Journey to the East 27 (Commission)

AN: Your eyes do not fool you this weeks commission slot was simply -another chapter of JttE-

The hall of the baron… Ran, she thought, was humble compared to the accommodations she was used to. A layered stone keep built to withstand siege and shelter a town’s population behind sturdy, purified stone rather than to be beautiful, the polished white marble cladding over the walls nonetheless had a certain austere appeal. Hung now with banners of the Gu and the Baron Ran fluttering in the wind and filled with soldiers celebrating victory, Father swept through the halls with regal steps and the occasional raised hand.

The Baron himself welcomed them at his gates, a man with hair that was more gray than black, firmly in the fourth realm of cultivation. He welcomed Father back into the keep with flowery words that Gu Xiulan’s tired mind found difficult to focus on.

Unlike her, Father’s eyes did not waver as their vassal spoke, and he answered the man's questions of their purpose with respect and a tight smile as he agreed to attend the victory feast later that evening.

But all the same, they were soon channeled to a secure room. The Baron Ran’s own study she supposed, going by the rich desk and plush chairs, and the shelves full of preserved and bound scrolls and tomes.

“Lady Guo, this Lord apologizes deeply for the condition with which you have found my holdings. I am shamed to have had my eyes so thoroughly fooled,” Father said as the door shut behind them and qi flashed through the completed privacy formations.

“There is nothing to apologize for, such a combination of the Dead is not common. You held, and that is all that is required. I have no doubts that your eyes would have penetrated the trickery in time,” Guo Xinhua said.

“As you wish,” Father said, turning to the rest of them. “Regardless, I welcome you, the rest of my guests.”

Guo Xinyan gave a small nod, stepping to stand behind her Mother with her head demurely down.

The Zheng siblings were much less quiet about things. Their presence filled the room, making the relatively small study seem even more snug.

“Haha, its all good, you got lots more important to worry about than us. Just pleased to even be invited,” Zheng Nan said.

“Mah, they’ll want us bringing the important stuff to Gran,” Zheng Yang shrugged, though she was smiling too. “Glad we could make it in time though! Things sure don’t calm down out east.”

“Even our Golden Fields does not often have such strife,” Guo Xinhua said coolly. Viscount Gu. I presume you were able to view the wider situation with the webs and mirrors dispersed.

“...My generals have not fallen. I ensured that command was well distributed, such that defenses could be maintained even if communication were cut off,” Father said, he squeezed his eyes shut, looking pained. “But I shake with fury at the cost of smaller settlements. Thus, I must apologize for my failures.”

Gu Xiulan saw the embers in his hair, the steam rising from the corners of Fathers lips. It was unsettling to see her father showing signs of temper no different than she. “Then shouldn’t we ride out immediately Father?” She asked before she would catch herself. “We can;t afford to sit and feast…”

“Xiulan, look at yourself, look within, and tell me that you can ride within the hour,” Father said.

“I-” she bit back the words, because she couldn’t say them under his gaze. Her dantian ached, her arm felt as if it were struck through with countless burning needles, her legs ached and her meridians throbbed.

“If I may, young woman. It is a leader's necessity to appear unruffled by even the greatest trials, to bear confidence, even in the most dire need. Those who follow you must see you and draw their confidence from your well,” Guo Xinhua said. “You understand this, when in the saddle. Neither I nor your father found victory over the Dead scion of Jin and his spirit beast without cost either.”

She looked at them both, only father showing any more signs of stress than he had outside.

“We will crush the Dead back into the sands, but we must rest first. The soldiers are less hardy then even we,” Guo Xinyan said.

“I apologize for my outburst,” Gu Xiulan said, bowing her head.

“I don’t like it either, a hero ain’t supposed to sit and wait around,” Zheng Nan said frowning. “Parties are for after you’ve won.”

“Think like that, there won’t never be a party,” Zheng Yang said, shrugging. “Cause the work’s never done. I dunno about you brother, but d’you think those guys on the walls are marching anywhere?”

“Doesn’t mean I gotta stay,” he grumped back.

“If you make me punch your sun dried skull off cause you ran ahead and got Dead-ed, Master will drag your carcass back out from the desert for a whooping,” Zheng Yang snorted.

“Enough,” Guo Xinhua said, her fan snapped shut with a sharp clack that cut off the next line of bickering like a blade severing thread. “Viscount Gu, the situation.”

“All major hardpoints hold, and the enemy does not have the density of Dead needed to overwhelm the countryside entire,” Father said, embers still flickered in his hair and sparks danced and snapped in his breath, but the signs of temper were fading. “Some outlying locations have fallen, but the retreats and fortresses hold.”

“As I suspected then. Dead with advanced interdiction abilities were deployed to make up for a lack of power,” Guo Xinhua said. “This is well for us.”

Gu Xiulan looked at her askance. Their lands were being trampled how…

She took a deep breath, she understood.

“Means the business with your Patriarch gutted what could be deployed. You don’t bother with tricks like this if you can just throw bodies till you win,” Zheng Yang said.

Guo Xinhua gave the Zheng woman a cold look but nodded. “Indeed, together with the reports I may now receive from Father Wanlisan…. It means the back of the host WAS broken at the battle in the East Grave. There are many fractious splinters left to hunt down, but the Golden Fields has endured those since our reformation and before.”

“We will tally our losses with heavy hearts, but there is no doubt to victory.”

“So, a night of rest, a night of meditation to restore our vigor. Then, we will march, and crush these splinters unto dust,” Father said. “Lady Guo, I thank you for your assistance now and in coming days.”

“To defeat the Dead has always been the Guo clan's most sacred oath and covenant. Duty does not sleep,” the Ambassador said. “Let it also be said, Father Wanlisan is the beginning. The Guo are returning for all that the east will need to be garrisoned more heavily.

“Finer news I have not had in some time, Ambassador,” her Father said, clapping his fist to his chest, he bowed low as Gu Xiulan herself had done, outside the gates.

“I accept it in good faith, I and my daughter will stay until your lands are cleared, and then move to our destination in the west,” Guo Xinyan said. “What of you, guests of the Ebon Rivers?”

The two Zheng shared a look. It was Zheng yang who spoke up first. “I’m heading home, gotta convey all the words back to master and the grannies huh?”

“And I’m gonna stay. Might be more things to do than punching, but that ain’t what I’m good at,” Zheng Nan said. “So consider me at your disposal.”

“...As you wish,” the ambassador replied.”Let us take our repast then. There is much to do on the morrow.”