Chapter 54- The Blood Red Battlefield

The return to the Courtyard went smoothly. They stopped for the night again, but this time, they were undisturbed. Something had changed in the relationship between Brother Wang and Daoist Mei. It was less boisterous, less giggly, but there was something truer to it. Hands that sought each other as they walked. A head resting on a big shoulder, or kind eyes looking down with soft crinkles in their corners.
Tian suffered in mostly silence. It was all the looks flying around. Not a whole lot of talking, but there was an awful lot of meaningful looks. The romantic duo were merely the most visible.
Tian wasn’t surprised to see Sister Su glaring at Mei. She had made it abundantly clear that she felt Brother Wang was much too good for the theiving cat. He was more surprised to see her squinting at Brother Wang like she was going to sneeze or bite him and hadn’t made up her mind which.
He was even more surprised to see Sister Liren giving Mei a wider range of looks than Sister Su. Liren’s ranged from loathing, to anger, to a still contemplation, and even expressions that Tian simply could not interpret. He found her when they set up camp that night and asked her about it.
Liren gave him a dirty look, that cooled into merely a look, and then a look of resignation. He was getting exhausted by all the looking, and if she didn’t start using her words, he was running off into the jungle with the crane.
“Don’t take this a weird way, but… Hang on, I want to take off my outer robe.”
“Sister Liren?!”
“What part of don’t take this a weird way was unclear?!”
“The part where you took off your outer robe!”
“Oh for- I’m hardly naked here. I’m wearing a whole other robe for one damn thing.”
“Yes, an under-robe.”
“Brother Zihao, you fought an entire battle naked. I can’t believe you have modesty issues.”
“I don’t. I have Senior Brothers bashing propriety into me issues.”
She snorted. “Look, I just want you to see that I’m not wearing any hidden armor or anything, okay? Just the usual sect issue silk robes. Now,” She tapped a spot right in the middle of her belly. “Poke me here. Go ahead. You can put some muscle into it, if you like.”
Tian shrugged. This was weird, but strange things happen to cultivators. He would just have to mark Sister Liren as a natural oddity. He poked her. It was like poking a wall. He poked again, this time with a bit more force. It was like poking a stone wall. He poked a third time, and this time, he just leaned into it. He kept on leaning until he was at a forty-five degree angle, propped up by his finger in Liren’s abs. Her face was twitching, but she wasn’t in pain. She didn’t even lean back.
“I think you get the point.”
“I’m not sure that I do.” Tian spread his hands. Liren rolled her eyes and hauled on her outer robe.
“Brother Zihao, what part of me looks soft to you? Spare me the jokes this once, and answer seriously.”
Tian looked her over. Really looked at her. Slim, but that was normal. The robes covered up any sort of detailed examination of her body past the broadest outlines. “Tall, slim, tan,” was about all he could see.
“Your hair, I suppose, but I know that’s not what you mean. Look, you know I don’t…” He groped for the right words.
“Yeah, I know. You work with people carrying the most hideous kinds of wounds and never flinch. I don’t look weird to you. But I look weird to me. And to everyone else? It’s more than just weird.”
“Then everyone else is an idiot.” He flicked away the world’s population.
“I’m going to be tall, Brother. Taller than pretty much any woman, and honestly, most men. I’m not taking off my under robe to show you, but I have muscle definition that you simply would not believe. Not bulky, just… defined. And I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get much bigger up top, if you follow me.”
“Yes?” Tian was utterly lost.
“And then look at Daoist Mei.” She nodded towards the camp. The spy had Brother Wang resting his head on her soft lap, smiling and feeding him bites of melon. “From that angle, I wonder if Brother Wang can even see her face. Yes, yes, I know he can, shut up.”
Tian shrugged.
“She is pale, curvy, small, soft. Feminine. Lovely. And I’m not any of those things. Leave me alone, Brother. This isn’t a problem you can fix. I just wanted to tell someone.”
Tian sighed and did as he was told. She would go on his list- another wounded friend he would have to find a miracle for.
There was one other contributor to the shared looks- Lin. She had mostly been keeping her nose in a book since they camped for the night. Everyone could feel the changes going on in her, so they gave her space. Tian saw Lin look over at Hong, standing outside the circle of the firelight. Then look back at her book. Then up at the waxing moon. She sighed, her shoulders shrugging dramatically. In the dim light, Tian thought he could see a corner of Lin’s mouth tugging up.
