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Fates Parallel Chapter 231 - Invitation
🕑 Added 2022-05-23 18:37:32 +0000 UTCJia woke to the sound of a scream and shot to her feet, Eui’s hand gripped tightly in hers. Lightning crackled across her body—then her sleep-addled brain finally put the sound into context. Narae and Haeun were playing with Heian in the courtyard. She let out a shaky breath and shook her head—she was getting far too jumpy lately. Eui embraced her from behind, melting her anxiety away in an instant.
“Good morning, Jia. I think we’re a bit early—I don’t think it’s been a week yet.”
Jia chuckled and twisted in Eui’s arms to return the hug with a quick peck on the lips.
“I don’t even remember falling asleep last night.”
They had been so exhausted after getting home that they hadn’t even made it to the bedroom, falling asleep together on one of the couches in the living spaces. Eui’s parents and Jia’s sister had been kind enough not to mob them with questions about everything that had happened. Jia would be sure to explain everything to them eventually, but at that moment all she could think about was taking some time to just relax.
Over the next few days, that’s exactly what she did. There was so much to unpack, so many problems that still needed resolving, but by silent agreement Jia and her friends all took some time to themselves. Haeun became a regular face around the house—much to An Chunhei’s scandal and delight—becoming fast friends with Narae and Heian as the three of them played and trained together. Eunae explained that the palace was in far too much of a frenzy to concern itself with a few willful princesses.
Eunae herself regularly visited for tea, gracefully entertaining An Minjun’s attempts to curry favor after he discovered that she was the mysterious benefactor who had bought out his family’s debt. Her visits were something of a double-edged sword. Jia relished the chance to enjoy tea and gossip with Eunae—a nostalgic experience that reminded her of some of the happiest moments in her life—but they also came with updates from within the court.
“It’s an utter disaster. I swear, the nobles have learned nothing! The Yi family are reluctantly supportive of working with the elementals, but Kim is all but demanding that our clan step down over the failure. Meanwhile the Seok are conspicuously neutral, even as they lead the efforts to root out traitors in the military and install new officers loyal to their clan. It’s all the same petty nonsense as before! And don’t even get me started about my idiot sister!”
Jia sipped her tea quietly and let Eunae rant. She was happy to lend an ear to her friend, even if she’d really rather just stay out of politics for a bit. She’d had enough to last her several lifetimes. Seong Misun was now on trial—very literally—for her involvement in the coup. What had started out with her gleefully signing off on any order that counteracted one of Eunae’s became an enormous gap in the security of the palace that ultimately led to its defenses being subverted from within. Eunae didn’t think that much would come of it, but it was a dramatic blow to her influence within the palace.
When it seemed as though their friend was running out of steam, Eui took the opportunity to butt in.
“By the way, how’s Rika doing? She’s barely shown her face around here all week.”
Eunae pursed her lips, taking a sip of tea to compose her thoughts.
“Rika is just fine. She’s just been spending quite a bit of time with Ja Yun. The girl was quite shaken after...well, after hosting that slime that she carries around with her everywhere.”
Ja Yun had kept Iseul after the incident—none of the elementals had bothered to stop her, and Jia didn’t see any reason to argue. They hadn’t seen much of her since then, as she kept herself locked up in her room back at the Yamato embassy. Jia couldn’t blame her—they all needed some space.
“What about you and...”
Jia trailed off as Eunae’s grip on her teacup tightened dangerously.
“Rika and I have had a discussion. Things are...complicated right now.”
Suppressing a grimace, Jia left it at that for now. Clearly Eunae wasn’t ready to talk about it, and in hindsight, Jia was feeling pretty bad about meddling.
Soon, the days began to blur together and they fell into a routine. Rika and Ja Yun began to visit again, and Kaede resumed her regular training with Narae. Though the country was in turmoil, their day to day lives were mostly unimpacted—aside from Minjun complaining about a marked dip in sales. According to Kaede, the alliance negotiations were going well, but Jia was glad not to be a part of them anymore.
At home, one of their biggest troubles was Eui struggling with urges that came from her newly empowered demonic core. It started benignly enough—Eui would choose meals unilaterally or refuse to budge in an argument. She’d always been a bit stubborn, and it was a stressful time, so nobody begrudged Eui a bit of extra aggression. Over time, she became more and more demanding in every facet of life until she had to take an entire day off to meditate in order to suppress her urges. It worked, but Jia and Eui both knew it was a temporary solution to a long-term problem.
In the moments of relative peace, Jia’s thoughts wandered toward her less present friends. Dae and his team hadn’t returned to Songdo or reported into Eunae for a long time, and she was starting to get concerned—though Eunae assured her that sometimes their work required them to vanish for extended periods like that. Yan Yue’s fate was also unknown, for all that her teachings had been instrumental in helping Jia and Eui through the recent crisis.
One day, when she was musing to Eui about their old roommate, Chunhei interrupted.
“Oh! I’m sorry, did you say Yan?!”
Jia paused in the middle of cleaning up the training room to glance up at her mother-in-law—or whatever she was supposed to call Chunhei.
“Uh, yes? Yan Yue was our roommate back at the academy—did we not mention it?”
Chunhei wrung her tail in front of her anxiously.
“Um, I’m not sure, dear. It’s just—oh my—well, in all the excitement I suppose we must have just forgotten all about it.”
Jia shrugged.
“That’s fine. It’d be weird if you remembered every detail of our stories—why the sudden interest, though?”
“Oh! Well, while you were away during that...that, we received a letter addressed to you. It had an unfamiliar crest on the seal, so I had Minjun ask around and apparently it’s from a high profile noble clan from the Qin Empire—the Yan family. We thought it must have been some sort of prank, and after all that business with the attempted coup, well...”
