huddled under the eaves and waited for a break in the deluge. Now and then you would see someone in sky blue robes holding an umbrella over their heads that shed water in a wider dome than the size of the umbrella would suggest.

“Nobody is flying.” Tian looked up into the rain.

“It’s not permitted in the city, except under very specific circumstances and in specific places. I’ve never been there, but the most expensive, luxurious part of the city is reserved for the cave mansions of Inner Court disciples built directly into the side of the mountain. You can fly there. I hear it’s the only way to get into the caves.”

“I thought there would be Heavenly People zipping around everywhere on their flying swords. Looking down on the world.”

“Nope. Too many fights, is the story. Someone would be on the ground buying something, then someone would fly over their head and they would just lose it at the ‘disrespect.’” Hong had her hat and veil back on, suddenly mysterious and haunting in the heavy rain.

Tian grunted, then laughed. “Oh heavens, that’s the final piece, isn’t it? Discipline. All the times he could have stepped in and told people to act right, and didn’t. They must have taken it as approval. Then it repeats and spreads down through the ranks.”

“What I don’t get is that he was the sect leader. Now he’s master to sect leaders. How can he just let it all happen? I mean, really, heartbreak?” Hong muttered.

“Think it through from his perspective. He spent multiple mortal lifetimes teaching people how to behave properly. Teaching the virtues, creating rules. Being a sage. Remember what Heartmend was saying? It was a sage that put the cangue on Cao Sen’s neck. Whether it’s true or not, I bet that’s what that senior believes. He did his best, taught carefully and with love, set the best rules he could for his sect, and encouraged his grandson to build a virtuous, self correcting kingdom.”

Hong nodded along. “And look how it all turned out. Vain, arrogant, chasing personal profits at the cost of others, putting family over sect, forgetting all brotherhood the second benefits are impacted, even to the point of… atrocity. I think I remember that shop. They sold candy. And other things, but mostly I remember the candy. I remember a lot from back then.”

“Want to see if they still sell candy?”

“Not yet.”

Tian looked up the road. “Where are we supposed to meet whoever it is that we are supposed to meet?”

“There is an administration hall in the center of the city. We can dry off there and they will send someone to notify Disciple Fu and Elder Rui that we are here.”

Tian had a feeling of standing on one of the trash heaps in the dump, feeling that it was about to slide out from under him and quickly looking for a place to jump to. He understood it all, but so what? His brothers were still dying. The warmth that gave him life was dying. His birth family died, Hong’s family died, the peasants died, all those people kidnapped and sold for salt died, because an old man closed his eyes and silently said “Do what you like.”

He didn’t want to run, to abandon his brothers. He couldn’t imagine leaving Brother Fu or Sis’ Liren. But for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine staying. He would become a rogue cultivator. The world was full of hidden treasures. He would flow with the dao, and grow. Just so long as he didn’t have to leave them behind. Brother Fu and Sis’ Liren, the Snow Grace Crane and him, drifting along the rivers in a whole new country. Fighting heretics, exploring ruins, arguing over whose turn it was to cook dinner. A happy life.

“Oh. OH! This is it! We have to stop here!” Liren stopped in a spray of water in front of a tiny bakery. “They had the best, best roast pork buns. I remember they were so warm and fluffy, and the filling was so sweet! I’d always keep some pocket money just for this. I had my own little gang, and we would come over and I would treat everyone to a bun and feel like I was queen of the world.”

Tian smiled, rain thundering down on his hat. “So buy me one.”

She smiled back, and Tian could feel the sun shining from her. “Hey Boss! Three roast pork buns, please.”

“Sure! One silver.”

“One silver?! Prices have gone way up.”

“Ayah! What can I do? Do you know what pork costs these days? Even charcoal is getting more expensive.”

Liren grumbled and paid the silver, collecting the steaming buns. White as a summer cloud, filling a whole hand. The dough was light and fluffy, yet the whole of it was a little weighty. You just knew it was well stuffed with meat. Tian bit into it and savored the savory roast pork. The sauce was sweet, and rich as its dark brown color, with just a hint of something tangy, some hidden brightness that danced just beyond his ability to identify, which cut through the fatty savoryness of the meat and the faintly sweet blandness of the dough.

It really was delicious. Hong’s memory was as good as her eyes.

Hong wolfed her bun down in just a few bites. “Nostalgic! Ah! I missed this flavor. I missed it so damn much!”

“Immortal, did you grow up here or something?”

“Yeah. Yeah I did.” Liren shook her head and started eating the last bun a little more slowly. She carefully shielded the bun from the rain with her hat, her veil coming down and hiding her heart-hunger. “Haven’t been back in a long time, though.”

“Haha! Our Mountain Gate City is always the same and always changing. My store has been serving immortals since my great-great-grandfather’s generation! Don’t worry, no matter how long you are away, Baolie’s Baos will be here when you return.”

Liren looked away, then nodded. “My throat’s gone dry. They still have tea stalls in the alley?”

“Sure, sure. Might be closed because of the rain. Come back soon!”

“Yeah. Come on, Brother. My throat’s gone dry. I should have had one less bun.”

The two walked away, dragging some of the warmth and smell of the bakery with them as they turned down the mouth of the alley. Hong stopped dead before she got three paces in. Tian grunted in surprise, then froze when he saw what she had.

Sitting just a little way inside the alley was a little booth with two stools in front of it, an awning over it, and behind the table, an old, distinguished looking diviner in faded blue robes. There was a sign behind him.

“True Diviner, Ancient and Knowledgeable! Questions Answered, Heaven’s Secrets Revealed. Special Price for Burning Heaven Cranes.”