Chapter 559 (Patreon)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KQUgxU3G6VyPZPNmGiwMDxrJhSncIj8W57KLLcIpvSk/edit?usp=sharing

I am the Undying Savage, Falling Rain. Son of Baatar and Sarnai, Brother of Alsantset and Charok, Uncle to Tali and Tate, Grandson to Akanai and Husolt. Student to Taduk, Betrothed to Sumila, Du Min Yan, and Mei Lin, Consort to Zheng Luo, and unwilling Master to Li Song. I am also a Khishig of the Bekhai by choice, a soldier of the Empire by sentencing, an herbalist by hobby, merchant by obligation, and politician by necessity.

It’s a long introduction, which is about to get longer, because now I can add ‘Divine Turtle Whisperer’ to the list.

Last night’s unprompted and impromptu visit into Pong Pong’s Natal Palace came as quite the surprise, but a welcome one to be sure. We both had a grand old time splashing around and playing tag, and I learned a lot about Chi-powered water travel in my time there. Pong Pong was sandbagging from the start, but I eventually picked up enough to give him a bit of a challenge and keep him on his toes, though I never did end up catching him no matter how hard I tried. Eventually, he got bored of winning and we stopped to figure out what to do next. Or at least I thought that’s what we were doing, but Pong Pong isn’t big on consent. One moment we were chilling by his coral throne trying to make conversation through emotions and body language, and then I blinked and we were sitting in a beautiful field of vibrant seaweed which took my breath away.

Thus started our journey through the undersea vistas of Pong Pong’s Natal Palace, and I gotta say, it’s a lot bigger than I expected. Granted, it was hard to pin down an exact size with Pong Pong zipping us around at the speed of thought, but after going through almost a dozen unique and awe-inspiring aquatic biomes, I started to wonder if there was an actual end to his Natal Palace. From colourful coral reefs and verdant undersea forests, to decrepit sunken shipwrecks and natural nautical necropolises, Pong Pong’s inner world had it all and more. While I obviously didn’t recognize any of the underwater landmarks, considering how I went through so many different environments and habitats without ever seeing the darkness of the void, I’m almost certain the tiny Divine Turtle modelled his Natal Palace after the entirety of the Azure Sea.

Which is pretty damned impressive considering mine was only as big as a village. Hell, Mahakala was a human Divinity, and his Natal Palace was a courtyard like... thirty football fields wide. I don’t know, something like that, so it was huge, but still nowhere close to the size of a sea. More like a big pond, or a small lake if I’m being generous.

Over the course of our sight-seeing journey, there were only two places Pong Pong refused to bring me, even though I spotted them from a distance and politely inquired through Aura. One was a dark, undersea cave system that was devoid of colour and plant life, and the other was the only above water location I’d seen throughout our entire journey, a white, sandy beach that seemed untouched by human life. In both instances, Pong Pong responded to my polite inquiries with a surge of sorrow and distress, so I didn’t push him to share any more than he wanted to, but he was quick to recover, and we were off to see new and exciting vistas in no time flat.

I learned quite a bit from my trip through Pong Pong’s Natal Palace, and not just about controlling Water and swimming. For starters, the little guy really loves to travel, but that’s besides the point. The important thing is he’s a lot smarter than I gave him credit for and an incredible story teller, which is really saying something since he can’t actually speak. Instead, he reenacted his stories in the locations they took place, while sending bursts of emotions over to convey what was going through his mind at the time. Most of his stories have to do with escaping predators, monstrous creatures he brought into existence using Chi and imagination, but oddly enough, he never let his facsimiles take part in the story telling. In fact, I noticed he made an effort to will them out of existence as quickly as possible, before going back to dipping, ducking, and diving around. It could be because he lacks the resources to add anything permanent to his Natal Palace, but I got the feeling he didn’t like having living creatures around, even if he was the one who created them. Honestly, I kind of get why, because I never felt comfortable around my soulless mannequin villagers either, back when that was a whole thing. I really only put them there because I wanted the village to feel like home, but it kinda backfired and made me spend less time lost in memory and wandering down those familiar paths in my own Natal Palace.

