NO CELESTIAL / dick grayson

twenty-seven, scout

"RISKY, BUT WE have to do it eventually."

They sat in the hut, the three of them, speaking in hushed English. Yu Lan had told them she was going off to get more food and supplies, but they still wanted to be careful.

"You don't suppose Yu Lan has a map of this entire place hanging around here?" Dick asked, rubbing his eyes. "Or you could ask her to lead one of us. Maybe Damian? I was wondering if I should go on a trip out, see if I could get some signal and see what Cecily and Daniel can pull up about Yu Lan and the Eyu Sect."

"That could work," Remiel frowned. "But I don't want to stay here and do nothing. Damian, you ask Yu Lan to bring you on a... secret tour around the place. Me, I think I'll go scout on my own. I'll be careful. And I'll be able to fit in more easily than either of you."

"Try to see if there's any kind of regular patrol."

"I'll ask Yu Lan."

Dick eyed Damian. "You trust her a lot."

"If she was going to turn against us, she'd have done it yesterday night. She'd have stabbed me in the guts and ran off to get the guards. She didn't. And trust me, when she said we tied, she meant it. I wasn't going easy on her. And besides, do you see the way she looks at Remiel now?"

Remiel blinked. "How does she look at me?"

"Like you're her saviour. Her personal hero." Damian rolled his eyes. "If you don't take her with you when you go, I'll come back and get her myself. I'm sure Father wouldn't mind getting a daughter."

"I am not leaving her here." Damian really needed to stop doubting her. Remiel was someone who kept her words.

Was it because she left the League back then? That Damian was scared she might end up abandoning her promise to the girl?

She'd spent an hour in the morning with the girl, conversing with her. She could read, thank god. But she also knew nearly nothing about the rest of the world. She had snippets from Shan Ling, and once Remiel had shared more she'd started putting pieces together, but she was still like... a nymph. A forest nymph, wild and untamed. Like a character from a fantasy book.

Remiel wasn't quite sure how she was meant to raise a girl like that. But she liked her spirit. Wholly unbridled, fully courageous. And independent.

"It's settled, then." Dick tapped his finger against the table. "I'll head back out. See if I can get anything from Cecily and Daniel. Damian, you ask Yu Lan to bring you on a tour. Remiel will see what she can figure out on her own. Be careful. Both of you."

Remiel shrugged. "If it's any comfort... I don't think security is all that good, considering the fact we still haven't been discovered."

"That's nice, I suppose." Dick flexed his jaw, picking up a stone figurine on the desk, inspecting it before placing it back down slowly. "Eyu Sect... Do either of you know the characters for the sect? I was thinking the character for swan and jade, but—"

"It's the character for Chang'e. The moon goddess." Damian tilted his head. "I saw it written on a painting in her room. And then the character for jade. Makes me wonder if the Eyu Sect and Yuannan Mountain Sect have a long history. Both seem to have a relation to jade."

"She said her grandmother was a member of the Yuannan Mountain Sect," Remiel pointed out. "It wouldn't surprise me if the two sects have cooperated and coexisted for a long time. Makes it even weirder how they treat her."

"Last surviving member of a sect? That doesn't make her an asset, that makes her a burden. Nothing to gain, so no point putting effort into her, but also dishonourable and reflects poorly on them if they mistreat her."