The hours passed surprisingly quickly as Lee Jia and Jung caught up with each other. It was a little awkward at first—neither of them was exactly as the other remembered, having both changed over the course of the seven years they’d been apart—but they soon fell into an easy back and forth. Jung gasped and worried over Jia’s stories about some of her more dangerous encounters—especially with the members of the Great Awakening Dragon Sect of Qin—and Jia’s ears burned as Jung told her tales of her time working in the brothel. Jung was quite open about her time spent working as a prostitute, even proud in her own way. She scolded Jia good-naturedly when asked whether she was ashamed of it.

“And why should I be? It’s a profession like any other, Jia. Why should I be any more ashamed of selling my body than the men and women who purchase it?”

“W-women!?”

Jung rolled her eyes as Jia tried to cover her blushing face.

“Yes, women! I didn’t think you would be surprised by that, given your own choice of partner. Women have sexual urges too, you know. Oh, Jia, don’t tell me you two have never—”

“We have! Just...o-once or twice. I don’t—it’s kind of complicated, sorry. But don’t you regret not having a choice?”

Jung mulled it over a moment before nodding.

“I suppose so, though truth be told I’m not sure what else I might have done. You’re right, though—it’s not something a young girl should be forced into, nor a choice she should be forced to make. I don’t blame you for running away. In any case, you’ve brought the one responsible to justice, have you not?”

Jia’s face hardened as nodded in confirmation.

“Seung is never going to hurt anyone ever again.”

Jung sighed and reached out to place a hand on Jia’s cheek, causing her to jerk in surprise.

“I don’t like seeing that expression on you. It scares me, you know—seeing that side of you. The way you spoke of your time in the academy, and the everyday violence. I know you mean well, but is that really the kind of life you want for your little sister?”

Jia stared down at her lap, shamefaced.

“It scares me too. On the road to Naeyong, we were attacked by a group of cultivators from Qin and I—I had to kill people. The worst part wasn’t the blood on my hands, or their lifeless eyes staring back at me—it was how easy it was. How fragile human lives really are, even for a so-called ‘immortal.’ Is that the kind of life I want for you and Narae? No, of course not. But I don’t want to lose you either—not after I’ve finally found you again.”

Jung smiled gently and wiped Jia’s watering eyes with a sleeve.

“We’re here now, Jia. And we aren’t going anywhere—or rather, we’ll go where you go, if that’s what you want. We could hardly deny you after everything you’ve done for us.”

Jia shook her head and sighed.

“I hate that. I don’t want you and Narae obligated to me. I—I want you to be able to depend on me, but I don’t want either of you to be dependent. Ugh, I’m not making any sense.”

“No, I think I understand. That’s why you want to train Narae, yes? So that she can be independent?”

“Yes! Exactly! And—and so that she can take care of you if Eui and I are away. There’s...a lot going on right now, and I’m not really sure how long we can stay close to you. We might have to go away for a while at some point, and I want you to be safe when that happens.”

Jung nodded slowly, her face was quite expressive and Jia could practically see her working through things in her head before responding.

“I’m still sick—dependent on Miss An’s treatments to maintain my health. If you two are forced to leave on whatever immortal business you have, I’ll start to waste away again, yes? You’d like to teach Narae to take her place.”

“Not quite. Ideally, we’ll get you to somebody who can properly cure you before that happens. We know people in Yamato and Qin who might be able to do it. My real reason is...maybe a bit more selfish than that. Do you know how long an immortal lives for?”

Jung blinked in confusion at the sudden question, but put a finger to her chin in thought.

“I suppose it’s in the name, no? An immortal lives forever—at least until they are killed.”

Jia nodded.

“Close—only a few actually reach true immortality—but even if Eui and I were to stop cultivating today...well, I haven’t thought about it much, but we’d probably live for thousands of years at this point. Maybe it’s selfish of me but I don’t want to lose you now or in the future. If I’m going to live forever, then I want my family and friends to as well!”

To Jia’s surprise, Jung started to laugh—a little giggle at first, then it grew into a full on belly laugh before she started coughing and had to stop to breathe. Jia watched her with a worried frown as she composed herself. Once she caught her breath she shook her head.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Jia. I didn’t mean to laugh, it’s just—it’s quite the audacious claim that you want me to become immortal so that you won’t have to watch me die. It’s like something Narae would say. Just a few days ago I was quite prepared for my own death, so you’ll have to excuse me if immortality feels a bit far away.”

Jia bit her lip and averted her eyes, finding it difficult to meet Jung’s gaze as she worked up the courage to say what came next.

“Um, well it’s not for Narae. In fact, if I’m not wrong about my guess, it’ll come really easily to her, like it did for Eui and me. But...”

Jia trailed off, not sure how to say it. She didn’t want to say it. As if putting her next thoughts into words would make them more real. Unfortunately, Jung was quite sharp, and had picked up on Jia’s hesitation.

“But not for me, hmm?”

Jia grimaced at Jung’s words, cutting straight to the heart of her fears. She started to shake her head in protest, then aborted the motion with a shuddering sigh.

