Cai Xiulan stood, panting, in the middle of a forest clearing. Her breath came out in steaming gouts; her brow was slick with sweat and she had several new bruises. Her swords hovered in the air behind her, two glowing blades of jade that looked to be inlaid with gold. There were only two at the moment, and they wavered slightly in the air.

Her opponent was in no better shape. Tigu was crouched low, her legs trembling slightly. She had a couple of drops of blood on her face, where Xiulan’s swords had managed to find purchase in flesh harder than steel. The small cuts were already gone, healed away by Tigu’s Qi.

Her sharp eyes roved over Xiulan’s form, before she sighed, her intense look of concentration fading.

“Draw?” Tigu offered.

“Draw.” Xiulan confirmed. They could have probably done one last attack… but then both of them would have become too exhausted to walk home. Besides, this was less a bout to find a victor, and more the fact that both of them had been practising new techniques.

In that case, the battle was a victory for both of them, considering how much Xiulan’s lower back stung. Tigu had become much faster.

Xiulan raised her hands in a martial salute, and her opponent did the same. Respect was clear from both sides of the battle.

“Good fight!” Tigu said, a bright smile on her face.

“Good fight,” Xiulan returned, a soft smile of her own on her face. They were certainly stronger ever since they had come back from the Dueling Peaks. Her experiences had refined her abilities.

Tigu had always been good at fighting, her natural aggression and eye for openings making her a deadly threat, but now she had caution, movement techniques, and a pair of high quality bracers that let her spare her arms whenever she blocked blades, an extra layer of protection.

Both of them rose from their bows, and Tigu started stretching. She did look a bit out of place in her more standard attire. Having one’s arms, legs, stomach and most of their chest exposed in the middle of winter looked a bit cold; Cultivators in the Initiate’s Realm could still be affected by mundane weather, but now? Xiulan could have stripped naked in the middle of the province’s harshest blizzard and been fine. Both of their bodies were far, far more durable than they had been.

Tigu finished her stretch, her arms raising above her head as she flexed every muscle, her abs, biceps, and shoulders on full display. It actually did work very well on her, accentuating her wild face. In the summer, with her tan, she looked downright exotic in a sea of pale and milky white skin tones.

“So, what did you see that you think I should improve on?” Tigu asked first as they began to walk back to the house.

“Your movement technique needs to come out faster. You still have slightly too much build up, and it makes it obvious when you’re trying to use it. Have you had any luck with ‘kicking the air so hard it becomes solid like Jin suggested?” Xiulan asked.

‘I’m still too inexperienced to be able to! It’s starting to feel a bit more solid, but…”

Discussing their bouts was not a recent thing between them, but ever since Jin had started training more, the talks had become more in depth. Jin had an interesting perspective on training. They had even recorded a few of their fights in his recording crystal, and then he had played it back for them as they sat inside by the fire.

Xiulan could remember every second of the fight, but seeing it from a different angle had been most enlightening. Jin had said it was fairly standard practice where he was from to record fights and then have a panel of one’s Seniors and instructors go back over it.

While most Sects recorded their enemies, to find weaknesses, few ever really did it for themselves.

He also did it for them when they were playing Ha Qi, to find minute flaws in their skating form. Truly, the quality of training at the Cloudy Sword Sect was something else. No wonder they were so mighty.

They completed Tigu’s assessment, before turning to Xiulan.

“Your control over your blades is well-executed, even when you have so many active at a time.” Tigu mused on Xiulan’s swords. “What are you up to now? Forty-eight?”

“Yes, forty-eight Blades of Grass.” Xiulan confirmed. It had been both shocking and humbling to realise that, even after her cultivation had been burned, she had taken the sect’s techniques even further than her Honoured Father was capable of.

As far as she knew, nobody in her sect had gone past forty in centuries… since the time of the founding and Honoured Ancestor Ruolan’s Fans of Grass.

Xiulan had many misgivings about her Honoured Ancestor’s… colourful personality, but the woman’s brilliance could not be denied. Her every action humbled Xiulan… but she could not copy the woman’s style fully.

Xiulan’s own technique was a cross between the more martial form and the original opera performance. Distinct from both, and slowly, slowly turning into something of her own.

“But it’s incomplete.” Tigu said after a moment. “There’s still something missing. The number is large… but that’s all. From thirty-two to forty-eight does not feel like the jump in power that it should be.”

“I agree. It’s running up against a block… and I think I may know the answer I need to break through it. It will have to wait until the spring… but the grass will grow again.” Xiulan said to her sparring partner.

Tigu grinned at Xiulan’s conviction.

“I’ll hold you to that—” She began as she stepped out of the treeline and back onto the fields of Fa Ram.

And then both of them were promptly hit by a veritable tidal-wave of snow. It slammed into both of them, and it had enough Qi in it to bowl both cultivators over. Qi that they recognized, of course.

For a moment, the snow Xiulan was under felt like she was buried under a mountain. Then, as her Qi touched it… it just became snow again.

She pushed herself off her back to a seated position, her head covered in white powder. Beside her Tigu sat up, looking a bit dizzy.

Then, in front of Xiulan, a rooster’s head popped out of the snow.

Bi De shook his head to clear it.

“An excellent blow, Master.” The rooster called out, sounding slightly dazed.

“Hahahahahaha! See? I’ve got a few tricks of my own—ah.” Jin’s laughter boomed, and then cut out abruptly as he realised he had caught both of them in the crossfire. “Sorry Lanlan. Sorry Tigu.”

“No harm done.” Xiulan replied as Jin walked up to them. He held out his hand and Xiulan took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

“Has your time today been fruitful?” Xiulan asked. Tigu was already out of the snow and brushing herself off. Bi De was out of the snow as well, combing his ruffled feathers.

