November 2019: Between the stars, a light still shines

[marcicatverse]

Title: Between the stars, a light still shines
Author: marcicat

Summary: AU - What if Shen Wei and Ye Zun had been trapped in the pillar together?

Author’s Note: All credit for the koi and alligator (and so much else!) goes to starandrea, who introduced me to nanowrimo, and then, many years and stories later, to Guardian. Star, you encouraged and inspired me from New Hampshire to Florida and back again, and without you this story would most certainly not exist. Thank you!



Prologue

The legend went like this: there were two brothers, who promised to stay together forever. One day a fierce warrior came upon them. He threw one brother aside and stole the other, and the first brother thought the second was dead, until they met again on opposite sides of a battlefield. They fought, because the legends always include a great conflict, and the heavens themselves wept to see the brothers at odds. In death, they reconciled, and on the spot where they drew their last breaths, a pillar grew, a symbol of brotherhood for all who saw it.

The legend went like this: there were two brothers, alone and adrift with no one but each other. And then one day a trickster found them, and played his games, and the younger brother went away with him, thinking he had been betrayed and abandoned. By the time they met again, the brothers had only anger in their hearts, and the younger trapped the older in a pillar of stone. Only after it was done was he able to feel regret, and he begged the trickster to let them be together again, joining his brother in the pillar for eternity.

The legend went like this: there were two brothers, separated by war. They grew up on opposite sides, honing their skills and each becoming a leader in their own right. When they met on the battlefield, time itself stood still as they fought. None could look upon them; the fighting was so fierce that the light from it blinded, and the noise from it deafened. When it was over, the brothers had melted the very earth itself, and only a glowing pillar remained.

The legend went like this: there were two brothers. A promise, a separation, a war. A battlefield. A pillar.

The legend went like this: there were two brothers. And a pillar.

*******

A hundred years passed. Five hundred. Fifty hundreds. Cities grew -- thrived, declined, crumbled, and were built anew. The legend shifted and stretched as the centuries meandered on. The pillar’s origins were lost and rediscovered and lost again, and rediscovered again. Ten thousand years is a very long time.

The pillar itself remained untouched by the progression of millenia. People spoke to it, prayed to it, avoided it, cursed at it. Children played in its shadow; rulers flinched from its glow. It couldn’t be destroyed, or so the rumor went, and it had yet to be proved wrong.

An unbreakable pillar, and brothers who would not be separated. Legends take on the meaning they’re given, and in uncertain times -- and what time isn’t uncertain? -- it’s the storytellers who turn the unknowable into the familiar. Chaos into comfort. Storytellers, and caretakers.

Which is to say, it became a habit -- a tradition, a superstition, a rite of passage -- for those who were expecting children to visit the pillar. Especially if they were expecting twins. To seek wisdom, understanding, a blessing. To simply be in the presence of the unbreakable pillar and share its strength, even for a moment.

They came in daylight processions, and under the cover of darkness. They came when it was a bustling city center, and when it was surrounded by ruins. They came when they were invited, and when they were banned. They had come for ten thousand years, and they would come for ten thousand years more.

And then, one day, seemingly no different than the three million and more days that had come before -- the pillar woke up.


Chapter 1: Zhao Yunlan

”Is anyone actually listening to this guy? They’re not, right? Genetics is definitely not that interesting.”

Da Qing’s grumbling came over what he hoped was their private channel. Not that he actually disagreed, but he couldn’t talk back while he was supposed to be listening, and if the others heard the deputy get away with complaining, they’d all start doing it. He tapped two fingers on the table.

”You want an update? Absolutely nothing has happened since the last time you asked for an update, but for you, our esteemed leader, bravely tackling the hardest of assignments, staying awake in the face of deadly boredom--” Da Qing’s laughter filled the line when he glared at Lin Jing’s computer, several rows in front of him. He knew the cat was able to see both of them through the camera.

”Fine, fine. Zhu Hong and Mi Lu are watching the west entrance. Zhang Danni is monitoring Professor Zhou’s office. Chu Shuzhi and the newbie are watching the east entrance. Well, Chu Shuzhi is watching the east entrance. I think the newbie’s dozed off, which has probably kept Lao Chu from strangling him, so I recommend a commendation for good sense. Lin Jing is with you, and is possibly the only person actually taking notes.”

He wasn’t. Or if he was, it wasn’t on the lecture. Zhao Yunlan wasn’t close enough to read the screen, but he could recognize a chat window when he saw one. Da Qing finished his recitation with, ”You’re pestering me for updates, and I’m supervising. I’m telling you, this professor is too paranoid. I don’t think anyone is following him at all.”

He shifted in his chair, like he was trying to get a better view of the speaker. Professor Zhou was Dragon City University’s foremost researcher on divergent genetics. It was a polite fiction of a research subject, when what he did in truth was research the genes of Dixing people for the Haixing Inspectorate, and simultaneously present results that covered up their existence for the general population. The professor was also convinced someone was following him, and had enough influence with the Department of Supervision to get the SID assigned to investigate.

Da Qing continued to offer sporadic updates on the lack of anything interesting happening until Professor Zhou finally reached his last slide and the room began to clear out. Lin Jing paused next to him on his way to the door. “Take Mi Lu and Guo Changcheng with you,” Zhao Yunlan told him.

“Three people?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Could anyone be intimidated by Xiao Guo? He’s been assigned to us; he should experience all aspects of the job.”

“Ah.” Lin Jing nodded. “Yes, of course.” He tactfully didn’t mention that his own orientation period had included no such experience, and Zhao Yunlan waved him off, already anticipating more questions later on.

Guo Changcheng was the first employee he hadn’t picked on his own, and certainly the only one who had the Deputy Minister of the Department of Supervision for an uncle. His assignment had been an unwelcome surprise, for all that Zhao Yunlan had tried to convince himself otherwise. He told himself it was an expression of trust, of a sort -- Guo Changcheng was far too incompetent to be a spy. But that left his presence either an unsolved mystery or a chance coincidence, and neither of those sat easy on his mind.

It would have to wait, though. When the lecture hall was empty of everyone except himself and Professor Zhou, he made his way to the front row and dropped into one of the seats, lounging as much as the chairs allowed. Professor Zhou gave him a disapproving look. “Well?”

He dug in his pocket for a lollipop, unwrapped it, and stuck it in his mouth. The disapproving look got stronger. He waited. Professor Zhou took a deep breath. “Chief Zhao. Please forgive my impatience. Your team has been nothing but professional, and I appreciate your assistance with this matter. What have you been able to discover?”

“I have good news!” He smiled and spread his hands apart. “No one is following you.” He held up a finger to cut off the professor’s protest. “I also have bad news. Someone is definitely following your assistant.”

“Li Qian?” Professor Zhou frowned. “Why would anyone be following her? She is a dedicated student, never in any trouble.”

Zhao Yunlan leaned forward. “What do you know about her?”

“Li Qian is one of my best students. Excellent at research; very diligent. She’s been very busy recently. She works to support her grandmother, ever since the accident.”

“Accident?”

Professor Zhou looked away. “I shouldn’t say too much. Us professors, sometimes we are too much like the students, engaging in gossip.”

He looked exactly like the aunties who lived down the hall, right before they started dishing on everyone in the building. “Professor Zhou, your dedication to your responsibilities is honorable,” Zhao Yunlan said, making every effort to sound sincere. “But a student’s safety could be at risk. If there was any information that could be relevant to our investigation, no matter the source, I would ask that you share it.”

Professor Zhou nodded. “Of course, of course. It was perhaps a year ago? Li Qian’s grandmother had a stroke. Li Qian was in school when it happened; she was the one to find her, but not until hours had passed. Her grandmother was rushed to the hospital, of course, but the prognosis was poor. And then one day, she recovered.” Professor Zhou dropped his eyes again. “The doctors said it was a miracle.”

“A miracle,” he repeated. “Li Qian must have been pleased. And her parents as well?”

“Her parents were -- unable to visit,” Professor Zhou said hesitantly. “Chief Zhao, may I speak plainly?”

He smiled, and leaned back again, gesturing for the professor to continue. “Please do!”

Despite his stated desire for plain speaking, Professor Zhou appeared to choose his words carefully. “Certain students may, at times, come to this university from varied backgrounds. Varied circumstances.” He cleared his throat. “Varied locations.”

”This is painful,” Da Qing interrupted, and Zhao Yunlan tried not to jump. ”Either tell him to get to the point, or do it for him.”

“Professor Zhou,” he said. “The SID’s goal is the safety of all people, regardless of their background, circumstances, or location.” In his ear, Da Qing groaned, and he tried not to laugh. “We’re aware that Dragon City University has students from Dixing, and have no interest in persecuting anyone for pursuing their education.” Theoretically they were aware, at least.

Professor Zhou blinked. “Ah Yes. Well, that’s good, then.”

”Finally,” Da Qing said. ”Lao Chu and Zhang Danni caught your lurker; they’re bringing him in now.”

He stood up and swept forward while the professor was still gathering his thoughts. “Professor Zhou, we at the SID appreciate your assistance in this matter. And your discretion.”

“Of course, Chief Zhao. You can trust me to handle this with the utmost care.”

”It’ll be all over campus in a week,” Da Qing muttered.

He was counting on it.


Chapter 2: Zhao Yunlan

He knew things had been going too well with Guo Changcheng. Not even slightly strangled by Chu Shuzhi? An actual compliment from Mi Lu regarding his ability to comfort crying students? And now this. He sighed.

“Xiao Guo. What exactly is your objection?” It was the second time he’d asked, out of some wild hope that maybe the answer would change.

Guo Changcheng sat up straighter in his chair. “Chief Zhao!” His knuckles were white on the strap of his bag, but his voice was steady as he spoke. “You said the SID’s mission is to assist in maintaining peaceful relations between the people of Haixing and Dixing.” Zhao Yulan waved for him to keep going. “But you’re just going to send them back! Li Qian, and Grandmother Li, and Zhu Jiu -- what crime did they commit? How do we know they’ll receive fair treatment?”

Zhu Jiu looked surprised to be included in Guo Changcheng’s argument, and Chu Shuzhi wasn’t even trying to hide his smirk.

“The treaty between Haixing and Dixing has held for ten thousand years,” Zhao Yunlan said. “But if you’d like to suggest changes and amendments, I’d be happy to bring them up next time the SID is asked to contribute to negotiations.” Which would be never, but Guo Changcheng probably didn’t know that yet.

“The SID has been granted the authority to investigate and detain Dixing people who have committed crimes or who pose a danger to those around them.” He’d already given this speech to Guo Changcheng, but thinking back, it was possible he might have been a little bit in shock at the time. The SID had a steep learning curve.

“Once a criminal has been contained, we have no further jurisdiction. We coordinate with the Dixing Palace Guard to return them to Dixing for trial.” He trusted the guards they worked with, and he officially didn’t know anything else about what happened next. But the Regent was a slippery sort of ally, and if a few prisoners happened to get lost between being handed over to the Guard in Haixing and appearing before the Regent in Dixing, well, no system was perfect.

He was about to bring up the suspected criminal stalking and possession of stolen property (or should that be misplaced historical artifacts of unknown provenance?) when Lao Li ushered a trio of Dixing Palace Guards into the room. “Ah, Senior Wu!” he said brightly. “It’s good to see you again!”

Wu Tian’en gave a brief nod in his direction. “Lord Guardian. These are the suspects?”

Guo Changcheng looked like he was about to say something, until Zhang Danni stepped on his foot. He made a note to make sure she got an extra bonus at the end of the month -- Wang Zheng would know how to word it. Quick thinking under pressure, maybe. Wu Tian’en looked vaguely amused, which meant he’d been warned about the situation ahead of time.

Zhao Yunlan reminded himself that the Chief of the SID should set a good example and not sigh repeatedly in front of guests, even in the face of such extreme frustrations as Guo Changcheng. Then he reminded himself that he was the Chief of the SID, and therefore could set whatever example he wanted. He sighed. It had only been a day and a half, and already he was tired of pretending the SID was something less than they’d made it.

“One suspect,” he agreed carefully. He nodded towards Zhu Jiu, who waved. “The other two have knowledge of a particular artifact? Information which might be of interest to Dixing; they’ve agreed to accompany you in the spirit of cooperation.” Wu Tian’en looked thoughtful.

“Due to the particular circumstances involved, I recommend an additional guard. Or three.” He waved towards Zhang Danni, who was already moving towards Mi Lu and Chu Shuzhi. “They’ve already formed a rapport with Li Qian and Li Yufen.”

In a flash, Senior Wu was standing in front of Zhu Jiu. “Power suppressing handcuffs?” he asked.

“Yes.” Zhao Yunlan beamed. “And you know how Lin Jing hates track of those!”

It was an obvious excuse to send SID team members along, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work. And if Zhu Jiu hadn’t been suspiciously cooperative, they might even have needed the cuffs. He had an impressive ability to manipulate his power, one that spoke of extensive practice.

“I will take your recommendations under advisement,” Wu Tian’en said formally. “Your team members are welcome to accompany us.”

“Is there anything else we might offer to Dixing’s finest guards? Tea? Sightseeing tour?” That got him an irritated glare, and he laughed. “Never mind. I know you have your duties to attend to.” He’d given them as much time and help as he could; the next step was out of his hands.

Once the group departed, he dropped onto the sofa. “Da Qing,” he said, draping his arm over his face. “You owe me lunch.”

There was a surprised yowl from somewhere nearby -- probably Wang Zheng’s desk, and then Da Qing sprawled across the top of the sofa and poked his shoulder. “What? Why?”

“This morning,” he prompted. “You said, ‘I bet this has nothing to do with Dixing.’” He waved his free hand. “It did.”

“How does that mean you get you a free lunch?” He heard the others moving away, probably to go gossip in Lin Jing’s lab.

“Because I’m hungry.”

Da Qing gave an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. But I’m using your card to order it.”


Chapter 3: Shen Wei

”When we told you to seek out the Longevity Dial, I’m sure I remember emphasizing the importance of subtlety. And yet here you are, in handcuffs, with armed guards and a pair of civilians.”

Ye Zun’s voice crept through the group around the pillar. None of them looked intimidated. “Asked,” Zhu Jiu said.

”What?”

Zhu Jiu glared at the pillar. “You asked us to seek out the Longevity Dial. I didn’t quit the Guard to be your minion.”

If Shen Wei had a physical form, he would have smiled. ”Asked,” Ye Zun agreed, after a few seconds of silence. ”And?”

“I was subtle,” Zhu Jiu said. He held up his hands and shook the cuffs in Zhang Danni’s direction. “Keys?”

“You weren’t that subtle,” Mi Lu told him. “Even Professor Zhou noticed you. Before you wore that jacket to a university lecture hall, even.”

One of the civilians spoke up, hesitant but determined. “He’s not the one who was following me.”

Wu Tian’en cleared his throat meaningfully. “We should return to the Palace,” he said. “Our patrol shift is almost over. It would be best if we didn’t hear anything we would be required to report.”

”You have our thanks,” Shen Wei said. Ye Zun often dismissed the pleasantries as being unnecessary, but that didn’t mean they weren’t appreciated.

Once the Guards had departed, the others fell into their usual pattern of haphazard reporting. “I was subtle,” Zhu Jiu repeated. “Ding Dun wasn’t. He was following them, and he showed up at the lecture. I improvised.”

“Ding Dun must have been sent by the Regent,” Mi Lu said, frowning. “We knew he was also pursuing the Holy Tools, but I didn’t realize he was so close to finding one.”

”Once the Longevity Dial was activated, the Regent couldn’t ignore the growing unrest. If he recovers the Hallows, it would solidify his position, regardless of his title.”

The civilian spoke up again. She was gripping her relative’s hands tightly. “The Longevity Dial. Is that what this is?” She pulled a necklace out from under her shirt. “My grandmother said it was powerful; that it could summon spirits.”

Zhang Danni stepped closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. “You used it to save your grandmother’s life, Li Qian,” she said softly. “It was an honorable goal.”

Li Qian started crying. “It’s cursed,” she said. “It stole her from me even as it returned her.”

Her tears seemed to spark something in her grandmother -- she turned to Li Qian and patted her hand gently. “Qian-Qian, don’t cry. I’m hungry. Why is it so dark here?”

Zhang Danni looked at the pillar. Shen Wei could feel Ye Zun reaching out, stretching his powers as much as he could. The Longevity Dial glowed in all his senses. ”The energy is unbalanced,” Ye Zun said finally.

“You helped me and Jia Hui,” Zhang Danni said. “Our energy was unbalanced too.”

Ye Zun made an irritated noise. ”That was nothing compared to the Holy Tools. The Longevity Dial is meant to tie two lives together.”

“Can you help her? Is that why you brought us here?” Li Qian eyes were still full of tears, but she looked fiercely protective of her grandmother.

“No one knows exactly how the four Holy Tools work,” Shen Wei told her, since Ye Zun stayed quiet. Distracted, probably. “It could be that they cannot act as intended while separated. The corruption that led to them being apart may have created an instability within them.”

“You’re talking about some type of magic,” Li Qian said.

“Do you not believe in magic?” Ye Zun asked, sounding amused. Possibly at the idea that the person who had just spoken of summoning spirits and cursed artifacts now sounded skeptical.

“I believe in science,” Li Qian replied carefully.

Ye Zun laughed. “The Hallows are beyond the realm of science. Even those who created them originally were unsure what their workings had called forth.”

Shen Wei gave his brother a mental poke for his overly dramatic description of the past. “Modern science may have new insights to offer,” he said calmly.

“Or not,” Ye Zun countered. “Step closer to the pillar. Both of you, yes.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Zhu Jiu said, and then held up his hands when Zhang Dani turned to glare at him. “Help or don’t; it’s not my decision. But you said the Regent could tell when the Longevity Dial activated. I just want to know if we should be ready for him to show up here.” He didn’t say ‘ready to fight,’ but that was obviously what he was asking.

Ye Zun’s answer came quickly enough that he must have anticipated the question. “The pillar was created using the Hallows. It will mask the presence of the Dial.”

Li Qian’s grandmother looked up suddenly and smiled. “The pillar of the brothers!” she exclaimed. She stepped forward and Li Qian hurried after her. “Didn’t I tell you the story?” She reached up with their joined hands to touch the pillar.

They were awash with power. It was like falling from a great height, and stepping into sunlight from a dark cave all at the same time. He thought he might have gasped. For the first time in years, he wished he had the ability to cry.

”Well, that answers the question of whether the Hallows are the key to getting out of here,” Ye Zun told him privately. ”Nice to be sure, after all this time.”

”Can you help them?”

”We managed to balance our energy, didn’t we?”

”It took us years!”

Ye Zun gave him the mental equivalent of a shrug. ”We had a lot to talk about. They have less. I think.”.

He could feel it, when Ye Zun pointed him at it. ”Stop bracing yourself,” Ye Zun advised. ”Ready?”

When they were done, Li Qian was crying again, and Li Yufen was blinking in shock. But it had worked. The Longevity Dial rested calmly in Li Qian’s hand.

It wasn’t safe to keep one of the Holy Tools in Dixing, even with the masking effect of the pillar. “You should return to Haixing and the SID. Find a reason to keep the Longevity Dial close.”

Mi Lu looked skeptical. “How am I supposed to explain coming back with it at all? The Regent would never allow such a thing to remain out of his reach.”

Shen Wei suddenly realized where Ye Zun had been leading them the entire time. “Perhaps it’s time to strengthen our alliance with the Special Investigations Department.”


Chapter 4: Shen Wei

“This may be a bad time to get closer to the SID. The team just got a new recruit added,” Mi Lu said. Zhang Danni had already returned to Haixing with Li Qian and her grandmother. “Guo Changcheng. Zhao Yunlan believes he was placed on the team by his uncle, the Deputy Minister at the Department of Supervision.”

”You disagree?” Ye Zun asked.

“The Department of Supervision has made no secret of their stance on Dixing people. Why would a Deputy Minister transfer his nephew to an organization with a poor reputation and few opportunities for advancement?”

”A spy?” It was a tactic they were using themselves, albeit with the unspoken approval of the latest SID Chief Zhao. He clearly knew his Dixing team members weren’t entirely loyal to the Palace, but like Wu Tian’en, was willing to turn a blind eye. Ye Zun thought he was biding his time before trying to blackmail them. Shen Wei wasn’t so sure. Chi Shuzhi liked the new Chief, and he rarely liked anyone, outside of his brother.

Mi Lu shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s very earnest.”

Chi Shuzhi rolled his eyes. “That’s one word for it. Hopelessly inept, I’d say. He’s a child.”

“You like him,” Mi Lu said. “I heard you let him use your shoulder as a pillow while you were supposed to be working.”

“It kept him from talking,” Chi Shuzhi muttered, without any heat behind it.

“Here,” Zhu Jiu said, waving at their portable screen. “I think he’s in the background of one of these. This is all the pictures I got during the lecture.”

”Thank you,” Shen Wei said, knowing the photographs were for his benefit. He’d expressed an interest in the topic of the lecture, that was all, but the others had come up with a way to share it with them.

The slides were fascinating. Haixing science had advanced far beyond what he’d guessed. ”This professor is working with Li Qian?” he asked.

“She’s a student,” Chu Shuzhi confirmed.

Zhu Jiu pointed at the screen. “She’s there, running the presentation. That’s when I saw Ding Dun.”

”Stop.”

Everyone froze. Ye Zun, who’d only been halfway paying attention, perked up. ”Is that--?”

It couldn’t be. ”Who is that?” Shen Wei managed to ask.

“Who?” Zhu Jiu looked back and forth from the pillar to the screen. “Which one?”

”Back row,” Ye Zun said. ”Leather jacket.”

“Chief Zhao?” Mi Lu sounded baffled. “What about him? We said he was there too.”

”That’s Zhao Yunlan?”

“Yes? I mean, yes, it is, definitely.” Mi Lu looked at Chu Shuzhi, who shrugged. “Why? Is everything all right?”

Nothing was all right. How could that be Zhao Yunlan, son of Zhao Xinci and Chief of the SID, when everything in him told him that was Kunlun? But how could it be Kunlun? None of it made sense. He could feel his energy bubbling angrily beneath the surface.

”Everything is fine,” Ye Zun said smoothly, shunting Shen Wei’s energy back into the pillar. ”Relatively speaking. Seeing your Chief Zhao Yunlan was a surprise. We should reconvene later.” He opened a portal less than arm’s distance from the group at the screen, an obvious ‘go away right now’ that they obeyed without questioning.

”I don’t understand,” Shen Wei said, once they were alone again. Kunlun had promised they would meet again. He hated how lost he sounded, even as he fought back the urge to rage and fight. They’d both done more than enough of that already.

”The Hallows,” Ye Zun said. ”Reincarnation. Amnesia. Time travel. Alternate universe. Mass hallucination. Alien intervention.”

It was enough to pull him out of his head. ”What?”

”I’m just saying, there could be an explanation for this situation that we haven’t thought of, big brother.”

He was in no mood to be placated. ”Or he could have abandoned me here. Even if the Hallows are responsible for his presence, he’s the current Lord Guardian -- he could come to Dixing any time he wanted.” If he wanted. ”You know it’s the most logical explanation.”

”And you know neither of us remember that last day the way we should,” Ye Zun said. ”After which we spent ten thousand years asleep, a handful of years trying to destroy each other, and now we’re attempting a treasure hunt from inside a magical pillar.” Ye Zun poked at him carefully. ”Logical explanations may be the only ones we can immediately discard, at this point.”

It had the feeling of truth. He grounded himself in it, in having a plan. ”We need more information. More than the SID can give us.”

Ye Zun twined their energy together, glowing bright. ”We’re already following anyone we could find who might be connected to the Hallows. Now we know we should add Zhao Yunlan to that list. We’ll get your information.”

And if there was a hint of ‘or else’ lingering at the end of the statement, neither of them bothered to mention it.


Chapter 5: Zhao Yunlan

He stared at the Longevity Dial. In the weeks since Zhang Danni had brought it back to the SID with one of the weakest excuses he’d ever heard, Lin Jing had been studying its properties. Without any success, despite multiple threats to his end of month bonus.

“I still don’t know why you brought that thing home with you,” Da Qing said. He dropped onto the sofa next to Zhao Yunlan. “Li Qian says it’s dangerous.”

“Li Qian wore this like a piece of jewelry for over a year,” he countered. “And she used it to save her grandmother.”

“Which still doesn’t explain why it’s here, on my sofa,” Da Qing said.

He tossed the dial from one hand to the other. “Lin Jing thinks the shield may be blocking its full potential.”

“Which is a good thing!” Da Qing said.

He leaned back and nodded. “Maybe. Maybe not, though.” He didn’t say ‘I think it’s calling me,’ because he was perfectly well aware that when a mysterious artifact was calling you, the one thing you should absolutely not do was answer it. He knew it; he was ignoring it; he was at least fifty percent sure Da Qing would say something nice about him at his memorial.

Da Qing nudged his head against Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder. “If you die, who gets your stuff?”

He laughed. “You do, Damn Cat. Can we do this now?”

“If you say so.” Da Qing’s expression was skeptical, but he didn’t move away, which was practically an expression of confidence right there.

Zhao Yunlan gripped the Longevity Dial in one hand, and closed his eyes. ”Hello?” he thought. Then he said it out loud too, just in case. “Hello?”

There was a sharp pain behind his eyes that faded as quickly as it started. And then -- ”Who is this?” The voice came from the Longevity Dial itself, like it was a speaker, and he nearly dropped it in his surprise. He felt Da Qing’s claws extend and grip sharp points into his shoulder. At least it was his shirt and not the sofa, he supposed.

“Hello!” he said again. “This is Chief Zhao Yunlan. We need to talk.”

”Zhao Yunlan? How are you communicating with us?”

“Isn’t this the reason you sent the Holy Tool back to us?” he asked lightly. It wasn’t, and he knew very well that it wasn’t, but he was curious what they would say.

He’d accepted Zhang Danni’s cover story, and Li Yufen’s much more illuminating explanation of her recovery. He’d accepted Mi Lu’s apologetic glances whenever he commented on the crows who now seemed to follow him wherever he went. He’d even accepted Chu Shuzhi’s oblique warning about the dangers of treating powerful forces with anything but unquestioning respect and cautious restraint.

But he couldn’t accept being kept in the dark about something that was putting his people in danger. Guo Changcheng could have been seriously hurt if Chu Shuzhi hadn’t been with him when the Dixingian attacked. Everything pointed back to the Hallows, and if that meant using one of them to get information on the others, he’d take that risk.

”The Longevity Dial? You shouldn’t be touching it; it’s dangerous.”

“I agree!” he said. “Dangerous enough that a lot of people are looking for it, it turns out. And yet when we returned it to its rightful place in Dixing, it came right back to us. So it seems to me that you involved us first, and I thought to myself ‘what a happy coincidence that I have both a need to speak with spirits and an artifact that allows such a thing to happen!’”

There was a silence that felt long, and then -- ”We’re not spirits.” There was an undercurrent to the words that he couldn’t identify.

He looked at Da Qing. His claws were still prickling at Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder. “That’s good to know. Ah -- who are you, then? You must have names.”

There was a sound like someone had drawn in a sharp breath, which didn’t make any sense. ”It’s been -- a very long time, since anyone asked our names, Zhao Yunlan. I am called Ye Zun. My older brother is Shen Wei.”

The words came with a sense that he was supposed to know who that was. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Da Qing again, who shrugged. “Good name,” he offered.

The voice that came back was different than the first one. The older brother, he presumed. ”You gave it to me.”

He blinked. “I did? Do you like it?” He wasn’t sure why that seemed like the most important question, but he found himself much more interested in the answer than in refuting what seemed to be an impossible statement.

”I do. Thank you.”

He beamed, even though Shen Wei wouldn’t be able to see it. “I’m glad.”

Da Qing cleared his throat. “If you two are done flirting. How is that possible?”

Zhao Yunlan batted at Da Qing’s hand. “You, the ten thousand year-old cat, wants to talk impossibilities? How do you know I don’t have memory loss like you do? It could be amnesia!”

“Because I remember when you were born! I’ve known you your whole life, and I know you’ve never met any ancient pillar-spirits, let alone named them!”

It was a good point. “Shen Wei?” he asked.

”We don’t know,” was the answer, hesitant. ”And you -- truly don’t remember?” It didn’t sound like an immensely powerful being taking him to task. It sounded like sadness, and loss, and he was rattled by how much it made him want to storm Dixing with a blanket and a thermos of tea to try to fix it.

He had the feeling apologies would make things worse, so he swallowed them back down. “Tell me something,” he said instead. It was a mystery, but everything had an explanation. Like a case, there would be clues. “When you met me, was I young and foolish, or old and wise? Did I have any distinguishing traits, or objects? Did it seem like I already knew you?”

“You’re still young and foolish,” Da Qing muttered.

“I’m -- not sure. It’s difficult to estimate ages for Haixingren. You had a weapon. A handgun. It seemed to shoot dark energy projectiles.”

His father’s gun? He’d technically inherited it with the job, but he didn’t carry it regularly. He raised his eyebrows at Da Qing. “Is time travel a possibility?” he asked.

”Everything is a possibility.” Shen Wei sounded frustrated. At least that was better than sad. They’d been talking for less than an hour and he was already more than ready to kick his future self’s ass for hurting him.

“I’m going to kick my future self’s ass for hurting you,” he announced, without really thinking it through.

There was another long silence, and Da Qing snickered at him.

”That won’t be necessary,” Shen Wei said finally.

”What my brother means is that he appreciates the thought,” Ye Zun added. ”But I’ve already claimed the first spot in line for that particular honor.”

He knew that should worry him, but he couldn’t help laughing. And to think, he’d only been hoping for more information on the other Hallows. “We’ll see,” he said.


Chapter 6: Zhao Yunlan

”Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“You’re keeping track of my schedule? I’m honored! And yes, I should be, but I have graciously taken over the night patrol from Da Qing, because I’m a kind and generous boss.” He sneezed, and two people crossed to the other side of the path to avoid him. At least Lin Jing had figured out a way to transmit the signal of the Longevity Dial into a wireless earpiece, so he only looked germ-ridden, not crazy.

”You’re sick.”

“That too. Can’t sleep anyway, so I might as well work.” Chu Shuzhi had cornered him -- again -- about ‘pestering’ Dixing’s greatest legends, but he figured they were perfectly capable of telling him to leave them alone if they wanted to.

”Zhao Yunlan. You need rest. How long have you been sick?”

He squinted towards an area where a streetlight had burned out, but it was empty. “I’m fine. It’s a cold; I’m not going to keel over.”

”You shouldn’t be so cavalier with your health. Dark energy can have a suppressive effect on the immune system.”

“Lots of things can suppress the immune system,” he said. “Drinking too much , sleeping too little, double shifts, managing employees who slack off on the job -- if I stopped doing all of those things, what would be left?” Personally, he thought that if dark energy was going to be the thing that did him in, there had been multiple opportunities for it to happen already, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud.

”A more reasonable work-life balance?” Ye Zun suggested dryly. ”Shen Wei is worried the Longevity Dial is causing your cold.”

He stopped walking. “You’re not, though.” It was unusual for them to admit to disagreeing on something. They were a unit first -- always ‘we’ before ‘I’ -- but they weren’t identical.

