Flying Swords 16 (Patreon)

Leander wanted to close his eyes, but the motion sickness grew worse when he did.  He understood that the streets were far to narrow for carts and horses, but the solution of a tiny carriage carried by men seemed… silly. It was just silly.  However, Xi was too weak to walk far, and the men carrying the two-person chair had argued that it was bad luck for Leander to get out. They’d been almost panicked at the thought, so Leander had resolved himself to being jostled through narrow streets.  Luckily, most people stepped aside when their litter came around a bend.

Leander looked out the back window, lifting a curtain.  Shanlin was still there, following the litter with a half dozen young men and women. One girl kept leaning over and pointing to things before talking to Shanlin. His head swivelled from side to side like a see-saw.

At least one of them was enjoying this ridiculous trip out to the Nie house in the Ring City. It was just as crowded up close as it had appeared when Leander flew over. Two and three story walls lined either side of the stone road so it was heavily shaded.  Every block or so, the wall ended and there was a three or four inch gap before a wall with a different decorative edge began.  No windows. No signs. Just gray and beige and white walls topped by tiled roofs with elaborate trim, and every once in a while, a door.

“See anything yet?” Xi asked.

“Walls,” Leander said before he settled back into his seat.

“I feel like a rat in a maze,” Xi whispered. Leander would have warned him to avoid offending anyone who was listening, but Xi closed his eyes and two deep frown lines appeared between his eyes. Leander didn’t want to nag him when he was still recovering.  The litter stopped, maybe for another traffic jam–or whatever you called it when too many people were in the street and they couldn’t press themselves to the walls to let the litter through. 

Leander looked out the curtain, and they were stopped in front of a deep red door. A pair of white stone fu lions stood on either side, guarding the stone steps up to the red door, and green pillars stood on either side.  Above the door was elaborate scroll work and bands of blue and red and teal, all carved from wood. It was one of the more elaborate doors they’d pass.  Two middle-aged women were putting out a red carpet carpet trimmed in gold, and Leander realized they had reached their destination.

He stared at the carpet in horror. Why would servants put out a carpet for them… and on the street. It was an excessive gesture, and it made Leander deeply uncomfortable.  He focused on Xi and took a deep breath to center himself.  “We’re here,” he said.

Xi’s eyes opened, and he looked more alert than Leander expected. “Okay. Let’s get the show on the road,” he said, clapping his hands.  Leander glared at him before stepping out of the carriage.  He tried to use Shanlin as an excuse to leave the stupid carpet, but a servant stepped in front of him, blocking his way.  The last thing he wanted was to get in a pushing match with the Nie servants on their front door, so he smiled and moved back to the center of the ridiculous thing before turning to help Xi off.

“Oh no.  Not proper. We help. You go. You go,” the older woman said, shooing Leander toward the door. Leander looked up into the litter, and Xi shrugged. He was following Leander’s lead. Since Leander didn’t have any choices that didn’t make him look rude, he smiled at the servant and walked up the carpet toward the door.  Two more servants pulled them open, showing a wide courtyard with a pair of trees flanking an inner gate. Given how crowded the street was, this outer courtyard was spacious and peaceful.

A round woman with salt and pepper hair and deep lines around her eyes greeted him. “Welcome!” she said warmly before shouting, “Xiaobo, you are late again!” Shanlin darted in and joined Leander, his arm going around Leander’s waist, no doubt looking for comfort. Leander glanced back to make sure Xi was still upright, and he found him watching with amusement as the servants rolled the carpet, not allowing Xi to step on it. It meant he was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

“I am coming.” A tall man with gray at his temples and wire rim glasses hurried across the courtyard. “Welcome, qidi of my second son.  I am Nie Xiaobo, father of your qixiong.”

Putting aside the issue of the carpet, which might be either a compliment to Leander or an insult to Xi, he bowed deeply. “I am Boon Lian. I greet the father of my qixiong and introduce Boon Shanlin, my son.” Leander put a hand on Shanlin’s shoulder. The boy became suddenly shy, pressing himself to Leander’s side.

“Welcome young Shanlin. This house has lacked a little cicada for many years. This is Nie Huiling, mother to your qixiong.” The woman smiled so brightly that wrinkles enveloped her eyes. Leander had the feeling she smiled often, and he wondered at the life she had led. When his skin began to wrinkle, it would not have this pattern. Leander bowed deeply.

