35. Alliances

A’Cheng did the work of worrying about Ying’er for all of them, pacing around their guest pavilion in an endless loop until Song Daoren showed up to drag him off to training. Yanli gave him a grateful nod and the usually stoic cultivator actually returned it with a small, kind smile of understanding.

Lan Wangji had all but moved into the medical rooms where Ying’er was kept, only leaving when the chief Nie doctor threatened to physically throw him out. He played Lan healing songs endlessly while Ying’er was unconscious, so Yanli was willing to leave him be, even if technically it was inappropriate for him to be so companionable with his betrothed.

Ying’er woke up the next afternoon anyway, then bounced back from his ordeal fully by the day after that. He then proceeded to harangue absolutely everyone about the trip to the Nie crypts until the doctors cleared him for travel, probably out of self-defense.

They left the morning after a very short afternoon of riding lessons for both Ying’er and A’Yao, neither of whom had much experience riding horses outside of the occasional lift given by a farmer. Ying’er, of course, had taken to it like he was born to ride, while A’Yao kept a polite smile plastered on his face the whole time. Yanli, who once considered herself a passable horsewoman, felt bad for them since they had no idea how exhausting and sore they would be after a full day in the saddle. (At least A’Yao had taken her warnings seriously, and packed a kit filled with muscle cream and pain killers.)

Yanli had been surprised that the top three Nie—Mingjue, Huaisang, and Zonghui—all went together on the journey. They left the fortress in the competent hands of Nie Popo, but it was very telling. A’Yao had not been happy about it either, expressing his worry that it meant the crypts were even more dangerous than the Nie had let on. Yanli did not embarrass him by saying so aloud, but she was very glad that Lan Wangji was going along specifically to protect Ying’er.

On the morning of the fourth day, while Yanli and A’Cheng quietly ate breakfast in their rooms and tried not to act as worried as they felt, her maidservant Liu Peng rushed in without announcing herself.

“Sect Leader Wei! Nie Popo has requested your presence immediately! Second Young Master Wei as well!”

Yanli almost asked who “Second Young Master Wei” was until she saw A’Cheng climb to his feet, then felt embarrassed about forgetting that they were all acknowledged Wei now.

She stood up. “Have we heard from Sect Leader Nie?” She asked cautiously, fearing the worst.

“No! No, this has something to do with visitors who arrived this morning!”

She and A’Cheng exchanged puzzled looks, but quickly followed the anxious servant out of the guest pavilion and into the heart of the fortress. They were taken to a large suite of rooms that Yanli assumed were the sect leader’s offices, where Nie Popo stood in the middle of the main room while several of her personal assistants sacked what looked like a records room. She turned on Yanli with a gimlet eye.

“Well, Miss Yanli, it’s time for you to decide just how far you are taking this ‘sect leader’ lark.” Nie Popo put her hands on her hips.

A’Cheng, predictably, bristled at the tone, but Yanli put a hand on his forearm, holding him back.

“I consider it less of a ‘lark’ than a necessity at this point, Nie Popo.”

The older woman studied her for a long, tense moment, something strange shifting in her eyes that Yanli could not pin down, her long silvery nails tapping on the cover of a book in her hands. Even the assistants had all come to a standstill to watch them. A’Cheng straightened up and Yanli realized just how much he had grown over the past four years, looking less like a lost little boy and more like the highly skilled cultivator he was always meant to be.

“Good.” Nie Popo glanced at her team, who all jumped back into whatever they were doing. “That’s very good. Because not along ago, Sect Leader Jiang showed up at our gates with a beaten down squad of cultivators and a very pregnant wife, demanding our assistance in re-taking Lotus Pier from the Wen army.”

All the air left Yanli’s lungs, and A’Cheng visibly startled, stepping backwards as if he could escape the news. Nie Popo gave them a slow nod of sympathy.

“Follow me.” She lead them into a smaller conference room and they all sat down. Yanli concentrated on breathing deeply and gathering her thoughts while Nie Popo’s secretary set out tea for them. A’Cheng grabbed his tea cup like a dying man.

“I have not spoken to him much longer than it took to hear his request and then send him off to guest quarters. What I can tell you is that it is a small squadron who have been traveling hard, and that this might possibly be all that remains of the Yunmeng Jiang sect in its entirety.”

A’Cheng gasped, and Yanli’s mind went spiraling away from her again. Nie Popo had the decency to give them time to collect themselves.

“Why didn’t he go to Lanling Jin? It’s closer,” A’Cheng finally asked, looking between Yanli and Nie Popo.

If anything, Nie Popo’s expression turned even more grim. “He did, apparently. Jin Guangshan offered to take them in but refused further aid, claiming a desire not to antagonize the chief cultivator.” She rubbed her eyes. “Our spies have told us that relations between Lanling Jin and Yunmeng Jiang cooled considerably after Madam Yu’s execution, but we don’t know if that was Madam Jin’s influence or if Sect Leader Jin simply wanted to distance himself from the scandal. In any case, no one is surprised by Sect Leader Jin’s unwillingness to go to war with Wen Ruohan over Lotus Pier, including Sect Leader Jiang.”

“Nie Popo, why would he come here? Yunmeng Jiang and Qinghe Nie have always enjoyed cordial relationships, but to my knowledge that never extended to a full alliance,” Yanli said as A’Cheng nodded next to her.

