Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Dàilán looked around the open-sided tent that had been set up between the two camps. Steady rain drummed on the oiled fabric and the occasional gust of wind tugged the stays of the tent, but the Storm had definitely decreased in ferocity.

Looking around again, the young Heiress sighed. Contrary to Chénli's earlier hurry, she was the only one in the tent; her maid, bodyguard and erstwhile lady-in-waiting had led her under the canopy, then muttered something about fetching the others and - after extracting a promise from her young mistress to stay within the tent - hurried straight back out again.

Dàilán's eyebrow twitched in frustration as she looked longingly out past the open sides of the tent, "why was she in such a hurry to bring me here, if no one else has arrived yet?" she grumbled.

Outside the tent she could see a small crowd of Cultivators and Yāoguǐ moving around the temporary stalls that members of both camps had set up to barter and trade from, forming the impromptu bazaar that had been agreed to.

"You are wish~ing you were out there shopping~," sang an irritating voice from below her. Dàilán looked over and below to her right where a familiar slab of metal was sticking up.

"BloodWitch," she acknowledged tightly, "is there a problem?"

"There ~has~ to be a problem?" The expression on the 'little girl's' face was more impish than cute. Dàilán frowned in response, "Father warned me about when you get like this, Senior."

"~Pooh, he is a quarter my age and acts like he is my Senior," the pout was dramatic and over the top, "I ha~ve been a good girl~"

Dàilán winced at the singsong tone, "I do not have any other Sky Levels to rely on, besides yourself and Father, Senior," she answered softly, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed.

Thankfully, no one else was close enough to overhear, but she quickly and surreptitiously activated a privacy talisman that Leng had given her a couple of days ago, " I know it has been longer than you usually choose to stay restrained - but we are moving out tomorrow," she sighed, "with our luck, there will be enough fighting for everyone."

"En. Some~thing is not right out the~re," the cool, brusque voice that she had become accustomed to hearing from the Bloodwitch lately was switching places with a tone that brought back less than pleasant memories, "~it makes my ~tee~th ~itch," and there was the sing song voice her Father had warned her about - and she remembered from their first meeting.

Dàilán frowned, "You are having trouble with controlling the blood urges because something is not right outside the camp," she checked for clarification, "not because of the lack of combat lately?"

"~he. Plenty of go~od fights… I have been patrol~ling deeper into the for~est. I joined some of the other camp~s pat~rols - in the di~rection we will be travel~ling - a lot. Lots of danger~ous, craz~ed beasts to fight. Clear~ing the route. Keeps the blood~l.u.s.t well sa~tis~fied," answered the Sky Level woman with the reputation for doing very unpleasant things to people she disliked, "I just… return~ed from o~ne, specifically to make su~re I had a cha~nce to speak to you…"

Her tone kept flipping between the cold, professional tone and the eerie one that made the hair on the back of Dàilán's neck stand on end, "someth~ing… is wrong..." the older Cultivator stopped and jerked her head towards some of the Yāoguǐ that were coming into the tent.

Dàilán's nostrils flared as the heavy scent of wet fur and musk thickened under the tent canopy despite the open sides. She hurriedly pushed Essence into the same Air of the Mountains Technique that she had used during that last ill-fated shopping trip with her Cousins to filter out the overwhelming assault on her sense of smell.

The group of Yāoguǐ were clearly ill at ease, talking low and rapidly among each other in the beast-language. To Dàilán's surprise, the Bloodwitch darted over to a couple of them and the group reacted with every evidence of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in seeing a friend.

The older Cultivator with the deceptively young and petite appearance was quickly the center of a bunch of the more scarred and clearly battled-hardened Yāoguǐ all jabbering together in a mix of Xia and Beast Language.

After a moment the 'little girl' pointed at Dàilán and tugged on the hands of two of the roughest looking Yāoguǐ - a large cat and canine. Despite the fact that the two appeared to outmass the tiny Cultivator by about fifty times each, both of them stumbled forward, causing the group to break out in good natured laughter.

The BloodWitch glared at the entire bunch who seemed to have lost their uncomfortable demeanor, then tugged the two Yāoguǐ towards Dàilán, causing her to straighten her posture in a reflexive reaction.

The Bloodwitch pulled them into the small area affected by the privacy talisman and stated without preamble, "These are Har'rkk and Wr'af. I patrol with them a~lot. They can tell you. Some~thing is not right ou~ut there."

The two Yāoguǐ flicked their ears respectfully towards Dàilán, "Niángniang. Laughing Death is a good fighter."

