Chapter 9: Chapter 8: Fanplay

CHAPTER

8

Fanplay

THREE YEARS AGO

I

Sigg stood on one side of the stage; his sister, Mallinna, on the other. The sun glared down at them from above, and he could feel sweat dripping down his forehead. Wearing robes all the time was fine when you were a cultivator and thus completely unaffected by changes in temperature, but when you were a mere mundane—well, two layers of clothes could get rather stuffy even when you weren’t under the scorching sun. A while ago he had shed his outer robes, but he still had his trousers and inner robe on. If they kept going, it wouldn’t be long before he had to get rid of his inner robes too, but his sister insisted that he hold on for as long as he could.

According to her, it built character or something. He indulged her, mostly because she let him get away without almost anything, so it was kind of an unspoken agreement between them that he’d go along with her when she asked. He knew, of course, that she just enjoyed watching him sweat and suffer.

His sister’s posture was relaxed, almost lazy. Her hair, the same whitish blond as his, cascaded freely down to her waist and swayed gently in the breeze. Her eyes—a piercing pale blue–stared straight into his gray ones, intent. Her right hand, which held her fan, rested beside her waste.

They were in her yard. Linna had had this stage built a couple of years ago, when he started practicing martial arts.

“Tired already?” she asked, eyebrow cocked, a smirk on her lips.

“You wish,” Sigg spat, even as he grinned.

He was tired—on the verge of exhaustion, really—whereas his sister looked like she had just woken up. That was hardly a fair comparison, however, considering she was a cultivator, and a third-step one at that.

Taking in a deep breath, he raised his fan, keeping his eyes firmly set on his sister. He then launched himself forward, quickly covering the distance between them. As he was about to reach her, he kept his left leg in place while stepping in with his right, then struck out with his fan toward the side of her neck.

Linna didn’t move even an inch, simply observing him. Then, when his fan was but a hair’s breadth away from her skin, her right hand shot up, moving so fast that to him it simply disappeared from its original position by her waist and reappeared beside her head, effortlessly stopping his attack with the fan it held.

Having already known she’d be able to block his attack, Sigg didn’t pause for even a moment, fluidly taking a few steps back and falling into a more defensive stance, his legs slightly spread apart, ming his fan hand in front of him, over his chest, and lowering his other hand to waist-level, as he braced himself for what was coming next.

His sister then moved, and this time he could only just barely keep track of her. With three steps, she got inside his guard, then thrust her fan into his chest. He snapped into action, slamming his fan against the incoming arm, while his other hand grabbed onto her wrist. Succeeding, he then spun his body around, snaking his fan hand under her armpit as he pulled with his other hand, locking her fan arm in place. Then, pulling her body into his by her arm, he threw his head back.

Had he been fighting another mundane, the back of his head would have collided straight with his opponent’s nose. He would have then spun back around, slamming his fan into the side of their head as he did so, incapacitating them.

He was fighting a third-step, however, so the arm he had been holding onto disappeared, and his head struck his sister’s fan instead. The next moment, his legs were swept up into the air by a leg sweep, and he dropped to the ground.

Sigg groaned, shutting his eyes and keeping them like that for a few moments as he waited for his head to stop ringing, his world shaking not just from the sudden fall but from slamming his head against something hard. Then, opening his eyes, he found his sister leaning over him, her arms behind her back. Her head just barely blocked the sun, making it seem like there was a halo of light around her head—which was in stark contrast with her absolutely malicious smirk. He couldn’t count how many times he had seen this exact same scene over the years.

“Not bad,” she said, extending her hand. He took it, and she pulled him to his feet. “You’re becoming better and better at transitioning between stances. I think I only reached your level, skill-wise, when I was … what? Twenty?”

“Thanks,” Sigg said, rubbing the back of his head. “I’d probably appreciate your words more if my head wasn’t hurting like a Pactbreaker. Would it kill you to have used your hand or something to block my attack?”

“You tried to headbutt me,” she said, shrugging, unrepentant. “You deserved it for your cheek.”

“Yeah, like it could have possibly hit you.”

“Whether you succeeded or not doesn’t matter. It’s your thought that counts.”

