Days of Madness - Mù-lán

Walking out into the forest on the far side of the protected clearing from where the group of refugees had entered the night before, Dàilán immediately felt the increase in Essence pressure compared to the previous night.

"This is… why is there such a difference?" she muttered, coming to a swaying stop just inside the tree line and focusing on stabilising her Cultivation by circulating her Essence in a full circuit through her meridians.

A muffled groan beside her caused her eyes to flick open in alarm and she turned to regard Chénli with concern, "Your complexion is pale, can you bear it Chén'er?"

"I…" her friend and sworn sister coughed miserably, hunching her shoulders and Dàilán caught sight of a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth. Hurriedly she reached out and grasped her bodyguard's shoulder and circulated her Essence again, pushing the pressure from the Essence around Chénli away.

Chénli gasped a few deep breaths and slowly straightened up, "I.. yes, I can," she replied as her face regained a healthy color, "it just caught me by surprise - I will circulate my Essence at full strength and slowly reduce it as I adjust. Thank you," she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed bitterly, "I am supposed to be the older sister and the one protecting you - but lately…" the other teen, a year or so older than her mistress, shook her head ruefully.

"I have just had some good fortune lately, Chén'er," Dàilán looked around warily at the dense trees and other flora that blocked out the crow-light, blanketing everything in a deep green gloom, "if we survive this journey, I am sure there will be enough fortune to go around for all of us."

"If…" Chénli echoed wearily, before squaring her shoulders and standing normally again, "Thank you - I am O.K. now," she wrinkled her forehead, "the Essence was definitely not this heavy yesterday."

"I wonder if it is just an increase over time or…" Dàilán looked back at the clearing speculatively, then started walking around it, just inside the treeline as Chénli watched her with puzzlement in her eyes, "come on, Chén'er," she motioned with one hand impatiently, gesturing for her friend to follow her.

"En…" Chénli scratched her nose as she took a couple of swift strides to catch up, "...ah… what are you doing?"

"I am just curious about something," Dàilán replied distractedly, her eyes scanning back and forth as they walked back around the curve of the clearing. They could see brief glimpses of the glow of the Essence plants, flowers and other Essence phenomena coming from the enormous forest giants that Chénli had nicknamed 'Sentinel' Trees, so it was easy to walk around the outside of the clearing without actually stepping within the natural Formations inside it.

"...eh? Did we not come out here to talk to that large fellow?" questioned Chénli in some confusion as they started walking back around towards the point the refugees had first entered.

It was a very large clearing, so traveling through the thick and obstacle filled forest at a normal mortal's walking pace, as her friend and mistress was doing, Chénli estimated it would take at least an incense stick of time to make it back to their original point of entry, which was essentially halfway around the outside of the clearing - on the other side from where they currently were.

"I do not actually know where he is," Dàilán replied in a reasonable tone, "presumably, Father and BloodWitch Senior ran into him while they were scouting around for dangers…" she trailed off distractedly, "...there is just an idea I wanted to check first," she added, slowing almost to a stop perhaps a sixteenth of the way around, "hmmmm… no…" she muttered, before picking up speed again.

"That is not making things any clearer, Lán'er," complained Chénli, "do you think he is hanging around the outside of the clearing, somewhere?"

"Hmmm... no, well - yes, he could be - but I doubt it," replied the young heiress, still in that same distracted tone, shoving entangling branches and vines aside absentmindedly with one hand even as she stepped around a fallen log without seeming to notice it, forcing her friend to duck and block as the branches and vines whipped back into position, nearly hitting her.

"Lán'er, Lán… Dàilán! Stop!" Chénli grabbed her friend's arm and the other girl blinked and looked down at the hand, looking confused as she stopped moving forward then looked up at the exasperated face of her friend, "is there a problem, Chén'er?"

"I do not know - but you are acting weird!" Chénli threw her hands up as she hissed, "like you are not in your right mind, almost. We have run into a lot of odd things in the last few days - maybe you are being influenced by something?"

Dàilán blinked, then looked embarrassed and coughed slightly, "No… just thinking hard," she held out a hand as her friend puffed her cheeks in irritation, "look - we are about, call it - almost an eighth around the circle, would you agree?"

"Dàilán..." growled the other teen warningly and the young heiress shook her head, "seriously, Chén'er… does the Essence feel any different to you?"

"Diff…" Chénli stopped and let her Essence Circulation slow slightly, her brows drawing together. After a breath, she frowned, "it seems, slightly less, oppressive?"

