Mù Tiān Mìng brushed the rough sandpaper across the side of the guqin's repaired patches. Supplies had become scarce in the area with rumors of an attack on the Storm Seal Shrine spreading further downhill. The empire's work, no doubt, as the shrine was too remote for someone to catch sight of the unfortunate battle. It wouldn't be the first time they tried to force her and Shāng into a corner and try to catch them, but they weren't going to let that hinder their work.

They fled the towns, taking sanctuary up in the nearby dense forest. Nearly a month had passed since the shrine battle until they started hearing of swords in the area again. Two of them, and Shāng Bù Huàn had gone to pursue the closest, the one with the more useful information. Mù was still concerned about the pain in both their hearts, but Shāng seemed to finally be healing. His focus, his channeling qi, his words had all spoken of this. They were finally coming to terms with their loss.

Shāng landed at their campsite, pulling his hat off and dropping it on the pile of furs. He set a wrapped bundle on the ground, pulling the cloth back to reveal a small highly ornate dagger. "This went better than expected." Better than the last time, he added to himself, but most things went better than the disastrous encounter at the Storm Seal Shrine.

Mù peered over at the dagger. "For a blade that can conjure hailstorms, I expected something bigger.."

Shāng nodded in agreement. "This small sword practically buried a town in hail thanks to that imperial. He didn't exactly seem adept at using it beyond creating hail. Taking it from him seemed almost too easy."

"Still no signs of the Hunting Fox?" Mù questioned.

Shāng shook his head. "None. I'm starting to wonder if he's off somewhere else after something worse. Huò Shì Míng Huáng perhaps, but we've stolen much of the empire's attention away from him and his assassins." He pulled the brush from his sleeve, drawing the magical symbols in the air to convert the troublesome dagger into ink.

"The rumors haven't said anything about the Hunting Fox either," Mù sighed. She watched him conjure the Index, dropping the sword onto the magical papers. "I heard some rumors though, something of interest."

"The second sword's location?" Shāng tucked the brush back into his sleeve.

"Yes and no," Mù replied. "The crown princess Cháo Fēng has a summer palace in the area, one of many it seems. Lately she's been having a number of parties with music."

Shāng frowned as he rolled up the Index. "Another poor musician caught by her sadism." He felt numb at the thought. Làng had been one of those poor musicians, shoved into the position and only keeping it as he was well adept at combat and singing. He rubbed at his face. He had to accept that no amount of wishing that musician was Làng would make it true.

"The information gets fuzzy there," Mù continued. "It could be one musician, it could be many. Same with how many people attend these parties."

She was reminded of the time she had battled Làng in the arena. It was surprising to find him there after not hearing from him for some time. She'd heard imperials raided the taverns where he worked, and he was taken away with them. To find him there was a relief to know he was alive but also unfortunate that he was placed in such a position. Two years ago, that set everything in motion, eventually leading Làng to join them.

She frowned. What would've happened if she hadn't been there that day?

Shāng finished rolling up the Index, flicking it into the other dimension with the quick spell. He huffed, settling down near the fire. He was trying not to think of the musicians and of Làng. He had to remind himself that nothing could change the past, nothing could correct that mistake two months ago.

Mù returned to the guqin's repairs. "I happened across another rumor while purchasing guqin strings. Supposedly one of the guests brought a strange sword as a gift for the princess. They called it the Resonant Memory."

"As a gift?" Shāng questioned the story.

Mù nodded. "It came from the imperial guards gossipping with one another."

Shāng thought about the name for a moment. "If I recall, that's one of the swords we couldn't pinpoint. None of the seal shrines seemed to have it, and the rumors about it all went cold."

Mù nodded again. "A mystery of where it went after the War of Fading Dusk. It's a sword from the demon realm, but beyond that, we never did find out more about it."

"That's all the more reason to not leave it in imperial hands," Shāng said. "But we don't want to rush this at all. This is an imperial palace. We can't just create a distraction this time."