”It’s not that I don’t think the Holy Tools are dangerous. I simply find it unlikely that they would stoop to causing a mere head cold, when trapping people in a pillar for ten thousand years seems more their preferred style.”

It made him laugh, and then the laughing made him cough, and he didn’t realize someone had stepped in front of him until they said, “Nice jacket.”

It was a nice jacket. “Thank you,” he said, still catching his breath.

The stranger took a step closer. “It looks expensive.”

He almost said thank you again, before his brain caught up to the actual words. Was he being hit on, or mugged? And either way, was there any chance he could ensure his team never, ever found out about it? “Ah -- can I help you?”

”Zhao Yunlan?” That was Shen Wei again. ”What’s going on?”

“You look like a helpful kind of person.” A second stranger spoke up from behind him. “So I’m sure you can. Why don’t you start by ending your call?”

“I think handing over your jacket would be helpful,” the first one said. “And your wallet. Phone too. You can just set them all down on the ground and walk away.”

Definitely a mugging, then. “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?” he asked. “I think you may be operating under a misunderstanding.”

Thug number one made a show of looking around. “I don’t see anything to misunderstand. You have things we want, and there are two of us, and one of you.”

He should have made the damn cat take his own patrol. He wasn’t even being robbed for the one truly valuable thing he was carrying, but he couldn’t start throwing punches if there was a chance they might get their hands on it. And somehow, he was sure there was a security camera somewhere that was recording the whole thing.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said, even as he reached up to take the headset out of his ear. “This is a terrible idea.” He spared a glance at the trees -- he could only guess the reason his shadows hadn’t showed up yet was because they were busy laughing at him.

And then they were there -- two crows dropped out of the sky and transformed on either side of him. Thug number one went pale. To be fair, Zhao Yunlan also went pale, but that was because one of the crows turned out to be Ya Qing herself. She glared at him and the thugs in equal measure. “Leave,” she said.

The thugs left. He stayed, because when he put his earpiece back in, Shen Wei was saying, ”Are you all right? Is Ya Qing there?” He told himself he was imagining Ye Zun’s laughter in the background.

“I’m fine, and yes,” he said. “Thank you,” he added, nodding to Ya Qing.

She rolled her eyes. “They worry too much. Humans are resilient.” It didn’t sound like a compliment, but it didn’t quite sound like an insult either.

He nodded again, and she waved him off. “You should go home, before they roust every Yashou in the city to check on you. Crow Tribe will finish your patrol route.”

Oh they would, would they? He raised his eyebrows, and she raised hers right back, daring him to say something. He lost the staring contest by sneezing, and held up his hands in surrender. “I’m going, I’m going.”


Chapter 7: Shen Wei

”He’s a mess of a human being, big brother. But I see why you like him. He’s interesting.”

Shen Wei wished he could dispute it. Any of it. But Zhao Yunlan was interesting, and Shen Wei did like him, and he was, undeniably, a mess. He hadn’t been sure, at first. The Kunlun in his memories wasn’t a mess. He had always seemed so confident, so willing to speak and act and touch, and the reality of Zhao Yunlan in the present day had been a surprise.

But he’d known, even back then, that Kunlun had his own secrets. He’d known only the parts of him that the other had chosen to share. It hadn’t bothered him -- there had always been bigger things to worry about. But Zhao Yunlan was Kunlun without any masks, and he shared his whole self without reservation. Shen Wei couldn’t help finding himself drawn to every new proof that this time, nothing was hidden.

Not even this. ”I’m open to suggestions,” he said.

“I’m not sure I have any. What to do when a loved one is hunched over on a sidewalk and you’re trapped in a pillar is not something I ever thought I would need to know.” Ye Zun’s words were casual, but he could feel the underlying worry threading through them.

“Zhao Yunlan.” Shen Wei tried again to get his attention, and got only an irritated growl in reply.

“He’s in pain.” And not from any enemy they could send someone to fight.

“There is one possibility I can think of,” Ye Zun said carefully. “He is almost asleep already. We could --”

They hadn’t ever practiced dream walking, but they’d spent years scouring the Dijun Register for a power that might free them. None of them had, of course, but it had been an educational experience. If they saw a power, they could learn it. If they learned it, they could use it. Theoretically.

“It’s a violation of privacy,” Shen Wei said.

He got the sense Ye Zun was humoring him. “So ask permission.”

“I can hear you arguing about me,” Zhao Yunlan mumbled. “Whatever it is, I trust you. I’m fine. Just need to rest.”

Which was probably as close to permission as they could get, under the circumstances. He felt Ye Zun at his side, and they stepped forward together.

Into an empty street. No, not empty. Zhao Yunlan was there, on the sidewalk, just as he was in the waking world. Their footsteps made no sound as they approached, but Zhao Yunlan raised his head anyway. He looked startled, but not worried. “Shen Wei? Ye Zun? How is this possible?”

He clenched his fists to keep from reaching out. “You’re dreaming. We have the ability to appear to you here. We -- I -- was worried.”

“Ah, Shen Wei, you shouldn’t worry about me,” Zhao Yunlan said, and Ye Zun scoffed quietly. “You should worry about why you didn’t tell me you could do this before!” He still had one arm held tightly over his stomach, but he raised his other hand and shook his finger at them. “Did you think I would be too distracted by your beauty?” Then he frowned. “Why are you still standing over there?”

Shen Wei took a few steps closer. “I’m not sure I can touch you and then leave you again,” he said, surprised at how easily the words came tumbling out. Ye Zun leaned against him, and said nothing.

Zhao Yunlan smiled. “Kicking my future self’s ass,” he said. He waved them closer. “You can sit without touching, then. Tell me about this power. I’m asleep right now, yes? Is time passing the same way? It would definitely be bad publicity for the Chief of the SID to spend the night dozing on the sidewalk.”

Ye Zun tugged him over and down, just out of arm’s reach. “You’re asleep, yes. Time is passing. As for how quickly, relative to what you experience here, you can tell us later.”

“No stopwatches in the pillar,” Zhao Yunlan said. “That makes sense.”

“Also, we’ve never done this before,” Ye Zun added.

And instead of looking alarmed, Zhao Yunlan just laughed. “Your first! I’m even more honored, in that case!” But the laugh made him flinch, and he closed his eyes against the pain.

Shen Wei leaned forward. “You should call someone to come get you. Da Qing. Your team.”

Zhao Yunlan shook his head. “I can’t.” Then he made a face. “I won’t,” he corrected.

Ye Zun frowned. “They would never begrudge you aid. You must know that. Are you worried it will change their opinion of you?”

“Their opinion of me as a black-hearted rogue? Why would I worry about that?”

Shen Wei inched forward again, and Ye Zun gave him a warning look. “Then why?”

Zhao Yunlan tipped his head back to stare at the sky. “The Special Investigations Department -- do you know how many Dixing representatives were part of the SID before they gave it to me?”

Shen Wei glanced at Ye Zun, who shrugged. The answer was obvious enough that he wasn’t sure he would actually be required to provide it. “Yes,” he said finally.

Zhao Yunlan laughed. “Of course you do. None. Zero. And only one Yashou, leader of a Tribe the Department of Supervision doesn’t believe even exists. How can we claim to police a people without involving them? There can be no justice without understanding.”

“That’s a pretty sentiment,” Ye Zun said. “But not, historically, one that either Haixing or Dixing has shown to value.”

“Haixing. Dixing.” Zhao Yunlan waved his hand between them. “People are people. Good or bad, passionate or indifferent -- we’re all people. We must find a way to work together.”

Ye Zun was surprised, and didn’t bother to hide it. “You truly believe that.”

“For all the good it does me. The Department of Supervision allows my ‘unusual commitment to diversity’ because it makes their numbers look better when they want them to, and the threat of ending their ‘forbearance’ gives them a way to keep me in line. As if three Dixingians and two Yashou was anything more than a token concession.”

“So you won’t call your team for help because you don’t want them to know what you’re doing to keep them.”

Zhao Yunlan frowned, and shook his head. “I may be a fool, but not enough of one to think they don’t already know. I don’t call them because they deserve better. Besides -- my choices, my consequences.”


Chapter 8: Shen Wei

“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He stood up, just to emphasize the point. “Ever!”

Zhao Yunlan blinked up at him. “Really? You should know, I’m trying very hard right now not to take that as a challenge.”

“Yes!” A memory swept over him, and the sense of deja vu was enough to make him stumble.

Both Ye Zun and Zhao Yunlan reached out immediately to steady him, but Zhao Yunlan drew his hand back before he could make contact. “What is it?” he asked. “Are you all right?”

“I -- yes. I’m fine.” He felt a smile forming without any conscious thought. “I was just remembering. We’ve had this argument before. On the opposite sides. You were very convincing.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded, like that made perfect sense to him. “And now you know I learned it from you! That’s very circular; I like it.” He tightened his arm around his stomach. “Ah, but maybe you should wait to tell me until I’m more likely to remember it.”

Shen Wei spoke without thinking. “I could--” Energy flared around his hands before disappearing again. “It wouldn’t have any effect in the waking world. It might help you here, though.”

“Be my guest. I thought dark energy was bad for me.”

“Drinking on an empty stomach is bad for you,” he countered. “What were you thinking? Did you eat at all today?”

“Maybe? I remember hot pot. That might have been yesterday, though.” The words were muffled; Zhao Yunlan had put his head back on his knees.

The urge to touch was overpowering, and he looked away. “You need a minder.”

“Why would I need a minder when I have you? You watch out for my safety, you berate me for my poor choices -- if only you could hail a taxi for me and walk me to my door, you would surely be the best minder I’ve ever had.”

He met Ye Zun’s gaze, and Ye Zun raised his eyebrows in a clear question. It wasn’t him who’d been against the idea in the first place. Shen Wei sighed. “What if -- what if we could?”

Zhao Yunlan raised his head again. “What if you could what?”

“We can’t call a taxi for you. But -- this power doesn’t only allow communication.”

He paused, trying to find the right words, but Zhao Yunlan made the leap in logic without any further prompting. “You’re talking about sleepwalking. You can call a taxi-- as me?” Unexpectedly, he beamed. “That’s wonderful! Why didn’t you say so before?”

“You’re not upset?” He didn’t look upset. That didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t.

“I’m happy to tell you I trust you as many times as it takes for you to believe it,” Zhao Yunlan said. He looked at the sky again. “In the interests of open and honest communication, I should probably also tell you that I’m not at all sure I can walk right now.”

“In the interests of open and honest communication,” Ye Zun answered. “I can tell you that won’t be a problem.”

He woke up to Da Qing leaping on his face -- in cat form, which at least saved him from a broken nose. “Lao Zhao!”

He squinted against the sunlight. The fact that he was in his own bed made it clear that his weird dream probably hadn’t been a dream at all. He should have asked for breakfast too. “I’m awake, Damn Cat, can’t you see that? What time is it?”

Da Qing shifted and sprawled on top of him. “Time to get up. Your birdies brought you breakfast. You should thank me; I left some of it for you.”

He pulled a pillow over his face. Ya Qing was going to kill him when she found out her people had been given breakfast-delivery duty. How were Shen Wei and Ye Zun even communicating with them? “I’ll thank you when I see what you left me, and not a minute before. Why are you here, and not doing your job?”

Da Qing poked his arm. “You mean your job, oh great leader?”

“I had to deal with the Department of Supervision yesterday; I’m supposed to get today off.” He could still fall back asleep -- it was right there, still within reach.

“Oh, right. Well, Lin Jing says the Longevity Dial is giving off some kind of new signal, and also Wang Zheng fainted this morning, so probably you should get up.” Any thoughts of sleep evaporated.

”Are you satisfied now? Da Qing is with him. He’ll be fine.”

The connection was gone anyway, whether he was satisfied or not. ”You wanted to stay as much as I did.”

”Of course I did. He may be a mess, but he’s your mess.”


Chapter 9: Zhao Yunlan

Wang Zheng was going to the Hanga Mountains, to find her past. Therefore, the team was going to the Hanga Mountains with her. The fact that those mountains might also contain one of the Holy Tools was either an unexpected bonus or an unwanted complication. Probably both.

“I can’t believe you’re actually making us go camping,” Lin Jing said, staring around the clearing with obvious dismay. “No hotel? Not even a hostel? A cot?”

“It’s beautiful here,” Li Qian scolded him. “You’re the only one who’s complaining.”

Lin Jing waved his hands at her. “These are science hands! Meant for keyboards and wires and inventing things -- these hands were never intended to set up a tent.”

“We can all see that,” Chu Shuzhi said.

“Lin Jing-ge, do you want help with your tent? Hong-jie and I just finished with hers.” Guo Changcheng, it turned out, loved camping. Zhu Hong absolutely did not, but she seemed determined to support Wang Zheng no matter what. And she’d been smart enough to get Guo Changcheng to do most of the work for her.

Lin Jing shook his head. “I think I’m going to sleep in the car.”

“You should ask Chief Zhao if you can borrow his gun,” Wang Zheng said.

Lin Jing froze. “Ah -- why would I do that?”

Wang Zheng’s expression gave nothing away. “For the Ghost Beasts. They’re opportunistic hunters -- a single human would be an easy target.”

Lin Jing spluttered. Zhao Yunlan propped his feet up on a camp chair and put his hands behind his head. “Didn’t I mention? This entire area is crawling with Ghost Beasts. That’s why he’s here.” He nodded at Zhu Jiu, who scowled.

“I’m here because I know where the Awl is,” he said.

“That too.” And because it kept him out of trouble in Dixing, and because Shen Wei was worried that the presence of the Awl would disrupt their ability to communicate through the Longevity Dial, and because it was probably him poking around the mountains that had tipped off Ding Dun to the Awl’s location in the first place. “But also because you’re the Ghost Beast whisperer who’s going to keep all of us from being eaten.”

“Eaten,” Lin Jing repeated flatly. He really should have considered the consequences when he made a screenshot of Zhao Yunlan getting mugged the default wallpaper for everyone’s computers for a week.

“They don’t actually eat people,” Mi Lu told him. Lin Jing’s expression brightened, and Zhao Yunlan hid his smile.

Zhang Danni nodded earnestly. “That’s true. It’s really more of a --” She made an indecipherable gesture with her hands. “Like a playful mauling? But with teeth. I mean, unless they’re feral, but it can be hard to tell until you’re right up next to them.”

Lin Jing went pale. “On second thought, right here is good. Great, even.”

“Excellent!” Zhao Yunlan clapped his hands together. “Now, the Department of Supervision has been informed that we’ll be conducting field training exercises for skill building and team cohesion. Remember to coordinate your reports before turning them in. Wang Zheng has agreed to wait until tomorrow to enter the caves, so that we can all get some rest tonight.”

Wang Zheng nodded serenely, like they hadn’t argued about it for an hour before Li Yufen had stepped in and convinced her to let the team accompany her. He really needed to find a way to put her on the payroll. Any SID agents had to be approved by the Department of Supervision , but adding support staff was a matter of some simple paperwork. Maybe she’d be interested in taking on the library? Lin Jing kept saying he was going to digitize everything, but so far he’d only succeeded in creating more chaos.

“Someone’s coming.” Chu Shuzhi’s words broke through his musings, and everyone tensed, following his gaze to the trail they’d come in on.

“Is it Ghost Beasts?” Lin Jing whispered loudly.

Chu Shuzhi shook his head sharply. “I hear talking.”

He waited a full three-count for anyone to move before he stood up, and everyone startled. Maybe the ghost stories on the drive up had been a bad idea. “You’re all highly trained members of the SID; stop acting like Lao Li is about to come around the corner and catch you with your hand in the cookie jar. Mi Lu and I will go investigate. The rest of you, finish setting up camp.”

There was a village on the other side of the mountain. They’d followed a trail — unmarked, but clearly well-used — it was obvious that people traveled through this part of the forest on a regular basis. There was no reason to assume they were being followed. Of course, the fact that it was unlikely was no reason to assume the weren’t being followed, either.

“Oh! Hello! Could you help us?” The two people who waved at them eagerly and hurried down the trail towards them didn’t look like villagers. Or the Regent’s spies. They looked familiar, actually.

“You’re Chief Zhao, right?” one of them said. “You came to one of my classes, at the University. The lecture with Professor Zhou?” She looked at the boy next to her. “I told you that was his car!”

“You’re from the University?” he asked, and they both nodded.

“We’re on a research trip, but our car broke down, and we couldn’t get any phone signal, but then we saw the cars at the trailhead and we thought — even if it wasn’t you, maybe there would be someone who could help.” The girl smiled sheepishly. “None of us are very good with car repair.”

“You’re in luck!” he said. “I know someone who’s excellent with car repair. How far are you from the trailhead?”

The girl shrugged. “Not far. We were supposed to get all the way to the village today, though.”

“You won’t make it before dark,” Mi Lu said. He knew what she was thinking. A couple of university students, out after dark — even in a vehicle they’d be a prime target for the Ghost Beasts. “You should stay with us tonight.”

“We’d have to ask Teacher Zhang,” the boy said. “She stayed with the car, in case someone came by on the road.”

He nodded, even as he mentally rearranged their campsite to fit three more people. “How about this? We’ll have Lin Jing take a look at your car, you can camp with us overnight, and in the morning you’ll be back on your way.”


Chapter 10: Zhao Yunlan

Jiajia was a force of nature. He was giving serious thought to recruiting her as a second student intern. She could be in charge of interrogations; Chu Shuzhi would never have to threaten anyone into talking again, because she would chatter them into a confession without even breaking a sweat.

Having Li Qian was with them had gone a long way towards soothing Teacher Zhang’s unspoken but obvious concern that were going to the caves for some nefarious goal. He still wasn’t entirely sure how that led them to change their plans, but there they were — not heading back to their car to continue safely on, but packing up to accompany the SID deeper into the mountains.

“We were headed for the caves anyway,” Jiajia had said, enthusiastically tightening a strap. “We should go together!”

Splitting into two groups had led to multiple whispered arguments in the pre-dawn hours, but it had to be done. They couldn’t put off Wang Zheng’s search or finding the Awl, and they also couldn’t leave Teacher Zhang and her students unprotected. Even the most dire warnings about Ghost Beasts hadn’t deterred them. It was as impressive as it was inconvenient.

Their determined academics set up close to the entrance of the cave system. He waved the other group off at the first juncture, and settled in with Mi Lu and Zhang Danni to watch for any dangers. It was a stroke of luck that the team members Teacher Zhang seemed to find the least threatening were also the ones best suited to defending them against a Ghost Beast attack with minimal collateral damage.

“It’s too bad Li Qian couldn’t stay with us,” Jiajia said. “She’s really good at sample analysis.”

“Interns have to stay with the larger group during training exercises,” he told her. It was a lie, of course. There were no rules about interns at all, since before Li Qian there had never been any interns. But Li Qian was the only other person who could use the Longevity Dial, and they might need it to get the Awl.

“Is that what you’re doing here, Chief Zhao?” Teacher Zhang asked pointedly. “A training exercise?”

He stuck a lollipop in his mouth and spread his hands apart in a ‘who, me?’ gesture. “Of course! What else would we be here for?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he smiled. “Of course,” she said finally. “My apologies.”

There were exactly three Ghost Beasts that lumbered past their cave over the next few hours — all of them fooled by Mi Lu’s illusions. Three was too many for him to justify leaving the students on their own, but nowhere near the numbers they’d expected to find. He hoped they weren’t swarming the others.

They all startled when the ground started shaking. Zhang Danni and Mi Lu looked at him, and he nodded. “We’re evacuating,” he said. “As quickly as possible.”

Jiajia immediately protested. “What? We’re not finished!”

“I’m sure Teacher Zhang would agree your safety is more important than your research.”

“Earthquakes?” Teacher Zhang looked at him suspiciously, which he felt was unwarranted. “This area isn’t prone to tectonic instability.”

The ground rumbled again, and dust shook itself loose from the rocks above them. “Debate the science later,” Mi Lu said. “Evacuate now.”

It only took a few minutes to get all of them outside the caves, and he was already planning his arguments for going back in alone when a larger quake almost knocked them off their feet — and collapsed the entrance. “Chief Zhao!”

He waved Zhang Danni back. “I’m all right,” he said. “Everyone else?”

“No injuries,” Teacher Zhang said, looking worried. “Chief Zhao — what about your team? Should we call emergency services?”

He took a deep breath. He had to focus on one thing at a time. Jumping to conclusions or assuming the worst would help no one. “We need to get clear first. Our phones don’t have reception here, and there’s still a danger from loose rocks.”

The ground didn’t shake again, and he couldn’t help wondering if that was a good sign or a bad one. They were all quiet as they hurried back towards the campsite, which meant the yelp coming from that direction was impossible to miss.

“Don’t drop it!” he heard someone say.

“Get out of the way; he’s going to be right back!”

And then, ominously, “Who’s going to tell Chief Zhao?”

“Tell me what?” he said. The others stepped aside to let him enter the clearing first, and he stopped short at the sight of Li Qian and Guo Changcheng covered in dust. Li Qian was holding the Longevity Dial, along with what had to be the Mount-River Awl.

“Boss!” Lin Jing waved him back, just as Zhu Jiu appeared in front of him with Zhu Hong, coughed, and disappeared again. A second later, he was back, with Chu Shuzhi next to him and Da Qing clinging to his jacket in cat form.

“That was awful,” Da Qing announced. He leapt onto Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder and sneezed. “Dust everywhere.”

“Including all over me now, Damn Cat. What happened?”

“Well, the good news is, we found the Awl. And we rescued Sang Zan, and everyone lived.” Da Qing rubbed his head against Zhao Yunlan’s jacket, dislodging another shower of dust onto him. “So keep that in mind. The bad news is that we may have collapsed a small portion of the mountain.”

“I think we all knew that part. How small is small, and why is it now collapsed?”

Da Qing put on his most innocent expression, which meant ‘not actually even close to small.’ “There was a pillar,” he said. “You should talk to them about that. Two pillars? Can’t be a coincidence.”

“Is that cat talking?” Xiao Quan said faintly. “And teleporting?”

“Hey!” Zhu Jiu looked like he was still standing only through sheer force of will, but he was stubborn enough to make it work. And Chu Shuzhi was close enough to catch him if he passed out. “Does the cat look like he could teleport six people through solid rock?”

“Haha, what? Who’s teleporting? That’s ridiculous. You’re in shock,” Lin Jing said, waving his hands around like that would distract them from everything else. “You probably shouldn’t believe anything you see right now.”

Jiajia rolled her eyes. “We know about Dixing people.” She looked at Zhu Jiu. “You can teleport? I wish I could teleport — that’s the best power!”

Teacher Zhang was frowning, but her question wasn’t what he expected. “Where’s Wang Zheng? And who’s Sang Zan?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. He tried to think of a way to explain that they were perfectly fine, and would rejoin them after the sun went down — a way that didn’t include ghosts. On the other hand, they’d already been fine with Ghost Beasts, Yashou, and Dixingren.

“What are your thoughts on ghosts?”


Chapter 11: Shen Wei

The pillar was timeless. At first, he and Ye Zun had felt timeless as well, disconnected from anything that was happening outside. When freedom had been a far-off dream, it had been easy to ignore. The closer it loomed, the more their imprisonment weighed on him. It was as if he could feel every second passing with excruciating slowness.

”You’re bored.” Ye Zun tweaked at his energy, and he forced himself to relax.

”No. Yes.” The word was close, but it wasn’t quite right. ”Restless?”

”Pining?” Ye Zun offered, and he laughed. It felt good to laugh again.

Having two Hallows together had loosened the pillar’s grasp on them, enough to free some of their senses. Enough that they could feel the wind when it blew against the pillar, and taste the ash in the air when the volcano was at its peak. Enough to make the longing for more a constant companion. But even that was a lighter burden with Ye Zun at his side.

His distraction didn’t go unnoticed. ”What are you thinking about?” Ye Zun asked, as he spun their energy together and apart like a dance.

Shen Wei tugged him closer. ”I don’t think I could do this without you.”

Ye Zun turned serious. ”You could. You were always strong enough to be alone. But I’m glad we didn’t have to. And it’s not just us anymore.”

As if on cue, he felt the trickle of energy that meant Zhao Yunlan was trying to contact them. ”Shen Wei? Ye Zun?”

”Hello, Zhao Yunlan.” He couldn’t hide the fondness in his tone, and didn’t bother trying.

”Ah, dearest Shen Wei, it’s a delight to hear your voice, as always. Quick question: do you happen to know where my team is right now?”

He could feel Ye Zun’s interest rise. ”Have you misplaced them?” he asked, sliding closer.

”Hello to you too, Ye Zun. And I wouldn’t say misplaced, exactly. I know they’re doing something that I need to officially not know about, but unofficially, I do need to know, and none of them are answering their phones.”

”Why?”

There was a pause, like Zhao Yunlan was doing something else at the same time. ”Why aren’t they answering their phones? If I knew that, why would I have called you? Well, I would have called anyway, but it would have been to talk about something more interesting.”

”Why do you need to know?” Ye Zun clarified.

”Oh, that. I’m on my way to a meeting with Minister Gao at the Department of Supervision, and I need to know what not to tell him.”

Shen Wei hesitated. They knew exactly where the rest of the SID was, or at least what they were doing, because they’d been the ones to ask them to do it. ”Yes,” he said finally. ”We know where they are. They’re helping someone.”

”At your request?” There was an undercurrent to Zhao Yunlan’s voice that he didn’t recognize.

”Yes. The circumstances are — difficult. It seemed wisest to handle it outside the official channels.” He braced himself for anger, for rejection. This, he thought, might be the line he thought they would cross with the dream-walking.

”She’s a child,” Ye Zun interjected. ”And they volunteered.” For Shen Wei alone, he added, ”At least we’ll know.”

”No, no, I’m not angry.” It sounded like Zhao Yunlan was laughing. ”Ah, the kids grow up so fast these days. Even Xiao Guo! Already rebelling against the system and hiding things from his boss — this must be how a proud parent feels on graduation day!”

”You’re not upset,” Ye Zun said.

”I’m not upset,” Zhao Yunlan answered promptly. ”Hold on, let me pull over.”

He was driving, Shen Wei realized. “You’ll be late to your meeting.”

Zhao Yunlan scoffed. ”It’s fine; they expect me to be late. Minister Gao probably just wants to spend another hour fine-tuning our report formats and sincerely informing me that they won’t be able to fund a new location for the SID for another year. Oh, and let’s not forget, coming up with new reasons I should be cautious and vigilant, as if that wasn’t already part of the job.”

His next words were muffled. Talking to someone else, most likely. ”Yes, I’m stopping here. Official business. Yes, thank you, we appreciate your support. Any time, yes, day or night.”

There was a brief silence, and then — ”The thing is, I feel like we’ve had this conversation before. My answer is still no, I’m not upset. Did you think I would be?”

”Maybe.” He wasn’t even sure which one of them said it. Both of them were thinking it.

”Is this something else I need to kick my future self’s ass for?”

That made Ye Zun laugh. “Not this time.”

Shen Wei cleared his throat. ”You’ve given us no reason to doubt you, Zhao Yunlan. But is the opposite true as well? This is your team. Your family.”

”Just so you know, I don’t have the best track record when it comes to family. But yes — of course. I trust you not to ask the team to take unnecessary risks, and I trust them to tell you no if they want to. I’d prefer to know what’s going on, but that’s on me, not you.”

He had no idea what to say to that, but Ye Zun offered a quiet, “Thank you.”

“Zhao Yunlan,” he said finally.

”Hmm?”

”Anyone would be lucky to have you as family.” No response, but he hadn’t been expecting one. ”And Zhao Yunlan?”

”Yes?”

”Go to your meeting.”


Chapter 12: Shen Wei

”Can you hear me?”

That wasn’t Zhao Yunlan. “Yes. Who is this?”

Of those in the SID, only three had been able to use the Longevity Dial to communicate with them: Zhao Yunlan, Da Qing, and Li Qian. They speculated it was due to exposure to the Hallows, which would make Li Yufen the fourth, but since she had yet to attempt it, the theory remained untested.

“Li Qian — you helped me, and my grandmother.”

That had really been more Ye Zun, but she might not be able to tell them apart. “Hello, Li Qian. Is everything all right?”

“I’m not sure. Zhu Hong said it would be fine, but then she told me to go, and to tell you what was happening.”

She sounded like she was trying very hard to stay calm. “Go where? Are you safe?”

“I’m at the University,” Li Qian said. “I’m safe. Teacher Zhang lets us use her office if we need it.”

Ye Zun was nearly vibrating with energy next to him. “That’s good. What happened?”

“It started this morning. Chief Zhao said someone from Dixing was coming to visit, the Regent. But he arrived early, before he was scheduled. He — there was a fight?”

The Regent was in Haixing? Fighting? He must have traveled in secrecy, if their contacts in the Palace didn’t know.

”A fight?” Ye Zun prompted.

”Not with Chief Zhao!” Li Qian said quickly. ”I didn’t see it, so I’m not exactly sure what happened. There was a disagreement? The Regent was at Wang Xiangyang and Bai Suxia’s fruit stand, and then another man was there, a journalist, and Wang Xiangyan’s sign got broken.”

He tried to sound patient, but probably failed. ”Is this relevant?”

”You asked me what happened. Details are important. Bai Suxia was so angry.” Li Qian’s voice was impressed. ”Then Xiao Guo showed up somehow, and Chu Shuzhi, and Chief Zhao wanted to yell at them, but he didn’t. He invited everyone inside instead.”

”The Regent is at the SID?”

”Not anymore. He went back to Dixing.” Shen Wei’s relief was short-lived, since Li Qian’s next words were, ”He knew we had two of the Hallows.”

The fact that the Regent was aware two Hallows had been recovered wasn’t a surprise. The fact that he had personally traveled to Haixing to confront the SID about it was — unexpected. ”He didn’t try to take them?”

Li Qian hesitated. ”I’m not sure. Chief Zhao showed him the lab where Lin Jing keeps the Hallows. The Deputy was going to listen in, but then we heard from the Department of Supervision that the Haixing Bureau was sending a senior official to do a surprise inspection.”

”And that prevented eavesdropping?”

”He’s the Deputy Chief; he had to take the call,” Li Qian said, as if that was perfectly obvious.

”Of course he did. That’s fine,” Ye Zun said soothingly. Shen Wei knew the soothing was intended as much for him as it was for Li Qian. ”What happened next?”

“Well, everyone seemed more worried about the inspection than the Regent visiting. Except for Chief Zhao; he said there wasn’t anything to worry about, because we were all good at doing our jobs. I think he might have known who was coming.”

That time she continued without any prompting. ”We all tried to tidy things up — even the journalist, until Chu Shuzhi noticed he was reading our reports and kicked him out. And then Chief Zhao said he was leaving with the Regent, and right after that the inspector arrived, and it was Chief Zhao’s father.”

They were both startled into silence. Finally, Ye Zun said, ”What?”

”Director Zhao,” Li Qian said. ”He used to lead the SID, but now he works for the Haixing Bureau. I didn’t know he was Chief Zhao’s father. Chief Zhao is — very private, about family matters.”

”Yes,” Ye Zun told her, neither confirming or denying that they knew about the connection. “Thank you for telling us.”

Li Qian finished her explanation in a rush. ”He wasn’t very happy when he found out that Chief Zhao wasn’t there, and he went into the Chief’s office and shut the door. That’s when Zhu Hong told me to take the Longevity Dial and contact you.”