“Welcome to the qidi of my second son and his son. We have prepared your rooms. Come. Come.” She ushered them inside, and as soon as Leander stepped over the threshold, the servants removed the red carpeting behind him, and the men who had carried the litter from the school lifted it and marched away. 

“Thank you, mother of my qidi.  I introduce Hu Xi, my qidi who stands with me against significant enemies.” Leander had no idea what led him to add the last part, but these people deserved to know who they were taking into their home. They might be safe inside this magical space, but if they also had a life in the outside village, taking Leander in might jeopardize it. He held out his hand, and with an amused look for the servants who rushed the carpet away like Xi might contaminate it with his touch, Xi stepped into the outer courtyard and stood next to Leander.

“Welcome Hu Xi,” Xiaobo said. “We are happy to have more life inside these walls. It is inauspicious that we have rooms with no occupants when there is so little space in the Ring City. He stepped back, inviting them farther into the outer courtyard.  A large gate stood in front of them, leading into the inner courtyard and family space, but there were narrow buildings to either side as well.  Several windows stood open on the second floor, suggesting people occupied those rooms.

Xiaobo moved, not toward a public reception room, which Leander had expected, but toward the gate that led to the inner courtyard.  Leander kept his hand on Shanlin’s shoulder as they followed.

“Tell me, little Shanlin,” Huiling said, “what do you like to do?” She asked in English. While she had a deep accent, she had no trouble speaking.

Leander was shocked that she would address the child first, but perhaps the social forms were less rigid in the family.  While Leander had seen public interactions when he had lived in China before, he had never seen how families interacted inside the home. And that was perhaps complicated by the fact that this was magical China, which seemed to live with one foot in historical China.

“I helped Teacher Luo Zheng as he taught English for a few days. I liked that,” Shanlin said, his voice soft. He looked around at the ornate home and the second elaborate gate. This one was red and green with deep reddish brown pillars. Above, the scrollwork was yellow and gold.

The inner courtyard was even larger than the outer one, with trees and a large koi pond.

“Maybe you could help me practice my English.  I watch soap operas, but I do not have anyone to speak to.”

“What are soap operas?” Leander asked, curiosity coaxing him from Leander’s side.

“They are stories. Good ones. I will tell you everything about Geo and Emma and Dante and the others.  You will like it.” Nie Huiling smiled again, and this time Shanlin grinned back at her.

“This is the home of my second son Heng when he visits,” Xiaobo said as he gestured to one of the houses that stood on either side of the inner courtyard.  “You all have rooms within.  The house on the other side is for my first son Zhiyuan. He has several friends living with him. I know it is traditional to remain with one’s parents, but some young men move if they can find space so their older siblings have room to start families. It is quite filial,” he quickly explained.

No doubt he worried that Leander would look down on them for housing men who chose to leave their families. From a Chinese point of view, that would make sense, but everyone Leander knew got transition paperwork and a small stipend so they could move out of the group home on their eighteenth birthday or the day they graduated high school, whichever came later.  One of the older girls in the group home intentionally failed her senior year so she would have an additional year of living at “home” before having to get an apartment.  He had no problem with adults finding their own living arrangements.

“You are quite kind to host them,” Leander said with another bow.  He hadn’t looked behind him to see what Xi was doing, but Leander prayed it was a lot of bowing.  A lot.  These people were taking them in when they didn’t have to. And clearly they had much more status than Leander had assumed.

Xiaobo led them up three steps into the main house. Dark wood furniture contrasted the light bamboo of the walls and beautiful scrolls were hung throughout. Pots held graceful ferns and, more surprisingly, a ruscus tree.  They were durable plants that always felt stable and calm, and they could hold his eavesdropping magic for a ridiculously long time. He’d once held the spell for three days before the leaf had been crushed.

Overall, the house had a calm and spacious feel that surprised him given that the next neighbor was literally three inches away from the outer wall.

“Welcome,” Huiling said again, and with a wave of her hand, all the lanterns in the room lit brightly, transforming the space from a shadowed haven to a cheerful reception room.

“Cool!” Shanlin said.

Huiling laughed. “That is easy magic. I will teach you.”