Dàilán nodded and started walking around the clearing again, "pay attention to the Essence," she asked, her tone making it clear it was a request and Chénli scratched her head, her own thoughts starting to whirl as she inclined her head in acceptance.

They had travelled almost the same distance again, when Chénli surprised herself by blurting out, "it is less… not as much as yesterday, but…"

Dàilán nodded as if this was expected, "this is about halfway between where we started from and where we entered the clearing yesterday, right?"

"En… I think I see where your thoughts lie," answered Chénli, "...but…"

"What are you thinking?" asked her friend as they kept moving around the circle - headed for the refugee's original entry point.

"It is way too convenient," grumbled the other girl, "your new boyfriend, 'just happened' to put the daily rest point at the border between the Essence gradients?"

The young Heiress spluttered, "Chún is not my boyfriend… he is only…"

"Who is Chún?" asked Chénli and her eyes rounded as Dàilán stumbled and went pale, stopping herself by catching one hand against the tree trunk she was walking past, "...wait, is Lin not his real name?"

Dàilán rubbed her free on her forehead as she nodded slowly, "please keep that to yourself, Chén'er." She dropped both hands and straightened up, blowing out an annoyed breath, "that will teach me to carry on a conversation with you while having half my thoughts elsewhere."

"Well you did mention he was concealing himself… but why his name?" questioned Chénli, "is he wanted?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Not that I know of - anyone that powerful on the bounty lists would be well known," pointed out Dàilán, "I think it is because he is trying to keep anyone connecting the relatively normal Cultivator he shows around other people with the… with how powerful he really is…"

"Relatively normal…?" Chénli's mouth open and closed, before she shook her head, "forget it…" she started walking again, "come on, let us see if your theory turns out to be accurate. The question is," she continued as Dàilán pushed away from the tree,walking after her, then caught up and stepped a stride ahead, "did he do this deliberately or not?"

"Possibly - or maybe the creation of the protected clearing pushed the Essence further down the route and outward? Compressing it? Or maybe a little of both? Perhaps as the Essence gets heavier, it will take us long to traverse shorter distances and we will find the next rest point at half this distance? Or maybe the Essences gradients are going to increase more quickly?" Dàilán threw up her hands as they walked, "I do not know - perhaps a combination of all of the above? I do not think it is coincidence though - even if he is not doing it on purpose."

"What do you mean, not on purpose?" Chénli asked, "he is creating the sanctuaries is he not?"

"It is more like - he uses what is already there - or adds to it or makes it become more somehow…" Dàilán had a perplexed expression on her face, "it is not like anything I saw first Cousin do or any other Formation Master - I saw part of how he made the hot spring back at our first camp..."

"Hmmm…" Chénli scratched her nose, "that sort of fits with what the Monitor has been saying. After all, changes to Essence gradients tend to make things - fluid - maybe it lets him adjust things easier?" Chénli rubbed her forehead and groaned, "that is if I take your explanation and the Monitor's long-winded explanations of Formation and Essence theory on face value…" she shook her head, "I thought we were out here to possibly get into a fight, not talk about stuff that Formation Masters get into duels over. You should have brought the pervert."

"He has been much better behaved since his stint in the Heart," Dàilán responded mildly.

"Yeah…" Chénli sighed, "that is another thing I need to talk to you about."

"The Essence is nearly back to where it was yesterday," interrupted Dàilán, as the visible tracks of the group's travel through the forest came into sight.

Chénli relaxed her Essence circulation entirely and frowned, "almost - I would judge it almost a rank higher in density…" she sighed, "the Essence levels are gradually rising overall, I think. I shudder to imagine what it is going to be like on the other side of the clearing in a few days."

"Well, the Yaoguai - was - complaining the Essence was too thin," pointed out the Heiress and Chénli slumped forward, "this is insane," she complained.

"The Essence was higher in the Sect Lands, from what I felt," pointed out Dàilán and Chénli made a rocking gesture with one hand in response, "not by much. And it was… calmer. More like the inside of the Sanctuary. It definitely was not as high as what is on the other side of the circle - and that Essence is heavy."

