"Wū Yáo!" Mù Tiān Mìng shouted. She couldn't see him anymore as he fell into the misty ravine. She felt so helpless. There wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

Shāng Bù Huàn turned his attention to the seal guardian, Lián Měi, with a horrified expression tearing itself across his face. Làng Wū Yáo had been right about her. She had darkness in her heart, and she acted upon it. Now Làng's life was hanging in the balance somewhere deep below them. The bard could possibly survive that fall, given that the mist hadn't covered a much deeper ravine than it seemed. Hopefully Làng could literally hang on until they found him. "Why?!"

"Why?!" Lián scoffed at them. "I know who you are, Shāng Bù Huàn!" the shrine guardian jabbed a finger at him. "I know you're after the Mountain Gale! I won't let you steal my clan's sword!" She brandished the broom at them.

Shāng stared. That wasn't a broom. That was a sorcerous sword right there in front of them the whole time.

There was more to the story, more that Lián wasn't saying. An imperial had approached her a few days prior, one with a suspicious smile and a small army at his side. Xiào Kuáng Juàn had made her an offer she couldn't refuse. All she had to do was separate the red bard from the rest of the party and send him into the ravine. She had thought the Sword-plundering Nemesis was the greater threat, but Xiào had promised her that he'd handle the Nemesis himself. As long as the group was separated.

She had done the task at hand. Now it was just time to wait until Xiào held up his end of the bargain and made the Storm Seal Shrine the only official seal shrine in all of Xī Yōu.

Lián turned, heading back towards the shrine with the broom-sword in hand. They were the villains. They had to be punished by the full extent of the law before they unraveled the very core of society. She couldn't feel for them no matter what, even if that horrified expression they gave her made her feel like she'd done something awful.

Shāng could feel himself shaking as Mù Tiān Mìng dragged him away. He couldn't understand why a seal guardian had reacted in such a way, but what had made it worse was that they had no idea where Làng was. The echoes of his musical attacks had faded quickly in the mist below.

Perhaps even worse, Làng had noticed the intent and Shāng was insistent she was good. If something happened to his friend, he only had himself to blame. He had to make this right. He had to find Làng.

Shāng stopped on the pathway, staring down into the mist below. They had no idea how deep the ravine actually was. It was only on this side of the mountain, opposite of the path they had taken upward. much of the mountain was covered in mist, concealing the features of the faces from above and below. They had no way of knowing how far Làng had fallen and what state he was in after that attack.

"Dammit!" Shāng gritted his teeth. "Làng! Say something! Anything!"

"Bù Huàn," Mù placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need to keep moving. It took us nearly a week to get up here, and it might take several days running to get back down. There's no safe way down that ravine just yet. And this is Wū Yáo. I'm sure he survived the fall and is using his qi to repair himself wherever he landed. We just need to find him."

She peered over the cliffside, hoping to hear a song echo back to them. Làng's voice could carry, but perhaps he was simply too far down to be heard.

Shāng nodded. She knew Làng better than he did, though she had spoken of him several times after first meeting him. That songbird with a supernatural voice sharpened to a blade who seemed lonely and trapped. Làng had become a strong ally but he was also a good friend. Shāng didn't want to think of losing a friend, especially because of his own misjudgment.

They followed the pathway along the cliffside, sleeping as little as possible to travel quickly. And even as exhaustion set in, they continued on their way, finding the bottom within two days. The mist floated overhead, obscuring the height of the mountain and the bridge they had left behind. The bottom felt peaceful, not aware of the dangerous battle from above. Birds chirped in the trees. Something rustled in the brush, scampering away as the pair approached.

Shāng frowned, uncertain how they would even find Làng. He probably hadn't gotten far after a fall like that, but he had to keep Mù's words in his mind. Làng was more powerful than he realized sometimes. He'd sparred with the bard before, feeling the power that Làng drove into every attack. He'd seen the power of his voice. Làng was definitely no pushover.

But a fall from a tall mountain into a ravine? That was enough to take even Shāng down.

As they traveled along the bottom of the ravine, they found an incline where the ravine began to narrow. Ferns and moss grew along the rocky walls as the mist dampened the nearby air. Water tricked down the rocks, creating small puddles on the ground.

The ravine widened once again, making way to a river and another cliffside. There were pathways along the side of the mountains, narrow and well-trodden. The pathways were carved into the rocks and thin and barely enough for a single person to walk and reach the next town though the ravine. No one was traveling the pathway today, leaving it quiet next to the sounds of a large waterfall.

Before them was another cliffside with a waterfall careening over it into the land blow. A small bamboo fence lined the edges with noticeable damage near the waterside.

Mù leapt forward, hopping over the river and picking up something on the other side. "Bù Huàn!"

Shāng leapt over to join her, nearly losing his footing as he saw what she'd spotted. Mù was now holding Líng Yá with a large gash along the side. Beads and gems scattered the rocks with a rip of cranberry red fabric clinging to the nearby bamboo fence.

Shāng snagged the fabric from the fence. He recognized that golden embroidery from Làng's robe. He wanted to believe that Làng was still alive, that he'd staggered off to the next town. If it had just been the beads and torn fabric, he would've rushed right off down the pathway. But it hadn't. Líng Yá was there, abandoned with a massive gash along the side. "Líng Yá…."

The pipa didn't respond, saying silent for perhaps the first time since he'd awoken.

"Say something!" he shouted at the pipa. "Anything!"

But the pipa continued to be silent and unmoving. It was like all the life had been pulled from him.

Shāng gripped the ripped fabric tightly in his hand. "Why?! Why didn't I listen?"

"You did what you thought was best," Mù consoled him. She was holding back her own tears, attempting to remain calm and barely able to do so. "We had no way of knowing what would happen."

"Làng was certain something would," Shāng stared back up at the mist above. That broken bridge and the shrine was somewhere up there. What was Lián's reason for doing this? The empire was more of a threat to the seal shrines than they ever could be. But rumors could be terrible in twisting people's reasoning. Not that this made anything better.

"Bù Huàn, I know you both well. You wouldn't attack someone without reason," Mù stared down at the silent pipa. "Wū Yáo on the other hand has experienced so much abuse in his life. He would want to prevent evil before it could act. You both had different perspectives."

"And yet he listened to me," Shāng frowned. "He didn't attack."

"I'm certain he knew you would stop him," Mù said.

Shāng rubbed at his face. He would have stopped him. If their sparring had told either of them anything, Shāng could best Làng every time. He absolutely could have stopped Làng.

"I think he is also still trying to figure himself out," Mù added. "He's been trained to have no will of his own. He had once told me even his mother beat that into him. Coming from that and trying to understand your own resolve. It can't be easy. He relies on us to help him out when he's uncertain himself."

Shāng had barely known Làng before that, only hearing information filter in from Mù. She talked about Làng so much, worrying about what may happen to the trapped songbird when they had to leave to track sorcerous swords. And sure enough, Làng had found himself at the mercy of the empire, used as much as any sorcerous sword would in their hands.

He had to trust Mù's judgment in this case. But that didn't make him feel any better. It was Shāng's own misjudgment that had now gotten Làng killed. There was no way that Làng would survive a second fall. And he definitely would not leave Líng Yá behind.

Làng trusted them and Shāng only felt like an absolute failure.

Mù handed the pipa to Shāng, practically shoving Líng Yá into his arms. "Come. There's somewhere I think we should go."

...

Author's musings

Tragedy has seemingly struck. I can't imagine Shang handling strong emotions like this very well. The guilt would just eat him alive, especially if he believed his decision had killed his friend.

Not that Mu is handling it any better either.

But what truly happened at the bottom of the ravine when Lang fell?