The delegation arrived in Redstone several days after its envoy. From the upper gallery of the City Lord's manor, Wang Ben watched twelve cultivators in crimson and black approach the entrance. The spring air was still cold. His father stood beside him, his grandfather on the other side.
The visitors held their cultivation close. Ben watched the woman at their head, wondering how much strength the Bastion had sent with its questions.
[ANALYSIS: Insufficient evidence for a reliable cultivation assessment.]
"The woman leading them concerns me," Tian said.
"Senior Investigator Qin Hualing," Tiexin told them. "She is sent when someone important has died and someone must answer for it."
She looked middle-aged, though that meant little. Behind her walked a broadly built man whose robes bore the same colors.
"Commander Wei Zhennan," his grandfather continued. "They have come prepared for violence as well as questions."
Ben followed the pair until they passed beneath the gallery. After the envoy's speech in their hall, he doubted the Bastion was coming without some idea of the answer it wanted.
He went down with his father and grandfather to the reception. Both cities' colors hung in the hall, where the clans and merchants had gathered to receive the visitors. There was space around the Wangs that no one seemed eager to fill. Only the Dao Clan stood nearby. Dao Zhen met Ben's eyes and gave him a small nod.
Ben returned it before looking toward Qin.
Lin Suyin's note that morning had carried word from the merchant routes. The delegation had been attacked on its final approach to Redstone and had lost no one. The accounts blamed a creature that had emptied caravans, draining its victims and leaving their bodies unmarked. Ben had no way to judge how much of that was true, but it gave him little reason to be reassured by the visitors' restrained cultivation.
Lin had enclosed another page naming three people in the city she thought most likely to be feeding word to the delegation. He had expected news of the road. He had not expected her to look so thoroughly into Redstone for him.
Qin and Wei were exchanging greetings while the local guests gathered behind the formal arrivals. Ben let his eyes move over the second row as he listened to the names and courtesies.
[OBSERVATION: Man in second row. Sustained attention directed at Host. He was not introduced with the arriving party.]
Ben did not turn back to meet the man's eyes.
"Young Master Wang Ben."
A cultivator in Bastion robes approached with a polite smile. "Huang Ying. I serve the Bastion here as a clerk. Your clan's formation work has become quite well known in the capital. I understand the patriarch is teaching you."
"I study under my grandfather," Ben said. "And in the clan archives."
"A fine place to begin. Though the defenses your clan raised were more than anyone expected from Redstone. How did you come by such work?"
Ben glanced toward his grandfather, who was standing with Tian a little way off.
"My grandfather did not work alone. I learned from helping him, as well as from the books."
"Then you had other teachers?"
"I have had help."
Huang regarded him for a moment. "A clan does not rise so quickly without it. The capital would like to know who has taken such an interest in the Wangs."
Ben had no wish to deny what everyone could see. He kept his voice even.
"My grandfather has worked for the clan for years. Others chose to stand beside us when we needed them. We were fortunate."
Huang waited, but Ben added no names. The clerk's smile had thinned, and he was looking at Ben more closely now.
"Your grandfather trains his successors carefully."
"He takes a great deal of trouble over it."
Huang inclined his head and left him. Once clear of the nearby guests, he walked more quickly toward Qin. Ben watched until another group crossed between them.
His grandfather's hand came to rest on his shoulder.
"You handled him well," Tiexin said. "They will send someone more senior. Be ready."
Ben nodded. His eyes moved past the people gathered around Qin to a plainly dressed man at the edge of the hall. The man stood apart from the clans, watching the delegation. His attention followed its members as they spoke to their hosts, lingering while others looked away.
He never looked toward Ben. They exchanged no glance, and when the crowd shifted, Ben lost sight of him.
...
An hour later, the guests took their places for the formal opening. City Lord Huo Zhenyang presided, with Qin Hualing seated at his right. Ben remained beside his father and grandfather.
Qin let her cultivation press across the hall. Ben's chest tightened, and he had to make himself take a full breath. The quiet woman from the gallery had given him nothing by which to judge her. This was different.
[ASSESSMENT: Released pressure consistent with mortal shedding. Estimate based on Host's physical response. Exact strength undetermined.]
"In the name of Domain Lord Tie Wushan," Qin began, "by the will of the throne of the Azure Crimson Kingdom, and of the Blazing Sun Empire and Emperor Yan Tianhuo above it, the Crimson Bastion extends its greetings to Redstone City."
Standing beside his grandfather, with Qin's strength still pressing on him, he felt how little of that authority the Wang Clan could hope to dispute.
"The Domain Lord is pleased that the recent fighting has ended. But five delegates were killed after leaving this city. One of the Bastion's own also fell here during the demonic attack, while doing the Domain Lord's work. The spirit stones sent from the capital were lost. And we have heard that powers beyond this domain took a hand in what happened."
Qin paused before continuing.