Lin got up from her seat, walked out into the shadows, cupped her fist and bowed towards Liren. Tian didn’t hear what they said, but in the morning, both women walked with lighter steps.
Nobody greeted them when they got back.They had nothing to turn in, and the elders had been more or less on top of them the whole time. There was, therefore, nothing to report. The group collectively shrugged and split up. Some to cultivate, others to torment single dogs, judging by the way Brother Wang and Daoist Mei were walking arm in arm through the gardens.
Tian firmly turned away from the scene. Too much strangeness, too much interest in what a pair of daoists got up to together in their cell flying around for him. A book was calling to him. Many books. How cruel, then, that his escape was cut off by a librarian in a wheelchair. “Brother Tian, I’m afraid matters have reached a deadly crux. I require your assistance. No, I plead for it.”
Sister Su was grave, her hands folded in her lap as she bowed her head towards him.
“Sister Su, please! Of course I will help you. What do you need my help with?” Tian rushed over to her chair and straightened her up. Horribly certain he knew where this was going.

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“I’m afraid Brother Wang, our Brother Wang, has been seduced by a witch! Stolen from me. Possibly with foul magic, more likely, I regret to say, by sheer feminine wiles. All in the span of a few short days.”
Tian had the strangest feeling that the world was spinning and he was being flung up into the sky. He slowly sat down on the grass. Why him? Why Brother Wang? Why anybody?
“Please… explain. I know about Daoist Mei, but… explain. Please.”
“Despite my present infirmity, I am a perfectly ordinary young woman with perfectly ordinary desires. I’m not some loose woman, of course. I do believe that these things should be done with sincere affection in committed relationships, or arranged by your parents. Brother Wang and I have had most of a year to get to know one another, and I have found him quite acceptable. I have been very clear in my interest. However, not only has my interest not been reciprocated, I do not believe it has even been acknowledged.”
“Is… Is that so?” Tian had never noticed a hint of any of this. He didn’t want to know about it now. This was just like back at the Depot. People kept telling him about the romantic affairs going on, and he kept on not wanting to know. And they kept right on telling him!
“Indeed.” She nodded. Then drifted into silence. The silence stretched on.
Wait, hadn’t Brother Wang said he flirted with Sister Su and was ignored? He did. Tian was sure he had mentioned that. Tian assumed he was lying. Now Sister Su said she flirted and was ignored. Did he misunderstand what “flirt” meant? This time, Tian was the one who broke the silence.
“Clear how? That is, how did you make your interest clear?”
“How else? I followed the advice I learned from my sisters in the past and I gave him ‘the look.’ I continue to give him ‘the look.’ Also, I seek him out and spend my free time with him. Proximity and the look should be entirely sufficient to communicate my sincere interest in pursuing a romantic relationship.”
Sister Su neatly folded her hands on her lap. That was apparently all there was to say about that.
It was peaceful, in the little courtyard. Lots of well pruned shade trees, flowering shrubs, and attractive rocks. A nice place to sit and relax. Tian wished he were sitting here alone.
“You gave him ‘the look,’ and you chat. Sister Su, forgive me if this is an improper request, but could you demonstrate ‘the look?’”
She squinted at him, like there was a particularly fascinating pimple on his forehead. He recognized it from the night before.
It wasn’t so bad, living alone in the jungle. He wasn’t even really alone. Grandpa Jun was always with him. There was the endless pursuit of furious baboons, but that just lent color to the day.
“Have you tried just telling him? Just go up to him and say ‘I am interested in you romantically. I find you appealing in mind and body, and would be interested in pursuing a…’ Tian groped for words, but was cut off by Sister Su shaking her head rapidly.
“Quite impossible. Quite impossible. The man must make the first move, and the woman must be pursued. Only that is the proper way.”
Tian tilted his head to the side. Apparently he hadn’t read the right books. “Really?”
“Yes. Yin receives, yang moves. Violating the natural order of things can only result in calamity.” She spoke with utter conviction. Tian nodded along with her. That did seem like the very basics of Yin-Yang theory and had been very well tested by the ancients. Defiance of the dao never ended well.
Could there be a path forward there? Was there something in the study of yin and yang, or perhaps the five elements that could lead to a good outcome? Sister Su seemed to favor earth and metal, but he didn’t know what elements Brother Wang leaned towards. Earth, perhaps, which generated metal. So that was a positive sign.
