Lan Xichen struck the mannequin with his sword. Spelled to imitate a real fighter, the mannequin dives to the side and rolls. Cutting off the mannequin's retreat, he lowers the sword at the dummy's neck.
Sheathing his sword, the clan leader is surprised to hear clapping. Looking over his shoulder, he sees the Lady Shen. He should not have been surprised. Feeling uncomfortable at being caught, he tries to straighten his robes and awkwardly straightens his hair. His face is sweaty, and hair uncharacteristically pulled up in a messy ponytail.
"Perhaps you would like a better sparring partner?" she suggests, already taking off her shoes and socks.
"Do you know of someone available?" he asks, raising an eyebrow as she brandishes her claws.
"I can think of a couple of options," Mimi waves a hand, and the mannequin is gently set aside on the risers.
"Strike at me," Mimi teases "or try to."
"Will you cheat?" he raises an eyebrow, studying the fox spirit.
He had been reading some of the old texts in the library pavilion. He wonders how much of them were true. Some of them had even been annotated heavily. But he did not want to reveal that he is aware of her heritage until she felt comfortable telling him herself. Watching his forehead band flutter behind her, Lan Xichen wonders when that day will come.
He unsheathes his sword and attempts to strike her side. She easily leaps over the sword. She has not even summoned her fire.
"I am offended you would think I would cheat, clan leader," Mimi snickers as she lifts herself into the air with her claws and kicks him in the side.
"But you could, if you desired?" he asks, his heart warming as he sees his forehead band braided in her hair.
They had agreed to keep it private for now unless anyone asked. He did not wear another forehead band, and Lady Shen did not display it upon her forehead but braided securely in her hair. But to anyone in the Gusu clan, it is undeniable, and they fooled no one. That is if Lord Qiren had not already mentioned it to anyone who stepped into Cloud Recesses. The ground beneath his feet trembles warningly but does not open beneath him. Lan Xichen realizes she is telling him that she could have won already if she so chose.
"I am sure I could, clan leader," Mimi teases as she flits about him, easily dodging his sword.
Flipping in the air, Mimi captures his sword in her claws before quickly shooting it back at him in a pillar of fire.
"What is troubling you?" Mimi asks as he dodges the flaming sword.
"They have accepted my request to hold the trine at Cloud Recesses but have given us a short period of time to fulfill the requirements," Lan Xichen does not touch the burning sword and begins throwing exploding talismans in her general direction.
Shielding herself with a barrier, Mimi waits for the last of the smoke to clear before the clan leader leaps towards her, trying to grapple with her.
Letting out a barking laugh, she strikes him in the collar bone, not enough to break a bone, but just enough to lose breath.
"I can help you, clan leader," Mimi summons her foxfire and circles him with it, cutting him off in all directions.
Feeling delightfully like a supervillain, Mimi circles him appraisingly, deciding he looks quite angelic framed by her foxfire, " What are the requirements?"
He eyes the fox spirit carefully. He trusts her, despite the unearthly light glowing in her eyes and the balls of fire circling him territorially.
Lan Xichen sighs, "We will need to be able to accommodate all of the clans."
"Will they each need their own building?" Mimi contemplates the amount of power this would take as the clan leader tries to puzzle out of her trap.
"Most will bring tents, but we will need to construct temporary buildings for the clan leaders," Lan Xichen realizes she would never harm him and bursts through the foxfire.
Barking in amusement, Mimi allows him to get close enough to throw a punch before she swings herself out of the way and puts her claws over his throat. Immediately halting his progress.
"I am sure I could minimize this and even save the Gusu Clan funds that can be used to pay the workers," Mimi removes her claw and kisses him on the cheek, "how long do we have?"
Startled by the kiss, the clan leader is unprepared for when she strikes him with a gust of wind.
"Are you sure?" he stumbles to his feet and picks up his sword. It is still hot but bearable.
"If we work in tandem," Mimi, already thinking of building spacing, is momentarily distracted as his sword swings at her in the air.
"We have a month," the clan leader replies, his irritation returning at the gall of the other clans.
"Normally a year is given," he snarls, watching his sword pursue her through the air until finally, Mimi buries it within the ground out of boredom.
He throws several talismans at her, but a single strike of her claws have them being thrown back. Increasing in multifold, the clan leader finds himself stuck in his own binding spells.
