Chapter Text
Tingyun has a very specific and very precise morning ritual, that she’s kept to for over two hundred years. Wake up at 08:00, 5 minutes to shower, 5 minutes to get dressed, 30 minutes for her step-by-step tail care and upkeep. Review the day’s schedule over breakfast. At 08:50, step out the front door. Pretend not to notice the plainclothes Cloud Knights that immediately start tailing her.
…Okay, that last part is relatively new.
Tingyun wonders, not for the first time, who they report to. The candidates are limited. Yukong is literally her boss and thus has other ways of monitoring her, Fu Xuan prefers more direct methods, and Dan Shu is a little busy being a) a traitor and b) presumed dead. The general is the most likely possibility, but given the rumors about his poor health and his desire to take a step back from government affairs, it’s unlikely that he’d handle this personally.
Who knows! There are better things to do than speculate on who has the spare time and inclination to spy on little ol' her (for a couple of weeks at this point). The artificial sun is shining, the starskiffs are humming, and the morning bustle is in full swing. As usual, it’s a beautiful day aboard the Xianzhou Luofu.
Tingyun takes a second to admire the scenery for a moment, which is why she doesn’t see the woman in her path until she bumps right into her. “Oop!” Tingyun chirps. “Terribly sorry, stranger!”
The woman is… a little odd-looking, to be perfectly honest. Her mid-length gray hair is a little unkempt, and she’s wearing a dark jacket and skirt that have clearly seen better days. Most likely an outworlder, then, which makes it doubly strange that when Tingyun ran into her, she’d been inspecting a delivery package on the side of the street with mild curiosity.
Most interesting, however, is that as soon as the stranger locks eyes with Tingyun, her posture shifts. It’s slight, but noticeable to someone who’s made a career out of reading people. Her golden eyes, formerly a little empty and dazed, suddenly gain a steely focus to them. The slump in her shoulders disappears, and she puts one foot a bit behind the other, as if readying for a blow. The fingers of her right hand, partially concealed behind her coat, curl around a weapon that isn’t there – yet.
Tingyun puts her hands up nonthreateningly. “Oh, my apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you, stranger! Just bumped into you on my way to work, that’s all.”
The stranger looks at Tingyun with what looks like a mix of confusion and trepidation. Her head tilts to the side. “…Tingyun? Is that you?” she asks in a smooth voice.
“Yes, that’s me!” Tingyun answers. “…Have we met?”
The stranger relaxes. “Uhm… I guess we haven’t, have we?” she mutters, scratching the nape of her neck. “I’ve… heard of you around the ship. You’re pretty well-known.” She’s trying to play her earlier reaction off, it seems.
Tingyun decides to press further. “Well, you seem to have me at a disadvantage, stranger. Might you tell me your name?”
“No problem. I’m Stelle,” the woman says simply.
Tingyun raises an eyebrow. “Oh? That name sounds familiar. Might you be the outworlder who helped save the Luofu and send off the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus?”
Stelle nods. “That’s me. I had a lot of help, though.”
Yes, the general and the exiled Vidyadhara. Tingyun’s heard a lot of stories, many of them over-exaggerated. “That’s good,” she says. “Those disciples are a nasty bunch, so I hear.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Stelle sighs. “You’ve… been lucky enough to not encounter them, then?”
“Well, not exactly.”
Stelle stiffens up again. Interesting. “…Oh?”
“Well, I don’t really remember any of it,” Tingyun explains, carefully studying Stelle’s reactions. “Apparently, a few weeks ago, some Cloud Knights found me stashed away somewhere while they were clearing a disciple hideout. Apparently, they’d kidnapped me… ooh, a month or so earlier?”
“I’m so sorry,” Stelle murmurs, with a furrowed brow that suggests she’s being honest, if not entirely up-front with her. “Why would they even take you?”
Tingyun shrugs. “Not a clue. But really, it wasn’t all that intense of an experience. I was actually quite glad to have slept through all the business with the Ambrosial Arbor, quite frankly. The only downside is that now I have to get regular blood tests to make sure they didn’t infect me with any of that nasty mara. It’s rather tiring.”
“Well, as long as you’re doing alright,” Stelle says. “I should probably let you go now, though… you have work to get to, right?”
“Oh! Yes I do,” Tingyun realizes. She could probably chat a little while longer and claim to Yukong that her lateness was caused by feeling under the weather, but that would probably mean another round of blood tests, and she’s getting sick of those. “My apologies once again, I should really get going. Farewell, visitor!” She briskly walks around Stelle and continues on her way to the Sky-Faring Commission headquarters.
