Sage.
Mint and sage assaulted my nose, rousing me from my slumber. I yawned, stretching my arms out as my blanket fell off my chest.
I blinked away the last vestiges of sleep, vision clearing up as the sight of the woman who treated me yesterday grinding herbs into some sort of paste greeting my eyes.
The sound of my joints cracking alerted her as she turned around and smiled at me brightly.
"Ah, you're awake."
I nodded in assent, stifling another yawn as I grabbed the blanket, the linen soft and smooth under my touch and tried to get out of bed. It wasn't the best of ideas. My limbs, stiff earlier abuse and hours of inactivity, refused to cooperate as I stumbled while trying to walk on the polished wooden floor, towards the window.
She rushed up and held me under my arms, preventing me from falling. With her help I took a few small steps and sat back down on the bed.
"Thank you."
"No problem dear," she said, trying to hide a gentle smirk.
She smelt just like the infirmary, sage and mint. I could tell that she had questions, dozens of them no doubt, but she held off for now. I, however, had a few that needed answering.
"Pardon me miss but, who are you?"
"Oh, quite direct aren't you," she teased.
"Well if you must know I'm Tang Wei."
"And since you're Tang Lou's mother…"
Realisation washed over me.
This was the Patriarch's wife.
Which in hindsight probably did make sense as he wouldn't let any random woman get their way when it came to clan resources.
"Why are you helping me?" The Patriarch's motives I could understand, but hers?
She looked at me puzzled and asked," Whatever do you mean?"
"I mean why are you going out of your way to personally heal me? Surely the normal physicians would have been enough."
A chuckle escaped her lips as she said, " Dear, do you really think someone used to healing cultivators would be able to handle how delicate mortals tend to be?"
Ah…
That made sense but, the fact that I needed to be handled with care because of my lack of power, my weakness made my chest tight in anger.
Anger at myself.
"Anyhow you're lucky that Tang Lou brought you back instead of leaving you there where you fell. I swear that boy has no common sense and ignores all the manners I try to drill into his head. Honestly one of these days he's going to be the death of me."
Right Tang Lou. I probably should thank him.
"Where is he now?"
"Oh Heaven knows what that boy does all day. He's either training or out on a mission with his father. I swear both of them just love to make me worry all the time," she said, grinding away at the herbs with just a little more force than before.
My lips curl up in a wry smile, it must be nice to have someone worry about you behind your back. When was the last time I….
Nevermind.
I winced as my wounds throbbed, pain rearing its ugly head yet again. She noticed my discomfort and brought over the brick red mortar she had been using to grind away in.
"Take off your shirt dear, we need to dress your wounds again."
I complied, gently peeling my shirt off, it reeked of stale sweat and had a pungent bloody aroma about it, I probably should change it soon. She approached my back, a soft gasp escaping her lips as she took in the marks that peppered my skin, both the recent, and those almost faded with age.
"Who did this to you?"
"...my uncle."
"Ah…I'm sorry."
We both stayed silent after that. The balm that she rubbed into the injuries was soothing, numbing the throbbing and bringing me relief. The motions seemed practiced. It was hard to believe someone so gentle and caring could share a bed with that Beast. Who am I to judge though, it is a dog eat dog world afterall.
I thanked her once more and she gave me yet another motherly smile, her red robes trailing behind her as she left the room.
It felt strange.
Having this much space, mind you the room wasn't all that big, but it was clean, bright and it felt…cozy. There were no impossible deadlines to meet, and no spying servants breathing down my neck, at least none that I could see. I was deep in enemy territory but yet…
I felt safe?
Which brought about the real question. What on earth should I do now? There were no real pressing matters on my agenda other than one thing that I knew for certain.
I needed to get stronger.
I no longer had the luxury of being a forgotten prisoner in some forgotten corner of the Lei Clan, unknown and uncared for. For better or for worse,
I was free.
And I liked it.
The warmth of the sunshine soaking into my face, the sweet scent of medicinal herbs flooding my nostrils, the sweet sound of birds chirping inundating my ears.
I couldn't go back.
I'd rather die.