There was also the question of star chart compatibility. Tian remembered there was a great deal of discussion about that in the hospital wards. You had to discover the birth day and time to calculate what astrological configurations would produce the most compatible partner. He hadn’t the faintest idea how to do any of that, but one of the Elders would have a manual on the subject. Perhaps that was the solution.
It did mean that Sister Su would have to wait a while to get her answer. Which would mean this whole thing would drag on for even longer. Unacceptable.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of a better idea, when he saw her eyes start to slide off to one side. He glanced over. There was nothing where she was looking.
She’s embarrassed. This isn’t some complicated thing. She’s embarrassed to tell the boy she likes that she likes him, and she is scared of being misunderstood for the millionth time in her life. Think about it. Her whole life up to this point is desperately trying to help people do the right thing and being misunderstood and ignored. She tried to tell the boy she likes how she feels in the most proper way she knows. She was misunderstood and ignored. Then a pretty girl who is easy to talk to comes sliding in and looks like she is running away with the boy Su knows she should be with.
This isn’t some complicated daoist thing. The Wang boy might be a good match for Su, but she will have to work damned hard to catch him. Harder still to keep him. He’s been hurt before, and badly. Su is too raw and too real, and she demands reality in return. She could hand him a four page written confession of her undying love, complete with notarization and an accompanying blood oath, and he would still not believe her. He expects pain and lies, not sincerity and kindness.
It’s why Wang is so comfortable with Mei’s pretense. His phoney, superficial exuberance meshes well with hers. She’s safe. But, oops! She sees something she likes in him. The two liars are glimpsing the sincerity in each other’s hearts. That gap the Steelshimmer girl talked about has trapped them both. Ah, young love! Grandpa Jun chuckled.
“Brother Wang has been hurt?”
He hides his true self in noise and misdirection but moves cautiously, always concerned about the predators known as “The Monastery” and “The Discipline Squad.” He was beaten repeatedly in the cells after his arrest. Tortured, really. I bet they tried to steal his money too. You know how those bastards operate- even if he beat the charges, the money would be lost forever. I don’t know if he has physical scars, but you can be certain the emotional ones are there, and very raw.
Tian felt sick. He knew what happened to heretics. He had seen first hand what happened. The thought that it had happened to Brother Wang… He tried to forcibly redirect his thoughts.
He really didn’t know what to do here. Just telling Brother Wang the plain facts was the most obvious answer, but what if it made him withdraw? He was interested in Su, but finding out that interest was reciprocated, finding out that he was seen…
Could there be a solution that made everyone shut up? No, that wasn’t fair. They all deserved better than being told to shut up and go away. What the hell was the point of pursuing longevity if you couldn’t accept happiness when you found it? A good brother would help them keep it.
“I don’t suppose you are interested in working something out with Daoist Mei?” Tian muttered. It was a stray thought, a desperate hope. “Heaven knows half the Inner Court has multiple husbands or wives.”
“Absolutely not!” Su’s voice was thunderous. Then she paused. Her shoulders hunched in, and those rigid eyes stared at her hands. “I want to have him all to myself, of course. I do rather feel like she is stealing from me. It is a bitter thing to realize that you can’t be robbed of something that was never yours. But…”
Su looked away again. “He hears me when we debate. He hears my mind, but is deaf to my heart. I don’t have the words. No matter what order I put them in, they will always be the wrong words. He won’t understand me. But he understands Mei. And she can speak to him.”
Tian rubbed his temples.
“If she could… translate for me. If we could be partners in this. I’m not completely opposed if the proper terms and hierarchy can be established… I wouldn’t fight her, then. And, Brother? I will fight her.”
Tian bit back a scream. With a loud sigh, he shoved himself to his feet.
“Brother Tian?”
“I’ll go find Mei and invite her for a cup of tea. Just her and I. If she seems okay with everything, I’ll have a word with Brother Wang. If he’s not opposed, the three of you can sit down somewhere where I am not and sort things out entirely amongst yourselves, without involving me in any way, shape or form.”
“Brother Tian! You would do that? Truly?” Sister Su’s wide eyes shone with as much emotion as he had ever seen in them.
“Oh yes. Anything for a happy, and final, ending.”