Chapter Twenty-Two - China

  Holding up a finger, she said, “Actually, just wait one moment.” He looked a little confused until she sidled over to Camille and threw up a wind and illusion wall so they could see or hear them. Quickly, she asked the princess, “I probably should have asked this beforehand, but what’s the policy on bribes? Because trading stuff is one thing, but outright gifts is another and I need to know where we stand on this.”

  Camille rolled her eyes. “Just take the gifts. They’ve already given plenty to us, and we’ll be giving more when they leave, as long as it’s not because they broke your contract.”

  “Sooo…we’re not worried about bribery cases?” This was technically the first time she’d exchanged gifts with any of the delegations, so she just wanted to be sure.

  Letting out a small annoyed huff, Cami shook her head. “No. As you said, they’re trying to win you over. We both know that’s not something that will happen easily. Just think of it like the stuff we give you all the time.”

  “But that’s different. I’m offering value to the kingdom or something.” Even if she had received a lot from them, it didn’t feel the same. Or maybe they’d just slowly boiled her until she’d accepted it. Actually, no, scratch that. The princesses had basically hit her with a firehose of gifts as soon as they met her. But she lived here, and she was contributing.

  With a long-suffering sigh, her friend looked her dead in the eyes and said, “Just take the gifts. If you have to think about it in terms of value… You’ve traded them rings, yes. But you’ve also given them those roses, plus discovered a fundamental problem with their entire culture and given them a way to fix it. There’s not really a price tag on that.”

  “Oh. I hadn’t thought of it like that.” She nodded. “All right. I can work with that. I just wanted to double check before I did something else stupid.”

  “Obviously.” Her friend replied sarcastically, then gestured to the others. “Now, shall we get to it before they get impatient?”

  Putting on a smile, Jade let the barrier drop as she strode back over the Lochlann, who was arranging things on the table. Some he’d brought out from the ring, putting it to good use, and others arrived as servants carried in boxes. “So, what have you got there?” She asked enthusiastically, eyeing the shinies on the table. It was like her own little shopping experience in a foreign market full of her favorite kinds of things.

  She had to think it was tailored specifically for her the more she looked, because the shinies were numerous. Her fingers automatically reached for a tiny jade carving of a rooda, picking it up reverently as she admired the details.

  Lochlann let out a short laugh as he said, “Well, as you can see, we’ve got a bunch of different things you can find in Saibreh. Given your enjoyment of tiny things, we thought you’d like the carvings.” He held up another one that was made of pale green jade, and was a lovely facsimile of her fellacai.

  Willow flew down from her perch, landing on Lochlann’s hand next to the figure as she radiated her approval through the bond. It was actually closer to Andy’s coloring, but maybe that was the appeal for her little queen. Admiring the assortment of jade jewelry, statues, and even a few stick ornaments she assumed were for hair, she laughed and asked, “A little on the nose, are we?” Giving all the jade to Jade.

  Katie piped up from beside her, “We actually use jade a lot. But you seem to like it too, which is just a happy coincidence. Tao carved the fellacai figurine yesterday.”

  Jade raised a brow at the quiet spatial mage, realizing that he was quite the crafter. He gave his cousin a bit of a helpless smile as he said, “I needed something to do with my hands.” Ah, right. He was clearly a warrior and had been stuck here when people were dying in a massive fight. She could see how he might want to expend some of his nervous energy in creating something.

  “Well, it’s gorgeous. Willow approves.” A tiny peep from her queen confirmed her statement before she took flight, landing on Tao to bask in his aura. Laughing softly, she said, “Seems she likes you too.”

  “I’m honored.” He replied, bowing his head slightly as he both tried to remain still and get a closer look at the queen on his shoulder.

  Lochlann put down the carved fellacai now that the real one left his hand, gesturing to another side of the table with a different theme. “These are some of the products we make from batambu. The feamhor is something nearly every child learns to make, much to the dismay of many parents.” She couldn’t help but laugh. It looked like a pan flute, but she imagined it was this world’s version of a recorder used to terrorize parents with their endless tooting. There was something niggling at her brain that said she hadn’t heard a word he said right, but she dismissed it.

  He moved on to a soft fabric woven into two beautiful outfits. One was vaguely reminiscent of a long Chinese coat with narrow pants, and the other was an empire waist dress with long bell sleeves that she wouldn’t blink twice at if it belonged to an elf. Below it was more fabric that hadn’t been made into anything, and she had the sudden urge to make it into a modified qipao or kimono.

  “The batambu fabric is finely woven and dyed by our best craftsmen to be both durable and soft. We’ve included two of our more traditional dresses that showcase their artistry.” He stopped to pull out a few sets of what looked like long johns, “But it’s also a favorite to wear under tight-fitting armor pieces, being flexible and strong.”