They’d avoided or circumvented official channels as much as possible before they found the Longevity Dial. Zhao Xinci’s reputation had preceded him, and their reach had been shorter, then. When he moved on from the SID, he’d also largely moved out of reach of their contacts in Haixing, and they hadn’t followed up. Maybe that had been a mistake.

Shen Wei leaned into Ye Zun, or maybe Ye Zun was leaning into him. ”Li Qian. Chief Zhao and the Regent — where did they go?”

Li Qian made a surprised noise. ”You don’t know? They went to Dixing.”

”Zhao Yunlan is here? In Dixing?”

”Yes?”

If he’d had eyes, he would have closed them. Zhao Yunlan was in Dixing. How long had he been there? What was he doing? How close was he? He was distantly aware that Ye Zun was still talking with Li Qian, asking about the others, and the Awl, and he abandoned any pretense that he was following the conversation.

Zhao Yunlan was in Dixing.


Chapter 13: Zhao Yunlan

Dixing had a volcano. He really felt like that was a thing someone should have told him — a volcano! It deserved a mention, surely. Also, a map. He was beginning to think he was walking in circles.

When the Regent had showed up and offered an exchange of information, he’d been suspicious. But even the wiliest of foxes were bound to follow their own innate motivation, and it had been the perfect excuse to avoid Zhao Xinci. An absent target was an easy target, and he was confident that Zhao Xinci would focus on the failings of the SID’s Chief rather than the potential eccentricities of any other team members.

Of course, he hadn’t expected the Regent to ditch him in a deserted street.

“Hey!”

Or maybe not so deserted. He turned around and waved. “Hello!”

“Are you Zhao Yunlan?”

He hesitated, but the Regent called him Chief Zhao, or Lord Guardian if he was being particularly obsequious. The Palace Guard generally stuck with Lord Guardian, if they addressed him at all. He couldn’t think of anyone in Dixing who would call him Zhao Yunlan except for Shen Wei and Ye Zun. “Sure,” he said.

The girl looked skeptical. “If you say so. Follow me.”

It was very possibly a bad idea. On the other hand, he was already lost. He waved a hand towards the road. “Lead the way.”

And apparently he’d used up all his bad luck for the day, because in a few twists and turns, they’d made it out of the warren of streets he’d been stuck in, and then — “Ah.” It was the pillar. As soon as he saw it, it was like he was drawn forward by an invisible string. He couldn’t — wouldn’t — stay away.

It was smaller than he’d imagined it. Whenever they spoke, their voices came with the impression of vastness; of an enormous space made knowable only by their presence within it. And logically, he knew that they didn’t physically exist inside the rock of the pillar. But that didn’t stop his heart from breaking a little when he saw the chains wrapped around it.

“Ah, Shen Wei,” he said quietly, laying his hands on the pillar. “Ye Zun, little brother, can you hear me?”

Ye Zun’s voice came immediately, filling the air around him. ”I’m older than you are, little brother.”

He laughed. “Fair point!”

Two more people showed up. “Dan Dan! You found him?”

The girl shrugged again, but she was smiling as she did i it. “I told you I would.”

One of the newcomers put his arm around the other’s shoulders. “Ha! That’s the first time anyone’s ever beaten you, An Bai!”

An Bai rolled his eyes, but didn’t push him away. “I’ve never met him before, and it’s easier the better I know someone anyway. It’s still more useful than your power.”

All three of them sat down on the steps in front of the pillar and looked at him expectantly. “Well? They thought you might be in danger.” Dan Dan looked at the pillar. “He wasn’t,” she said quickly. Reassuringly?

Zhao Yunlan blinked. “Wait, is this how you manage to get information passed around so quickly? Tempt the youth of Dixing to loaf around nearby, and use them as messengers?”

”It’s — a little more complex than that,” Shen Wei said.

”But yes,” Ye Zun added.

”Zhao Yunlan, are you all right? What did the Regent want from you? Why did you agree to come to Dixing?”

“I couldn’t just want to see my favorite people?” There was a disapproving silence from the pillar, and he sighed. “He offered information on the Merit Brush. In exchange for Lin Jing’s research notes on the Longevity Dial and the Awl.”

Their audience was eavesdropping shamelessly. “The Merit Brush?”

Ye Zun’s sounded thoughtful. ”Why would he offer something like that?”

He thought it was probably more of a bribe than an offer. “It hasn’t escaped the Regent’s notice that so far, the SID has two Hallows, while he has none. He may have indicated that since they were lost in Haixing, it’s Haixing’s responsibility to locate them. He definitely pointed out that the faster we find them, the faster he can claim them for Dixing.”

“Is he trying to help you, or discourage you?”

He left one hand on the pillar and waved the other one in a wide arc. “Since I have no intention of withholding the Holy Tools from their rightful place, I didn’t ask.” It was true. The treaty clearly stated that the Hallows were given to Dixing, and were to remain there until Dixing said otherwise. Shen Wei and Ye Zun were in Dixing; therefore giving them the Hallows satisfied the terms of the treaty. Win-win.

”You weren’t at the Palace, though. He didn’t actually provide any information?”

“We were separated,” Zhao Yunlan said. “He wandered off. Or I wandered off. There’s no street signs in Dixing; have you noticed that?”

He heard someone mutter, “Street signs?”

”You’re late,” Ye Zun said, just as a familiar face stepped into view. He’d only seen Chu Shuzhi’s brother once before, but he waved like they were familiar acquaintances.

“Sorry. It’s not easy to get here, you know. The Regent has banned everyone from this part of the city."

Zhao Yunlan made a show of looking around. "Did he? He must have forgotten to mention it to me."

”What news is there from the Palace?”

“The Regent has everyone out looking for the Lord Guardian. He’s very apologetic.” Chu Nianzhi’s expression indicated his opinion of the Regent’s apologies. “It was a good opportunity to bring you this.”

An Bai looked impressed. “Did you steal that?”

Chu Nianzhi scoffed. “Of course not! I copied it.” He handed the piece of paper to Zhao Yunlan with a nod. “That’s everything the Palace Archives have on the Merit Brush and the Guardian Lantern.”

It wasn’t much — a few drawings, a cryptic description. It was still more than they’d had for the other two. Or maybe it wasn’t. He waved the paper at the pillar. “Is this how you knew where to look for the others? Records from the Palace Archives?”

”No. The others called to us.”

He waited for more, but the explanation seemed to end there. “They called to you?” he prompted.

Shen Wei sounded frustrated when he answered. ”It doesn’t make sense. We’ve always felt the pull of the Longevity Dial and the Mount-River Awl, even when they’re in Haixing. But there’s nothing from the Merit Brush or the Guardian Lantern.”

The thought that had been lurking out of reach suddenly leapt to the forefront, and he patted the pillar absently. “Not always, though,” he said slowly. “When Li Qian first gave us the Longevity Dial, Lin Jing thought its full powers were being blocked. By the shield around the SID.”


Chapter 14: Zhao Yunlan

He waved at the board from his seat on the couch. “So if the shield is the only thing that blocks detection of the Holy Tools, that leaves us with three options.” He counted them off on his fingers. “One, the remaining Hallows are embarrassingly close by and we haven’t noticed them. Two, there’s something else that acts like Lin Jing’s shield. Three, the Merit Brush and Guardian Lantern have different properties than the others.”

Lin Jing coughed. “One of the options is that we have nothing?”

He shook his finger in Lin Jing’s direction. “But two-thirds of the options are that we have something! Where’s your sense of optimism?”

“Chief Zhao?”

“I have a question,” Da Qing said. He was looking at the board upside down, from the back of the couch. “Why don’t we have any cases? We spend all our time looking for the Holy Tools.”

He batted Da Qing’s hand away from where it was creeping towards his plate. “If I’m ever trapped in a pillar for ten thosuand years, Damn Cat, I expect you to drop everything to come rescue me. Xiao Guo, write that down.”

Guo Changcheng immediately bent over his journal, and Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Good. Also, I have a question too! Why is Cong Bo here?”

Everyone turned to look at the guest in question, who stood up and glared around the room. “You confiscated my phone! And my backup phone! I’m not leaving till I get my property back. People have a right to be informed!”

Zhu Hong shrugged. “Lao Chu wanted to leave him in the interrogation room, but he did help when Director Zhao was here. A little. Sit down,” she added, and Cong Bo sat.

Zhao Yunlan frowned at her. “I was in Dixing for less than a day, and you already adopted a whistleblower?”

“I thought he could manage our social media,” Zhu Hong said.

“We have social media?”

“Not yet.” Zhu Hong raised her eyebrows at him. It was a look that either said ‘trust me, I have a plan’ or ‘I can’t believe you haven’t figured this out already.’ Either way, he supposed, if his team wanted a journalist whistleblower, why not?

“Chief Zhao?”

He pointed at Da Qing. “We don’t have any cases because the Department of Supervision hasn’t given us any.” He moved the finger to Zhu Hong. “I agree on a probationary basis.”

“Chief Zhao!” Guo Changcheng looked like his outburst had surprised even himself.

Chu Shuzhi pushed him forwards. “Say what you have to say.”

“About the Merit Brush,” Guo Changcheng started, hesitantly. “I may have seen it before. I have, I mean. I know where it is.”

“What, really?” Da Qing sat up so quickly that Guo Changcheng actually took a step back. “Where?”

“It’s their family heirloom. They think it can bring good fortune.” Guo Changcheng visibly braced himself. “You have to promise to replace it.”

“Done!” He nudged Da Qing off the couch with his foot. “Go look through those boxes we put everything in when we were cleaning.” Zhao Xinci had left him a ‘welcoming gift’ of a fancy brush when he’d taken the job, along with a note telling him there was no excuse for lazy writing. He’d dumped both of them in a box and hadn’t looked at them since. Now it could finally serve a purpose.

Da Qing groaned. “That’s a lot of boxes.”

“And?” He looked around. “Ah, what luck! There’s a lot of you to help! Not you, Xiao Guo. You’re going to stay right here and tell me everything.”

In the end, it only took a few hours of searching to come up with the brush, and it wasn’t like travel time was an issue. Wang Xiangyang had showed off the sign Guo Changcheng helped with, and Bai Suxia had happily traded their brushes, and they all politely didn’t ask how a powerful ancient artifact from Dixing had ended up as a family heirloom.

“It doesn’t look like a powerful ancient artifact,” Lin Jing said. He yelped when Wang Zheng flicked his ear. “What?”

“Don’t be culturally insensitive,” she told him.

Chu Shuzhi snorted. “No, I agree,” Zhang Danni said. She tilted her head like a different angle might help. “It’s not very impressive, is it?”

Mi Lu shook her head. “After all that — I can’t believe the Merit Brush was right next door this entire time.”

They had all three Hallows set up in Lin Jing’s lab, where everyone had gathered. Like they were waiting for them to do something other than sit on a table. To be fair, he supposed, the last one they’d collected had involved collapsing part of a mountain, so picking this one up from the neighbor along with a dozen apples was a little anticlimactic.

He clapped his hands, and started waving them all out of the room. “Well? What are you waiting for? Those boxes aren’t going to put themselves away.”

He waited until they were all at least pretending to be going back to work, and then turned to the Hallows. Longevity Dial. Mount-River Awl. Merit Brush. Only the Guardian Lantern remained to be found. “Where is it?” he murmured. “You want to find it too, don’t you?”

He wasn’t actually expecting a response. He definitely wasn’t expecting all of them to start glowing. And he absolutely, one hundred percent was not expecting some sort of — portal, to appear above them, and pull him in.

He probably should have been, though. Shen Wei was going to be so mad.


Chapter 15: Ye Zun

Ye Zun glared at the sky. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. “This isn’t how this was supposed to go!” he said, like Shen Wei could hear him. Maybe he could.

He was in the wrong place. Possibly the wrong time, but if that was the case, they were all in trouble. Shen Wei had been very clear about how this happened — Zhao Yunlan was supposed to show up at the battle with the rebel chieftain’s supply scouts, and save Shen Wei’s life. But he was nowhere near where the supply team should be. No scouts, no Alliance patrol. And perhaps most worrying — no Zhao Yunlan.

He spun in a slow circle, and then looked at the sky again. “Well?”

And then Zhao Yunlan dropped out of a wormhole right in front of him. “Ow.”

Words suddenly failed him. They’d been talking for months, but he somehow still wasn’t prepared. To see anyone, probably, but definitely not Zhao Yunlan. But he was out of time. Zhao Yunlan scrambled to his feet, laughing.

“Ye Zun!” he exclaimed. “Was that a wormhole? How are you here too? Are we in the past?” He flinched when he tried to put weight on his knee, and Ye Zun found himself moving without thinking.

“I can —“ He gestured at the knee. “May I?”

Zhao Yunlan poked at it, flinched again, and said, “You don’t have to.”

“I — know?” he said. He wasn’t entirely sure what the correct response was. It was more disconcerting than he’d expected to be inhabiting a physical space again, and trying to communicate without the immediate feedback echo of Shen Wei in his head felt wrong.

“How would you feel about sitting?” Zhao Yunlan said. “I, personally, feel good about it as a next step.”

He frowned. “Are you all right?”

“Are you all right?” Zhao Yunlan countered.

“I think so?” He had no idea, so he sat down and attempted a smile. He didn’t think it worked all that well, but Zhao Yunlan nodded.

“Right, that’s good.” He paused, then added, “You and Shen Wei had a lot of thoughts about how to help Sang Zan when he was freed. I know the circumstances aren’t identical, but—“

“Are you offering to hold my hand?”

Zhao Yunlan beamed. “I am! Physical contact is also recommended after a shock. That part is for me,” he clarified. “Time travel! Shocking!”

It made him laugh, and the feeling of Zhao Yunlan’s hand in his was grounding. They sat in silence while he focused on breathing.

“So this is the past,” Zhao Yunlan said finally.

“Yes.”

“You’re already here. Is that going to be a problem?”

He shook his head. “You won’t see me. Not until the end.”

“Which is — when? I never asked how long I was around.”

He looked around again, but no answers magically appeared in the air around him. “I don’t know. This isn’t where I thought we’d end up. There wasn’t a how-to guide; we were just following you.”

Zhao Yunlan waved his hand back and forth between them. “But you were already here when I arrived!”

“Yes. Because we were using time travel. You missed a few things, after you disappeared. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Zhao Yunlan leaned back on his hands. “We found the Merit Brush. There was a portal. Wormhole? And then I was here.” He sat up and pointed at Ye Zun. “You said they could only do that if all four of them were together!”

“They were. Your team found the Lantern in a — box of junk? — shortly after you disappeared.” Admittedly, he hadn’t given the explanation his full attention, and he wasn’t sure how metaphorical it was meant to be. “When they realized what had happened, the whole group of them snuck into Dixing with the Hallows and demanded we rescue you. It was very impressive.”

Zhao Yunlan groaned. “They didn’t. Why?”

He smiled, and it felt more real than before. “Apparently, you told them to.”

“What?”

“You told them that if you were ever trapped in a pillar for ten thousand years, you expected them to drop everything and come get you. One of them wrote it down.” He looked at the sky. “Of course, you weren’t, but with the Hallows all together, we were able to leave the pillar. I came back to help you. Shen Wei’s holding the wormhole open on that end so we’ll be able to go home.”

Zhao Yunlan narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like an extremely edited description of events.”

It was. “There was a lot happening all at once?” he offered. “Being out of the pillar for the first time in ten thousand years was distracting? It’s easier to focus on what we need to do now, than on what we have no ability to see or influence in the future? I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded, and he felt a surge of relief when the next question wasn’t ‘are you all right’ again. “You have a plan, for what we need to do here?”

“Get you to the right place at the right time, save Shen Wei. The Alliance should take it from there until the Hallows are recovered.” Zhao Yunlan’s fingers tightened over his.

“And you’ll be, what? Watching from afar to make sure it goes the right way?” The words were light, but the look in Zhao Yunlan’s eyes was anything but.

“I — I hadn’t gotten that far yet,” he said, even though he’d thought of little else since he arrived. He hadn’t been lying when he said the rescue had gotten confusing. He remembered everyone agreeing that they wanted to help, and that Shen Wei couldn’t be there twice, and then — there he was, in the past. “But Shen Wei doesn’t remember meeting anyone who might have been me during this time, so it seems likely that I stayed away.”

“Or!” Zhao Yunlan held up one finger like he’d just had an idea. “Consider this — the Hallows are jerks.”

“What?”

“They trapped you in a pillar for ten thousand years. Da Qing can’t remember this time at all, even though you and Shen Wei both confirm he was here. I’m just saying, maybe the Hallows aren’t all-wise. They’re powerful, but have you noticed they seem—“ He waved his hand around like their surroundings were the perfect example of his point. “Unpredictable?”

Just because they couldn’t see the logic, didn’t mean it didn’t exist. It just meant the picture was bigger than what they knew about. Or not. “Maybe,” he conceded.

“Exactly!” Zhao Yunlan squeezed his fingers again.

They both froze when they heard someone talking nearby. “Send Cat Tribe on patrol, sure. Top of the food chain, and what do they give me for snacks? Is this fruit?”

Da Qing came around an outcropping of rocks, still muttering to himself. He stopped when he saw them. “Oh! Hello!” He scratched the back of his neck. “Do you need help?”

“Da Qing!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed.

Da Qing looked startled. “How do you know my name?”

“Ah. Well, that’s an excellent question!” Zhao Yunlan looked at Ye Zun. Was he supposed to know what to do?

He pointed at Zhao Yunlan. “Of course he knows your name. He’s Kunlun.”

Da Qing brightened. “Really? I mean, of course, Kunlun would have heard of the Alliance’s best scout.” Then he shook his head. “But he’s not Kunlun.”


Chapter 16: Ye Zun

The fact that Zhao Yunlan immediately said, “Who’s Kunlun?” certainly made it a harder claim you support.

“You’re Kunlun,” he said anyway. “You come back, you take his place, you rally the Alliance to victory. That’s how this goes.”

Zhao Yunlan frowned. “This is one of those things you really should have told me more about ahead of time,” he said.

“You really should have asked more questions,” he retorted. “We thought you didn’t want to know.”

“How could I possibly have known to ask about something like that? Besides, what about the actual Kunlun?”

“He’s dead.”

Da Qing coughed loudly. “No, he’s not.”

“Yes, he is.”

“No, he’s not. Unless he keeled over since sunrise, he’s fine.”

Zhao Yunlan was looking back and forth between them. “How do you know?” he asked.

Da Qing gave him an incredulous look. “Because I just saw him. I left his camp straight after breakfast. Why would you think he was dead?”

“Maybe we arrived earlier than I thought.” Ye Zun glared at the sky again. “Really? We’re saving everyone now?”

“Your friend is very strange,” Da Qing said to Zhao Yunlan. “I like him.”

“Me too,” Zhao Yunlan said.

He ignored them both. “Where is he? Has he reached the lowest pass in the western mountains?”

“How did you know that?” Da Qing said.

Because that was where the Rebel Chieftain liked to boast that he’d done away with the Alliance’s most powerful ally. Personally, Ye Zun had never understood how one man with a handful of warriors could be considered stronger than Fu You and her allied Yashou Tribes, but the Rebel Chieftain had a somewhat singular definition of strength.

“We should hurry,” he said, instead of all the rest of it. “He’s in danger. Not from us,” he added, when it looked like Da Qing was going to protest. “Will you lead us there?”

Da Qing looked at Zhao Yunlan, who shrugged. “I trust him.”

There was no way it should have worked. Da Qing had no reason to believe two people who were suspiciously unprepared for their surroundings and made claims that were nonsensical at best, and outright threats at worst. And yet — they arrived at Kunlun’s camp just in time to see the attack begin.

Even after ten thousand years, the sounds of battle were familiar. He froze, as Da Qing threw himself into the fight and Zhao Yunlan drew his gun to cover him. His chest felt tight; he couldn’t breath. And then one of the rebels sent a burst of dark energy at Zhao Yunlan’s knee. He stumbled, and Ye Zun burst into action.

“Zhao Yunlan!”

Skills he’d learned and never had a chance to practice came easily to his hands; in the space between Zhao Yunlan falling and Da Qing diving to his side, Ye Zun had incapacitated the entirety of the rebel squad. It was — easier than he’d expected, and he wasn’t sure what to think about that.

He remembered the rebels as powerful, and ruthless. In his mind they were larger than life, but when he pushed the one who’d hit Zhao Yunlan back into the path of one of Kunlun’s people, he didn’t look like a monster. He just looked young, and scared.

He swallowed back the discomfort, and moved to help Da Qing steady Zhao Yunlan, who was already trying to wave them off. “We only have a short window before the Rebel Chieftain arrives,” he said. “He likes to send his troops ahead of him, and then show up himself for the final blow.”

It was the actual Kunlun who stepped forward, and said, “What do you suggest?”

He wanted to stay, and he wanted to run, and he wanted to prove that he didn’t have to run, and he knew that if he saw the Chieftain he wouldn’t be able to let him walk away again. “We should leave quickly,” he said. “I can create an illusion that will cover our escape.”

He expected an argument. A token protest, at least — Kunlun was a renowned warrior; a secret retreat would surely go against his instincts.

But instead he just nodded, and his people fell into a rough formation behind him. They all looked expectantly at — him. Oh. Zhao Yunlan nudged his arm, and nodded towards Da Qing. Right, that would work.

“Da Qing, will you lead the way? The fastest path would be best.”

He let Zhao Yunlan keep him moving in the right direction, and focused on holding the illusion. It wouldn’t last for long, but none of the rebels had a similar power, and it should confuse them long enough to put some distance between them.


Chapter 17: Zhao Yunlan

So far, time travel was turning out to be both more and less complicated than he’d expected. More complicated, because how had it never come up that he was supposed to pretend to be someone else? And less, because apparently he was going to do it with full permission and encouragement from the person in question.

“I’d rather be in the mountains anyway,” Kunlun said. “The signs weren’t clear, when the Alliance asked for my help, but now I see — this would fulfill helping and not helping at the same time.” He laughed. “A time traveling replacement! The Hallows are more clever than I imagined.”

Clever wasn’t exactly the description he would have chosen. They’d wound up explaining everything, because Kunlun was impressively well-informed and Da Qing had made several correct assumptions about their earlier argument. At that point, coming up with an even halfway-believable story would have taken more time and effort than it was worth. He reminded himself that these were people who knew alien spaceships, genetic transformation, and meteor strikes as recent history. They weren’t uncomfortable with the inexplicable.

“He recovers the Hallows and fights honorably under your name,” Ye Zun said. “It was the turning point of the war.”

“Ah! The trees will be pleased!” Kunlun exclaimed, and Da Qing made a face.

“If they’re so concerned, they could start helping,” he said. “Flower Tribe is.”

“Tree Tribe has no interest in sides,” Kunlun said. “Only in peace.”

Da Qing rolled his eyes. “We all want peace. Fu You loves peace; she talks about it constantly. But this fight impacts all of us; it makes sense to stand together.”

Zhao Yunlan frowned. “I thought Fu You was the High Chief of the Yashou.”

“Of the Allied Yashou,” Kunlun corrected. “Is this not the same in your time?”

“Cat Tribe follows no one,” Da Qing said indignantly. “The Allied Yashou obey Fu You because she’s the elected leader. Other Yashou are free to agree with her goals and participate as they choose, though. For peace,” he added pointedly, and Kunlun nodded.

“You speak from your heart. It’s why the Alliance values you so highly,” Kunlun said, and Da Qing puffed up with visible pride. Kunlun turned to Ye Zun. “As do you, which is why I believe your tale. But how is it possible that anyone bearing my name should fight without a visible weapon?” He gestured towards Zhao Yunlan.

He thought he should probably be making an effort to participate in the conversation. It was possible his joke to Ye Zun about being in shock hadn’t entirely been a joke. “I have a gun,” he said, holding it up.

Kunlun eyed it suspiciously. He’d seen it in the earlier fight, of course. “Yes. Give it to Ye Zun.”

“What?” Ye Zun looked as startled as he felt.

“Yes. You said it harms those with dark energy; he should learn how to defend against it. While you will learn how to fight with something more believable as a weapon of Kunlun.” He held up his hand, cutting off their protests. “I will travel with you to your rendezvous with the Black Cloaked Envoy, and we will part ways after I am confident you will represent my name truly and justly.”

Kunlun had a way of speaking that turned everything into a pronouncement. Zhao Yunlan kept waiting to feel insulted by it, but it wasn’t actually the worst plan he’d ever followed. He looked at Ye Zun, who shrugged. “We — should have time for that? And it wouldn’t be bad to practice with a different weapon. There are plenty of dangerous things around that won’t be hurt by a dark energy bullet.”

“We’ll leave immediately!” Kunlun proclaimed.

It wasn’t how he expected to begin his time in the past, but it created a pattern to their days that he refused to admit he found reassuring. They walked; they trained; they slept.

And every night, he and Ye Zun snuck out of camp and talked to the sky. Ye Zun wasn’t sure whether Shen Wei could even tell what was happening at this end of the wormhole, let alone hear them, but they kept doing it anyway.

“I miss hot showers. The Jeep. I miss talking to you and hearing you answer. Ye Zun is growing my hair out to fit in better; I’m endless curious how you learned that one, and he won’t tell me.”

Ye Zun gave a quiet laugh next to him. “Shen Wei tells the story better,” he said.

Then he sighed. “I miss that stupid pillar,” he said. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing here, and everything feels wrong. I’m not —“ He looked at the stars, and there was a long moment of silence. “I miss you,” he said finally. “I wish you were here, even though that would make things even more complicated.”

Zhao Yunlan shuffled closer, so they were leaning against each other. The nights were cold, and he would happily use that as his excuse if Ye Zun asked. “I still think we should tell him.”

“No.”

They’d already had this conversation several times. He wanted to tell this time’s Shen Wei the truth — time travel, his brother, all of it. He also wanted to go rescue this time’s Ye Zun, but Ye Zun was convinced he would break the timeline. Which, admittedly, was a concern. “You’ve already changed things, and so far —“ He waved a hand back towards the others. “No timeline collapse!”

“We can’t change this,” Ye Zun insisted. “I was there when he saw me; he had no idea.”

“You don’t think your brother is a good enough actor?” He was genuinely curious; Ye Zun knew his brother better than anyone.

Ye Zun hesitated, but said, “I’m not willing to risk our future on it. Are you?”

He wasn’t, and Ye Zun knew it. “I disagree with this choice,” he said finally. “But I agree it’s yours to make, and I’ll support it.” Clarity was important to Ye Zun. He suspected he didn’t want to know all the reasons for it.

“Thank you. If I change my mind, I expect you’ll be the first to know.” Ye Zun leaned back and tugged on his hair. “This is long enough to braid now. You should get Da Qing to show you.”

“Are you ever going to let him do yours?” Da Qing kept asking, and Ye Zun kept saying no. They both seemed to be enjoying themselves, so he’d been staying out of it.

“Maybe.”

“Am I ever going to get an explanation?”

“Probably not.”

“Fair enough.”


Chapter 18: Zhao Yunlan

Somehow, despite all their preparation and advance notice, they almost missed Shen Wei entirely. It turned out ten thousand years was enough to change the way dark energy interacted with — something about Shen Wei and Ye Zun’s energy patterns. Kunlun had pulled him aside during the explanation to wish them luck on the remainder of their journey, and he’d missed the finer details. Whatever it was, it meant Ye Zun hadn’t been able to sense Shen Wei until they were practically on top of him, and the fight was already in progress.

“Go!” Ye Zun said. “Da Qing and I will meet you later.”

He went. Shen Wei’s patrol team had been ambushed by a group of rebel scouts — they were losing ground quickly as they tried to fight and protect the wounded at the same time. He saw a rebel sneaking up behind Shen Wei go down thanks to Ye Zun’s sharpshooting, and then there was someone swinging a sword at his face, and his focus narrowed to the particular adrenaline of staying alive when someone else was doing their best to change that.

Afterwards, he couldn’t have said how long the fight lasted. Kunlun’s lessons served him well, and the rebels counted on the element of surprise — when they found themselves under attack from two sides, they retreated. And then he was face to face with Shen Wei, the Black Cloaked Envoy, and he suddenly had no idea what to say.

“You have my thanks!” Shen Wei exclaimed. “I must get my people back. Will you come with us?”

Luckily, he didn’t actually wait for a reply, but moved to gather everyone together. He was going to portal them, Zhao Yunlan realized. He quickly stepped in to support someone who was trying to balance on a bad leg, and Shen Wei whisked them all through a portal without any further warning.

He had serious concerns about the Alliance’s security measures. They’d arrived in what seemed to be serving as the hospital, and not a single person had asked who he was, or what his intentions were. He couldn’t tell whether they trusted the Black Cloaked Envoy’s judgement that much, or if they just trusted his ability to deal with any threat he turned out to pose. Either way, it seemed like a lot of responsibility to rest on a single person. He was trying — and failing — not to be indignant on Shen Wei’s behalf.

“Kunlun!” Da Qing bounded up to him, drawing the attention of probably every conscious person in hearing range. “Ma Gui and Fu You have asked to see you and the Envoy as soon as you’re finished here.”

Zhao Yunlan made a show of looking around, then spread his hands apart. “I’m finished!” he said. “Is the Black Cloaked Envoy?”

He’d watched Shen Wei put a hand to his side repeatedly as he walked around checking on his people, but he’d waved off the doctor. “Of course,” Shen Wei said. “We can go now.”

“Would the Envoy like to get his injuries tended first?” Zhao Yunlan prodded.

“That’s not necessary. I heal quickly.”

He hoped someday he had the chance to change Shen Wei’s mind about accepting help, but he sensed it would take more time than they probably had available right then. He held up his hands in surrender instead. “The Black Cloaked Envoy knows best, of course.”

Da Qing looked back and forth between them. “Does that mean we’re going?”

They went. Ma Gui and Fu You greeted him as Kunlun, so either Da Qing was an extremely convincing liar, or Kunlun’s reputation as an eccentric and isolated mountain leader was enough to cover any gaps in his knowledge. They asked about his journey, and the attack, and then sent them off again. He caught Shen Wei giving him an odd look a few times, but he gave his report without any hesitation.

It seemed the Black Cloaked Envoy was in high demand — another runner came to ask for his assistance as soon as they left Fu You and Ma Gui. Zhao Yunlan took the opportunity to drag Da Qing off to a quiet corridor.

“This is even more fun than I expected!” Da Qing announced.

He was glad at least one of them was enjoying themselves. “Where’s Ye Zun? Were either of you hurt?”

Da Qing waved his hand. “He’s looking around; I showed him some of my hiding spots around here. And we were fine -- you were the one who charged into danger!” he added accusingly, conveniently forgetting that he and Ye Zun had encouraged him to go.

Zhao Yunlan patted the wall, mostly to draw Da Qing’s attention away from berating him, and asked, “What is this place?” He’d been expecting more camping, not a -- subterranean city, with motion sensor lights and smoothly curving hallways.

Da Qing looked confused. “It’s the headquarters of the Alliance? The humans especially -- they’ve used it as a sanctuary for generations. Most of the Yashou prefer to stay outside, but everyone is welcome. Didn’t I explain this already?”

“You did!” He pointed from the wall to Da Qing. “But you left out the parts about advanced technology and artificial lighting.”