“No—not for you. Aside from your age, the sickness in your soul has badly corrupted your meridians and rendered your body very frail even after our treatment. I don’t think you’ll ever recover your full strength again, even if we manage to cure you entirely. And your aura is...it’s so thin. Like a second skin—even on a mortal, I’ve never seen one so weak. I—I don’t know if it’s even possible for you to...”

Jia tried to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes, but Jung drew her into a gentle embrace.

“Oh, honey. It’s not a tragedy that I won’t live forever. You’ve already saved me once—given me years to watch my daughter grow up that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. That’s more than I could ever hope to repay you for.”

“I just—I don’t want to lose you again.”

Jung stroked Jia’s back and hushed her as she sobbed into her big sister’s shoulder.

“Shh, it’s alright. I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. You can train Narae to be a mage or immortal or whatever it is you call yourselves and I’ll—well, I suppose I’ll just do my best. But you don’t need to cure me of my mortality to treasure the time we’ll have together.”

Jia wiped her tears away and sniffled.

“Okay. I’m still going to try, though.”

Jung covered her mouth and giggled.

“I suppose I should expect nothing less from you now. How you’ve grown, Jia. The little girl who constantly got herself into trouble for stealing extra snacks, now challenging death itself with a straight face.”

Jia blushed, but tried to hide it behind a good-humored grin.

“Well, I guess I’m still as greedy as I’ve ever been. I just set my sights a little higher than just food now.”

Jung raised an eyebrow curiously.

“More than just food? You’re not still up to your old habits, are you? Surely a mage of your wealth doesn’t need to steal to survive.”

Jia shrugged helplessly.

“In my defense, the food they served in the castle at Yamato was really good.”

After clearing things up with her big sister, Jia went to find Ja Yun. She felt bad for the former soldier—while Jia thought that Captain Sagong had been overly harsh, it was still ultimately Jia’s fault that Ja Yun had lost her job. While Dae had managed to predict that and draft her into his mysterious dark ops unit, Jia understood from context that it was still a pretty significant demotion from what had already been a punishment detail. As much as they had browbeaten her into it, Ja Yun had supported their raid on Seung’s headquarters, and Jia wanted to repay that kindness.

She found Ja Yun in her usual place by the front door of their little apartment, staring blankly into space. She didn’t react as Jia approached.

“Um, Ja Yun. Do you have a minute?”

Ja Yun glanced at Lee Jia and blinked once.

“Hm? Oh, Miss Lee. Do you need something? I think they’re still insisting that you stay in your room, but I can go out and get someone if you want.”

“No, I actually wanted to talk to you.”

“M-me? Why?”

Jia winced at Ja Yun’s fearful tone.

“Nothing bad! I just wanted to thank you for not trying to stop us. I know we didn’t exactly give you much choice, and I’m really sorry for the way it turned out for you but—”

Ja Yun sighed heavily and shook her head.

“No, don’t worry about it. I don’t really blame you. If it wasn’t this it would have been something else eventually. I’m just not cut out for the military. I joined out of college because I sucked at everything but fighting, but even in the army that’s not enough I guess. It could be a lot worse—I should thank your friend for bailing me out.”

“Dae’s a very good person, yes. But I wanted to repay you in another way, if possible. I don’t want to be the kind of person who just tramples all over the goodwill of others. Would you like to join us for training?”

“Um...weren’t we already doing that on the road? Wait—you weren’t just messing with me with all that running were you?!”

Jia waved her hands and shook her head urgently.

“No! Nothing like that. That was just something to pass the time since you seemed interested in martial arts. I was thinking of something a bit more focused. We’re already going to be teaching my sisters and Heian, and it would be no trouble for you to join in as well.”

Ja Yun sighed and shook her head with a pitiful shrug.

“What’s the point? I’d just be getting in your way—slowing you all down. I’ll just stay here and be a good little messenger. At least I can’t fuck that up.”

Jia bit her lip and frowned. After spending so much time with Eui, she recognized the sort of self-loathing that Ja Yun was suffering from. She was going to have to use her secret weapon.

“Hmm, not even if I convinced Takeda Rika to personally handle your tutoring?”

Ja Yun froze, and Jia watched with fascination as the light began to return to her eyes—as well as the color to her cheeks.

“W-w-what do you mean? Miss Takeda?”

Jia nodded.

“You know, ‘the really cute tall one’?”

Ja Yun covered her face and groaned.

“Oh ancestors, did I say that?”

“You sure did. So how about it? Would you like Takeda Rika to tower over you, shouting encouragement while you wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion? Would you like her to sit with you and guide your meditation as you try to find your center and unlock the power of your soul? Would you like to spend a lot of time alone together with her in close quarters while you train together?”

With every word, Ja Yun’s face grew redder and redder until she was practically glowing, her face the color of a beetroot.

“Miss Lee, you are an evil, evil woman, do you know that?”

Jia stared up at Ja Yun and blinked innocently.

“I don’t know what you mean. Are you going to join us or not?”

“...when do we start?”