Sigg rolled his eyes. “You know, I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to use that expression.”

“Yeah?” His sister grinned. “And what are you gonna do about it?”

For someone over a hundred years old, his sister could really act like a brat. Then again, all adults he knew had their quirks, and his sister was far from the worse of them.

Sigg sighed, bringing his hands up to rub his forehead. Thankfully, the headache was almost gone already. “We’re done for today, right?”

“We are,” she confirmed. “Though I think Mum might want to have a go at you later so that you can show her your new headbutt move.”

“You really aren’t going to let this go, are you?”

She only grinned at him. The worst part was that she was right. Whereas he and his sister merely enjoyed fanmanship, their mother was passionate about it. And unlike his more traditional sister, their mother not only did not mind fighting dirty, but also enjoyed it.

The two of them then started making their way out of the yard, stepping off the stage and making their way toward the walkway that led straight to the yard of his room in their parents’ residence. As soon as Sigg stepped into the cool shade of the covered walkway leading into the adjacent courtyard, Sigg let out a breath of satisfaction. His sister walked a few steps ahead of him, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you.

Seeing that Linna was distracted, Sigg stole a glance at the space beside her, where a woman in plain black robes floated in the air, visible only to him.

“I take no responsibility for your sister’s actions,” Meiyue said. There was a devious smirk on her face not unlike the one his sister had worn not too long ago, and her dark eyes seemed to be glistening.

There had already been far too many sadistic women in Sigg’s life before he met Meiyue, and the disembodied woman was quickly shaping out to be the worst of them all.

Today marked a month since Meiyue had revealed herself to him, and he had yet to tell anyone about her existence. Rationally, he knew that his decision to keep her a secret wasn’t quite his wisest one yet, but if people acted rationally all the time then the world would be a terribly dull place. Feelings were what spiced things up, and Sigg felt like keeping Meiyue’s existence to himself, mostly because he knew that there was absolutely no way the adults would allow him to keep interacting with her if they had any idea of what she was really like.

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His initial assessment of Meiyue hadn’t been wrong; she didn’t need to be a fourth-step to be dangerous, and sometimes he thought it might have even been better if she were one rather than … well, whatever in the Pact she was. Nevertheless, he still firmly believed that despite the danger she posed, she meant him no harm. The problem was that he didn’t think he’d be able to convince others that her intentions, although not exactly good, weren’t bad.

For her part, Meiyue had at no point so far so much as asked him not to tell others about her, as if she wasn’t worried in the slightest about being found out, even though she should know that if she were discovered, she’d be promptly destroyed. It was as if she simply took for granted that he’d keep her a secret. And this was precisely why he found her so terrifying: because she was manipulating him, saying just the right words, at just the right time, to keep him interested in her, to stop him from revealing her existence. She manipulated him so subtly, so effortlessly, that he’d often need to pause and carefully consider their conversations to notice it. She was a master at it—much better than he was.

Meiyue was … mysterious, to say the least. She hadn’t revealed much about herself, though she had already told him some of the things she remembered about the Divine Realm. He wasn’t entirely convinced that she had lost her memories, and he was certain that even if that was the case, she could at least remember much more than she let on. He could usually tell fairly well when people were lying, but when it came to Meiyue, he had already figured out that the only things he could read from her actions, body language, and words were the ones she revealed to him on purpose.

“So how did the meeting yesterday go?” Sigg asked Linna, deciding to ignore Meiyue for the time being. Meiyue was around all the time, after all, whereas he was seeing less and less of his sister nowadays. Moreover, for the most part, Meiyue seemed to be content to just observe him, only really speaking with him when they were alone.

Linna turned to him, breaking out of her thoughts. “I’ll be going to Haiyua tomorrow,” she said, slowing her pace slightly so that they could walk side by side. “Will you come with me? I’ll be bored to death otherwise.”

He had already expected as much. “I haven’t seen Shuyin in a while, so sure. I’ll just have to talk with Rinn about it first.”

“Why bother? Just sneak out with me tomorrow. If nobody wakes the little princess up, she’ll probably still be asleep by the time we get back. We’ll only be there for a week.”

Sigg raised an eyebrow, giving her a look of mock surprise. “Is that really the kind of behavior a sect leader should be fostering?”