It was so creepy having them hang around doing the one task I assigned them, yet somehow it felt like they were always watching me go by...

Another thing I learned was that time flies when you’re in someone else’s Natal Palace, or maybe we were just having too much fun. One moment, I was giving Pong Pong a big hug to celebrate his daring escape from a nightmarish goblin-swordfish thing, and then out of nowhere, I was back in the real world with the sun shining in my tired eyes and Lin-Lin announcing that it’s time for lunch. This brought me to my next discovery, which was that going on adventures in Pong Pong land is not the same as getting a good night’s sleep, because despite having lain in bed for almost twelve hours straight, I was still dog-tired and grouchy to boot. Pong Pong also looked a little fatigued, but he perked right up after I dropped him off in a box of shrimp, which is where he stayed for the entirety of Nian Zu’s naggy lecture.

Thing is, the Living Legend made some good points, so after confirming that I was still indeed a Chi-less peasant in the real world, I spent the next hour or so on my best behaviour under house arrest. Sadly, there’s only so many things to do without the internet, and my floofs were not picking up the tricks I was throwing down, so I was already going a little stir-crazy by the time Lin-Lin suggested we go see Ping Ping. That’s why I jumped at the suggestion, because I was excited to have some fun, but then enters Binesi, the disapproving mountain man who scowls more than Mila, which is to say he’s always scowling. Always. The dude even scowls while taking orders from Nian Zu, but I bet his current posting has something to do with it. Again though, he also made some good points, because I should know how my guards are being deployed and giving them fair warning to make sure things are safe is just plain smart.

Armed with a trusty steel sword and armoured in fancy, hard-leather armour, I brought Lin-Lin out to visit Ping Ping and see if my Natal Palace diving ability is limited to one turtle and one turtle only. Being the sweet girl that she is, Ping Ping was more than happy to curl up for a snooze, and she is surprisingly comfortable to snuggle with. With my legs tucked under her neck and my cheek pressed against her shoulder, I gave her a big smile and a wave goodnight before drifting off into peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Which brings me here, waking up only seconds after I’ve closed my eyes, or at least that’s what it feels like. Alerted by Ping Ping’s sub-vocal squeak, I blink the sleep out of my eyes and look around to find nothing wrong and the big girl still wrapped around me. I can hear Song and Binesi hashing it out about me being exposed out here by the lake, and for the umpteenth time, he has a point, but he can’t expect me to spend the next week under lock and key. I’m as safe as can be just outside the manor, with Ping Ping and all my guards to watch over me. Lin-Lin’s guards too, since they’re always on alert, but I didn’t tell Binesi about them because he called me foundling and used it like an insult. Stupid non-Bekhai isolationist mountain dweller. If you’re so against outsiders, then why are you so gung ho about the military? Pick a side and stick with it, jerk.

Patting Ping Ping’s neck to soothe her nerves, I hum ‘Go to Sleep Little Turtle’ under my breath and send my good vibes over to her. I think she’s stressed from all the unfamiliar company, because despite what he said about not being my nursemaid, I’m certain Binesi has guards stationed around us much closer than Ping Ping likes. The People and Protectorate are more considerate of her needs and stay further away if they’re going to remain in Concealment, but I bet Binesi’s people are almost close enough to touch her. Bad idea to stress out the Divine Turtle, especially since she just killed an assassin yesterday, and I should’ve said something about it earlier. Thankfully, my song is enough to reassure her that there’s no danger here, and I feel the tension drain from her turtilian frame as she blinks her dark, beady eyes in an adorably sleepy manner. Giving me one last, careful snuggle to get as close as possible, she exhales softly before finally falling asleep, and I focus on nothing once more while continuing to hum the peaceful little melody.

Huh. Did I just pull a Luo-Luo and music my emotions to Ping Ping? Man, today is just full of surprises.

The realization of my minor success comes with a burst of mental clarity as my weary lethargy melts away like a cloak falling off my shoulders. All of a sudden, I’m awake and alert as can be, but I’m no longer sitting outside the manor nestled in Ping Ping’s embrace. Instead, I’m standing with my head in the clouds and the void off in the distance, almost close enough to reach out and touch but still a vast, insurmountable distance away.

