Forge of Destiny Threads 517-Borders 1

"You seem revitalized," Cai Renxiang commented as the office door swung shut behind her.

"As do you," Ling Qi responded.

Framed by the window's light, which seemed only to enhance her own brilliance, her liege cast a lengthy shadow across the neat desk and gleaming floor. The walls were densely lined with shelves, and the aroma of freshly bound books permeated the air. One entire wall was dedicated to those legal texts she had acquired in the capital, now arranged impeccably on the shelves.

"There's a certain solace in being in one's own domain, but it shouldn't be indulged excessively," Cai Renxiang stated, resting her hands on the desk.

"A fleeting moment of contentment isn't indulgence. You desired to speak with me before my meeting with Meng Duyi?"

"Indeed. I shall leave the discussion of the undertakings he managed in our absence to your tutelage. The specifics will be better conveyed by him, but suffice it to say, he does not believe he can implement further enhancements to our mining infrastructure until our current projects show more substantial progress." Renxiang gestured for Ling Qi to be seated if she pleased.

Ling Qi settled into a chair, her chin resting in her cupped hands. "So, you wished to deliberate on our next request from him? Previously, he offered to review our agricultural endeavors. Perhaps he could be of assistance there. I know you've been considering plans for a central mill soon."

"I have explored that possibility, but I've also contemplated that his involvement within the city center might yield greater benefits, especially while our immediate projects are actively progressing. I am confident that a master of our chosen architectural style could introduce minor efficiencies and offer guidance on navigating the transition away from it as we develop the cliffside."

Ling Qi made a soft sound, contemplating Renxiang's words.

***

"Hm. The central district, you say?"

"If you would, Master Meng. We aim to ensure all our architectural alignments are as precise as possible before construction proceeds further."

"Your engineers are not novices, but I will inspect it and see if any details are being overlooked," Meng Duyi agreed. "This provides as good a reason as any to bestow my insights upon the young heiress as well. Her interest in this particular subject is focused, and it aligns well with this endeavor."

They were out walking once more, as Meng Duyi seemed to prefer when imparting lessons. Having ascended the cliffside, they strolled alongside the river as it roared through its winding, rocky channel, culminating in the waterfall that fed Lake Snowblossom. The air was crisp and biting, with white flakes and shards of ice carried on the wind. It was a sudden storm, yet it didn't appear destined to blanket the town in snow just yet; the warmth had persisted longer than usual this year.

Ling Qi pondered if she played any role in this, or rather, if the attention of the empire's Celestial Court on the south and the deities of the Polar Nation, drawn by her and her colleague's actions, might have influenced the weather. She would need to consult a proper priest on the matter.

Gazing out at the river, she listened to the grating sound as two ice floes were compressed into a narrow rocky bend, water erupting outwards as the ice buckled, compacted, and fractured. The low rumble was the force of the water pushing the boulder-sized fragments, and the spray rising from the rapidly churning waters and the bank was akin to thunder.

"Do you find fault with it?"

"Not at all, though I do believe it reflects the priorities of those who inhabit the heart of the settlement," Meng Duyi remarked thoughtfully, climbing the steep, frost-covered, and icy gravel hill ahead of her.

She carefully picked her way up behind him, consciously maintaining a human pace, even when it would have been simpler to bypass the unstable gravel by stepping lightly over the countless pebbles and grains of rock dust without disturbing them. This was, after all, what her teacher was doing, rather than actively reinforcing the ground beneath his feet.

"In reality, your populace is well-nourished, and your lady has amassed sufficient provisions to sustain them through even the harshest crop failures. Your prosperity is somewhat dependent on external supplies, but then, you do not engage in the pretense of absolute self-reliance. Shenglu is but a part of the Emerald Seas; it is considered 'internal' to your domain, despite being at the farthest edge. Typically, this pattern of settlement is observed only in core regions, with an established clan pushing to found a satellite settlement at some new point of interest within their territory."

"There's nothing novel to your perspective," Ling Qi realized.

"There are many new things, but not this particular aspect. You are not struggling for basic survival from the land. That is neither a virtue nor a failing; it is simply a fact."