"The Mountain's Essence is quite a bit higher - probably even more so, if this carries on - but I did run into bad areas last time too - this part of the Wilderness might be an area of very heavy Essence…" Dàilán was thinking out loud as she started walking forward around the circle again "the others will need time to adjust…"

Chénli rolled her eyes as she followed, "Yes. I need time to adjust. I do not know how it is not bothering you. I did not think your Cultivation was that much higher than mine…"

"You will be Sky soon too, Chén'er," Dàilán reassured her as they started pushing through the undergrowth again, "I did not see any sign of Father's or the Senior's tracks around the other side - they must have gone out from the other half…"

"En… are we going to try and find the large fellow now?" Chénli asked, scanning for any sign of where the two older Cultivators had gone as the two of them walked.

"En… although, finding traces of their passing when they are both considerably higher ranked?" Dàilán clicked her tongue in frustration, "for all we know, they were captured a fair distance away."

"If they were even captured," Chénli pointed out reluctantly, "I take your point about there not being much point in his lying, but it still could be a trick to convince you to leave the Sanctuary where he could capture you. Perhaps he only encountered or observed the Senior Enforcer and your Father."

"They would have long since returned from patrol were that the case, Chénli," Dàilán disagreed, "true, this also puts me at risk - but again, Chún's work," she flourished a long sleeve to illustrate her point, "seemed to make him behave cautiously."

"It is a gamble," Chénli warned, but sighed, "I am not going to talk you out of this am I?"

"Should I leave Father and Senior BloodWitch behind?" questioned Dàilán, "beyond the requirements of filial piety - they are our strongest members. What are our chances of bringing the rest of the group to the mountain without them?" she asked rhetorically.

"We could wait for the Yāoguài to return them…" Chénli slumped slightly as she completed the thought, "but we cannot afford to leave tomorrow," she bit out in frustration.

"We already discussed all of this in the meeting less than a Shí ago," Dàilán pointed out patiently, "why are you going through it again?"

"It is just - I am supposed to - protect - you," Chénli burst out in frustration, "instead I am following you straight into danger - again!"

"I have responsibilities as a Leader," Dàilán replied quietly, "that is - why - you guard me in the first place - so that I can have a better chance of surviving the extra threats that come with enemies attempting to damage our Clan or Sect by removing its Leader. It is not simply because of my title."

The young Heiress shrugged slightly, "Father and I have discussed the role of a proper leader many times during our Clan Heir lessons. He was most determined that I would not be a waste of space like my male cousins - who assumed all of the benefits - and none of the responsibilities of their positions."

Dàilán inclined her head to dodge a low branch, smiling slightly as she stepped around a small burrow, "ironically, going off into the wilderness to rescue Father from a Yaoguai is likely less dangerous - and a great deal more fun - than Clan or Sect politics, which is where I really need you to guard my back. At least this sort of threat can be usually fought directly, unlike the sort of things I have been training for."

Chénli snorted in amusement and rolled her eyes in acknowledgment as her friend's point. Dàilán grinned back then the smile slipped away as a serious tone came into her speech, "if I just sat and let others do those things that are best suited for my own abilities, I would no longer be worthy of your protection," Dàilán paused slightly, her gaze catching on something just off to the side of their path around the clearing - having come almost full circle back to where they had initially exited the Sanctuary.

The density of the Essence had been rising steadily as they made their way back around, but Chénli merely rolled her shoulders as she reflexively increased her Essence circulation, already anticipating the increasing pressure of Essence around them.

Dàilán stopped and examined the tree she had stepped in front of as she continued her thought,"I am certain that in time, it will be my place to send other people, who are better suited for whatever task must be accomplished, into danger instead - but at the moment, I am the person most appropriate to complete this task… and I believe I have found where Father was captured," she lifted a branch that had a thread snagged on it, "this appears to be from his robe."

Chénli looked along the direction the thread had been snagged on the twigs and picked out other signs of disturbance, "they were taken that way," she agreed, moving slightly ahead of her mistress as she started tracking, "not much disturbance - so there was no struggle - or at least not much of one - they must have been caught by surprise."

"That is not good," muttered the Heiress, looking around warily, "well - we will follow the trail as far as we can," she directed as they stepped away from the Sanctuary and started walking into the forest.

---

"You said you had something specific to discuss," Dàilán mentioned to her bodyguard after they had been following the barely discernible trail an incense stick of time, "it seems quiet - maybe the bear dealt with any local trouble makers - this might be your best opportunity to discuss it in private, given your obvious concerns about Sect matters."

Chénli gave her a dubious look, but eventually nodded, "I am not picking up anything big around here either and the Essence seems stable in this area despite its… weight," her eyes tracked over to a bent twig and she changed angle slightly, "following this trail is not difficult. It does not appear they were attempting to conceal it."