“See you, Tingyun!” Stelle calls after her.
A very odd woman indeed.
Tingyun speedwalks to work. The plainclothes Cloud Knights follow after.
. . .
Fortunately, Tingyun makes it to work just before 09:00. Unfortunately, she’s just in time for yet another blood test. The audacity of the Alchemy Commission. First their command is infiltrated by the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, then they keep sticking her with needles like this? If only they would send the dragon lady to do it instead, then she might at least get a free massage out of it. Oh, well.
The only actually interesting part of the day is the sitdown she has planned with some merchants from Xin-41. They’ve expressed mild interest in establishing a long-term trade agreement with the Xianzhou, and so the Sky-Faring Commission has sent Tingyun to hammer out the thorny details. It honestly escapes her why they’re even considering a deal with the ruling class of Xin-41, a government so autocratic and corrupt that even the IPC won’t touch them, but that’s not her job. Her job is to smile sweety, flutter her eyelashes, and pour honeyed words into the ears of the negotiators until they’re willing to do whatever she asks.
Well. That’s how it’s supposed to go.
The meeting takes place in a quaint little bar that Tingyun scooped up for a steal around seven decades ago. With the low lighting and free-flowing alcohol, it’s her go-to place for loosening lips and purses. But it seems like it’s not going to be enough today.
“You have to understand, Miss Tingyun,” the lead ambassador explains smugly. “What with the recent instability on the Luofu, we’re just not sure about investing in an area with that sort of… volatility. We have to consider the risk, after all.”
Tingyun giggles insincerely and pretends she hasn’t spotted the ambassador peeking glances at her cleavage five times so far. “Hmm, but didn’t you sell us some medical equipment not too long ago? There’s potential for a good partnership here. Why let a good thing go to waste?”
One of the ambassador’s aides clears his throat. “Those supplies were for managing the then-ongoing Stellaron crisis, as I’m sure you recall.”
“And who wouldn’t help someone in their hour of need?” the ambassador asks. “It was out of the goodness of our hearts.”
‘Goodness of their hearts’, her ass. It doesn’t take a decorated amicassador to tell that Xin-41 was more drawn in by the desperation of the Xianzhou than any potential for humanitarian work. They made off like bandits selling cheap equipment to a people who were too terrified of annihilation to haggle. She doesn’t say any of that, though. “And we here on the Luofu are grateful for your generosity. Such magnanimity is difficult to come by these days.”
“I appreciate the flattery, little lady,” the ambassador smirks. “But if we’re going to invest in Xianzhou, we need a little more assurance than what you’re willing to give us.”
Little lady?! Tingyun resists the urge to strangle this man with his own ill-fitting suit jacket. “Mr. Ambassador—”
“I’ve made myself clear, I’m not going to debate this any further,” the ambassador says firmly. “But… there’s no reason we can’t continue getting to know each other in a… less professional setting, don’t you think?”
Ah, an opening. Tingyun swallows her pride and responds, “That sounds absolutely delightful. Why let the night end so early?”
“My thoughts exactly. What say you and I head somewhere a little more… private?”
Tingyun smirks, delicately putting the hook through the tongue of the figurative fish. “I know just the place.”
. . .
It’s dark outside when Tingyun pulls the ambassador out of the bar by the hand and leads him down the streets. She takes a few sharp turns, doubles back a couple times, and sneaks through one of her secret shortcuts until she’s sure she’s lost the Cloud Knights still tailing her. Finally, she leads him to an isolated alleyway, far from any prying eyes, and lets him push her up against a wall.
She waits until his sweaty, disgusting mouth is just centimeters from her own before saying matter-of-factly, “I know why you don’t want to sign the deal.”
The ambassador pulls back a little. “Little lady, I thought we left the business talk back at the bar?”
“It’s because you’re already here,” Tingyun continues. “You’ve been selling your spices on the black market on the Luofu for years now, and the credits have been rolling in practically non-stop.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re—”
“But legally selling hallucinogens on the Luofu means regulations, production standards, et cetera. Not exactly profitable. You wanted me to give you enough incentives and tax breaks to make going legit a good business decision. Am I wrong?”
The ambassador pauses, then chuckles. “Huh. Smart and beautiful, aren’t you?”
Tingyun shrugs. “It’s part of the job.” Then she lets a grin spread across her face. “Another part, incidentally, is telling you that if you don’t get with the program and sign that deal, I will fucking destroy you.”
