***
Thankfully, Li Yao returned the next day. Wu Ying met her as she left the Assignment Hall, informed of her return via the speedy servant gossip network. Li Yao burst into a grin upon seeing him, the smile washing away the exhaustion he had glimpsed on her face. She skipped forward to meet him, but the smile disappeared as she noticed Wu Ying’s unusually serious mien.
“What is it?” she said.
Wu Ying brought her up to speed on his current predicament. She frowned as he spoke, growing more obviously pensive with each word.
When he finished speaking, Li Yao gripped his hand tightly. “Of course I’ll help. I’ll contact my parents immediately. They will do the best they can to make Lord Wen let your parents go.”
“No. That wasn’t what I wanted to speak to you about. I’m going to speak to Lord Wen myself,” Wu Ying said, squeezing back on her hand in reflex.
“That is not a good idea. If you come to him as you are, you have nothing to offer him. He’ll have all the advantages. You need to think about this properly.”
“Think about it? What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?” said Wu Ying, his tone brusque. “All I’ve been thinking of is my parents.”
Li Yao winced. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean it that way.”
“What way did you mean it?”
“I’m just trying to help you.”
Wu Ying heard the contrition in her voice, but it didn’t stop him from releasing her hand. “In what way did you mean it? All I asked of you was to help me on the expedition.”
All that worry, all that concern Wu Ying had had for Li Yao and his parents, all that stress burst out of him as she questioned his judgment. What did she know? There was no time for her parents to talk to Lord Wen. Even if she could contact hers and they deigned to help her, it would be too late. It would take at least two weeks for her message to reach her parents and a similar amount of time for a reply to return. She just didn’t understand the timelines.
“I know what I’m doing!” he said.
“Don’t talk to me like that!” Li Yao said, her temper flaring as Wu Ying raised his voice at her.
“Then stop trying to put up obstacles. I don’t need you to do that.” Wu Ying threw up his hands in exasperation.
“Maybe you don’t need me at all!” Li Yao crossed her arms and stepped away from him.
When she did so, she looked about and noticed how they had drawn the attention of the other Sect members. Relationship drama was not uncommon, but it was always good theatre.
Wu Ying followed her gaze, spotting the gawking crowd. His stern gaze landed on an outer sect member who was watching the pair. Wu Ying’s lips curled up as he glared back, forcing the man to look away before scurrying down the path. Unfortunately, Wu Ying’s actions made Li Yao even more self-conscious, her fists clenching by her body.
“Maybe I don’t. Maybe you should just stay here. I’m sure I can handle it myself. He’s just another noble,” Wu Ying said.
“Like me?” Li Yao huffed. “Fine!”
She turned away and stalked off to her residence. Wu Ying watched her retreating back, already regretting the words he had said. All he wanted her to do was agree to come along. To help him. Not take over the assignment. Not to make suggestions over something she didn’t understand. But maybe he could have done better in how he said it. He had just been so worried about her. About his family and the situation there.
He shook his head and turned around, heading back to his own residence. As he walked, he ignored the looks shot at him, the shock that adorned a number of faces. Let them stare. He had more important things to do. Like informing the rest of the team that it was time to go.
***
The group met the next day under the paifang that demarcated the line between the start of the sect interior and the rest of its lands. Underneath the joined columns that stood over the single path up the mountain, the gate guardian sat. Elder Lu rested with his eyes closed, head tilted toward the sky as his long pipe slowly burned. Each visitor to the Sect slowed down as they crossed the threshold and offered the silent Elder a bow or nod of recognition if they were known, or in some cases, checked in to gain his approval before they continued their journey. It was there that Wu Ying and his small team gathered as the sun was rising.
“You have everything?” Wu Ying said to the team.
He noted that both members carried nothing but weapons on their body. Bao Cong had a quiver of arrows slung behind his back but no unstrung bow in sight, a simple dao belted on the left of his body. Tou Hei had his staff in hand, though Wu Ying knew he used it as much as a walking stick as a weapon. As usual, the monk was dressed in his orange robes with no accoutrements other than a simple ring on one hand. The ring was not frivolous jewelry but a storage ring, just like Wu Ying’s. It made travel much easier, though occasionally additional, non-spirit-tooled methods of baggage were required. After all, even the closet-sized storage ring Wu Ying owned cost thousands of taels.
The pair nodded in response to Wu Ying’s question, gesturing to their rings. Happy to see they were ready, Wu Ying turned toward Elder Lu, ready to hand them his Sect leave permit, and was stopped by the sight of a familiar young lady. Coming from the Sect was Li Yao, the small martial specialist hurrying down the pathway while chivying along another. As surprised as Wu Ying was to see her, her company was the true marvel. Yin Xue followed beside her, hands clasped behind his back. Wu Ying frowned, wondering why he was there.
The female cultivator brushed right past Wu Ying, never bothering to greet him, though she did greet both Tou Hei and Bao Cong. The moment she was done, she added, “Come, let’s get going. If we take too long, the ship will leave without us.”
She followed her words with action, continuing to walk down the pathways, ignoring Wu Ying and Elder Lu. Yin Xue smirked at Wu Ying before he hurried after the fast-moving Li Yao, pausing only long enough to offer a nod to Elder Lu. That left Wu Ying watching all four of their departing backs under the slowly brightening sky.
“Never a good thing.” Elder Lu’s lazy voice interrupted Wu Ying’s befuddlement.
“Sir?”
“Angering a woman. My mother used to say angering a woman and the heavens was equally foolish.” Elder Lu cackled then added as he fixed Wu Ying with a firm gaze, “Or ignoring an Elder. None of them bothered to show me their leave permits.”
Wu Ying gulped and hurried over to the Elder, bowing low and offering his own Sect seal and the permits he had procured for the other two. “Elder, I’m sure they did not mean to insult you—”
“Never you mind. I will deal with them when they return,” Elder Lu said. “But you are going to help your parents, yes?”
“Yes, Elder.” Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed as he wondered if he was going to receive another speech about the dangers to his dao and his life. He would never admit that he was exhausted by the numerous times he’d been warned—from attendants to Sect Elders to Ah Yee—and he did not need another discussion about what he was doing wrong.
“The path of a guardian is difficult. It requires both the strength to protect and the wisdom to know what to protect. Sometimes, knowing when one must walk away is just as important as protecting those one loves.”
Wu Ying’s jaw dropped, but Elder Lu had already turned away to stare at the sky, enjoying the passing clouds. Wu Ying shook his head, getting over his surprise at receiving actual advice rather than another recrimination. Still, something in Elder Lu’s voice spoke of an untold story, one that he probably would not relate. Still, Elder Lu’s advice left Wu Ying troubled in a way the other admonishments had not.
A slight droop of the pipe as the Elder acknowledged another Sect member brought Wu Ying’s attention back to himself. This was no time to be considering such things. His group had already left him behind. If he did not hurry, he could just imagine Li Yao urging the ship’s captain to leave without him. Whatever ruminations he might have on the dao of being a guardian, or if he was doing the wrong thing, would have to wait. He had a team to catch up with.