"For you, perhaps," Dàilán replied good naturedly, "I am fairly certain the only reason I spotted that thread is that Father found a way to leave it behind on purpose."

"You should focus more during our lessons in tracking," chided her friend, "I guess developing a perfect Cultivation does not make you automatically skilled in everything else."

"I cannot believe you are still sore about that," grumbled Dàilán, "can you imagine what might have happened if I had had a breakthrough?"

"Well, since it seems to be rubbing off on everyone else around you, I guess I am O.K with it," Chénli teased before arranging her expression into more serious lines while heaving a heavy breath, "right - well - do you remember when you were having a private discussion with your GrandFather and I stayed behind to guard the front door of the manor…" Chénli trailed off expectantly and looked around at her mistress.

It took Dàilán a moment to recall what her sworn sister was referring to. Was it really less than two weeks ago? It seemed a lifetime.

"Yes, I remember," Dàilán confirmed after a slight pause, following her friend as she vaulted over a fallen tree.

"Well, while you were discussing private Sect Leader business, the Head Guard turned up and pulled me aside to have a similar discussion - on Head Guard business," Chénli explained slowly, seemingly picking her words with care.

"I assume you mean Head Guard business that is not normally discussed with the Sect Leader," Dàilán clarified, "should you be mentioning this to me?"

"When the Sect still existed, the separation of critical knowledge made sense. It kept any one individual gaining too much power - if a Sect Leader went rogue for example, the Head Guard had knowledge that could stop him," Dàilán sighed, "but the very reason the Head Guard chose to pass on this knowledge to me early - the same reason your GrandFather called you in before your fifteenth birthday, well," she gestured around them.

Dàilán nodded, "they both had suspicions that something like this might happen - that the Sect might be destroyed or at least seriously damaged."

"In the current situation keeping critical information locked in my brain with no one else aware of it is unwise," Chénli stated flatly, "we have been fortunate nothing has managed to kill me yet, before I could pass it on. After yesterday..." she shook her head.

"If you get killed, I am not so certain I will be able to avoid dying myself, given how closely matched we are," pointed out the Heiress, "you do realise that you have just emphasised the point I made in our talk before the meeting - keeping the Guan Clan and Knife Sect business separate is useless or worse at this point." She looked over at her friend with a sly grin, "still, I take your point. I suppose you gauge the threat of my going rogue to be the lesser concern."

Chénli shot her a dirty look then sighed and wrinkled her nose, "if we survive this we will be pretty much rebuilding whatever organisation, whether Clan, Sect, Association or whatever we decide to call it, from scratch, so yes, I agree keeping 'Clan' or 'Sect' secrets from the rest of your Advisory Council or each other is more or less not relevant."

"Precisely," Dàilán reiterated, then she paused narrowing her eyes, "but you are avoiding what you wanted to actually discuss."

Chénli went quiet for several breaths as she looked around the thick forest, before picking another direction - for no obvious reason that Dàilán could immediately identify - and moving off again. Eventually, she rubbed her forehead and started speaking softly, "one of the methods the Head Guard had of controlling a rogue Sect Leader was that they had the right to communicate directly with the Heart and declare a Leader was acting inappropriately."

"By themselves?" Dàilán was taken aback as she effortlessly picked her way through the undergrowth next to her friend, "that seems - prone to abuse."

"Not exactly - apparently it had only happened once in the Sect's history and the records were sparse," replied Chénli as she flashed a hand sign for 'trace' and casually waved her hand at a nearby tree.

Dàilán saw a tree branch that had been obviously recently damaged - bent in the direction they were traveling and a few leaves dragged off and crumpled across the forest floor and nodded.

"Actually he mentioned those records suddenly made a great deal more sense given the day's events - something about the Guard and the Leader both being required to submit to the Heart for judgment," Chénli clarified.

"En… but you felt this had to be discussed with me now, because…?" The Heiress trailed off thoughtfully before resuming, "it does not seem very relevant now?"

"The Guard was concerned because you had shown such a strong connection to the Heart," Chénli answered, "it was beyond anything in the Sects history, beyond some old stories about the Founder. He was worried that if something came up the Heart would obey your orders over mine."

"Again - not particularly relevant at the moment," pointed out Dàilán.

"Well… after the Sect's Land was destroyed, I attempted to perform my duty as Heir Guard," answered Chénli, "it is the duty of the Monitor's as well, but the Head and Heir Guards have the primary responsibility of reaching through the Heart and the souljades to coordinate survivors after a major incident."

