“Strange, then,” Emilia began, rolling out her bedroll on the floor of the single room cottage they had been given near the center of town, “that a servant girl of the palace should know the safe houses so intimately.” Emilia teased, “Especially if only the warlord’s most trusted servants are told of their locations.”

  Nai bent over and scooped up the girl’s bedroll, not even bothering to explain as she rolled it up and set it behind the small round table at the far side of the room.

  “I have run the occasional errand for Lord Langshen.”

  Emilia smiled as she unfolded a blanket onto a clean patch of floor, which Nai I’mmediatley lifted and placed upon the single true bed in the cottage, rolling her own sleeping mat onto the floor instead. Emilia stared slack jawed, which Nai ignored as she set about preparing a small cookfire.

  She could hear the guards shuffling outside. The village was too small to have any soldiers assigned to it from Langshen at this time of year, most of those would be on the river protecting the actual lumber mills, but the town had stil assigned two if it’s strongest men to stand guard outside their little cottage.

  “Errands? How long have you served him?” Emilia finally asked.

  “I assume you mean our Jut’layi.”

  “Well, yes.” Emilia said.

  “I have served the current Lord Langshen for six years.”

  Emilia caught a cold tone to her words, and paused, glancing at the woman, debating whether to press or to connect.

  “I became a spirit-guide six years ago.” She said softly. “Strange how often dates coincide like that.”

  Nai hesitated. She set a mahogany log on the fire, hung a tea kettle over one corner of embers, before sitting back on her knees.

  “Thst’s a young age to be chosen by a god.”

  Emilia shrugged. “I was the last who could fill the role.”

  “The last?”

  “My family has taken care of Lady Cagrina’s shrine since my great-great-grandfather came to our town. No one else seems to be able to hear her. There are fewer members of my family with each generation, and… I’m the last.”

  “Your goddess… speaks?”

  Emilia nodded.

  “I’ve met her. Once. Not that you could forget meeting a goddess.”

  Nai noticed how tightly the girl hugged her Liuqin to her chest. She changed the topic of conversation.

  “So now you travel to the impacted towns? According to the scout’s reports, you’ve traveled almost exclusively to places where the restless have struck.”

  Emilia nodded.

  “That will likely turn to your favor in the trial to come.”

  Nai paused, but when she didn’t say anything else, Emilia finally spoke up.

  “Before this Lord Langshen, What did you do? I am fairly certain that mounted archery, tracking, and government secrets are not standard fields of training for a maidservant. I also don’t expect most servant girls to have knives hidden in the sleeves of their travel uniforms.”

  “You ask questions that you should not.” Nai snapped. “Once a warlord becomes Jut’layi, it’s really of no significance what came before them, isn’t it? Lord Hyungjae is the Jut’layi. Everything that I did before his service doesn’t matter. He has declared I am to be a servant of the house, so a servant of the house I am.”

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  Emilia slowly finished setting her things up on the small bed, sitting cross legged on the thinly padded surface.

  “It does matter who you were before. The past is important.”

  Nai raised an eyebrow at her. “All that matters is the decree of the current Jut’layi. If anyone had strength to resist him, they would be sitting in his seat instead. His will is law- his word is law. I am your maidservant, I protect you during your trials.”

  “Nothing is permanent, Nai. All things pass, all things are forgotten even without the warlords’ constant efforts to erase history. It’s a lesson they refuse to accept. We need to know the past to learn from it and avoid repeating mistakes.”

  Nai laughed. “Lord Hyungjae is quite aware that the past can be forgotten, Miss Yun. He has worked very hard to ensure his predecessor is not remembered.”

  Emilia shifted awkwardly. She was used to sleeping on the cold ground, or dirt floors, or occasionally the bed of a wagon. A real bed… she decided to enjoy the luxury, given she had the feeling Nai wouldn’t let her take any other sleeping arangement. She hung her sheathe from the left bedpost, where she could draw the blade even while stirring from the fits of sleep. She pursed her lips as she sat down on the simple covers.