Linna rolled her eyes. Then, grinning, she abruptly pulled him into a half-hug and ruffled his hair. “No at all, but it’s something your awesome sister would say, you brat.”

“Sometimes I wonder who the brat really is,” Sigg said as he pushed himself off her and started patting his hair down, glaring at her as he did so. “Also, I thought I already told you to leave the hair alone. A couple of hundred times already, I think.”

“And as I’ve said a couple of hundred times already,” Linna said as she leaned in teasingly. “What are you going to do about it?”

He looked away, fighting back the urge to smile. “Just you wait till I’m a fourth-step.”

“Heh.” His sister grinned, and just because she could, she reached out and ruffled his hair again despite his protests. “Why do you think I’ve been messing with you so much lately? I’ve got to enjoy it while I still can. I used to think I still had ten more years, but considering how fast the little princess did it, I’m not taking any chances. What if you turn out to be a monstrous little freak like her?”

Sigg sighed and started working on his hair again. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much about Haiyua. I’m fairly certain Shuyin has things under control.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt for even a second that your little girlfriend has a plan—”

Sigg groaned. “I told you to stop calling her that.”

“What? Worried your other little girlfriend will hear?”

“Linna. Stop.” They were out in the open, and since Rinn was now a cultivator, he wouldn’t be able to detect even a hint of her if she didn’t want him to. He didn’t want Linna talking about other girls if there was even the slightest possibility of Rinn being around, even more so considering that his sister was even more likely to say those words if she knew Rinn was around, just to get him in trouble. Usually, he didn’t really mind dealing with Rinn’s jealousy, and even had fun getting her to wind down—he considered it a challenge of sorts—but he was way too tired at the moment to deal with that right now.

Much to his annoyance, his sister was grinning now, and he knew that grin all too well. “Oh? But I’m not even done yet. What about the little demon—”

“Linna.” He gave her a warning look. Even if he couldn’t do anything to her, he could easily get her in trouble with their parents, and if for some reason that failed … Well, he could always sic Rinn on her.

Seeing that he was really getting annoyed now, Linna raised her hands in a mock gesture of defeat. “Alright, alright. You can relax. The little princess’s not even nearby.” She shook her head. “Anyway, as I was saying, even though I’m sure your little … friend … has a plan, it’s not like the prime elders and protectors would believe me, given her age.”

Sigg nodded along, and the two of them kept on talking as they walked, finally arriving in front of the small yard connected to his room. In the center of his yard was a stone stage, although much smaller than the one in Linna’s. Beside the stage was a pond, with fish swimming inside it. There were also a few flowerbeds filled with all sorts of magical flowers, which he tended to together with his father in his spare time. A stone pathway connected the walkway they were on to his room.

Sigg breathed in, taking in the sweet fragrance of darkbloom hyacinths, mixed with the subtler, soothing scent of dawnstar lavender.

“I’ve got another meeting soon, so I’m afraid I must get going,” his sister said as she looked around his yard. She then turned to him. “Do you have anything planned for today?”

“Well, after taking a bath I’ll probably go look for Rinn,” Sigg said, “if she doesn’t come looking for me first.”

His sister nodded. “Do your best to convince her to let you go to Haiyua with me tomorrow.”

“Is there any chance of taking her along?” Sigg asked just for the sake of asking, as he already knew the answer. “She wouldn’t mind it too much if she could also ago.”

“Sure,” Linna said with a shrug, playing along, “You’ll be taking responsibility later for causing the biggest diplomatic in the last few hundred years, however.”

The worst part was that Linna wasn’t even exaggerating. Sigg sighed. “I’ll figure something out.”

“Worse comes to worst, I’ll just sneak you out tomorrow.”

Now it was Linna’s turn to say something stupid, it seemed.

“Sure,” Sigg said, shrugging. “You’ll be the one who’ll have to deal with Rinn later, however.”

“Yeah,” Linna said, frowning, “let’s leave that as a last resort.”

They talked a bit more before Linna left. Sigg then crossed his yard, making his way into his room. After bathing and changing his clothes, he headed to Rinn’s room.

He had the most powerful girl in the world to convince.

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