Amused despite herself, Dàilán flicked a quick glance at the older Cultivator in time to spot a shading of red on her cheekbones.

"She is our best," she agreed solemnly, incling her head regally, " and she obviously trusts you. That is high praise from her. Tell me - what is happening out there? I thought the Storm had improved the Essence distribution outside the Sanctuary," she waved her hand around them generally to indicate the clearing.

"The Fortress?" the feline Yāoguǐ agreed, "yes… it seemed like the Storm had given an opportunity for Essence to start moving more healthily but, in the last day or so… something else is rising. It…"

"It is Death Essence," interrupted the canine Yāoguǐ bluntly, "the Storm was very fierce… It killed many Essence trees and beasts. We have disposed of the corpses we find, but the Storm has been raging for a week..."

"Wraiths… you are saying that many Essence beings were killed by the Storm… and the levels of Essence out there are certainly enough to allow many to rise..." Dàilán paled.

"We have not found such a gathering," reassured the feline, "there would be more signs if a Wraith Wave…" they broke off whatever they were about to say and shook their head, "we have found only isolated bodies."

"That in itself is suspicious," insisted the other Yāoguǐ, "such a violent storm with so many dangerous Essence Disturbances certainly killed many - where are the bodies? The feeling of Death Essence is strong and growing stronger the deeper one travels."

The other Yāoguǐ, looked like they were about to snarl a reply but closed their mouth and shook their head as a crowd of other Yāoguǐ and Cultivators entered. Dàilán recognised her Father, Monitor Leng and the Healer in the group as her bodyguard broke away and walked towards her, even as the feline Yāoguǐ hissed at a volume almost below even Dàilán's hearing, despite their proximity, "we will be dismissed with such paltry evidence."

The canine looked like he was about to start shouting, but the BloodWitch stepped between them and murmured, "Eno~ugh. My Mistress is a~ware now - at least some of the caravan leaders will be paying attention."

She looked up at Dàilán meaningfully as she said this and the young Heiress blinked, "would it not be more convincing if you raised this concern, Senior…?

The BloodWitch shrugged, looking over her shoulder at Chénli's approach and lowered her voice further, "the Senior Yāoguǐ seem to be going to great lengths to deny the poss~ibility for some reason which escapes me. If a Culti~vator brings it up, they may find that reason to dismiss it on prin~ciple."

The BloodWitch winked and gave her another unpleasant grin, "they might be forced to ta~ke the concerns of some~one with an Anci~ent's favour more seriously," the Senior Cultivator darted off as Chénli arrived at her shoulder, the two Yāoguǐ disappearing with her into the crowd that the open tent had suddenly filled with.

"We are trading on my supposed influence with the Sage way too much," grumbled Dàilán to Chénli.

Her friend and sworn sister raised an eyebrow and flicked her wrists out causing her sleeves to flutter. She quietly spoke under the sound of fabric rustling back into place, "I see the Senior was able to speak with you."

Dàilán shot her a sour look, "I take it that is why you dragged me here so early? I do not know if there is anything I can do about it now - quietly organise a separate meeting back at our camp for our group after this."

"Not planning to bring it up here then?" asked Chénli in a normal tone.

"Unless I misunderstood what the Senior Enforcer was getting at, that might cause the opposite effect of what we are aiming for in this meeting," she answered dryly, "clearly the Yāoguǐ already have knowledge of whatever the problem is - but they are feeling… skittish. The BloodWitch wanted to make sure the information got to our side directly, I suspect."

Chénli frowned, "seems a little dramatic for Senior - why did she not just tell us what she had experienced directly?"

"She seemed to be having trouble controlling her blood urge," pointed out Dàilán, "it was the Yāoguǐ who thought they knew what the problem might be."

"Ah," Chénli made a noise of understanding, "guesses and concerns of an unstable Cultivation…" she snorted, "which is dog droppings, but there was a reason Senior never had a Elder's seat back at the sect despite her skills and age."

"She did not want one, so she acted unhinged around the Sect on a regular basis, you mean," Dàilán stated dryly.

Chénli shrugged, "can you blame her?"

"Not particularly," agreed Dàilán, eyeing the group of people organising themselves around the table that had been set up in the center of the tent, "it looks like we better get over there," she observed and began walking towards the empty seats by her Father, her bodyguard moving to follow after a moment.

---

"~So the Storm is moving away," the large bear-like form of Xióng declared as he leaned across the table, "even outside the effects of the Fortress, it has reduced to the force of a normal, if somewhat violent gale. By tomorrow, it should be safe to travel further along the route that the Ancient laid out, honorable ones."

