042. dogwood flowers

The entry to Luanshi’s Cultivator Dormitories was an austere looking building built of black iron wood, ancient rivets, and reclaimed glass. It protruded from the hollowed out side of Yunji, more welcoming than an undressed cave mouth with its low electric lights and its painted screens, its hearth with water always ready for tea. The entry building was about twenty meters deep, dotted with sitting areas and bookshelves, and opened up to carved out stone steps leading at least four different ways—up and down, left and right. The dorms themselves were carved along the outer face of the mountain so each room could greet the morning when the day woke the birds and say goodnight in the evening when the sun sank below the jagged teeth of the surrounding terrain. 

Laike took the most direct path to the large-ish guest room (up and right), empty for months outside of the children who occasionally stole away into the vacant room to hide or play. The translucent marble-white streaked windows had cobwebs on the sill; the rosewood beds, calligraphy table, and sitting area were dusty from disuse. 

Despite the room’s spare use, it was comfortable. The electric light was a pale gold and there were four fresh bedrolls left just outside the sliding screen-paneled door. 

Apparently having their own plans to explore the grounds, Laike and Yuhui quickly dropped off the bags they hauled and disappeared down the darkened hall leaving Tiao alone to help the crown prince settle into his dusty accommodations. 

Xiaoxu, however, was not offended by the dingy quarters, dropping the two bags he’d taken between two of the lined up beds. He drifted to the window, sliding it open to gaze at the night through the spidersilk mosquito net glittering in the light. 

“I’ll have to thank Master Xueyu for accommodating us so graciously,” that tall, broad shouldered royal said, looking back at Tiao. “It’s really beautiful here. I’ve never stayed at Yunji before, only made day trips with my family to pray and bring offerings. Your hospitality is generous: thank you for all of your help.”

As Xiaoxu mentioned the beauty of Yunji’s domicile, Tiao’s lips flattened into a line that struggled through her embarrassment from seeing the room lit up, large eyes sliding over to the nest of spiders that were startled by human interruption and shrunk back into the micro-crevasses of the room’s windows. The crown prince of Fanxing was too kind—he really had some nerve being so gracious and handsome at the same time.

“Mm… I apologize for all the dust. The disciples here are all tasked with cleaning their own spaces, so since this one is rarely used, it’s rarely paid much attention outside of storing excess items.” That delicate voice chimed softly in the air again, musical salvage disturbed by a spring-eve sigh. “I will have someone come in and make it more habitable for you and your family, your guests. Chongwei would probably be thrilled to ferret these spiders out and add them to her collection.”

Tearing her sight away from the web-clotted mire, she approached the royal with a boldness that lasted two timid steps before her motion grinded to a halt. Tiao held out the box she’d been deigned to carry, sleeves of her grey-sky robes clinging to the lithe bend of her extended arms.

“Oh, here you go,” the girl said as if suddenly remembering the object of her charge.

“It’s not necessary,” Xiao replied as he sat on the windowsill, smiling warm at the blonde and all her nerves. “Please don’t disturb anyone on my behalf. If Yunji’s disciples are tasked with cleaning their own spaces, then so will we. Yuhui is prone to making messes; Ren Li has had the worst day of his life; Hua Jin will be exhausted after he finishes working on Li’s inlay. I’ll clean up myself.” The prince held out his hand, waiting for the girl to approach and hand the box off.

She completed the journey at the turned palm of his insistence. Tiao placed it carefully in his hand, shadow shifting in a shape more grandeur than her actual size, modest skirts of her robe portraying the lying lines of something more in their inattention to detail, much like the way trees became phantoms cast on blank walls under the light of a full moon.

“I will help you, then,” she added. “It is ultimately our space, after all. I’m sure Laike will make sure that your brother is fed. Despite his outward appearance, he’s actually very considerate when it comes to food. Are you hungry, Xiaoxu? I can show you where we eat, or I can show you the basic layout of the grounds, or we can skip straight to cleaning. If you have a preference, I would be happy to indulge it.” Jiling’s lead disciple looked away in her nearness, curiously watching the inert floor flecked with a pattern of stale footsteps.

Xiao accepted the box but also caught the girl by her wrist, holding her gently in the dim electric light, eyes on the floor to observe the shape she cast. 

“Huh,” the prince offered, watching Tiao’s shadow with a cat’s curiosity, uninterested in food or the lay of the compound—not when there was something so subtly impossible standing right before him. A dimple creased his cheek with the spread of his lopsided grin. His black eyes flit up to Tiao’s blushing face. “What’s the Eternal Void in your name?”

“Oh, it’s… um, a little difficult to explain.” She was bashful, blushing in her elsewhere focus though not trying to pull herself away from the Tian heir’s grasp. “It’s a little strange. Maybe with some time to get to know you and relax in your presence, I’ll be able to find the correct words to tell you what it means.”

“Why do I make you so nervous?” Xiao’s voice was a soft tease delivered on a rakish grin. He barely held onto the blonde’s wrist—she could leave his touch at any time… 

And yet she stayed. Perhaps it was her way of forcing herself to get more comfortable in Xiaoxu’s proximity.

“I’m just shy. I know you said to disregard your status as royalty but I’ve never met a prince before. It’s a new experience for me. I’m used to meditating and being with the mountain.” Tiao turned her cheek into her shoulder, surreptitiously peeking back at the prince. “That, and it is a strange explanation. I have a difficult time explaining myself to anyone when I first meet them. Maybe if you tell me something about yourself, then I will feel a little easier opening up to you.”