"Why are they giving you such a difficult time?" Mimi asks, landing in front of him, as she studies her handiwork.
Arms stuck at his side. He glowers at her before relaxing his grip and breaking his bindings. He lowers his head, " I have . . . not attended a clan leader gathering in two years."
"Well, we are unable to do anything about that now," Mimi sighs and strikes at him with her foxfire, "but we can only make the best of this situation with what we have."
Carefully circling each other, waiting for the other to make the first move, Lan Xichen, says, "I am unsure we will meet all the qualifications by the trine."
With supernatural grace, she lands beside him and touches his shoulder, "It's irritating, but we can make this work."
He throws a punch that she nimbly catches in her claw and kisses his knuckle.
"We will prove that the Gusu Clan is up to this challenge," Mimi comforts, adjusting her grip on his fist so that their fingers were intertwined, "let's get to work."
"Lady Shen," Lan Xichen smiles down at their hands, "I would be grateful for your assistance."
"I know," Mimi teases.
"Lady Shen?" he leads her to his offices, "perhaps . . .we may discuss what we were previously discussing?"
"Of course," Mimi felt her heart thudding in her chest, "what would you like to discuss?"
Ensuring that they had plenty of privacy Lan Xichen knelt on a pillow near his desk. Mimi sits near him.
"I will support you in whatever form you choose," he says quietly.
Intrigued by his odd word choice Mimi tilts her head at him, and Lan Xichen is reminded once more of a certain fox.
"I want to support you too," Mimi reaches over and pats his hands, "which is why I want to help you with the trine."
Lan Xichen realizes he would probably not be able to get her to confess her heritage. He would just need to be patient.
"I am grateful for your support. My . . .uncle is ill. But he is incredibly supportive of our match. I would like permission to introduce you as my fiancé at the trine. I will introduce Dandan and Chen as our own."
Flushing, Mimi nods, "I would like that."
"Are you alright?" Lan Xichen squeezes her hands.
"I'm just overwhelmed," Mimi is trying not to cry.
Memories of her wife proposing to her pass quickly through her mind. Lan Xichen is surprised when she embraces him. Pressing her face to his chest as if she never wanted to let him go.
"We can discuss our . . .wedding ceremony after things settle down," Lan Xichen promises.
"I would like that," Mimi breathes in the minty smell on his robes.
"I am very happy," he nestles his face into her hair.
"Me too," Mimi smiles into his robes, her past flaring in her mind's eyes, "I am happy."
"This is a beautiful lake. You know when you forget that the cultivators call it "corpse lake," "Mimi relaxes against the back of a tree as she keeps an eye on Chen and Dumplin, who were violently splashing each other.
"Yeah, we haven't come here for a while," Daiyu leans against her.
"Alright, kiddos. Here I come!" Qiaolian leaps off the beach, jumping to a great height before doing a belly flop in the water.
"I suppose I can see why," Mimi snickers, watching Chen and Dumpling belatedly throwing themselves out of the way.
"Yep. Lazy mongrel," Daiyu smiles affectionately at the golden fox spirit playing with the kids.
"May I ask you something?"
Daiyu nods her head, and Mimi could feel the several eyes all staring at her expectantly.
"If you don't mind me asking. Why didn't you and Qiaolian decide to have children? You guys are really great with Chen and Dumplin."
"Mmmhm," Daiyu contemplates how to answer this, "I believe it is due to the same reason you took on Chen and Dumplin."
Confused, Mimi turns her head to look at her fully but doesn't push for an explanation.
"This is not my first marriage," Daiyu softly says, her eyes far away, "it was many years ago. I had decided to wander the land in search of wisdom. My clan's noise drove me to distraction, and I wanted, more than anything, was for silence. But what I found was an erhu player. I had brought my shamisen, and whenever he would play, I would hide up in the trees and harmonize. Eventually, we began talking. For weeks I hid behind all matter of things to hide my identity."
Daiyu's voice takes up a lilting voice as she continues, "One day, he finally discovered my identity and loved me for it. He talked of marriage and children and settling down. I . . . genuinely believed we could. But love blinds us to what we want most. You see, when jorogumo reproduce, we lay eggs that require constant incubation for six months. Where we lived was quite cold, and whatever we did, our eggs never lived past two months."
"Oh, Daiyu, I'm sorry," Mimi wraps an arm around her comfortingly, but Daiyu holds her human hand out to stop her.