A chorus of happy squeaks and squeals draws my attention, and the world changes around me. One moment I have my head in the clouds, and the next I’m standing at the edge of a bamboo forest on the mudbank of a fast flowing river, face to face with the most adorable version of Ping Ping I could ever imagine. All full of soft points and rounded edges rather than the jagged, pointed dinosaur she is in real life, she’s much smaller in her Natal Palace than she is in real life, about the size of a large dog and even smaller than Aurie, my runtiest of wildcats. Tippy tapping in place out of pure delight, the sweet girl needs no Aura or conversation to convince her I’m who I appear to be, which is both good and bad considering I could’ve been a Spectre here to take over and Demonize her. I hope they don’t wise up and trick her using my form, but that’s a concern for another day, because right now, I need to do something I’ve always wanted to do.

“Hi Ping Ping!” I cry, while running over to embrace her, and she snuggles back so aggressively she lifts me off my feet. Laughing in delight, I lavish the sweet girl with plenty of affection while we play around in the mud, and even lift her around for a bit, though not for long since my Natal Palace powers does not include herculean strength. Too excited to sit still, she prances in slow circles around me while nuzzling me from all sides, utterly charmed by my appearance here where she never expected me to show. Making sure to show her plenty of love through Aura and actions, I pat her head, scritch her chin, rub her cheeks, and essentially give her the full floofy treatment as if she were a normal sized pet, and Ping Ping loves every minute of it.

As she bumps and jostles me around out of sheer excitement, it occurs to me how hard she has it out in the real world, having to always tip-toe carefully around while remaining aware of her surroundings. She really is the sweetest of girls, and it warms my heart to see her running around without a care in the world, her hearty stomps and lashing tail splashing mud and water in all directions.

In between the praise and scritches, I glance around Ping Ping’s Natal Palace and recognize it as a muddy riverbank outside Ping Yao. The first time I laid eyes on her was in a similar place last year, when I brought Lin-Lin and the twins out to see the Guardian Turtle during the march to Central. Like Pong Pong, Ping Ping eventually calms down and brings me around for a look, diving head-first into the river before emerging to see if I’ll follow. To my great surprise, Ping Ping isn’t as fast as her tinier counterpart, preferring to slowly amble through the river instead of jumping around from place to place like Pong Pong does. She doesn’t swim the same way either, using her legs to power herself through the current when Pong Pong just sort of glides through it with ease, a trick I learned was about finding the right angle to cut through the resistance so it’s almost negligible, and in some rare cases can even help you along. There’s a lot of subtle Water-Chi manipulation that goes along with aquatic locomotion, and I can’t really explain it well, but it’s sort of like if you surrender yourself to the flow, it will pick you up and carry you wherever you want to go, but not necessarily in the path you wanted.

Either Ping Ping hasn’t learned this particular lesson yet, or she might just want to see the sights with me as we take a leisurely swim through her personal world. Another difference is that the sweet girl has no qualms about bringing things to life inside her Natal Palace, with schools of fish daring around us and hordes of furry critters to visit as we make our way around. A family of giant, dog-sized squirrels chitter and follows along the riverbank, while a colony of tiny cloud chaser hares hops through the bamboo trees above them. Deer, monkeys, sheep, and more are seen drinking from the river or splashing about the shallows, and there are even quins darting through the waters and sunning themselves on the grass. The animals are more real and lifelike than I could ever create them, so realistic I wouldn’t even know they were fake if I wasn’t clearly in Ping Ping’s Natal Palace, and I’m more than happy to swim over and give them a cuddle alongside the big girl. At one point, we even come across a massive group of red-pandas playing in a clearing, and Ping Ping introduces me to the biggest red-panda I’ve ever seen, a grumpy chubby chonker the size of an elephant who lifts Ping Ping into a warm embrace without ever dropping his scowl, while the sweet girl looks at me and squeaks oh so happily.

As I throw myself in as well to see what it’s like, I immediately swear to hug this giant red panda in real life. I hope he’s still somewhere out there, living in the forests of Ping Yao. I should take Ping Ping back there and see what floofs she brings me to...