Jia exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Eui.
“Do you still have that letter?!”
Chunhei nodded quickly.
“Of course! I’ll go fetch it right away!”
Jia and Eui joined Chunhei in the sitting room and examined the letter. It looked like regular paper and wax, but Jia sensed a tiny bit of power in the seal, both holding it closed to casual mortal observers and acting as a signature of authenticity—if nothing else, proving that it had been penned by a cultivator.
With a tiny infusion of her own qi, Jia broke the seal and opened the letter. Eui snuggled up next to her to read over her shoulder—which was entirely unnecessary since they could see through each other’s eyes, but Jia wasn’t going to complain.
To my dearest friends,
I hope this letter finds you well. When news of your survival reached me even here in the Spiritual Flowing Purewater sect, I was overjoyed! I just knew I had to write.
There is a great deal we need to catch up on, but tragically I have only so much ink and paper. As you can no doubt tell, I managed to survive our last parting—and not only that, but I’ve been engaged to be wed! Isn’t that wonderful? Young Master Xin and his clan have been excellent company, and I couldn’t possibly have wished for more.
My father was reluctant to approve, of course, but I’m sure that will all be settled when he comes for the wedding next spring. I wish you could be there to witness the happiest moment of my life, but with the continent as volatile as it is, I was unable to issue an official invitation.
It’s good to know that you are no longer in Yamato. News from the front there is sparse—why, nobody even knows what’s going on out there half the time. Who could even say if our lines were breached? What a frightening thought that would be! I don’t approve of all the fighting, of course, but such things are out of the hands of one such as I.
Well, I suppose I’ve said as much as I can without getting into trouble for hogging the writing desk. I do look forward to your response. Don’t make me wait another two years to hear from you again!
Missing you dearly,
Yan Yue
“Ooooh, well isn’t that just wonderful! You two have such a nice friend, sending a letter like this. You should write her back!”
Jia and Eui stared silently as Chunhei cooed over the sweet letter. She didn’t know Yan Yue—didn’t know the ways of Qin, or their infuriating habit of saying one thing and meaning another entirely. Jia read and reread the letter three more times, carefully scrutinizing every line. No matter how she read it, there was only one conclusion she could come to. Eui voiced it for both of them once her mother was out of earshot.
“This is a cry for help.”
Jia nodded slowly.
“And a warning. She’s really desperate.”
Eui crossed her arms and frowned.
“I do not like the fact that the Awakening Dragon sect knows we’re alive. Or that Yue was able to get a letter to us—it means they know where we live.”
“Yeah...and am I reading this wrong or is she getting married to Xin Wei?”
Eui snorted.
“That’s a match made in heaven. So...spring, huh?”
Jia sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
“Ugh...that’s in less than a year.”
“Uh huh...”
The two sat in silence for a moment, Eui idly fixing Jia’s tousled hair. There was no way they could go. There were a million problems at home, and that wasn’t even getting into the fact that the empire was entirely hostile to basically every aspect of Jia and Eui’s existence. Dual cultivation, demonic techniques, half-spirits, and same-sex relationships were all quite strictly forbidden within Qin. They didn’t even have the tiniest bit of plausible deniability now that Eui’s demonic core protruded from her chest like a beacon to anyone who knew how to sense it. It was completely impossible for them to do anything to help Yan Yue.
“So, when are we leaving?”
Jia gave her partner a shocked look, and Eui just snorted.
“Oh, come on. There’s no way you were just going to leave it alone, right? I know you better than anybody, and there’s no version of Jia that turns down a chance to help a beautiful lady in distress.”
Jia punched Eui in the arm playfully and pouted.
“It doesn’t have to be a ‘beautiful lady’! Don’t phrase it so weirdly.”
Eui cackled in that way she always did when entertained by her own mischief.
“Am I wrong, though?”
Jia sighed.
“No...not really. I just—even if I want to help, I don’t know how! Even ignoring the fact that entering that country is basically a death sentence, what are we even supposed to do when we get there? And there’s so much that still needs to be done here—oh, ancestors, we’ve been slacking off all week. Kaede needs our help here and now—and so do Rika and Eunae! We’ve got to—”
Eui interrupted Jia’s panicked raving with a long kiss. Jia’s thoughts vanished for a moment, but then she pulled away only for Eui to put a hand on the back of her neck and press their foreheads together.
“You’re overthinking things, dummy. You can’t carry the weight of every single person’s problems on your shoulders by yourself. Besides, I think at least a few of our problems can be solved with another.”
Jia tried to ignore the way her skin tingled. Even though they regularly shared bodies, Jia still felt a bit shy being so intimately close.
“What do you mean?”
Eui smirked.
“Think about it. Kaede needs a bit more leverage to seal the deal on her alliance, and your sister needs a proper qi healer. We’d been thinking about Fujikawa back in Yamato, but who did she learn her techniques from?”
Jia’s eyes widened in understanding.
“Xin Wei! Eui, this is insane—we can’t take my sister into Qin!”
“We can’t leave her here, either. We saw how badly out of shape Jung got after just a couple of weeks without healing. Ancestors, Jia, how do you manage to both overthink your problems and fail to think them through?”
“That’s—it’s been a rough year, okay? Shut up!”
Eui chuckled.
“Well, it’s a good thing you have me. And it’s a good thing we’re not alone.”
She gave Jia another kiss, then pulled back and began to lead her away by the hand.
“Now, let’s go have a chat with our princess friends about this little problem of ours, shall we?”
