***

Taiheng Zhiyao barely looked up from his seat as his assistant stepped into the room. 

“Master Taiheng, your son has returned.”

Zhiyao looked up to see Wei standing in the doorway behind the man. His eyes were low and even from where Zhiyao sat, he could see the bandages that wrapped his son’s left arm and right hand. He put down the paper he was reading, doing his best to avoid frowning. 

“Since when does delivering a letter involve bandages, Wei?” His tone was sharp and he noticed as the boy flinched. However, when Wei spoke, his voice was clear and without fear.

“The Luoyin residence was attacked and it seems Initiate Luoyin was their target. Disciple Luoyin was not present, so I held off the attackers until she could arrive.” His son’s voice was clear, but it was obvious to Zhiyao that the boy was still in a lot of pain. A sound escaped the older man, although he tried to stop it from leaking out. “I have also brought a letter back from Instructor Quan concerning her initial assessment of Initiate Luoyin.”

“You may enter,” Zhiyao motioned to his desk, watching how stiffly the boy walked. Wei also moved as if he was waiting for a blow that never came, and Zhiyao watched with a blank expression as the paper was placed on his desk. “You may rest for three days and then return to your training.”

“Master Taiheng, that’s–”

“Thank you for your generosity, Father.” Wei interrupted the assistant’s protest and turned to leave without another word. Zhiyao watched as his son left before reaching for the paper, skimming over Quan’s words. 

He needs to open his meridians soon. His affinity is high.

Zhiyao scoffed before tossing the sheet to the trash. He had expected as much, but it was Ascendant Lingyao who said Yao could not be taught how to open his meridians. Even if Zhiyao wanted to intervene, he didn’t have the authority when the head of the sect had already said otherwise. Besides…

Zhiyao glanced at the spot his son had stood. He had wanted to move Jie and her son to the main residence to avoid giving the Night-Devouring Court an opening, but it seemed they had found one anyway. Maybe now, Jie would be more receptive to the idea if he brought it up again. They still had no idea why the sect was after her, but it was clear they wanted something only Jie or her son could give.

“Tang.” Zhiyao’s sharp tone made the assistant straighten, wiping the worried look from his face. 

“Yes, Master Taiheng?”

“Go to the market and get herbs good for cuts and pain. Report to me on Wei’s exact condition when you deliver them to his mother. He is downplaying his injuries again. Also, get the pin Fen asked for last week. The Festival is coming up soon and I may not have time to go get it myself,” Zhiyao picked up the report he had been reading before the interruption, noting the sigh of relief from his assistant as the man bowed and finally left the room. 

Once alone, Zhiyao sighed, turning to glance out the window behind him. The plums hung ripe and heavy on the tree, and Zhiyao was reminded of when Wei was Yao’s age. A boy so young, without a care or desire beyond time with his mother. Small. Delicate. Breakable. 

“Ha,” Zhiyao let out a joyless sound, remembering the way his son wouldn’t even look him in the eyes. After all this time, he still didn’t know how to interact with children and now both of his sons were afraid of him. Zhiyao hadn’t expected it to bother him, but he wished he could see his children smile. A part of him wished he could fix what had been broken for years now.

But there was little he could do. His own mother had isolated him, never allowing him to interact with other children and now Zhiyao could only watch as others played and spoke to his own sons. There was a wall that had been built around him, and he didn’t know how to reach the other side.

He picked up the report a third time. 

***

Yao emerged from the brush, unable to help his smile to be next to the lake again after so long. He finally had a day off from training and instruction, since his father was finally coming to visit. His mother and Instructor Quan had left early in the morning to meet him in the city and while Yao usually would have begged to go along, he was more than happy to remain behind this time. 

Instead of leaping into the water, Yao sat on the edge, pulling the mirror from his pocket. He didn’t understand what triggered it to show images of the past, but he had learned that only he could hear it. He also learned that to others, it looked like nothing more than a pebble. Feng had tried to throw it back into the pond, and it had taken her father yelling for her to stop bullying him for her to stop. 

Yao frowned. Ever since he had gotten his marks, his other cousins came to visit him more often, even though Feng seemed to be dragged along against her will. The others seemed interested in getting their own mark eventually, a dream Feng was quick to try a shoot down. He got the feeling she was mad that he was now getting more attention than her and she felt as if her non-existent importance was being threatened.

Sitting next to the water with the mirror now, Yao turned it over in his hands, wishing he could talk to the silver carp again. He didn’t remember much of what happened the day after he met the carp, although he knew he and Wei had been hurt by someone. Yao remembered the way his mother thanked Wei for protecting him, but the older boy merely shook his head and said he was doing his duty. Wei had left quickly after that, refusing to stay and rest at his aunt’s request. 