“Well, I don’t know that things are ever really easy to explain. Even when you know someone well,” the charming boy replied as he released Tiao’s wrist to fiddle with a pouch slung from his belt. He withdrew a single cluster of dogwood flowers, fresh from his mother’s garden. Looking to the side, he spotted the capsized husk of a nanite spider automaton, shiny brass in the low light. Xiao reached out to pick it up gently, holding it in the palm of his hand. Dotingly, he prodded the spider’s curled up legs and, seemingly satisfied at its lack of movement, crushed the flowers in his fist. 

It didn’t take long for the little shrapnel spider to begin whirring and clicking, legs unfurling and groggily flailing, trying to right itself. When it succeeded, it wandered Xiao’s palm in confusion, woozy and drunk from being offline for Gods only knew how long. Soon, it hunkered down, waiting to acclimate to a reality where it was once more alive. He held his palm up between his face and Tiao’s, spider at eye level between them. 

“Being with the mountain sounds more enjoyable than being in court,” the Tian heir continued casually, like he hadn’t just brought something back to life. “But I’m not really sure, I’ve never met any of Jiling’s disciples before. This is a new experience for me, too.” 

Xiao was too charming for his own good, spoke too plainly for a prince, didn’t know exactly when amicability crossed into flirtation but maybe that didn’t matter so much this time.

The girl sucked in her breath, surprised by the prince’s ability and hypnotized with the care he showed in handling that small, insignificant creature. She leaned in, taking Xiaoxu’s wrist this time and lowering it, so she could observe the little nanite in its second existence from above.

“I do like being with the mountain,” the blonde began. “It’s very peaceful here but not so quiet that it’s isolating. There’s still noise and laughter depending on where you are, the sounds of Xueyu’s disciples training in the yard. Do you not like being in court?” Tiao looked up to the handsome heir, slowly growing braver with those large animalian eyes. “Do you always carry flowers with you?”

“Just in case. Flowers, leaves—anything will do, so I don’t have to draw off a person if I don’t have to,” Xiao replied as he watched the spider for a moment longer, black eyes flitting eventually up to meet the blonde’s wide gaze. “Court is ostentatious, no one is genuine. I’d rather be where people are plain and honest. It’s difficult to feel comfortable in Fanxing when everyone around you is hiding something.”

“People hide things anywhere but I suppose I can see how that would get overwhelming.” As if prompted by his explanation, Tiao looked aside, letting the Prince free from her curled fingers. “I’m Tiao of the Eternal Void because the space inside of me is multi-dimensional, it’s large—infinite, even.”

Xiao tilted his head, curious but intent on keeping Tiao from feeling uncomfortable. Instead of pursuing further explanation, he cracked a joke: “I bet you could really put away some dumplings, huh?” 

The prince smiled softly at the priestess before he looked away, gently turning the spider off of his hand and onto the windowsill where it scuttled unsteadily away. “People are always hiding something, it’s true. But it gets worse in court where everyone’s got their own plots, their own schemes on how they wanna use you for their benefit, it’s…” Xiaoxu shook his head. He laughed quietly, a brief puff of air exhaled on a single breath, and looked sidelong back at his companion. “You know: maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible if I lost the Millipede.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Tiao cautioned, grinning despite her words. “You’ve just arrived. You don’t yet know what it’s like to be shamed in the training arena by Xueyu’s prized disciple, you’ve yet to be suckered into a scheme manufactured by the Weis. You’ve not been able to see how fiercely competitive it is out there, away from the hushed air of these dormitories. It’s not all spaces that haven’t been cleaned in years and the charming scattering of micro-pest corpses, yanno. Let us give you a deeper peek into our lifestyle before you start to commit such bold statements to the universe.”

She laughed then, soft and humble. “And yeah, I can put away a ton of dumplings but I choose not to because I am not completely beastly like  s o m e  p e o p l e  around here.”

The Tian heir laughed, grin creasing his eyes. “You’re a very charming guide to my potential life of suffering, Tiao of the Eternal Void. In our downtime, if you can even find time for something as unimportant as helping me become more acquainted with Yunji between your other duties, I would be immensely thankful.”

“Oh—” The meek girl slightly shrunk into herself again, flush at the notion that someone so charismatic as the Crown Prince could find spending further time with her appealing. Her eyes dipped to her hands, primly folded in front of her hips. “I would be happy to, of course. It’s not unimportant to be hospitable to our guests, in fact, I think it’s probably very important.” Tiao stumbled over her words, cheeks brighter in a silent assessment of her momentary bumbling.

“Are you hungry, Xiaoxu?” The priestess repeated, hospitality an automatic fallback where further boldness failed. “Or would you like to begin cleaning or see another part of the Luanshi complex?”

“Let’s clean first,” the crown prince replied, tilted head all observation, mouth set in that charm-school smirk that came so naturally. Regardless of his awareness of his charisma or his cognizance of his appeal, Tian Xiaoxu knew what affection’s first blossoms looked like. He leaned back to give Tiao’s demure shyness room to breathe; he dropped his eyes to observe whatever spot it was on the floor that his guide found more interesting than he. “Food can be the reward—deal?”

“Yeah, deal.” She smiled again, grasp darting forward in a sudden movement to grab the royal boy’s hand and pull him along, backward steps finding their way toward the door blindly. “Here, come with me and help me get the supplies.”

Xiaoxu followed gladly, all too happy to catch a glimpse past the perpetual void’s infallible wall.