The next seven potential wives were not worth the candle. Fa Za wondered what his mother was thinking often, but today he really didn’t know.

If she was trying to sell him on a life of celibacy and seclusion, she was winning that sale hands down. He grew bored, and as much as he wanted to leave, the iron might of his mother kept him glued in place. He really hoped that the scouts and Ko would be able to help the village of Stone Fish where he couldn’t.

Because as the fifth harpist came out, and he realized that he hated the harp, he was really looking forward to explaining the problem to his parents.

***

The village of Bounty was a short run south of Heaven’s mountains' vast holdings of land. The large village was full of one and two-story structures with thatched roofs and as they came into view, the spear siblings both slowed to a jog, then a walk.

“Okay, what is our strategy here? This is a very dug-in community?” Ah Le said, to no one in particular.

She had hoped that Ko had been a local servant, but it looked more and more like he had arrived recently with the Elder parents of Fa Za and knew even less than they did.

Ki No shrugged.

“Bad cop, good cop?” He said.

“That should work.”

***

The loud tones of this harpist fell one by one, hammering into his head, and he was left reeling. He could see a marching Army, as the harpist drew upon her qi to project an image of war.

He stood up.

The harp matched the sound of the footfalls and he was drawn in.

His mother reached out, but then pulled her hand back as he walked forwards into the projection.

Suddenly, he was in it. A battle, that now was the size of the room he was in, spread across the floor and illusionary cultivators flew between the walls, engaging in combat.

***

“So you see, elder, that very shortly, there will be a natural disaster. We have borne witness to the destruction ourselves, and we would not have you share the same fate. That would be wrong. We can only imagine that you’re thinking that this cannot be real. We assure you that it is real. It is very real.”

***

Fa Za pulsed his qi in time with the harpist. She was a jade beauty to be sure, and her name escaped him. The fight continued onwards but he realized that he needed to press on. The qi underlying the image was from a third realm cultivator, and he looked at it and smiled.

***

“You’ve brought a representative of Heaven’s mountain Sect as well. I never expected to see the both of you working together, but in all my long years here, it looks like at least one person has done the right thing. Or three in this case.”

***

He pushed his will into the image, warping it to change the flow of battle, as illusory men and women fled each other instead of fighting. Then the battle slowed as the harpist slowed, her eyes opening to see. He motioned for her to continue, willing her qi to behave in the way that he wanted.

Now they fled a giant beast, the cultivators all becoming the size of ants as a mountain rose well above them. Together they tried to fight back at it, at his best approximation of the divine beast.

Fa Za had never seen the divine beast himself, but he had seen the drawings and, he willed that into existence.

His mother gasped.

***

“We understand that you might need some time to deliberate, and my Sect, at the very least should be setting up a temporary camp for your people, at least until it is safe.”

***

“Do I have your attention now? Keep playing. Yes, I meant you. Elder Ling Za, a terrible fate will befall this Sect if we do not act now. The divine beast is on its way here. I will take whoever I can but, we must pick up our weakest cultivators and followers and move them out of the path.”

***

“We don’t think that it will be safe in the Heaven’s Mountain clan. It’s immense power…”

***

“...will crush the School, all of our holdings, for miles in either direction. Staying here is foolish. This beast killed all of the leadership of the Cold Steel school.”

***

“Strong, powerful culitvators were cut down in their prime. Men and woman this one knew and loved. We would have you avoid that fate, if at all possible.”

***

“So I ask you, today, to devote your qi to this…”

***

“Send every able bodied man and woman to begin packing for a caravan out. You must leave as soon as possible. To attempt to stay and fight is folly.”

***

“There is no honor in staying and fighting, to lose everything. You cannot fight the sun, the moon or the heavens. You can only observe their passing.”

***

“Once we alert the village of Stone Fish, we will return here. A caravan of people from Blessing are already o their way south and west.”

***

“We can protect the people around here. We can save the Sect, and it’s people. But we need to act now and act decisively.”

The harpist completed her melody and let her qi go.

If Fa za had caused offense he would rather offer his hand and save his people, or anything. Ling Za stared down at him, and he once again felt small, in only the way that his mother could make him feel.

“We’ll have to postpone your engagement, but Julie does play a wonderful harp.”

Fa Za breathed slowly, cultivating a slow four count.

“It can’t be helped,” His father said, “Honored wife, shall we speak to the rest of the elders?”

“Yes, it seems prudent. We’ll see what they have to say about this… catastrophe.”

His mother smiled, and Fa Za was glad that she had turned her attention elsewhere.

He was ready to beg, steal, barter or borrow whatever it took.

***

The word got around. The whole village was abuzz with the names of the Cold Steel Sect as men and women rushed from door to door. Ki No watched from his perch on top of the largest building, the town hall. Ko sat next to him.

“You do this, you can be a new man,” Ko said, “Save all these people? They will love you forever.”

“This one barely wants to be the man he is. We just need to overcome this…” Ki no gestured west.

They couldn’t see it yet, but in his bones, he knew it.

“The Stone Fish elder is a damn fool,” Ki No said.

“All those that don’t see with their eyes are damned fools, trying to bring us down. You know that they took the airship all the way here just to try to get Fa Za to marry one of the women that they brought?”

Ki No turned over the spear in his hand. The thatched roof that they were on was solid, but didn’t have enough snow to fill up his qi. He was relying on the aura of the spear to cycle with. One of the few problems with the cold was his going through the motions in the heat had drained him.

Ko had shown him a few broom basics while they waited on Ah Le, she’d yelled something about doing something with a vendor and then disappear.

“Isn’t Fa Za trying to marry Elder Jessica Kim from my Sect?” Ki No said.

Ko puckered his lips, looking like he was trying to say something. He raised a finger once, put it down, raised it again, and then sighed.

Ah Le landed gracefully with three mugs.

“Boys,” she said.

She handed one mug to each.

“To our victory here,” she said, clinking mugs with them, “We took our shot and we made it. We didn’t even need to pull out the good cop, bad cop routine.”

“It doesn’t feel like a victory, pulling people out of their homes,” Ko said.

“Rest assured, honored cultivator, that this is a victory,” She replied.

Ki No had never felt less victorious in his life, but he drank his beer greedily.

***

“Heed not the cultivator that yells that the sky is falling!”

“But if they sky is actually falling husband, don’t be an idiot.”

“But… the sky?”

“Husband. Get your head out of your ass. We need to pack up everything.”