David

David may not have been speaking to Alice (in order to show his displeasure), but he did slip the saber in its aged leather scabbard and place it gently in her hands when she woke. He had a sullen look on his face, so Alice did everything she could think of to get him to speak to her.

When they walked out, she clung onto his arm like a koala, saber at her side and guqin at her back. She insisted that he carry the flute, knowing that he would protest because he couldn't play it. David took it wordlessly.

As they exited the archway, David stared at the light fog that hung over the mountainside as resplendent rays of the rosy dawning sun lit the world in gold.

Alice had stopped too. She leaned into him. "I'm just glad to be sharing this moment with you." She blinked at him, pinning her gaze to his.

David gave a long sigh and nodded at her, then smiled, but it was a wistful thing. "Please try not to hurt yourself anymore." Alice must have felt a spike of guilt, because she looked away and blushed.

"We're all we have."

She found that demonic grin again and then schooled it into something much more earnest. "We're all we need."

David could play this game too. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Then why are we headed to the village?" David said, his smile lightening.

"Because I hate mulberries," Alice chanted, folding her arms. But she still ran ahead and picked the ripest, juiciest ones she could find and then refused to share them.

They walked down the mountain together, laughing and joking like nothing had happened, like Alice was incredibly healthy and like David had never been mad at her before.

As they got closer to the village, the ground levelled out easily and they began to see signs of life. Soon, they joined a road which wound from the entrance of the village around the mountain and far away. The dirt road was well trodden, with ditches dug on the side about three feet wide and two feet deep.

Alice sprang over the ditch onto the road easily. She landed with her arms raised, her knees together and her legs straight as though she were an Olympic gymnast. Her light grey silk sleeves flapped in the wind.

"Four out of ten," David remarked, hopping over the ditch with no fanfare whatsoever.

"Junior, you dare?" Alice pointed her nose upwards and sniffed. "I'm not moving one step until you give me the score I deserve," she said, though she let David drag her along easily.

They didn't see anyone as they approached the gates. It seemed that most of the farming happened on the other side of the village. David could see irrigated terraces in the hills in the distance past the rear gates, undoubtedly filled neatly with rice plants.

Alice saw them first, from half a mile away. They were a pair of guards stationed in a tower along the village walls in robes similar to David's, but in green. The tower looked to be somewhat shoddily built - a structure made up of logs of various sizes, with a simple wooden ladder leaning against the raised platform. It had a roof of straw that looked better for providing shade than for protection from rain.

They each wore armor of plated leather and both carried spears which were long enough to jutt through the straw roof. They looked Asian, David realized, with dark hair and dark eyes. David blinked. His vision had gotten really good. The one to the left sported a mustache and looked to barely fit in his armor. The one to the right had a thinner build and looked very young, younger than David.

As they drew closer to the village gate, it became clear that the guards never saw much action, because they looked incredibly relaxed. They hadn't even noticed the pair of them, even with the way Alice was impatiently skipping and dashing and making a ton of noise, possibly for their benefit - with the way she glanced up at them every once in a while and rolled her eyes when they continued to fail to notice them.

They finally did notice them when they stood no more than three hundred feet from the village gate, above which was a stone plaque with, presumably, the name of the village on it in calligraphy which seemed more than a little out of place. The script was the same as that of the pillars, wide and bold and challenging.

"Halt!" the younger guard screamed.

This was nice. They were speaking Mandarin. Alice did not halt, but she did draw herself up to her full height and walk forward deliberately, one step at a time.

The men had grabbed their spears. The older guard - David referred to him as Mustache in his head, was whispering frantically to the younger one, who looked incredibly worried all of a sudden as Alice strode forward, completely ignoring the command.

David followed along behind her, smiling slightly. Of course Alice would have a plan for a scenario like this, when she was given nearly twenty minutes of impatient walking to come up with an idea of what she'd do in their first meeting with the denizens of this world.

Alice swayed a little in the wind and the noonday sun glinted off of her hairpin. The wind carried the conversation of the guards, who had gotten more frantic, to David's ears.

"Don't you recognize the symbol on her hairpin, you imbecile. Yinyangtaichi. You're going to get us killed horribly," Mustache muttered in a quick, rural Mandarin.

Mustache raised his voice as they approached the village gates. "Guards of Cloud Mountain City greet honored travelling Daoists!" he shouted. "May we ask what sect honored Daoists are from?"

Alice gave the most snooty harrumph she could manage, stopping fifty steps from the gates. "You may."

The guards waited for an answer but Alice gave none. They looked at one another after a few seconds and then at David, who was smiling up at them encouragingly, a friendly face to pair with Alice's haughty one. He shook his head slightly at Alice, who stood in front of him and then winked at the guards, who looked relieved.

"We apologize to honored Daoists for our presumptions," Mustache shouted. He turned to the younger man and whispered at him, "open the gate, open the gate."

The younger man scrambled down the ladder quickly. He was more spry than he appeared and the gate cracked open.

Alice and David drew closer and they passed through the more open of the pair of wooden doors, which the guard was holding open with all his strength, his face red with exertion.

