Xianxia, or new thing.

So, who's up for another thing no one asked for? This seemed to work well for me when I last took a trip, so here we are again. A new for me yet common idea, and one I feel is still woefully under-explored. Please enjoy:

I was so close, I could feel it. I danced, weaving in between the beams of sunlight which made their way into the glade, the patches of greater light serving as a wonderful focus for the dance.

It was not what the technique called for, but it seemed to work. The leaves carried by the wind also made excellent things to dodge; a moving piece of the world that I tried my best to weave around.

I had not managed yet, but I was getting better. So very close, and my steps were just as the training manual showed.

Take that, Sister Jang! I could so learn it all without the words! I wouldn't even need a month!

"What are you doing, brat?"

Great, it was her. I was in no mood for her today. Even so, I dared not show disrespect.

At least not openly. "Floating among the moonbeams."

Min He's lips tightened, the only sign she gave that she noticed my discourtesy. She let the insult pass, however. At least directly. "There are no moonbeams here. Dance of the lunar shower is a technique meant to be practiced at night until mastered."

The manual did say as much, yet with the contrast between dark and light, the steps seemed easy, day or night. "The sunlight seems to work just as well, and as you know, I've got a bet to win."

"The sunlight is... more harsh, and there is more of it," Min He pointed out, by pointing to a particular beam of the sun breaking through the trees. One that I had been using moments before. "See how the light strays over here, into the surrounding area? The intent is to dodge the light entirely to learn the steps, and you cannot do that in the daytime."

"I cannot practice during the night alone," I countered. "You know this."

"Mortals sure have it rough," Min He replied after a moment, inspecting the leaves that even now swirled around us in the errant breezes.

There it was, of course. Min He was my senior sister's friend, or so she said, and she was only a few years older than myself. Yet she was firmly on the path to immortality, and I was not.

She never wasted a single moment to work that into every talk we ever had. Every single appearance, she had to show it somehow. Since she had arrived at the sect that was less than ten miles away, I saw her entirely too often as she often ran errands at my senior sister's request.

In my opinion, it was this  willingness to demean that was her single most nasty trait, and would be the reason she died a spinster, immortal or not.

I would catch her. No, I would surpass her! Senior sister Jang would praise me and take me under her wing, and I would leave this village and join the Lunar Frost sect.

Even though men did not join the Lunar Frost sect as a rule, and all knew this. I would be the exception.

I flitted again, light as the air itself, around Min He. If she would stand in my way, I would move around her.

The strike was not entirely unexpected, and it was halfhearted. Even so, and even knowing what the proper movement must be beforehand, I was almost struck.

I flowed under the fist at the last moment and continued the evasion, spinning away.

"Your practice seems to have borne some fruit," Min He commented idly, her fist still poised, yet her attention clearly somewhere else. Her eyes had locked onto something in the forest.

"I do my best," I told her. She didn't need to know about the times in which I was able to dance among the moonbeams. No one should know, as it would be used as an excuse to punish.

What did it matter that I stayed up all night, so long as my chores got done? My parents were too strict by half, and had little patience for what they called 'the foolishness of youth'.

Not everyone could become a cultivator. They denied that my real parents had been so, even though I knew better now.

I found myself holding my necklace, a mere token, but the only legacy from my mother.

It was a simple medallion, in the shape of a circle... or if one knew, a depiction of the full moon.

It was evidence that my mother was an inner disciple of the Lunar Frost sect. Of who she had been. Proof of the friendship between senior sister Jang as well, as she was the one who passed it to me. The one who told me who she was rather than continue the lie.

The one who told me how my mother died.

I let the medallion go before Min He could notice and make one of her comments.

"You should stop," Min he said. "Senior sister Jang is on her way, and you should be presentable to her."

I... should. I looked to my robe, covered in dirt and with the odd errant leaf stuck to it.

No, I would instead let senior sister see my devotion. "No, I shall continue and show her what I have learned. She should worry! I will win our bet."

Min He shifted as I began again; she looked.. worried? Why would she be worried? She hadn't made a bet on my ability either way - unless...

