III

Stroll

Fortunately for us, Mei had quite a sum of money on her. She offered me payment for my services, which I refused except for essentials. I had her waiting in the shadows while I ran a few errands. It seemed funny to me. The young master had become the servant. Folktales would usually tell it the other way around.

"You stink!" Mei pinched her nose when I handed her a share of the rations I bought.

"Well, pardon me, my princess," I bowed dramatically, "but lately, I haven't had the luxury of a bath."

"Don't call me that, dummy," she pouted, looking much more charming now that she'd washed off her makeup. "It's Mei, or did you forget already?"

She sure was letting her tongue loose. The girl giggled to herself for no apparent reason as she took bites out of her bread. I could hardly connect her to the girl begging for my aid mere moments ago.

"Fine then, Mei. What is it that I can help you with?"

"I want to see the city!"

"...And you need my help with that?"

"Of course, that isn't everything, dummy!" She thought of something and her smile faded. "You're not just helping me with one single thing, right?" I nodded, and it lit back up again. "Great! I can't tell one house from another, so show me around!"

"That makes two of us," I said, feeling troubled after being the one who'd offered her help.

"Really?" She asked with a mouthful.

"Really. Don't you live here?"

"Living here doesn't mean I know the city."

I had half a mind to refute her, but I let it rest.

"Oh well," she said, jumping to her feet after finishing her food, "if we both don't know our way, we can't get lost. Let's go!"

"That's one way to look at it," I sighed. "Whatever your wish, princess Mei, it is my bidding."

She stuck out her tongue and gave me a glare that was probably supposed to be intimidating before storming off in a huff without me. I didn't chase after her.

"What are you waiting for?" She came back, pulling at my robe. "Get up! Come on, let's go already! Please!"

"So you do know your manners," I stood up, and she almost fell over. "Don't lose them again."

"I-!"

Before she could complain, I pushed her from behind. I had no idea where we were headed as she led the way into the city. I simply followed after her whims. As long as I stuck around, I figured, it might be enough to keep my thoughts from going astray. It would pose as a welcome distraction.

But more than that, I felt needed. She'd said so herself.

***

The crowd filling the marketplace was larger than I'd expected. I kept my senses sharp, trying both not to lose Mei in the sea of bodies, and to pay attention to anyone revealing ill-intend.

"Did you hear?" I picked up some of the chatter on the street. Mei was too busy to catch any of it, her eyes glued to the stalls as she pulled on my arm, scurrying from one to the next.

"Another group was sent north today. It won't ever end..."

War in Nyrkan continues, I thought absentmindedly.

"Five hundred men, our last volunteers," another whispered. "It's just as well. Guangen sent two thousand, dozens more fleeing out of fear of being drafted. We should consider ourselves lucky."

"Lucky?" The loud scoff made a lot of heads turn. I caught a whiff of alcohol lingering in the air. "Wang has promised us change! Here we are, feeding men to war like batches of hay to oxen instead. An Emperor's Decree, pah, an Emperor's Shit, that's what he's given us!"

"Shut your mouth, you ungrateful imbecile!"

"Gratefulness, that's what you want?" The man bellowed. Mei still seemed oblivious to it all, twirling around with a pair of fans in each of her hands. "Tell that to the families in Guangen and Hanzhen. To my brother! They're throwing lives away, our lives, all for their cursed cultivation!"

One of those, I realized. Blaming anything going wrong under the heavens on cultivators. Maybe, he was right. It wasn't something I'd concern myself with anymore.

"What's that?" Mei pulled my attention away from the ensuing brawl, pointing to a sheet of paper. A thread hung from a hole in its bottom, looping through a jade coin. Symbols had been inscribed onto it, the ink streaking across its surface in a single stroke.

"A talisman," I frowned, recognizing the scribblings, "one that keeps nightmares away. It's a scam."

"Oh," her eyes darted to something else, "and this?"

"Those needles are for medicinal use. See that over there?" I pointed to a weapons stall gleaming with blinding steel. "You'll find similar ones, but with thicker grips for a... let's say different medicinal purpose."

"So that's what they say they poke you with," she shuddered, quickly averting her eyes. "How would that help anyone; are they mad? What about this then?"

"That's a-"

"Oh, look, look, over there!"