"My erhu player came up with an idea," Daiyu stares at her wife, frolicking with Chen and Dumplin as if watching her wife gave her the courage to continue.
"He came from a large family and wanted children, our children so badly. He . . . offered his body as an incubator. I . . . deposited my eggs into him, and it seemed like it was working until the last month. I did not know this would happen," Daiyu's voice became vacant as she talked, "our children . . . hatched within him and began eating him from the inside. Eating each other. We thought it was simply the pregnancy. The last month is always the most difficult, and his body had already been through so much. Finally, the pain grew to be so much that I cut him open and discovered what had happened. He saw our . . . triplet girls that had managed to survive and doted on them until he died a week later. Our children had developed a taste for flesh. They became insatiable—killing whole towns at a time. I knew . . . we had made a grave error. When they returned one night after a day of slaughter, I slit their throats. I cried over their bodies for many days and nights. Until only their ashes remained. I became the Black Jade soon after. I hated humanity for many years for what I thought it did to my children. I hated myself. It wasn't until many years later that your sister drove me out with her chatter, and I returned home. She helped me mend bridges that I thought had burned long ago."
Mimi waits patiently for her to continue as she seems to be lost in the years previous.
"My point is that I am afraid to raise children. I am afraid that my past would inhibit my ability to care for a child twenty-four hours a day. I don't think I would make a good mother, and neither would Qiaolian. We are content in this role."
"I never thought that I was trying to replace the child I lost with Sara," Mimi says quietly, "I think about him every night before I go to sleep. Wonder what kind of person he would end up becoming. With Chen and Dumplin it . . . it just became a situation where we both needed each other. It still is. I never expected any of this to happen. But," Mimi watches her cubs take turns jumping off the dock, "I wouldn't change any of it. The clan leader proposed to me yesterday, and I already find myself wanting to build another life with him and my cubs."
"May I ask you something?" the jorogumo asks, and Mimi laughs, "I think we are beyond asking each other if something is okay to ask."
This brings a small smile to Daiyu's face, "You seem almost content. Do you not miss your own time?"
Mimi drew her knees up to her chest, feeling the ache in her chest pound on her ribcage.
"I do miss Sara every single day. I miss my friend Rick and performing," Mimi doesn't feel like explaining the internet or indoor plumbing.
Daiyu doesn't say anything, waits patiently for her to explain, "But aside from Sara, I was alone. I didn't realize it until I met you and Qiaolian, Dumplin and Chen how alone . . ."
Mimi watches Qiaolian hold Dumplin on her shoulders to better attack Chen, who uses the latest of Mimi's lessons to use the wind to dunk the older fox spirit with waves.
"I am selfish. I've always been selfish," Mimi crosses her arms over her chest, "they are mine, and I will cherish them."
Daiyu smiles, weaving her silk, "Are you worried that you will go mad?"
A certain hardness fixed itself in Mimi's jaw, "Isn't life madness?"
"Must run in your family," Daiyu murmurs, looking out at the children.
"What do you mean?" Mimi didn't know when she had gone from horrified to amused as she watches Daiyu fumble with her multiple legs and mandibles.
"How much do you know about the Golden Phoenix?"
"That Qiaolian was a crazy powerhouse who fought for the better good," Mimi answers, watching said crazy powerhouse floating on her back and letting Chen and Dumplin use her as a boat.
"Is a crazy powerhouse. Is the crazy powerhouse," Daiyu corrects, smiling at her mate, "What about why she disappeared?"
Shrugging, Mimi stretches out, "I imagine that she finally got tired of fighting the good fight."
"You are partially right. Qiaolian was her father's sword, but she grew weary of this. She had lived for so many centuries but had not found the meaning of life."
"So, she went looking for you?" Mimi guesses, knowing only a bit of Daiyu's history.
"She went looking for herself and found me," all Daiyu's eight eyes seem to glaze overseeing days of the past.
"And you beat her to a pulp?" Mimi quips with a laugh.
Daiyu nods coquettishly, "What I am saying is, and this may or may not apply to you, but your sister found a new perspective. A new life, but she completely gave up her old one in doing so. And I know that she loves me, loves my clan, is very happy, but she is even happier now having found you and your sisters."
"So, you are saying it's okay to want both?" Mimi asks, kind of confused.
Daiyu unexpectedly laughs, causing Qiaolian to look over and beam happily at the jorogumo.
