I take advantage of the distraction Sun had created, switching my style to The Roars of The Ruinous Dragon and cutting through the neck of one of three cultivators advancing on me. The other two are now forced on the defensive, The Roars of The Ruinous Dragon far superior to whatever technique they used.

Sun kills the man who had slipped in my illusion, then walks over to me. The both of us make quick work of the last two cultivators, killing them before they can activate any last stand techniques.

I stand there for a moment, looking around at the five dead men bleeding out in an alleyway.

Sun sheaths his sword and his demeanor shifts, losing its menacing aura and returning to the normal young man that had called out to me.

He lets out a long breath as he seems to take in everything around the both of us. “That… that’s a lot of blood.” he says.

“People bleed a lot when they die.” I say, a hard to define emotion leaking into my voice. I walk through the corpses, turning the bodies to look at their faces. “Why would they want to kill me?” I ask, not recognizing any of them.

“Well, not you specifically.” Sun says awkwardly.

I look up at him sharply.

“They were hired to kill the disciples of the Flowing River Sect that just came to the city.” he explains, daintily stepping over the bodies to get closer to me. “You and that other girl made quite a scene last night, so anyone looking for you would know who you are, despite your new clothes” He motions at my robes which don’t bear any symbols of my sect.

“How do you know who they were told to kill?” I ask and Sun only now seems to realize that I haven’t put my sword away.

Blood drips down my arm from where I was cut, eventually reaching my pommel and traveling down the sword's length. My grip stays firm, the familiar pommel of my sword unmoving.

“It’s something I can’t share with you…. Shouldn’t you get that looked at? Losing that much blood can’t be good.”

Sun steps forward, gently grabbing my arm to look at my cut. He ignores the bloody sword.

His worry for me is genuine, so I gently take my arm out of his grip and sheathe my sword. I’ll need to clean it later, but for now, he is right. I need to have someone bandage my arm.

I let him lead me to the tavern we were in yesterday. As soon as the tavern keeper sees my bloodied form, he grabs a bag of supplies and hands them over to Sun.

Sun’s demeanor changes again as his spirit takes on a soothing feeling. His spirit now smells like lavender.

I’ve never noticed a spirit’s smell like this before. It’s unusual.

He stoops slightly, gently removing the damaged clothing from the wound. His fingers move with practiced gentleness as he applies an ointment to the wound.

I clench my teeth from the pain. “Do you know each other?” I ask, motioning towards the tavern keeper.

“Yes.” Sun’s change in voice startles me, now higher pitched with an accent from the eastern provinces. “He’s been a dear, letting me stay here while I look for work.”

He finishes with the cleaning of the wound and pulls out a needle and thread. “The numbing agent should be working,” He says in his higher pitched voice. “But this’ll still sting a bit, young one.”

“I’m as old as you are.” I say, frowning.

He looks into my eyes and I nearly pull back in surprise. His eyes are a soft green now, rather than their usual brown. “Sure you are, dearie.”

He looks back down and starts stitching my arm together with practiced movements.

I stay quiet as he does, observing him.

He changed like this for the fight too, but the change was different. Looking back, did his eye color change as well? I can’t remember, I wasn’t paying attention to it at the time.

He finishes by gently wrapping the wound. Once he is done, his demeanor and spirit quickly change back to normal.

“Thank you.” I say softly.

He rubs the back of his head, blushing slightly. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

I look at him, trying to figure out why he seems so familiar. “You seem familiar… I can’t place where.”

“You saved my life, three years ago. I would be dead in Yuan City if it weren’t for you.” He smiles awkwardly.

I’ve only ever been to Yuan City once with Elder Li Mei Wu, Jing Xia and Ming Lai. My eyes widen in realization. “You were the thief that fell in front of those cultivators!”

Sun cringes. “Thief is a harsh word.”

“But you were so small and now…” I look at the young man, who, like most men, is taller than me by a decent margin.

Sun shrugs, embarrassed. “Once I awakened my qi, I grew a lot.” He pauses and we settle into a small silence until he speaks up, “um, I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s your name?”

I smile at his sudden shyness. “Jia Lin.” I stand up carefully, testing my body for any other wounds or sore muscles. “I have to return.” I pause, considering Sun. His clothing is basically rags, and the only thing of value on him is his sword. Even that has a handle wrapped in dirty cloth. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” I’ll pay for some new clothing as thanks.