She pulled on my robe again. It'd been the correct decision to let her convince me to pay for a new one before she'd strip me naked in the middle of the market. While I'd been at it, I also bought a new one for Mei as well as some bandages for both our injuries.

The white had suited her, but to make an attempt at hiding us among the crowd, I chose for us dark-red ones, themed with the snake motive. It was the most common attire worn in the Winged Snake Empire, and even more prevalent on that day for some reason. Everyone around us clad the same. All the better for us.

I'd also forced a veil on her, but I had a hard time having her set it right whenever she ran off. She also complained about how stuffy it was in the heat, but she did keep it on. In the past, I'd dealt with children younger than me when I'd been forced to tutor them. Mei, I thought at first, seemed around my age, maybe slightly younger. I was beginning to doubt the 'slightly.'

"Where do you think he's from?"

She pointed to a man with tanned skin. Very rude, but he didn't seem to mind it much. He waved over with a big smile, exciting Mei. Part of his robe trailed behind him, revealing his bare chest, covered with an all-encompassing tattoo of a tiger. He stood out in the crowd but drew only a few curious gazes like ours.

"Dyrakiel?" I pondered aloud. "I didn't think Spirit Whisperers would bother to make it all the way here."

Some sights weren't only new to Mei. Although I'd travelled for some time, I wasn't well-versed with the world, other than what I'd read in books, and I remembered little of that. They'd seemed pointless compared to cultivation. Anything did.

"What's a Spirit Whisperer?"

She finally halted for once, looking at me with sparkling interest.

"A type of cultivator, but if he's really from Dyrakiel, it's better to call them Wind Spoken," I dusted off my old memories. "There's... various types of Qi, and if you take-"

"Wow, how pretty!"

That didn't last long. I turned around to see what had grabbed her attention again. It was a parade. A column of people walked down the streets, propping up the puppet of a giant snake. Drums began thundering in the air as the puppeteers waved their wooden sticks to their echoes. As if enchanted by their movements, half the city was drawn towards them. I wrapped my arms around Mei, knowing she wouldn't pay attention to her surroundings with her eyes fixated on the attraction like that.

"I was unaware festivities were going on," I mumbled through the shouting stampede. That explained why it was so crowded.

"Is there anywhere up high we can go?" Mei shouted, her voice barely making it through to my ears.

"High?" She nodded eagerly, squirming with excitement.

I looked around us. I doubted the guards would be happy with us getting on the wall. If I was by myself, I could get on some of the houses, but I wasn't sure about Mei. There was a good chance someone would call the guards on us while I helped her to the roof.

"Over there," I nodded towards a stack of abandoned boxes in an alley. That could work.

I barely caught it in time. An arm reached for Mei, trying to grab her at the collar. My hand shot forwards, slapping it away while I used my body to spin her around for some distance. The assailant's arm barely moved, but we evaded it. The contact left a dull pain behind on my hand. It struck me like a warning bell.

"Run!" I pulled her with haste into the crowd.

She gasped in shock as I dragged her along. I thought about our options. Run to the guards? No. If her problem was solved like that, I wouldn't have met her, to begin with. Stay with the crowd? Hide? We couldn't, not for long. Shaking him off wasn't a possibility. I thought and pondered, but I came up with only one idea. It was a terrible one.

I led us away from the crowd, back into the deserted alleys. The spectacle had even drawn the beggars further into the city. Mei heaved for air behind me. When I let go of her wrist, an imprint of my hand remained. It looked painful, but she'd kept quiet the entire time. There were no tears on her face, not this time. No struggle - only that solemn look of acceptance. The look of surrender.

"Keep running," I shook her body until I got her attention.

"Why?" She muttered, keeping her eyes to the ground. I barely caught her whispers. "There's nowhere left to run... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"Run anywhere," I rattled her by the shoulders, gripping her tighter. "Remember where we wanted to climb higher? Be there. I'll wait for you."

Does she even hear me? Her glazed eyes didn't give me the impression she did.

"Go!" I pushed her away, and to my relief, she started running again.

"You've surprised me twice now."

I took a deep breath to meet the voice behind me. The man wore a similar robe as I did, the snake on it staring at me as if taunting me; ridiculing me. It was right to do so. I wasn't dealing with some thugs this time. That man was a cultivator; not just a beastling either, but a true one.