A swirl of flower petals announced Senior sister Jang's arrival. Her smile faded before the snowdrop petals fell, and she was by my side in an instant. I was stopped, caught before I could so much as begin to evade.

"What is it that you do?"  Oh, she was angry. Her voice had that cold tone and relentless march of sounds that I had heard but a few times before. Enough to know that I did not want to hear it again.

I was caught anyway; but what had she seen? Why was she so angry? Was my form that terrible, that I was making a mockery of the technique?

"I am doing as you wanted; the dance of the lunar shower. Did you not give me a month to learn it? If I did, you said you would take me to the sect to take the official entrance exam! It is only my first week, so if my steps are less than needed, I ask you give me the rest of the time we bet for. Or some instruction; I've only the manual you lent me for learning so far."

Senior sister looked at me as she might a bug for a moment, full of towering fury.

Then she turned, and her eyes found Min He. A very worried looking Min He. A Min He who was the usual person who came to see me, or see to me, when senior sister Jang could not come herself. The same Min He who brought the manual, and word of the challenge made just last week, saying it was senior sister Jang's will.

I'm so stupid! I cannot believe I fell for the evil woman's tricks again!

Senior sister's voice was calm and composed. "Little brother Bao, wait here but a moment. Practice meditation if you like. Sister Min He and I have some matters to discuss. I shall return soon, alright?"

And she smiled down at me, a smile to rival the sun itself, such that I could only nod.

Then she was gone, and Min He with her. The sun dappled glade was empty.

I sat where I was, uncaring. I would do as I was asked. I would settle this trickery with Min He later. Provided senior sister Jang left enough of her for me to do so.

......

Senior sister Mei Jang's grip was as ironclad as always. I focused on my footwork; if I fell behind, I would be dragged, and she was not making her usual allowances.

I knew she would be angry, but this? She was beyond such a petty emotion - she was well into pure rage.

I had a moment to collect myself when she stopped among my friends to say "follow me."

Then she left again, with my costly silk dress still wrapped in one hand.

I managed, only being half dragged by the time we reached her destination, a deserted glade at the far side of the forest from the village, one very close to the borders of the sect itself.

For a moment, I boggled at the speed, attempting to steady my breathing. Then I was violently thrust away and fighting to keep my balance.

"You... explain yourself."

My friends hadn't caught up; I needed to play this carefully. "What do you mean?"

"I come to see how things are going, how my younger sister's son is doing, to find you have tricked him. That you are teaching him Lunar Frost sect arts. Arts forbidden for outsiders to know, upon pain of death."

She understood nothing. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I arrived to find him training from an old manual of ours. A training manual which could have come from anyone, anywhere."

Senior sister Jiang's smile was all teeth. "You are responsible; I placed you in charge of seeing to Bao when I am not present, and however he got them, you were there. Even if we ignore the bet I knew nothing of, spoken by one who knows no guile, the timing of a week with the training manual and your last visit is too much. Do you think me a fool?"

My friends flashed in, finally catching up, and seemingly none the worse for wear. They appeared next to me in a silent but clear show of support.

"I do! You've already broken those laws, clear laws! Who taught the mortal the thousand shadows technique? And the wax and wane breathing technique? Both are also on the proscribed list, and both known by a boy not yet at the first step to immortality!"

"A handsome boy," Xiang Chen muttered, just loud enough to be heard, of course.

"A cute boy," Xiu Wang added, her own smile heard clearly in the words.

Their interruptions were... unwelcome, yet seemed to stop senior sister Jiang in her tracks, even as I did.

My two junior sisters... no, from even those remaining silent, all my junior sisters needed a training journey. Preferably one ending under a waterfall as cold as I could find.

By mutual unspoken consent, senior sister Jiang and I ignored the... opinions of our juniors.

"The thousand shadows technique is one meant to safeguard Bao's safety. With it and some basic tools, he can appear vastly different, allowing him to hide even in plain sight. You know this. The breathing technique was meant to... calm him."

I had her now; she was defensive. "The thousand shadows technique is one regarding the use of paint, powder, and movement in order to facilitate the use of our female strengths. Every single aspect of the technique is meant to create great beauties."

