Several days passed as everyone settled into life in their camp, each person finding their own ways to cultivate with the time they had. Su Xiang, Zhang Buyan and Xiong Dahuo formed a natural trio in a clearing not far from camp, coming together at least once a day to spar and practice their techniques.
The intensity of their sessions began to reshape the land itself with deep scars in the earth that filled with rainwater whenever the occasional spring storm swept through. Jin Wuya frequently followed along as an observer but it would still be some time before her hand healed enough to join in the sessions with the others.
While Zhang Buyan made a point of inviting Wu Ling to spar with the others, Wu Ling insisted that what he needed right now was the opportunity to focus on learning something new rather than figuring out more ways to apply his existing skills. He appreciated that none of the martial cultivators looked down on his ability to stand and fight, but he was self-aware enough to recognize that it would only be a distraction if he went.
"Brother Ling," Su Xiang asked one afternoon when she returned from sparring with the others. "How is your progress?"
"Better today," Wu Ling said with a smile, holding up a half-completed bone comb. "It's been a long time since I really started from the beginning. I had to remind myself what it was like when I was starting to learn the zither. I used to hate playing scales, practicing different methods of touching the strings… I just wanted to learn songs," he said, his eyes looking back into the past and his earliest years at the Bamboo Silk House.
The death of his father was still fresh in his mind in those days, as was the hurt of being exiled from the Shining Blade Hall. The months his mother spent moving them around to avoid being hunted by the Sanguine saber sect had left him numb and isolated. When his mother finally explained that he'd have to pretend to be her daughter in a place that would keep him safe… he'd just accepted it.
He'd already lost his father, his home, and his friends. At the time, losing his identity felt like just one more thing he had to surrender to a cruel world. Much like Su Xiang after the Shining Blade Hall's punishment, Wu Ling's world had become overcast and gray.
In a way, the zither had saved him. With so many musicians in the sect, there was hardly a moment where you couldn't find a garden with a senior sister practicing somewhere. The widely varied songs played by the different sisters brought color and texture back to the broken Wu Ling's world.
At the time, he thought of himself as a ghost, hiding in the corners of gardens to listen. Years later he realized that the sisters of the sect had likely always known he was there but none of them disturbed the 'shy young girl' hiding in the bushes and listening to them practice.
Eventually, Senior Sister Xuan Lu called out to him, guiding his tiny hands to the strings of her zither and asking if he wanted to learn to make music for himself. In those days, he'd been eager to rush ahead and play complicated or fast songs, but Xuan Lu had firmly reminded him that practice and fundamentals were the keys to being able to make beautiful music.
Back then, he might not have appreciated it, but when the young Aesthete paired her insistence on learning fundamentals with the rewards of games and teaching Wu Ling new places to hide in the back of the sect… he'd come around enough to make real progress in learning music.
"What are all the dots on the handle for?" Su Xiang asked, her words pulling Wu Ling out of his memories and back to the present.
"Once I've finished the tines of the comb, I'm going to create a pattern of snowflakes there," Wu Ling explained, reaching into a pile of discarded pieces and showing Su Xiang a sample of the pattern he intended to create.
"I've been working at all the individual pieces, now I'm trying to put it all together in a gift for Mei'er," Wu Ling said, caressing the piece gently as his voice grew wistful. "When she joined the sect, they revealed her talents for water and ice-based cultivation methods. I imagine that she's become a middle-stage Aesthete by now," he said softly, wishing he could have been present to see her breakthrough and celebrate with her the way their group had celebrated breakthroughs in the camp. "She was very close to breaking through when we left."
"I'm sorry you had to leave her to come to rescue me," Su Xiang said softly, reaching out to wrap an arm around Wu Ling's shoulder. "I'm sure she's missing you too right now."
"It's only a short separation," Wu Ling said, running his fingers gently over the unfinished comb. "When we get back, Hall Master Bian wants me to take her and your cousin under my wing for several training missions."
"I know that Hall Master only sees her as a talent with a lot of potential, but I want to make sure she knows that even when I have to act as a mentor, I'm still her…" he faltered, fingers pausing their slow movement over the comb.
Her what? What was it he really wanted to be to Yao Meifeng? She'd all but promised herself to him on the night they parted. He hadn't accepted her offer but he hadn't rejected her either, rather, he'd asked to take more time while they were both growing. Now, however, as he looked out over the lake, he realized how much he wished she was there with him.
How wonderful would it be, to listen to her zither playing while he practiced his carving? Or to put down his rasps for a few minutes to join her for a song when the sun kissed the tops of the hills overlooking the lake?
"It looks like Sister Meifeng has made her way deeper into your heart than you thought," Su Xiang teased when she saw the distracted look on Wu Ling's face. "Should I start calling her 'Sister-in-law?'"
"No, not for a while at least," Wu Ling said, reaching out to ruffle Su Xiang's hair playfully. "I want to wait until she's adapted to life away from her family. I want to make sure she's running toward me, not running away from her family's arrangements," he explained.
"It's not that I doubt her heart," he added. "It's just that I think right now, it's too easy for her to cling to me like a rock in a storm-tossed sea. She's been through a lot in the past year."
"You want her to find her way to you in calm seas," Su Xiang said, smiling in pride. So many of the men she'd known would take advantage of Yao Meifeng's vulnerability, securing the beautiful, doll-like musician when she was at her lowest. Seeing her brother hold back so they could build a better relationship put her own heart at ease. This, she thought, was how a love was meant to grow. Slowly perhaps, but with plenty of time to put down deep roots.
"And you want to be more to her than just a safe harbor, don't you?" Su Xaing prodded gently.
"Sister Xiang always sees through me," Wu Ling said with a smile. "You think she'll like the comb?"
"I think she'll like anything you make for her," the young woman said with a gentle smile. "But Brother Ling, where's my comb? You aren't going to forget about your sister now that you have a lover are you?"