"We have come to learn the truth of these matters. We expect the full cooperation of those involved."
Ben remembered the spear woman striking the mortal-shedding cultivator from above. A talisman had lent her speed she could not sustain; her hands had been shaking as its strength faded. She had still been fighting when he pulled Dao Zhen away. He had not seen her die.
He had thought of her as a cultivator the Bastion happened to have in Redstone. Now he wondered whether she had been watching the city for it. Her death might have cost the capital more than a fighter.
Huo Zhenyang assured Qin that Redstone would help her inquiry. She acknowledged him and said she would question the clan leaders, the merchants involved in the auction, and the survivors of the fighting.
Ben would be among them. He watched Qin as she turned back to the hall.
"We understand that a greater power may have aided this city. We cannot compel those beyond the domain's authority. Their help in establishing what occurred would be welcome."
She had not named the Phantom Gate. Ben kept silent.
When the reception began to disperse, he followed his father toward the door. Qin's voice stopped him.
"Young Master Wang Ben. Walk with me."
He looked at his grandfather. Tiexin gave a small nod, and Ben turned to follow her down the side corridor.
"Your clan has endured a hard year," Qin said. "The war with the Xue. Xue Feng burning himself out with demonic power. The Domain Lord understands the dangers frontier clans face."
She stopped beside a window overlooking the garden.
"But five people traveling on his business were murdered. Their bodies have never been found. And your clan was connected to everyone involved."
"I was not there when they died."
"No. You were not." Qin faced him. "You were there for the Xue conflict, the auction, and the alliance that followed. Your city filled with demonic cultivators, yet the Wangs emerged stronger. Then the Domain Lord's people died on the road home. You must see why he wants answers."
Her pressure increased. Ben's next breath caught before he could steady it. He kept his hands at his sides and waited until he could speak without gasping.
[ALERT: Cultivation pressure increasing. Deliberate intimidation.]
"Many cultivators take an interest in other families," he said. "We have had help. There is nothing strange in that."
Qin studied him. Then the pressure eased, and he could breathe freely again. She looked more tired than troubled by his answer. Perhaps she thought the Wangs' protectors were people she could face herself. He could not tell how much she knew, but the possibility stayed with him.
"We will speak at greater length tomorrow," she said. "Consider this a courtesy. The Domain Lord prefers cooperation to confrontation, but he will have his answers."
She left him beside the garden window. Ben listened to her steps recede before returning toward the hall.
...
At the evening meal, the delegation occupied the high tables. The Wangs sat several tables below them, close enough for Ben to watch while he ate.
Qin kept a sealed scroll to the left of her bowl. Her hand returned to it while she listened to the people around her. Huang Ying had brought a small book to the meal. He opened it twice, read a little between mouthfuls, and closed it again. Ben could see neither what he read nor what lay beneath Qin's seal.
Wei Zhennan seemed more interested in his food. Yet each time he put his cup down, he turned it a quarter-turn first. Ben was watching his hand when the Commander looked across the hall.
The man from the second row sat among the city's guests. He met Wei's eyes for a breath, then returned to his meal. Wei did the same.
Ben lowered his eyes to his bowl. He knew no more about that glance than he did about the goods being sent toward Frozen Jade, the plainly dressed man who had watched the delegation earlier, or the pressure the Bastion was putting on his clan. He wanted to know whether any of them belonged to the same trouble. For now, he had only seen two men look at each other.
When the meal ended, he left the hall and found a quiet courtyard. He had been there only a little while when Huo Zhanlong came through the entrance.
"A difficult day," the Prince said.
He sat on a stone bench. Ben remained standing.
"The Bastion wants someone to answer for five deaths," Huo Zhanlong continued. "Qin must take the Domain Lord an account he can accept. That does not mean she will get everything she asks for."
"You seem certain."
"I have watched Bastion politics all my life. Qin is good at her work. Give her an answer that satisfies her, and she will take it back. Leave her with questions, and she will keep asking them."
Ben waited. The Prince had not followed him out merely to explain the inquiry.
"The kingdom needs formation masters for its war," Huo Zhanlong said. "Your clan's work has drawn attention beyond this domain. In the capital, and beyond the kingdom as well. The empire has a long memory. It would be a waste to let an investigation break a clan we could use. Or to let the Bastion take it for itself."
His grandfather had counted on that difference between what the kingdom wanted and what the Bastion might demand. Here was the Prince suggesting he might act on it. Ben looked at him in the dim courtyard, trying to judge what such help would cost afterward.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing tonight."
Huo Zhanlong rose from the bench.
"Tomorrow, watch the questions. Those they ask, and those they take care not to ask. You may learn more from that than from their speeches."
He left Ben under the cold stars. Ben did not ask the System who was behind what he had seen. He wanted a name, but he had nothing more to give it than the day's scattered observations.
Tomorrow he would listen to Qin again, and watch the men around her.