When David passed, he let go and the door closed with a small bang.

He stared at Alice, with her silver hairpin, her well sculpted features, her scandalously short robe, her beautifully crafted saber in its ornate leather scabbard, her guqin case and her slightly dusty Nikes. The red in his face didn't go away.

Alice smirked at him gently, still playing her part.

The redness in his face deepened. "Thank you for visiting our city, honored Daoists," the boy mumbled at the ground, bowing at Alice. David gave the boy another smile as Alice dragged him along by the sleeve, but the boy looked away immediately, frightened.

The village was relatively crowded, despite its size and the villagers seemed more worldly than the actions of the guards implied. David noticed that there were a lot of younger men and women about, drinking together in open air restaurants and paying for street food in groups.

Alice leaned in close to him, found that grin that David had come to associate with mischief again and spoke to him in English. "As surely as our white trash back home prefer renaissance fairs, the rural Chinese love the dress of the Song dynasty."

David reeled, half in humor and half in pity for the villagers whom she had insulted. "Hey, don't knock renaissance fairs unless you've been to one. They're great fun. You can watch people uh," David shrugged. “Joust or something. Eat a turkey leg.”

“Poverty is no excuse for a lack of culture.” Alice checked her nails.

David sighed, looking around them. “Be nice, they haven’t done anything to you.”

Alice laughed, her cherry red lips still slightly stained by mulberry juice parting. "Yeah, I know, I know. But some things are just too funny not to say."

"So, what are we even doing here?" David finally asked, as they walked on through the crowded streets.

"Just taking a look around," said Alice. "Don't you miss seeing people?" Her voice had gotten a little more gentle.

Despite her disdain for the culture that surrounded them, she seemed genuinely happy. "Besides, this sort of village is where heroes have their fateful encounters, right?"

David rolled his eyes. "Right." He smiled.

Of course, Alice was proven correct almost immediately as they approached the corner of the long street of restaurants and stalls and shops and inns.

Blocking their way was an entourage of people who surrounded a boy who was David's age. He was about as tall and passingly handsome, with the sort of lean muscles which implied sport rather than hard work. He was dressed in a purple silk robe with gold trimmings, which David noted contrasted sharply with a deep green jade hairband which held long, wavy coiffed locks in a bun above his head.

An older man, presumably a servant of the boy, approached them, his hands clasped in greeting.

"Young Master Lin would like to invite the honored flower before his eyes to a meal." His voice was melodious and the words were tightly pronounced in a far more nondescript accent than the guards.

Alice didn't even notice him and David pretended not to either. They may have been playing the part of snooty Daoists from out of town but this reaction - the one which came from years of practice ignoring people on the street who handed out fliers and the homeless who begged for change in train stations - was entirely genuine.

As David and Alice walked past the older man, David felt the anger from the well-dressed boy mount. She took deliberate steps through an opening in the entourage, which did not part.

"Excuse me, please," she said to one of the servants blocking her way, smiling prettily at him. He was a head taller than David and twice his width. David saw the hint of disdain in her eyes. Alice was expecting an encounter and she got one.

"I cannot let you pass. You must respond to my master," the man said, looking somewhat annoyed to be in this situation. The man sighed, crossing his arms, but he didn’t let them pass. David figured it must happen often, if the man's master was the sort to accost strangers on the street.

The middle aged man who had addressed Alice earlier had hurried over to the boy's side, whispering in his ear. David heard the words clearly. "Young Master, you must quit this habit of requesting company from people on the street, what would your father think of this?"

The boy named Lin scoffed. "This is my father's city," he said loudly, probably for Alice's benefit. "Whoever I want to dine with will dine with me."

More than one of the servants rolled their eyes and a few threw their hands upwards towards the heavens for help.

Lin took a step towards Alice, and in that step his demeanor changed entirely. He gave a charming smile. "Can I have your name, Miss?"

Alice frowned at him, then let her expression become incredulous. "No?"

Lin folded his arms. "Such insolence from such a great beauty. You must be an Outer Disciple from a Sect. As a practitioner myself, I can tell that you are within the second or third stage of Qi Condensation."

He smiled at her, a wide, paternalistic thing. "I can help you," he promised. "I'm not a practitioner of little talent."

Lin stared at David, who he clearly considered a practitioner of little talent.

The middle aged man sighed heavily. There were more entreaties to the heavens from the servants and the large man sighed as well, then turned to Lin. "There are many tigers in the mountains, Young Master. I would advise you to think of your father's reputation."

However, the man did not move.

"I've responded to your master," Alice said to the large man with a touch of sarcasm. "Would you let me pass now?"

"I would wish for nothing more, little lady," the large man said, shaking his head in great suffering. Alice smiled widely at him and shook her head, eyeing Lin. The large man laughed easily.

This conspiracy made Lin incredibly angry. "This sort of insolence cannot go unpunished," he proclaimed, dropping into a crouch and raising his fists.

"Does he do this whenever a woman refuses to eat with him?" David asked the middle aged advisor, unable to stop himself. Alice was right. Some things were simply too funny not to say.

