Serpent's Eye's 5

Bai Nuying was a tall girl, graceful and willowy. Bai Meizhen studied her with a blank expression from the balcony, not being so uncouth as to stare directly. She had changed herself in these last two years. When they had seen each other last, their styles were similar, only their heights and the relative sharpness of their jawlines setting them apart. Nuying was taller now. Tall enough that she would look Ling Qi in the eye without tilting her head. Her white hair had taken on a metallic texture,  woven through with pale yellow ribbons the color of their families eyes.

Eyes that met across the hall that separated them, and flashed with recognition and challenge.

“It seems I should reintroduce myself,” Bai Meizhen said mildly. “You may remain here if you like, Bai Zixin.”

He considered her silently for a heartbeat or two. “No. Senior Sister requested my company. I would not be so rude.”

Decisive. Or at least unwilling to bear the appearance of cowardice after being rescued once. She simply inclined her head to acknowledge his words, and swept into the hall, leaving him to follow as he would, alongside Xiao Fen.

Neither she nor Bai Nuying were leaving any illusion that they were not sizing each other up by now. Her childhood bully’s cold regard and confident face had not changed. Neither had the ill concealed temper that flashed in her eyes when she was not given the deference she felt she deserved.

Even when Bai Meizhen had not understood properly the reasons for the conflict, beside the obvious weakness she had presented as a child, she had not given that. Now? Bai Suzhen and Bai Zhilan were the faces of the internal struggle within the White Serpent caste. Even if she feebly set aside the resentment of her childhood, there was no world in which they were not enemies.

“My clan sister, it pleases me that you were so eager to show your face,” Bai Nuying said pleasantly, as their strides brought them together near the middle of the hall. Space cleared itself naturally, the other attendees observing them with interest and wariness. “I recall you had troubles with shyness. It is good to see you have learned to push through that weakness in your time away.”

Pleasant, no hint of open malice unless one was well acquainted with the particulars of her cousin's expressions. But the twist of the words was enough. Not ‘overcome’ but ‘pushed through’. Mentioning her poor social skills at all in this setting, many little things.

“Children grow past their foibles. Some do at any rate,” she responded mildly. “Though there is virtue in being careful, no? I know how much your family values caution, and slow consideration of every move.”

Bai Nuying’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yes, a successful campaigner does not strike out like a child, biting at every morsel that presents itself.”

“Patience is a valuable thing, though in overabundance, it leads to missed opportunities. As I have learned,” Bai Meizhen replied. Their gliding steps brought them together, only a few strides apart, but neither of them stopped there. Silk whispered across polished wood as they slowly circled one another. “There is value in being willing to take risks as well.”

“It was good to see the scaleless traitors humbled,” Bai Nuying agreed. “Symbols are important. I shant blame you for taking what glories you could far away from our lands. Of course, while other eyes scrounged for prey among squabbling foreigners, I and others took care of our home. The campaign to reclaim the traitors lands from beast and spirit is going well. I have personally seen too many of our people restored to proper homes from the packed squalor of the western redoubts.”

Bai Zhilan’s appeal as a competitor for the heirship lay there, in her military campaigns. The Reclamation Marches, taking back the manor homes, towns and cities of the traitors which had to be abandoned from the lack of manpower to protect them all in those awful days. Of course, by her Aunt’s words Bai Zhilan was overextending, quickly shoving populations into half built settlements and defenses, straining the clan’s logistics in her quest for glory.

She knew that people rarely did things for a single reason though. She had no doubt that Bai Zhilan was a heroine in her own mind, just the same as her daughter. And she knew very well too that the marches were extremely popular among both their own caste and several of the lower.

“Honorable work indeed, showing the Bai clan’s fangs unbroken,” she allowed. “But the teeth cannot exist without the tail. I too have overseen aid flowing back home. The south is rich in material, and both I and my mentor have seen great wealth flow into our lakes.”

“Wealth we did not need before, and do not need now. It was decadence and sloth which allowed our grip to slip.”

“It was self absorption, though I will grant the sloth, but that sloth was born from that absorption, and the thoughtless arrogance it bred.”

There were mutters, indrawn breaths as Bai Meizhen spoke.

“And that is the trouble with those who follow your thoughts. You dare blame our great Bai clan for the actions of traitors,” Bai Nuying replied softly.

“A woman whose hand is struck off in a duel must accept blame for failing to parry to the blow, unless you would claim the Sun were simply so cunning that our Bai never had a chance to see their strike,” Bai Meizhen rejoined coldly.

“Do not distract with leading metaphors. It makes you sound like a simpering creature of the peaks,” Bai Nuying said evenly. “Our methods have been the same since great Yao and the First White Serpent Queen. They have never failed us before those shameful days. It was only indolence and permissiveness which subverted the strength our ancestors built.”

“Again, indolence I will give you,” Bai Meizhen replied scornfully. “What has that to do with wealth though? No, that is merely a cowardly diversion, an easy way for some among us to refuse to examine our real failures. Our ancestors had wealth unimagined by the then savage tribals who surrounded us. They were not weak.”

“And what are those real failures then,” Bai Nuying asked, tilting her head. “Are we too cruel sister?”

“We are too wasteful,” Bai Meizhen snorted, glancing around the room. “We waste the strength of our fellow Bai with childish tantrums. We waste the strength of our lands and our words, by slacking in their cultivation. We waste our position as founders of the Empire, and curling up in our burrow.”

“Fine words, and finer excuses to deny the White Serpent their due deference,” Bai Nuying said. “How awful, I truly believed you might have learned something of pride.”

“I have. It is a shame yours is just as hollow as it was when I left, Bai Nuying,” Bai Meizhen replied softly. “Tell me, Bai Nuying, you must have become so strong in your campaigns, with your devotion to Great Yao’s strictures and our ancestors traditions, would you care to trade pointers with me, to remind this feeble girl of her ancestor’s strength?”

There was a beat of silence, the attendant at the door craned his neck, watching them with wary amusement.

“...Oh, my apologies. I suppose you would need Bai Shifeng and… oh I don’t even remember his name. Three to one would only be fair to you after all.”

Bai Nuying’s hands curled into fists, an angry bestial hiss rising from the back of her throat. “You dare. We are not children anymore Bai Meizhen. But fine. Tomorrow at dawn, we may trade pointers at the first hall then. I will show you’re errors.”

“I shall look forward to your pointers Sister,” Bai Meizhen said lightly, turning away from Bai Nuying, presenting her back without fear.

Her cousin’s cold silence spoke to how well the insult was taken. She strode away, back toward where Xiao fen waited nearer the balcony entrance.

Only her viper was not alone, not even discounting Bai Zixin.

“An excellent show junior sister. I approve.”