  She appreciated that he’d catered to both her practical and shiny side. At some point, she was absolutely going to prance around swinging those incredibly long sleeves whilst pretending she was a fairy cultivator. Her brain caught again though, and she finally realized what was bugging her. “Wait, did you call it batambu?”

  “Yes, that’s the name of the plant growing throughout the compound. You seem surprised?” Duke Telemar hadn’t specifically included the plant in their lesson, and she realized it was because it was so common they didn’t really keep stock of it. There was oodles of it just growing in the yard, after all.

  Shaking her head, she gave them a rueful smile. “I suppose I shouldn’t be. It’s just very similar to a plant from my world. I think I was just kind of skipping over the name because it’s so similar, but we called it bamboo.” Glancing out the window, she figured she should probably grab some of it just to check out what differences they might find.

  “Fascinating…” She heard Craig mutter as he, too, studied the greenery they took for granted.

  “Anyway, yes. It’s called batambu here. Aside from cloth, the paintings you asked for are all done on the paper we make from the fibers.” Here he pointed at several rolled scrolls that she assumed were the art she wanted. She was looking forward to the unboxing of those, curious to see how their aesthetics lined up with her own. Wisely, she chose to leave that for when she actually was alone, so she didn’t accidentally offend them if she hated it.

  Lochlann was still talking, unaware of her mental distraction. “Its flexibility also makes for excellent bows. Both body and string are made from the plant.” She accepted the weapon curiously, but she couldn’t actually test it without two good arms, so she put it down rather quickly. He seemed to realize his mistake as he quickly jumped to the arrows. “The younger plants are excellent for making ammunition.” Here, he grinned. “The hollow stems create an excellent delivery system to hold all manner of interesting concoctions.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  That had her interest, and she looked carefully to see the intricate metalwork that capped the thin green rods. The back end was also covered in metal, likely to keep whatever liquid they poured in place. But the tip had a fascinating mechanism that would puncture and then move slightly to release the poison, or whatever else they chose, into the target. She was betting on poison. Maybe they had some version of a tranquilizer. It wouldn’t be that much of a leap from their calming tea. A tranq gun would be helpful in safely bonding, she imagined. Especially if all you needed was one of the domination bonds for farm animals.

  When she finally set it down, he moved towards the last major item on the table. “And this is–”

  “A guzheng!” She interrupted in excitement. “I’ve only ever seen them on shows, but they sound so pretty!”

  “You’ve seen one before?” Katie asked curiously, then muttered, “Of course you have. You got the name right. Wait. How did you get the name right?”

  Shaking her head, Jade looked at Lochlann, “Please tell me at least one of those books you gave me talks about the traveler who introduced these.”

  He nodded, still processing his surprise as he spoke slowly, “Yes, the Traveler Meng Tian the Maker. He was one of the founders of Saibreh.”

  “Yeah. That tracks.” She nodded like everything made sense, because to her, it did.

  Everyone else, however, looked confused. Haltingly, Lochlann asked, “How do you know this instrument? Do you also have travelers on your past world?”

  Shaking her head, she replied, “Uh. No. But with that name, and all of this stuff…I’m just gonna take a wild guess and say he was from China.”

  Frowning, Apollos blurted out, “Our records say he called his world Xingshing, and said he was from Johnguo. I don’t think you’re talking about the same place.”

  Letting out a sigh, she just asked, “And how long ago was this?”

  “Nearly a thousand years ago.” Lochlann replied almost immediately. Which was interesting, because it meant Saibreh had a much longer history than Caoi did.

  “Well then, that explains it.” They continued to look confused, so she informed them, “That long ago, people were probably unaware of the wider world. Travel outside of your native country was extremely difficult, and only done by certain groups, like merchants and royal explorers. China was on the other side of the world from where I lived, and their language is incredibly different…but if you garbled it a bit, it would sound like those words you just used. He was probably just saying the word in his own language. Unfortunately, I don’t have easy translation at the tip of my fingers anymore, so I can’t be sure.” Not to mention linguistic shifts, but that wasn’t important right now.

  “So you think you’re from the same place?” Duke Telemar asked curiously.

  Glancing around, she zeroed in on Tao and asked a question in return, “Do you have surviving pictures or descriptions of him?” At their nods, she pointed to the young man and asked, “And do his features look like Tao at all?”

  “Well…yes… Tao and Katie are his great-great-great…lots of great descendants, after all.” Lochlann admitted easily.

  “Then yeah. I’m like ninety percent sure we’re from the same world. Just, you know, at least a thousand years apart.” Maybe. She didn’t know if timeline shenanigans were a thing. She wouldn’t put it past the gods. Plus, they seemed to like pulling from Earth, if the point that she thought at least two of the other travelers were from there was valid. Obviously not everyone, but it was at least one of the pools they were drawing from.

