Home felt so empty, without their Master about. Master and his own Master above him had departed just after breakfast, leaving the entire Zodiac aside from Dragon- Baoshi, they called him now- to their own devices. After a delightful meal of everybody else’s garbage, Pig found himself wandering aimlessly through the labyrinthine halls of the hidden realm.

  It was stimulating, in a way, as though the space had been drained of some energy he had not previously been aware of. Silence reigned, broken only by the clippity-clop of his own heavy trotters. Uncanny, was that the word for it?

  But there were limits to the labyrinth’s extent, and before long he passed by their Master’s own room- and then stopped short. Was that a sniffle, or maybe a whine? Without shame, Pig nosed the door open and entered to investigate. Pig’s Master did little in his room; this was merely a place for sleeping, and not for living. No tapestry adorned the walls, no decorations or pillows or toys or unnecessary possessions, for Master’s life consisted of study and creation, not the accumulation of things.

  Only the bed had anything of substance on it: sheets, blankets, and a pillow currently occupied by a small and bitterly weeping Rabbit.

   Pig exclaimed, waddling over to the bed. He weighed nearly three hundred pounds, and the room wasn’t really meant for a creature his size… but he didn’t quite need to squeeze to get in.

  A couple of ragged breaths answered him. Then, She looked at his fleshy snout for only a moment before burying her little face back into the pillow.

  

  It certainly didn’t seem to… no, wait she wasn’t crying quite as hard, now. Her mental voice strained,

  Pig cocked his head in confusion. But then, Rabbit and Ox did follow a different path than he had. He’d come into awareness shortly after Awakening, but Rabbit and Ox were born spirit beasts, yet had lived unaware. Something changed within them after Pig taught them how to ‘speak’ with their minds as he did. Like the sun burning away the mists of morning, language brought clarity to their animal minds. Rat, Snake, Rooster, and Sheep didn’t take to it, unfortunately. Master told him that ‘language’ was a powerful thing indeed, and a thing that transcended both noise and thought; an overriding ‘concept’ of great importance, a Dao in itself. But all of that exceeded Pig’s lowly grasp.

  

  Rabbit violently shook her head.

  Silence hung in the air between them. Pig did not understand, and he didn’t like it. Master had a mind that reached out far and wide to grasp all things, and he aspired to the same… but was this, too, beyond him?

  Another of their number broke the deadlock. A red form, smaller than Pig but larger than Rabbit, and bearing lion-like mane, strode into the room. Dog leapt past the larger animal and planted himself straight into the Master’s bed.

  He turned in a circle half a dozen times as Rabbit objected,

   Dog’s smooth voice interjected. His tone carried an authority born of age, and something greater. He alone had known the Master in ‘the before times.’

   Rabbit sneered.

  

  

  

  Pig’s head swivelled back and forth as they spoke. Dog knew Master best, but Rabbit was no fool either. What would Ox think of this?

  The shape of another darkened the doorway. It dwarfed Pig and, in truth, only barely managed to fit inside of the small room. Tiger stalked in slowly, taking in the tail end of the discussion. He said nothing, but sat just inside and listened. This was Tiger’s way; he spoke seldom, moved quietly, and listened well.

  Pig brought him into the conversation.

  Tiger’s answer came slowly and only after much consideration.

  “Baaah.”

  The noise tore through the small room like an explosion out of nowhere. Several things happened in quick succession: a startled Tiger leapt headlong into Pig, who in turn collided with the bed with his entire three hundred pound body. Dog and Rabbit cried out, not in mind-speak but with their actual voices, a bark and a tiny squeak. Dog scrambled as the bed listed over, but could not escape the wreckage in time. Rabbit, still clinging to Master’s pillow, slid off and landed atop the pile of bedding and animals.

  Sheep surveyed the chaos she’d wrought with an air of uncomprehending interest.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

   Rabbit hissed as the assembled animals started the work of untangling themselves.

  Pig couldn’t really blame their wooly sister. She could neither utilise nor understand speech, yet she always wished to be included. But neither Tiger nor Snake could match her for stealth- until she opened her mouth.

  Before he managed to get his feet under him, Pig noticed a pair of beady eyes peering at the scene from within Sheep’s wool.

  Without a sound, Rat jumped from Sheep’s side to his usual perch on Pig’s head. The others were up, now, and had begun crowding around Sheep. Things were getting tense as the group tried to scold her, to no real effect, and so Pig trotted off and left them to it. Even if he wanted to try to teach her something at that moment, he wouldn’t get anywhere with all of them talking at once.

  Oh, well. Perhaps all of this excitement would soothe Rabbit’s worries.

  Now, it was about time for him to meet up with Ox. Master did not only question the world, he also made a special practice of… well, doing things. Trying things. Pig and Ox were cooking up a little surprise for whenever he got back, just as he had surprised his own Master. Oh, he would be delighted!

  -

  “The First Princess?” said the serving girl. “I… believe she went to Her Majesty’s meditation chamber to wait for you.” She bowed so low it would be no surprise if she fell into a kowtow on the spot.

  Yulong Cai Fu, Elder of the Sect of the Imperial Household, began to feel his age. He could feel it in everything now, not as an ache in joints or a tendency to forget, but in a soul-deep, all-encompassing weariness. He did not fail to notice the trembling, the flinching, the fear at the very mention of the Princess. This had become standard among the mortal servants.