The advisor coughed lightly and looked away pointedly. There were many onlookers in the street now. David noted that most of them were amused and at least a few of the younger men and women stared at Lin angrily. It appeared Lin wasn't very popular.

"Please just have a meal with him," the large man all but begged Alice. "He doesn't mean any harm, he's that not sort of boy. We wouldn't let him do anything untoward."

"We're not hungry," David said, answering for Alice. He was annoyed now.

"You dare?" Lin shouted, turning to David, then launched himself into a flying kick, which David didn't expect. "Don't blame me for not being polite!" he shouted, mid air.

David attempted to dodge and the blow hit his shoulder rather than his chest. David stumbled a step back, bemused rather than injured. Alice was by his side in an instant, wiping the dust off of his robe.

"Impolite is correct," she said, staring at Lin.

Alarmingly, the sound of the Song began to rise from Lin as he picked himself off the ground and charged at David. Normally, David wasn't a fan of theatrics but this was just too rich. The Song was muted and listless, without rhythm or rhyme. It wasn't like his, which was steady and loud, or Alice's which was frantic and complex but strong.

He slid into the third stance of the Scripture, pairing his elbow then raised them to just under his chin. David clasped his hands and leaned back. The stone flute that Alice had forced him to carry for her with her endless wiles was now tucked beneath his left armpit. When Lin closed the distance, he pushed himself forwards and drove his elbows against the fist, the sound of his own Song roaring in his veins.

Lin's fist collided with his elbows and David's sleeves gave a loud whoosh. Alice nodded appreciatively. David found he liked the feeling of being, as Alice called it, a martial arts protagonist, when Lin flew back in a literal spin and landed on her ground. A cloud of dust rose.

"Quick, think of something dramatic to say," David muttered to Alice in English, enjoying the moment greatly. He'd never really gotten into fights but there was something incredibly empowering about this.

"The Tree Sways in the Wind," Alice said, with far too much confidence, before he even finished. "You've improved, Junior Brother." She looked him up and down appreciatively.

"Beat them," Lin screamed, covered in dust, twitching in anger.

The large man sighed. "I'm sorry, little lady. What the young master says is what happens, according to his father. I'll try not to leave any bruises on your face."

The middle aged man produced a fan that was mostly metal from within robes and charged at David, shaking his head all the way. The youths and shopkeepers who gathered to watch took a collective step back as the Song from the large man roared.

"Even my guards are in the Foundation Establishment realm," Lin said, spouting off nonsense which David didn't understand at all. "You're finished. Finished!" he screamed. David noted that the onlookers appeared mostly grim and resigned. Perhaps they were used to being bullied by this kid, whose advisors and guards followed the orders of, no matter how unwillingly.

David didn't really understand the difference between Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment, because the middle aged man was rather clumsy looking. The Song within him was louder than Lin's, but it lacked direction too. He leaned back and stretched out his foot in the twenty fifth stance of the Scripture and landed a glancing hit on the advisor's ribs. There was a loud crack as the advisor was blown back several steps and he collapsed to the ground, twitching.

To David's horror, tears were streaming from the man as he clutched his ribs. The fan was on the ground, open. There was a rather beautiful painting of a lake surrounded by mountains on it. David rushed forward and knelt by the man's side. "Are you alright?”

David looked around awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say. “I'm sorry?"

The advisor moaned in pain.

David heard the sound of silkworms and there was an aggressive thump. He looked over to Alice, who was already standing over the large man with her fists clenched behind her back.

"Never in my life..." the large man said, flat on his back, staring up at the sky. “To see a Principle of all things in this tiny village.”

"Qi Condensation," he bellowed, still laughing. "What an insult our young master has thrown your way, little fairy." The large man pushed himself off the ground and did his best to bow his head at Alice.

"Please forgive him, please forgive us. You've shown us great mercy already, I understand. He is his father's only child and he was spoiled." His face was solemn but slightly hopeful.

David heard the little cough from Alice and the twitch of her retching but Alice didn't open her mouth. Rather, she swallowed lightly.

"It's not a big deal," she finally said. The man had been earnest and jovial to her. And Alice was just playing a character. She wasn't who they seemed to think she was.

The large man laid back down and closed his eyes in relief.

"Young Master Lin!" came a shrill, angry voice in the distance.

A man who looked at least five times David's age flew into the street from a distance and landed before them in a cloud of dust.

His beard was streaked with white and he had lost some of his hair, but what remained was coiffed in the style that Lin wore and it was held up in a bun by a band of silver. His robes were like David's, but a deep blue. He bore no weapons, but the sound of the Song within him was proud, if muted even further than that of Lin's.

But he did not attack them. The old man gave both David and Alice a wide smile. He first lowered his head and then knelt.

His head hit the floor three times facing David and then another three times facing Alice. The man trembled with some long held tiredness. He looked pitiable in a way which seemed to clash with his Song. The man did not meet their eyes, choosing to stare at the hem of David's robe.

"This disciple greets most merciful Senior Aunt and Uncle," he said, still kneeling.