After training, the girls returned home to get changed for dinner with Eunae. Jia still felt a little strange wearing different outfits throughout the day.

“What’s wrong with our usual robes, anyway? It’s just tea and snacks—same as we’ve done a million times already. Eunae isn't going to care what we’re wearing.”

Yue scoffed, sorting through Jia’s wardrobe—which had rapidly expanded thanks to her contributions.

“Jia, if I left it up to you, you’d just wear the same set of battle robes day in and day out like some sort of vagrant. Normal people dress appropriately for the occasion. Here—try this one.”

Jia caught the dress Yue passed her and held it up against herself.

“This is exactly the same as the last one.”

“No it isn’t. It’s lighter, and has a slightly looser fit—I always forget how flat your build is. Besides which, the brocade is a completely different pattern.”

Eui snickered and shook her head as she ran a comb through Jia’s hair.

“You may as well be talking to a wall, Yue. Also, I’ll show you flat if you make another comment like that.”

Yue huffed.

“You know I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just difficult to find something flattering for a figure like hers.”

Jia rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I get it—I’m skinny and I have no fashion sense. All the more reason to stick to one good outfit, right?”

“Of course not. Despite what some men might say, one’s chest is not the beginning and end of a woman’s beauty. However, you must be more selective about your wardrobe in order to focus attention on your other features.”

“I don’t want attention on my other features! I’m already in a happy relationship, isn’t that right, Eui?”

Eui blushed and averted her eyes.

“Actually, I kinda like it when you get all dressed up. Yue’s got good taste. Plus, she’s right—it’s rude to show up to tea in the same clothes we train with.”

“Ugh, fine. Just pick faster!”

Once they’d finished their preparations, Yue took a step back to admire her handiwork.

“Not bad. I do wish you’d learn to dress yourself, Jia, but I have to admit this is always fun.”

Jia stuck out her tongue.

“Maybe I like being waited on by a rich noble lady like yourself.”

“I’m sure you do. Will Jung be joining us tonight?”

Eui frowned and shook her head.

“She’s been making progress, but today’s no good.”

Jia nodded.

“Lady Xiulan’s treatment has been miraculous, but she says that it has to be done carefully. One wrong move could tip the delicate balance between Luo’s elixir and Jung’s corruption. She was awake all day yesterday, but I guess it tired her out.”

Yue sighed.

“Oh well, perhaps next time. Shall we, then?”

The trio made their way up the mountain to Seong Eunae’s mansion. The Flowing Spiritual Purewater Sect had given Jia and her friends extravagant housing to use as they wished for as long as they chose to stay. Eunae shared her house with Ja Yun and Takeda Rika, while her older sister Seong Misun had an entire house to herself.

Jia’s was the most crowded by far—the house being shared by her, Eui, her sisters Jung and Narae, Li Meili, Pan Jiaying, and Master Ienaga Yumi. The alchemist Luo Mingyu had moved into the temple as Lady Lin Xiulan’s newest core disciple. Even with so many people sharing one house, there was ample space for all of them within the mansion.

Eunae’s mansion was no smaller, despite having only half the people living there—a mark of the sect’s generosity—and like the other buildings on the Purewater Peak’s steep face, it was built directly into the mountain.

Jia knocked politely before letting herself in—knowing better than to wait for someone to get the door. Eunae preferred to keep things informal. As they entered they were met by a cry of alarm from Ja Yun from deeper within the mansion.

“Iseul! You can’t be someone’s bathwater without permission! Get back here you little brat, I know you know better than that!”

A waist-high blob of goop came rushing down the hallway, burbling in delight. It froze as it crossed Jia’s path, briefly forming a childlike face on its surface, complete with a mischievous grin, before launching itself directly at her. Jia neatly sidestepped the mud elemental, letting it splash onto Yue standing behind her.

“Ack! Blegh—Jia, why?!”

Jia winked at her.

“That’s for calling me flat earlier.”

“Ugh—hello to you too, Iseul. Could you please release me? You are very cold and wet and I would rather not be.”

Iseul dutifully flowed down Yue’s dress, eliciting a shudder of revulsion from the girl as the elemental left her completely clean and dry before reforming into a mostly-human shape and hiding behind Jia as Ja Yun came dashing around the corner after it.