There are even a few people present in her Natal Palace, though they’re not as realistic as the animals, their faces shrouded in shadow and only recognizable as the Protectorate due to their woodsman clothing. They only ever stop in to bow and pray, and I somehow get the feeling Ping Ping wishes they would come a little closer and play, especially one decidedly female figure swimming through the river around us. Eventually though, much like Pong Pong’s facsimiles, the animals and humans in Ping Ping’s Natal Palace fade away and disappear, the only proof I’ve seen that she’s making and unmaking them as we go. The giant red panda sticks around the longest, and from her mournful squeaks and questioning gazes, I can tell she’s trying to ask something, but I’ll be damned if I understand what she’s talking about. Maybe she misses her friend and wants to go back and visit, but I can’t do that just yet, so I give her a pat and try to tell her that everything will be okay through Aura. Oddly enough, it doesn’t cheer her up much, but she eventually accepts my assurances and we continue on.

Keeping Binesi’s warnings in mind, I decide to cut our little journey short and head back to the real world, but I run into an unexpected, if somewhat predictable, pitfall. I can’t leave on my own, and it’s difficult to convince Ping Ping to send me away using only Aura. As much as I miss having it out in the real world, I’d almost forgotten how frustrating Aura could be since it’s not exactly a universal language. After struggling to convey the emotion of a fond farewell, I smack myself on the head for being an idiot and just wave goodbye. “I need to go now, big girl. Bye!”

Though saddened to see me leave, Ping Ping waves back and I wake out in the real world, nestled in her warm embrace as she watches me with bated breath. Smiling at her curiosity, I wave hello and say, “Hi again, big girl.” Though unable to move for fear of injuring me, she blinks and squeaks in delight as I push myself to my feet and wrap my arms around her beak. For the first time ever, she snuggles back ever so gently, which is to say hard enough to lift me off my feet and leave a few bruised ribs, but I hang in there to show her I’m not as fragile as she thinks. “Poor girl,” I whisper, reaching over to scritch her eyeridge. “Life must be hard when you’re so much bigger than everyone around you, especially when you just wanna cuddle with the floofs. I knew you were a big sweetheart, but I didn’t think you were a fellow floof lover too.”

“You’re so silly hubby.” Lin-Lin’s giggle sounds only a split second before her airy frame settles on top of my back and Blackjack hops down to greet Ping Ping himself. “Of course she loves floofs, ya? Remember how she played with the quins in Nan Ping Bay?”

“Right you are, wifey.” Unable to speak freely about my Natal Palace jaunting abilities with Binesi lurking nearby, I spend a little more time than usual saying goodbye to Ping Ping before heading back into the manor with Song in tow, and immediately dismiss Kuang Biao from his duties because as far as I can tell, he hasn’t had a day off since entering my employ. The other Death Corps guards take shifts, but the former Royal Guardian never leaves my side, and I never thought to tell him to take a personal day. I’m a terrible employer, but at least some good has come from Nian Zu and Binesi’s meddling, so I suppose I should thank them both for pushing me to become a better commander.

Thing is, I don’t want to command, but they’re right. I’m a leader, whether I like it or not, and if I want to keep my followers alive, I’ll need to learn how to command them.

Problem is, it’s not like there’s a class I can take, so I have to keep learning as I go or look to Dad or Binesi for advice. For now, even though I’ve done quite a bit this afternoon, it’s still four o’ clock and dinner is several hours away, so I settle down in the courtyard and go back to teaching tricks to the wildcats and bunnies. Imagine my surprise when Aurie gets it right on the first try, bringing his paw to mouth as if trying to shovel food in there as quickly as possible. I can almost see the captions which read ‘eat?’, and I squeal in ecstatic delight as I give him the biggest piece of jerky I have on me. Jimjam plods over to do the same, and Sarankho slides over on her back like a dainty little sweetheart to beg for treats, and I surrender everything I have on me to reinforce the behaviour.

Then they keep asking for treats and I realize I’ve made a huge mistake.

“I told Li-Li this would happen.” Still snuggling me from behind, Lin-Lin giggles and adds, “It’s really cute though.”

“It sure is.” Heartbreaking too, because I can’t keep feeding them all day. They eat enough as it is, and as adorable as fat animals are, I need these floofs to be healthy so they’ll outlive me. “How’d Song get them to learn?”