Reaching the crest of the hill, she followed the elder geomancer as they proceeded along the riverbank. Water surged in swirling eddies through a small chasm carved into icy rock.

"We previously discoursed on boundaries, the demarcations separating objects, individuals, and locales. Have these notions occupied your thoughts further since our last discussion?" The base of Meng Duyi's staff tapped lightly, nudging a stone. It caromed erratically over the precipice, ricocheting off the cliff face before skipping twice on the turbulent surface below, then grazing an ice floe before finally submerging.

"This was not the primary focus of my contemplations. My cultivation efforts were directed towards a deeper comprehension of want and desire, exploring the diverse motivations that propel human actions. Nevertheless, a few ideas have surfaced."

Ling Qi elaborated, "No demarcation is invariably fixed. Even concerning the self and the other, individuals may permit these boundaries to blur. An object of great value, a child, a conviction, or a specific location can all become integrated into a person's self-perception."

Their path led them to a constricted section of the riverbed. A fallen pine, shattered by lightning and dusted with frost, spanned the gap. It emitted a faint, mournful sound, its dead and dying wood groaning under the accumulated strain.

"How long ago did that occur?" Meng Duyi inquired.

"Perhaps two days, with some hours either way?"

"Mm, a relatively short period then."

"Was it an erroneous simplification to present me with a choice between studying boundaries or doors?" Ling Qi questioned. "Reflecting on that conversation, you consistently cautioned me against rigidly categorizing concepts."

"My intention was to encourage deeper reflection on those very categorizations, not to dismiss their validity entirely. The world presents itself with a degree of ambiguity and imprecision in its definitions. Human perception, however, is often far more defined."

"Yet, both aspects hold significance."

They resumed their trek, leaving the fallen tree behind, its inevitable fate sealed.

"Indeed. Both are crucial for grasping the world's mechanics. To speak of traversing boundaries necessitates a consideration of passage, which naturally evokes the image of a door. However, allow me to pose a question: What precisely constitutes a door?"

Ling Qi paused, a slight frown creasing his brow at the apparent simplicity of the question, suppressing the equally straightforward answer that came to mind. "It serves as an entryway, a means by which an individual permits ingress or egress, thereby connecting or separating distinct spaces."

"Does passage, then, imply an act of volition? Do individuals consciously choose to open themselves in this manner?"

"This delves into the very definition of what constitutes a 'choice.' However, it is typically not a deliberate, conscious decision. At least, not predominantly so."

"Let us consider a different scenario. Imagine you find yourself in the wilderness and construct a rudimentary shelter from grass to shield yourself from the rain. You fashion a simple door from interwoven sticks to allow for entry and exit. Subsequently, it rains, and your hastily woven walls prove inadequate; the interior of your shelter becomes damp. Did you, in effect, permit the rain to enter?"

"Are you suggesting that the inherent permeability of a structure differs from a specifically designed opening meant for passage?" Ling Qi mused.

"When examining the concept of boundaries, the characteristics governing the passage they permit cannot be disregarded, just as the properties of that which they repel are equally important. A physical wall is distinct from the recognized line dividing two territories, which in turn differs from a river bisecting the landscape. Furthermore, it is unlike the varying degrees of relationship that define 'family' versus 'clan.'"

"That is a distinction not commonly articulated by many others."

"The distinction is recognized by many, though perhaps not expressed in the precise terminology you have employed." Meng Duyi gestured for her to draw nearer, positioning himself on a rocky outcrop that jutted out above the tumultuous waters. "Observe the river. You would concur that the river itself is not the cliff face; a clear boundary exists there between the earth and the water, would you not agree?"

"I would," Ling Qi responded, his voice measured as he contemplated the direction of Meng Duyi's analogy.

He offered no immediate reply, prompting Ling Qi to direct his gaze towards the swirling currents below. An ice floe drifted sluggishly downstream, nudging against the bank and dislodging fragments of soil and stone embedded within it.

"Yet, the river continuously erodes the land. Through its persistent action, it alters this boundary, does it not?"