  “And you want your past to be forgotten? Before Hyungjae there was Ryoku-Langshen. Before Ryoku there was Taewo-Langshen. Before him there was Dikhi Langshen- she stands out as a woman because according to stories, she fought the Dragon-Emperor of Ryulong herself. Each ensured the deeds of their predecesors were smoothed over with their own greatness, their own accomplishments.”

  “You realize you are merely supporting my point that it doesn’t matter, don’t you? It is forgotten, it will be forgotten, it is irrelevant.” Nai checked the tea, placing the lid more forcefully than was likely neccesary.

  Emilia frowned as she cocked her head to the side.

  “On the contrary. Our lives are the only things that do matter. We love, we breathe, we struggle, we make new things and are loved. Each person with a story as deep and intertwined as all others, woven together in a tapestry. Who you were always informs who you are- which informs who you will choose to be.”

  “I have no desire to discuss history or philosophy, spirit-guide.” Nai set a small black cauldron on the hook over the fire, adding some dried rations to it, and pouring water from a pot that had been drawn for them. She stirred the crude stew with a spoon that they had washed on entering the cottage.

  Emilia sighed. Her stomach rumbled. Only the thought of food kept her awake. She lifted her liuqin, beginning to play a soft tune.

  Nai forced herself to relax, back straightening in a way that seemed remarkably cold to Emilia. “We will eat, and then you will rest.”

  “Very well.” Emilia replied, “I am sorry.”

  Emilia closed her eyes to focus on the music, tuning her instrument slowly as she used her bone pick to strike the strings. Nai regarded the girl in silence. The tea in the kettle began to steam, and the servant woman removed it from the fire, replacing the kettle with a small pan, pulling some cured meats from the beeswax wrapping she had brought them in, mixing the meat with some cut roots and other small items in the cauldron, while setting the rest of the meat on the pan.

  Nai then poured the tea into two simple earthenware cups, setting one in front of Emilia. The girl opened her eyes, startled, music stopping with a sharp twang as her pick struck the wrong string.

  “Drink.” Nai poured some green liquid into the cup with more poise than Emilia had ever seen, every hair in place, with barely the rustle of cloth.

  “Drink, girl. We are traveling companions. It is only polite to share a meal before rest.”

  Emilia hesitated, then took the offered cup, sipping it slowly.

  “Thank you, Nai.”

  Nai nodded in response.

  “Each day that goes by, I feel that society is far more complex than it should be.” Emilia declared.

  Nai nearly spit out her mouthful of tea.

  “Excuse me? This after our greatest thought today was ‘avoid being eaten by a demon’?”

  Emilia took another sip. “Since leaving home, I have encountered nothing but pointless rules and ego, like peacocks fighting for attention. Posturing, status, power.” She looked out the window, almost as if talking to herself. “Even gestures have meaning, this far from the foot of the mountain. Snide words, backhanded comments disguised as sincerity, colors of clothing and cuts of cloth. So… pointless.”

  Nai’s eye twitched.

  “Is it really so hard for people to just… be kind to one another? Help each other?”

  Emilia signed, set the Tea down, and took Nai’s silence as a signal that more conversation was no longer desired. They ate in silence, and Nai merely watched on curiously as Emilia pulled her three candles from their place in her satchel, lighting them with a snap of her fingers. Emilia prayed in her great-great-grandfather’s language. She didn’t want Nai hearing what she said, not knowing that everything she said would be reported back to the Warlord with eyes of jade and gold.

  Emilia kept it short. She was exhausted.

  Nai set a hand in the girl’s shoulder.

  “Rest, we begin your labor tomorrow.”

  Emilia nodded, and slid under the covers, twinging as she leaned on her arm more than she should have.

  “See you in the morning.”

  Sleep came the moment Emilia closed her eyes.

  PATREON