Mortal Lands

Youn Wha measured powdered bone into the glass flask of bog water, stirring slowly until it dissolved. Some ginger algae, a little nitre, then strain into the acid of the titan ewer plant, and she would have a potion strong enough to eat its way through burled steel. Of course, the chunk of ice in her son’s study had so far proved much stronger than burled steel, so perhaps an addition of fermented listher was in order.

She strode to the shelves dividing the room for the listher pot. Even at this early hour of the morning the alchemy tower was full of men and women crafting potions for the court, searching for elixirs that would advance or strengthen the Ro, and experimenting with the properties of newly discovered or imported ingredients. They knew her as Sulyeon, the somewhat vain master alchemist who tried to hide her advancing age by darkening her hair and brows with charcoal. Not even the few who had been alive when she was Hao’s most beautiful and beloved harem girl had recognized her upon her return to the Sun Palace. Years of increasingly more powerful Water Lily rituals and an Aura of the Orchid Mantis had made certain of that.

Like a grinning skull moth among the bees, the grandmaster of the Path of the Water Lily walked among them, and they had no idea. They even came to her seeking her expertise on healing. It was a wonderful irony.

Youn Wha selected a nearly full listher pot, then pretended to check its contents for freshness while she paused to look through the gap between the wall of shelves. On the other side sat Yoichi’s study, a recent addition to the alchemy tower. His presence had convinced many of the alchemists that the bastard son of the emperor was taken with their pursuits and could therefore be maneuvered into procuring them special permissions and greater allowances. And Yoichi had in fact come through on a good many of their requests, convincing them that he’d battled with Emperor Hao for them and winning the lot of them over easily. Now that he had ascended to the throne, they guarded his study as viciously as loyal hounds, never setting foot in it themselves and never allowing others to set foot in it.

In truth, she was quite proud of her son’s maneuvering. If only he could learn the endless patience of an ambush predator, he would make a formidable grandmaster. Then she could take on her final advancement and retire to the shadows like a fat old spider, drinking Ro from the heartcenters of all who danced and twisted on her strings.

Everything remained the same in the study. The icy coffin rested against the wall, the body that once held the most overpowered life force she had ever sensed tantalizingly close and yet beyond reach. A Ro like the Ji Yu chieftain’s would send Yoichi over the edge into his Bloom of Malignant Beauty stage, perhaps even further.

If her acid potion failed, perhaps a tincture of fire petals combined with her Lasting Tendrils. Youn Wha’s chosen Path was not one of instant physical strength, but of wearing down over time what couldn’t be consumed immediately. Eventually, she would find the correct combination of acids, poisons, and gentle pressures to break through the ice. Time was the ultimate poison, as the ancients said.

As she turned to resume her work, a sound from within the study caught her attention.

Drip.

Her charcoal-smudged brows pulled low over her eyes and she turned back to the gap between the shelves.

Nothing was amiss in the study, but her sharp predator’s ears were never fooled. She held perfectly still, listening.

Time passed around her, but the other alchemists paid her no mind. Eccentricity and occasional madness were common to the profession, and their own studies were far more important to them than whatever spell she might be experiencing.

The sun began to lighten the sky outside the eastern tower’s windows before she heard it again.

Drip.

Her colorless eyes sparkled as she located the source of the sound.

The coffin of ice was melting.

With a twist of her lethal black Ro, Mortal Aura cloaked Youn Wha. She sent it radiating outward, clawing into the lungs and skin of the alchemists and even a courtier who had come to retrieve an elixir. They choked and wheezed and wept as their body deteriorated from the inside out.

When the last sparkling cloud of ruby Ro had filtered into her heartcenter, Youn Wha retrieved her aura and went to find a guard. The alchemy tower would have to be made off-limits until they discovered the source of the lethal pollution that had killed so many. Off-limits to everyone but her, of course. Master Alchemist Sulyeon would have some contraption or elixir that protected her from the poisoned fumes while she worked to make the eastern tower safe again.

And when the Ji Yu chieftain’s ice finally melted away, Youn Wha would be there.

Waiting.