Fates Parallel Chapter 233 - Goodbye

Things moved very quickly after the discussion with Kaede and Eunae—for politics, anyway. The elementals were, of course, enthusiastic about the plan. As they saw it, either the continent would cooperate towards opening the Sovereign’s Tomb, or Qin would get their hands on Yoshika’s ‘map’ and their plan would proceed anyway. The nobles saw it as an opportunity to weaken the royal family, and Queen Seong was willing to support them mostly as thanks for their help resolving the coup. She was reluctant about the idea of Eunae going with them, but a private explanation of the circumstances changed her opinion immediately.

That’s not to say there weren’t any hiccups, of course.

“You will be escorted back to Yamato as representatives of our alliance, where you will join with a military contingent and enter the Qin Empire as a special joint envoy. To best represent the grave importance of your mission, you will be accompanied by none other than Princess Seong Misun.”

Jia had to force herself not to cringe. The woman in question was far less demure.

“What?! I never agreed to this! You can’t just—”

“Silence!”

Misun cringed back from her aunt, grimacing at the sight of the queen’s furious expression.

“You will do as you’re told, child, and be glad that your only punishment is this soft exile, rather than something more permanent! If going out and seeing the world worked for your sister, then perhaps it can work for you as well!”

“But...it’s a suicide mission!”

Queen Seong Eunhee leveled a cold glare at her oldest niece.

“Then I suggest you do your job well, and protect your charges. No more arguments. You won’t be alone—Yamato is also dedicating considerable resources to this mission.”

This time it was Jia’s turn to be surprised.

“Uh, they are? Do they know that?”

Kaede nodded.

“I have full authority to act on my father’s behalf on matters of foreign diplomacy. This is perhaps...stretching the spirit of that decree, somewhat, but I expect my father to honor it. My orders will be followed.”

Eui gave her an incredulous look.

“Uh, isn’t he gonna be...y’know...”

Kaede smiled in an uncharacteristically sweet manner.

“Oh, he’ll be livid! That’s why I’m staying behind to put out the many fires this is going to cause as well as prepare myself for...what comes next. I hope you appreciate it.”

Jia and Eui both bowed at the same time.

“Thank you, Kaede. For everything. We...I’m not sure we even deserve everything you’ve done for us.”

Eui snorted.

“Of course we do—ow!”

Jia elbowed her partner in the ribs, then stood up straight to look her friend in the eye.

“I’m glad I can call you friend.”

Kaede blushed and looked away.

“Yes, well—I believe I asked you to refer to me as ‘Lady Hayakawa’ in public—oh!”

Jia cut Kaede off with a hug.

“We’ll miss you. Especially Narae.”

Kaede sighed, awkwardly returning the embrace with a one-handed pat on the back.

“There’s nothing left for me to teach your sister, Jia. Whatever her technique is...it’s not Weightless Fist anymore. She’s as strange as you, and I doubt anybody but you can guide her on her path.”

Eui snickered.

“Hell yeah she is! Now if only we could get the little tyke to sit still long enough to learn her damn calligraphy.”

Back at home, Jia and Eui had to make a number of tearful goodbyes. Chunhei was practically beside herself, gripping her daughter in a bone-crushing hug and blubbering away.

“Don’t you dare leave us again, young lady, you hear me?! You promise that you’ll come back this time!”

Eui hugged her mother back and chuckled wryly.

“I came back the first time, didn’t I?”

“I asked for a promise, not backtalk!”

“I promise, mom! I’ll be back before you know it.”

Satisfied, Chunhei turned her attention to Jia.

“And you! You take care of my daughter! If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you personally responsible!”

Eui blushed, squirming half-heartedly in her mother’s arms.

“M-Mom...you’re embarrassing me.”

Jia ignored Eui’s embarrassment and bowed deeply.

“I promise. I won’t let anything happen to Eui.”

Chunhei nodded her head once authoritatively.

“You’re damn right you won’t! It was bad enough when I saw—I saw her...”

Chunhei shook her head, unable to finish her sentence through the tears. Jia knew she was talking about witnessing Eui rebuild her body from almost nothing. She could scarcely imagine how traumatic seeing something like that would be for a mortal—it was traumatic enough for her.

An Minjun was less verbose in his farewell, but showed his love in his own way. He made sure that they were as prepared as they could possibly be for a long journey—loading them up with so many supplies that Jia started to worry whether she would strain the capacity of her dimensional ring. Then, when all was said and done, he offered Eui a parting gift.

“For you, my little hellion of a daughter. I don’t imagine it will do an illustrious immortal like yourself any good now, but consider it symbolic.”

Eui accepted the cloth-wrapped trinket and unwrapped it, revealing a beautiful looking ceremonial dagger. Eui furrowed her brows, looking askance at her father who simply smiled in response.

“I used to wonder if I’d done wrong by you, giving you that knife for self defense. Seeing you now, I don’t question it anymore. Fate brought you back to us once, so consider this a good luck charm.”

