Daphne and her maid spent hours tearing through the house together with little finesse now constraining them now, but the search yielded nothing. Truly heaven disposes of even the best plans that man proposes!

So great was her despair that she coughed up blood.

“My lady!” Her maid cried out, and was quick to stain her white cotton kerchief by dabbing Daphne’s mouth. “Do you feel pain anywhere? Did he hurt you?” She bit her lip. “Did the brute … try something?”

“He was a mere ant that dared to posture before me. Subduing him was as easy as lifting a hand,” Daphne said, eyeing the hovel she’d been captive in with a mournful look. She suddenly found her face pressed against her servant’s heart as she was embraced tightly. Dextrous fingers made comforting, small round circles on her back, and the sensation was not displeasing so Daphne allowed the minor insolence to pass.

Mercy was the privilege of the strong after all.

Yet Daphne clung to hope. Surely the leader and Jared would return home soon, to abscond with Broken Nose and their ill-gotten gains before her father arrived? She would ravage them then! Of course, that required preparing an ambush.

She’d defeated Broken Nose with ease, but her childish right hand still whined of pain from the exertion of a single strike. Truly, it was courting death! Did her hand not know what a tremendous honor it was that Daphne had graced this untrained body by practicing the Eighth Form of the Elegant Swan Scripture? In her sect, if a disciple acted like this he would not be a disciple.

Ah, but she would give her hand some face today and not cripple it. To cut it off would be to cut herself, and Daphne rather liked having two hands to do nothing with. How could she continue to cultivate wei wu wei, the doing of non-doing, with one hand?

Sparing one face was not the same as sparing one from punishment. Her hand would be taught its place in the world, the place of all things under heaven—serving her.

That was how Daphne was found, embraced betwixt the copse of trees with the bound form of Broken Nose but a few paces away.

Unfortunately, it was her father who found her, and not the returning bandits.

Margrave Adam Greenglade arrived atop a destrier, fitted for war in a finely crafted plate. A golden script danced across it, gleaming ever bright in the light of the sun. Her father was a broad-shouldered man in his fifties with thick trunks for arms and a receding hairline. Like Daphne, his eyes were a pale blue hue flecked with specks of grey and were crowned by full, expressive eyebrows that betrayed his feelings. Worry, Daphne recognized that look from the many arrogant toads squashed beneath her heel, but also relief, knowing that their death would be quick.

Mercy was the privilege of the strong after all, and Daphne was the strongest.

“Thank the gods!” Father exclaimed as he dismounted and ran up to her. Her maid released her, and she was enveloped by the crushing embrace of her father.

“Why are you here?” Daphne asked.

He pulled back, still holding her by the shoulders and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You are the Emperor’s minister,” Daphne said. To leave court without leave was to court death. “How can you be away from court at this time?”

“You were kidnapped,” Father said. “Of course I came. His Highness understands the duties of a father to his family.”

“I suppose,” Daphne said.

He peaked at the bound form of Broken Nose. “What happened here?”

“He courted death,” Daphne replied, simple and profound. It explained everything, yet it explained nothing.

Father cupped her face, pinching her cheeks softly, then glanced down at her hands. “You’re injured.”

“Merely a flesh wound,” Daphne said dismissively. “My maid has seen to it.”

His expression likened to a storm. “There really is no honor amongst thieves! They promised you would be released unharmed.” He turned to the knights accompanying him. “Take him.”

“Yes, Lord Greenglade!” they said, thumping their right breast with mailed hands in salute.

“Is he the only one here?” Father asked.

“There were six men who attacked us,” Daphne said. “Only three of them brought us here, the others remained in the city. When I woke this morning, only he remained.”

Father nodded. “And how did you subdue him?”

“Easily,” Daphne said.

His eyes softened and he embraced her again. “My brave, brave girl. Don’t worry. I, your father, will bring these men to justice.”

“But how will you find them?” Daphne asked.

“They dared kidnap my sole heir, and thought to barter away your life with mere gold,” Father said. “Greed has ever been the downfall of men. I had one of the coins laced with a tracking spell. We’ll find them, don’t you worry.”

Daphne’s thoughts froze. “Are you saying they had a secret hideout elsewhere?”

Father bobbed his head. “This hut used to be someone else’s no doubt, and they merely occupied it. If thieves were known for hard work, they would not need to be thieves.”

Daphne sent silent thanks to the heavens. It was not that her dao of seeking could not overcome their dao of hiding, it was simply that the treasures she was looking for were elsewhere! “I would like to see this hideout of theirs when you’ve dealt with them.” With their treasures in hand, she would be like a carp leaping through the dragon gate as she advanced by leaps and bounds, gaining twice the results for half the effort, and ascending to heaven in a single bound!

