18C.MIC.BIZ3

Threads 213-Friend and Foe 2

Ling Qi pondered about Shu Yue as she rejoined the party. A follower of an older cultivation method? She wouldn’t have thought such a person would be so close to the Duchess.

She moved through the party for a time, engaging in small talk about the tournament, the plans Renxiang and she were making, and more personal matters. There was less of that this year though. It seemed that she had begun to scare away lesser marriage offerings.

All the while, she kept an eye out. And when the shishigui “envoy” stood alone, she excused herself from her chat with the daughter of a central viscount over the clothing of the southern people. She didn’t spy anyone else seeking to speak with the shishigui on the way. It seemed that interest in this strange “prize” was used up at the moment. Approaching, she made sure not to reflexively hide her aura, not wanting to startle the White Plume guards.

“I greet you, honored one.” The shishigui spoke first as she approached, its hunched back twisting awkwardly to allow it to bow. It spoke clearly in the imperial tongue, sounding like an old woman, creaky and tired. “How might this humble one address you?”

Sixiang murmured.

She held back a grimace at the muse’s prodding. No matter if this shishigui’s presence made her gut churn, if it made her think of her mother’s face, pale and drawn, or if it reminded her of people never emerging from the tunnels, this one was not from the same… city.

It wasn’t fair to judge it—her—any more than it was fair to judge Ilsur for the actions of the barbarians which attacked the Sect. She studied the shishigui in silence for a moment, listening to the faint dry wheezing of her breath as the air bladders on her helmet shrank and grew.

“You may call me Baroness Ling. The Duchess said you were called Tcho-Ri. Is this a title or a name?”

“It is both,” said Tcho-Ri. “Tcho means Mouth of the God. This is my role in the conclave. Ri is my personal name.”

“And how have you come to speak so?”

Ling Qi thought that all sounded rather unwieldy and unworkable. “What if a Voice lies about what they think the will is?”

“How can one who has connected themselves to the Mind of God lie?” Tcho-Ri asked, earnestly baffled. “Or do you speak of deception in the debate after?”

“I suppose.”

“This is a problem, a rot in a community, but all communities have degrees of decay. One must be vigilant and surgical in its excisement. This one understands your league had this problem and solved it with the incarnation of your god.”

That was… not totally wrong, Ling Qi had to admit, but it was definitely incorrect in the details. She glanced behind her and met the eyes of a Bao man with a jeweled cup in his hands. He smiled at her and gave a nod, but she got the impression he was waiting for her to finish. She would need to wrap this up soon.