“I’ll see you then. And um,” He opens his hand to reveal a familiar pouch of mortal money. “I took this without thinking.”

I stare at the pouch for a moment. I quickly turn my head away, covering my mouth as I start laughing. After a few seconds, I’m able to calm down enough to speak, “Keep it. Think of it as my thanks.”

I do my best to return my face to a neutral expression as I leave the tavern. The walk back to the palace is surprisingly uneventful.

****

I return to my room to find Jing Xia waiting for me. “Oh good, you’re back! I was starting to get a little worried.” Jing Xia pauses, taking in my appearance. “What happened? You have blood on your robes.

“I was attacked.” I say, falling onto my bed with a sigh. “Master An Meng should be here soon.”

Jing Xia sits beside me, gently rubbing my back. I fall into her and I sense her slightly stiffen from the contact. She quickly relaxes, trying to hide the reaction.

She continues rubbing my shoulders and back as I close my eyes.

“I killed again.” I tell her, my voice soft. “I killed three myself. Two others were killed while I watched.”

Jing Xia stays silent, her hands never stopping their calming movements.

“It hurts.” I say at last.

“Yes it does.” Jing Xia responds.

Master An Meng knocks on the door to my room and I lift my head off of Jing Xia while she pulls her hands away.

Master An Meng enters the room, taking in the room at a glance. “Are you injured?” He asks.

I nod, pulling back my sleeve to show the wrapped and stitched cut. “They were sent after the disciples of the Flowing River Sect.”

I continue to tell him all that I know about the attack as he asks a series of questions.

Master An Meng sighs, looking away to rub his eyes. “I’ll speak to the master here about this. He might know more.” He opens his eyes to walk up to me, gently removing the bandage to look at the stitching. “Well done.” He remarks on the stitching before reapplying the bandages. “I’d like the two of you to stay together at all times. We are speaking with the Third Prince tomorrow, you can tell me if you sense a demon there, Core Disciple Lin.” He turns away, heading to the door. “I want to be out of here as soon as possible.” Are his final words as he walks out the door.

I fall into Jing Xia’s lap again once he’s gone.

She strokes my hair as I relax.

“When did you first kill someone?” I ask curiously, I know surprisingly little about my best friend.

Jing Xia’s hand pauses briefly before continuing. “I was very young.”

I turn to look up at her. She gazes down at me, her thoughts unreadable. “You know that you can trust me, right?”

“I know. I do.” She smiles.

I close my eyes. “Good.”

We stay like that for a while, talking softly about small things.

When the mood feels right, I sit up and open the case for my flute.

I bring my mother’s flute to my lips and play a soothing melody.

Two small dancers appear between Jing Xia and I.

They hold each other close, gently dancing to the melody.

Small lights, like birds, move around the pair, brightening the two.

It stays like that as I play, the two dancers just gently holding each other as they swing to the melody.

I finish and the lights swirl around the dancers before they all disappear.

“Your music is uniquely beautiful.” Jing Xia says, lying on her belly from where she watched the show, her eyes half lidded.

“Thank you.” I say, slightly embarrassed. No matter how many times I play, it always feels like I am showing an important part of myself with my music.

A servant enters the room, and I realize with some chagrin that I still haven’t cleaned myself or my sword.

I pull my sword from its sheath, and Jing Xia moves over to help me wipe the weapon down.

A supply of special oils is in my room along with some rags, thanks to Master An Meng. The weapon itself never needs to be sharpened, owing to its mysterious origins. I never thought to ask Quon Li about it, but the sword has never needed sharpening and is always easily cleaned. It seemed perfectly normal to me until I spoke with others about their weapons.

“What did you discover with your day?” I ask Jing Xia as I oil the blade.

“Third Prince Biming Shi is a quiet, bookish man, with little power compared to his brothers. No one had much to say about him except that he is polite. There were… some rumors, but I don’t know how much truth there is to them.” Jing Xia says, kneeling beside me.

“I don’t remember much of him from when I was here.” I say, glancing at Jing Xia from the corner of my eye. Her entire attention is on the oiling of my blade. “He didn’t stand out much.”

I finish with my sword and put it back in its sheath. “I need to get myself cleaned. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jing Xia nods, standing up. She walks to the door, turning back slightly to look at me with an unreadable emotion. “Stay safe.” She says.

“I will.”

With that, she leaves my room and I am left to clean myself up.

I only had these clothes for one day and they’re already cut to ribbons.