act31side

Where else could you see farmland like this?

Rice has grown like wildfire, the stalks evenly standing ramrod-straight from the soil, like the fur of a stockbeast after autumn's end. Under the blowing wind and shining sun, they ripple as waves of heat wash over them.

A woman stands in the middle of the field, stray stalks and leaves pulling at her clothes. She brushes them aside, wading deeper into the vast ocean of golden grain.

Where are you going?

To find some crops.

Aren't these all crops?

I wish to find those that can be planted in lands far, far away.

Why do you need to plant crops elsewhere? There's so much here already. Are they not enough?

These are not enough to fill the bellies of all men.

How long have you been searching here?

A clump of soil begins to move.

A talpibeast pokes its head out of its burrow. That dim tunnel leads to distant lands, its miniature resident too a drifter from afar.

Once it looks upon the boundless field, rippling and rustling in the wind, it lets out a sorrowful screech and dives back into the deep, dark underground.

How are we supposed to know if the seeds we plant will sprout? How can we tell which way the weather will change?

If you watch long enough, you will learn.

If I watch longer, then I'll learn... Does that include things to come much, much later?

As one sows, so one reaps.

Seeds become crops, so what becomes us?

Where do we come from? After we die, where do we go?

From the ground we sprout, and it is to the ground we return.

Man or crop, it matters not. This is the cycle of all things under heaven.

So it's like the song you taught me to memorize the twenty-four jieqi solar terms?

Springtime drizzles wake the seeds, grain buds dance in summer's heat

Autumn gifts the crops their gold, but they can’t stand winter’s cold.

Hey—

Heyyy—

Wakey wakey.

Laojie?

Mphh. I'm awake.

How's it going? From the outside looking in, I get the impression the big guy isn't the obedient type.

Yeah.

I believe it's a bit more mischievous than some younger sisters of mine.

Well, might be best to take a break for a bit. This isn't one of Dusk's daily doodles. Wait too long and your head'll end up spinning.

You just need to take it slow. Haste makes waste, you know.

You're right. I do feel a bit tired.

Nian, could you help pull me out?

If you two didn't show, I would have gone back home by myself.

Oh really? Let's see, which one of us got so scared just now that her face went as white as her canvas?

Shut up.

We're trying to keep the heart of a 'Feranmut' beating, okay? It's not exactly instant noodles.

...*sigh*

When you told me this plan of yours, I thought you'd lost it for sure. I should've expected this sort of crazy scheme from you.

It's just using a whole nomadic city to imitate a Feranmut. I shape its body, and you give it soul. What could go wrong?

You grow more capable and quick-witted by the day, little Nian.

Don't spoil her. What could she have done without the old woman from the Tianshi Bureau and you, Shu?

I've been helping out the Sui Regulator here and there, building up some favors. They should come in useful.

So, what's the situation like now?

Couldn't ask for better.

But if we're going to be using this thing in place of a real-deal vessel, and if us poor little illusions want something to rely on after we get rid of the old timer... I'm afraid it still calls for some elbow grease.

It's quite the troublesome little child, after all.

Wait, so what's the good part? Aren't we still at square one?

Now, I know what you're thinking, you put some effort into making this thing too. You just want some recognition from your older sister, right?

How juvenile of you.

You've developed as an artist, Dusk. It's been years since we saw each other, but I can tell you're still diligent as ever, and never one to waste time.

...*cough*

I still can't imagine it. Passing off a fake body with sleight of hand isn't so hard, but it's going to make an even bigger mess in the end.

It'll just be a small portion of us that we carved off of ourselves. The product of three sisters pooling their power, and yet still incomplete.

How will the Twelve Pagodas and Five Cities become a place where we belong...?

You may be right.

But while I was within the scroll, I really did sense...

Life.

The beast walks with the generous earth, and in the beginning we too grew upon this land.

Perhaps this flower may actually bloom.

Ah, c'mon! Let's talk about something else.

You don't know just how much a pain in my ass those court mandarins have been! They said they'd let us have the Twelve Pagodas and Five Cities for a while so we could make a 'home' for ourselves, but what they really wanted was for us to give back the old Tianshi, and also help them with some other trouble.

Man, these Yanese know how to do business. They went and turned our home into a bridgehead! You ask them for one thing and they want two in return.

I never did expect Yanese technology could have leapt ahead like that. I mean, at this point, do they even need to fear the Sui anymore?

If we do manage to finish this home, knowing that it'll be right under their watchful eyes makes me really uneasy.

Also, how big a risk are we taking by doing this? I've got no idea myself.

When you two were in the scroll before, I thought back to that time with Sanjie...

You worry about your older sisters, little inkblot?

'Little inkblot'?!

Well, there was that one time that you managed to knock your inkstone on your head. Ling said you were—

I don't remember that at all. You must be mistaken.

If you insist.

Ah. Now that I think about it, I remember you crouching by the pond washing your face...

I already told you, I don't remember this.

You used that nice, clear pond water to clean your face, but that just made the water all inky, so you couldn't keep washing, right?

That was Jie's idea. On the outside, our third sister was gentle and kind, but she was actually the wiliest of us all.

*sigh*

If little Nian's plan succeeds, it would be for the best.

Well yeah, is there anyone who doesn't want it to succeed?

A certain foul-smelling weiqi head, the basket of blunders.

Who knows what he's up to? Ever since the dust-up with Ling, I'll look at an ink cake and wonder if it's one of his little 'fragments' or not.

We've put so much effort into making this vessel, he can just go and cut himself up however he likes...

Why bother like this...

He may hate all of this world, but he hates himself most of all. He is clever though, oh so very clever. Will he believe that a life-or-death struggle with Yan is what Jie would have liked to see?

Who knows. You're the only one who's still willing to talk to him, after all this time.

Oh, right. Speaking of clever...

How about that other brother? You know, it's been a while since we've heard from him, but wasn't he pretty close to you, Shu? Did you get into a fight or something?

Besides the stinky basket of blunders, he's probably the one that the Sui Regulators are most worried about.

(Whisper) I'm even less willing to talk to that needle prick than the weiqi failure...

It has been a very long time since he last returned.

Really? Never mind then.

Doesn't matter if he's here or not, we three sisters being allowed together is all for the sake of whatever plan those old coots gathered in town are cooking up.

As they say, 'affairs come in no more than threes'. Getting together for a family dinner every day is already making some Lung upset.

Well, it's getting late. I have some things to do.

The both of you have been working pretty hard lately. When you're free, do come by and eat. I'll cook you up some dishes.

Ooh! Although we can't taste the dishes from our young brother, Shu can still cook up a mean—

Why're you looking at me like that? What, did I say something wrong just now?