It crouched in the grasses behind a mound of mud, a single austere room made of wood and stone. There was no door, just a flap of tanned skin that covered the doorway. Wu pushed it aside with the flat of the Dragon Sword and stepped inside.

She could see why he had walked away from this so easily.

There was an overturned iron kettle and an empty unadorned wooden box in the corner of the room with a moldy copy of The Celestial Order inside. A salamander flicked its tail at her before sneaking between a crack in the stone floor and wood floor. She did not know what she was looking for, but that was all she found.

That was it. That was all there was left of him.

She sank to her knees and stared at the wall. She had been a fool. There was nothing here that spoke of him or of his life.

There was nothing left for her.

Silk Fox and Wu limped into the hotel. "Someone help me with her," the princess snapped.

Dawn Star gasped. "Lian, the blood - "

"Not all ours, farm girl." Silk Fox dropped the warrior into a chair. "Get hot water. And bandages. And you are an idiot," she said to Wu.

"And you are alive." Wu touched her side and pulled back fresh blood. Silk Fox had not fared much better; a deep gash cut across her arm. "Where is the house shrine?"

"I can get Doctor An," Sky suggested.

"Not necessary. Shrine and bandages," Wu demanded, each command undeniable. "Kang, have the Mosquito-"

"- Dragonfly!" Kang corrected.

Her blood loss was making her stupid. "Yes, the Dragonfly, have it readied and the rest of you, prepare yourselves. We will have to get to the Palace soon, while we have the advantage."

"You found the proof you need?" Dawn Star asked Lian.

The princess pulled her mask away, a frown marring her features. "Yes and I find that my father is not innocent in these events. It is my duty to confront him."

"Not innocent? Murdering his subjects to make for more obedient soldiers?" Wu laughed a little hysterically but it turned into a harsh growl. "I will kill him myself if you don't have what it takes to do so."

Silk Fox took the clean bandages that Hou handed her without thanking him. "You will let him explain himself, Wu. He is still your Emperor!"

"Who is still holding Master Li hostage!" Wu shouted, snatching the bandages and pressing them against Silk Fox's wound before she could disagree. But all the exertion made her gasp and clutch at the wound in her side.

She knew why she was doing this. All this shouting, all this petty anger, it was keeping her above the water that she would drown in if she allowed herself one moment to think of -

I will do what I must.

She turned her sob into a choke and Dawn Star ordered the Black Whirlwind to carry her to the shrine. The area was mercifully empty and when the ogre of a man put her down, Dawn Star held her and ordered her to empty her mind, to allow herself to heal.

The words she used were exactly like Master Li's, which brought Wu's head out of the water, out of the pain for the moment she needed to concentrate. The wound did not heal completely but it was enough. She clutched at her friend and held on for dear life.

Somewhere she heard Sky angry - such a funny thing to think of an angry Sky - and Lian yelling back at him. She would have to explain later that it wasn't Lian's fault, that she'd done this to herself. She should have died half a dozen times with the way she had left herself open to Assassin swords and attacks, but her luck had held right until the last moment, when they'd found the Watcher and his men. She'd been so tired then that she'd barely felt his sword slip into her skin.

He was dead now. All of the Assassins were.

All of them.

Dawn Star's hand smoothed her hair and Wu whispered into her shoulder the words she dreaded saying. "Zu is dead."

Her friend sat back. "What?"

The second time was no easier. "Zu is dead. He died saving me."

Dawn Star said nothing, only held her friend tighter than before and ran her hand over her hair. She heard speaking, but Dawn Star, who so rarely asked for anything, ordered everyone to be quiet and to leave them. It was only then that Wu felt safe enough to let herself shudder once and twice. But tears would not come.

She sat up slowly, disentangling herself from her friend's arms. Nothing. She had brought the ghosts of the Necropolis with her and all their emptiness. And just like those ghosts, she knew that madness would overtake her if she didn't hold onto herself as hard as she possibly could.

She picked herself up. "I can't walk into the Imperial Palace covered in blood."

Dawn Star stood up with her. "Wu, take a moment for yourself."

"Later," she said firmly, but she knew it was the firmness of cracked stone. It would stand, but only until the water came and froze in the cracks and tore the whole facade into pieces.

She would stand, but only as long as she had to.

She readied herself quickly and the others were already at the Mosquito - no, the Dragonfly. The Mosquito was the first one, the flying swimming ox - and she shook her head. No. She couldn't think back to then. Not to the fires or the death or the hand on her shoulder that had offered sympathy and an explanation of who her enemy was.

She found her seat, and they took off.

The flyer rattled and shook around Wu. Dawn Star was on her left. Sky was on her right. Silk Fox was sitting in another's place. It was another difference, another slight change, and it cut her.

Dawn Star took her hand and squeezed it lightly; she felt it from somewhere far away.

"Sky." He turned to her. "Tell me. In your story, did any of the Eternal Companions die?"

He didn't answer and she stared straight ahead at the palace floating in the sky.