So then, what now?
My internal monologue was interrupted by the room door slowly creaking open and a tiny head adorned by a wild mess of long red hair poked in. I stared on as slowly but surely a little red robed wrapped figure crept into the room, unaware of my gaze on her.
"Ahem." I vocalised, clearing my throat politely.
The tiny bundle jumped up with a little yelp and turned around, finally noticing my presence. She initially looked rather embarrassed, like a child caught with her hand in the riceball box, but upon not noticing any Qi emitting from me she puffed her cheeks out, almost as if she were trying to intimidate me and stuck her nose up in the air.
"Hmph, how dare you look down on this princess here?" she harumphed, clearly trying to play off her earlier shame.
I gave her an amused smile, humoring her,"How could this humble servant have the courage to do something like that, your highness."
She nodded, clearly pleased by my answer. "What are you doing in my throne room stranger?"
"Your throne room?"
"Yes, my throne room," she said, gesturing all around her.
"This is where I rule from, that's what mommy told me."
I chuckle a bit.
"This loyal subject was here to beg your help, your highness."
"Ho?" she said, confused by my statement.
"What can this princess do for her servant?"
"I am new to your kingdom, your highness and thus I know not my way around. Would you be so kind as to show your humble servant around your domain."
Her chest puffed up, almost proud that there was something I needed of her as she said.
"If that is so then there is no time to waste, off we must go," as she bounced towards the door, impatiently gesturing to me to follow her.
I got up from the bed, nursing my aching ribs as I slowly pulled on my tattered shirt and limped behind her. We exited the building into the massive courtyard that I had been carried through just yesterday, but this time, I had a better opportunity to take it all in.
It was a massive walled compound, littered with gardens, trees and bushes adorned in fiery red flowers that gave off a spicy, sweet smell and floated in the stream that cut the place in half when they fell down.
The tiny princess pushed a punishing pace, first taking me to the training grounds where the sound of wood on flesh was loud enough to drown out my misgivings on the hazards of such training. The scent of the flowers clearly was not enough to mask the sweaty odor permeating the air, much to the displeasure of my tour guide.
We walked on, passing by the same wooden huts I had seen earlier, still as neat and simple as before, giving the Patriarch Pagoda a wide berth as we also avoided the inner compound, something about outsiders not permitted to leave the Outer Clan Ring.
The place that fascinated me the most however had to be the library. It was a massive tower situated on a hilly outgrowth, quite a climb up for my ill rested legs. Eventually however we reached the top, the elevation giving me a stunning view of the city beyond the clan walls, an amalgamation of houses and shops of all shapes and sizes, a slightly familiar clan compound and the harbor, beyond which lay the sea.
A cerulean expanse that captured the viewers eye with its sparkling gem like water, monstrous beasts jumping up and down in the distance and fishermen in their boats trying to catch said beasts.
It was beautiful.
This moment of peace did not last long however as a familiar voice soon let out a loud bellow.
"TANG LAN!"
The little tyrant next to me flinched and we both turned back slowly, behind us storming up the steps was the furious figure of Tang Lou. She tried to hide behind me as he approached both of us, ignoring me as he fixed his gaze on her.
"I have been waiting for you at the gates for the last hour, where on earth have you been." he said, reaching his hand over and grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, hoisting her up.
She mumbled out a non committal answer that earned her a death glare, threatening her to speak up or else.
"I…I…I was just showing this man around, big brother." she stammered out, looking down at her dangling feet.
Big brother? Wait, that would make her…Ohhh.
The entitlement made a little bit more sense now.
"And you, Lei dog" Tang Lou snapped, turning to me, breaking me out of my stupor.
"You're supposed to be resting, do you plan on injuring yourself and giving my mother more work to do?"
My jaw clenched at the insult. I had no sense of loyalty to my former clan but being called a dog still made my blood boil. I wanted to insult him back, make him as angry as he made me, make his blood boil.
But I couldn't
I let my fists fall open and slowly brought my temper to heel.
I was still weak.