Meng Duyi inclined his head in agreement. "This is a readily inferable concept when observing the natural world. Despite this, I find that students rarely grasp it without some form of guidance. Boundaries, barriers, and divisions are not inherently static or absolute. Changeability and permeability are, in fact, the prevailing conditions."

"All that is constructed will eventually decay," Ling Qi reflected aloud.

"That is true, and it serves as a fitting encapsulation. However, while change is an inescapable reality in this world, the specific manner in which it unfolds is not predetermined."

"Boundaries shift. We are the agents of that change. The world itself induces these shifts. In doing so, these transformations alter what is allowed passage and what is repelled." Ling Qi surveyed the cliff face, noting how each fissure and groove bore testament to its alteration, where the demarcation between stone and water, or stone and air, had been softened or breached.

"An individual who endeavors to erect barriers and protective enchantments must first meticulously determine what they intend to contain and what they aim to exclude. The more absolute and impenetrable one strives to make such a defense or construction, the greater its inherent cost and fragility will become."

"And the more porous you make it, the more avenues you leave for thieves such as I to slip through," Ling Qi concluded.

"It is so, though not as easy as you suggest, when dealing with the filters of a master. It is the folly of youth to design a vault which is supposedly impregnable, invulnerable to all passage." Meng Duyi snorted, stroking his beard. "The wastes in efficiency are immense, and the strain on the materials moreso. But we are not discussing the foibles of apprentice warders."

"I should like to test your wards sometime, if it isn't too presumptuous. I recall learning my initial methods from Elder Jiao that way," Ling Qi said. It had been fun.

"Hmph. Some students cannot sit still while learning." Meng Duyi turned from the river to resume their hike. Yes, she supposed he might understand that, if not in the same way. "It may amuse, but the focus on the lesson would remain the properties of the barriers, however you choose to learn them.”

"May I ask why you chose the project improvements you did, teacher? The ones taken while we were away."

"I merely provided legitimacy for the ideas of the mortals who arrived at a method for harvesting the clay for their own uses. The balancing element is useful however The cold qi against the heat running through the veins is a calming measure, and moreso, the potential for the material is high for local use. The rest you may sell far away. This frozen clay will line cellars and make containers used throughout your Shenglu," Meng Duyi explained. "It was also useful to walk among your mortals more. There are sleeping talents to be found. Those who might be able to hear enough may staff the many temples and shrines you build."

Ling Qi nodded, glad to have his reasoning.

"And what do you and your lady intend to do next with this place, I wonder? The farms bustle, making their installations before the snows fall deep, and the woodcutters are eager to work, ceasing their dependance on wood carried from the Argent Peak. What do your people need, in your eyes?"

"We will be away again soon," Ling Qi said, contemplating the thickening copses of pines they were passing through. She wondered if Meng Duyi had a path in mind, or if he was simply letting his feet carry him. "The first priority is that all the basic infrastructure that has been built for the farms is implementing the anti-corrosion, impurity, and parasite methods the Bai clan provided me."

Meng Duyi let out a low hum and thumped the butt of his staff against the ground a bit harder on his next step. "Mm, from their efforts to peel back the red jungle with less shed blood, I suppose?"

Ling Qi lowered her head in acknowledgement, stepping gingerly through the needle-strewn underbrush. She passed through the clawing brambles like smoke, leaving it undisturbed. She could feel the dense mat of roots under the soil, binding the trees in a network with each other, though their conversations were too slow for her to parse without moving.

Meng Duyi strode through it like a mortal man, crunching and rustling and all, though his passage left no signs or prints.

"Yes. Even if it raises the expense of the fertilizers used, we can cover that from the central coffers, and it should make harvests more resilient against any incidental damage the ith do."

"It is a concern that a lord should oversee. Defense of the whole has always been the duty of the center," Meng Duyi said. "The Bai methods… Be careful and wary, where they interact with your waters. What the Bai regard as acceptable toxicity is not the baseline. Even mortals in the Thousand Lakes have an excessive hardiness for the toxins that metals leech into the waters."

"I believe my relationship is good enough that there would not be such oversights in the package given to me."

"Not intentionally, no. Will you allow me to see these plans?"

"I see no harm in it," Ling Qi conceded.