This was, Bao Qingling had to admit, satisfying to a degree. She stood ramrod straight, arms folded behind her back in the study of her elder brother’s travel manse. The decor dripped with gold and jewels, gaudy as ever, offensive to her senses. Her brother, Bao Quan, sat behind his desk, looking down at the contract she had presented to him.

He was a vague blob of bright reds and greens and glimmering metal to her attenuated vision, but to her real senses, he was the same towering cloud of decadence she had always known him as. The endless clinking of coins mingled with joyful laughter to her ears; the scent of rich and fattening foods and mind-altering elixirs of the highest quality drifted in the air. Rich silk, jade and gems, and a thousand other luxuries and pleasures sparkled and tempted.

But for one barely discernible instant, the noise and furor had stilled, and shock had overtaken the overbearing presence that was her brother.

Bao Qingling’s expression remained a blank mask, but on the inside? Yes, it was impossible to suppress a little satisfaction.

“This is a remarkable achievement, Little Qing,” Bao Quan said. He sounded so pleased that she might have even thought him truly happy for her, if she were not familiar with her own clan’s ways. “The Bai so rarely choose to deal with outsiders to such an extent. How in the world did you acquire such a good relationship with this young miss?”

Bao Qingling very carefully did not think of a certain specific relationship activity, but instead, she focused her surface thoughts upon their joint projects. “We have a number of hobbies in common, which has allowed me to forge a personal connection. Having interacted with Bai Meizhen at length, I believe I can confirm the rumors of the Lady Suzhen’s faction seeking wider ties in the Empire.”

“Wonderful,” Bao Quan enthused. She was sure he was stroking his beard with those fat, jewel-studded fingers of his. Hopefully, she could escape this meeting without her hair being ruffled by them. “Exchange and prosperity bind people together and lower strife. I am sure that even father will be pleased by this, Little Qing. I will approve this contract right away. Do you require any start-up funds?”

It galled her that she did, in fact, need some financial aid. Her projects were well compensated by the Sect, but she had always sought interesting projects over the most profitable ones.

She bowed stiffly, clasping her hands in front of her. “If my elder brother would be so kind, some eighty green spirit stones will allow a smooth beginning of operations. The salary for guards, the procurement of certain reagents, the cost of spatial rings and containers rated for higher quality items and pill furnaces which could withstand the intense toxicity of some of the ingredients she would be working with all added up.

“A trifle. I shall provide from my own fortune. We need not bother the wider clan,” Bao Quan said cheerfully. Objectively, it was a fortune she asked for, enough to empty the coffers of a lesser clan. But they were Bao. “And it will give me an excuse to talk with my dear little sister more often.”

Bao Qingling put on a smile. It was more practiced than it used to be, but she had no doubt that most would be able to tell that it was more of a grimace. “Thank you very much, Elder Brother. I will not disappoint the clan.”

“You won’t.” Bao Quan sounded thoughtful and perhaps a little melancholy. She was uncertain what angle he was pursuing with that tone, but her elder brother had always gone over the top with his projection of affection. “Little Qing, it has been a long time since you have visited home. The Seven Suns feast is coming in a few months. Would you care to return? I can easily arrange transport.”

So that was it. Bao Qingling knew there would be at least one string attached here. The thought of returning to the gleaming halls of the clan, surrounded by masks and noise and brightness, made her stomach turn. That it would mean giving up some of the limited time remaining with Meizhen at the Sect was merely a bitter addition.

“I will attend, if Elder Brother thinks it important.”

He was silent, a beat longer than was polite. Bao Qingling grimaced. She simply was not capable of mustering the appropriate enthusiasm. A break in their game of etiquette.

“No, just a whim. You have a profitable venture to set up, Little Qing. I’d rather not get in your way,” Bao Quan relented.

“Thank you for your understanding, Elder Brother.” This time, her bow was less stiff.

He must have rethought and considered the damage she would likely do among their cousins with her presence. Best for everyone that the defective daughter of the clan head be kept out of sight.

“No worries,” Bao Quan said thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on the desk, a sound like coins on stone. “You are happy here, are you not, Little Qing?”

Bao Qingling stared at him for a moment, brought up short by the non sequitur. “I find my current conditions satisfying.”