“It’s dark in space; of course there are lights.” Da Qing frowned at him. “Are you sure you’re from the future? This isn’t advanced technology; it’s ancient technology. We’re in the spaceship that brought the first Yashou and Dixingians to this planet.”

“Spaceship,” Zhao Yunlan repeated.

“Don’t you have spaceships in your time?”

“Not like this,” he answered. It was something to think about later. Would a spaceship last ten thousand years? “What do you think happened to it?”

“It crashed,” Da Qing said. “Oh, you mean later? No idea. Fu You might know; she’s good with —“ He waved his hands around again. “Dirt, and rocks and things.”

He shook his head. Despite his optimistic assurances to Ye Zun, he had no idea whether they were at risk of seriously altering the timeline they knew. “Later, maybe,” he said, and Da Qing shrugged.

“In that case, let me show you where to get the best food. We should hurry before they run out of fish!”


Chapter 19: Ye Zun

He had serious concerns about the Alliance’s security measures. They had just introduced a fake Kunlun into what was supposed to be a highly guarded base, and he hadn’t gotten a single question. No, instead he’d gotten a closed-door meeting with the leaders of the Alliance, with only Da Qing present as a nod to having a guard!

Which didn’t even begin to cover the issues with their perimeter — he’d been sneaking around all day and hadn’t been caught. It was a miracle the Alliance had lasted long enough to defeat the rebels.

“Are you spying on them?” Da Qing whispered in his ear, and then laughed when he jumped.

“Shh,” he hissed, tugging Da Qing down next to him. “I’m guarding them, since no one else around seems to be doing it.”

“You think the Black Cloaked Envoy needs a guard? No one would dare.”

More like he thought the Black Cloaked Envoy needed a minder — it had taken a while to get anything to register beyond how young he looked. Young, and eager to help his people and the Alliance achieve peace, with no idea what that would look like for any of them. A mental voice that sounded irritatingly like Zhao Yunlan kept reminding him that his own past self was equally as young, but he was determinedly ignoring it. “Obviously someone should!” he said quietly. “What if we were a threat?”

Both of them were within visual and weapons range of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan’s private nighttime meeting on the cliffs. Zhao Yunlan was from Haixing, and could barely see in the dark on a good day. Shen Wei was respected as a powerful fighter, but he was missing thirty years of learning and strategizing compared to the person Ye Zun knew. He worried.

And then he blinked, and suddenly Shen Wei had a blade at Zhao Yunlan’s throat. “Who are you?” His voice was icy, and carried easily across the clearing. “What knowledge do you have of my brother?”

Zhao Yunlan beamed at him, which was an unusual enough reaction to being threatened that Shen Wei visibly hesitated. “I knew you wouldn’t be fooled so easily!” Zhao Yunlan crowed. “Beauty and brains combined! How did you know?”

“His energy signature is all around you,” Shen Wei said. “I would know it anywhere.”

“Really?” His next sentence was too quiet to fully overhear, but it definitely included the words ‘ten thousand years’ and ‘could’ve just admitted he was lost.’

Ye Zun rolled his eyes, since neither of them could see him do it. He knew Zhao Yunlan hadn’t been paying attention during that explanation. But he was glad of the distraction, because it meant he could walk forward without having to think about it too much. Da Qing followed without a word.

The blade disappeared when he stepped into view. “Brother?” Shen Wei asked. His voice was quiet again, unsure.

His present day self had imagined this meeting with hundreds of thousands of permutations. He couldn’t remember ever imagining anything involving time travel, though. “It’s me,” he said, pulling back the hood of his cloak. “But not the me of this time. Will you let us explain?”

It wasn’t any easier, telling the story a second time. Not because Shen Wei doubted his words, but because he kept saying things that made it hard to keep going. Things like, ‘I never stopped looking for you,’ and ‘I always wondered if I should have gone with the Rebel Chieftain from the beginning,’ and ‘All I wanted was for us to be together.’ The time travel, he accepted with the grace of someone who had already seen too much that couldn’t be explained, so what was one more thing? But he refused to consider anything other than rescuing Ye Zun’s current self immediately. Sooner, if possible. When were they leaving? Did they think the Hallows would send him back further, so he could find Ye Zun sooner?

“We’re not rescuing me,” Ye Zun repeated. “I — it makes me happy, that you want to,” he admitted. “More than you know. But I wouldn’t believe you anyway, not now. Can you trust me, with this? With our future?”

“Always,” Shen Wei said immediately. Zhao Yunlan started smiling again, this time at both of them, and Ye Zun flicked a pebble at him.

“Stop that,” he said. “Start figuring out how to introduce me to the Alliance, instead.” After ten thousand years, or thirty years, or both, he wasn’t used to being alone. He could admit it to himself, even if he wasn’t willing to say it out loud. If anyone asked, he wanted to be closer to make up for the Alliance’s lax security. “I have a limited ability to change my appearance, but it’s not something I’ve practiced.”

Shen Wei frowned. “Why would you need to change your appearance?” he asked. “You could easily arrive as one of Kunlun’s fighters, or join a Dixing team. You can’t think I wouldn’t vouch for you?”

Zhao Yunlan waved his hand between them. “Ah, not that we don’t appreciate it, but you look — very similar. Enough to invite questions, surely?”

Shen Wei’s expression cleared. “No, that’s not a problem. Unless you were to add a mask and a black cloak, no one will question you.” He smiled happily when he said it, like he was pleased to have resolved the issue so easily, and it took a few seconds to realize exactly what his words meant.

Zhao Yunlan figured it out first. “No one knows what you look like?”

“I’m the Black Cloaked Envoy,” Shen Wei said. “They know what I look like.”

Ye Zun looked away. He hadn’t known. This was a secret Shen Wei had never told him — maybe he didn’t even think of it as a secret; it was just the way things had been.

“I thought you were only wearing the mask just now to intimidate me, because you knew I wasn’t Kunlun!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed.

“Yes,” Shen Wei replied, like he couldn’t figure out why Zhao Yunlan was upset. “Among allies, they need me to be strong. Among enemies, they need to think I have no fear.” He touched his mask. “The Black Cloaked Envoy is necessary to the war.”

“Brother,” Ye Zun said quietly. He stepped closer slowly, like Shen Wei might run at any moment. “You are necessary. To me, to us. To all of your friends.” He reached out, and Shen Wei was reaching back, and for the first time, he thought things couldn’t turn out to be a complete disaster after all, not if it had gotten him this.


Chapter 20: Ye Zun

“You’re not going to give me any hints at all?” Zhao Yunlan gave him a pleading look which he was only half sure was fake. “He’s Shen Wei! I don’t want to mess this up!”

It was cute. He’d had almost an identical conversation with Shen Wei earlier. “How am I supposed to know what you talked about? Apparently you wooed him with your charm, however unlikely that seems.”

“I’m extremely charming!” Zhao Yunlan said, and then paused. “Did he really say that?”

Ye Zun shrugged. “I interpreted. I’m going on patrol with Da Qing; you go distract my brother.”

Zhao Yunlan laughed. “Ha! I’d worry less about your brother, and more about your fan club finding out and trying to tag along.”

It was probably true. When he’d imagined what the Alliance was like, he’d mostly thought of their numbers, their strategies, their righteous attitudes about what peace should look like for Dixing and Haixing alike. He’d known that they must have done all the usual things that groups of people did — gossip, complain, break into smaller groups to gossip and complain about different things — but somehow he had never considered exactly what that meant.

Officially, he had joined the Alliance as Kunlun’s brother — in blood or in arms was never specified — which everyone politely accepted and absolutely no one believed. Da Qing told anyone who asked that they were brothers by marriage, which was helping his credibility, if not his cover story. For all his glib talk, the one and only Cat Tribe representative was well-respected in the Alliance, and when he said he trusted someone, people listened.

At least among the Haixingren and the Yashou — the Dixing contingent had taken all of a day to decide he was the Black Cloaked Envoy’s brother, and claiming to be Kunlun’s for both of their safety. In short, they’d adopted him. Scores of people who suddenly wanted to know if he’d eaten, and if he would practice with them, and what he thought about the betting pool on Ma Gui and Fu You’s potential love life. He was the unmasked, approachable version of their Black Cloaked Envoy, and they wanted him to feel welcome.

Patrol with Da Qing was a good way to get out of headquarters before he did something regrettable. He wasn’t used to being alone, but he wasn’t used to be quite so un-alone, either.

“Crow Tribe owes Da Qing a favor,” he said. “They’re running interference for us in the form of a joint training exercise.”

Zhao Yunlan patted his shoulder. “Go, then. Be safe.”

“Be charming,” he advised in return, and laughed when Zhao Yunlan swatted at him.

“Are you two finished?” Da Qing said. “If we’re going, let’s go already.”

They went, and they walked in silence until they were well away from the base. Well, Ye Zun was silent. Da Qing kept up his usual steady stream of muttering to himself, until he finally looked up and said, “What am I like, in the future?”

He considered the question carefully. He’d only spoken with the future Da Qing a handful of times, usually as he was passing in or out of wherever Zhao Yunlan was. The only time he’d seen him was when the SID brought the Hallows to Dixing, and he’d been distracted by other things at the time. “You have short hair,” he said finally.

“Really?” Da Qing looked fascinated. “All the time?”

He shook his head. “No, I meant — in this form, the hair on your head is short. I’ve never seen your cat form in that time.”

“Because of the pillar, right,” Da Qing said. “But I’m still around, the King of the Cats! I’m impressed by myself.”

“It’s very impressive,” Ye Zun agreed. He still wasn’t sure how to say the next part, but it wasn’t getting easier the longer he waited. “Da Qing,” he said, bracing himself. “I’m sorry.”

Da Qing stopped walking. “For what?”

He looked away. “Leaving you alone. Telling you things because I know you won’t remember them in the future. Ten thousand years is — a long time to wait.”

Da Qing was looking at him like he was speaking gibberish. “Huh,” he said. “Kunlun said you might try to apologize, but I thought he was joking.”

“You — what?”

“I thought he was joking,” Da Qing repeated. “And who said anything about waiting? I’m Cat Tribe; I have lots of things to do!”

He danced around Ye Zun on the trail, calling out ideas as he went. “I could finally meet all of the unallied Yashou! I could raise koi! Think how many naps I can fit into ten thousand years!” Da Qing sighed happily, and then shrugged. “This isn’t a sad thing, it’s a happy thing. That’s what Kunlun said, anyway.”

He really should have known. “Did he say anything else?

Da Qing nodded. “He said you’re probably doing something called projecting, and that I should take you to see kittens, because everyone loves kittens.”

He was, possibly, projecting. A little. “Are there kittens around here?”

“Of course! Why do you think we came this way?”


Chapter 21: Zhao Yunlan

Shen Wei had quickly picked up their habit of looking at the sky, although Zhao Yunlan had yet to catch him talking to it. Or maybe he'd always watched the stars, and now he just had company while he did it.

He walked towards their spot on the top of the cliff without any attempts at stealth -- they wouldn't work, and the direct approach meant he got to see Shen Wei's face when he turned towards the path and smiled. "Ye Zun and Da Qing went on patrol without us," he said.

"I know," Shen Wei said, still smiling. "My brother encouraged me to embrace the opportunity to speak to you without the two of them eavesdropping."

"Oh?" He sat close by, just inside arm's reach.

Shen Wei looked up again, and Zhao Yunlan followed his gaze. "Do you really think he's watching?”

"I don't know. I don't even know whether to hope that he is." The particular circumstances that led to him having any opinions at all about time traveling wormholes were enough to bend his brain even on a good day. On bad days he found Da Qing, or listened to Ma Gui talk about his plans for the future, and on very bad days he let the Flower Tribe braid blossoms into his hair and tried not to think at all.

"Do you miss him?"

"Every day," he answered simply. "Do you miss the brother you knew as a child, even though you know a future version of him now?"

Shen Wei's expression turned considering, and Zhao Yunlan leaned back on his elbows. It was times like this he missed lollipops. "Yes," Shen Wei said finally. "Though I'm not sure the situation is entirely comparable."

He turned his hands palm up and raised his eyebrows. "Isn't it? Do you know, I asked you once, how you could be so sure of me, when I hadn't yet said or done any of the things you remembered. What makes someone who they are, beyond the sum of their experiences and memories?"

"What did I say?" Shen Wei asked.

He laughed. "You told me about this conversation, of course! And then you said that none of us is ever the same person twice. Every day we're different -- we're all time travelers of a sort, after all."

"That sounds very -- philosophical," Shen Wei said tactfully, and he laughed again.

"Ah, well, you had plenty of time to think about it." Of course, so had he. "Shen Wei," he said. "I'm just a regular person who got tossed through a wormhole. No wife, no kids -- what do I know about love? But I know family -- I know you."

Shen Wei’s eyes were wide. Zhao Yunlan swallowed, and forced himself not to look away. "Family is -- sometimes it's a choice. Sometimes it’s rock-steady, and you know it in your soul. Sometimes it's a leap of faith. You, Da Qing, Ye Zun -- you're my family. Then, now, before, later -- that isn't ever going to change."

Shen Wei slid closer, until their shoulders were touching. “Before you arrived, I thought I was -- content -- with my life. I knew what each day would bring. No one ever asked if I wanted more.”

He tucked his pinky finger under Shen Wei’s, because he knew it would make him smile. “And now?”

“Now -- every day is something new. I didn’t ever think I would have this.” Shen Wei looked at him, and then dropped his eyes. “But -- I don’t know how to do this. I’m not sure I can be the person you think I am, Zhao Yunlan.”

It was the easiest answer in the world “You already are,” he said. “You always are. You’re here,” he tried to explain, tapping his fingers over his heart. “I felt that when you were in a pillar and I’d never met you, and I feel it now when I’m from the future and you’d never met me. What makes you think we can’t do it again, and again, as many times as there are?”

Shen Wei seemed to relax all at once, until it seemed safe to lean into his shoulder and say, “I’m asking, Shen Wei. What is it that you want? If you could have anything.”

“You,” Shen Wei answered immediately.

“Done!” He turned so he could lie down and put his head in Shen Wei’s lap. “You have me! That was a very easy request to grant. Is there anything else?”

Shen Wei blushed, and he was delighted. “There is!”

But Shen Wei shook his head. Zhao Yunlan reminded himself -- again -- not to do anything he’d have to kick his own ass for. “Well, you’ll have time to think about this too. I expect a list! At least one thing for each year!”

“Zhao Yunlan! No one could want ten thousand different things. How could I possibly come up with so many?”

He smiled. “I revise my request, then. At least one thing for each year after you awaken. You and Ye Zun can work on it together, if you like. The two of you together can surely do anything you put your minds to.”

Shen Wei nodded. “One thing,” he repeated.

“Per year! At least!”

“And you must have a list as well,” Shen Wei said, tugging gently on his braids. “You should start yours now, so that you’re caught up when you return to your time.

Ye Zun thought their time in the past was drawing to an end. In all likelihood, Shen Wei wouldn’t remember this conversation -- would have no idea what to make of Zhao Yunlan presenting him with a list of things he wanted. And then Shen Wei held out his hand with just his pinky extended. “Pinky promise,” he said.

Zhao Yunlan had introduced the pinky promise to Da Qing, for a top secret mission to finagle extra fish from the mess chefs, and Da Qing had promptly shown it to half the Alliance, who’d shown the other half. The best part was, Da Qing was the one who’d taught it to him, back when he was a kid.

He put up his hand and locked their fingers together. “Pinky promise,” he said. “I’ll start today.”


Chapter 22: Zhao Yunlan

“You lost my cat?”

Zhao Yunlan wasn’t panicking, because Da Qing could still beat him half the time in a fair fight, and considerably more than that in an unfair fight. Also, he was very, very good at staying alive. But who knew how much they’d already changed the timeline?

Ye Zun shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't lose him, exactly. He was captured near the end of his shift on watch. When I realized he was gone, I tracked him to a rebel encampment. He was unharmed at that point, and there was no indication that would change in the near future.”

He’d heard all of this when Ye Zun made his report to Alliance leaders. They were already planning a rescue mission, but Ye Zun had been sent to get some rest, and Kunlun had been sent to meet the Black Cloaked Envoy and give him the news. “You told Fu You there were more rebels than you could handle on your own. What’s the real reason?”

“I was there. Current me. And I had white hair.” Ye Zun looked genuinely shaken. He grabbed Zhao Yunlan’s arm. “I don’t remember any of this! Even if the timeline had changed, I should remember the new one, right?”

He put his hand over Ye Zun’s and squeezed. “Three things. One, we have no idea how time travel works. Maybe we won’t remember the new timeline until we go forward again. Two, and don’t ever tell Da Qing I said this, but maybe it just wasn’t memorable. Most people don’t remember every moment of every day they’ve experienced.”

He knew that wasn’t exactly true for Ye Zun and Shen Wei, but he was mostly talking to give Ye Zun something to focus on other than his thoughts. Coming up with scientifically valid arguments could wait. Ye Zun frowned. “What’s number three?”

“I’m glad you asked!” He patted Ye Zun’s hand. “Three, the Hallows are jerks.”

Ye Zun gave a short laugh, which he was willing to call a win. “I think I could portal us close to Da Qing,” he said, taking a deep breath. “But I can’t get him out without seeing where he is first.”

So they weren’t waiting for the official rescue attempt; that was good. “Let’s start by finding Shen Wei.”

Except that when they found Shen Wei, Da Qing was already there. And so was Ye Zun. He blinked, but no, that was definitely present-day Ye Zun, who was supposed to be leading the rebels and declaring war, talking with Shen Wei while Da Qing lounged against the wall.

Next to him, Ye Zun froze. Zhao Yunlan hesitated, then waved. “Hello!” Somehow, he was sure this was Da Qing’s fault. “What did we miss?”

Present-day Ye Zun gave him a cautious nod. “Kunlun,” he said. “Da Qing has told me quite an interesting story.”

“Has he?” He didn’t see any blood, and no one had a sword to anyone’s throat. All in all, not their worst reveal.

Da Qing gave him a smug look, probably thinking the same thing. “He asked. And the food there was terrible.”

Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Makes sense! And then you -- decided to sneak back here for a family reunion?”

Present-day Ye Zun frowned. “We didn’t have to sneak. It was so easy I thought it was a trap. The security here is terrible; you should do something about that.”

“Thank you!” future Ye Zun said. “That’s what I keep telling everyone! See?”

“You’re agreeing with yourself,” Zhao Yunlan said, shaking his finger at both of them. “I’m not sure that counts as a second opinion. Besides, the news of Da Qing’s capture hasn’t spread yet. Anyone who saw them would see you, walking with Da Qing. Hardly a security risk.”

Da Qing just looked indignant. “A trap? You thought I would lead you into a trap? I promised you would be safe!”

Present-day Ye Zun had the grace to look slightly ashamed. “It was too good an opportunity to pass up.”

“You wanted to know if it was the truth, so you had to see us face to face,” Zhao Yunlan said, watching the younger Ye Zun carefully to see if he was on the right track. “And depending on what you learned -- well, there you’d be, in the heart of Alliance headquarters.”

Future Ye Zun didn’t move, but the hand under his was suddenly tense, and he could feel his willingness to leap into action. “I won’t let you kill them.”

“He abandoned me!” present-day Ye Zun shouted. Shen Wei looked miserable.

“He didn’t.” Future Ye Zun’s voice was quiet. “But it felt like it, for a long time. I’m sorry.”

All the fight went out of present-day Ye Zun in a rush. “You’re telling the truth; don’t apologize,” he muttered. “He already explained. I just -- forgot, for a second.” For the first time, he looked as young as Shen Wei, and twice as lost.

Future Ye Zun nodded. “It takes time. Which you’ll have plenty of, it turns out. Unless we’ve thrown the timeline out of balance, and then who knows.” They were currently working under the theory that they didn’t know enough to know what not to do, so they might as well just keep going, and see what happened.

Present-day Ye Zun looked unconcerned by potential timeline imbalance. “What happened, when you did it? Da Qing wouldn’t tell me.”

Future Ye Zun took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Before the next full moon, you send a formal challenge to the Alliance. You lead a group of rebels on a raid. You lose the Hallows during an ambush. There’s a confrontation on the cliffs, and you fight Shen Wei. The Hallows activate; Kunlun disappears. The cliff collapses. The rebels scatter, and the Alliance claims victory. They write a treaty that separates Haixingren and Dixingren. Dixing takes the Hallows and the promise of peace in the memory of the Black Cloaked Envoy.” He shrugged. “Ten thousand years pass. Time travel happens. You wind up back here.”

It was a lot to take in, even for someone who wasn’t hearing it for the first time. Present-day Ye Zun’s first question was, “Dixing takes the Hallows where?”

“Underground.”

He looked suspicious, which was still an improvement over contemplating murder. “Banishment? That’s an interesting definition of peace. Maybe the Hallows brought you back here to do better this time. We came up here for a reason -- why should we leave?”

To Zhao Yunlan’s surprise, it was Shen Wei who responded. “It was my suggestion. The treaty has already been drafted.” He looked down. “I’m tired, brother. I’m so tired of fighting, and watching our people die. How can we move forward if we don’t compromise?”

It was Ye Zun’s turn to look stricken; the same expression reflected on both of their faces. “Dixing was beautiful, powered by the Hallows,” future Ye Zun said quietly. “Thousands of years of light, of art. Of being one people with one home.”

Zhao Yunlan added, “The treaty isn’t perfect. But nothing is. It worked for a long time. We could try to change it now, when none of us will be here to influence how it’s implemented, or we can wait. Let Ma Gui and Fu You and Shen Wei’s successor follow their plan, and come back to it in the future.”

“What about Da Qing?” present-day Ye Zun asked. “Won’t he be here?”

Da Qing crossed his arms. “Cats don’t do politics. Besides, I get amnesia.” He looked at the future Ye Zun. “Are you sure you don’t remember it happening this way?”

Future Ye Zun hesitated. “I’m sure, but -- it’s fuzzy. I always thought that was just because it was a long time ago. Why?”

“Doesn’t it seem a little convenient?” Da Qing made a face. “Why would you bring all four Hallows on a raid? Once we stole them back, why would we stop to look at them on a cliff, instead of rushing back here where they’d be safe? Why didn’t we have backup? Why didn’t you have backup?”

“You think the whole thing might have been staged?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

Da Qing shrugged. “I think you’re all in a room together right now, and if you want the outcome to stay the same, it would be a lot easier to figure out a made-up fight between five people than it would be to explain time travel to the entire Alliance.”

It was the weirdest, cleverest plan -- and it just might work. It was an idea worthy of the King of the Cats, and he said so.

Da Qing preened. “Top of the food chain,” he agreed.


Chapter 23: Ye Zun

It was awkward, being around his younger self. Part of him wanted to yell at him for all the stupid things he knew he was doing, and part of him wanted to start teaching him things that would make doing those things easier. Neither was a good idea, so he tried to say as little as possible. He’d already given them the outline of events; the rest was figuring out the details.

They were nowhere near done, but someone was coming. Zhao Yunlan stepped into the corridor to intercept the runner, and then re-entered the room with a sheepish expression. “I was supposed to be finding the Black Cloaked Envoy and bringing him back to meet with the others about the rescue plan for Da Qing,” he said.

“But I don’t need to be rescued!” Da Qing protested. “I’m right here!”

Zhao Yunlan rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “And we’re all grateful, yes. But the others don’t know that yet, and unless we want to start doing those explanations after all—“ He let the words trail off when Da Qing shook his head.

“No, no, that’s not necessary. I can escape later. After we’re done here, and before the rescue mission leaves?”

Meanwhile, Shen Wei looked torn — he would never turn down a summons, but he’d also never had to leave his long-lost brother to answer one. “I can go,” Ye Zun offered. As soon as he said it, he realized what a terrible idea it was, but he couldn’t exactly take it back, especially when Shen Wei looked so happy.

“It’s too much,” he said. “I shouldn’t ask that of you.”

“You’re not asking; I’m offering.” He waved his hand and felt dark energy rush over him, leaving him standing in the robes and mask of the Black Cloaked Envoy. “I would be honored to attend the meeting in your place.” And if it happened to get him out of spending more time with his younger self, that was just an added bonus.

The meeting was boring, as meetings often were. He supposed it wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t known Da Qing was perfectly fine and not at all in need of rescue. And then when things were finally wrapping up, Fu You stood up and said, ”Kunlun, if you could please stay a moment longer? And the Black Cloaked Envoy as well.”

No one said no to Fu You, but she rarely singled anyone out. Da Qing was one of hers, though, for all he claimed independence, and maybe she wanted to give them some sort of additional insight. He exchanged a look with Zhao Yunlan, who shrugged even as he said, “Of course!”

The four of them sat back down, and he was glad the Black Cloaked Envoy had a reputation for not talking. It was Ma Gui who spoke first. “There are times,” he said slowly, “that require trust.”

Zhao Yunlan seemed to read more into the statement than Ye Zun could decipher. Who knew what kind of discussions they’d been having -- he assumed it couldn’t only be the principles of home-brewed alcohol and how to court a Yashou High Chief. “You make an excellent point,” he said. “Do you believe we are in one of those times?”

“I believe we are about to be out of chances to find out,” Ma Gui said. “As you will both be leaving us soon.”

They hadn’t been fooling them, Ye Zun realized. Probably not from the start, and definitely not during the meeting that had just ended. He wondered if he should switch back to his regular outfit. Zhao Yunlan just laughed, and leaned back in his chair. “Your wisdom is matched by your intuition, I see.” He spread his hands apart. “Very well -- what would you like to know?”

“Where is Da Qing?” Fu You asked immediately.

“He’s safe, he’s already returned to us.” Zhao Yunlan was clearly choosing his words carefully. “He was captured, but turned the situation to our advantage. It’s an -- ongoing project, but he’ll officially show up before sunset.” Before they went to rescue him unnecessarily, he didn’t say, but it was understood nonetheless.

Fu You nodded. “I’m glad. We sensed that your intentions were good, but intentions and actions can sometimes diverge. Still, you brought our people hope when it was desperately needed.” She hesitated, and looked at Ma Gui.

He asked the question for her. “Does it work?” Three simple words, but Ye Zun could see the weight of them in his eyes. After Shen Wei’s confession, it was easier to see them, not as the confident leaders that history remembered them as, but as people -- with doubts, and fears, and who felt every bit of the burdens of the responsibilities and choices they were faced with.

Zhao Yunlan smiled. “It does. The treaty will hold. Your children, your children’s children -- many generations will live in peace. Not free from struggle or strife, but free from this war.”

“It is our struggles that allow us to grow,” Ma Gui said, nodding. “You have our thanks.”

Zhao Yunlan waved him off. “No thanks are necessary. We appreciate you allowing us to join you, and welcoming us, although we have been unavoidably accompanied by secrets.”

“You have lightened our hearts, secrets or no. Is there --” Fu You looked at Ma Gui again, and then said, “Is there anything we can do for you?”

Ye Zun was already shaking his head, but Zhao Yunlan held up a hand. “There is one thing. One request, that I would ask you to consider.” He leaned forward, and pointed back and forth between them. “Talk to each other. Align your hearts with your words.” He met Ma Gui’s gaze and added, “Would you rather regret an answer you didn’t want to hear, or a question you never had the courage to ask?”

Ma Gui looked away first. “Sometimes words are unnecessary,” he said. “If actions have already spoken.”

Zhao Yunlan raised his eyebrows. “Oh, is that so? Have you moved beyond the need for verbal communication, then? I’m envious! But tell me this: if two spoken languages use different words for the same concepts, could it be that the same is true for actions?”

Ma Gui nodded slowly, and Fu You smiled. “We will consider your words,” she said.

“Excellent!” Zhao Yunlan clapped his hands together and stood up, and Ye Zun quickly followed. “We’ll leave you to it!”


Chapter 24: Ye Zun

The Dixingians found out, somehow. He suspected at least one of them had some kind of mind-reading-based power, or possibly prescience. Or maybe the Haixingians found out first, from Ma Gui. Or the Yashou, who seemed to know everything. Or maybe Da Qing just told everyone.

Regardless of how it happened, by the time their last night arrived, everyone seemed to know they were leaving. And wanted to throw them a party.

“Ye Zun!” Zhao Yunlan skidded to a stop next to him, and handed him a skewer. He eyed it warily. Not everyone in the Alliance agreed on what constituted ‘cooked enough to eat,’ and Zhao Yunlan’s standards were notoriously low.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Delicious!” Zhao Yunlan said, which wasn’t exactly an answer. “Your fan club made it for you -- they wanted to bring it themselves, but they couldn’t sneak away from the kitchen. I had to promise I would carry out their mission with the utmost dedication before they gave it to me.”

As he talked, he was maneuvering them away from the crowd, dispensing his usual shoulder pats and enthusiastic good wishes as they went. Since eating would keep people from expecting him to say anything, Ye Zun decided it was worth it to try the -- whatever it was. As promised, it was delicious, and he nodded his approval when Zhao Yunlan glanced his way.

It was apparently maneuvering with a purpose, because they ended at a quiet clearing just outside the main celebration, and Zhao Yunlan presented it with two-handed flair. Shen Wei was already there, with Da Qing tucked into his lap in cat form. “Did you plan this?” Ye Zun asked.

Zhao Yunlan wiggled his hand back and forth. “Define ‘plan,’” he said. “The goal of a party is to enjoy yourself -- I observed a lack of enjoyment among certain guests, and took steps to provide an alternative experience.” He leaned closer. “Is it working?”

He took another bite of food, and considered it. “Yes,” he said finally.

“Yes!” Da Qing called out, and Shen Wei nodded.

Zhao Yunlan nudged him towards the others, and he realized there were blankets spread out on the ground. He was about to repeat his question about planning when Zhao Yunlan said, “Not your kind of party?”

He took a deep breath, and looked at the sky. How was it always the easiest-sounding questions that tripped him up? “I don’t know,” Shen Wei said, because he’d always been the brave one. “This is the first party anyone’s ever thrown for me.”

“First party?” Zhao Yunlan said, and then turned to Ye Zun. “For you too?”

Ye Zun nodded, once, still looking at the sky.

Zhao Yunlan have a dramatic sigh and flopped backwards onto the blanket. “And now I realize that my father was right all along, and I am a selfish person, because I should feel bad that you’ve both been living so long without parties to call your own. But all I can think is that it’s an honor to be here with you for this milestone. Also a little bit about what to do for your birthday, but mostly the first thing!”

“I’m not sure I believe you,” Da Qing said.

“That’s because you have good instincts,” Zhao Yunlan said. “You’re right; we should leave my father out of it.”

Da Qing scoffed. “No, I mean why aren’t you thinking about my birthday?”

They were doing it on purpose, he was sure. Bickering back and forth to give him and Shen Wei a chance to think. Zhao Yunlan reached out and poked Da Qing’s collar. “I gave you bells!” he said.

“Only after I gave them to you first,” Da Qing retorted. “And then what? You have ten thousand years of gifts to make up for!”

“I will,” Zhao Yunlan said, and his voice had gone soft and fond. “I promise.”

Da Qing leapt off Shen Wei’s lap and transformed. He leaned over Zhao Yunlan, staring into his eyes, and then he nodded. “Pinky promise?”

