Jingliu had never been one to dig for answers, least of all with someone she cared about.
She worried she might say the wrong thing, or do the wrong thing, and make Felutina angry…
though Felutina never seemed to get angry about anything.
Still, the matter of Felutina joining the Divination Commission gnawed at her, and after one sword practice she finally asked:
“Sis, why did you sit the exam for the Divination Commission?”
Felutina, of all people, put no stock in talk of fate.
If she had, she’d never have sworn to pull their teacher out of that war.
“Hm?
There’s an old Xianzhou saying: know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose a battle.
Understand yourself, understand the other side, and nothing can put you at a disadvantage.” Felutina set down her book and answered with obvious relish.
“I plan to study the Divination Commission’s arts of prediction, and find the way out from there.”
In truth, she thought the diviners looked rather dashing, plotting out the turns of fate as if by ritual, and her existing talents, Photographic Memory and Spirit Eye, were both perfectly suited to that kind of calculation.
Her Popularity Points were still creeping up on their own, but the pace had slowed to a crawl.
Over a year had gone by, and the total hadn’t even reached 200,000.
Sitting around waiting for popularity to accumulate clearly wasn’t going to work.
If she wanted to get stronger, she’d have to do it herself.
There was no telling when the next mission would unlock, either, and her pitiful stock of points wouldn’t stretch far.
“I see…”
Jingliu nodded blankly.
No words came to her that might make Felutina stay.
She intended to remain with the Cloud Knights herself.
Which meant partings like this would probably become a habit.
“That’s practice done for today.
What did you take away from it?” Felutina asked, pressing her lips into a small smile, her voice soft.
“…Sorry.”
Jingliu was quiet for a moment, then dipped her head.
She’d spent the whole session hunting for an opening to ask her question, her thoughts a tangle.
She hadn’t really been practicing at all, so of course there was nothing to take away.
“Is that so.
Get some proper rest these next few days.”
Felutina closed her book and ruffled Jingliu’s hair, thinking that even geniuses ran into walls sometimes.
“When are you leaving to become a diviner?”
For once, Jingliu wouldn’t let the subject drop.
“Mm…
I don’t know when Teacher’s fated battle is going to come.
She’s still in and out of the front lines constantly, so, as soon as I can,” Felutina said after a moment’s thought.
As soon as she can.
Regret settled over Jingliu.
All at once she wished she’d made more memories with Felutina while she had the chance.
They didn’t even have photographs together, apart from the one Felutina had dragged her into on their first trip to a battlefield.
The latch clicked.
The sound of the door swinging open cut through both girls’ wandering thoughts.
Felutina and Jingliu looked up at the same time, toward the woman in military dress standing in the doorway.
The woman in military dress let her gaze fall on Jingliu first, then slid it away to Felutina.
“Felutina.
Come here.”
Felutina got to her feet at once and went to her.
“The Master Diviner of the Divination Commission wants to see you.” The woman in military dress turned back around.
“The Master Diviner?”
Fu Xuan’s figure surfaced in Felutina’s mind unbidden.
A shame, really.
Fu Xuan was far too young in this era for them to have met.
“Yes.
The Luofu’s current Master Diviner, Luo Li.” The woman in military dress nodded, then went on, “I don’t know why you settled on the Divination Commission all of a sudden, but it’s for the best.
Jingliu will still need looking after, and you’ll have to…”
“Teacher, I don’t like hearing you talk that way,” Felutina cut in.
“Auguries, hexagrams, readings, when has any of it been right every single time?
Diviners aren’t prophets speaking oracles.
They make mistakes too.
Don’t they?”
“Correct.”
Another voice answered, cool and clear, and a woman with ink-black hair and crimson eyes stepped into Felutina’s view.
“A diviner knows fate without submitting to it.
She searches the possibilities for the best of them.
That is a fine attitude.”
The words were praise, but her face gave away almost nothing.
“…This humble student, Felutina, greets the honored Master Diviner.”
Felutina grasped who the woman was in an instant, and bowed the way she’d seen diviners bow when she passed them in the streets.
“Luo Li will do.”
Luo Li’s tone stayed cool, but a flicker of interest had entered her eyes.
“Let me ask you something.
When the reading is finished and only two outcomes remain before you, calamity and greater calamity, which do you choose?”
“Between two harms, one takes the lesser,” Felutina replied without hesitation.
“Correct.
That is the first lesson of Divination Studies.
You’ve read your books well.”
Luo Li nodded, then turned the question over.
“But what if human vision cannot weigh which is the lesser?”
Felutina paused.
Some kind of trolley problem, was it?
Philosophical debate never arrived anywhere.
Everyone carried their own answer to it.
“All things in this world follow their own laws.
But stars can be shifted and the Dipper turned, and the doing of a thing rests with people.”
Felutina thought it over and answered honestly.
“Correct.”
The corner of Luo Li’s mouth finally lifted a little.
She extended a hand toward Felutina.
“From now on, don’t call me Master Diviner.
Call me Master.”
“Your disciple greets you, Master.”
Felutina blinked, her Spirit Eye glimmering, and took Luo Li’s hand.
The woman in military dress stood off to the side, something like relief on her face.
She’d never raised a child, never properly taught a student.
Jingliu’s gifts destined that girl to become one of the finest swordsmen alive, and Felutina…
well, Felutina had a future of her own now.
Her affairs were more or less settled, then.
“Teacher.”
After a few more words with Luo Li, Felutina turned back, that brilliant smile returning to her face.
“I’m going to change the ending all of you believe can’t be changed.”
The woman in military dress went still.
Then warmth crept through her, and she lowered her eyes, nodding before she quite meant to.
“Mm.
I’ll be waiting.”
…
“Teacher…
she didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”
The moment Felutina came back to her side, Jingliu asked, barely able to wait.
A small hope stirred in her, that their teacher had ordered Felutina to devote herself to the sword after all.
The way she saw it, Felutina’s talent was no worse than her own.
Jingliu had the better technique, certainly, but in every sparring match she lost, because she could never once land a hit.
“No, she just introduced me to a new master.”
“…A new master?”
Jingliu’s voice caught.
She stared at Felutina.
“Right.
She’s the Master Diviner.
Her name’s Luo Li, and she told me to report in at the Divination Commission tomorrow…”
Felutina blinked, watching Jingliu suddenly drop her head, seize her hand, and start walking without a word toward her own room.
Jingliu shoved the door open, pushed Felutina down onto the bed, then toppled after her and wrapped both arms around her, tight.
“…Jingliu?”
Felutina looked down at the girl curled against her and, for once, had no idea what to say.
The girl said nothing more either.
She only lay there with her face against Felutina’s chest, her breathing gradually slowing, steadying.
It seemed she’d fallen fast asleep just like that.