She thought the shifting colors indicated a nod, and the door behind her drifted open, signaling that she could go.

The tournament season could not end fast enough.

***​

“Aunt Suzhen,” Bai Meizhen said, bowing low before the full-length mirror placed carefully on the thick carpet in front of her. A resplendent device, its frame was a single piece of contiguous jade, ethereal and white, carved into intertwining serpentine bodies.

Her aunt stood before her in the mirror, looking down at her with a hint of undisguised affection in her eyes. Bai Meizhen had rarely felt so honored.

“My niece,” said Bai Suzhen with a tiny acknowledging nod. Bai Meizhen felt the older woman’s eyes sweeping over her, no doubt taking in the imperceptible changes of a year’s cultivation and growth. “I have heard good things about your progress.”

“I am humbled by such words,” Bai Meizhen said, and it was no polite embellishment. To be praised by the one who she so looked up to left a warmth in her chest only rivaled by her more private moments with Qingling. “I have strived to follow the words you left to me.”

Bai Suzhen’s eyes drifted half-shut for a moment, and her thin lips quirked upward. “And yet, none of your cousins have delivered to me reports of such good relations and so few complaints. You had a word with young Xiao Fen about restraint?”

“Yes,” Bai Meizhen agreed. “Please do not feel too harshly towards her. The strange situation of the Sect is harsh for a Viper so loyal as she.”

“A few insulted coin counters in the Peaks is no issue,” Bai Suzhen dismissed. “Particularly when you have established rapport with so many… worthies of the young generation, even leaving the Cai heiress aside. You have surprised me, however, with this contract you have proposed.”

Bai Meizhen straightened up, making her expression businesslike. “Despite their inclinations, the Bao remain one of the largest players in the Emerald Seas, even with the soft boycotting measures in place under the Meng.”

“I am glad to know that you have investigated that matter,” Bai Suzhen said warmly. “Still, it is not done for a Bai to rely on an outside contractor. Some would say that worrying over cost and efficiency ahead of the superlative quality of the clan’s resources is an insult.”

“But I do not believe you would say that, Aunt Suzhen,” Bai Meizhen replied without pause.

“You are, as ever, an exceptional niece,” Bai Suzhen said. “Yes, normalizing outside contracting is important. I commend you. Simply be aware of the knives which are being measured for you.”

“Always, Aunt Suzhen.” Bai Meizhendipped her head in acknowledgment of the warning. She wondered, would it truly be a terrible thing not to return to the Lakes? A scandalous thought, but what was there for her compared to here with her prestigious apprenticeship, her friends, and her lover?

Bai Suzhen looked at her with a slightly troubled expression. “Bai Meizhen, know that the intrigues of our cousins will come under control soon enough. I look forward to walking with you on the shores of Lake Hei one day.”

Bai Meizhen flushed. It was no shame to be read so easily by a cultivator as mighty as her aunt, but it was shameful to allow embarrassing thoughts to surface. “Of course, Aunt Suzhen. I meant no insult. It is only that I have built so much here in the time I have had.”

Her aunt sighed. “It is easy to forget how long two years is to a girl of your age. I meant no chastisement. In the end… in the clan of our future, it will be necessary that some Bai must come to live amongst others in the longer term.”

Left unsaid was the faint discomfort that even her aunt felt at that thought. Bai Meizhen felt like she should agree and understand, but… did she really feel like that any longer?

“But that is enough discussion of serious business for now,” Bai Suzhen said crisply. “I have cleared thirty minutes of my schedule today. I would like to hear of your year’s ventures from your own mouth, not mere paper. My handmaiden will have prepared you tea and refreshments. So come, sit and tell your aunt of your days. I have a particular interest in your business partner and her character.”

“Thank you, Aunt Suzhen,” Bai Meizhen said. In the corner of the room, the murderous shadow of her aunt’s black viper, one of the most terrifying of their number in all the province, loomed over a wheeled tray brimming with the finest tea and sweets in the Thousand Lakes, some still twitching.

It was terribly ridiculous, and she hid her smile behind her sleeve as she found a seat before the mirror. “I suppose it began with my desire to indulge my hobby in alchemy…”