"Most of the camp will move out of the Fortress to resume control of our territory," stated another Yāoguǐ some way further along the table, "if we wait too long, we invite opportunistic herds or packs to move in."

A smaller female rabbit Yāoguǐ, further along the table spoke up. "The youngest and oldest should stay within the Fortress. Will the… cultivators leave their youngest behind?"

Dàilán and her Father exchanged looks, before the young Heiress stood and shook her head, "while some of our members are young, none are children anymore. As it is, I am among the youngest of the group," she added wryly, "thus, unless someone specifically requests to remain, we will all go."

She hesitated then continued, "if any of the members of your herd wish to strike out on their own, they are welcome to travel with us, but I will leave that for your council to communicate to your people," she inclined her head respectfully to the Mówáng and sat down.

Glances were exchanged among the people around the table before Xióng stood up, "~So. We will of course escort you to the edges of our territory. Your next stop is located on the border of our territory and… the next den." He stopped for a moment, blinking, "or at least it was, when we went to sleep. We had not explored all the way back out to the old boundaries before circ.u.mstances required us to fall back to the Fortress, honorable ones."

"Spe~ak~ing of whi~ch," came the voice of the BloodWitch. The singing undertones of her voice caused Dàilán to wince. The Senior Cultivator was obviously still having issues, "Who is the Mówáng of the next terr~itory?"

Xióng blinked at her slowly, "~So. It was not Mówáng. The next territory was controlled by a Húlijīng when we slept, Princess."

"A fox s~pirit!?" the Senior Enforcer interrupted sharply and Dàilán saw the other members of her group exchange worried looks around the table at each other.

"~So, she could be difficult to get along with, that is true," agreed the Bear Yāoguǐ, echoed by some matching body language from the other Yāoguǐ, especially the rabbit lady, who appeared to be quivering in her seat, "You Consumers always claim the Mó are Evil." He huffed a snort of frustration, echoed by many of the other Yāoguǐ.

"Apolo~gies," the BloodWitch disagreed tightly, "it is merely that Húlijīng have a particu~larly po~or repu~tation among Cultivators. So I was… con~cerned."

"~So. A poor reputation, Laughing Death?" he sniffed pointedly in the Bloodwitche's direction, "much like yourself then?"

The Bear Yāoguǐ shook his head heavily, "~So. She was not inherently evil - any more than I am an 'Evil King'. You Consumers have taken the word 'Mó' to mean 'against the heavens' and somehow wrong, but how is your own form of Cultivation any different?"

He sighed heavily, "Once, 'Mó' merely meant 'Cultivating Beast'." He turned to look directly at the BloodWitch, "do you trust us as allies or not? Otherwise all of this is pointless, Laughing Death?"

"No disrespect intended," the BloodWitch replied, visibly keeping her voice under tight control, "I am merely concerned about…" she shook her head and made a seated bow.

"There are another four sanctuaries marked out on the Sage's map," Dàilán pointed out, redirecting the attention of the Yāoguǐ back to her, "How many more Yāoguǐ territories are in the Fusou between this place and the Sage's Mountain?"

"~So. I do not know," answered Xióng, "I only remember those territories bordering ours," he paused then growled slightly, "I will ask for Emissaries to accompany your group to present themselves to the Ancient. They will also vouch for your presence to the Húlijīng," his teeth became visible in a less than friendly grin, "if you and they are successful in convincing her to allow your passage, she will likely do the same. Presumably her Emissaries, if she permits it, will do the same for the next territory and so on, honorable ones."

"We may end up with a substantial increase in our group's size in that case," mused her Father, "if they send good fighters, we could find ourselves having a much better ability to fight our way through the next set of obstacles."

"Or we will be out~numbered," pointed out the BloodWitch, her voice tight with strain, "no offence to you, Mówáng, I doubt all the territories will allow us passage - or have honest intentions as you have shown."

"Given the threats we could encounter, let alone those we have already encountered, more strong fighters seem wise," remarked Monitor Leng and Dàilán tapped a finger on the table, re-considering her thought not to mention the possible Wraith Wave that could be building deeper into the Fusou.

A slight movement caught her eye; the BloodWitch was shaking her head infinitesimally from side to side as her fingers flicked in the Knife battle sign for 'Quiet'.

Sighing, Dàilán spoke up into the tense atmosphere following the Monitor's remark, "I am sure that if the Mówáng is aware of other possible threats he has not disclosed any Emissaries will be fully briefed."

There was a stir among some of the Yāoguǐ and Dàilán narrowed her eyes. Evidently some of them - were - aware; she looked over at Xióng who had gone very still, something Dàilán's Father noted as well if his body language was any indication.

