We decided to discuss matters about the ghost after we ate. During our meal, Meera kept glancing up at us nervously. Each time I would wink at her and pass more meat and cheese over until she grinned, telling me I was going to make her fat. That broke her from her mood, and she returned to her normal chatty self, but I could tell she was still nervous about the upcoming conversation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the white mouse standing on two paws, sniffing the air. I looked at it, and it winked at me, then it vanished, then reapeared in the same spot holding a chunk of cheese. I stared in shock, looking between my plate and the mouse happily chewing its prize. Moments later, it waved and disappeared with the same qi technique that it used before. "I wonder if all of the creatures we meet down here will be evolved?" I asked, rubbing my chin in contemplation.

A little while later, we were all sitting inside the coach. May sat on my right and Snow on my left. Meera knelt nervously across from us, wringing her hands together. Well, my dear, how about we start with how the jade hair stick ended up with you. Actually, no, has the woman done anything to hurt you? Or asked you to do something you are uncomfortable with?

Meera looked up, eyes wide, then shook her head. "No, she doesn't tell me to do anything, but she asks me to try something with my eater qi every once in a while. She said she has never seen one as young as me able to form a bond with an elemental from the plane of water. She also said she wouldn't talk to papa because you almost killed her when you forcefully cut the connection with her." In the last part, Meera sounded like she was repeating someone else's words.

May leaned forward, taking Meera's hand. I don't care what her issues with papa are. She will speak to us, or I will destroy her vessel. Then she made to grab the jade hair stick sitting on the bed in between us. Meera looked like she wanted to protest, but she bit her lips.

I grabbed May's hand before she could. "Wait, when I touched this in the shop, it tried to force a bond on me that I couldn't break without using my much stronger earth qi. If you're going to try and reach out to this being, I want to be able to cut the connection at any moment. Or, failing that destroy it entirely." May nodded, and both Snow and I placed a hand on the jade pin. At the same time, May fed a tendril of her fire qi into it.

I observed May's tense features until I saw her relax. She kept her eyes closed, but the way her facial expressions changed, I would guess she was probably having a conversation with whatever entity resides inside the jade. A couple more minutes passed with no signs of a problem, so I relaxed, taking my hand from the hair stick turning my attention back to Meera.

Meera looked concerned and started pleading with us not to hurt Nina. "Who is Nina?" I asked curiously, although I already knew the answer. I just wanted to calm Meera down. The question had the desired effect as she began explaining that Nina was the Auntie inside the hair stick and how she sometimes tells her stories of queens and immortals from a long, long time ago. I listened to Meera recount some small details that she could remember. At some point, Meera had moved to my lap and leaned her head back against my chest as her arms and hands waved about.

After listening for a while, Meera began to yawn, and I asked one last question that had been bugging me since finding out she had the jade hair stick. "When did you get a hold of the stick, hun?" Meera, whose eyes were already closing, told me that the innkeeper gave it to her when Rachel paid for an extra day, the day May, Snow and I first got together intimately.

After putting Meera to bed, I had to explain how I got the hair stick to Snow, who also looked ready to drop to sleep at any moment. I kissed her and sent her to rest, promising to watch over May until she finished her conversation with Nina. Snow didn't argue as she wrapped a quilt over herself and Meera; soon after, I could hear the soft sound of their sleeping.

I watched May for a moment longer than left the coach climbing on top, spreading my senses out to its limits. Admittedly inside this mist that wasn't very far, barely five feet past the smashed circle of grass. It was enough to give me a small amount of warning should we get a surprise visitor. Once or twice I was sure I felt the small presence of the mouse as it pushed air qi from its tiny paws, moving about faster than my eyes could follow.

I sensed May place the jade hair stick next to Meera's pillow an hour or so later. Then she grabbed another quilt and came to sit beside me, wrapping the quilt around both of us as she leaned against my side. I stayed silent, letting May get her thoughts in order. Meanwhile, I relaxed further, knowing she was alright, and judging by the fact she left the hair stick with Meera, Nina must not be a threat to her or us.