"I am an old spider. I think that you ought to keep your options open," Daiyu folds her multiple hands together and pats the robe she had been working on.
"All done! Chen, come here, child, and try this on," Daiyu calls.
Obediently Chen sloshes out of the water. Mimi sends a small ball of foxfire over to her to dry off the child out of habit.
The robe is white and hung down to her ankles. Mimi bursts into pieces at how cute her little sister looked in it. However, that may have had more to do with her pouty expression.
"It's very comfy, Daiyu, but can we dye it another color? I don't like this color with my complexion," Chen says, looking down at the robe.
Rolling her eyes, Mimi is about to interject when Daiyu stops her with a spidery hand, "Of course dear, what shall we dye it?"
"Shouldn't it be the color of our clan?" Qiaolian climbs out of the water, hoisting Dumplin out in front of her, who immediately darts back into the water before Qiaolian can hoist her out again.
"Qiaolian, I don't want to have the Shen colors," Chen looks down at the robe too late to see Qiaolian burst with pride.
"Well, then, of course, we will have gold for the Feng clan!"
"Gold is for the Lanling Jin sect," Chen states, "I don't want to be affiliated with them either."
This stumps the older fox spirit, "But I don't care about that clan!"
"Look, I don't think colors really matter all that much as long as it's durable, and Chen can run around in it," Mimi chimes in, drying Dumplin with a couple of small balls of foxfire.
"Being that Chen is in practically three different clans. It would be difficult to arrange the colors so that it would be cohesive and elegant," Daiyu takes the robe from Chen and pats her cheek with a spidery hand, "I will see what I can do."
"Well, she wouldn't have to have all the clan colors on the robe. Just the ones that really matter to her," Qiaolian contemplates the young fox spirit.
"Chen," Mimi beckons to her younger sister. "We have been talking about a treaty between the Feng clan and Gusu clan for a while now. Uniting our clans together. This treaty would also be a stipulation of my marriage to the clan leader of the Gusu Clan. I would be disbanding myself from the Shen clan and joining with Qiaolian. I want to adopt you and Dumplin formally, but it would also mean taking on both clan affiliations. I am not pressuring you into anything and certainly not asking you to disband from the Shen clan . . ."
Chen interrupts in puzzlement, "I thought we already were."
"Already were what?"
"Adopted by you."
Mimi shares a look between Dumplin and Chen, who look at her like she has lost her mind.
"I . . . yes, adopted you, but I want to make it legal," Mimi shares a look with Qiaolian," and magically binding."
"I don't give a rats ass about the Shen Clan. I want to stay here with you," Chen crosses her arms stubbornly over her chest, expectantly.
"Rat's ass!" Dumplin repeats in solidarity, and Qiaolian lets out a horse like noise.
"We don't say those words in that order," Mimi sighs, resting her head on top of Dumplin's, as Chen said, "You did!"
"In certain situations, you can say that usually privately, and in my case, I was pulling horrifying amounts of hair from the bathtub."
"Way to go, Mimi," Qiaolian teases, and Mimi forms a ball of foxfire and throws it at her.
Turning back to the kids, Mimi looks between the two searchingly, "So you would like to join the Feng Clan with me?"
Chen and Dumplin nod excitedly as Qiaolian and Daiyu hug behind them.
"We'll do a group binding into the clan! We'll have to consult an astrologist to see what day would be most auspicious!" Qiaolian claps her hands together excitedly.
"You will, of course, have to meet the rest of the clan!" Daiyu ventures, "my kin have been excited to meet you!"
"They will have to be given hair ornaments to wear," Qiaolian says offhandedly.
"We have time to do all that, though," Mimi hugs her two little sisters to her, "Let's just get through the archery tournament and go from there."
"My little cub is going to destroy people," Qiaolian says to Chen, beaming with pride.
"Dumplin has been practicing too and getting good. Too bad they don't let five-year-old children compete," Mimi says, so Dumplin didn't feel left out.
"Too bad, I can't compete," Qiaolian sulks, looking at her mate for support.
"The course would be in flames, and you would be right in the middle of it whining like a child because you accidentally burnt the last several targets," Daiyu smiles predatorily at the fox spirit.
Clutching her heart in pretend agony Qiaolian drops to the ground and crawls over to Daiyu, "That hurts wife, even if it's true."