The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 61 - Split Path

The Next Morning

The 10th day of Winter

"Alright, let's run through everything before we begin." Mai stated as she, Kaden, Jayson, Aaron, Via, General Shih Gao, and Emperor Tuzi all stood at the bottom of the palace's staircase.

"Lady Yetu left on her own to collect the seasonal taxes from the other factions in order to start preparations for the Chūnjié." Jayson explained. "She left before her father could've assigned a guard to go with her because she felt like she didn't need it."

"She also thinks she travels faster on her own." Aaron added.

.....

The previous day during the meeting.

"My daughter is by no means arrogant, but she does lack a sense of fear." Tuzi stated. "She tries to debunk all of my worries with what she calls 'rational logic'. Like, she thinks other factions would never risk starting an altercation with the Emperor's daughter."

"Her mistake is thinking that the others share your sentiment in not wanting to be the one that starts a war." Jayson replied.

"You mentioned that you have a decent relationship with the ox and tiger factions." Mai stated. "Are there any that you have a particularly rough relationship with?"

"... The rat, the monkey, and the snake." Tuzi answered without thinking about it much. "With the rat and monkey, we just haven't been able to see eye to eye for a few years now, but for the snake... There's history there that extends back centuries. They're seen in a bad light by almost every other faction. Ours specifically."

"So we gotta make sure to poke our nose around even more in those areas." Kaden remarked.

"How can we?" Via questioned. "If we travel to the other factions, how are we supposed to get any information without raising suspicion."

"How you uncover information will be for you to figure out, but I can at least give you reason for traveling to the other settlements." Tuzi exclaimed. "Yuta left before I could have given her the details of all I wanted her to do. To begin preparations for the Chūnjié we first need to know what the events are that the other factions would like to participate in. That's what you'll be inquiring about when you go to the other settlements."

.....

"There is one thing in particular I'm worried about." Mai stated. "General Gao, you were able to pick up right away that Jayson has fire essence. Is that something most Ventians would notice?"

"Elite air essence users like myself can sense the slightest of changes in air temperature, pressure and humidity amongst other things." Shih replied. "Fire essence users have a naturally warmer body temperature than others, and if they get close enough, I can feel this in the air around them."

"Which would mean taking him near the other faction leaders wouldn't be smart."

"That is a fair assessment."

"She says all that, but still hasn't detected that I have fire essence too." Kaden thought to himself.

"If that's the case, then I'll stay here." Jayson replied calmly.

"That easy?" Via questioned. "Wasn't it you that wanted to come here and help more than anyone?"

"Yes, and potentially compromising the mission isn't helping."

"There is something else we can have you look into." Tuzi interjected as he walked down the stairs. "While we are suspecting that one of the other factions is involved in this, they aren't the only suspects worthy of investigating. There's been an emerging bandit problem as of late here on the air continent, and it isn't out of the question that they could have played a hand in Yetu's disappearance."