yrsillar

Itttts Wednesday!

Q&A will be running in discord for the next two hours come on down to the wednesday-author-qa channel and join the conversations.

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 354(Red+)

Ling Qi took her leave, wandering back toward the head of the table. She glanced toward the ducal observers. Zheng Fu sat there with his arms tightly crossed, his foot tapping, looking like he wanted to vibrate out of his seat as his eyes darted from one person to another. Xuan Shi had a book open in one hand and an inkbrush in the other, periodically glancing up. He caught her eye for a moment and smiled behind his collar. Meizhen, of course, was the picture of imperial aloofness with Xiao F...

Snake and Spider 13

“Chin two degrees further up, pan your gaze, do not linger on any one face unless you wish to call their attention.”

Bai Meizhen adjusted her posture subtly, to the instructions whispered in her ear without sound. She sat at the high table above the gathered guests, nobles from along the course of the Jing River, all interests which required entertainment. She felt a tad stifled honestly. It had been some time since she had worn a gown with so many layers. White interwoven with dark...

Journey to the East Chapter 24

Molten heat gathered in the palm of Gu Xiulan’s hand, flickering white tongues erupting from the wrap. She grasped the spiraling helix spear that erupted from it and spun, deflecting away the wailing green wave of ghostflame that threatened to engulf her and pack of riders galloping in her wake.

The waste churned again with the unquiet dead.

For two days their journey had been quiet, only minor packs of ashwalkers had risen from the sands to oppose their journey, and had been su...

Weekly Q&A Beginning

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Ash Haven: Descent Chapter 4

The light and heat were even more oppressive than usual today, beating down intensely on the ruins by the time I made my way down to the worksite. There were a few more tarps up over the rest stations, more glittering crystals of water prana pulsing out cool air in the shade where men and women rested, but salvage operations wouldn’t stop for a nasty day cycle.

“Hey, look who's here!”

“Yeah look at that,” I said dryly as I approached the hole I’d delved down yesterday....

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 353(Red+)

“I thought I understood this until I came here and witnessed it.”

“I agree, but I do not find their methods completely heterodox after spending longer on it,” Dzintara said in response to the priestess. “It is possible to recombine different paths. More than that, Emissary Ling Qi’s words and intentions are matched.”

Ling Qi gave the other woman a surprised, but grateful, glance. Dzintara merely regarded her stonily under her woven headscarf.

“She may,” the...

Wednesday Q&A beginning

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Snake and Spider 12

“Madam Bai, your appreciation of the product is noted. You may stop now.”

In the depths of her workshop, Bao Qingling crossed her arms and scowled at her client. Who was not taking this seriously enough at all.

“Ah, but is the realism not the most vital aspect of the device,” Bai Meizhen said innocently, tiling her head toward Bao Qingling. Even in the blur of her vision, Bai Meizhen’s eyes stood out in focus, sharp and yellow and slitted, a projection of her aura in Bao...

No update on Monday the 30th

Writing was delayed due to some personal emergencies so there will be no update on the stated date. Thank you for your patience!

Threads Patron preview Chapter 352(Red+)

Ling Qi mingled and traded small words, encouragement, and debates with various functionaries. She found Cao Chun conferring with another more junior agent she couldn’t recognize at a glance.

“Baroness,” he said\ before she had finished approaching. His companion turned and left. He remained with his back to her until she stopped, only then turning to face her.

“Inspector Cao,” she returned, lowering her head. “Are the current negotiations to your satisfaction?”

Weekly Q&A Beginning

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Threads Patron preview Chapter 351 (Red+)

Both titles, “Baroness” and “emissary,” had been ordered deliberately. Every word was a step in a dance. Gestures, expressions, tone, so many vectors communicating so much information. Ling Qi smiled and stepped forward as Cai Renxiang sat down.

“It has been a pleasure growing to know the representatives here, short though our time may have been, and difficult as arrangements have been. When I first met Emissary Jaromila, the conditions were harsh indeed. One could not have bl...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 350(Red+)

“So there is truly something amiss,” Cai Renxiang said from behind steepled fingers, her brow crinkled with a frustration that reflected Ling Qi’s own feelings.

The room itself was small without being cramped, plain like the rest of the meeting hall. The floor was bare but polished wood, and there was only a single hanging, a watercolor depicting Tsu the Diviner smiting the Wolf God over a backdrop of Xiangmen.

“Shu Yue has confirmed that they agree with the assessment of ...

Weekly Q&A Starting up

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Threads Patron preview Chapter 349 (Red+)

She felt like she was beginning to understand the undercurrent in her contacts. Quiet or fervent, subtle or up front, this feeling was something like what they meant when they said “the Emerald Seas.”

Ling Qi crossed the distance to the head of the table without taking a step, a flicker of shadow and a gust of wind. She didn't need a dais or a platform. Standing a little off the ground along with her own height was enough.