Leander put his hand on Shanlin’s shoulder when the boy sucked in a startled breath.  Huiling gave him a curious look, and Shanlin turned his face to Leander, hiding eyes that shone with tears.  Leander had expected an emotional storm to hit at some point, but this was not an auspicious time.

“His mother was killed for having magic,” Leander explained. “Our government is unkind toward those with power.”

Xi snorted. He was pale and beads of sweat gathered at his hairline.

“I apologize, but Hu Xi is still unwell. He should sit after being ill so recently,” Leander said.

“We have failed as hosts,” Xiaobo said with a bow.  “Come. Sit.” He gestured toward one of two low couches that faced each other. Given the size of the room, the seats were set close to each other.  Xi glanced over at Leander as though asking permission, and Leander nodded.  When Xi lowered himself, his whole body sagged with relief.

“You are most gracious hosts, and allowing us room in your home is beyond kind.” Leander turned his attention to Shanlin.  “Chinese magic is not the same as Western talent. If you learn to light a candle, that would not mean you have a talent the way your mother did,” Leander explained.

“The government would still take me,” Shanlin whispered, terror in his voice.

“I would end the entire government before I allowed them to take you,” Leander promised.

“You couldn’t. You don’t have the power,” Shanlin said, misery radiating from his small body.  For a second, Leander hated Finn and Tecca both for bringing an innocent child into the shit show that had been their lives.

“I am devious and inspired. I will protect you, Shanlin.” Leander would rather not have this conversation in front of an audience, but Shanlin’s fears needed to be addressed. When Shanlin looked at him, the terror had been replaced by a fearful hope.  Leander put an arm around Shanlin’s shoulders.  “I promise, and I do not break my promises.”  Knowing that he had shown poor manners by ignoring his hosts, Leander turned back to Xiaobo and Huiling and bowed again.

“I apologize for my distraction.”

Xiaobo waved a hand dismissively. “You tended your son as is right.  Is he your first born?”

“Yes,” Leander agreed.

Xiaobo smiled for the first time. His smile was not as effusive as his wife’s, but it made Leander smile in return, a gesture that was not natural to his face.  “Will you serve the tea?” he asked.  He gestured again and the low table set between the two couches floated to the side and a tea service danced into the room, the china clinking until it settled on the table to the side.

“I would be honored,” Leander bowed deeply, and Xiaobo and Huiling smiled at one another before settling on the long couch across from Xi.  Leander eyed the table.  Serving tea would be easier with the table in front of the couch, but they had intentionally moved it away.  That would make serving the cups difficult, especially given how low the couches were.

Leander would have to loom over the couple or kneel in front of them.  Looming was not an option so he sighed and resigned himself to kneeling like he was the new bride in an historical Chinese drama. The bright red tea set had Chinese characters done in a style that made it hard for Leander to read without studying it, and a small gold dragon and phoenix sat on the tray with the four small cups and the teapot. He prepared a single cup and walked over before kneeling and offering it to Xiaobo.

“Mother first,” he corrected in a gentle whisper.

“I apologize for my ignorance,” Leander said before shifting slightly so he could offer the cup to Huiling.  She didn’t take it immediately, and Leander said softly, “Nie Huiling, please accept this tea.”

She smiled at him. “Call me Mother Huiling,” she said as she accepted it, sipping the tea once before looking at Xiaobo with an inscrutable expression. Something was going on, but Leander didn’t understand what. The only thing he could hope was that this was a good thing, but in his life, confusing rarely meant good.  He stood and returned to the tea set, pouring the next cup before returning to Xiaobo.  

“Nie Xiaobo, please accept this tea,” he said, not waiting for the awkward silence.

“Call me Father Xiaobo,” he said as he reached out and cupped Leander’s hands with his own for a moment.  “Qidi of my second son,” he added before he took the tea.

Leander stood and for a moment, he caught Xi’s eye. A quick WTF look passed between them, but Leander could only shrug.  He returned for a third cup, but Xi reached for it before Leander had to kneel.  Thank god.  Leander finally poured a fourth cup for himself and turned to the couch where Xi and Shanlin sat. He settled on the end.

“Would you like some tea or juice or water?” Huiling asked Shanlin.  Mother Huiling.  Leander had to think of her as Mother Huiling. To get invited to use such a title and then neglect using it would be the ultimate insult.