Zhao Yunlan held out his pinky solemnly, and they shook on it. “Pinky promise,” he said. “We’ll be there for you, Damn Cat. It’s just going to take some time for us to catch up.”

Da Qing rolled his eyes, and lay down next to Zhao Yunlan. “You should both lie down too,” he said, and Ye Zun startled. “It’s much easier to watch the stars this way.”

It was also easier to talk when he didn’t have to look at anyone. “I don’t like surprises,” he said. He’d planned to say ‘parties,’ but there was a part of him that was curious what Zhao Yunlan would come up with.

“Noted! No surprises.” Like it was fine. He breathed a little easier. “Question,” Zhao Yunlan said, and he tensed again. “Does that include gifts? Ah, as in — should the gifts also not be a surprise, not should there be gifts at all. Should there be gifts?”

He couldn’t help laughing, just a little. “I don’t know. How would I know that?”

“Shen Wei?” Zhao Yunlan prompted.

“I don’t know either.” Shen Wei sounded like he was smiling. “What do you prefer?”

“I like gifts!” Zhao Yunlan answered immediately. “Both giving and receiving.”

“Me too,” Da Qing added. “In case anyone was wondering. Like food. Food is a good gift.”

“This is a good thing,” Zhao Yunlan declared. “I admit -- it’s been very intimidating, trying to come up with gift ideas. But I already know Da Qing will like anything, and now I know you don’t know what you like. We’ll practice!” He started listing ideas that grew progressively more ridiculous, and Ye Zun let the words wash over him.

None of them got any sleep that night, except possibly Da Qing, who kept insisting that Cat Tribe could sleep with their eyes open. But he and Shen Wei could easily go without it, and Zhao Yunlan said it would take more than one all-nighter to counteract all the extra sleep he’d been getting while they were in the past.

They didn’t exactly sneak away. But they left at dawn, when most of the party-goers were still asleep, and none of them made any effort to wake them. The perimeter guards saw them, and they exchanged nods. And there was a suspiciously large flock of crows that provided an escort until they reached the edges of rebel-held territory. He mostly focused on breathing, and not thinking.

After that, things went — close enough, to the plan. It was harder than he’d expected to see himself again, and his powers reacted strangely when they both tried to use them at the same time. He switched to Zhao Yunlan’s gun without hesitating. He helped steal the Hallows from the rebels. He hung back during the fight on the cliffs to make sure they weren’t disturbed. He kept breathing. It was chaotic enough that he could almost forget why they were there. Almost.

And then there was a wormhole, and everything went dark.


Chapter 25: Zhao Yunlan

He opened his eyes, and Shen Wei was there. He felt a smile growing without any conscious thought. “Shen Wei!”

Ye Zun appeared between one blink and the next, and immediately threw his arms around his brother. “Shen Wei!” he said, and Zhao Yunlan’s smile got wider.

“That’s exactly what I said!” He met Shen Wei’s eyes and shrugged. It was the first time he’d seen him -- this him -- in person. If being inside a magical wormhole counted as in person, which he wasn’t sure it did. “We missed you.”

“I was right there,” Shen Wei replied, but he was smiling too. “And here. You spoke to me every day.” He looked away, and added, “I missed you too.”

“So you could hear us,” Ye Zun said, the words muffled by Shen Wei’s shoulder. “Good.”

“And see us? Was it boring? Are you okay? Do you remember any of that happening?” He suddenly realized he could also be hugging Shen Wei, and wondered why he wasn’t. “Can I hug you?”

Shen Wei reached for him, and then they were all wrapped up together. “I could see you,” Shen Wei said quietly. “It wasn’t boring. I’m—”

He hesitated, and Zhao Yunlan pulled back far enough to see his face. The next question had been if he was okay. “I’m fine,” Shen Wei said finally. “This place is as intangible as the pillar; I haven’t needed to eat or sleep since I arrived.”

In other words, he’d escaped one prison only to dive right back into another. Ye Zun jabbed him in the side with an elbow before he could say anything, so he stayed quiet. “We’re glad you’re all right,” Ye Zun said. “What do you remember?”

Shen Wei blinked. “I -- it’s strange. I’m not entirely sure. I saw it happen, and it felt familiar. But I also remember things that I didn’t see, or that happened in a different way.”

“Strange is one word for it,” Ye Zun muttered. “I blame the Hallows.”

Zhao Yunlan blamed the Hallows for many things. He hadn’t decided yet whether this would be one of them. “And?”

Shen Wei seemed to know what he was asking, even when he couldn’t find the words himself. “It’s always you,” he said. He tapped his fingers on Zhao Yunlan’s chest, and then his own. “You’re here.”

He tried not to be too obvious in breathing a sigh of relief. He could talk about being free of doubt, and he could feel confident in his own heart’s choices, but they were deep in leap of faith territory by now. “You too,” he said.

Ye Zun cleared his throat loudly. “All your flowery speeches in the past, and now all you have to say is ‘you too’?”

He beamed, and clasped his hands over his heart. “Ah, Ye Zun, light of my life! Petal of my heart! How can I ever make it up to you?”

“Not to me,” Ye Zun said, rolling his eyes. “Save it for Shen Wei.”

Shen Wei laughed, and Zhao Yunlan silently committed himself to hearing that sound as much as possible. “So this is the inside of the wormhole?” he asked. “How long can we stay here?”

Ye Zun gave him a skeptical look. “How would we know that? Spending ten thousand years in a pillar didn’t make us experts in quantum physics.”

“It did give us some insight into how the Hallows work, however,” Shen Wei said. “Now that you’ve returned, I believe it would be best to exit as soon as possible, to minimize the risk of losing the connection to the initial entry point.”

He looked around. “Which is -- where? Any thoughts on where we’re going to end up when we leave?” He’d entered the wormhole in Lin Jing’s lab, but Shen Wei and Ye Zun had been in Dixing. “Is it going to put us wherever the Hallows are?” Did they even know where the Hallows were?

Shen Wei frowned. “I think we can choose, within certain constraints. The Hallows are still in Dixing, as far as I know, but the wormhole is linked to us. Given the political situation when we left, Haixing would likely be the better choice.”

“A more important question might be when we’re going to end up,” Ye Zun said, squinting into the distance. Zhao Yunlan had no idea what he was seeing; it all looked like starlight pinpricks and heat shimmers to him.

“Time is still passing,” Shen Wei said. “Not at a rate that correlates to what you experienced.” His expression went distant, and Zhao Yunlan recognized it as his ‘using his powers to do something impossible’ look. “Days, at most.”

“To Haixing, then? The SID? No, there’s the shield -- remind me to make sure you get a stamp when we get back. What are the constraints?” He should have started with that question, but better late than never.

“This stamp?” Ye Zun said, holding up his hand. Shen Wei held up his hand next to it, and as he watched, a red stamp appeared on both of them. “The nervous one gave it to us as soon as we were out of the pillar.”

“Your team is very dedicated to your safety,” Shen Wei added.

“Ha! They’re very dedicated to keeping their monthly bonuses,” he countered. “But the stamps were a good idea.” He still wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to explain ‘we left all the Hallows in Dixing after a rescue mission involving wormholes’ to the Department of Supervision. He’d see how the team decided to explain it to him first, he supposed.

Shen Wei was starting to look strained, like the effort of holding the wormhole steady was increasing. “The SID, then?” he said.

“Yes, yes. Together, this time.” They’d already done so much, despite challenges that had seemed insurmountable. “I believe there’s nothing we can’t handle together.”


Chapter 26: Zhao Yunlan

His second exit from the wormhole was considerably more dignified than the first. And he was, inexplicably, wearing the same clothes he’d disappeared in. Lin Jing’s lab looked the same as he remembered it, except for the empty table where the Hallows had rested. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, but apparently even the power of the Hallows couldn’t prevent a dead battery.

“Lao Zhao!” Years of practice kept him from stumbling when Da Qing launched himself into his arms. Shen Wei and Ye Zun both reached out to steady him anyway, and he smiled.

“Hello, Da Qing,” Shen Wei said. “Thank you for trusting us to bring Zhao Yunlan home.”

Da Qing sniffed. “You did all right. You could have been faster about it.”

“How long were we gone?” He didn’t see anyone else coming to investigate the noise, but that could mean any number of things.

“Two days!” Da Qing complained. “No one to feed me, and I had to make excuses to the Department of Supervision for you!”

“Lao Li and Grandmother Li seem to have kept you from starving,” Zhao Yunlan said dryly, scratching behind Da Qing’s ears. “What did the Department of Supervision want?”

“Probably to yell at you, how would I know? First you skipped the inspection, then they somehow found out you’d been in Dixing. We had to tell them you were part of the undercover team so they’d stop asking. Oh, so if anyone wants to know, you’ve been busy with the fight club investigation.”

“Oh? Is that where everyone else is?” Half of his attention was on Shen Wei and Ye Zun, who were looking around the room with interest, and occasionally talking to each other too quietly for him to overhear.

“Some of them. Mi Lu and Zhang Danni are in Dixing, in case you showed up there. Chi Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng are at the fight club.”

“Damn Cat, that’s only four people. What about everyone else?”

“It’s nighttime! I assume they’re at home, and if they’re not I don’t want to know.” Da Qing burrowed under the flap of his jacket.

“What are you looking for in there?” he asked.

“Everyone was staying here for a while, because we thought you might be dead, but whatever you did around lunchtime today brought back my memories, so I told the others you were probably fine.” Da Qing pulled his head out to give Zhao Yunlan a suspicious look. “You are fine, right?”

Lunchtime? Shen Wei said the times didn’t correlate, though, so maybe when they’d gone through the wormhole from the past? “I’m fine,” he said. “We’re all fine. You have your memories back?”

“I just said that. Are you the one with memory problems now?”

“Not that I know of,” he answered.

“Good.” Da Qing jumped onto Lin Jing’s desk and switched to his human form. “In that case, where are my presents?”

He laughed. “You’re lucky the Hallows didn’t leave this behind in the past!”

Tucked next to his phone was a flat circle of metal, with an intricate pattern cut into it. “Here. One of the artisans in the Alliance made it — it’s meant to keep away bad dreams.” It was also extremely shiny, and would catch the light coming in a window to create a sparkling distraction for anyone who happened to be, for example, a cat. “I couldn’t fit ten thousand things in my pockets,” he added. “You’ll have to wait for the rest.”

Da Qing grabbed for the disk with a gleeful expression. He handed over his credit card next. “Food,” he said, and Da Qing raced for the door. “For all of us!” Zhao Yunlan called after him. “Don’t get lost!”

They needed to eat, and to sit down, and probably a more complete explanation of what had been happening since they left. Sending Da Qing for snacks and moving everyone to the main room was at least a start.

He’d expected Shen Wei to pick one of the chairs — probably whichever one he thought was the most defensible. But he and Ye Zun seemed committed to staying as close together as possible, so they took half the sofa, and he sprawled over the other half, wondering what he could get away with asking. He started with, “Is this all right?”

“Yes, of course,” Shen Wei said quickly. Neither of them looked particularly like things were all right, but Da Qing picked that moment to arrive back with food, and he let that take up everyone’s attention. If he couldn’t make progress on one front, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have far too many others to choose from.

He turned to Da Qing. “First question: why are we investigating a fight club?”

“We needed an excuse for certain people to be gone all the time.” The pointed look he got at ‘certain people’ made it clear he had yet to be forgiven for disappearing. “And keeping busy keeps them out of trouble.”

“How is spending time at a fight club staying out of trouble?”

Da Qing shrugged. “Cong Bo is with them.”

Zhao Yunlan stared at him. “That is the opposite of reassuring.”

Shen Wei leaned forward. “What can you tell us about the reactions of Dixing and the Regent, now that he has the Hallows?”

“Yes!” He pointed at Da Qing. “And why did you give them to him in the first place?”

“You said that’s what you were going to do!” Da Qing replied, pointing back at him. “‘No intention of keeping the Hallows from Dixing;’ that’s what you said.”

He waved towards Shen Wei and Ye Zun. “They were in Dixing! I was going to give the Hallows to them, not the Regent.”

“Thank you,” Shen Wei murmured, and Zhao Yunlan patted his hand.

Da Qing made a face. “Well, we tried that, but then they had to go rescue you, and there we were in Dixing with the Hallows. The Regent showed up right after. What were we supposed to do?”

He could admit it would have been a challenge to get out of that scenario with the Hallows. “You all stayed safe?” he asked.

“Of course!” Da Qing pointed his thumb at his chest. “King of the Cats,” he said. “We had a copy of the treaty with us, and Wang Zheng made up some documents to call it a joint cooperative effort to cover all of us being in Dixing without the Lord Guardian. He’s stayed quiet about it as far as we’ve heard. Hasn’t even mentioned having the Hallows back.”

Shen Wei and Ye Zun exchanged a look. “It’s possible the Regent is facing significant challenges from within the Palace itself,” Shen Wei said.

“Rebellion?” he asked. Returning the Hallows could be excused as a requirement of the treaty — the Department of Supervision wouldn’t be happy about it, but they couldn’t officially object. Inciting a rebellion would probably be more of an issue.

“It’s more likely contained to political strife, at this point,” Ye Zun offered.

Shen Wei nodded. “Many are willing to let another lead when times are hard, or the risk is high. When fortunes change, their willingness to step forth and challenge the status quo may change as well.”

That sounded like ‘I have a lot of opinions on this situation that I’m not prepared to share at this time.’ But it also sounded like it could wait till morning, at least. He leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to decide which of the dozens of things he should be doing was the most important.

He sat up again. “Can you contact Mi Lu and Zhang Danni and let them know we’re back?”

Ye Zun waved his hand, and a glowing paper appeared in front of him, then disappeared. “Yes,” he said, and Zhao Yunlan would swear he saw a tiny smirk on Shen Wei’s face. “Anything else?”

“Nope! Now we get to rest. Da Qing, tell the others we’re all back safe and that I expect full reports by tomorrow. And tell Lin Jing it’s still tomorrow even if he doesn’t sleep. Let’s go home.” His own bed. His own shower. His own food -- all right, scratch that, he’d eaten better with the Alliance than he’d ever bothered to on his own.

Shen Wei and Ye Zun exchanged another look. “And -- are we coming with you?” Shen Wei asked.


Chapter 27: Shen Wei

“You didn’t tell them?” Da Qing turned to them. “He didn’t tell you?”

“It never came up!” Zhao Yunlan said.

“It just did! You let them sit here this whole time not knowing!”

Zhao Yunlan looked — embarrassed? “I’m telling them now, Damn Cat. It didn’t matter before now anyway, did it?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You are both welcome to stay with us. Encouraged, even! I, personally, would be exceptionally pleased by that choice. However, it has been — brought to my attention, that we are not always the most courteous of roommates.”

“He’s talking about himself,” Da Qing interrupted. “I’m a delight. Anyone would be lucky to room with me.”

Zhao Yunlan pushed him backwards, and Da Qing swatted his hand away. Zhao Yunlan looked at the ceiling and kept talking. “And so it didn’t seem unreasonable that perhaps two people of such renown as yourselves would prefer to have your own space.”

It had been an exceptionally long day. The physical stress of holding the wormhole open had paled in comparison to the emotional turmoil of watching his brother and Zhao Yunlan interact with his past self, but they had both taken a toll. He assumed that if he said nothing, Zhao Yunlan would keep talking, and save him the trouble of working out what he meant. Da Qing spoke up first. “He rented the apartment across the hall for you,” he said. “Ages ago! ‘Just in case,’ he said.”

“So you have options,” Zhao Yunlan told them.

He leaned on his brother, and pretended he was still keeping up with the conversation. “Thank you,” Ye Zun said carefully. It wasn’t usually his job to be the polite one. “That’s very thoughtful. Right now I think rest would be the best option, for all of us.” He even opened a portal, which Shen Wei blinked at a few times before realizing that it led to Zhao Yunlan’s apartment. He felt Ye Zun guiding him through it, and then there was a flat surface. He wasn’t alone, and let that feeling carry him into sleep.

When he woke up there was daylight coming through the windows, and at first he thought he was dreaming. But no -- he could feel his brother’s energy beside him, and see him. Zhao Yunlan was draped over both of them like a blanket, and Da Qing --

“You can just push him off if you want to get up,” Da Qing said. “That one can sleep through anything.”

It felt wrong to be resting when someone else was awake. And if he wasn’t going to get any more sleep, he might as well be up. “Good morning, Da Qing.” Extricating himself from the tangle on the bed took less effort than he expected, and he made his way to the kitchen.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

Da Qing shrugged. “Well enough. Better with company. I didn’t realize you had to sleep.”

He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Outside of the pillar, we’re people, just like you. If our energy is depleted, we need to rest until it recovers.”

“And, ah -- not to pry, but did you rest?” Da Qing scratched his neck and looked towards the bedroom. “Because usually I’m the only one up this early, and that’s because I nap at the office.”

It didn’t seem that early to him, but they hadn’t followed any sort of circadian rhythm in the pillar. He tried not to sigh. “Enough,” he said finally. He was conscious again, therefore he had rested. “It was -- more challenging, than I anticipated, being in the wormhole.”

“Being alone messes with your head,” Da Qing said, nodding. He slid a cup towards him, and it smelled like tea. “Here. I even washed the cups,” Da Qing told him. “Sorry there’s no food. I stayed at the SID while you were gone, so no one’s been here.” He paused, and then added, “Do you want to talk about it?”

He didn’t bother pretending not to know what Da Qing meant. “I don’t -- there shouldn’t be anything to talk about,” he said, tightening his grip on the cup. “My time alone was short compared to Ye Zun’s or yours. I could see you all the whole time; I knew you were fine.”

But Da Qing shook his head. “It’s not a competition. You feel what you feel. None of us are all that good at being alone.”

He felt Ye Zun wake up before he could come up with a reply, and then Zhao Yunlan. Watching them both make their way towards the kitchen, Zhao Yunlan yawning, and his brother stealing his tea, he felt something relaxing inside of him. And then Zhao Yunlan draped his arm over his shoulders, and Ye Zun leaned into his side, and it settled even further.

“Hey,” Zhao Yunlan said easily. “Where did the tea come from?”

“It was in the cupboard. It’s not my fault you never look in there.” Da Qing laughed when Zhao Yunlan gave the cupboards a suspicious glance. There was a quiet chime, and he turned his attention to his phone. Whatever he saw made him smile.

Ye Zun set the cup down and pushed it back to him. “We should talk about what happens next. You have a plan for the day?”

“There is! We --” Zhao Yunlan waved between himself and Da Qing. “Are going to work.” Then he pointed at Shen Wei and Ye Zun. “You are going to your housewarming party.” He looked at his phone again. “I’ve been informed it’s not negotiable, and includes breakfast.”

“Breakfast?” Da Qing perked up.

“Housewarming?” Ye Zun asked.

“Sure -- you move into a new place, and all your neighbors and friends come over and compliment your things, and they bring you food and presents. That’s probably where the tea came from, come to think of it.”

He frowned. “We don’t have any things. And how could all our friends participate if you and Da Qing aren’t there?”

“An excellent question!” Zhao Yunlan beamed at him, and he couldn’t help smiling back. “Thank you for inviting us! Here.” He handed him the plant from the counter.

He wanted it. He wanted anything Zhao Yunlan was willing to give him. “But this is yours,” he said.

“And now it’s yours!” Zhao Yunlan’s hands were warm on his own.

“He got it for you,” Da Qing told them. “Ages ago.”

Zhao Yunlan shooed him off his stool. “And where’s your housewarming gift?”

“I can’t count keeping your plant alive all this time as my gift?” But he moved to the sofa and took a folded blanket off the back of it. One of several, but definitely the one that looked the newest. “This is for both of you,” he said, handing it to Ye Zun with a final pat. “And for me. I’ll need to come over and visit it sometimes.”

“Of course,” Ye Zun said seriously. “I imagine our door will always be open to both of you.” He gave Da Qing a small smile. “Along with our window, for you.”

Da Qing patted the blanket again. “You do have a lovely balcony on your side of the building, I happened to notice, very nice at sunset. Just a passing thought. Something to consider.”

The smile got larger. “We’ll keep that in mind.”

“Also!” Zhao Yunlan held up a finger. “You’ll notice that neither of these gifts are wrapped, to reduce the element of surprise. It was the most we could insist on with short notice.” He looked at both of them. “Acceptable?”

“I thought it was non-negotiable,” Ye Zun said. He wasn’t upset, just curious.

“Ha! I was told it was non-negotiable -- that doesn’t mean it actually is. You don’t have to go at all. Or you could go and not stay! Or you could go and put a sign on the door telling everyone to leave their presents in the hall!”

“Or with us!” Da Qing added.

Ye Zun nodded. “I -- see,” he said. His energy was quiet. Almost -- content, and Shen Wei could feel his own energy calming to match it. “A housewarming party. We’ll try it.”


Chapter 28: Shen Wei

The housewarming party was -- surprisingly enjoyable. He suspected someone had told people not to come in large groups, because they showed up in ones and twos and followed Zhao Yunlan’s description exactly. They complimented the decor, they provided either food or a gift, welcomed them to Haixing (or to the city, or the building, or the SID), and then showed themselves out again.

Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng arrived first, with the promised breakfast. Hot food and more tea, along with an update from Dixing that things were still stable, went a long way towards restoring his equilibrium. He’d never felt as if food and drink were things he particularly missed during their time in the pillar, but he was finding them to be an unexpected comfort.

The three Yashou leaders came together, with Zhu Hong -- they were the largest group. Zhu Hong had apologized, and hinted that there had been disagreement among the leaders over what order they should arrive in, with a joint visit being the final compromise. Ying Chun’s excited exclamations over the collection of plants they’d been given took up the entire visit.

He wasn’t entirely sure how Teacher Zhang’s students had even found out about the event, but they showed up nonetheless, with a map and schedule for the local campus, and an invitation to stop by for a tour anytime.

When Zhang Danni and Jia Hui stopped in with lunch, they also brought the welcome news that they were the last of the expected guests. “So you can do whatever you want this afternoon,” Jia Hui told them earnestly. “Haixing has many fascinating areas to explore.”

Zhang Danni coughed. “Ah -- yes, of course,” she said, when everyone looked at her. “Only I think Chief Zhao may actually weep tears of joy if you were to show up at his office.” She adopted an innocent expression. “Not that any of us would ever have been so casual with Chief Zhao’s feelings as to make a wager about such an occurrence.”

“We’ll definitely consider it,” Ye Zun told her, and she accepted it as the dismissal it was clearly intended to be. And then they spent several blissful hours sitting in silence, watching the sun make its way towards the horizon.

Da Qing showed up in the late afternoon, and dragged Ye Zun out for even more food. Shen Wei went to the SID, and Zhao Yunlan’s promise of a spot in his office. The only tears were from Sang Zan, for reasons that went unexplained, but Zhao Yunlan did look especially pleased to see him.

“I spent a lot of time talking with you in this office,” he said. “It’s just -- it’s good to have you here in person. Did you like the housewarming?”

“I did,” he said. It had been a reminder of how many connections they had in Haixing, and how their people could all work together. Far from being alone, they were already part of a larger community than he could have imagined. And seeing the Dixingians who had helped them track down the Hallows so eager to welcome them and introduce them to all that Haixing had to offer was -- reassuring. It gave him hope that they would find a place -- not as the Black Cloaked Envoy and the leader of the rebels, or the legendary brothers from the pillar -- but just as themselves.

He wasn’t sure how to explain any of that in words a way would make sense to Zhao Yunlan, though. “Thank you,” he said instead, which was inadequate, but true.

“No, no, don’t thank me. It wasn’t even my idea! Li Qian and Mi Lu came up with it together -- they texted me a schedule and everything. Zhu Hong and Ya Qing organized the Yashou.”

He smiled. “I’ll make sure to thank them as well.”

“I’m just sorry I couldn’t be there for more of it,” Zhao Yunlan said. “This fight club investigation has turned into one problem after another. First they spotted Ding Dun, who may or may not have been following Professor Zhou, who was apparently also there.”

He frowned, and tapped his fingers on the desk. It was a habit Shen Wei had watched him pick up in the past, after he ran out of lollipops. Mi Lu had given them a bag of Zhao Yunlan’s preferred flavors as a housewarming gift, and he pulled one out of his pocket and offered it across the desk.

“Ah, Shen Wei, you’re so good to me!” Zhao Yunlan’s eyes lit up as he unwrapped the lollipop. He spoke around it as he continued his explanation. “Meaning that either the good professor has a hidden weakness for gambling, or there’s more going on behind the scenes than a simple fight club. And then!” He pointed the lollipop at Shen Wei. “Then they lost contact with the journalist, and no one can find him.”

Zhao Yunlan’s phone rang, and he looked at it with dismay. “Now what?” He set the phone on the desk between them and answered the call. “Please tell me nothing else has gone wrong,” he said, instead of a greeting.

”Chief Zhao? I’m not really sure if it’s something that’s gone wrong, but maybe it’s not good? I’m really very sorry to be disturbing you.”

Zhao Yunlan sighed. “It’s all right, Xiao Guo. What happened?”

”Well, we thought that it would be good to draw out Ding Dun so we could find out what he was doing here, so Chu-ge was going to fight Ye Huo -- like an exhibition match, they both agreed. But Ye Huo didn’t show up, and now Chu-ge is missing too, and somehow everyone found out he works with the SID and they’re accusing him of sending Ye Huo back to Dixing!”

He wasn’t at all sure how those statements came together to form a chain of cause and effect, but Zhao Yunlan didn’t seem surprised to hear any of it. “All right, stay calm. Are you in immediate danger? Has Cong Bo turned back up?”

”I -- don’t think so?” They could hear shouting getting louder in the background of the call.

“Just stay put,” Zhao Yunlan told him. “We’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“I can portal us there, if you’d prefer,” Shen Wei said quietly. He hadn’t made the connection until Guo Changcheng had mentioned Ye Huo, but he knew of the man’s work with Dixing runaways, and the location of his workplace.

Zhao Yunlan stood up, grabbing the phone as he went. “Correction! Thanks to the immense talents of one of our newest consultants, we’re leaving now and will be there nearly instantaneously.”

One portal and a hasty explanation to a surprised onlooker later, they could simply follow the noise to its source. The crowd was angry -- shouting about the fight, about Ye Huo, about the SID. It wouldn’t take much to tip them into violence. He could try to intervene, but he wasn’t sure whether a more blatant use of powers would make things better or worse. They weaved through the group together until they found Guo Changcheng, white knuckled but holding his ground at the center of the group.

“Chief Zhao!” Guo Changcheng exclaimed, looking relieved. “You came!”

“Da Qing said this assignment was keeping you out of trouble,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Clearly we need to have a conversation about what staying out of trouble looks like.”

“I’m so sorry, Chief Zhao; I don’t know what happened! Chu-ge was here, and then he wasn’t, and he never would have taken Ye Huo anywhere without his permission!”

Zhao Yunlan nodded, and patted his shoulder. “Of course he wouldn’t! Don’t worry about it, Xiao Guo, we’ll settle this crowd down and then sort out what happened.”

He sounded confident, but Guo Changcheng didn’t seem reassured. “Um, Chief Zhao? How are you going to do that? Did you bring your gun?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Why would I bring a gun to a fistfight?”

“To -- stop it?”

Zhao Yunlan leaned closer to Guo Changcheng, like he was going to tell him a secret. “But Xiao Guo -- then Shen Wei wouldn’t get to hit things!”

It was like stretching muscles that hadn’t been used in far too long. He wasn’t even sure how Zhao Yunlan knew he needed it -- he didn’t know it himself until the crowd was surging forward, and he was already moving to meet them.


Chapter 29: Zhao Yunlan

Watching Shen Wei fight was a revelation. He was an immovable object that was always in motion. He’d seen hints of it in the past, but Shen Wei had trained separately, with Ye Zun, and on the battlefield they’d all been too busy to watch each other fight. Back in the present day, they were still learning how to best use their skills to their advantage. But everyone enjoyed doing something they were good at, and Shen Wei was very, very good at controlling a fight.

The crowd quickly realized they were outclassed on every level, and most of them slunk away without even engaging. Of the ones who remained, only three seemed to have a personal stake in it. He knew Shen Wei saw it too. He quickly singled them out and incapacitated them, which had the side effect of taking the fight out of the remaining crowd as well.

He patted Guo Changcheng on the shoulder. “See? Settled!”

And if watching Shen Wei fight was a revelation, then watching him interrogate their detainees afterwards was enough to make him lose his heart all over again. Shen Wei was a force of nature, whether he was using his fists or his words. “Ye Huo is the owner of this establishment. In his absence, who is in charge?”

The angriest of the three started to speak, and the tall one elbowed him in the ribs. “I -- I guess that’s us,” he said hesitantly. “Are you going to send us back to Dixing too?”

Zhao Yunlan tried not to roll his eyes too obviously. This again. “We have no reason to think that Ye Huo has been removed to Dixing.”

“Then where is he?”

“That is what we’re attempting to determine,” Shen Wei said. “Ideally with your assistance, but without it if need be.”

“No, we can help! We can do stakeouts, and questioning people — all that stuff.”

Zhao Yunlan shook his finger at them. “Solving cases is mostly about research and planning, not action. Young people such as yourselves should be in school so you can learn those things!”

The angry one scoffed. “Dixing doesn’t have any schools.”

“No schools?” He looked at Shen Wei, who gave a tiny nod, and he made a note to ask him about it later. I’m the meantime — he shook his finger again. “Ah, but you’re not in Dixing now! There should be no reason not to pursue your education; you should take advantage of the opportunity you have here.”

The three fighters exchanged glances. “That’s what Fire always says too. All right. What is it you want us to do?”

“Make a list,” he said promptly. “Everything you can remember for the last five days. Who was here, who did Ye Huo talk to, what did he eat, where did he go and when. Even the tiniest detail could turn out to be a critical breakthrough, so don’t leave anything out.”

As they walked out of the building, Shen Wei said, “Can I ask — why five days?”

He put his arm around Shen Wei’s shoulders and waved his other hand in an expansive gesture. “Five days! I thought that was enough time that it would keep them occupied for the rest of the night. Lin Jing should be done recalibrating his dark energy detector by then.”

He wanted to go home, but with his people missing there was no way he was going to get a good night’s sleep. Staying overnight at the office would mean an early start when the detector was ready. It also, apparently, meant that Shen Wei would bring a homemade breakfast for everyone. “You really are too good for me,” he said happily.

He supposed the only downside to having the team show up to work on time was that there were more people to share the food with. “This is amazing,” Zhang Danni said. “You made this? I didn’t realize you knew how to cook.”

Shen Wei smiled politely. “It isn’t something I’ve had an opportunity to practice until recently.”

Which meant ‘I learned it last night.’ Ye Zun said he’d gone through nearly the entire contents of their refrigerator with his efforts. “It’s delicious,” he said. “How many of the experiments did Da Qing end up eating?”

Shen Wei ducked his head, not quite hiding a smile. “Many,” he answered. “In return for emptying and cleaning your own refrigerator.”

He looked at Da Qing, who was pretending he couldn’t hear them. “You? Ten thousand year old king of the cats? You cleaned?”

“Worth it.” Da Qing’s expression was gleefully smug. “The dishes are your responsibility. Cats don’t do dishes.”