  He nodded curtly and dismissed her with the wave of a hand. It wasn’t this maid’s fault. This was likely another one of Bai Shanyao’s games, a ploy to force him into contact with the Empress. Incredible what an impact that woman could have, even sunk deeply into closed-door cultivation. He briefly considered sending one of his lessers, an Inner Disciple with blood ties to the main line, to fetch her… but, no, they were departing together in an hour. Even he could not openly slight the apple of the Emperor’s eye. He’d play into her hand again, and likely her mother’s as well.

  A cultivator of his age and station, even one known as a ‘jolly fellow,’ did not display displeasure openly. Elder Fu carried himself with back straight and chin upright as he headed into the Tiger’s den. It gave him an uncomfortable amount of time to think.

  The girl had remarkable talent for cultivation. She’d managed to Awaken only two years ago, but she’d already formed a stable core and Ascended to the Realm of the Advanced. The Emperor was so relieved… though the Physician had assured him that the firstborn’s problem was not genetic.

  Thinking of that one started Cai Fu down a dark mental path, which he indulged only to examine his own mental state. He truly disliked seeing the child’s mother, and not only because she reminded him that he, the Elder, ranked as only the third most powerful cultivator in the palace. No, rather he dreaded that thinly-veiled disdain, which had only appeared after ‘the trouble.’ It haunted him, even if she was no longer outwardly conscious.

  And he very much deserved it, or so he felt in his heart. Nobody was to blame for the child’s weakness, it was Heaven’s will, an accident of illness and birth. The ugliness, the tension, the… waste, had all happened after. Was it such a sin to be born into weakness? Yet the Emperor ordered all resources to be withdrawn, and the guidance of the Elder was a mighty resource. In any other Sect in the Empire, the final decision would have been Fu’s. But he’d seen how his nephew reacted to defiance. He would not take that risk.

  Therefore, nobody could be blamed. Or rather, no sane person would assign the blame to its proper place.

  No. This thought, he took hold of and strangled to death. Unproductive, nearly blasphemous, potentially disastrous if he let it affect his actions.

  His mind had not been wholly cleansed by the time he reached the Empress’ wing of the palace. No attendants awaited him, and he could enter the chamber in peace. The lack of security spoke volumes of her confidence; even deep in meditation, she felt no need for external protection. She was probably right.

  The sound of running water filled the room. A little waterfall gurgled away on one wall, its basin filled with fragrant spiritual herbs growing unsupervised. The walls were painted yellow and red in flowing gradients and rough textures, mimicking the harsh desert canyons of the West. Even the floor had been meticulously shaped to feel like uneven stone. Her ‘ideal environment,’ a mimicry of the Clans’ heartlands.

  There, in the center of the room, sat a woman on a chair with a child at her feet. It was most unlike the style of meditation employed in the Empire. Her hands lay limp on her lap and her posture remained upright, as though she had just sat down and dozed off. Robed in white, with her golden hair framing that perfect face… even his old heart stirred at her appearance. But something about the qi in the room made him shudder.

  The child reacted to his presence. “Ah, Elder! I hope you’ll forgive me for the inconvenience, I simply couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to Mother.” A younger twin of her mother, but with her father’s sparkling blue eyes.

  Cai Fu winced at her manner. So polite, so proper… with those who outranked her. He shook his head. “Nothing to forgive, girl. I know it must be difficult, spending so long bereft of your mother’s voice at your age.”

  Bai Shanyao frowned, a pretty expression on that delicate face, but he read something like mockery in it. “Oh, but Elder! She does speak to me, from time to time!”

  Qi pulsed like a heartbeat, an unmistakable energy filling the chamber. The Elder found his eyes fixed to the unconscious woman in the chair. Impossible- activity, this deep in meditation? He hardly registered the little one’s next words. “I think she wanted to speak to you, come to think of it.”

  The Empress stirred… no, rather, her body moved as if controlled by an outside force. Like a puppet, moving on strings. The energy in the room felt like her presence, but something was off. Those voluminous eyelashes parted, and her golden eyes fell upon him. Blank, empty, unfocused.

  An uncanny technique from the West, he realized. Her mind was elsewhere, walking the infinite paths of the Dao, but she assigned the smallest hint of her being to come back and animate her flesh. Yet another utterly terrifying aspect to this woman’s existence: cracked-door cultivation. He’d never heard of such a thing. Was this common among the Tiger Clans?

  Worse, she ‘spoke.’ “Good Elder. How go your considerations?” The words were wooden and unnatural.

  Cai Fu closed his eyes and swallowed. Her control may not have been exact, but even that sliver of her mind remembered their previous conversation. “I have my own thoughts on the matter, and within me they shall remain. It’s the best answer you’re likely to get out of me.” Her strange eyes and horrifying technique did not daunt him; he stood firm and spoke clearly.

  “Very well. I entrust my daughter to your care. Enjoy the auction.”

  He couldn’t help frowning. Was there some hidden meaning in the girl’s choice of reward? He would get no further answer right now, for the Empress’ eyes shut, the sliver of mental energy rescinded.

  He was left alone in the room with the little girl. Her own eyes betrayed nothing- nothing but that ambient, un-childlike malevolence. “Well, it looks like Mother’s gone back to sleep. Shall we go now, Elder?”

  Cai Fu gave her a nod. She uprooted herself from her mother’s side and made for the chamber’s exit, with that happy and energetic stride unique to the very young. He followed her, feeling like a condemned man, and took one last glance at the figure in the chair. A single golden eye fluttered open and met his. Honestly, these two… what awaited him at the Hallowed Rift?