“No thank you.”

Mother Huiling waved her hand and the table slid back into place and now red bowls floated in from another room.  Leander recognized candied whole walnuts and candied lotus seeds, but the rest of the food was too exotic for him to recognize.  “Help yourself,” she told Shanlin.

He looked at Leander and got a nod before he grabbed a small white ball that looked to have been rolled in sugar. 

“We welcome you,” Father Xiaobo said, which was about the dozenth time he’d said the same, but this time, a red envelope floated from his hand to the air in front of Leander.

“I am honored. I do not deserve such kindness.”

“You are family,” Father Xiaobo said and then he turned to Xi and spoke in English while Leander gently opened the ornate paper, trying to avoid ripping it. “Have the great teachers learned anything about your illness?”

Xi gave a weird half-bow for no logical reason, but the Nies were kind enough to ignore the awkwardness. They didn’t even twitch or roll an eye, and Leander was having trouble controlling those urges. “They have not. They only know that I would have died if Lian had not pulled the poison from me.”

“Most poisoners are women. I saw that on television,” Shanlin blurted.

Leander put a hand on Shanlin’s knee to quiet him.

Father Xiaobo said, “But heartbreak grass has a long history of being used in assassinations. The Russians used it to kill a man not long ago.”

“It was many years ago,” Mother Huiling corrected him.

“My point is that assassination is mostly done by men.”

Shanlin seemed unimpressed with this argument, but at least Leander’s hand on his knee kept him silent.

Leander changed the subject. “Your gift is most generous. Too generous. I could not accept.” The thick envelope had what looked like close to 100,000 yuan. Leander suspected when he counted, he would find 88,000 yuan since 8 was such an auspicious number. Even without a phone to check the exchange rate, Leander knew that was a ridiculous amount of money. He had no idea how to handle such an extravagant gift. 

“You will,” Father Xiaobo said. “It would be a great dishonor to welcome you with less.”

Mother Huiling smiled warmly before dropping a verbal bomb into the conversation. “You must tell us about the Boon family.” Leander winced. He understood that for Chinese, family was important, but he had no family to bring to this adoption. 

Xi looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong?" he whispered, unable to follow the Chinese conversation.

"They asked about my family," Leander explained. Now Xi winced. Mother Huiling and Father Xiaobo looked at one another with concern.

"Is there some difficulty?" Father Xiaobo asked. Leander knew that he could not make himself sound unfilial under any circumstances. Insulting one's parents or ancestors was not acceptible, even if one was a complete asshole who had disappeared, leaving a pregnant girlfriend behind. And even if the other was his mother. He considered his words carefully. "America is a difficult country," Leander said, feeling his way around the words.

"China is also difficult," Father Xiaobo said. "Mother and I were both alive when China was even more difficult than it is now. We understand that difficult governments make for difficult choices."

Leander wished they were not so understanding. Lying to people who made it this easy felt wrong. "My father vanished when I was not yet born," Leander confessed. Hopefully that implied that the government had taken his father. Hell, for all Leander knew, that could be the truth. He doubted it, but it was possible.

Mother Huiling's face twisted with sympathy, which only made guilt knot at Leander's innards.

"And your mother?" she asked.

Leander rubbed a hand across his face. He could talk about her paranoid delusions, the days when she would whisper that everyone from aliens to demons that crawled up from hell were stalking them. The nights hiding in random sheds and abandoned buildings. As a very young child, Leander had believed her. As he got older, he thought these were metaphors for the government. But now he saw that they were nothing more than hallucinations. His mother had been tormented by them. If the government had any indication that Leander had talent, they would have arrested him the moment he went into care.

But that was not the story he wanted to tell. Finn was the only one he had confessed the full truth to--Finn who had parents that adored him and had changed his name and given him fake paperwork and driven him states away from their home to throw the government off the trail. Finn and Leander had both ended up at the same group home, but their paths could not have been more different. Feeling guilty, Leander stole just a small portion of Finn's story for his own.

"She believed that people had found us, that they were after us and that if we stayed together, she would only make it easier for them to find me. She left when I was young."

Father Xiaobo sucked air through his teeth. "It is a terrible thing when a parent believes that they may save a child only by leaving them."