"Souljades - you mean the Soul Tablets?" checked Dàilán.

"Yes…" agreed her friend, "but I could not. I was able to touch the Heart, but it did not respond. I got the sense that it was - asleep. Or worse, so damaged it could not respond," Chénli turned worried eyes up to Dàilán, "Lán'er, the Heart is meant to be indestructible - it is meant to contain a portion of the Soul Essence, knowledge and skill of Enforcers that ever linked to it - so if the Sect is ever destroyed - as long as a few seeds remain, the Heart can provide a way for the Sect to be reborn."

"Well, you said it is not destroyed," replied Dàilán slowly, "maybe it was damaged?"

Chénli shivered, "you have a stronger connection to the Heart than I do. Can you try - to communicate with it?"

"Now?" Dàilán looked at Chénli in confusion, "We are in a delicate situation…"

Chénli shook her head, "Not now. Later, after we find your Father and the Bloodwitch… but I did not wish to discuss this where the other Sect members might overhear or notice," Chénli shivered again, "it may not bother you much, but to us, the idea of there being a problem with the Heart of the Sect…"

"If everyone has a connection to the Heart," asked Dàilán reasonably as she jumped over a stump and ducked under the vines hanging from a low branch, absently crushing a bug that dropped off one of the vines onto her arm, "would not everyone notice if there was a problem?"

"I have asked around discreetly," admitted Chénli, "the others have not noticed any difference - apart from the long range disruptions. Monitor Leng is certain that as the Heart exists in its own miniature secret realm that merely connected to the páifāng network - it would have withdrawn to trap the Grass invaders inside the Sect Lands just before your GrandFather collapsed them. So it would have been untouched."

Dàilán blinked, "but all the external páifāngs exploded - would that not indicate the Heart remained connected?"

"I do not know!" Chénli snapped, almost stomping ahead in her frustration.

"Chén'er…" Dàilán stopped, reached out an arm and grabbed her friend's shoulder, "now that you mention it, something strange did happen to my Soul Tablet at the same time as I saw the páifāng explode, but there has not been anything that I noticed since then." She took a deep breath at the questioning expression on Chénli's face, "but we are in the middle of a critical task right now. I promise I will try and contact the Heart, but right now, we need to focus on finding the Yaoguai."

Chénli closed her eyes and deep breath, "You are correct Mistress. I will ask for more details later." Opening her eyes she looked around and shook her head, "the trail ends here."

With a little focus of Air Essence Dàilán triggered the person to person communication technique that allowed her to speak directly into her bodyguard's ear, 'Perhaps they doubled back?' questioned Dàilán, also looking around as she spoke aloud, "You are certain?"

The other young woman shook her head, her own direct manipulation of Air Essence speaking directly into the Heiress's ear, 'we can walk back along the trail and look for any hidden changes, but it seemed like no attempt was being made to conceal passage.'

"Maybe that is what they wanted anyone following to think…" Dàilán pointed out aloud wryly, covering her amusement that her spoken answer applied equally both for the audible and inaudible parts of their conversation.

Chénli nodded, turning around with clearly dejected body language even as her voice sounded in Dàilán's ear, 'we backtrack then. If they were being subtle we will have to push our tracking techniques to the maximum. No distractions by either of us - no talking, just going over every háo with every ability at our disposal.'

"We have to go back," Chénli spoke aloud.

"This is going to be like training,' sighed Dàilán, also dropping her posture into dejection for the benefit of any hidden watchers, 'too much to hope for sloppy opponents.'

---

The next part took the better part of a Shí. First the two of them pretended to slink back to the clearing, ostensibly devastated at their failure, while in actuality they were going over every twig, pebble and leaf they came within range of with both of their sets of various investigation techniques as intensively as they could. Their slow - 'dejected' - pace helped give them the time to be obsessively thorough. Dàilán particularly was using her Essence threads to look for any creature or beast within range of them.

Once the two of them were certain they were back within the Formations of the Sanctuary clearing less than half a Shí later, they both straightened up and Dàilán traced out a temporary privacy Formation.

"Anything?" questioned Dàilán and Chénli shook her head grimly, "Nothing - and that is suspicious in itself - where was the normal animal life?"

"So they kept it up even though we were leaving?" Dàilán frowned, "Any sign of hidden trails? Double backs that went off in a different direction that were concealed? I did not pick anything up…"

Chénli shook her head, "only the single trail - and as far as I can tell after looking so closely, those marks were only left because your Father or the BloodWitch managed to find ways to leave traces. They are arrogant - they are not doing anything to disguise their trail because they do not think it matters."