“Iseul, get back here you—oh! Oh, ancestors, I’m so sorry!”

Ja Yun bowed, and Jia returned the gesture.

“Nothing to apologize for. Did we arrive at a bad time?”

“No—well, maybe. Sorry. I wish I could say I didn’t know what’s gotten into her, but she’s distressingly eloquent about why she acts out. She thinks that getting into trouble is a fundamental childhood experience that’s crucial to her emotional development. Which is the worst excuse any toddler has ever given for being an absolute brat!”

The last part was addressed directly to the brat in question, who stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at Ja Yun—though it sounded more like someone blowing bubbles through a teapot.

Jia concentrated a tiny bit of Magma essence into her fingertip and flicked the little elemental in the forehead. Iseul reeled back in surprise, rubbing her steaming forehead and looking up at Jia with a look of utter betrayal. Jia wagged her finger.

“You shouldn’t do things wrong on purpose, Iseul! You’re a smart girl, but listening to what your moms tell you is also a crucial part of being a child. Don’t make up excuses! Now go apologize to your mother.”

Iseul hung her head and glided across the floor to Ja Yun’s side, signing an apology. She still hadn’t quite managed to get the hang of speaking, but had developed an impressively sophisticated sign language.

Ja Yun responded verbally along with her own approximation of Iseul’s signs.

“I accept your apology, but I’m not the one whose privacy you invaded.”

On cue, Rika emerged from the hallway and chuckled.

“I wasn’t bothered any. You know, she actually makes a surprisingly good shampoo.”

Ja Yun held a hand to her face and groaned.

“Rika, don’t encourage her—and don’t use our daughter as soap!”

Rika just laughed as Iseul dutifully signed another apology and ruffled the little elemental’s hair—or tried to. In practice she just sort of swirled her hand around in Iseul’s head.

“Apology accepted, kiddo. Come on in, everybody. Eun-eun’s already got the tea on.”

The girls filed in and took their seats around a familiar sitting room as Eunae bustled about, already serving cups of tea to each of the guests while they exchanged greetings.

“No Jung tonight?”

Jia shook her head at Eunae’s question.

“She’s not up today.”

“Well, at least she’s been getting more time lately. Be sure to tell her that she’s missed.”

“Of course.”

Eui smirked across the table as Ja Yun tried to fend off Iseul, who was draping herself off of Ja Yun’s head like a goopy hood.

“So how are you enjoying motherhood, Ja Yun?”

“It’s—ow, my hair—Iseul, get off, you’re getting too big for this! It’s fine!”

Rika snorted and lifted Iseul off of Ja Yun’s head, setting the elemental on her shoulder where she happily started rocking back and forth, kicking her feet.

“I think what Yun means to say is that Iseul is a handful, but we still love her.”

Jia smiled warmly at the display, turning to Eunae, who’d finally sat down after serving everyone.

“What about you, Eunae? Having fun raising your own little troublemaker?”

Eunae took a sip of her tea before answering.

“Mm, well my relationship with Ja Yun is still mostly platonic—so I don’t really consider myself to be Iseul’s mother. Perhaps more like an aunt, or as Jia might say—a sister.”

Everyone laughed, but Jia didn’t get it. Eui raised an eyebrow.

“‘Still mostly’? Sounds like there’s something more to that.”

Ja Yun turned beet red, but Eunae was unflappable.

“If there is, you know better than to pry, Eui. Jia, while I enjoy Iseul’s company as much as anyone else, it’s quite true that she’s been a troublemaker lately, perhaps it would be best if she spent some time with Heian, so that she doesn’t cause any further disruptions.”

Jia shrugged—she didn’t see why not. She called her spirit-daughter out from within her soulscape, and Heian rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“I don’t wanna play with Muddy.”

Eui poked Heian in the side, scowling.

“Don’t be mean! She prefers ‘Iseul.’”

Iseul made a rapid series of hand signs that took Jia a moment to process. She indicated that she didn’t mind being called ‘Muddy,’ but that she didn’t particularly like the idea of playing with Heian either.

Jia crossed her arms.

“You two have a lot to learn from each other. You don’t need to be best friends, just try to get along alright? Heian, you need to be a good big sister.”

“Okay...”