“With love and patience, hubby.” Kissing me lightly on the cheek, Lin-Lin sighs and says, “You have lots of the first, but none of the second, ya? You need to reward them for small successes, and then gradually build up to the final trick.”

...This sounds suspiciously a lot like what Pong Pong was doing, letting me get closer and closer before zipping away so I wouldn’t lose motivation.

Am... am I being trained by a turtle?

...I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Annoyed I can’t talk about it yet because Binesi is still lurking around, I wordlessly reassure Lin-Lin that nothing’s wrong and go back to playing with the floofs and chatting about nothing with my wifey. Having long since grown bored of us, Song is off in a corner practising the Forms, or more specifically several movements of Tiger Form. Stalks the Dragon into Swipes the Rushes, followed by Reversing the Flow into Fanged Clutch. I’ve seen her use the combination before, but it looks like she’s trying something new and can’t quite figure it out, because she keeps starting and stopping before starting again, and just pushing on through without changing anything even though she feels it’s not exactly right.

Step. Draw. Stop.

Step. Draw. Slash. Stop.

Step. Draw. Slash. Turn. Stop.

Step. Draw. Slash. Turn. Twist. Stop.

Step. Draw. Slash. Turn. Twist. Growl. Stop.

She’s made some progress, but it looks like she’s too frustrated to go on, because each new step brings more issues she doesn’t know how to resolve. “You’re trying to combine those Movements right?” Coming to my feet with Lin-Lin still clinging to my back, I head over to offer my own two cents as Song reluctantly nods in reply. Taking this as permission to meddle, I explain, “If that’s the case, you should stop trying to keep them separate at the same time.” Her puzzled frown is answer enough, and I smile as I take in this rare moment of expression. “You’re too fixated on the base Movements. When you fight, you move so perfectly that it’s easy to see the Movements your actions are based on. This speaks to your high level of mastery, but also shows you have a rigid and inflexible perspective.”

Puffing up her cheeks in vehement disagreement, Song otherwise remains silent and unconvinced. Holding my hands up in apology, I continue, “It’s not a bad thing. You have a clear impression of what each Movement can do and how you can use it, which cuts down on thinking and decision making during the heat of the moment. Instead of trying to adapt a Movement on the fly, you simply pull out the right Movement for the right job. It’s efficient and effective, and it’s also why it’s so easy to identify the Movements in your actions, but in this one instance, it’s hindering your progress.”

Drawing my mundane sword, I swing it about in a figure eight pattern to limber up and familiarize myself with its weight and heft, but no matter how much I move it about, it still doesn’t feel right. Repressing a sigh, I put the weapon away and settle for just showing Song with my bare hands as I adopt the same stance she has when she first begins and go through the Movements I expect she’s trying to combine, though I keep them separate and delineated as she would do them. Step, cross, step at a forward angle. “Stalks the Dragon.” Quick draw attack with a horizontal slash. “Swipes the Rushes.” As my sword arrives at the end of the slash, I twist my wrist so the edge faces my opponent once more slash again, this time on a downward diagonal slant. “Reversing the Flow.” My free hand moves up to meet my sword as I bring the weapon around for a powerful, two-handed, overhead smash, an attack designed to take advantage of the previous three movements to strike at a foe whose guard has been broken through. “Fanged Clutch.”

Catching myself trying to sheathe a non-existent sword, my cheeks burn ever so slightly as I try to pretend that didn’t happen. Either way, that wasn’t a bad performance for a crippled dude with no Chi, with an adorable half-hare wifey hanging on his shoulders to boot. “That’s how you normally use those Movements. Four separate attacks, one followed by the other, all neat and delineated as can be.” Trying to think of a way to better explain it, I turn to the arts for an analogy. “It’s like four musical notes.” Wait, that’s Luo-Luo. Song’s Dao has more to do with poetry. “Or better yet, four separate words. Individually, there’s nothing wrong with them, and they even make sense when put together, but that’s not enough to make poetry. However, with a little artistic license and liberal use of synonyms, you can craft your own poem, which might not always make sense on its own, but is perfectly suitable in certain occasions.”