"That fits with how that Yaoguai behaved, but then why bother observing us?" speculated Dàilán, "even if we could not sense them, the animal behaviour was a giveaway."

"A lot of the women from your Clan maybe some of the less Field oriented Enforcers would not have noticed that detail," disagreed Chénli, "we did our best to look like we had no clue what we were doing."

"Maybe before all this started," Dàilán pointed out mildly, "I think everyone in the camp would pick up on the strangeness now."

Chénli shrugged, her expression clearly showing her thoughts were elsewhere. Dàilán waited patiently until her sworn sister turned to her, "O.K. We go back, but under full concealment. Like an infiltration mission. Those new robes of yours will probably make you even harder for you to be spotted than I will."

"Trying to see if he or they spot us coming back? Full scans again?" Dàilán frowned, "if they do not spot us they might not activate whatever techniques they were using to confuse our senses?"

"If there is anything they were hiding…" agreed Chénli.

"If we still do not find anything by the time we reach the end of the trail?" asked her young Mistress.

Chénli shot a glance at Dàilán's pouch, "The Yaoguai appeared after you finished playing your bāwū last time - how do you think he would react if we suddenly appear at the end of the trail, with you playing that Essence Treasure?"

Dàilán blinked, "they would at least be curious how we managed it - if we escape their notice and manage to make such an obvious show at the end of it - if they do not just decide to attack, of course."

Chénli shrugged, "the bāwū is a reminder of your Expert friend. Call it a warning. If they decide to pick a fight, your music should slow them down - that stuff is powerful."

Dàilán blinked, "I have not tried to achieve a specific effect with my playing yet. It just seems to affect people's Cultivation"

Chénli rolled her eyes, "try going for music that warns everyone how Mù-lán you are. Maybe you might summon a storm or something."

This time Dàilán was the one who rolled her eyes, "Chén'er, you know very well Mù-lán is one of those old folk tales that has no basis in history. There is no evidence of there ever being a time where Cultivators did not exist. She was not even a Mortal level Cultivator according to the story…"

Chénli laughed, "I was not really talking about the story. More how nowadays it just means dangerous and an expert - and all around perfect heroine type. The term fits."

"What about yourself?" Dàilán snorted, her cheeks colouring as she jabbed an elbow at her friend's side as Chénli danced away nimbly, giggling at her.

"Fine let us both go and be Mù-lán's," agreed the bodyguard, "remember - full infiltration."

The two of them pulled up the hoods of their robes and activated all the concealment formations to their highest capacity, vanishing like ghosts. Dàilán added Mountain Mists at a low level and allowed the Veil Technique to rise above her skin.

'You have gotten better,' came Chénli's voice in her ear a breath later courtesy of that Air technique and Dàilán glanced over to see a slight shimmer where her friend was, 'I can still tell where you are,' Dàilán replied the same way, 'use the Veil on top of the robe Formations'.

The shimmer marking Chénli faded away and the two of them pushed off out of the Sanctuary back into the clearing, their senses pushed to the maximum and this time moving quickly - at a mortal's sprint rather than a walk.

Dàilán grinned to herself as the green gloom of the forest closed around them. She could hear clear sounds of animals, insects and birds and other things - including the wind in the trees and water flowing somewhere in the distance - along with smells, scents and other odors that had been markedly muted or absent previously.

"Whomever it was has not spotted us coming back out," Dàilán thought to herself, stretching her senses to her utmost, "no signs of any other trails though, still, though," She picked up something large moving through the forest ahead of her and adjusted her path through the trees to avoid it, instinctively knowing Chénli was doing the same.

The end of the Shí found both of them back at the end of the trail, still concealed with the normal sounds and smells of the forest around them.

'Anything?' Dàilán used the Air Technique to ask, frustrated that despite having appeared to escape observation this time, she had not discovered any other trails or clues.

'Nothing. Time to cast the spear over the hill,' returned Chénli.

Dàilán rolled her eyes at the old saying and took out her bāwū, an impish smile crossing her features as she raised the instrument to her lips, redirected her Essence away from her robes and concealment techniques and into the Essence Instrument as she started to play:

"Tsiek tsiek and again tsiek tsiek,

Mù-lán weaves, facing the door.

You do not hear the shuttle's sound,

You only hear Daughter's sighs..."