“There’s no need to concern yourself,” Father said.

Her maid kowtowed all of a sudden, dirtying her dress by rolling in the muck and mud. “Begging your pardon for the interruption, my lord, but I must tell you something urgently.”

“Rise,” Father said. “What is it?”

Her maid glanced at Daphne with mournful eyes, then she leaned close to whisper something into Father’s ear.

His visage darkened once more, like a clan patriarch avenging himself on a hero for insults given to his sister-in-law’s nephew twice removed. “They did what!”

Her maid lowered her eyes and she trembled before the brewing storm made man.

“I’ll have them all killed for this! There is nowhere under heaven that the wicked can hide from tribulation, not even deep within the mountains!” he roared, the match of any storm. He turned to his knights who had grabbed Broken Nose. “End his life slowly.”

“As you command!”

“This won’t go unpunished, my daughter,” Father said. “This I swear to you before the gods.”

There was nothing for her to do but nod. His anger was to the point that his blood was no doubt flowing in reverse. “Is Mother with you?”

“She’s waiting in the carriage,” Father said. “Come, we’ll take you home.”

It was still a small trek to the carriage given the hut Daphne had been kept in deviated even from the dirt paths that ran through the forest. She was, of course, still wearing her heels, and as one might imagine that made walking on uneven ground difficult in the extreme. To her delight, her father swept her up and carried her in his arms. It was not quite the same as flying, but at least she was not troubling her feet by walking.

Her mother, Lilith, was a fair fairy of a woman. Her mother was the sun—with an ever present, almost oppressive, beauty that left the world brightened by her mere existence. Daphne could not compare—not as she currently was—for she was the moon, breathtaking in its own, subtler way, but always borrowing the light of the sun. Were she not her daughter, Daphne might have been seized with jealousy, but as her daughter it could only be seen as a fortuitous sign. Even in this world, she was a favored child of the heavens for whoever heard of a jade beauty not destined for greatness?

“Daphne, I was so worried!” Mother said, drawing her to the seat besides her. “I told you to take more guards. With your health as it is ...”

“Mother, please forgive me!” Daphne said. “I was a measly frog in the well, unable to see Mount Tai!”

Her expression softened. “Shhh, my lovely swan, don’t say such a thing about yourself. I have told you before that you must believe in yourself if anyone is to believe in you. Purge such thoughts and words from yourself.”

Daphne nodded solemnly. “I will intensify my efforts.” She would bring shame to her venerable parents if she were not able to break into qi condensation soon.

“Lily,” Father began, “maybe it’s time we let Daphne return to the academy?”

“You want to send her back to where it happened? She’s only just starting to recover from her accident. Not a month ago she would not even wake!” Mother said.

“She’s nearly seventeen and the summer months are at an end,” Father said. “If we delay, she will fall further behind her peers. We always knew we’d have to send her back at some point. Her education in magic is incomplete.”

Magic, Daphne thought. What a peculiar word for cultivation these people had.

“Is this about Prince Hadrian?” Mother asked. “Word has reached me of his plans to transfer in from the Imperial School, but there’s no reason to rush things. Our Daphne will surely charm him in her own time,” Mother said.

Father frowned. “It’s not her future prospects I worry about. We agreed long ago she was better suited as a glove than a fist, but I fear she must soon know how to defend herself,” Father said.

“Dear, we have knights for that,” Mother said.

“I fear it may not be enough,” Father said, lips set in a grim line. “This blow against our family, struck by some hidden hand, has woken me to a truth I’ve long run from. Dark times are ahead of us.”

“But it’s so soon,” Mother said. “She didn’t even know who we were for a while, how can we expect her to thrive at the academy in her state? She would need to know the names of half a hundred people—”

“Mother, do not fret over that,” Daphne said. “I shall double my efforts so that our family does not lose face before our peers.” Never let it be said she was not a filial daughter, that she did not know when to exert herself to save face.

“Are you sure about this?” Mother asked.

“I am,” Daphne said. At this academy, this sect, she would surely come under the tutelage of old monsters—and with that tutelage came momentary protection from the greater dangers. Of course, she would not be content to be shielded from such things by others for long, but the academy would also be where many scriptures could be found.

Mother sighed. “If you’re sure, I won’t stop you.”

Daphne beamed at her. If she was lucky, she might even be able to, ahem, convince her lessers to hand over their spirit stones! How fortuitous!