The food must have been amazing. How many dishes did they even have? He pointed at Da Qing. “I accept!” He wondered if he could convince Shen Wei to keep him company while he did them. Then he spread his hands apart. “But first we have to find our missing people. Yes, even Cong Bo. Updates?”

“Nothing new from Dixing,” Mi Lu said. “Chu Nianzhi said he can confirm that his brother is in Haixing, unharmed but isolated -- he hasn’t seen the others or anyone else; no identifying markers that he can report. He, ah, respectfully requests to be invited to the SID to join the search.”

Lin Jing spoke up next. “Nothing from the Department of Supervision. No one’s responded to my requests.”

“We haven’t heard anything from the Yashou, either.” Zhu Hong shook her head. “None of this makes any sense -- there seems to be no motive for anyone to capture those three people specifically.”

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Lin Jing snapped his fingers. “What if it’s a trap?”

Zhang Danni frowned. “But for who? Ding Dun never even showed up yesterday. The Regent already has the Hallows.”

“For Shen Wei and Ye Zun?” Mi Lu suggested. “The Regent must know they’re here. They could make a lot of trouble for him if they wanted to.”

He leaned his head back and let the conversation wash over him. The information was there, but he couldn’t quite get the right perspective to see how it connected. “Ding Dun wasn’t there,” he said suddenly. “But Professor Zhou was.”

“Yes, we saw him there,” Guo Changcheng agreed. “But Chief Zhao -- he’s a university professor! You don’t think he has anything to do with this, do you?”

“I think there’s no such thing as a coincidence in a case. And he’s a university professor with knowledge of Dixing and close ties to the Department of Supervision.” Realization burned through him, and his stomach dropped. “It’s a trap for us,” he said. “For the SID.”


Chapter 30: Zhao Yunlan

He sat up and swiveled around on the couch, ignoring the shocked response from Guo Changcheng and Li Qian. “Lin Jing, when the Director was here, did he ask about the dark energy detector?”

“He did, but he asked about all our projects. I told him the detector was still unreliable, just like we talked about.” Lin Jing glanced towards the lab. “He seemed more interested in our other scanners than I expected.”

Ye Zun looked intrigued. “What scanners?” Shen Wei gave him an exasperated look. “Of course, of course. Tell me later. A trap, you said?”

“Professor Zhou knew the SID was investigating the fight club,” Zhao Yunlan explained. “Da Qing told the Department of Supervision about it when they tried to contact me while I was gone. And Xiao Guo said that ‘somehow’ everyone found out that Chu Shuzhi worked with the SID -- who else was there who had that information? And now we know he’s being held in a way that indicates a high degree of knowledge about his Dixing power.”

Shen Wei leaned forward. “You think the Department of Supervision is responsible for this?”

“It makes sense,” Da Qing said. “Except I still don’t see why they would go to all this trouble.”

None of the most likely possibilities that he could think of were good ones. They were all distracted from anything else the Department of Supervision might be doing, for one thing. He stood up, so he could see everyone. “Until now, they’ve always needed the SID to continue functioning, regardless of their personal feelings. This situation was deliberately manipulated to put at least one of our team members in danger. And now we find ourselves in a position where we are being pushed to either reveal we have resources that we haven’t openly shared with our superiors, or to admit that a team member is missing with a suspected criminal.”

It was Mi Lu who spoke up first. “What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to pick option number three.”

Chu Nianzhi was invited to Haixing with all the documentation and protocol they could find, or in some cases, make up. They had a plan. It was a plan with an unusually high risk of him losing his job, but he’d never counted on a peaceful retirement. Besides, he’d coached Guo Changcheng into taking his place, and with Da Qing and Mi Lu helping him, he’d be fine. And Shen Wei and Ye Zun would surely break him out of jail if it went that far.

“You would break me out of jail, right?” He was taking a break while Lin Jing did things with Da Qing’s DOS access code that it was better if he didn’t know about. Happily, that meant he got to lounge on the couch in between Shen Wei and Ye Zun.

“Of course,” Ye Zun said immediately.

Shen Wei frowned. “Zhao Yunlan, there’s no reason why your plan should involve incarceration.”

“He means yes,” Ye Zun added.

“Uh, Boss? I’m not sure we’re going to need this plan after all.” Lin Jing sounded like he couldn’t decide whether he should be relieved or disappointed. “We’re getting a phone call. From Cong Bo. I’m tracking it now.”

He blinked. “Really?” That was -- unexpected. And if it was going to Lin Jing, he was calling on their tip line, which was even more unusual. “Well, let’s hear what he has to say.”

There was a click, and then they all heard, ”Hello? This is Cong Bo; can you hear me?”

He didn’t sound like he was under duress, at least. “We hear you, Cong Bo. Are the others with you?”

”Chu Shuzhi and Ye Huo are here. No one else, though. At all, actually. Which is weird. Could someone come get us?”

Guo Changcheng said, “Chu-ge, are you all right? What happened?”

”We’re all fine. Stop worrying so much.” That was definitely Chu Shuzhi.

”No one told us anything,” Cong Bo said. ”But there were guards at the doors. They took my phone, and my backup phone. Today I finally convinced someone to take me upstairs, because I thought I could use my third phone if I could get a signal.”

Zhao Yunlan was confident he could interpret that as ‘today I irritated the people within earshot enough that they gave in to what I wanted.’ It was, admittedly, a strategy that seemed to work for him. “And?” he prompted.

”And -- Director Zhao was here? He was acting kind of weird. I overheard him tell someone they were being reassigned. And then everyone just left.”

Of course his dad was part of this. He could feel his jaw clenching, like the old man was going to materialize in front of him and start yelling. Shen Wei squeezed his shoulder, and he took a deep breath.

Da Qing asked the obvious question. “Why didn’t you leave too?”

A different voice answered -- the mysterious Ye Huo, he assumed. ”We’re not sure where we are, and Cong Bo’s phone doesn’t have any contacts programmed in. For security.” It sounded like he was trying not to laugh. Zhao Yunlan liked him already. ”Of the numbers each of us has memorized, this one seemed the wisest choice, given that we weren’t sure of the larger situation.”

“Are we aware of the larger situation?” he heard someone ask quietly. Wang Zheng shushed them, so it was probably Sang Zan.

“I’ve tracked your signal,” Lin Jing said. “You’re actually not that far away.” He turned his computer screen so Zhao Yunlan could see it, and he nodded.

“We’re coming to get you,” he said. It seemed too easy, but he was reluctant to question it. Whether they were being deliberately distracted at a crucial moment, or if it was part of a larger plan to discredit the SID, his primary concern was the wellbeing of his team. His family. That was the foundation; it had to be. He’d seen what could happen when a leader put the mission ahead of the people.

“We’ll bring snacks!” Da Qing called, shaking him out of his thoughts. “Group trip!”

He laughed. “Oh, are we all going?”

“Half of us,” Zhu Hong declared.

“It’s Cong Bo’s first kidnapping,” Zhang Danni said. “We should celebrate! Team dinner?”

Wang Zheng nodded. “We could welcome Shen Wei and Ye Zun to the team at the same time.”

He was outnumbered and outvoted, and it wasn’t a fight he wanted to win anyway. He gave a dramatic sigh. “Yes, all right. Team dinner.”


Chapter 31: Shen Wei

Chu Nianzhi came to Haixing despite their change in plans. His arrival would coincide with the Reunion Festival, and the timing was too auspicious to waste the opportunity. He greeted everyone in the SID like old friends, apologized for missing Shen Wei and Ye Zun’s housewarming party, and brought the surprising news that suddenly, no one in the Palace seemed quite sure where the Hallows had gone.

“They’re missing?” he asked, trying not to let his powers flare. He’d gotten used to Ye Zun buffering them in the pillar, and it had been unnecessary in the wormhole. But Ye Zun was in the main room, arguing with Mi Lu about table settings, and Shen Wei was on the mezzanine level -- even as he struggled, Ye Zun looked up and caught his eye. His powers settled, and he breathed more easily.

Chu Nianzhi shook his head, then shrugged. “Officially, no. And the Regent isn’t saying anything. But they have a feel to them -- when they were in the Palace, any of the Guard could have pointed you to their general location. And now -- nothing.”

He looked troubled, despite his casual words. “Is there something else?” Shen Wei asked.

“Only rumors,” Chu Nianzhi said. “Nothing I’ve been able to confirm. Some people are saying the King is missing as well.”

He frowned. “That’s impossible.” Dixing couldn’t be without a ruler. And yet. A memory tickled at him.

“That’s why I wasn’t going to say anything,” Chu Nianzhi said. “But no one has seen him, and the word from the kitchen is that his food is going uneaten.”

The memory was probably nothing. But if it was nothing, there was no harm in sharing. And if it was something, more people knowing could be useful. “There was a story,” he said slowly. “A long time ago. A story about Dixing’s leader taking the four Holy Tools to a place of great power, to unite the land.” It had been told around the campfire ten thousand years ago, before Dixing even had a King. But it had been a time when the Hallows -- and some of their properties -- were common knowledge.

Chu Nianzhi looked shocked. “The King took the Hallows himself?”

He shook his head. “There’s no way to know without more information. Ye Zun may remember the story better.” Or Zhao Yunlan -- he was the most likely to have actually paid attention. “And it may be completely unrelated. What other news is there, beyond the Palace? How is everyone?”

Beyond the Palace Guard, most of their contacts in Dixing were the children who visited their pillar. Their departure hadn’t been a surprise, but that didn’t mean it had been welcome. Chu Nianzhi smiled. “Dan Dan has convinced the others to study Dixing’s history. Someone got them books from the Palace Archives, so they’ve been reading.”

“Someone?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Chu Nianzhi gave him a look that was only slightly sheepish, and shrugged. “It’s not like anyone else was reading them. I’ll put them back when the kids are done with them.”

“Are they -- staying out of trouble?” He couldn’t help feeling responsible for them, especially since he and Ye Zun had encouraged them to break the rules in the first place.

“As much as they ever did. They’re still enthusiastically flouting the ban on travel to the pillar. It’s still there; it just doesn’t talk back anymore. They miss you both. They’re happy for you. A little bit at loose ends.” Finally, he asked the question that Shen Wei could tell he’d been holding onto. “Are you coming back?”

It turned out he wasn’t as ready for it as he’d thought, and he had to force himself not to look away. “We -- I don’t know. It’s not something we’ve discussed.” He hesitated, then added, “Do you think we should?”

Despite the treaty, the divide between Dixing and Haixing had grown deeper as time went on. It was so distant from the cooperation of the Alliance — their goals had seemed so clear then. It had seemed logical to carry on, rather than try to change things preemptively. Now, he wondered whether they had made the right choice.

“I wouldn’t presume to tell either of you what to do,” Chu Nianzhi said, holding up both hands. “I can’t imagine that going well for anyone at this point. And — I apologize if this oversteps, but I do understand the challenges, maybe better than most.”

Working in the Dixing Royal Palace while his brother joined the SID in Haixing -- yes, Shen Wei thought he probably did.

“But a lot of people have been talking about it, wondering what you might decide. More than I expected, and not coming from any of us.”

“The Regent?” He’d been too quiet since the recovery of the Hallows.

“It seems likely, yes. I’ve -- heard people saying the lords of the pillar have abandoned Dixing. That Haixing has turned you against us. Most people don’t believe it.”

“But some do,” he concluded.

“Yes,” Chu Nianzhi said reluctantly. “Not many. But anti-Haixing sentiment is increasing.”

Whether present or absent, the Hallows seemed destined to be a catalyst for conflict. He considered what Chu Nianzhi was carefully not saying. “You believe we’ll be pressured to declare an allegiance to one side or the other,” he said.

Chu Nianzhi winced. “Possibly, yes. But there are still other options.”

He focused on breathing, on the sense of his brother in the room below them, on the light he could see out the windows. “One brother in Dixing; one brother in Haixing?” He bit back the ‘no; never’ that he wanted to say.

But Chu Nianzhi shook his head. “No. I believe there will come a time when Dixing and Haixing truly work together once again, with open passage between our two worlds. There will be no question of choosing Dixing or Haixing, because the answer will be both.”

That was -- surprisingly optimistic. “I hope we will see that day come,” he answered honestly. “It seems a long way from where we stand today.”

“Every place seems far until someone makes the first journey,” Chu Nianzhi said. “Maybe we’re closer than you think.”

From the main floor, Zhao Yunlan waved up at them. “Are you two done gossiping? Come eat; the food’s ready!”

“A year ago, would you have thought this was possible?” Chu Nianzhi asked quietly, waving back.

Their freedom from the pillar, Zhao Yunlan, a home -- a hope, even if it felt distant. No, it hadn’t seemed possible, even half a year ago. He shook his head.

Chu Nianzhi smiled. “So why would you think you could predict where we’ll be a year from now?”


Chapter 32: Shen Wei

They received the call in the middle of an otherwise peaceful afternoon. He looked up when the phone rang, and wished he hadn’t kept his hearing contained when he saw Wang Zheng’s eyes widen. “Zhu Hong? Who is this? Are you sure?”

She stood up quickly, phone still in her hand. "Chief Zhao! The Snake Tribe Forest is under attack!"

There were three pieces of information he pulled out of the flurry of questions that followed. One, the person on the phone was one of Zhu Hong's cousins, who had possibly never used a telephone before. Two, whatever was attacking looked like Ghost Beasts, but not exactly. Three, the SID was mobilizing to assist, despite a lack of response from the Department of Supervision.

"We can hold a portal from both sides," Ye Zun said. "It will make it a smoother transition.” It was also an inarguable way to get one of them to the forest first. "Is anyone evacuating?"

No one was. Zhao Yunlan spent a fruitless minute trying to convince Li Qian and Cong Bo to stay behind, before throwing up his hands. He spent another minute after that giving instructions to Wang Zheng, and then they were on their way.

Shen Wei stepped through the portal last, already gathering his energy for whatever he might find on the other side. Which was -- Zhao Yunlan, laughing. "Is this my actual sword? I thought the Alliance was going to return it!"

Ye Zun gave him an innocent look. "Were they? They must have forgotten to tell me."

"Do you want the gun in exchange? It would be just like old times!"

"Like last week, you mean?" Ye Zun said. He shook his head. "No. Give it to Zhu Hong, she's the best shot."

They were a short distance out from the village itself, looking at a group of Ghost Beasts that was far too large to have found their way into Haixing by mere accident. "Where did they come from?"

"Let's look into that after we don't all die," Mi Lu said, through gritted teeth, keeping her eyes on the forest. "Zhang Danni's power had no effect. The illusion is holding for now, but they're either going to figure it out or just stumble over us any second now." He put a hand on her shoulder, boosting her energy as much as he could, and she nodded her thanks.

He startled at a sudden movement, but it was only Zhu Hong's uncle, running to meet them. When Zhao Yunlan stepped forward, Kunlun's sword looked right in his hand, even with his ripped jeans and leather jacket.

"Fourth Uncle," Zhao Yunlan said respectfully. "We offer our aid. Several of my team would be best served by helping protect non-combatants. The rest of us are yours to command."

It was an opening statement that instantly seemed to put the Snake Tribe leader more at ease. He drew himself up and took a breath. "Of course, of course. Thank you, Chief Zhao."

Zhao Yunlan shook his head. "No thanks are needed. Our people are not only allies, but friends. What of the Flower and Crow Tribes? We heard their leaders were here with you when the attack began."

There was a rush of wings, and Ya Qing appeared with Ying Chun at her side. Behind them, more fighters arrived, fierce Crows wearing bright ribbons partnered with equally fierce Flowers adorned with feathers. Ya Qing nodded to Fourth Uncle, and Ying Chun said, “The Yashou stand together. Though we are not allied under a High Chief, we are allied in heart, and in spirit.”

Mi Lu cursed, and he turned his attention back to the Ghost Beasts. “They found us. They’re coming.” Ye Zun immediately pulled Mi Lu back, away from the line closest to the threat, even as the rest of them spread out to meet it.

The fight started badly. The Ghost Beasts weren’t feral, but they were aggressively destructive, occasionally even against each other. Dark energy powers worked unpredictably on them -- sometimes not at all, sometimes with unexpected results. Portals were ineffective, which was as baffling as it was frustrating. Bladed weapons worked -- they weren’t invulnerable -- but they required close-range engagement with the Ghost Beasts, who had the advantage of size and reach.

“Where’s Zhu Jiu when we need him most?” Lin Jing said, when the Ghost Beast he’d been fighting went down to the combined forces of Zhu Hong and Da Qing.

“You’re welcome,” Zhu Hong told him. “And Wang Zheng’s trying to reach him.”

If there was any good element to be found, it was that fighting side by side with Zhao Yunlan was as seamless as he remembered. He was Kunlun; he was Zhao Yunlan. They had always been the same person. They fought side by side, back to back, on their own and as a unit. His focus narrowed, and he let himself fall into the rhythm of the battle.

The Yashou techniques worked best — fast movements, switching forms, anything that kept the Ghost Beasts confused. The SID adapted quickly, teaming up with each other and the Yashou to prevent the Ghost Beasts from advancing any closer to the village. Once they had determined an effective strategy, the tide of battle turned decisively in their favor.

It wasn’t until they were nearly gone that he and Zhao Yunlan were separated, and he heard a shout. He turned just in time to see Zhao Yunlan dive between a Ghost Beast and a Flower Tribe member who was limping badly. His sword struck a clean blow, but the Ghost Beast clipped him as it fell, and Zhao Yunlan was flung through the air. He landed hard, and didn’t move.

All he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears. He was at Zhao Yunlan’s side in less than a heartbeat, and Ye Zun was right behind him. He dropped to his knees, clasping one of Zhao Yunlan’s hands in his own, and reached out with his power to see where he was hurt. His worry only increased when he didn’t wake up right away. Head wounds were always dangerous. Dark energy healing relied on the body knowing how to repair itself, and simply providing the energy to make it happen; when the brain was impacted, it could disrupt that knowledge.

“Shen Wei,” Zhao Yunlan murmured quietly.

“I’m here,” he said, and Zhao Yunlan smiled.

“The Ghost Beasts? Is everyone all right?”

“Everyone but you,” Ye Zun said. It wasn’t entirely true. Everyone had their share of bruises and minor injuries; the Snake Tribe healers were already working their way through the forest. But Zhao Yunlan was the only one who’d gone down and not gotten up again.

“Good,” Zhao Yunlan replied, squeezing his hand. “That’s good.”

“It’s not good, you --” Ye Zun cut off whatever he’d been about to say. “You’re hurt,” he said.

Shen Wei added, “How can we be fully happy that everyone else is all right without counting you in that number? Are you not as important as any member of your team?” More important, he wanted to say, but he forced the words back.

Zhao Yunlan smiled again. “As always, your words are as clever as your blade! But I’m just catching my breath, not bleeding out. Help me up.” He started to sit up on his own without waiting for their reply, and they quickly moved to support him. Conscious and talking had to be good signs, Shen Wei told himself.

And then Zhao Yunlan blinked — and blinked again, frowning. He rubbed his hands against his eyes, and waved his fingers in front of his face. “It’s not nighttime already, is it?”

Shen Wei looked at Ye Zun, whose eyes had gone wide. He held his own hand out, but there was no reaction. “Shen Wei?” Zhao Yunlan said, more tentative.

His stomach dropped. Zhao Yunlan was blind.


Chapter 33: Zhao Yunlan

Being blind wasn’t so bad. He could still see things when Shen Wei or Ye Zun shared their dark energy vision with him, which only worked with physical contact. It meant either Shen Wei or Ye Zun had their hand on him nearly all the time, which was the opposite of a hardship.

And at least it gave them something productive to do with their hovering. “Little brother,” he said, patting Ye Zun’s hand. “Will you go find out whether Shen Wei’s new doctor friend has kidnapped him away from us?”

“Still older than you, little brother,” Ye Zun answered, and Zhao Yunlan could tell he was smiling. “They’re probably gossiping about you, you know. But yes, I’ll go check on him.”

Whatever had happened to his sight, dark energy hadn’t been able to fix it. Nor could any of the medicines offered by the Yashou. Ye Zun had suggested Dr. Cheng, who was apparently known amongst the Dixingians living in Haixing for her ability and willingness to treat ‘unusual’ cases. How Ye Zun had found out about her, he had no idea.

As soon as he was gone, Zhao Yunlan took a pillow from the sofa and flung it at Da Qing. “I can hear you sneaking my food, Damn Cat. Those are my pity snacks; I’m shocked and dismayed that you would steal from a blind man.”

“I’m not sneaking them!” Da Qing protested. “I’m sitting right here taking them openly!”

He laughed -- out of everyone, Da Qing was the only one who seemed completely unflustered about his lack of sight. As far as he was concerned, Zhao Yunlan was fine, and should be taking this as an opportunity to practice using his third eye, which Da Qing had been nagging him about for years. He definitely wasn’t going to offer any sympathy or soft spoken worry. Which was why Da Qing was his favorite, even when he was stealing his snacks.

“You owe me more snacks now,” he said, tossing his wallet in the same direction as the pillow.

“Are you going to get into trouble if I leave you alone?” Da Qing asked suspiciously.

He crossed his hands behind his head and put his feet up on the arm of the sofa. “What kind of trouble could I possibly get into here?”

Da Qing snorted. “If anyone could, it would be you. I’ll be right back.” Zhao Yunlan waved him off, and settled in to relax. It would be nice to have a little peace and quiet for a few minutes.

“Zhao Yunlan.”

Or not. And it wasn’t even any of the voices he would have been happy to hear. He sat up, but stayed slouched against the sofa, ignoring the nagging inner voice that told him to fix his posture. It was sure to irritate his father, and maybe that would make him leave faster. “Yes?”

“What happened?”

He raised his eyebrows. “You mean your spies told you I was at the hospital, but weren’t able to find out why? That seems inefficient. And unlikely.”

“They’re not --” His father sighed, and he could clearly visualize him pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. It was an expression he was exceedingly familiar with. “I’m concerned about you.”

That seemed equally unlikely. “No need -- I’m fine!” he said, spreading his hands apart.

“Yunlan.” He hated that the tone made him feel like he was ten years old again. “I know it may not seem like it, but I’m trying to help you.” He lowered his voice. “There are things happening -- and that will happen soon -- that you don’t know about.”

He focused on keeping his own voice even when he replied. “Things like you being involved in the detainment of members of my team? I know you were there. Were you in the Snake Tribe’s forest too? Did you get whatever it was you were after?”

“He didn’t.”

It was Ye Zun. He briefly considered being impressed by his good timing, but he’d probably been eavesdropping from the start. He didn’t know exactly how good their hearing was, but it was at least equal to Da Qing’s. Who, come to think of it, was probably also lurking in the hall. Eating all his snacks again, most likely.

“Director Zhao,” Ye Zun said curtly, dropping onto the sofa next to Zhao Yunlan. Close enough to touch, which meant he could see it when his father’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Which was a victory in and of itself, really.

“Who is this?” his father demanded

“This is Ye Zun!” he said brightly. “The SID’s highly valued consultant on Dixing history and culture.”

“Consultant.” The word was packed with disbelief. The best part was that he couldn’t tell if it was because someone had reported his fighting abilities after the Ghost Beast attack, or because of how closely Ye Zun was sitting.

He ignored it, and turned to Ye Zun. “What do you mean, ‘he didn’t’?”

“During the attack, I asked Mi Lu to keep her illusion active, but directed outside the fighting. It would prevent anyone from wandering in accidentally — or on purpose. The Ghost Beasts didn’t arrive out of nowhere, after all. If someone was responsible, it was possible they stayed in the area to see the results of their efforts.”

He nodded, and waved for Ye Zun to continue. “Historically,” Ye Zun said, emphasizing the word carefully. “It was a tactic used by the Rebels, during the war. Release a dangerous beast into the enemy’s camp. Whether they won or lost, the damage that was done was more than enough to convince any local settlements that the Alliance was dangerous and out of control. Why did you think they were all holed up in their headquarters while the Rebels roamed around wherever they chose? According to the historical records, of course.”

“We’re not at war now,” he said, hoping he was wrong about the conclusions Ye Zun was drawing.

“It takes all sides to agree to a peace,” Ye Zun said. “But only one to break it. And we’ve been hearing the most interesting things lately. Dark energy detectors at all government buildings? A marked increase in anti-Dixing propaganda and missing persons reports? Could even wartime tactics be permissible, in times such as these?”

Zhao Yunlan pretended he’d already known the things Ye Zun was saying, even as his father struggled to regain his usual measured calm. Dr. Cheng must have been a veritable fount of information.

“This is baseless speculation,” Zhao Xinci said finally. Then he sighed again. “Some things, once started, cannot be stopped, regardless of one’s personal wishes. When the time comes, I hope that you remember that. Choose wisely, Yunlan.”

He walked away without waiting for a response, and Zhao Yunlan felt Ye Zun relax. “Does he do that often?” he asked.

“Yes,” Da Qing answered, walking back into the room with Shen Wei at his back. “Also, here.” He draped himself over the back of the sofa and dropped Zhao Yunlan’s wallet in his lap. “I ate your snacks, but I brought Shen Wei instead. Are we going home now?”


Chapter 34: Zhao Yunlan

“It’s too bad we don’t still have the Longevity Dial.” Li Qian tapped his hand before sliding the bowl along the table. “It would certainly be able to heal your eyes, Chief Zhao.”

“The Longevity Dial!” He nodded his thanks for the food, and poked Shen Wei in the shoulder. “That is an excellent point!” He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it before, really. Although he supposed it made sense to start with known medical practices before experimenting with an ancient artifact, regardless of when they’d come up with the idea.

He still couldn’t help feeling like they were spending too much time focused on the wrong things. They needed to be investigating the missing persons reports and working with the Dixing Guard to calm the growing tensions between the worlds, not using all their resources trying to restore his eyesight.

Whenever he mentioned it, though, his team seemed to find great satisfaction in reminding him that he was officially on medical leave, and couldn’t tell them what to do. They assured him they were also working on those more important things, of course, and then they called Shen Wei or Ye Zun to get him to stop pestering them for updates. At least half the team seemed to be absent at any given moment, and he alternated between being impressed by their determination, and being frustrated that it was currently directed at keeping him out of the loop.

“It -- could work,” Shen Wei said slowly. “You did successfully use the Longevity Dial for communication on a frequent basis. Ye Zun believes the Hallows may respond to you because of your travel through the wormhole. From a linear perspective, it would have happened before you first touched the Longevity Dial, and could have influenced their reaction to you.”

He only talked that much when he was nervous. Zhao Yunlan set his bowl down carefully. “Ye Zun believes -- you’ve talked about this? Where was I?”

“You were sleeping,” Shen Wei said. “You needed rest.” He sounded so earnest, Zhao Yunlan almost couldn’t be mad at him. Almost.

“And you didn’t think it was something you should fill me in on when I woke up?” He took a deep breath. Yelling wasn’t going to help anything, and he definitely wasn’t going to do it in front of the team.

A new and unwelcome thought occurred to him. “Do you -- not want to use it?” The Longevity Dial would tie them together irrevocably; what if Shen Wei and Ye Zun had been trying to come up with a way to avoid that?

Shen Wei grabbed his arm, and suddenly they were in his office. “How can you think that? I would give my life for yours a thousand times over if I could.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t want you to! I never wanted that!” So much for not yelling. “Wait,” he said, before Shen Wei could respond. “Ye Zun should be here for this.”

“I’m here,” Ye Zun said quietly. Too quickly to have been doing anything but listening in, but to be fair, probably the entire team could hear them. “We thought -- we thought you were the one who didn’t want to use the Dial.”

He froze. “What?” That wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting.

“You used the Longevity Dial more than anyone,” Ye Zun said. “Of course we would assume you had considered the possibility of using it for this!” He hesitated, and then said, “You really didn’t?”

Just like that, all the fight went out of him. “I didn’t,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Shen Wei said, and he took a step closer. “Don’t apologize. Not for this.”

He had always believed that actions counted more than words, but that didn’t mean words weren’t important. He chose the ones that followed as carefully as any he’d ever spoken.

They were already close enough to touch, so he put his hand on Shen Wei’s chest, and then reached out for Ye Zun. “You already have my heart, if you want it. I would happily share my soul with you as well. But please don’t ask either of us to take your life and then go on without you.”

Shen Wei took a sharp breath. “You throw yourself at danger as if your life has less importance than everyone around you. You can’t ask for what you aren’t willing to give yourself.”

“None of us can promise not to risk ourselves for what we love,” Ye Zun said.

It was true. But none of them were stepping back, either. He squeezed Ye Zun’s arm. “Together, though -- we can promise that our family, together, is one of those things. I would stay blind for a hundred lifetimes if it meant spending those lifetimes with you.”

Ye Zun squeezed back, but his voice was hesitant when he said, “Together -- all of us?”

And that, at least, was an easy question to answer. “How could I want it to be any other way? If using the Longevity Dial allows me to share my life with you both, that would be my dearest wish.”

Shen Wei’s fingers tugged gently on his shirt. “It would be mine as well,” he said softly.

“You found your flowery speeches again,” Ye Zun said, and it sounded like he was smiling. “Yes, all right, mine too.”

When they finally moved back into the main room, everyone clapped. He knew it had to be Da Qing’s fault somehow. “I can still cancel your bonuses for this month,” he said, even though his happy expression surely gave him away.

Guo Changcheng was the last one to sit down. “Congratulations, Chief Zhao.”

“Don’t congratulate us yet, Xiao Guo.” What in the world had Da Qing said to them? “First we need to find it.” He clapped his hands together and sat on the edge of the table, Shen Wei and Ye Zun on either side of him. “What do we know?”

Mi Lu cleared her throat. “We know that it was in the hands of the Regent, and then in the Palace. Since then it’s disappeared, along with the rest of the Hallows and possibly the King.”

“Chu Nianzhi said Shen Wei talked about a legend,” Guo Changcheng added. “And that maybe the King had taken the Hallows to find wisdom.”

“Ah!” He shook his finger in their general direction. “I remember that story.” He frowned. “Except the version I heard was mostly metaphors. Seek the wisdom of the stars; travel as far as the moon; that sort of thing.”

There was a long pause. He didn’t need sight to imagine Shen Wei and Ye Zun looking at each other behind his back. He sighed. “It wasn’t a metaphor, was it. There’s a spaceship on the moon.”

“There’s a spaceship on the moon,” Ye Zun confirmed. “The spaceship. The ones that landed on Haixing were all much smaller.”

“A mothership!” he heard Lin Jing whisper excitedly.

There were multiple spaceships. Of course there were. “How many?”

Another pause, and then Ye Zun said, “Originally? Many. Dozens, at least. How many of them survived the meteor, and the intervening years, I’m not sure. More than one. Fewer than all of them.”

“How do you know all of this?” Zhu Hong asked. Someone shushed her. “What? You were all thinking it too.”

Ye Zun sounded like he was trying not to laugh when he answered. “Some of this was common knowledge, when we were children. For the rest -- the Alliance wartime headquarters was in a spaceship. Spaceships have computers; computers have records. I looked it up.”

Zhao Yunlan waved his hands. “While I was asleep! We really need to work on our communication about these things.”

“Or you could work on not needing sleep. The Longevity Dial might help with that.”

Shen Wei choked on nothing, and Da Qing laughed. Ye Zun added, “I’m just saying, as a possible side effect, it’s hardly the worst thing that could happen.”