"It's working," Xiu sighed out in a dreamy manner. I studiously ignored her, as it was not about such things.

"The wax and wane breathing technique is a high grade yin aligned technique not meant for the use of males."

"It was the only one I knew! I could not simply take another, as I was being watched! You knew this! Besides, he is compatible with it."

"Strangely compatible," I added. "I've never seen such a man so aligned to yin energy."

Senior sister clucked her tongue. "You are ignorant. It is rare, and yet it happens. Some of the elders have even trained a few before. There are just no such disciples currently alive."

It was very suspicious, despite what senior sister Jiang said.

"At any rate, the other techniques could be waved away, as they are not powerful or rare."

Not powerful or rare? The wax and wane breathing technique was considered earth grade, far better than what most mortals began their journeys on. I did not know it or have access to it, and I was an inner disciple!

"However, the dance of the lunar shower is a rare earth grade skill which can take months or even years to learn. Some never learn it. Some are never allowed to learn it. Yet even past that, you deceived him, my ward, with some form of bet."

I held back the wince with effort. So she had heard that - how long had she been listening? I had thought I would be able to detect her with my recent breakthrough. I had clearly been mistaken.

Even so, she needed me. Needed us. "What do you intend to do? You cannot punish us without risking discovery; elder Wang will grow suspicious."

Again, senior sister's smile showed all teeth, as if it were made of whitened blades. "I cannot directly punish you; it is true. However, there is much I can do to make all your lives unpleasant. Bao is a good lad. He does not deserve your bullying, and indeed, you should all be beyond such petty behavior. I call on you to remember your pride as cultivators. Go, now."

Pride of cultivators, was it? Where was the pride of a cultivator when the senior sister, one who was beyond all heaven and earth, showed favor to a mortal boy not even of age? Son of her sister now departed or no, she should not be chaining herself to such mortal concerns.

Even now, she was looking to trade with other cultivators for techniques more suitable for young men to learn. Wasting time and resources that were better spent on herself. Where was her pride?

I went. Just one more in the tittering mass, doing my best to avoid more physical... correction. There would be sparring matches in time - lessons and bitter anger disguised as growth opportunities. Yet senior sister could only do so much under the watchful gaze of elder Wang.

Senior sister Jang seemed determined to make the boy a cultivator, simply because his mother had been both a cultivator and a friend of hers. This was an honorable act, even before I could consider the boy's talent. However, the best way to do this would simply be to hand the boy over to another sect.

A sect with male teachers and students, and let him thrive there. Senior sister Jang was risking her own standing, her own cultivation, doing this.

"Have you considered simply sending the boy to the blazing sun sect?"

Oh, that was a mistake. The words had left my lips before I realized.

Senior sister Jang focused on me, the weight of her presence sharpening. I grit my teeth and barely avoided dropping to my knees.

"The blazing sun sect would destroy him. You know how they are. He is a child."

"He asks about becoming like us daily. He is growing, testing boundaries. If he cannot get what he wants here, he will leave, eventually."

"I know!" she replied, clearly frustrated. The weight of her soul released, and I muted the gasp of relief as best I could. "He's not ready. I am trying to prepare him as best I can, and yet you are trying your best to cripple his cultivation as what? A joke? Out of jealousy? You know he already suffers an imbalance, and yet you...."

"Senior sister. I meant no true harm. He is attempting a technique meant to be practiced in the moonlight during the day. A technique that takes even the most talented months. It will keep him occupied, and yet he will fail. You will come up with another technique, one better suited for him, and he will cease to care about the one he found. He has time yet, yet he will only advance if we keep his interest, and stagnation is our enemy now."

Senior sister Jang raised a sculpted eyebrow. "And the side effects?"

I met her gaze with pride. "What of them? That bird flew long ago; many love a man who looks as he will, and with the techniques he has already learned? What is one more, on top of that?"

She was mollified for now; I could see it. Convinced that I was, if not on her side, working toward the best interests of her ward.

I was, of course, but we disagreed on what was best for a mortal boy. Even a mortal boy born from a bosom friend in cultivation, long since fallen. I would do what was best, of course.

But I would do what was best for both of them together, not just one over the other.