Yao’s hands went to his shirt, squeezing the fabric over his heart. The doctor had said he was lucky to only have a scar, as if Wei hadn’t moved him when he did, Yao could have been crippled. He didn’t understand what crippled meant, but from his mother’s expression, he knew it was a bad thing. 

“I need to get strong,” Yao muttered, continuing to play with the small mirror. “I need to be strong so my mother won’t cry.”

“Are you Yao?”

Yao jumped as he heard a man’s voice, and looked up to see a stranger standing over him. They were wearing plain robes in faded shades of grey and blue and, from what he could see, there were no patterns or symbols on the fabric. The sash at his waist was tied in a simple knot, and his boots were scuffed with dried mud from where he had been walking around the lake’s edge. Yao started to jump up, but stopped when the man raised his hand. 

“I apologize,” the man’s voice was soft, and that’s when Yao noticed his eyes. They were a gentle green and something in them made Yao relax, as if he knew the person they belonged to. “I’m an old friend of your mother’s, so I figured you must be her son.”

“You know my ma?” Yao asked softly, watching as the man laughed. He gazed out over the water, his hair hiding his expression from Yao. 

“We used to play by this lake together when we were younger.” There was a soft tone to the man’s voice, one Yao often noticed his mother using when she talked about his father or her childhood. He didn’t understand what it meant, but coming from the man, it made him… sad. “It’s been a long time since then. I had to move away, you see, and she… was called to other things.”

Yao tilted his head as the man stood, no longer looking down at him. Slowly, Yao stood, tucking the mirror back into his pocket as he made his way over to his log. He carefully reached into his staff, pulling on the strange black cord and when he turned back, he noticed the man was watching him again. 

“My ma isn’t here right now, but she’ll be back later,” Yao offered, taking his time as he untwisted the cord. To his surprise, it unraveled easily, and he was slightly annoyed he had never thought to try that before. Shaking away his frustrations, he held out half of it to the man. “If I give you this half and the other to my ma, you can recognize her.”

“Recognize… her?”

“Yeah!” Yao grinned. He wasn’t sure why he liked this man, but something told him it was fine. He could trust him. “You said you haven’t seen her since you were kids, right? You might not recognize her even if she was in front of you. So here!”

Yao watched as the man simply stared at the cord in his hand, almost as if he couldn’t see the strands of black cord. Then, slowly, the man reached for the small offering and when their hands touched, Yao felt a rush of warmth in his chest. It almost felt like he was absorbing qi, but as soon as the man’s hand left, the feeling left with it. The man cradled the few strings, a small smile now settling on his face. 

“I suppose… you’re right, Yao.”

“Yup!” Yao nodded, paying attention to the air around the man. He had gotten good at noticing when someone was “circulating qi”, since Instructor Quan regularly did so during his lessons. But to his surprise, there was no light moving, no subtle bending around the man as he tucked the cord half into his robes. He seemed… normal, but Yao was certain of what he had felt when their hands touched. 

Yao looked down at his marks, almost as if they could give him an answer. But they remained the same as ever, their inky appearance unchanging in his skin. It wasn’t until the man cleared his throat that Yao looked up again, and he noticed the man was smiling right at him. 

“Shouldn’t you head back soon? I doubt your mother would be happy to find you missing.”

“Oh, right!” Yao exclaimed, quickly tucking his half of the cord into his pocket. He still wasn’t supposed to be here by himself. “Don’t tell her okay? She made me promise not to come here without her since I have marks now.”

The man stiffened. “You… have marks?”

“Yeah,” Yao nodded, showing the palms of his hands. “They don’t hurt but I don’t like them very much. Instructor Quan says I can use them to protect my ma, so I'ma use them to be stronger than her so she never cries.”

“I see.” Was all the man offered, and Yao noticed the man’s smile had faded a bit. 

“I’m okay! My ma has marks too and she’s super strong.” Yao continued, wanting to make the man’s smile come back. He preferred it when the man smiled. “I’m gonna be stronger than her and when I do, you can move back and see her all the time.”

The man blinked, and Yao grinned as the man laughed again. “Perhaps, little Yao. Hurry back to give your mother her half.”

“I will! See you mister!” Yao remembered to quickly bow as he turned to climb back through the underbrush, not wanting to fail in his secret mission. Something about the man felt… right. As he was a part of a puzzle Yao didn’t know was incomplete until he met him. But now that he had, he wanted his mother to meet him too. 

It didn’t take long for Yao to return to the estate and as soon as he brushed the leaves and dirt from his pants, he heard his mother’s voice on the other edge of the courtyard. He ran over, delighted to see his mother standing with his father. 

“Pa!”