Mù shook her head. "No signs issuing a challenge to any musician who could take down the Court Virtuoso, not that I would expect the same trick would work twice. They've seen my face and know that I'm working with you."

"Not that you'd be challenging Làng either," Shāng sighed.

Mù frowned, staring at the coiled guqin strings on the ground. "He's not coming back."

"I know," Shāng frowned, gripping his robe a bit. As much as he wanted it, it never would be true. There probably were sorcerous swords that could raise someone from the dead, but necromancy was a dangerous art. Làng wouldn't return as he once was. No matter how much he regretted Làng's death, there was no way he would put his friend through something like that.

Mù returned to sanding the side of the guqin. The sound grated against the uncomfortable silence. She was trying not to let her heart twist into a knot.

Shāng interrupted the silence first. "How are the repairs?"

"Nearly done," Mù replied. "The location of the damage made this more difficult, but at least the guqin wasn't completely destroyed." Replacing the instrument simply wasn't an option. An ordinary guqin wasn't made for combat. One was hard enough to hit someone but it wasn't capable of transforming into a blade. She could use any stringed instrument to create sonic attacks, but that blade worked well for her in close combat. "Still not ready for combat, though. That will take a bit of time to ensure that it will handle physical damage and transformation."

He knit his hands together, watching her sand the side of the guqin.

She paused, glancing back at him. He tried to hide it, but she could see the pain still written on his face. "We can leave the palace sword until later."

He shook his head. "I don't like the idea of leaving a sorcerous blade with a mysterious power in the hands of a palace. It could easily be handed off to the emperor and used for who knows what terrible thing."

Mù couldn't disagree with the notion. The empire likely also didn't know what it could do, but that didn't mean they wouldn't experiment with it. They had plenty of soldiers who would willingly die for the empire. They could even be testing it on musicians. Once they figured out what it could do, they could use it to commit more war crimes against their own people. The sword could affect memories or it could flatten a mountain for all they knew. "We can't rush this, especially since it's a palace where the princess currently is."

"Definitely not," Shāng agreed. "It's not just some imperial throwing his life away at a town. It is a stronghold. We need some sort of plan or information."

"With the most recent party being last night, I'd imagine they still have a lot of guards floating around," Mù informed him. "And with my guqin not up to fighting standards, just the numbers could cause problems."

Shāng could certainly handle quite a few on his own, but an entire palace full of guards could wear him down. He was rather reckless with his qi in battle, and he couldn't risk falling. They would have their hands on him and the Index, their quest to protect Xī Yōu would immediately fail. "We'll need to wait, though I'm not sure the guard will decrease. Not after the last sword from the nearby town. We'll need information on how to find the sword in the palace and try to avoid as much contact as possible."

Shāng couldn't see another sword retrieval fail, especially not one in the palace. The botched battle against the Mountain Gale was enough to remind him that he was still hurting inside, the guilt still wrenching his heart. But he and Mù made a promise at Làng's mountain home. They were going to continue in his memory. They had to finish what they started and never let the Index fall into imperial hands. Shāng wasn't going to break that promise.

"Getting information on the palace layouts won't be easy," Mù frowned, "though some of the guards have loose lips when they've had too much to drink. There is a particular pair, a heavy set one and a string bean, that especially like to gossip when in the presence of a pretty woman. They have mentioned there is some sort of shrine or sanctuary within the palace that is heavily guarded."

"The last palace also had a shrine buried deep within the hallways," Shāng recalled. They had some inadvertent help getting to that shrine with Làng's singing voice pacifying the guard. Shāng couldn't rely on that this time. There was no longer someone with a supernatural song among them.

"This palace apparently has a number of gardens," Mù recalled the bits of information she'd picked up. "But beyond that, everything else is a mystery. The trees are tall, the walls are high, and the gates are always locked. I'll do some nosing around when I'm out for supplies. We'll find the location of this sword shrine and perhaps the best way in." They had to play this one carefully. She wasn't going to let this be the last sword they sought.

…

Author's musings

A sword in the palace, hmmmm. This setup seems perfect. Almost too perfect.