Another round of giggles went through the table as Heian and Iseul ran off together and Jia blushed as she finally realized what they were laughing about.

“Oh, shut up!”

The girls settled into a routine as they chatted about their lives. Jia described Narae’s progress, Yue talked about some political maneuvering she’d been involved in, they joked and laughed—sometimes at each other’s expense—and shared their worries.

It was an old routine, with old friends, in a new place. Jia had missed it—and felt a little bit guilty that enjoying tea and snacks with her friends from the academy was the closest to home she’d felt since leaving it. It was unfair to the family estate that Eui’s family had been left behind to watch over, but for Jia, home would always be wherever her closest friends were.

They talked long into the night, and it wasn’t until it was nearly time to leave that they begrudgingly got down to business.

“The wedding isn’t until mid to late spring, but we should assume that guests will be arriving much earlier than that for the diplomatic summit.”

Jia sighed as Yue dodged the real issue.

“Are you sure you’re going to go through with marrying Xin Wei?”

“We’re going to do everything we can to minimize the political fallout that results, but yes. Don’t look so glum—I promise you that I could do a whole lot worse. The real concern is what we’re going to do about my father being here.”

That...was a problem. Eui frowned.

“He’s not just going to like...smite us, right?”

Yue snorted.

“Heavens, no. That would be a direct betrayal of his role as a guest of the sect, and a figurative slap to the face of not only Xin Hai, but the God-Emperor himself. No, you’re physically safe here, as long as the Awakening Dragon isn’t successful in taking full control of the sect after the wedding—but we’ll evacuate long before that happens.”

Eunae nodded.

“The greater concern is that he will put pressure on you. You still have a number of artifacts that are nominally his belongings, after all.”

“Yes, exactly. Thankfully, however, as part of his cooperation with Sovereign Shen, he’s been forced to acknowledge that you did not kill my little brother. We have plans in place to divert attention away from you during the summit, but be ready for him to approach you.”

Jia swallowed nervously, but nodded.

“I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but it’s reassuring to have you all in our corner.”

They went over a few details, but Jia didn’t have much of a head for the deeper political stuff. As they were getting ready to leave, Eunae stopped her.

“Oh, Jia—one other thing. I believe I’ve made enough progress in my ancestral art to attempt what we discussed before—regarding Jianmo’s avatar.”

Jia’s eyes widened.

“That was fast!”

Eunae had been practicing control of her Soulfire, and Jia had been hoping to get her help repairing the avatar that Jianmo had left behind with her after she’d vivisected it to learn how to create her own.

“Ja Yun and Rika have been a huge help, and I’ve been making great strides ever since you helped me break through. I should be prepared next time you come by to study with Ja Yun.”

“Great! I’ll look forward to it, then!”

The girls said their farewells and returned, heading back down the steps towards Jia’s mansion. Eui glanced sidelong at Yue.

“Isn’t your place the other way?”

Yue lived in the main temple at the mountain’s peak, as the de facto daughter-in-law of the sect's grandmaster. She shrugged.

“I thought I’d stay the night this time. Is that a problem?”

Eui sighed.

“It wouldn’t be if that was all. You still don’t trust Eunae?”

Yue grimaced and bit her thumbnail.

“I do, I just don’t know whether I can trust that trust. It’s infuriating! I have no idea how you two reconcile with it.”

Jia shrugged.

“Eunae’s our friend. She would never hurt us, and I trust her implicitly. It’s the same reasoning I extend to you, really.”

“That’s not very reassuring, Jia. If I were you, I wouldn’t trust me, either. Does it really not concern you in the slightest that she’s trying to learn soul magic?”

“We’re the ones that encouraged her to do it in the first place. Lin Xiulan has cleared us all multiple times—how long are you going fret about this?”

Yue looked down at her feet and sighed.

“I don’t know—perhaps forever. I just—I don’t want to be alone after being around her—she still frightens me.”

Jia frowned. Yue’s fear of Eunae had always run unusually deep, and she was beginning to think that there was more to it than Yue let on.

“You’re welcome in our house any time, Yue.”

“Thank you.”

Eui blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and looked up at the moon hanging in the sky, contemplating it for a moment before speaking her mind.

“Yue—if you’re so spooked about it, why not learn some soul magic yourself?”