"My apologies Tang Lou, I just wanted to explore a bit. It's been a while since I've seen the world outside. Your clan is beautiful, so I couldn't resist trying to see more of it."
The praise softened his expression as he let out a soft harumph. It became easier to see where the Tang Lan had gotten the habit from.
"Well then make sure you take care of yourself. It would be a shame if a guest got hurt on our grounds."
He took in my appearance, tattered rags adorning my body, nose curling up lightly in disgust.
"Also make sure you return to the infirmary in an hour, we can't have you roaming around our territory dressed like a homeless rogue, it'll give us a bad name."
He then left, jumping off the hill towards the gates, Tang Lan protesting to no avail while perched on his shoulders.
Well.
That was interesting.
I didn't know what to make of that interaction, at one moment he seemed hostile and at the next caring. A strange boy through and through. I turned around and soon banished the incident from my mind, fully focused on the structure in front of me.
The Library.
I craved knowledge but my captivity offered me limited access to it, most of my information coming from books that were either outdated, due to their ancient nature, or simply irrelevant. Now that I had a wealth of the aforementioned in front of me I fully intended on taking advantage of it.
I just hope they don't kick me out.
MEANWHILE IN THE LEI CLAN
Lei Wei sat in the small cramped office, the lack of light drawing the shadows out even longer, closing the walls around him even further. His hands trembled as he tried to use the heat from the teacup in his hands to drive away the cold that seemed to penetrate his very bones.
He couldn't meet his fathers eyes, he had been staring at him for a while now with what he assumed was either rage, disappointment or worse yet.
Both.
His father's fingers drummed onto his desk, beating a hole into the lacquered wood. He was quiet.
That was bad.
He became unpredictable when he was quiet.
"Son."
Lei Wei flinched as he sat up straighter and met his fathers eyes, internally cringing as he did. They were empty, not cold, not angry, just empty.
"Ye..yes Father?"
"Do you know what your biggest mistake was?"
It was a trick question. There was no right answer, regardless of what he said he was bound to be wrong anyways.
"I don't know father."
"THWACK."
His head was sent reeling to the side with a loud smacking sound, lip split as drops of blood staining the front of his robes. But he dared not react.
"I…I…I'm sorry father."
"If you don't even know what mistake you made then what the hell are you even sorry about."
"..."
"I had to watch my son, my heir, my apparent pride and joy beg for mercy from that bastard from the accursed Tang Clan in front of the entire city. Do you have even the slightest inkling how much damage my reputation has suffered."
"...Im s…s…sorry."
"And if that in itself wasn't bad enough your damned cousin got taken away by the same bastard who I had to sell him too just as he lost the copy to that cultivation art. Even forgetting the fact that finally having an archivist will let the Tangs jump even further ahead of us, if he opens his mouth and tells them that we have a non-imperial family approved cultivation technique, do you know how much trouble we'll get into? We'll be killed to, the last man."
"... sorry."
Another smack sent his head reeling the other way, he was barely holding on to consciousness, tears of pain blurring the little vision he had, but he forced himself to stay awake. His father got up from his chair and stared out of his window.
"We only have one option left." He turned to Lei Wei, fixing him with his cold dead eyes.
"You'll have to kill him." Lei Wei said very matter of factly, voice small and soft.
"No, you will have to kill him."
Lei Wei looked up in surprise, kill his cousin while he was in the Tang Clan?
"Father, thats suicide!"
His outburst was met with a cold, derisive chuckle.
"Do you think that after your failures I care whether or not you live or you die? The Clan's success is far more important than your worthless life. If it wasn't for the fact that the embarrassment of having two cripples in my clan would have been too much to bear I would have let the Tang child cripple you."
He reached out, grabbing Lei Wei by the chin and growled in his face.
"You will kill him, or you will die trying."
He pushed his face to the side and then continued.
"But not now. It'll be too suspicious if it happens all of a sudden. We will wait a few months and try to look for an opportunity to make it look like an accident."
Lei Wei didn't want to. Not a single fiber of his being agreed with this plan.
But what choice did he have? Probable death vs a guaranteed demise? The choice was clear.
"As you wish father."