"There may be concerns," the Bear King admitted slowly, "however… for the purposes of security, I would prefer to keep the information restricted." Dàilán noticed that the Mówáng's usual verbal tics were missing and she wondered what that meant.

"Perhaps we could discuss this later?" offered Dàilán's Father. The Mówáng caught and held his gaze for a still moment, before dipping his head silently in agreement.

There was a moment of silence around the table, with people shifting restlessly as the sounds of the Market and the conversations from outside carried clearly to those within; the wet wind blew through the open sides of the tent as raindrops dashed themselves against the covering above with a drum rattle of sound.

The sound of the heavier gust of rain broke the awkward silence; one of the other Yāoguǐ - what looked like a turtle - coughed awkwardly then tapped the paper he held in his hands, "moving on… some of our more… mercantile minded members… seeing the success of, well…"

He broke off to gesture outside the tent to the busy and cheerful bartering outside, despite the weather, "...have suggested that we turn the journey to the Sage's Mountain into a caravan of sorts - trading surplus goods and materials as we move through the territories."

He paused to cough again as he realised that everyone's attention was focused on him, "...Well, that is, some of us thought a lot of territories… might be similar situations to us if they have only recently awoken… lacking basic necessities… and then the Storm…" he trailed off nervously, finishing with a weak "...they might be more inclined to let a trading caravan through peacefully?"

"There is a small human village near the Sage's Mountain that would likely welcome a new trade route given recent events," Dàilán remarked thoughtfully, "I seem to remember the guards saying something about a lack of traffic when I was there last - I cannot imagine the situation has improved."

"A Caravan with guards is a lot less objectionable than an armed band," agreed her father, "if each territory adds their own specialities, surplus and members as we travel, if we can convince it to become a true trade route - perhaps even back to Hujian eventually - it could be at the start of something truly great."

Dàilán's Father coughed with some embarrassment as the Yāoguǐ looked at him in surprise at his enthusiastic response, "speaking from the perspective of a Clan who made a lot of its money from trading Essence herbs and Formations…" he broke off thoughtfully, looking across at his Daughter, "...your Cousins?"

Dàilán blinked, "If we moved quickly enough and had an established trade route we could defend, it would give us grounds to chase away the treasure hunters and bandits the Essence Treasures in the Fusou will attract… not all of them, but…" she paused, thinking hard.

"Anything that allows us to restrict free movement of Consumers into the Wilderness can only be a good thing," opined one of the other Yāoguǐ sourly.

"You will need to channel them, without being obvious about it," spoke up one of the Cultivators from Dàilán's group. Looking over, she realised it was the man she had spoken to over a week previously when discussing the best way to harvest the Essence Beast carcasses, "it will not be as simple as post guards at the borders or scaring them off."

Seeing everyone looking at him, he rubbed his forehead and continued, "if you just kill or distract them, more Cultivators will come from curiosity or the assumption that anything protected must be a Treasure to take or an evil to be destroyed. But if all the Cultivators who enter the Fusou find a village market, most will lose interest and not bother to investigate further, especially if there is profit to be made."

"A bad beginning leads to a bad ending," grumbled Monitor Leng, waving his hand irritably, "we can worry about that sort of thing - after - we get to the Mountain. I am more interested in how we are going to get a caravan through this jungle. I presume you cannot mean carts or gliding horses - we had to stop moving our camp within formations due to lack of space and too many obstacles."

"Everything will need to be carried," agreed the Turtle Yāoguǐ, "anyone who travels with you to trade will use as many spatial treasures as possible to carry goods. Some did suggest flight… but it just is not practical - unfortunately, the airsh.i.p.s are…"

The Turtle Yāoguǐ broke off and shrank back defensively at a pointedly loud grumble from the Mówáng.

"I doubt that any sort of flight would be particularly reliable," Dàilán replied diplomatically, "given the Essence Disturbances we have seen - the Storm being particularly pertinent in this case…"

She smiled gracefully at the Mówáng, "perhaps when things have settled down, we can return to this subject."

The Bear Yāoguǐ made a haruphing sound and Dàilán inclined her head as if he had agreed, continuing, "well,perhaps we should focus on the logistics of moving the caravan through the forest to the next Sanctuary…"

---

"...I believe that concludes everything that needs to be discussed," declared the Mówáng as he stood from the table, to a collective of nodding and sighs of relief that echoed around the tent, "we will spread the word of the caravan and Emissary requirements. I expect you should receive a few of my people who are willing to accompany you along your journey. I wish I could be one of them," he joked to a scattering of polite laughter, "but my responsibilities are here. However, at least for the first part of tomorrow, some of the patrols assigned to scout out the territory boundaries to the East and North will be following your group on their way to their assignments. Honorable ones."