The rest of the team ignored their back and forth. “Is it likely that the King is actually on the moon, with the Hallows?” Mi Lu asked. To her credit, she only sounded a tiny bit skeptical. “Because I’m not sure any of us are qualified to fly a spaceship.”

Ye Zun made an affronted noise, but said, “It’s not the most likely scenario. Theoretically, all the ships are linked. He would only have needed to find one of them, to start -- whatever he’s trying to do. The records were vague on what this -- journey -- would actually involve.”

Shen Wei picked up the explanation from there. “And we would only need to find one, in order to communicate with the others.”

“How theoretically?” Mi Lu asked.

He could feel Ye Zun shrug next to him. “It worked ten thousand years ago.”


Chapter 35: Ye Zun

“Where are we going, exactly?” Da Qing had refused to be left behind. He had argued that if something went wrong, someone was going to have to be able to make decisions, and it clearly wasn’t going to be any of the three of them. Which -- well, he wasn’t wrong.

“There’s a ship in the old city. Not that far from the pillar.”

Da Qing scoffed. “Not that far. We’ve been walking for ages!” He kept looking back at Zhao Yunlan, worry clear in his eyes.

It was slow going -- they’d had to wait out several patrols in the area, and Zhao Yunlan was struggling to adapt to using dark energy vision in Dixing. “Beautiful, but distracting,” was how he had described it. Dixing’s energy was a turbulent ocean compared to Haixing’s calm ripples and eddies.

“We’re close,” he said. His next footstep hit metal instead of rock. “It’s here.”

Once they’d found it, getting into the ship was easy. And it had a console he recognized from the Alliance’s headquarters, with a spot for each of the four Hallows. He tried not to make his relief too obvious.

Da Qing poked at the wall where a lightswitch should have been. “How are you planning to get the Longevity Dial to show up here, instead of -- wherever it is now?”

“I’m going to ask nicely.” He stepped forward, and put his hand on the console. Even the Alliance hadn’t known exactly how the Hallows worked, and the reports he’d been able to find had alternately described their origins as ‘created,’ ‘discovered,’ and ‘recovered.’ They clearly had both internal motivation and an ability to move themselves through space. If called, he was confident they would answer. He was less less confident the answer would be one that they wanted.

’Well?’ he thought, closing his eyes. He quickly built the scene in his mind -- Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan with their hands on the Longevity Dial, Zhao Yunlan’s sight restored, their lives intertwined. ’Please,’ he added. Just in case.

The Longevity Dial materialized in front of him, glowing faintly in the dim light. “Wow,” Da Qing said. “I honestly did not think that would work.”

“Oh!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed. “It’s here already? Excellent!”

Things moved quickly after that, until everyone was standing in roughly the arrangement he’d envisioned. He handed the Longevity Dial to Zhao Yunlan.

“No Haixingren has ever used the Longevity Dial for this before,” he said, suddenly nervous.

“That we know of!” Zhao Yunlan added.

“That we know of,” he agreed. “But Da Qing and I will be here in case there are any -- unforeseen side effects.”

Zhao Yunlan dropped his hand. “What side effects?” He turned to Shen Wei. “Could this hurt you? Is that what you were trying to tell me on the way here?”

Shen Wei instantly denied it, and Da Qing rolled his eyes. “I’m rolling my eyes,” he said. “Have the Hallows ever done anything without unforeseen side effects? You never had a problem putting your hands all over them before. You’ll be fine.”

Ye Zun didn’t think it was a particularly motivational speech, but it seemed to work. Zhao Yunlan laughed, and held the Longevity Dial up again. Shen Wei stepped forward and clasped their hands together. “I want to do this,” he said firmly.

The Longevity Dial lit up like a star as soon as they were both touching it. Golden light swirled around them both, and Ye Zun braced himself against the rush of energy that followed. It faded faster than he’d expected, and when Zhao Yunlan opened his eyes, it was obvious it had worked.

And then the Dial lit up again, even brighter. The room filled with light. It was like when Li Qian and her grandmother had both touched the pillar at once — there was no way to brace against something that came from every direction. He could feel his own energy rising and falling in the maelstrom, and then Shen Wei was there; not an anchor, but a sail. They flew together. Zhao Yunlan’s energy was magnetic; they were drawn to each other in the chaos, like their energy had always been waiting to find its missing link. Da Qing leaped to meet them, and when they tumbled back to the physical floor of the ship, he was laughing.

“That was so much more fun than when I touched the Hallows the first time!” he exclaimed.

Ye Zun rolled onto his back and tried to convince himself the room wasn’t spinning. “Huh,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Were we expecting that to happen?” He propped himself up on one elbow so he could look across Shen Wei at Ye Zun. Ye Zun could feel it even with his eyes closed. “Were you expecting that?”

He started to shake his head, realized it was a terrible choice, and opened his mouth to say ‘no, of course not,’ just as Shen Wei said, “Yes.”

He stared, and Shen Wei frowned back at him. “Were you not? We’ve been connected by the Hallows for ten thousand years. Of course we would do this together too. And Da Qing has made his own commitments.”

“The pinky promise is sacred,” Da Qing muttered sleepily. “Nap time now, right?”

“Not yet, Damn Cat.” He watched Zhao Yunlan push himself into a sitting position. “We still have to get out of here. At least it will be easier this time.”

He thought about it. “I’m not sure I can stand up right now,” he said, as conversationally as possible.

Everyone’s attention was suddenly focused on him. Shen Wei put a hand on his shoulder, and he felt their energy leap together and spark. “Are you all right?”

“Just tired,” he said, and it felt true. He hoped it was true.

Zhao Yunlan moved to his other side. “Is this going to be a problem? All four of us?”

He had no idea why he’d been assigned the role of answering questions, when Shen Wei was the only one who’d expected the Longevity Dial to do -- whatever that was. He looked around, but it had disappeared again. Probably for the best.

He opened his eyes -- again; he really needed to stop closing them. “Everything has energy. From a certain perspective, everything is energy.”

Zhao Yunlan asked, “Is that a cryptic way of saying you don’t know?”

“It’s a cryptic way of saying it’s not a yes or no question. It’s complicated. If you leave it alone, it will balance itself, but not necessarily the way you want it to.”

“Like Li Qian and her grandmother,” Zhao Yunlan said, and he nodded.

“Yes. You can re-balance it, but it takes effort. And practice. And if you mess it up, things could blow up. Like us.”

Zhao Yunlan made the jump without him having to explain it. “And that’s why I feel amazing, and you look like you could sleep for a week.” He didn’t even sound happy about it, which seemed unfair -- if any of them were going to be happy, it should be him.

Ye Zun waved him off. “I can fix it.”

“Ye Zun is considered something of an expert in the balancing of difficult energy,” Shen Wei said, and oh, that’s probably why they were asking him. “Likely due to the extensive practice he’s had with my own energy.” He sounded -- embarrassed?

“Not your fault,” Ye Zun said.

“Is it something that can be learned?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

He was fairly certain almost anything could be learned, given the proper circumstances. “Not in the amount of time we have before we need to leave.”

Zhao Yunlan patted his shoulder. “In this case, I will happily defer to your wisdom and experience. But later, yes? A wise man will pick up a heavy burden when it is necessary, but only a fool won’t set it down when others offer to help.”

“Yes,” he agreed. And then -- “Are you finally admitting I’m older than you, little brother?”


Chapter 36: Ye Zun

“Wang Zheng, why is Zhu Hong in my office?”

The SID looked the same as when they’d left, though it was overlaid with the shimmer of Zhao Yunlan’s care for his team.

Wang Zheng pointed at the phone she was holding up to her ear, and then waved Zhao Yunlan in Li Qian’s direction. “Li Qian!” Zhao Yunlan said brightly. “Why is Zhu Hong in my office?”

“Welcome back, Chief Zhao. Zhu Hong said that if she was going to do your job, she should get your office. Wang Zheng looked it up in the charter.”

Shen Wei looked away to hide his smile, but Ye Zun kept his eyes on Zhao Yunlan. Who nodded. “That’s true! Why is Zhu Hong doing my job?”

“We have a case,” Li Qian said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

More nodding. “Of course, of course. Is it a kidnapping case?”

Li Qian looked confused. “No.”

“Then why is there a child?”

He looked around in surprise. Sure enough, he could see a dark head of hair just poking up over the back of the sofa. “That’s Dong Nan,” Li Qian said. There was a giggle from the sofa.

“Hello, Dong Nan,” Zhao Yunlan said, as if this was a perfectly normal occurrence, even though Ye Zun could tell he had no idea who she was.

“Hello Chief Zhao.” Dong Nan climbed up onto the back of the sofa and waved at them. “Chief Ya Qing said that we’re allies, so if I didn’t want to stay with other Crows, I could come stay here.”

“Did she?” Zhao Yunlan reacted with exaggerated surprise, and Dong Nan giggled again.

“No. She actually said that Crow Tribe spent plenty of time babysitting you, so it was fair to ask you to return the favor. Sister Zhu Hong told me to say the other thing.”

Zhao Yunlan laughed. “Very fair,” he said.

“Zhao Yunlan!” The office door opened and Zhu Hong stalked towards them.

“Zhu Hong!” he answered. “How’s my office?”

“Can you see again?” she asked, and he nodded. “Good.” She glared at him. “See this face? This is because your office is terrible -- your desk is full of lollipops, and Lin Jing had to break into your computer so we could find your access codes.”

Zhao Yunlan looked surprised. “I thought he already knew the passwords,” he said. “And it’s written on a piece of paper taped to the top of the lollipop drawer.” Zhu Hong’s glare got stronger, and Zhao Yunlan waved his hand. “Never mind. What else has been happening? Where is everyone?”

They convened around the table in the main room. It was a small group, even with Dong Nan -- of the usual SID team, only Zhu Hong and Wang Zheng were present. “After you left, we got a request to look into a missing person,” Zhu Hong said.

“From the Department of Supervision?” Da Qing asked, and Zhu Hong shook her head.

“No. A civilian — Hua Yuzhu. Lin Jing knew her, and the person who was missing. Sha Ya.”

“The musician he liked?” Da Qing asked. He made a face. “She could do better.”

“She has,” Zhu Hong said dryly. “Hua Yuzhu is a gem. While we were investigating, Guo Changcheng was reassigned by his uncle.”

“What?” Ye Zun looked back and forth between them. It had always been interesting to watch Zhao Yunlan, but he had even more reason to do so now that their energy was linked. Shen Wei’s power was rising in response to Zhao Yunlan’s surprise. Ye Zun kicked him in the ankle and gave him a pointed look.

Zhu Hong leaned forward and put her hands on the table. “What? This is what happens when you jaunt off to Dixing with the Deputy and no one can reach you.” She gave Zhao Yunlan a sharp look. “Apparently Deputy Minister Guo never knew his nephew had been transferred to the SID, and as soon as he found out, he had him transferred to his own office at the Department of Supervision.”

If he hadn’t been watching so carefully, he would have missed Zhao Yunlan’s flinch. Zhu Hong must have seen it too, because she narrowed her eyes. “Did you know about this?”

“Xiao Guo -- might have mentioned something, to me, about his uncle not being fully aware of his current position,” Zhao Yunlan said. “But he wanted to stay, and by then we were used to having him around. How did he take it?”

Zhu Hong shrugged. “He refused. And then Wang Zheng and Sang Zan talked to him, and he agreed. Deputy Minister Guo said he wanted to meet with you when you were back.”

Dong Nan appeared to be attempting to steal a packet of snacks out of Zhao Yunlan’s pocket. He had to have noticed -- he’d moved his arm to the table to make it easier -- but he hadn’t said anything to her. Instead, he said, “I’m still waiting for the part where Lin Jing needed my access codes.”

For the first time since they’d arrived, Zhu Hong looked uncertain. “Yes. Well.”

Wang Zheng reached over and put her hand on Zhu Hong’s. “We thought he might need them,” she said, raising her chin. “At the Department of Supervision.”

“We all knew he was a spy,” Zhu Hong added, and Ye Zun felt his eyebrows go up. He looked at Shen Wei, who shook his head.

“A spy?” Shen Wei asked.

“Ah!” Zhao Yunlan shook his finger at Zhu Hong, which finally gave Dong Nan the chance to pull the snack out of his pocket. “Not everyone knew! Lin Jing will be pleased.” He looked at Ye Zun. “Lin Jing was originally hired to work in the Department of Supervision labs, and eventually they -- strongly suggested -- that he would be an excellent candidate for the SID.”

He unwrapped a lollipop with more care than it really required. “He was told to watch us. To make sure any scientific discoveries he made were shared with the Department of Supervision first. And to report on whether the SID was demonstrating an overly abundant level of tolerance in its dealings with Dixing and the Yashou.”

“What did you do?”

“I let him, of course!” Zhao Yunlan spread his hands apart. “The SID is an open book; if our superiors wish to know how we spend our days, who are we to stop them?” He almost laughed at the skeptical expression on Shen Wei’s face.

“Truly, Lin Jing was the best option,” Zhao Yunlan said, more seriously. “He was a reluctant spy who enjoyed his work here. We spoke about it after we recovered the Mount-River Awl. Almost dying in a collapsing mountain gave him the urge to confess everything.”

“He wasn’t a very good spy,” Wang Zheng said calmly. “But he is a good teammate, and a good friend. Zhu Hong’s plan will work.”

“Xiao Guo needed backup more than we needed a scientist,” Zhu Hong explained. “So I fired him. Now he’s reverse-spying for us, and Chu Shuzhi is less likely to do something stupid like break into the Department of Supervision and steal Xiao Guo back.”

She sounded like that had been an actual possibility at some point, and Zhao Yunlan nodded. “Good work. Now -- what’s next?”


Chapter 37: Zhao Yunlan

The SID was never completely dark. Even with all the lights turned off, there was still enough of an ambient glow to navigate around the building. Or possibly that was his new and improved night vision. Or maybe -- and probably the most likely -- not all the lights were off. There were certainly enough people around to make that an option.

When they’d arrived back from Dixing, he had three separate messages on his phone from concerned neighbors, saying that strangers had been asking about him ‘and those nice boys next door.’ There was no indication of who, but the neighbors would have mentioned if it had been a government official. Or, worse, his father.

Still, it made sense to lay low until they had a better understanding of the situation. And since Ye Zun was only mostly confident that he’d resolved their energy sharing issues for the moment, laying low inside the SID’s shield made the most sense.

It had also been an unexpectedly educational experience in why he was constantly needing to buy new warm blankets for the apartment.

“Is this my blanket?” He shook out the blanket on top of the pile -- it definitely looked familiar.

Da Qing snatched it out of his hand. “You mean my blanket? Yes, it is.”

“Why are we doing this in the dark?” Ye Zun asked. “That seems counterproductive if you’re trying to identify things.”

“We can all see in the dark,” Da Qing said. “Not that I would need to, just to identify my own blanket.”

“We’re trying to be polite, and not disturb the others,” Zhao Yunlan said, shaking out the next blanket in the stack. It also looked like his, but he wisely kept it to himself. Everyone else wisely didn’t mention that if they really wanted to be polite, they probably shouldn’t be talking so loudly.

Not everyone had stayed -- Zhang Danni had gone home to Jia Hui, and taken Cong Bo with her. And Li Qian and her grandmother had promised to bring breakfast for everyone in the morning. But Dong Nan hadn’t left at the end of the day, and Chu Shuzhi had stayed to watch her. And then Mi Lu had stayed to watch him, and Wang Zheng and Sang Zan were always there anyway. He would have called it a sleepover if Chu Shuzhi hadn’t looked like he might murder him in his sleep if he did.

He’d called it a pajama party instead, and been grateful he’d been able to hide behind Shen Wei right afterwards. Also that he’d be sleeping behind the closed door of his office, with three people who had a vested interest in keeping him alive. Well, two people. Da Qing was still cranky that they were disturbing his blanket pile.

“Here,” he said, handing out the rest of the blankets. “All of these should be clean.” He tossed the softest one on Da Qing’s lap as an apology.

“It’s a start,” Da Qing sniffed. “I suppose at least now everyone knows the minimum standard, for any future purchases that might be made.”

As if he wasn’t going to end up curled on top of them by the end of the night anyway.

Luckily, they had never bothered to move all their camping equipment back to the apartment after the trip to the mountains, so they wouldn’t be sleeping on the office floor. Not as comfortable as an actual bed, but certainly better than many nights they’d spent on the rocky ground in the past. He presented it with a flourish. “Ta-da!”

Shen Wei smiled. “I’m sure it will be fine.”

“At least one of us is,” Da Qing muttered. He shifted into his cat form and stalked out of the room.

“I’ll go after him,” Zhao Yunlan said immediately. They’d had years of practice in stepping on each other’s feelings and working it out. Rule number one — when someone walked away, you went after them.

Ye Zun put a hand on his shoulder. “Let me?” he asked.

He met Ye Zun’s gaze and tried to guess what he was thinking. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Ye Zun nodded. “We — talked about this, in this past. I was the one who walked away then; he talked me through it.”

He hesitated. “Zhao Yunlan,” Ye Zun said. “Trust me. Trust us, to be in this together.”

Put like that, there was only one answer he could give. “Please.” He reached out as Ye Zun moved past him. “Ask him to tell you about the night I graduated.” Ye Zun nodded again, and grabbed the blanket on the way out.

“What happened the night you graduated?” Shen Wei asked.

He really should have expected that. “Ah, Shen Wei, I don’t suppose there’s any way you could forget you heard that?”

“I could,” Shen Wei said, all mild agreeability. It was more effective than the most ruthless questioning.

He rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t even talked about it with Da Qing since that night. “I can tell you. But it’s not a very good story.” That wasn’t it, exactly, so he tried again. “It’s a story that doesn’t make me look like the person I want to be for you.”

Shen Wei moved closer — close enough that Zhao Yunlan could see his expression, even in the dim light. See it, but not interpret it. “Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei said. “The only person I want you to be is you.”

“I’m not Kunlun,” he said. He remembered the admiration in Shen Wei’s voice from the pillar, and the stars in his eyes in the past, even after he knew the truth. “I have no idea what I’m doing, Shen Wei. Something is coming, and I don’t know what it is. If I can’t figure it out, I don’t know how I can protect the people I love.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He felt Shen Wei’s hands close over his wrists. “Do you know when I first knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you? When I saw you sitting on that sidewalk, halfway to unconscious, and insisting your team deserved better.” He leaned even closer, touching their foreheads together. “I know who you are, Zhao Yunlan. I see you. We don’t want better -- we just want you.”

He let the touch ground him, and let the words settle something in his heart. He breathed a little easier. “I see you too. Is this the part where you say it will all be easier in the morning?”

It startled a laugh out of Shen Wei, and his heart settled even more. “Most things are,” Shen Wei said. “Go to sleep, Zhao Yunlan.”

He woke up only once, during the hours when it was too early to bother looking at the time. “Go back to sleep,” Ye Zun mumbled.

But the idea that had been tumbling around in his head suddenly crystallized, and he felt wide awake. “Someone should shoot me.”

Ye Zun lifted his head enough to blink sleepily at him. “No.”

“For science,” he clarified. “We should find out if the dark energy gun affects me now.”

“No.”

Shen Wei muttered something in his sleep, or maybe he was awake too, because he rolled over and put his arm over Zhao Yunlan’s chest, and tucked his head against his shoulder. And he still felt ready to leap up and start experimenting right away, but -- maybe he could rest a while longer after all.


Chapter 38: Zhao Yunlan

The bright spot of the morning was seeing Shen Wei wear one of his sweatshirts as he exchanged recipes with Li Qian’s grandmother. He’d tried to get Ye Zun to wear one too, but ten thousand years without a circadian rhythm hadn’t turned Ye Zun into a morning person -- he still had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders like he could will himself back to bed if he just tried hard enough.

Zhao Yunlan wasn’t doing much better, but he was at least pretending to be awake enough to care about breakfast when Lao Li announced they had a guest.

“Da Qing!”

The newcomer bounded across the floor and grabbed Da Qing in a hug, which he returned enthusiastically, and then she pushed him away, glaring. “What did you do?” She looked back and forth between him and Da Qing. “You bound yourself to a human, Da Qing? Really?”

Da Qing hissed. “Da Ji! You promised you’d be nice to him.”

She looked at him again. “This is the guy?” Zhao Yunlan gave her a tiny wave. “He doesn’t look ten thousand years old to me. Are you sure?”

“Da Ji.” Da Qing rolled his eyes. “I’m sure. Look again.”

Zhao Yunlan wondered if he was being insulted. Then again, it was Da Qing. Of course he was being insulted.

But Da Ji’s eyes widened slightly, before she narrowed them again and looked more carefully around the room. “Three of them?” she said finally.

“Package deal,” Da Qing replied smugly. “Why are you here? Have you heard anything?”

Da Ji scoffed. “Cats hear everything. But I’m not one of your messengers, you know. Don’t you have kittens for this sort of thing?”

Da Qing scratched the side of his neck. “They’re busy.”

“Busy,” Da Ji repeated, and Da Qing gave her an innocently wide-eyed look. It was as effective on her as it was on the rest of them, and she sighed. “Fine. The unallied Yashou want to know what the SID is planning to do about the spaceships.”

“Who’s that?” Dong Nan asked. “Why don’t they go to the Council?”

Dong Nan’s innocent expression was almost as effective as Da Qing’s. Da Ji looked from her to Zhu Hong, and then to Da Qing, who pretended to be busy eating. “Not all Yashou are represented by the Council, nor do they wish to participate in it,” Da Ji said. “Many Yashou prefer not to spend time in a human form, given that humans are generally tedious, and selfish, and --”

Da Qing cut her off. “Enough. There are plenty of reasons why Yashou choose not to be involved with the Council.” He looked at Dong Nan. “Ask Da Ji again later? Can we get back to the spaceships for now?”

Dong Nan nodded. Behind Da Ji’s back, Zhao Yunlan saw Chu Shuzhi give her a thumbs up, and he had to cover up his smile with a cough. He wasn’t sure what the deception had been for, but they’d pulled it off well.

“Are these new spaceships?” Shen Wei asked.

“Of course not,” Da Ji said, waving her hand. “New spaceships are a human problem. The old ships are waking up, they say. Lights, noises -- they want to know why, and if it’s going to keep going.”

Ye Zun looked up. “Which old spaceships?”

“All of them,” Da Ji answered, as if it was obvious. “All the ones we know about, anyway. And I don’t see how any of the ones we don’t know about matter at this point. So? Is the SID going to do something about it?”

“Yes,” Zhao Yunlan said. “We’re working on it. You said new spaceships are a human problem. ‘Are’ or ‘would be’?”

Chu Shuzhi’s expression was pure skepticism. “You think the explanation for these mysteries is aliens, flying around in spaceships?”

He held up his hand and counted off facts on his fingers. “We know aliens came to this planet over ten thousand years ago. We know that four powerful artifacts of alien origin that have been reunited. And we know that spaceships of alien origin have been activated.” He spread his hands apart. “Aliens are the common link. I’m open to other theories.”

Chu Shuzhi scowled at him, but said nothing. It was Mi Lu who asked, “But if more aliens have come to this planet, why haven’t we heard anything about it? Maybe they haven’t arrived yet?”

He reminded himself that he’d dealt with supernatural creatures of every variety, and time traveled through a wormhole -- twice! -- and that there was no reason to feel ridiculous suggesting a theory about aliens just because it matched up with the plot of a sci-fi movie. “If I flew a spaceship to an alien planet,” he said carefully. “And used my advanced technology to observe the planet’s residents before saying hello, it seems possible that I would decide to begin my negotiations with the highest level of leadership I could access.”

Zhu Hong spoke first. “You think aliens may be here, in Haixing, brokering a deal with the Haixing Inspectorate?”

He shrugged. “Or in Dixing. Or both.” He didn’t want to be right.

Mi Lu was nodding, though. “It would explain why the Department of Supervision has been ignoring us. And why no one is supposed to go there without an appointment now.”

“What do aliens want with you, though?” Da Ji asked.

“Resources,” Ye Zun said immediately.

“Peaceful exploration?” Shen Wei countered.

They exchanged glances, and Zhao Yunlan sighed. “The Hallows.” They were clearly destined to be an enormous hassle at all points of his life; why not this one too? “I think it’s time for us to find out what the Department of Supervision knows. We need more information.”

“We haven’t heard anything from Lin Jing or Guo Changcheng,” Zhu Hong said. “And you don’t have an appointment.”

Zhao Yunlan smiled. “True! But you said Deputy Minister Guo wanted to see me. I’d say that means we can show up without an appointment, don’t you think?”


Chapter 39: Shen Wei

It wasn’t that he’d expected their visit to go smoothly, but he definitely thought they’d get past the front door before running into any serious issues.

“New security measures, of course!” Zhao Yunlan was already laughing and joking with the guards. He should have anticipated that the new dark energy detectors installed in the Department of Supervision’s security checkpoint would react to Zhao Yunlan. He’d quickly shielded them both from registering on the devices, but ‘policy’ required the guards to call a supervisor to approve their entrance.

“We’re very sorry, Chief Zhao,” the guard said earnestly. “I’m not sure why it wasn’t working correctly at first.”

“This new technology always has a few bugs to work out,” Zhao Yunlan assured him. “We’re happy to wait here as long as necessary!”

That part, at least, was true. He and Zhao Yunlan were mainly serving as a distraction, while Ye Zun and Chu Shuzhi checked in with their other team members. Mi Lu and Zhu Hong, along with Da Qing and Da Ji, were searching the building for Sha Ya and the other missing Dixingians -- it was unlikely any of them were there, but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

It wasn’t more than a few minutes before he could hear someone hurrying towards them. “Ah, Deputy Minister Guo!” Zhao Yunlan exclaimed, waving cheerily. “Just as you requested, I’ve come to see you.”

Deputy Minister Guo didn’t look pleased to see them. He looked between Zhao Yunlan and the guards with a nervousness put Shen Wei on high alert. “Of course, of course,” he said. “Chief Zhao and his guest are my guests today,” he told the guards. “A last minute meeting.”

The guards seemed more than happy to put the responsibility in someone else’s hands, and Deputy Minister Guo ushered them quickly down the hallway to his office.

“Chief Zhao, what are you doing here?” Minister Guo asked, as soon as the door was closed. “Why did you come?”

Zhao Yunlan spread his hands apart. “You asked to speak with me -- of course I would come. Is this a bad time?” He looked around. “Are we interrupting something?” Shen Wei had to forcibly stop himself from rolling his eyes.

Minister Guo leaned forward. “That was before,” he said quietly. “It’s not a good idea for you to be here now. Minister Gao has returned.”

“Ah,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Returned from where?”

“From the negotiations -- didn’t your father tell you?”

He could feel Zhao Yunlan tense next to him. “I haven’t seen him recently.”

“Deputy Minister Guo!” Minister Gao strode into the room. “Chief Zhao, excellent timing. And this must be Ye Zun, correct? Your cultural consultant?”

“Culture and history,” Shen Wei said mildly.

“Yes, of course. I haven’t had a chance to read the latest reports, with everything that’s been going on. Deputy Minister Guo hasn’t given you the good news yet, I take it?”

Zhao Yunlan shifted slightly in his chair, like he was preparing to fight, or run. “Not yet, no. What good news?”

“Why, that you’ll be able to retire soon! These last few weeks, we’ve been hosting ambassadors from the planet that Dixingians originally came from. Their people have been looking for them for so long.”

“Oh really?” Zhao Yunlan shifted again, closer to him. “Will they be meeting with Dixing’s leaders as well, then?”

“Even better,” Minister Gao proclaimed, while Deputy Minister Guo looked like he was trying to disappear into his seat. “They’ll be inviting them to go home!”

“Inviting,” Zhao Yunlan repeated. “What if they don’t want to leave?”

Minister Gao ignored the chill in his voice. “Why wouldn’t they want to go home? Their planet is beautiful; much nicer than Dixing. And their powers will all be completely normal there, so they won’t be a danger to anyone like they are here. It’s the best course of action for everyone, especially--”

He cut himself off, like he’d only just realized that his audience wasn’t reacting the way he wanted them to. “Especially?” Zhao Yunlan prompted.

Minister Gao cleared his throat. “Yes, well. The ambassadors will be reclaiming their property, as well. The Hallows. My understanding is that Dixing will be -- less habitable, without them.” He paused, and then added, “Chief Zhao, I can assure you -- while the SID will no longer be needed, your remaining team members will certainly be re-assigned as appropriate.”

“Except for the half of them you’ve agreed can be forcibly removed!” Zhao Yunlan practically leaped out of his chair. “We have a treaty! The Hallows are not yours to give!!”

“The ambassadors provided proof of ownership,” Minister Gao said. “We’re not giving the Hallows to anyone; we’re allowing a prior claim to take precedence in a way that guarantees the safety of Haixing.”

Zhao Yunlan threw his hands up. “Why would you believe them, over people you’ve known for years? Your allies and neighbors? Because they promised you what you wanted to hear?”

“Chief Zhao,” Minister Gao said sternly. “Your opinion is unnecessary at this time. While the Department of Supervision appreciates your efforts these past years, the Haixing Inspectorate has made their decision. This is a Dixing matter. There won’t be any need for you to be involved further.”

Shen Wei’s hands had tightened into fists. He could feel Zhao Yunlan’s concern, but he couldn’t focus enough to reassure him. The path the ‘negotiations’ had taken was clear. The ambassadors had come for the Hallows, and had made whatever promises necessary to gain Haixing’s agreement.

Zhao Yunlan spoke quietly. “You say this is a Dixing matter. I say there is no such thing. Anything that affects Dixing people also affects Haixing people. We have never been separate.”

Deputy Minister Guo finally spoke up again. “Chief Zhao,” he said hesitantly. “There is nothing that can be done at this point. The decisions have been made. Will you still help to keep the peace during this time?”

“The SID’s purpose is to protect people.” Zhao Yunlan looked pointedly at Minister Gao. “You can shut us down, but you can’t stop us from doing our job.”

Shen Wei felt Zhao Yunlan urging him up, and out of the room, and he followed along without a word. He felt like his mind was going in a hundred directions at once, but also like there was a vast, echoing chasm opening up inside him. All of his control was focused on not falling in.

Deputy Minister Guo followed them into the hall. “What are you going to do?” he asked.

Zhao Yunlan’s hand was on his arm, he realized, because it tightened when he turned around. “I’ll do what I need to do to protect people. All people.”

And then they were moving again. “Keep breathing,” Zhao Yunlan said quietly. “It freaks me out when you stop.”

He didn’t want Zhao Yunlan to worry about him. He thought about breathing — in, out, repeat — until his brother’s energy wrapped around him. “What did you do to him?”

“We found out what the Department of Supervision has been keeping from us,” Zhao Yunlan said. “We need to get back to the SID.”

“We were just waiting on you,” someone said.

“Need to get back like ‘let’s walk to the cars,’ or need to get back like ‘forget subtlety and open a portal’?”

That was definitely Ye Zun. “I can walk,” he said.

“Portal it is.”

As soon as they were inside the SID’s shield, Zhao Yunlan’s arms were around him, and his brother was wrapped around them both. “You were amazing,” Zhao Yunlan said. “You held it together when I was ready to rip them apart. I looked at you and I knew.”