Leander swallowed. He hoped that somewhere in his mother's addled brain that was the thought. But he knew that it was more likely that her disease lied to her and told her that Leander had become an alien or a demon or whatever phantom haunted her nightmares on that particular day.

Mother Huiling leaned forward and patted Leander's knee. It was an awkward position that forced her to stretch across the table, one hand bracing herself on it. Leander shook himself from his melancholy and smiled at her. "I am grateful the Nie family has chosen to accept me," he said.

"Of course, of course," said Father Xiaobo. "Will you take the Nie name for your own?"

Leander froze. The question was so unexpected his brain struggled to craft a response, and he even had to think for a moment to make sure he hadn't misunderstood. "I am grateful you have made such an offer," he said slowly. 

Father Xiaobo waved a hand as though dismissing the issue as trivial, even though nothing about family structures seemed trivial in China. "We know you are Western and we would honor your customs as well."

"I..." Leander had no idea what this would mean for his relationship with the Nie family, so he needed to wait until Heng came back so he could talk to him.  “I must think on this and what my parents would have wanted for me,” Leander said, proud of himself for coming up with an excuse that saved all of them from embarrassment.

Mother Huiling patted his hand once more before settling back into her seat. “Auntie Daiyu says you are a great craftsman of baskets which can hold ling.”

“We can have many high-quality reeds delivered here for you, and we shall find someone to teach our grandson Shanlin how to speak Chinese as is proper,” Father Xiaobo added.

“I do believe Pill Master Xiangren owes us a favor,” Mother Huiling said with a devious glint in her eye. “Would not two sets of language pills be an appropriate payment?”

Father Xiaobo smiled widely. “That is an excellent suggestion.”

Leander said quickly, “A set of pills is far too great a gift, even one would be. Shanlin and Xi shall both benefit from learning without assistance.”

Leander smiled at Xi who was looking back and forth between them with a confused expression on his face. He knew something was happening, but Leander refused to translate the offer. He might jump at the chance without understanding the value of pills.  Language pills were likely less valuable than something like cultivation pills, but many would count those as more valuable than life. Xi could not grasp the significance of a gift of any pills.

“Nonsense,” said Mother Huiling. “Shanlin is the first son of the qidi of my second son. And your friend is your qidi. We shall provide. This is the way of things. I will not allow my grandson to learn Chinese the slow way when such learning might result in an unauspicious accent.” She nodded firmly, clearly feeling the topic was closed.

Leander opened his mouth, but there was literally nothing he could say to counter that. Leander could not argue that Shanlin’s education was unimportant, and he could not deny their familial relationship. He had no escape, and he felt like he had just been run over and then ordered to thank the driver. It left him feeling off-balance and unsure, even if the driver who had run him over had the best of intentions.

He bowed his head. “I thank you, Mother Huiling. I shall weave my best basket in appreciation.”

She smiled broadly at him, and Father Xiaobo chuckled. “It is a wise son who knows to never argue with Mother,” he said with a wink. “I will order the finest reeds.”

“Please do not,” Leander said. “My gift is with plants, and I can do my best work if I find live reeds and tangle my qi with the plant.” Leander could, of course, affect the magic in a leaf that had been separated or reed that had been cut from its root, but the magic never responded as well.

Father Xiaobo nodded. “Then I shall hire a local boy to show you places where reeds may be found.”

Leander wanted to turn down the offer, but refusing favors was as dangerous as asking for them. So he smiled graciously and accepted that he would have an escort. Luckily, his escort would not recognize what he was doing if he were to commune with a few trees and set a few sentinels.

“Excellent!” Father Xiaobo said, “and I shall inform every one of our great feast.”

“Feast?” Leander asked, alarmed.

“The Nie family has a new son to honor,” Father Xiaobo said, “And a new grandson with Shanlin. The first grandson of the family is always an auspicious moment and we shall feast with the city to celebrate.”

Shanlin looked at Leander, his eyes wide. Maybe he had understood some small part of that and maybe he had just recognized his name. Either way, Leander could only give a weak smile. Apparently the adoption had extended to Shanlin as well. So not only was Leander going to have to overcome the reputation that adopted people were scheming, but he had also just managed to steal the coveted position of first grandson. Maybe Heng would forgive him for this, but the first-born Nie Zhiyuan certainly would not.