  Using her good hand, she plucked at one of the strings of the guzheng and smiled as it twanged pleasantly, then went on. “So anyway, now that we’ve got that figured out. Is all of this stuff for me, or am I supposed to pick my favorites? Totally fine either way, I just need to know.”

  Sighing, Lochlann slumped down onto the couch as he asked wearily, “You just broke our brains. Can you give me a minute to catch up?”

  “Yep. Sure, sure. Take all the time you need.” She smiled awkwardly, trying to figure out how to get away faster. The weirdness in the room was making her jittery.

  Duke Telemar seemed to pick up on that, because he stepped in and said, “Everything here is for you, if you like it.”

  “Oh, that’s great! Thank you. It all looks fantastic to me. I was worried about having to pick and choose.” She laughed uncomfortably as she started touching things and making them vanish. The table was cleared within seconds and she clapped her hands together softly. “Well, with that said, I do have other places to be, so I will leave you guys to process that information.”

  “Wait!” Lochlann sprung to his feet, going around to pick up a coolbox she hadn’t noticed before popping it onto the table and opening it. “We also have some snacks that–”

  “Is that MOCHI!?” Jade interrupted him again in her excitement, her fingers already reaching for the treat. Lochlann let out another long suffering sigh as she picked up one of the pink confections and took a big bite. Groaning in bliss, she carefully chewed and swallowed as she nodded. “It is. Sweet nectar, I thought I’d never taste you again.”

  To be fair, she’d only tasted it once before, but it left an impression. Apollos finally added from the couch, “I think we can safely say she’s correct in her assumption.” One item was a coincidence. Multiple, plus the ancestry lines? Probably not.

  “So, do you need me to introduce you to any of this?” At this point, the prince seemed tired. Jade was almost hugging the chest, which was mostly full of different flavors of mochi.

  “Nope! I will enjoy finding out for myself. Mochi!” She almost squealed the last word, still absolutely jittery about reconnecting with the treat. With sparkly anime-sized eyes, she gave him her best puppy face as she asked, “What will it take for you to teach someone to make these for me forever?” Surely Jessica or Kaylee would be up to learning how.

  “You could just come to Saibreh, and then you’d have them all the time.” Apollos interjected helpfully.

  Giving him a momentary death stare, she schooled her expression back to sparkly eyes and turned to Lochlann again. “So, as I was saying, what will it take for you to teach a person of my choice?”

  “You don’t want to learn yourself?” Katie asked curiously, interrupting her negotiation again.

  Mildly irritated, she gave Katie a stiff smile as she replied, “No, I think some things are best left delegated to professionals. Everyone has their strengths.” And cooking was not one of hers. Besides, she didn’t need to do everything by herself. She really enjoyed the awesome food the girls whipped up for her. Her voice was starting to sound mildly condescending, and Cami gave her a warning poke in the side. She sent an irritated glance at the princess, too. No one was going to stop her from obtaining delicious mochi for the foreseeable future!

  Lochlann looked torn, but it seemed Duke Telemar caught onto the slightly crazed look that was growing in her eyes as he stepped in, putting a hand on the prince’s shoulder as he interjected smoothly, “We would be happy to teach someone how to make them for you.”

  At least someone had the presence of mind not to stand between her and her beloved food. “That would be absolutely lovely, thank you. I have just the person in mind, but I’ll contact you to make arrangements after I speak to them.” Well, two people. She’d see who was more interested after she got back. But it seemed he realized that holding it over her head would be a very, very bad plan. At least someone seemed to.

  The box she was holding vanished, pilfered with all its current contents. Lochlann weakly waved her over to a different section, where she saw a wide selection of glassware arranged. “Go ahead and take it.” He seemed defeated, and she briefly patted him awkwardly on the shoulder before snatching the enchanted bottles into her ring.

  “Much appreciated. And don’t stress too much about the new information. Being from the same place as me doesn’t actually change anything about him. It just gives you more potential information and context about his previous life. I’ll take some time to organize what I know about China for you guys.”

  It wouldn’t be complete information, because most of her information came from webnovels and movies, but it would be more than they currently had. She paused, then asked, “Oh, if you guys have any sheet music or books that have a basic introduction to the guzheng, that would be great. I just know it’s pretty; I have absolutely no idea how to play it.”

  “I’ll see what we have.” The prince nodded tiredly, but seemed a little cheered at the prospect of the information she offered.

  “Great! Then we’ll talk to you soon. We’re just gonna go collect her siblings and then we’ll get out of your hair for a while.” Jade grabbed onto Camille’s arm and started tugging her out of the room as they belatedly performed small bows. She waved them off and practically dragged the princess towards the doors to the outdoors as Willow quickly fled Tao to land on her hair. She’d dropped enough bombshells on the delegation, and it was time to vamoose.

  She had a potion to try!