"Everyone, diligent members of our household, this is ...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 348 (Red+)

Planning this celebration was so far from the stresses of the summit that Ling Qi could not help but feel lighter as she drifted through the days. What was a brief conversation with a sect official compared to dealing with the Ministry of Integrity, the foreigners, and the many, many observers? What was some brief instruction to a pair of first realm outer sect disciples given the run of the kitchen compared to searching for a conspiracy to sabotage their efforts?

Mother came through as...

Wednesday Q&A Starting shortly

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Threads Patron Preview Chapter 347(Red+)

The next morning, Ling Qi and her family were relaxing in the garden after Ling Qi had just finished a cultivation session with her mother, guiding her mother through the simple first realm cultivation art that she had chosen. Letters and messages had been sent out the night before, and Ling Qi would be meeting with a sect functionary later in the day to formalize her job submission.

Biyu had definitely been making use of the talisman brush Ling Qi had given her. A great deal of use. 2023-10-10 00:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Honden of Earthly Fires 2

Flames were the source of civilization. From fire came order, came organization, came light. It was fire which transformed the rough treasures of the earth into gleaming bronze and solid steel, which saw mud and river clay baked into brick and tile and containers, which turned wood into fuel, and warmth in the cold.

Far too many saw and wielded flames only as a tool of destruction. It was unfortunate, even Father’s way was grounded in that. It was not wrong, Gu Yanmei thought. Fire wa...

Journey to the East Chapter 23

The rippling heat and moisture washing over her skin was incredibly refreshing. Though a cultivator of the third realm like herself could largely regulate their body and cleanse themself with qi, it simply couldn’t compare to the comfort of doing so properly. Gu Xiulan leaned back onto the polished stone of the bench which stretched around the perimeter of the steam room with a sigh, looking up at the ceiling. The mosaic mural there depicted the day of consolidation, when the great clans of...

Weekly Q&A

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Ash Haven: Descent Chapter 3

I backstepped instinctively, hand flying to the long knife sheathed at my belt.

Casings, dead crystals and other cast off scrap scattered to the floor, an endless stream of noise as a light array on the ceiling flashed on, casting shadow around the broad shouldered figure.

“Who-who-who- goes! I will not be taken alive! A-A-A-Activate defense grid Gamma-”

“Gramps! Gramps! Calm down, it’s me, Kaz!” I shouted, the tension going out of my shoulders. Damn old codger, le...

Honden of Earthly Fires 1

“I am grateful beyond words, Elder Sister Yanmei.”

Gu Xiulan bowed low, lower than she had since leaving her home in the Golden Sands. Near horizontal at the waist, her hands clasped before her, the long billowing sleeves of her gown almost reaching the leaf strewn ground.

Gu Yanmei, her older sister, stared down at her impassively. She made Gu Xiulan feel small and contrite without even wearing a severe expression, like her nanny once had, when she had tracked stable filth ac...

Threads Patron preview Chapter 346 (Red+)

<Ugggggh, I can’t believe I missed that,> Sixiang complained. Their voice was projected directly into her mind again, their rapid descent from the cloud line making physical speech impossible for the moment.

It was surprising, Ling Qi thought. She hadn’t known that she could manage a conversation like that. Not until she’d done it. But she did think she’d done well. Her nerves had been manageable. It helped to think of the words as a bit of a playful game, rather than some...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 345 (Red+)

“So how did the discussion with your uncle go?”

“I believe I can talk him around. His own curiosity as a scholar is doing some work. We’ll need to negotiate a trade that my family can consider a fair price, but I am confident that the observatory is upon the bargaining table, so to speak. What about you? How have your discussions and investigations gone?”

Ling Qi let out a long sigh.

Meng Dan gave her a commiserating look. “I have not heard anything bad, for what...

Chicken?

AN: So for you guys, this one is occurring a little bit in the future, in the midst of the summit.

“You know, you know I’ve been thinking I should warn you off that girl, but she’s doing pretty good work here, you know?”

Xuan Shi sat in the inner garden of the building set aside for the Xuan clan, cross legged upon a flat stone in the center of the pond that was the centerpiece of the garden. His hat, coat and staff were set aside by the door le...

Threads Patron Preview Chapter 344 (Red+)

“The biggest, most common mistake I find in people’s thinking is equating impermanence with meaninglessness,” Ling Qi said. “I want my works to endure and the good I make to last into the future, but they won’t be forever.”

“And that is fine,” the old man said. “Others will make use of what remains.”

She inclined her head. She had said it to Elder Jiao. Thinking it was your responsibility alone to change the world was folly. It took more than a few people, no m...

Wednesday Q&A Starting now

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Threads Patron preview Chapter 343 (Red+)

They needed more time and some kind of buy-in to keep the Western Territories at low hostility. The situation with the Polar Nations’ Sublime and its fragments was likely the biggest flashpoint. If the Sun were constantly under attack by beings they now knew came from the Twisted Pines and not the jungle, tempers would rise.

“I have a question. I would prefer to ask it now when we are each only ourselves,” Ling Qi began after a long moment of deliberation.

Dzintara peered at...