“Ugh, my head.”

“You’re doing great, Li,” Ju offered as she put the slate and book back in the wagon. “That’s ten new characters that you know now.”

“Is that you trying to make me feel better?” Olivia rubbed her forehead. A quick use of her lid lifter showed that the insides of both pot and skillet were almost burnt out and ready to get cleaned.

A little longer, and I can pull out the salt.

“No. You really are. I’ve never heard of anyone, even adults, picking up the script as fast as you have.”

“Perks of having a photographic memory.” Adding more wood to the fire beneath the repurposed well grate, Olivia stretched. Even if it had been for what she guessed was half an hour, sitting for so long pulled at her back in the wrong way. “See it once, and I remember it.”

“Must have made learning easy.”

Olivia shrugged. “Not easy, but it helped. I still had to work hard like everyone else.”

Still didn’t stop kids my age from seeing me as a know-it-all. But hey, kids are kids no matter the year. At least most grow out of it.

As Olivia stood to stretch her legs, Chester chose at that time to whinny and snort, a familiar pattern that informed Olivia that the horse was thirsty.

“Couldn’t even wait for me to get the cramps out of my leg,” Olivia muttered, handing a quite happy-to-stay-put Gipp to an excited Min before heading to where the horses were hitched. “I’m coming, you impatient horse.”

“Ping, could you go see if Yu needs to drink? It has been a bit since she last did.”

“Yes, Mother," Ping stretched briefly before joining Olivia in fetching the two horses. Yu happily followed after the boy, with Chester following Olivia with a bit more spring in his step.

Though he did seem a little off-put when Olivia quickly stopped to retrieve the skillet and what she needed to finish cleaning it.

"Hey, I'm not going just to be standing at your beck and call when I have things to do," was Olivia's response when the horse impatiently snorted.

“So, how are you doing, Ping?” Olivia asked once the pair reached the creek, Chester wasting no time to begin drinking alongside Yu while busying herself with brushing burnt food out of the skillet with a thick application of salt, a stiff-tooth brush, and elbow grease.

“I’m…fine.”

“That’s good. To be honest, I was a little worried how you and Min would take to leaving so suddenly.”

Ping blinked and looked up. “You were worried? Why?”

Olivia scratched at her head beneath her hat. “Because moving can be really scary, especially for someone your age. My folks moved around a lot because of my dad’s job when I was younger, and it was pretty hard for my siblings and me to make new friends. Most of us didn't bother since we wouldn't be able to keep it going once we left.”

Thank goodness Dad and Mom finally got their own business off the ground, and we could actually stay put.

“Min and I…we don’t have any friends. None of the kids wanted to play with us.” Ping looked away, face pensive.

“Sorry you had to deal with that, Ping,” Olivia said sympathetically. Bet I know who told the kids they couldn’t play with Ping and Min.

“But think about it this way,” she added, stopping in her brushing to place a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re going someplace where you will be able to hang out with others your age.”

“R-right. I’ll make friends, and I’ll become a cultivator. It’s okay that I do that, right?”

Olivia grinned. “You don’t need anyone’s permission for that, Ping. You do what you want, but be ready for the good and bad consequences of your actions. Do that, and there’s no telling how far you’ll go.”

Ping grinned, though it was a little shaky. “Yeah, and maybe I can finally stop-” Ping froze, terror taking his expression as his mouth slammed shut.

“Ping? Are you okay? What is it that you want to stop?”

“I-it’s nothing.”

“If you say so.” Wonder if Ju knows what Ping was going on about. If she doesn’t, hopefully, Ping will confide in her sooner than later. Before it blows up in our faces and-