“…What?”
Tingyun doesn’t give him any more time to react before she pushes him off her and slams him against the opposite wall of the alleyway, one hand clenched firmly around his neck. “It’s really not that difficult to understand, Mr. Ambassador,” she says, her voice slipping down an octave of its own accord. “I know everything about you and your business ventures. I could tear you apart with only a few words.”
The ambassador laughs. “What are you going to do, report us to the Cloud Knights? That’s not the threat you think it is.”
“Isn’t it?” Tingyun asks innocently. “I mean, everyone’s a bit on edge lately, aren’t they? A little jumpier. A little quicker to draw a blade.” She tightens her grip on the ambassador’s throat. “Lots of people around here lost friends or family recently. So, say, if a few certain factions found ‘evidence’ that some of your employees are colluding with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, or the Antimatter Legion… well, I don’t know what they’d do.”
“Y-you… can’t—”
“Oh, but I can. I’m an amicassador. It’s my job to know people. I know exactly which young, traumatized Cloud Knight I can convince to put a glaive through that assistant of yours. I know which of your many competitors in the drug market would massacre your suppliers in a bid for self-preservation.” Tingyun lets her head tilt to the side, a strand of hair falling in front of her eyes. They’re glowing with a purple tint. “I know exactly how to pick off your organization one by one. It would be so, so easy. And I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger.”
“Ggk—”
“I will, though. After the blood of your men has flooded the streets of the Luofu, I’m going to find you. I’m going to slice you open from mouth to anus, then play a scavenger hunt with your organs. And if you’re very lucky, I’ll even kill you beforehand.” She leans in close to his face, just as close as when he wanted to kiss her. She’s still smiling. “Or I suppose you can take the easy way out and accept the deal I offered you at the bar. Your choice, Mr. Ambassador.”
She releases him, and he wastes no time in scrambling past her and out of the alleyway. A few seconds later, he disappears into the night. No matter. She’ll see him again.
Of slightly larger concern is the man he pushes past on his way out. He’s clean shaven, well built, and clearly terrified. He’s also one of the knights that’s been trailing her. At the moment, however, he’s not really doing much of anything beside standing in frozen silence.
Tingyun stands up straight, puts on her best amicassador face, and says cheerfully, “Hello there! What are you doing out at this time of night?”
The man still doesn’t move.
Tingyun strolls up to him and pats him on the shoulder. He flinches. “You should probably be getting back home, young man! It’s dangerous out here, you never know who you might run into…” she says. Then she turns and walks in the direction of her home.
A few seconds later, she hears the man turn and run in the other direction, probably to either report to his superiors or wet himself.
There’s a part of her that feels bad about spooking him so badly. There’s another part, however, that considers this comeuppance for how thoroughly she’s been lied to these past few weeks.
Because Tingyun isn’t stupid. She knows that there’s things people aren’t telling her about the month or so she was gone, it’s so clear on their faces that they might as well be shouting it in her face. It was obvious even before the blood tests and the constant surveillance. And then there’s the memories.
When she was first found, Tingyun told the Cloud Knights that she didn’t remember anything from her time in captivity, and at the time, that was true. But every night she has dreams about her time there, and every night she gets another tiny piece of the puzzle. It’s still mostly fuzzy even after weeks of dreams, but the clearest part is a sensation. A sensation of invasion and violation, as a power she could scarcely hope to comprehend reached into her soul and plucked out everything she was and ever could be. It learned from her, and put a piece of her inside itself. Then it cast whatever was left aside.
But exchanges of power go both ways. And sometimes, Tingyun swears that it’s left a piece of itself inside her. She’s stronger now, more willful, more willing to do what needs to be done. She’s always eschewed carrying a weapon. Now, she doesn’t even need bodyguards. She can make her enemies destroy each other with mere words.
But she’s not about to lose control, oh no. She’s a stronger Foxian than that, she’s not anything like those disciples or voidrangers that menaced her home not so long ago. She does her job because she knows it’s for the good of Xianzhou, and that’s that.
So now matter how much the general and Fu Xuan and Stelle and Yukong distrust her – and they will, after tonight – it won’t really matter, will it? She knows who she is. She’s Tingyun, top amicassador of the Sky-Faring Commission – accept no substitutes.
She also needs to get back to her house. It’s getting late, and she want to be up a bit early in the morning tomorrow for some extra tail grooming.
After all, it’s another long day tomorrow.