Chengyu is one of the most popular forms of poetry in the Empire, which usually take the form of four word idioms which generally encompass the bleak and desolate outlook most people have wholeheartedly embraced. Like ‘man proposes, Heaven disposes’, or ‘Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons’, and not to forget my favourite, ‘a dragon among men’. I’ve decided the latter is depressing because it implies men are supposed to suffer in this world, where only dragons can thrive.

My efforts are rewarded with a flash of comprehension in Song’s lovely, pale green eyes, which buoys my confidence to never before seen heights. Continuing with my explanation, I emphasize, “Again, it’s perfectly fine to use the Movements the way you normally do. Reversing the Flow is even followed by Fanged Clutch in the classical order of the Forms, so it feels normal and natural to do so in combat. However, if you’re trying to take things to the next level and do more than just use four Movements in sequence, then you need to remember that the final product must be greater than the sum of its parts.”

Silence greets my declaration, and I can see I’ve lost Song somewhere along the way, which is surprising since I thought this was self-explanatory. “You’re trying to take four individual movements and mash them into one rigid combination, yea? But if your final product is only as powerful as the four initial movements, then why bother going to all the effort? Keeping the movements separate offers more flexibility, so there needs to be a good reason to combine them. That’s why we have idioms after all, to say something besides what the individual words might convey.”

Comprehension dawns as Song mentally retreats to rethink her approach, and I step away to leave her in peace. Having found a glaring flaw of my own, I set to familiarizing myself with the steel sword on my hip in case I should ever actually need to use it, while also keeping an eye on Song’s progress. Truth be told, I already have the final answer on how she could combine the four movements, since I figured it out during my first battlefield duel against Gen, the one that took place a few hours before Zhen Shi took him over and shattered my Spiritual Weapons. Thing is, I could show her and explain my reasoning for each and every step along the way, but it’d be like explaining Akanai’s charging attack all over again. There are just too many moving parts and minor details to explain in depth, especially when you factor in the need to mircro-Amplify certain Movements at certain arcs to pull Song’s move off right. I’m not even sure I could perform those movements here and now as I am, but I’m confident that once I point her in the right direction, she’ll understand why it doesn’t feel right and figure the rest out all on her own.

That’s faith, I suppose, faith in Song’s skills and competence, so maybe the Mother will work Her magic and send some Insight the half-cat’s way.

If only things were so easy for me. Whatever Chi-benefits I get from being in someone else’s Natal Palace doesn’t translate over to real life, and between humming Ping Ping to sleep and my short performance just now, I might very well have hastened my eventual deterioration. It might just be nerves, but I feel a little weaker than I did yesterday, not just tired, but burdened and sore, with phantom pangs of future aches already settling into place. The Heavenly Energy I Devoured in Sinuji won’t last me a lifetime, but I pray it lasts at least another week or two, so I can make it through this banquet in good health. There was a time when the sword on my waist would’ve felt light as a feather, but now this hunk of steel feels much too large and unwieldy to swing more than a few times, much less for an entire hour of battle. My Spiritual Weapons, Peace and Tranquility, always felt like extensions of my arms, and even Unity never felt this odd and out of place in my hands, which is just another Martial Warrior benefit I never really appreciated until I lost it. Once again, the urge to destroy the remains of my Spiritual Weapons bubbles to the top, but I swallow my injured pride and tell myself to stop being an idiot.

Not needing to look at them won’t change a thing, and it might very well cause the ruined remains of my shattered Core to unravel completely. No one knows for sure, but I for one intend to find the one person who might offer insight into my situation during this trip to the Central Citadel.

Broken Blade Pichai, you ignored my letters and dodged my requests for several months now, but now your luck has run out. According to Dad’s contacts, you’ve already left the Southern Citadel to attend the banquet, and when I see you, you will answer my questions, or I’ll sic not one, but two Divine Turtles on your old ass and drown you in a sea of spit.

For I am Falling Rain, the Savage Turtle Whisperer.

...Yea, not a title which inspires fear. Turtle commander? Turtle friend?

Whatever. Who cares. I have turtles, and I’m not afraid to use them, so suck it.

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