In Darkness

Regards (Pt.2)

She notices her before her junior does. Only when she passes the threshold of her dilapidated building in the Ghost Realm does Bai Qian allow herself to suddenly rise from her seat, startling Daiyu.

"Teacher!" Bai Qian happily skips over to her before offering her courtesy, "Teacher, you're finally back!"

Walking behind her like a shadow, Daiyu speaks up shortly after greeting the woman that keeps her entire face hidden behind a veiled straw hat, "You've come back full-handed."

They can hear it in her voice, the feigned exasperation that lingers in the air -- it's the only tell-tale sign that they ever have to her mood, "... Such greedy little dogs you both are. Tell me, Daiyu, when was the last time I've come back empty-handed?"

Daiyu lets out an innocent laugh before scratching the back of her neck awkwardly, "To be honest, I'm not sure..."

Bai Qian looks at her, smiles, and then turns back to her teacher before reaching out for the objects in her hands, "Teacher, did your mission go as planned?"

"Báiwěi, oh Báiwěi..." Holding out two baskets, she gingerly drops both of them into the waiting fox's hands, "The day I don't return will be the day my mission fails."

Walking past them, the older woman takes off her hat only when she's out of the moonlight, "Where's the wine?"

Daiyu quickly follows after her.

Glancing down at the objects in her hands, Bai Qian hesitates. One contains precious treasures and information, yet the other...

Conflicted, Bai Qian's grip on the basket changes.

"Báiwěi! Why is my wine not warm?"

Glancing back at the door at the sound of her temper rising, she quickly swallows back the bile in the back of her throat and sets the basket containing a severed head down on the table before leaving the empty courtyard, "My apologies, teacher, I will warm it for you right away."

"Bring the head in," At the sound of her knowing voice, Bai Qian stops in her tracks, "Add it to my collection."

Glancing back at the head in disdain, Bai Qian quickly thinks up a number of excuses before thinking aloud, "He doesn't deserve to be added..."

"General Su and his beloved were hard to track. I would have returned with two heads if his bride weren't already pregnant."

"Why did you let her go?" From inside the building, Daiyu pours a cup of wine preemptively for Bai Qian after heating it, "She'll be harder to hunt down next time."

"Teacher is magnanimous," Bai Qian utters softly as she enters the wooden building, causing Daiyu to completely consume her attention over her, "She knows better than others that children aren't responsible for their parents' crimes..."

By comparison in her movements alone, Bai Qian was unlike every other woman in Daiyu's clan that she'd grown up with. Where the Wolf Clan was amongst the rowdiest in Qing Qiu; Bai Qian seemed, at least to her, to be as still as Qing Qiu's lazy rivers. Even in her periods of excitement, her voice always seemed to be quiet and gentle regardless of what words she spoke.

She was graceful - something her fellow clansmen occasionally mistook as delicate. Most importantly, she belonged to her. Every waking moment not spent in the Grand Ziming Palace was spent with her.

"Teacher, what would you have me write on this head's name plaque?"

"Don't bother." She'd never be able to forget the name tied to that man's face.