Eui hugged her father tightly before affixing the dagger to her robe’s belt.

“Thanks, dad. I love it!”

For Jia’s side of things, she didn’t have any goodbyes to say—after all, her family would be coming with them. Though there had been some debate about whether her star apprentsis would be joining.

“Are you sure it’s going to be safe for her, Jia? The empire isn’t exactly...welcoming.”

Jung had already asked that several times over the course of their preparations to leave, but Jia had yet to find a satisfactory answer.

“Honestly? No. It’s going to be dangerous for all of us, especially you and Narae. Qin cares a lot about social appearances and public image, and we’re taking advantage of that, but if they abandon all pretense...”

Jia trailed off. She wasn’t even sure what would happen, aside from it being disastrous for her and her family. Jung wasn’t the only one having second thoughts. Jia shook her head.

“I think we’ll be mostly safe as long as we can get to Xin’s sect. I’ve heard good things about them from people I know I can trust. Our...one of our masters vouches for them. And I can’t abandon Narae now that I’ve started teaching her—not again...”

Jung sighed.

“It wouldn’t be abandonment to leave her in the An family’s capable hands. They’ve raised one wonderful daughter already, have they not? And she has friends here...”

She hesitated. Jia knew that Jung had mixed feelings about Narae’s friendship with Haeun.

“I know. But it’s what she wants, even if you wouldn’t think that from looking at her.”

Jung chuckled at that. Narae and Haeun had been inconsolable when they learned that Narae would be leaving, hugging each other and crying for hours then spending nearly every waking moment joined at the hip once they realized it would be several days yet before the departure.

“As adults, is it not our duty to do what’s best for the children, even if it’s not what they want?”

Jia bit her lip.

“It would be a lot easier to agree with you if any adult in my life had ever actually done that for me before I ended up becoming a cultivator.”

Jung stared down into her lap sullenly and nodded.

“I suppose you’re right. Besides, it will be easier to keep her out of trouble if she’s right where we can see her.”

Jia snorted in a very Eui-like manner.

“Yeah...we’ll see about that.”

—-

With their preparations complete, Jia and Eui met up with their new escort. It was a much smaller group than the Yamato envoy she’d gotten accustomed to. Seong Misun and Eunae had nobody else with them—evidently considering Misun herself to be protection enough. Jia and Eui brought only Jung and Narae—plus Heian, sleeping blissfully within their soulscape. The last three figures came as something of a surprise—albeit a pleasant one.

“Rika! I thought you’d be staying behind with Kaede.”

Jia ran over with a smile on her face and hugged Rika, looking at the two—no, three—people accompanying her.

“Ja Yun, it’s good to see you out and about again. And—Hattori?”

Ja Yun hugged Iseul in her arms and bowed slightly, but didn’t say anything else. The old priest bowed in greeting.

“Your Heian was my only reason for joining the expedition in the first place. While I’m not sure how much more I can teach the young kami, I will do as much as I can until we arrive back in Yamato. I’m afraid that I will not be accompanying you all the way to Qin, however.”

Jia returned the bow.

“We’re grateful for everything you’ve done for us. I’m sure Heian will miss you when we part ways.”

The Onmyouji smiled kindly.

“Do be sure to visit again when you successfully find a way to grant Heian her own body. I’d be delighted to see a truly embodied kami in the flesh.”

Seong Misun snapped her fingers loudly enough to make Jia wince.

“Ugh, enough already! Let’s get this over with. Ancestors, this is way too many people. Everyone gather around me.”

Misun stood in the center of the group and stretched her six tails out.

“Everyone needs to be touching me directly—that includes the elemental. And I swear on the Kumiho, if that thing leaves a stain on my fur or my dress, I will tear your lanky ass in half and that is not a figure of speech—understood, soldier girl?”

Ja Yun nodded meekly without meeting Misun’s eyes, but Rika stepped forward and threw an arm around her shoulder, patting Iseul.

“Don’t worry big sis, Muddy here will leave you cleaner than you started. I can tell you that from experience!”

Rika punctuated her statement with a wink and Misun just grimaced.

“Ugh, disgusting. And don’t call me that, you weirdo! I don’t care what kind of sick shit my little sister makes you do, but leave me the fuck out of it. Now grab on, I’m not going to be responsible for anyone getting left behind.”

Without waiting, Misun began taking out talismans and casting a series of spells that began to create a formation in the air around them. Yoshika had seen the spell before during the descent, but with her new senses she could see the way the formation traced a path seamlessly through the spirit world and drew in divine essence to power it. She took a mental snapshot for posterity, but she knew that even if she learned the spell it would be beyond her to actually cast it, for now.

Everybody reached out to grasp a small handful of Misun’s proffered tail fur, earning Rika a nasty look when she wrapped her hand all the way around an entire tail for herself. Moments later, the spell was complete and Jia could feel herself being carried away by magical winds. Destined once again for new lands, and new adventures.