When I felt May shift and tilt her head back, I leaned down, kissing her. She hummed softly, then snuggled in closer. She said, "we have trained you well," then stuck her always ice-cold fingers deep inside my shirt, making me flinch. I didn't try to fight her, though, knowing it was a losing battle. Then she began telling me of Nina and her origin.

Countless years ago, an immortal emperor fell in love with a woman brought to court by her father to see the palace. Her father was the emperor's closest advisor, and when he asked for his permission to court the young woman, her father agreed on the condition that he doesn't reveal his identity to his daughter. The emperor agreed to take up the advisories challenge. Besides, he wanted the lady to like him for himself, not his throne.

The courtship lasted many years, decades, actually. Almost anyone permitted to enter the capital of the immortal continent had to be a sage at the minimum. Time meant very little to those like them. When she finally agreed to his proposal, he told her the truth about who he was. She didn't even blink, only smiled and said Well, I guess you can afford to give me a nice gift on our marriage day then. The emperor laughed and promised to give her something no one else could get.

The emperor sat in on his jade throne pondering what he should give his betrothed for many days when a messenger brought news that one of his enemies broke through to the next realm and promised to raze his palace to the ground. In anger, he smashed the arm of his throne, breaking off a small sliver. He stared at it for several minutes, surprised that such a thing happened as many far stronger than himself had tried to shatter this throne over the millennia.

He took the sliver in hand and tried to snap it, but it didn't even crack. A smile spread across his face, and he called for all the greatest jade crafters in the land handing out a quest. The first to turn this sliver of jade into a work of art would receive the lands of the upstart who was stupid enough to challenge his rule. It took years, but one day an old hermit walked in to take up the challenge. Nobody questioned the old man as on the immortal continent anyone might be a master, even the dirty drunk sitting on the tavern steps.

Nobody knew what the old man did in the throne room the moment he arrived. He ordered everyone out except the emperor. Many guards tried to intercept the old man, but they all went flying outdoors with a wave, and windows slammed shut moments later. However, when he left, they found a pleased emperor holding a jade hair stick and fixed the jagged crack in the throne. The hermit refused the lands but accepted a favor sometime in the future.

The couple lived many happy centuries together with the jade hair stick only removed from the empress's hair when she slept or bathed. The consciousness known as Nina woke inside the jade on the night of the empress's death. Many believed it was due to the constant stream of pure qi that the Empress exposed the jade to during its many years inside the palace grounds. Some others say that the emperor, not wanting to lose his beloved empress, tied her soul to the jade, hoping to revive her someday. Most thought that Nina was an echo of the memory of the empress.

Whatever she is, she had been passed down from one empress to the next for thousands of years. Until a master thief managed to break into the palace, stealing not only the jade hair stick but the very throne it was made from, thus ending a line of emperors dating back millions of years. Without the support of the throne and its ability to draw in qi from the lands controlled by its owner, the empire was soon swallowed by its neighbors.

From then on, she was passed from one person to another be by sale or theft until one young adventurous immortal took her across the sea, eventually gifting the jade to an empress he had a short fling with before vanishing without a trace. Over the next several centuries, the jade was handed down among the imperial family until history repeated itself. The theft took her on another adventure that ended inside that glass case written off as a forgery.

"The rest, you know, she is fragile and can't currently do anything but absorb minuscule amounts of pure qi. That was what made her panic when you first tried to separate yourself. She tried holding on as tight as she could, not wanting to fall back into what she described as the waking death. When you cut the thread, it almost broke her weakened mind. She was about to let everything end when she felt Meera's haphazardly trying to probe the hair's stick.

"Nina spent more than a month teaching Meera to form the bond herself, not wanting to repeat what happened with you and panicking her new host. This way, if Meera decided she didn't want anything to do with her, it wouldn't hurt either side when the bond was broken. She also promised never to do anything to harm Meera and do everything in her power to protect her if we are not around. Apparently, once she gathers enough qi to fix some problems, she will unlock functions that Meera can use to help with her cultivation. However, she can't really teach her anything like techniques and such since she never paid much interest in those things."

We talked throughout the night or what we decided was night since we can't actually see the sky underground.