Snake and Spider 13

“Chin two degrees further up, pan your gaze, do not linger on any one face unless you wish to call their attention.”

Bai Meizhen adjusted her posture subtly, to the instructions whispered in her ear without sound. She sat at the high table above the gathered guests, nobles from along the course of the Jing River, all interests which required entertainment. She felt a tad stifled honestly. It had been some time since she had worn a gown with so many layers. White interwoven with dark blues and blacks, liquid patterns that shimmered like the silk was water in truth. Her hair was up, woven through a diadem of platinum and steel, her hands drowned in voluminous sleeves and lace.

Yes, she felt a bit the doll like this. But appearances were important, and this was an introduction for many of the guests. Bai Xilai, her teacher, had said that she could ease her way into a more personal style and presentation as she became more familiar.

She stole a glance at the Ambassador, seated beside her, as the woman patrook of the meal before them. The main course was done in the style of the Emerald Seas, the meat of a great beast, a boar of some size, five meters or so, which had been roasted whole in a kiln dug into the earth. Bai Meizhen found it rather savage and inelegant, but the pleasant, sweet tang of the venoms used to kill the beast, added a bit of proper flavor.

Still, conceding so much to local styles. Her teacher was quite libertine, by the standards of the clan. Bai Xilai’s dress was far more scandalous than hers, pulled from the fashions of Xiangmen. Form fitting white only a few layers thick, stretched taut over her slender body, wide mouthed sleeves, cut to expose the shoulders and biceps withrough open slits, her glittering metallic hair hanging in braided loops on either side of her head. The lower half of the dress was slit high, past the knees, and spiked exaggerated riding heels the Duchess had made popular poked out from beneath.

Bai Meizhen felt a faint chill of mortification at the mere idea of wearing such in public. Her neck, even her collarbone were fully exposed by the open cut of the gown’s cloth. Yes, she would rather feel like a doll than that.

The only one she might show such too, would not react much to… visual stimulation anyway.

“Recognize immediately who must be granted a degree of respect. Petty they might be to us, but clan heads, elders, even a young miss of the Bai must give some respect. Treat them as high caste officials. Allow them to hold your gaze without wrath, answer in good faith when they query you. Of course, any beneath your realm must always be the first to avert their gaze. Mild use of the Imperious Serpent technique line is acceptable to compel this.”

Bai Meizhen knew this already of course, but she recognized the rote nature of it. These silent lessons Bai Xilai whispered as naturally… and with equal disinterest, as which she breathed.

Bai Meizhen suspected most of her students were far more intractable. She did not take any particular pride in that. It left only a sort of anxious… concern in her stomach. She had never realized how inflexible and detached the habits of her kith and kin could be.

Bai Xilai’s eyes wandered over to her, when next she spoke, it was with moving lips. “Hm, excuse your teacher for rambling. I sometimes forget the ease with which you absorb these lessons.”

“My teacher's wisdom is never unwelcome,” Bai Meizhen replied demurely, letting her gaze roam imperiously over the guests, as was proper. The indulgence of the exalted, Bai Xilai called this set of expressions and mannerisms. Key to projecting the proper attitude of the clan without bringing pointless and wasteful insults.

Bai Xilai silently speared a sliver of roasted meat on the ivory sticks in her hand, delicately dipping it into the bowl of sizzling faintly smoking sauce beside her plate. “Perhaps. Tell me, what do you see, student?”

Bai Meizhen considered the question, examining the guests. There were not many, not truly, a mere few dozen people. Barely enough to be a real feast. The obvious answer was that she saw pleased clients. Obsequious merchants smiling gladly for the chance to kneel and proffer their hands to receive coins from coffers as deep as the great lake Hei.

Indeed, a year ago, it is likely she would have seen nothing else.

“They are still wary. Reticent. They have been sent here because their kin fears to give us insult. They have no expectations.”

“Hoh, is that so,” Bai Xilai said, the sizzling meat passed her lips, and she swallowed immediately, the lump passing down her throat. A single drop of blood quivered on the corner of her lip from the rare sliver, kept there by a trivial exercise in water control.

Another lesson, the Bai were expected to be a little beastly, even in their elegance. It was proper to remind outsiders that the Bai were the children of Grandmother Serpent, within the bounds of civility.

“They do not believe this arrangement will last, and are only seeking short term profit,” Bai Meizhen continued idly, knowing their words were shielded. She scanned them idly. Some were less wary than others. Scions of newer clans of those raised from the Great Sects and the aftermath of the Duchess’ rise.

It was amusing in a way, that it was their very youth as clans which…

A tall shadow fell through the entryway.

Light glittered off the gemstones woven into her hair like teardrops of captured sunlight affixed in the glittering silvery net that contained dark chestnut brown hair. Her dress was dark green, and fit like clinging film. It was… scandalous, another style made by the Duchess, called qipao, if she recalled the name. The hem only came down to a short way below the knee, where it hung over weblike stockings and high heeled black shoes.

She stared blankly at Bao Qingling’s stony expression, the girl's severe features not so much softened as… accentuated with subtle cosmetics.

Bai Meizhen had understood for some time that her paramour's choice of dress was a matter of practicality and apathy rather than modesty. She had not quite… processed that when she had asked Bao Qingling to please dress her best for this.

“Announcing the Young Miss Bao Qingling, representing the interests of…”

She barely noticed the herald. She dragged her eyes away and cycled her qi, swiftly exercising the bodily control needed to not appear completely foolish.

Bai Xilai regarded her with what could only be mild amusement out of the corner of her eye. She stood from her seat.

“Honored guest, scion of the Venerable Bao, Masters of the upper Jing. This Bai Xilai, and the bai clan welcome you here to this gathering. Please, come, I invite you to sit here in honor beside your hosts, to better discuss business.”

Ah, she could feel Xiao Fen’s eyes burning on her back from the shadows. She had known her teacher was up to something, with this invitation. If she was to be reprimanded that would have been done in private, so what in the world…?

“I accept your kind invitation,” Bao Qingling said stiffly. She bowed low at the waist. “Let us have a productive evening.”

“I agree,” said Bai Xialai, smiling. “Let it be so.”