The woman did not reply. In the courtyard, steel was drawn from scabbards. Lu Chengfeng and the Wolves flowed into a defensive line, their shields raised, presenting a wall of grim hostility toward the newcomer. Wei Jin, his hand on his dāo, moved to place himself protectively before the temple's main hall.

  "Hold your positions!" I commanded, my voice sharp.

  I faced the masked woman and brought my hands up in a formal, questioning martial salute. "You have demonstrated your skill," I said, my voice even and loud enough for all to hear. "State your purpose here."

  The woman's porcelain mask tilted slightly, her unseen gaze fixed on me. She did not speak. Instead, with a fluid motion, she raised her right hand to the sword on her back. The blade slid from its cloth-wrapped scabbard by a mere few inches, just enough for the cold morning light to catch the metal. It wasn't the gleam of polished steel. It was a dark, matte grey that seemed to drink the light.

  It was my blade. The sword I had given away to a woman.

  "Stand down," I said, turning to Lu and Wei Jin, my voice now laced with an urgent authority that brooked no argument. "Everyone, stand down. This is a misunderstanding, she is a friend."

  Lu Chengfeng hesitated, his brow furrowed in disbelief, but followed the order. With a curt hand signal, he relayed the order. The Wolves lowered their shields, but their hands remained on their weapons, their suspicion palpable.

  The Steward's obsidian eyes flicked from the masked woman back to me, then to the assembled, capable force. Without another word, he gave a single nod of acknowledgment. He turned, and like smoke caught on the wind, he was gone, melting back into the shadows to pursue his own grim tasks.

  The masked woman gestured with her chin toward a nearby thicket of dense pines. I followed her into the relative seclusion of the trees.

  “How did you get free?” I began, the question that had been burning in my mind tumbling out. “Censor Wang…”

  I never finished the sentence. Xiao Kai reached up with a trembling hand and lifted the porcelain mask away. Her face was still gaunt, but clean, the sharp lines of her cheekbones softened by a returning hint of health. Her eyes, clear and bright, met mine for a fraction of a second before they squeezed shut. Her body convulsed, and she turned, doubling over to vomit a thick, dark stream of blood into a bush. The crimson stood stark and shocking against the white. The Steward's qi had done internal damage and she had been holding it together with sheer force of will. I don't know how bad things are, since in stories internal damage is usually recoverable through cultivation.

  But I was at her side in an instant, a clean cloth from my sleeve in hand. “Xiao Kai,” I said softly, my voice laced with concern. She held her hair back and I noticed a small pea-sized character behind her ear, where her ear met her head. A dark blue “奴”.

  I waited until the heaving subsided before handing her the cloth. She wiped her mouth, her breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. When she tried to straighten, her legs trembled.

  Suddenly she froze and looked up at me. For a moment a dozen emotions flashed by on her face, mortification, fury, shame. For a moment color rushed to her cheeks and I could tell she was searching my face for a reaction. Her mouth opened slightly and she averted her eyes.

  I offered her my arm, and she leaned on it, a grateful look on her face.

  “The Emperor…” she finally rasped after a moment, her voice rough. “The same day he issued the edict for Lord Feng's arrest, he issued another. My father… my father has been freed.”

  I stared at her, stunned. “Freed? So quickly?”

  She nodded, but her gaze slid away from mine.

  That was uncharacteristic of her. In this quiet grove with only me to witness, something flickered behind her eyes. A door closing.

  "Censor Wang explained it to me." Her voice was too practiced, the voice of someone reciting. "With Lord Feng gone, the Son of Heaven needed a new piece on the board. A counterweight to Chancellor Yang's faction, empowered by fresh silver from the grain."

  Her hands, I noticed, had curled into fists at her sides, gripping the cloth of her robe as she smiled. The knuckles were white.

  "My father, with his reputation for unbending integrity, has become a symbol for the court's righteous faction. Releasing him garnered the Emperor goodwill and put a man of proven loyalty in a position to challenge the Chancellor's influence." Her smile was genuine, but it wavered when our eyes met and she tried to hide her averted gaze by scanning behind me.

  Someone had gotten to her before she had been released.

  She took a steadying breath and continued, "I begged him to let me return to your side, to repay the debt we owe you. He was… hesitant. But he agreed, on one condition. I am not the daughter of a newly restored official. I am a nameless xiake, a wandering sword. My family cannot be seen to be involved."

  There was an awkward pause I allowed to drag on painfully. I watched her jaw tighten, the way her gaze kept sliding away from mine then forcing itself back.

  It hurt to know that someone I cared about was hiding something from me. Xiao Kai was no agent. She cared too much about being righteous, and I knew the lie would tear her apart from the inside.

  I couldn't bear the thought of a wall slowly building between us. So I tore down the wall.

  I kept my voice soft. "A eunuch… I presume?"

  Xiao Kai went rigid. The color drained from her face, then flooded back, the deep crimson of shame. Her eyes darted across my face, still avoiding my eyes, searching for judgment, for anger.

  "A girl who infiltrated the Silent Pavilion," I continued gently. "A known martial artist. With family in Chang'an, recently freed no less." I let out a slow breath. "You really couldn't have refused. Of the two people who had the authority to free your father, Yang GuoZhong would have known your father was too stubborn to work with."

  For a long moment she simply stood there, frozen. I could see her weighing something, relief against shame.

  Then her composure, the mask she'd worn since I first met her, finally cracked.

  "They sent me to watch you." The words were barely above a whisper. "To report on your movements. On Lord Feng's plans." Her hands unclenched and she stared at her own hands "The price of my father's freedom."

  She looked up at me, and in her eyes I saw a girl waiting to be condemned.

  "You were noticed leaving the city," she said quietly.

  I nodded. "You are to… just monitor me?"

  A single, sharp nod. That motion I knew so well.

  "Does that mean they are not aware of our connection?"

  She shook her head and dark humor found her at last. "They wouldn't have sent me if they had known." Her voice dropped. "Censor Wang recommended me to Gao Lishi."

  And so it all fell into place for me: this was Censor's way of getting her to me. He knew everything.

  A breath of laughter escaped me, with something I felt was close to admiration. "And they are curious what I will do as Lord Feng's agent?"

  One last nod.

  That boded well. The Emperor was not likely to crack down on us, given Xiao Kai was hardly going to report treasonous actions. It also meant that Lord Feng was safe for the time being, at least until my plans became more clear.

  She was still leaning on my arm and I used my other hand to squeeze the hand closest to me. "To walk in the shadows… that will be a difficult path, Xiao Kai."

  "I know." She squeezed back and now her voice was quiet, but steady. Then, softer: "I thought you would be angry."

  "At you?" I shook my head. "You did what you had to do. Your father is free. That was the goal."

  She pushed herself upright, reluctantly releasing my arm. Her posture straightened. She raised the porcelain mask and I realised she felt different.

  She was no longer the waifish girl I had rescued from an alley. She stood taller, straighter, her shoulders now level with my own. Here in this era, she was a woman of remarkable stature.

  "But it is a path I choose to walk," came her voice from behind the mask, steady and resolved. She turned to face me fully, and though I could no longer see her expression, I could hear it in her voice. "And at least I will not walk it alone."

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