“Yeah, it’s actually going surprisingly well!” Jin siad and hefted his weapon, leaning it on his shoulder.

Xiulan raised an eyebrow at it.

“It’s perfect, huh?” Jin asked, his voice full of mirth.

Xiulan stared at the shovel and its beautifully carved hilt, courtesy of Wa Shi and Tigu.

“It has a truly exemplary pedigree.” Xiulan responded, considering the ‘weapon’.

Jin started laughing.

“It’s a legendary weapon, passed down through the ages…” Jin began as he started listing the qualities that made the shovel a perfect weapon. His arm slung around her shoulder as he started to wax poetic about the benefits of a shovel over a sword.

Xiulan just shook her head with amusement at his antics.

But it did seem like the shovel suited him.

The day progressed from there. Training, cooking lunch, playing Ha Qi with Xianghua and now bathing. Each day, even when she tried her hardest, seemed like barely any work at all.

Though they were going to have to renovate the bathhouse soon. It was getting incredibly crowded. Jin had already increased the size of the tub once, but it simply wasn’t enough to accommodate four women and a pig when they all decided to bathe together.

Yin was floating in the center of the tub, heating the water with the power of the sun. Tigu was using a single finger to rub soap into Ri Zu’s fur. Xianghua was listening intently to Pi Pa as they discussed calligraphy. They were out of the tub and on the bench against the wall where one could sit if they just wanted a steam bath. The pig was stepping on Xianghua’s back, kneading knots out of the cultivator.

Xiulan had Meiling nearly in her lap as she washed the other woman’s hair. Meiling hummed in approval as Xiulan’s fingers dug in deep, like Meiling did for her. Her legs were nearly entwined with Tigu’s and if she raised her knee, she would touch Yin as she dozed.

While it was small and cramped, it was kind of nice.

The boys certainly didn’t seem to mind, though the boys also splashed each other with water, beat each other with birch branches and towels, and then jumped in the frozen river while whooping like wildmen.

Or after they finished their baths, they would stand in the living room wearing nothing but towels and start flexing while grunting manly encouragements to each other.

Which always distracted Meiling, Xianghua, and Tigu, though for different reasons for each. Xiulan herself had to admit she had… observed a few times.

They had all cultivated their bodies well.

And while Xiulan and the girls didn’t flex at each other, jumping into the cold river was bracing. There was a certain sort of thrill in doing it… and knowing that the men in the house were all gentlemen who ignored them.

It was still a slight novelty that she was comfortable enough that she let her guard down so.

She finished washing Meiling’s hair and pulled her back slightly so she was against Xiulan’s chest. The swell of her belly stuck up through the water.

Meiling sighed, content.

“Your chest makes a very nice pillow.”

Xiulan rolled her eyes. “You’re very lucky you’re pregnant or I would be trying to drown you right now.”

Meiling chuckled. Neither of them made any move. Xiulan had, after all, used Meiling as a pillow enough times… after particularly bad nightmares.

Her mood soured slightly at the thought before she pushed it away.

Indeed, everybody had fallen asleep at least once to a hummed tune and gentle fingers weaving through their hair. Meiling was trained from years of taking care of her little brother, and Xianghua swore that it was a manner of sleeping potion she used. Even Yun Ren had claimed that Meiling’s thighs were the only part that were never considered boney. For Xiulan, the best place to sleep was her chest, according to Tigu, Ri Zu, and Meiling… which was slightly embarrassing.

Gou Ren had commented on the restful properties of Xianghua’s behind, which the woman had only been proud of, and everybody—when she wasn’t listening— agreed that Pi Pa’s bulk made a good place to lay one’s head.

Though the undisputed “best pillow” was, as always, Chun Ke.

Xiulan sighed in contentment as she simply lay in the warm water.

Xianghua and Pi Pa then entered the tub and water spilled out.

Xiulan was shoved against Pi Pa and Tigu. She had a brief underwater scuffle with the cat and Xianghua as they each claimed their portion of leg space.

That lasted until Pi Pa managed to time a stomp so it hit all three of their feet at once.

Peace resettled in the tub, for the time being.

That night, Xiulan found herself on the roof.

It was her usual spot when she was feeling off center… and tonight her body had urged her up. She had had a dream. Not a nightmare, it wasn’t that harsh, but she had had a dream about the Valley and Sun Ken; just a little over a year ago since that fateful day.

It was still slightly tender, and slightly raw, to see the people out celebrating the death of Sun Ken. Not in the celebrations themselves; no, they could taunt the man all they liked. He was a bastard who deserved the mocking.

She still couldn’t watch the plays for long, though. They always made her feel melancholy.

The pain, after everything, was still there. The deaths of the soldiers still occasionally weighed on her at night, as it had done when she first came back to Fa Ram.

But there were no more nightmares. The promise she had made, that nothing like that bastard would ever happen again, and the people in her life, dulled the ache.

A year. It had been a year since she had come to Fa Ram. She didn’t know whether time had flown by, or it felt like Xiulan had been their friend for years.

They had fought for each other. Bled for each other.

Xiulan took a deep breath and let her spirit begin to wander. Through the connections in the earth. The connections to Tianlan.

The first lesson from Jin came to mind, from when she had thought him an unfathomably ancient Master.

Everything is connected.

He was more right than he had realised, back then. It really was all connected.

Xiulan let out a breath as she felt a warm presence approach.

She turned her head to see Jin, a smile on his face and tea in his hand.

Xiulan patted the roof beside her.

Jin sat and handed her her cup of tea.

“…thank you, Master Jin,” she teased.

Jin rolled his eyes.

“Of course, Senior Sister.”

She bumped him with her shoulder.

He bumped her back.

Together, they watched the moon rise.