"That is acceptable," agreed Dàilán's Father, rising to his feet, "I will walk with you, Xióng. I believe there is that rice wine you mentioned - this would appear to be a good day to celebrate our two groups truly entering into an alliance."

"A festival!" cheered one of the Yāoguǐ, "tonight, before the Ancient-touched leaves…" faltering slightly as everyone looked at him with varying levels of surprise, before rallying, "well - we have had very little to celebrate since we awoke…"

"~So. A celebration does seem like a good idea," agreed Xióng, "but the preparations for the caravan must be completed first. Those of us not involved in that can focus on organising a celebration - although for the sake of those leaving early tomorrow, we should not overdo it, Honorable ones."

There was a general bustle as everyone fled the tent post haste - enemies turned allies in search of a party. Laughing at the strangeness of it all, Dàilán let herself be pulled out by Chénli who was grinning, "if there is to be a celebration to night and travelling as traders tomorrow we must go shopping!"

"I need to find out if the Yāoguǐ can trade any blessing potion or an equivalent remedy," agreed Dàilán.

"I think there is something," replied Chénli, pulling her mistress into the light rain and breezes that were falling across the protected clearing now - a relief after the stuffy meeting tent; Dàilán wondered what that meant for the Storm outside - heavy rain and gale force winds probably, but that meant that tomorrow would indeed be suitable for travel.

"Why do you say that?" questioned Dàilán as the two teens moved among the stalls, looking around with interest as this was her first real opportunity to look at the impromptu bazaar since it had been set up.

"A few of the female mammal Yāoguǐ have mentioned something to deal with estrus cycles; I got the impression that it is an even bigger deal for them than for human females - they were talking about the medicine woman's stall…" she paused then tugged her friend in a particular direction "...there it is," she stopped in front a small but elaborately decorated tent - odd plants, feathers and flowers seemingly growing out of it in some bizarre combination of living and artwork.

The two of them entered, Dàilán noticing the tent was warmly lit and the air smelt pleasantly fresh and clean and the inside was clearly larger than despite what the size of the tent might have suggested from the outside;

A large lady bear Yāoguǐ looked up as they appeared, "Ancient's student. You honour my tent with your presence." She got up from her position behind a wide table covered in dried herbs and bowed.

Dàilán felt her cheeks heating in embarrassment, "Please, dàifu. I am not the student of the Sage - I merely had a fortunate encounter." She coughed slightly, "I am looking for something to help deal with monthly cycles - as you know, the camp of Cultivators I am responsible for is mostly composed of younger women - the older men and women all died in the fighting - the children went with my Cousins…"

The bear Yāoguǐ made an amused chuffing sound, "I imagine that is quite a problem."

The teen Heiress nodded fervently as her friend stifled a smile behind a hand, her eyes dancing at her Mistress's discomfort, "We did not manage to bring much of the 'Blessing potion' out with us so the next onset promises to be problematic.

The medicine woman wrinkled her muzzle in clear distaste, "Those fool male Consumers of yours were forcing their women to use that when we went to sleep. Has nothing changed since?"

Dàilán blinked, "Forced? Dàifu, Cultivator women everywhere are glad the potion exists - we may have less monthly cycles as we advance, but their discomfort is magnified. Without the potion, we would suffer many times worse than the mortal women… and they have it bad enough!"

The medicine woman growled, "I see some knowledge has been completely lost. That potion controls your cycles, but also takes the control out of the woman's hands - all a man has to do is withhold it and you no longer have the ability to control your own body."

The bear breathed heavily, before sweeping a paw across her table indicating the herbs spread among it, "Before I slept, even the Consumer women knew of many other, better permanent methods of controlling their reproduction safely and without pain," she shook her head heavily, "obviously the men did not approve of this - clearly they found ways to remove the knowledge and leave that terrible patch up of a potion in their place."

Dàilán and Chénli exchanged glances, "I will get the Healer," her bodyguard rushed out without preamble and darted through the tent entrance.

"Forgive us, Dàifu," Dàilán addressed the Yāoguǐ, bowing, "I think it best if our female Healer hears of this as well as us."

"It is well," responded the Yāoguǐ calmly, "while we wait for their return, tell me what other needs your people may have."

The Heiress was soon deep in a discussion of old and unknown remedies with the Yāoguǐ master, delighting in her first love of digging up and discovering old knowledge for the first time in too long.