He wasn’t sure he’d done anything except sit and breathe, but the echoing ringing in his ears was finally fading. The others seemed willing to wait for more information, or possibly Ye Zun prodded them to talk first.

“Lin Jing talked himself into a research lab and requested Guo Changcheng as his assistant,” Chu Shuzhi said. “Since he already has familiarity with alien technology. They’re both fine. They want to know how they can help.”

“As far as we could tell, the Department of Supervision hasn’t detained anyone in months,” Zhu Hong reported. “But Haixing people have been going missing too. The same as we’ve heard -- they just disappeared, like they went out one day and never came back.”

“They’re nervous,” Mi Lu agreed. “The people we talked to said their superiors will only tell them to stay calm; they don’t know what’s going on.”

“Well, we didn’t find anything.” Da Ji crossed her arms. “And I still think this was more fun when we were on the other side of the law.”

Zhao Yunlan was leaning on Shen Wei, but he gave a tiny laugh at Da Ji’s words. “I have good news for you, then!”


Chapter 40: Shen Wei

“You are absolutely not going to Dixing alone.”

Ye Zun waved towards the main room, which was already crowded with their allies. “Everyone else is needed here.”

“You’re needed here!” He was trying to keep his voice quiet, but he didn’t think he was succeeding.

“Not more than we need to know what’s happening in Dixing.” Ye Zun stepped closer and put a hand on his arm. “You know I’m right about this.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You’re right, but you don’t need to go alone. I’m going with you.”

Zhao Yunlan slipped into the office and shut the door behind him. “I hate this plan, by the way. I don’t like any of us splitting up; not with things so uncertain. But!” He shook his finger at them. “Better together than alone.”

They left immediately. The streets of Dixing were quiet, nearly deserted, and they made it to the Palace unchallenged. It felt like a trap, and he was prepared to be surrounded by guards the instant they set foot inside. Instead, a single person emerged from the shadows. Not the Regent, but the Palace Archivist.

“Could it be?” the Archivist said smoothly. “The brothers of legend returned to life, at long last. I expected you sooner, given our -- most honored guests.” He pointed at the ceiling. Or the sky, Shen Wei realized. “Oh yes,” the Archivist said. “I’m aware of the presence of the ambassadors. If you wanted your voices to be heard, I’m afraid you’re much too late for that. They’ve agreed to give us what you traded away, all those years ago.”

“Which is?” Ye Zun asked.

“Our freedom, of course.” The Palace archivist swept a hand out to the side in a vague gesture that could have meant anything. “We give them the Hallows; they give us Haixing.”

He exchanged a startled glance with Ye Zun, and the Archivist frowned at him, like he’d expected a different reaction. Shen Wei said, “What about all the people living in Haixing?”

“The ambassadors have assured me they won’t be there for much longer,” the Archivist said, waving his hand again. “How that happens is of no consequence to me.” His expression turned calculating. “There’s still time, you know.”

He took a deep breath. He wanted to shout that the ‘ambassadors’ were lying -- were probably lying to Haixing and Dixing both, playing them against each other. But they needed as much information as they could get, and that meant playing along. “Time for what?”

“Renounce Haixing,” the Archivist said. “Stand with Dixing, with your people.” He focused on Ye Zun. “I’ve read the histories -- this is what you wanted! What you fought for!”

“I did,” Ye Zun answered calmly. “Ten thousand years ago, I thought Dixingians should rule over Haixing. I fought my own brother over that belief. I’ve had a very long time to think about those choices.”

He was performing for someone -- and not the Archivist. Shen Wei carefully reached out with his energy, and realized they were surrounded by curious eavesdroppers. A few were Palace Guards, but there were plenty of others as well. Perhaps the streets hadn’t been as empty as they’d appeared.

Ye Zun raised his voice slightly. “Dixing and Haixing are two worlds, but we are one people. My brother and I have been to Haixing, and seen the people who call it home. We call them neighbors, and friends. We call them family. Our people are more alike now than we’ve ever been. Our future lies in cooperation, not separation.”

He looked at the Archivist and smiled. “We will stand with Dixing. But we will not renounce Haixing. We will stand with our people -- all our people.”

The Archivist waved his hand yet again, and Shen Wei realized he was trying to signal someone. Finally he said, “Guards!” Several guards stepped into the room, stopping well back from where Shen Wei and Ye Zun were standing. None of them were ones he recognized. “Escort these two to the gateway. They’ve made their choice.”

He could feel Ye Zun’s surprise -- they’d both been expecting a fight. An armed escort out felt far too easy. “Wait!” Ye Zun said. “Where is the Regent?”

The Archivist gave them a look of false surprise. “He’s retrieving the Hallows, of course. Did you think you had hidden them so well that we wouldn’t be able to find them?

They hadn’t hidden them at all, but it hardly seemed like the moment to bring that up. He waited until they were in sight of the gateway, and turned around. “What’s going on here?”

The guard closest to him smiled. “Ten thousand years, and you don’t recognize a coup when you walk into the middle of one?”

One of the other guards cleared their throat. “It’s a peaceful transition of power. Senior Guard Wu said you’d come, and that we should help you, if we could.”

“In my day we just called it a coup,” the first guard said. “But I’ll grant you it’s been peaceful so far. The old King picked a good one this time.”

She reached out and patted Shen Wei’s arm. “Do you know, I took every child of mine to your pillar before they were born? I figure that makes you a little bit part of our family, and family looks out for each other. You boys go on back to Haixing. When the time comes, Dixing will make you proud.”

Ye Zun tugged him closer, away from any patting hands, and he pretended he wasn’t grateful. “He’s easily impressed,” Ye Zun said. “Make yourselves proud instead.”

They studied the guards, and for once Shen Wei knew exactly what his brother was thinking. They’d made promises to both worlds, and they were all coming due at once. “Are you sure?” he said finally.

The younger guards snapped to attention, and the older one laughed. “We’re sure,” she said. “Go.”

They went -- and nearly ran into Da Qing. It looked like he’d been waiting for them, although Shen Wei wasn’t sure how that was possible. “You’re back!” Da Qing whispered. “Shh.”

Shen Wei looked around, but he couldn’t see anything that would explain a need for quiet. Until Da Qing led them to the front room, where at least half the team was gathered, apparently listening to something happening at the door. Ye Zun pulled Mi Lu aside. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.

“The Department of Supervision announced the existence of the SID at the same time it announced we were being shut down. And there’s a warrant for Chief Zhao’s arrest.” She held up a hand against their immediate protests. “He told us to let him handle it. Chu Shuzhi’s with him, just in case.”

And the rest of them were eavesdropping. He started to ask another question, but stopped when he heard Zhao Yunlan’s voice.

“As you can see, I’m right here where I said I would be.”

Whoever he was talking to sounded skeptical. “Where is everyone else?”

“The Special Investigations Department was shut down,” Zhao Yunlan said easily. “Why would there be anyone else here?”

“I heard voices.”

“Oh? Didn’t anyone tell you? The SID is haunted.”

There was a pause, or maybe words that were too quiet for them to hear. And then Zhao Yunlan said, “Well, I’m obviously not going to go out there, and you’re not going to come in here. What about house arrest?”

“House arrest?”

“Excellent idea! I accept. Make sure you watch the back door too!”

He was smiling when he saw them all hovering, but it looked tense. When he waved everyone back into the main room, he pulled Shen Wei aside. “Are you all right?”

Why wouldn’t he be all right? “Yes, of course. What happened?”

“You tell me! As soon as you went to Dixing, I could feel you thinking about it being a trap. I could feel it when someone touched you and you didn’t like it. And then I did this.” He held up his hand between them, and dark energy flickered in his palm. “I thought maybe the Longevity Dial was doing something to you.” He frowned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

He reached out to touch the energy without thinking, and Zhao Yunlan startled. He pulled his hand back. “I apologize.”

“I guarantee that you’re forgiven, even though I have no idea what you’re apologizing for. Did you expect this to happen? What was that, what you just did?” He wiggled his fingers.

He’d expected it might happen when they first used the Longevity Dial. When it hadn’t, he’d stopped planning for this conversation, which had clearly been a mistake. “Not -- exactly. It’s possible this is an effect of the Longevity Dial balancing our energies.”

“Possible,” Zhao Yunlan repeated.

“Likely.” He looked away, but couldn’t help looking back to see Zhao Yunlan’s reaction.

“Shen Wei,” Zhao Yunlan said gently. “Why does it seem like I’m the one getting all the benefits out of this situation? Not only is my eyesight returned, now I get to share your powers? What is it that you get? Is this hurting you? Making you weaker?”

He grasped Zhao Yunlan’s hand, ignoring the energy that sparked between them. “Zhao Yunlan. You could never make us weaker.” He took a step closer, and Zhao Yunlan wrapped his arms around him. “You want to know what we get? We get you,” he said. “We get to keep you. As you are; as you were. As you will be.”

Zhao Yunlan’s voice was muffled against his shoulder. “Is that enough?”

“More than enough.”


Chapter 41: Zhao Yunlan

At least there was no applause when they rejoined the group -- he nodded his thanks to Ye Zun, who smirked back at him. He dropped onto the sofa and pulled Shen Wei down next to him. “You’ve already covered what happened in Dixing?” he said. “Good. We have alien ambassadors who told Haixing leaders that they’d get rid of all Dixing people, and told Dixing leaders that they’d get rid of all Haixing people. Thoughts?”

“They’re lying to someone,” Mi Lu said. “Or everyone. Or they’re going to kill all of us.”

Chu Shuzhi leaned back in his chair. “I think either way they get the Hallows.”

“I think I’m insulted they didn’t approach the Yashou,” Zhu Hong said, and then rolled her eyes when everyone stared at her. “What? Maybe we wanted to be in charge. They didn’t even ask!”

Ye Zun shook his head. “We still don’t know if these -- ambassadors -- are actually capable of fulfilling their threats. If they have the power to wipe out or remove all of Dixing or Haixing, why negotiate with anyone?”

“It may not matter if they have the power to do it or not -- we’re more than capable of wiping each other out.” Zhao Yunlan spread his hands apart. “Which could explain why the Yashou weren’t approached; too neutral. If Dixing and Haixing go to war, the ambassadors wouldn’t have to do anything -- just wait it out in their spaceship, and pluck the Hallows and anything else they want out of the rubble when it’s over.”

“Are we sure it’s not two different groups of aliens?” Da Qing scratched the side of his neck. “‘Ambassadors’ is pretty vague; it’s not like we have their names to compare.”

It was a good thing Da Qing had decided to sit on the table -- it put him within easy swatting distance. “Are you trying to make things harder for us, Damn Cat? What are the odds that two sets of aliens showed up at the same time?”

All the phones around the table suddenly chimed at once. He tapped at the unfamiliar alert, and a very familiar voice said, ”Are you sure that worked? Chief Zhao?”

Chu Shuzhi jumped. “Guo Changcheng? Is that you?”

”And Lin Jing!” came a second familiar voice. ”Intrepid scientists and researchers, and also a little bit pirates!”

A siren passed by on the street outside, and he heard it echo out of the phone speaker. “What? Where are you?”

”Right now? Well, we were trying to hover, but Xiao Guo hasn’t quite got the flight controls figured out. So we’re flying in very small circles instead. Right over you, actually. Don’t worry, though, the invisibility controls were much more intuitive.”

It wasn’t as reassuring as Lin Jing seemed to think it would be. “Did you steal a spaceship?” Zhu Hong asked.

”We borrowed it,” Lin Jing said quickly. ”Commandeered, at most. The Xingdu Bureau practically told us to! ‘Find the ship the ambassadors arrived in, Lin Jing.’ And what’s the easiest way to find a spaceship? Use another spaceship to look for it!”

He could feel Shen Wei nodding next to him, so he looked at Ye Zun, who shrugged. It made a certain amount of sense, he supposed.

“Also, we figured out listening before we figured out how to connect to the phones, so I have an answer to your question. Consider this! What are the odds that even one set of aliens showed up? Infinitesimally small!”

Mi Lu frowned at the ceiling. “Are you saying that since the odds of one set of aliens showing up is so small, statistically speaking it’s no different than the odds of two sets of aliens?”

“No! I mean, yes, that’s true, but no, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying, what if there’s not even one set of aliens?”

He dropped the pen he’d been fiddling with. “Lin Jing, do you have any evidence for this theory, or does the Department of Supervision pay you to slack off and make things up?”

”Hey, you can’t threaten to take my bonus away for napping on the job anymore. But also yes, we have evidence. There’s no ship.”

“What are you talking about?” Da Qing said. “You just said you’re in a ship!”

“We are in a ship. An old ship. Really old; it’s amazing it flies at all.”

They heard Guo Changcheng’s startled exclamation in the background. “What?”

“Forget I said that!” Lin Jing said quickly. ”It’s very safe; one hundred percent! But there’s no new ship.”

“Are you sure?” Shen Wei asked.

“Am I sure? We’ve been in this ship scanning every object from here to the moon — and when you said the spaceships that landed here were smaller than the one on the moon, I really don’t think that captured the scope of the size differential — for days, trying to figure out if we’re all going to be destroyed by a giant space laser. No sleep! And now you want to know if I’m sure?” There was a pause, probably so he could breathe, and then Lin Jing said, “Yes. I’m sure.”

Da Qing made a face. “But if the ambassadors don’t have a spaceship, where did they come from?”

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. “If they’re not ambassadors, they don’t have to have come from anywhere. They could be anyone with a mask and good acting skills.”

”Um, Chief Zhao?” Guo Changcheng sounded hesitant. ”They don’t wear masks.”

He could feel his eyebrows going up. “You’ve seen them?”

”We both have,” Lin Jing answered. ”I only caught a glimpse, but Xiao Guo is right -- they didn’t wear masks to their meetings with the Haixing Inspectorate.”

So they were convinced facial recognition wouldn’t identify them. It was a clue, but it wasn’t enough. It had to all fit together somehow.

Zhu Hong held up a hand. “I still have a question. How did any of this lead to you stealing a spaceship?”

”Commandeering!” Lin Jing said.

“Fine. How did any of this lead you to commandeering a spaceship?”

”While we were looking for the new ship, we were also looking for the people who’ve been reported missing. And when we found all the old ships, we figured out where the missing people went. So we thought we’d go rescue them.” There was a pause, and then Lin Jing added, “Please say you want to help, because neither of us actually knows how to do that.”


Chapter 42: Zhao Yunlan

They were searching the forest on foot. Some of them were on foot, at least. “I can’t help noticing you’re still finding excuses to get out of field work,” he said.

Lin Jing’s voice came through easily on his earpiece. ”These sensors are calibrated to the size of a solar system. The fact that they can narrow the location down to less than a few city blocks is a miracle.”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that you took off in that spaceship without knowing how to land it?”

”That -- is not entirely untrue,” Lin Jing said. ”However! We all make sacrifices in the name of science! And ours is to only be able to assist in this search from the air.”

He could hear Guo Changcheng’s voice in the background, probably talking to Chu Shuzhi. He knew Lin Jing was worried about him -- something had happened beyond what they’d shared, but he had to trust that they were handling it.

“Over here!” Zhang Danni called. He hurried over to where she was excitedly pointing at nothing. A particularly shimmery nothing. “Cong Bo just disappeared into it!” she said.

“Lin Jing, can you confirm if we’re looking at the ship? What about turning off its invisibility?”

”You want me to use unknown alien technology to break into other unknown alien technology, in order to turn off an invisibility program we only just now figured out how to turn on? Ah -- do you need me to turn it back on afterwards?”

“Would breaking it be easier than turning it off?”

”Almost always, yes.”

He waved his hand at the shimmer. “Who’s stopping you?”

He tuned out Lin Jing’s muttering while the rest of the team gathered, and would forever deny that he jumped when Lin Jing suddenly said, ”Got it! I think. Can you see the ship now?”

“We see part of a ship,” Mi Lu said.

”Right, that makes sense -- not all of the ship is aboveground.”

He thought that was perhaps overstating things. Unless the ship was tiny, practically none of it was aboveground. All they could see a hole that most closely resembled an open bulkhead into an underground shed. It was hardly impressive. “Could all the missing people truly have stumbled over this one spot in the middle of a forest?” They weren’t even near a trail.

“Isn’t this near where the Xingda Real Estate Project was proposed? I remember we looked into it for connections to some of the missing persons cases.”

Zhang Danni shrugged. “Cong Bo found it. He walked straight to it.”

”It’s possible it created some sort of instinctive reaction,” Lin Jing said. ”We’ve, ah, noticed that with this ship too.”

“What possible purpose would a feature like that have?” Mi Lu asked.

“I don’t feel anything,” Da Qing said, poking the doorway curiously.

”Well, no, I probably broke it along with the invisibility. And it would be useful for not losing your invisible spaceship.”

“Did you break the door too?” Zhao Yunlan asked.

”What? No; it should be open.”

“It is open,” he said. “So why didn’t anyone just -- come back out?”

They all looked at the doorway more warily. Ye Zun twisted his palm, and a glowing ball of energy floated through it. It wasn’t a long drop, and the light stayed hovering at the bottom. “We’re not going to find out anything else standing around up here,” Ye Zun said. “And now we have reason to believe that dark energy powers will work inside the ship.”

“Lin Jing, are you picking up anything from Cong Bo’s phone?”

“His three phones? Not anymore.”

So they were likely to lose contact. Logically, it made sense to split up the team, but he doubted any of them would agree to stay behind. Or manage to stay out of trouble if they did. “Is anyone staying here?” he asked. They were not. “Right. Lin Jing, if we don’t come back, you know what to do.”

There was only one way to go once they had all made their way down, and they headed down the tunnel as a group. Cong Bo was nowhere to be seen. “Have we not told him to stay put when he gets lost?” Zhu Hong muttered.

Shen Wei, who had snuck into the lead when Zhao Yunlan was distracted, suddenly stopped. “We’re in Dixing,” he said.

“The ship itself must form a gateway between the worlds.”

That explained why Da Qing’s kittens hadn’t been able to find them, at least. He tapped his earpiece. “Lin Jing?” No reply. “Can we go back the same way?”

They backtracked to the entrance, but the tunnel now showed a dead-end -- no open doorway to a Haixing forest in sight. “I guess we know why people didn’t just turn around and come back.”

He looked at Shen Wei. “Portals?”

“There’s nothing blocking our powers here,” Shen Wei answered. “We can leave at any time.” He frowned. “I don’t understand why people wouldn’t have chosen to exit the ship and make their way through Dixing.”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to imagine Cong Bo wandering around Dixing unsupervised. “We’ll keep looking.” They were more cautious as they headed down the tunnel for a third time, moving quickly and quietly.

“It’s getting hotter,” Zhu Hong said. “Can you feel that?”

“I do,” Da Qing confirmed.

“I thought this ship was supposed to be small,” Zhang Danni said.

“Relatively speaking, this is small,” Ye Zun answered.

Shen Wei stopped again. “Someone’s up ahead,” he said quietly. “I hear voices. Cong Bo is one of them.”

The amount of light their group was casting should have given them away long before they turned the corner, but Cong Bo, at least, looked surprised to see them. “Chief Zhao!” he said brightly. “I found the missing people!”

The person he’d been talking with shook her head. “More like we found you.”

He pointed at her. “Sha Ya!” He recognized her picture from the board. “Hua Yuzhu will be very glad to know you’re all right. Are you all right?”

She shrugged. “No one’s dead. We figured out food and water pretty quickly. It could have been worse.” She nodded at Cong Bo. “He says you can get us out of here. Is that true?”

“Of course!” He made a show of looking around. “We should probably rescue everyone at once, don’t you think?”

“Everyone else is this way,” Sha Ya said. “We’ve been working on a few plans, but no one’s been able to figure out how to get back to Haixing.” She seemed to anticipate the next question, and he wondered if she’d done this introduction before. “We can’t get into Dixing either. We’re inside the volcano -- that’s why it’s so hot.”

The temperature seemed to increase as they walked, but eventually he could see light from up ahead, and hear people talking. Sha Ya stopped them before they reached the entrance. “You’re sure you can get us out?” she asked. “Because we’ve heard it before, and I’m not getting everyone’s hopes up again if you’re guessing.”

He nodded. “You have my word.”

“I don’t even know you,” Sha Ya said. “But fine.” She moved ahead, into a large space that was more crowded than he’d expected, and whistled loudly. “Everyone get your things and line up! We’re leaving!”

He leaned closer to Shen Wei. “Remind me to give her the recruitment pitch when this is over.”

“Zhao Yunlan!” One person broke away from the orderly group and rushed in their direction. He squinted through the dim light to see who it was.

And then Sha Ya stepped in front of him, and lightning crackled between her fingers. He sighed. “It’s fine,” he said. “He’s my father.”

“Really?” Sha Ya looked back and forth between them. “Sorry.” It wasn’t clear whether she was apologizing for stepping between them, or for the fact they were related. He mentally awarded her an extra bonus.

“Zhao Yunlan! What were you thinking, putting yourself in danger like this?”

He spread his hands apart. “I was thinking ‘I should do my job, and rescue a bunch of people from a spaceship inside a volcano,’” he said. “What were you thinking?”

“I was coming to warn you!”

“In the forest? I wasn’t there.” He raised his eyebrows, and his father, for once in his life, looked uncomfortable. He added, “But we heard it all from Minister Gao himself, so you can consider us informed.”

His father looked like he was going to say something else, but finally he just nodded, and moved back towards the rest of the group. Shen Wei put a hand on his arm. “I can open the portal whenever you’re ready,” he said quietly.

He let the touch ground him, and he looked at Sha Ya. “We’re ready,” she confirmed.

“Of course!” He gestured grandly as he felt Shen Wei’s power building. “After you!”


Chapter 43: Ye Zun

Stepping into the sunlight, it felt like he could finally draw a full breath for the first time since they’d crossed into Dixing. He turned his face towards the sky and closed his eyes.

“Are you all right?” Da Qing nudged their shoulders together. “You felt -- maybe not all right, before.”

“The volcano was a surprise,” he said.

“And you don’t like surprises,” Da Qing answered. Ye Zun clearly didn’t do a good enough job hiding his reaction, because the next thing he said was, “What? I remember the important things.”

“Remembering whether someone likes surprises is important?”

“Of course! And exactly how many presents Lao Zhao still owes me. A lot, if you were wondering.”

“What’s he doing now?”

Da Qing hummed. “Real estate,” he said. And then, “Oh, you mean right now? He’s still talking to Lin Jing. Something about the Department of Supervision, and the ambassadors going to the -- oh! They’re here.”

His eyes snapped open. After everything they’d done, suddenly the ambassadors wanted a face-to-face meeting? Maybe the ship had been more than an accidental trap. They moved to stand with Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei, even as the rest of the SID hurried to evacuate the civilians.

There were four of them -- they shimmered into sight next to the ship, and he couldn’t help wondering if they’d been there the entire time, invisibly observing. “Creepy,” Da Qing muttered quietly.

He thought he understood some of Lin Jing’s hesitance in describing them, now that he was looking at them himself. He felt like he should recognize them, even though he was sure he’d never seen them before.

Zhao Yunlan, of course, was undeterred. “Hello!” he exclaimed. “What should we call you? Now that you’re here, and we’re here, we should be able to exchange ultimatums with courtesy, don’t you think?”

“We have no names.”

They were all the same height, he realized. Or they were using some sort of illusion to alter their appearance.

Zhao Yunlan just nodded. “That is exceptionally inconvenient, but I respect your statement! Why are you here?”

“We were called by the activation of the Hallows.”

“Ah, of course, of course! And this is the question we haven’t been able to figure out -- what is it that you want, exactly?”

“We want what you want, Chief Zhao Yunlan. Peace.”

He hoped no one was paying attention to his expression. Zhao Yunlan didn’t bother hiding his own disbelief. “If that’s the case, than you’ve been lying to us.”

“You’ve been lying to us as well. And now you’re stalling for time. Why?”

“Good question! Your presence here impacts more than just us.” He spread his hands out to the sides. “I’m simply making sure everyone has time to arrive.”

Ye Zun tried to look like he knew what Zhao Yunlan was talking about. The ambassadors had no expression at all. Finally, one of them said, “We’ll wait.”

“Thank you,” Shen Wei said, because Mi Lu had already pulled Zhao Yunlan aside.

“We’re not going to be able to keep the civilians out,” she said quietly. “People who saw Ye Zun’s speech started showing up at the SID offering to help, and Wang Zheng’s been sending them all here.”

He frowned. “What speech?”

“At the Palace?” Zhao Yunlan prompted. “Very inspiring! It started spreading almost immediately.” To Mi Lu, he said, “It’s fine; we don’t want to keep them out. Make sure the others have a clear path, and try to keep them calm. Deputize anyone you want. We need this to work.”

“Understood,” Mi Lu said. “Hey, Chief Zhao? We get team dinner after this one, right?”

Zhao Yunlan laughed. “Fair! Yes -- we get through this, then team dinner for everyone.”

Ye Zun angled himself towards Shen Wei. “Do you know what he’s talking about?” Shen Wei shook his head. “Did you know someone recorded what I said at the Palace?”

That got him a tiny shrug. “I thought you knew. I would have recorded it myself if I’d known you were going to make a speech. It was very good.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you so calm right now?”

Shen Wei tilted his head towards the ambassadors. “They don’t want the Hallows,” he murmured. “They are the Hallows.”

Before he could process that, there was a commotion from the direction Mi Lu had gone in. "May I present," Zhao Yunlan said, his voice carrying over the crowd easily. "The leaders of the Allied Yashou Tribes.” Ya Qing strode towards them, flanked by Ying Chun and Zhu Hong’s uncle. Ying Chun waved, and he heard the distinctive rustle of feathers that meant Crow Tribe had arrived en masse to join the onlookers.

Zhao Yunlan spoke again. "Minister Guo Ying,” he announced. “Representing the Haixing Inspectorate. Congratulations on your promotion, Minister."

The former Deputy Minister nodded formally. “Thank you, Chief Zhao.” He hesitated, and then added, “Please tell my nephew I’m proud of him.”

“Tell him yourself,” Zhao Yunlan said, taking out his earpiece and handing it to Minister Guo. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from you.”

He took a step back and raised his voice again. “And finally, Her Majesty, the Queen of Dixing.” There was a rumble of noise from the crowd, but it all sounded approving, and Zhao Yunlan beamed. A very familiar face moved to join the other leaders, flanked as always by An Bai and An Song.

Zhao Yunlan beamed at them. “Royalty suits you, Dan Dan. Good timing."

“Thank you,” she said, and for a second Ye Zun could see the three of them as children again, playing hide and seek around the pillar. Then her expression turned serious, and she looked at the ambassadors. “You stand before us, as manifestations of the four Holy Tools. Is this true?

“It is.”

“Why?”

“We were called.”

Zhao Yunlan sighed loudly, and the ambassador who had spoken looked, suddenly, the tiniest bit sheepish. “A leader activated the Holy Tools in the place of trials,” they tried again, and Zhao Yunlan nodded encouragingly. “Thus beginning the test.”

Ya Qing crossed her arms. “So the Hallows have opinions. The Yashou could have told you that ten thousand years ago.”

“This was a test,” Minister Guo said, somehow managing to make it sound confident and questioning at the same time.

“Did we pass?” someone called out.

The ambassadors faded from view, a hundred thousand golden sparkles fading into the breeze. “Yes,” Ya Qing answered, just as Dan Dan said, “It’s not that kind of test.”

There was a smattering of nervous laughter, and Dan Dan addressed the crowd with ease. “The gateways between our worlds are open, as are the pathways of communication. As long as that remains true, we may disagree, but we will never lose sight of our similarities, and we will find ways to move forward together.”

There was more, but he found himself with an armful of cat when Da Qing decided he’d walked enough for the day. “This could go on for hours. Days! Feed me,” Da Qing demanded.

“Shouldn’t we stay and help?” he asked.

And then Shen Wei was next to him, and Zhao Yunlan draped his arm over his shoulders. “We did our part. Now it’s their turn.”


Epilogue: Ye Zun

‘Days’ turned out to be an optimistic estimate. As was Zhao Yunlan’s assertion that they could stay out of it. But — several weeks and many late nights later — there was a new treaty, and there was peace.

Da Qing raced past his hiding spot, laughing, and Zhao Yunlan’s voice echoed through the courtyard. “Damn Cat, your alligator is scaring the koi again!”

Da Qing shouted back. “Your yelling is scaring the koi! The alligator is scaring the birds, just like it’s supposed to.”

“It’s also scaring me, every time it moves! Why does it have to be life sized?”

“How could I sleep on top of it if it wasn’t life sized?”

They were getting ready for the second housewarming party of his lifetime, and he was hiding. Well — he was ‘checking the plants,’ as if that was something that needed to be done before the entire SID descended on them. And as if it was something he could do while lying on the ground, staring at the sky.

He felt Shen Wei approaching and didn’t bother sitting up. “May I join you?”

He took one hand out from behind his head and waved him over.

“We have cushions,” Shen Wei pointed out, but he sat down anyway.

Ye Zun shook his head. “I learned a new one today, from one of the kids. Watch.” He touched the surface of the patio tiles with his energy, and Shen Wei wound around him to see it. The tiles turned soft and yielding. “It only works on synthetic materials, we think.”

“You’re a good teacher.”

“You’re a good teacher,” he countered. “I’m a daycare monitor.” It wasn’t his official title, but it was true enough. He didn’t even try to hide the fondness in his voice.

Shen Wei lay down next to him. “They learn from you anyway,” he said.

He looked away, back at the sky. “They’re good kids.”

They both paused at the sound of something hitting the floor inside the house, but it was followed by laughter. “They’re excited to share this,” Shen Wei said. “Da Qing tells me Lao Li is bringing his secret recipe for dried fish as a gift.”

“Mm. I bet he seasons them with catnip.”

“Licorice root,” Shen Wei countered. “Li Qian has the list of everyone’s guesses.”

There was silence for a few seconds, and then he said, “I’m excited too. Just -- quieter.”

This time, all the guests would be arriving at once, and staying for a meal. But he knew them now, and he told himself it wasn’t that different from team dinners at the SID. And they were bringing all the food.

Da Qing stuck his head around the corner. “I have gifts!” he said. “It’s food. Well, it’s beverages.” He presented the tea tray with a flourish.

It smelled amazing, and he sat up to get a better look at it, tugging Shen Wei with him. “Where did this come from?”

“Lao Zhao said it was on your list. Here, hold this.”

He took the tray, and Da Qing sprawled out on the floor next to Shen Wei. “He’ll be here next; he was counting chairs when I snuck out with the tea.”

Sure enough, Zhao Yunlan arrived with a smile and a bowl of fruit. “Early housewarming gift from the neighbors,” he said.

“Well?” Da Qing asked. “Do we have enough chairs for everyone?”

“We do not!” Zhao Yunlan held up a finger. “We do, however, have plenty of space. If we can all fit in the new conference room, we can all fit in the courtyard. And we are lucky to know many people who will happily demonstrate the benefits of sitting on things other than chairs.”

“That’s me!!” Da Qing said smugly, raising his hand. “You’re welcome.”

Ye Zun held up the tray. “Do we have time, before everyone arrives?”

“For this? Always.”

They each took one of the cups, and Zhao Yunlan raised his in a toast. “To us,” he said.

The words were simple, but he could feel the core of energy and warmth that echoed within them. “To us!”