“You are correct on both counts. Never out of any discord, simply that we’ve never felt it necessary to extend that connection further than occasional cooperation on night hunts and, of course, trade relations. But his options were Qinghe Nie or Gusu Lan.” She spread her hands wide. It made sense, since if one was looking to ask for martial aid, then the logical choice was to go to the Qinghe Nie, who were already as-good-as at war with Qishan Wen.

“Do you intend to aid him?” A’Cheng asked through clinched teeth.

Nie Popo shook her head. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. With A’Jue, Sang’er, and Zong’er off on a night hunt, there is simply no one here with that authority.”

Yanli tilted her head, studying Nie Popo. “Or, at least, that is what you told Sect Leader Jiang.”

She gave her a broad grin. “I’m just A’Jue’s mean old granny. What can I do?” She shrugged elaborately, miming holding a fan, and Yanli suddenly got a good idea of where Nie Huaisang acquired a lot of his mannerisms.

They all chuckled for a moment. Yanli tapped the table. “So why invite us here?” She waved around at the room.

“Admittedly, I toyed with the idea of just putting you all under house arrest in the guest quarters, but we don’t know when A’Jue is coming back, and when he does, he will have little Ying’er with him. There won’t be hiding that.” She paused and gathered her thoughts. “Sect Leader Jiang is claiming there is an old accord with us, signed by his great-grandfather, and that under some interpretation of it, Qinghe Nie is honor-bound to come to his aid.” Her skepticism was evident.

“What I can tell you of Sect Leader Jiang is that if he says such a thing, he believes it. However, it could be here-say, something he was told by the elders and took as fact. I do not remember him or…or my mother ever mentioning such an accord.”

“I don’t remember my father-in-law mentioning it either, much less my son or grandson.”

Well, that settled the question of whether she was actually Nie Mingjue’s grandmother, Yanli thought with a bit of amusement.

“Hence, my staff looking for such a thing.” She sighed heavily. “We are, however, honor-bound to give shelter to him and his people. They look hard done by, and his wife is extremely pregnant, and probably should not be traveling at all, much less being carted around by sword flight at top speed.”

“He could have just left her in Koi Tower,” A’Cheng said with a snarl.

“With Madam Jin, the former best friend of the former madam of Lotus Pier?” Nie Popo chuckled. “People will say what they will of what your mother did, child, but Madam Jin is also a Yu woman, and they all take their sect motto seriously.”

We remember what is owed.

The Yu sect could not publicly defend an adulterous daughter, but Yanli remembered her own Yu grandmother, who no doubt would blame Jiang Fengmian himself for her daughter’s disloyalty. After all, the Yu were renown for their loyalty, so surely he must have done something to break it (Yanli could not even argue with that, although she could not explain why…she knew her mother, too, and nothing about that situation ever sat right with her). Even Madam Jin, with more cause than most, would not turn on her own husband. But she would find a way to retaliate in her beloved sworn sister’s name.

“So, they are here, and so are you, and A’Jue and his team will, with luck, be back within a couple more days.” She leaned forward, and for the first time, looked genuinely matronly as she focused on Yanli. “If you want, you and your brother can hide in the guest house until then.”

Yanli took a deep breath, then took stock of the situation. Nie Popo was right: locking her and A’Cheng out of sight from the Jiang would have been the easiest way to keep things quiet. But she was no fool, either.

“Are you asking for our help, Nie Popo?”

The broad grin was back. “Oh, you are a sharp one, aren’t you?” She nodded. “It’s not fair to you, but the easiest way to explain to Sect Leader Jiang that we are not going to help him at this time is to show him that we have made other alliances that prevent us from doing so.”

A’Cheng’s answering grin was positively wicked. He looked at Yanli hopefully.

She took the time to think about it. It would help Nie Popo to be able to make the Nie position clear without outright stating it, but such a public display of alliance with the children who were, technically, the bastards of Yunmeng, would be a slap in the face to Jiang Fengmian.

If nothing else, it was a bold commitment to her, Wei Yanli, as a sect leader who had promised to aid the Nie both in their war against Wen Ruohan and also their more long-standing problem of resentment filled sabers. She had not come to them with her hands out, begging. She had offered her help—their help—without strings attached, as part of their righteous quest for the yin iron pieces.

“This one is happy to assist Nie Popo in any way we can,” she said, bowing a little.

Nie Popo sent them off to get changed into more suitable clothing (again from the collection that Nie Huaisang had bought for them in Caiyi town). They were gussied up in nearly-matching robes of black silk brocade trimmed in wide peach-colored hems, with dark red embroidery and accents—belts and bracers for A’Cheng; a wide sash and a nearly transparent sleeveless over-coat for Yanli. Her maidservant appeared with a tray of beautiful golden hair pins for Yanli and a selection of brutally elegant bronze guans for A’Cheng, provided by Nie Popo herself for them to borrow. He chose the pointiest one, which Yanli thought was perfect.

When they were finally led to Saber Hall, where Nie Popo sat on the throne in her grandson’s absence, they were given a place of honor, right in front of the dais. Yanli squared her shoulders and checked on A’Cheng. He looked more like their mother in that moment than ever before: beautiful, powerful, and angry as hell.

She smiled and settled herself in place just as the doors opened and her former father, the man she hated more than any other in the world, walked in.

Three steps behind him, helping a very pregnant young Madam Jiang, was Meng Shi.