Book 12: Chapter 7: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
“What do you mean to do with it?” asked Lo Meifeng as she looked around.
The sect compound that had oh so recently housed the Lunar Tiger Sect now stood empty. Sen had swept through the place, seizing the treasures he personally wanted and securing vows to the heavens from the less combat-oriented members of the sect. Then, he’d ordered them all outside the walls to join the army encampment. The compound, which had seemed almost undersized when the entirety of the Lunar Tiger Sect membership was within its walls, now seemed enormous in its emptiness. An effect amplified by the sound-dampening formations that kept the city noise at bay.
It had never occurred to him to make something like that for Lu Manor or his own sect. He hadn’t realized just how loud the city was until after he’d passed into that dampening field. There was something to be said for not having to block out all of that sound. After giving it some thought, though, he decided not to add them around his own manor or sect. It might make life more pleasant. However, it also came with the risk of blocking out information that might be important. Shaking off those thoughts, he looked around the empty compound again.
“I don’t intend to do anything with it,” he told her. “I intend to make you do things with it. Your spy organization needs somewhere to work from. The foxes need a more secure place to live.”
“Damn it,” muttered Lo Meifeng.
“Do you really think they’re safe where they are now?”
She gave him a halfhearted glower before saying, “No. It doesn’t mean I have to like the idea of them being here.”
“You’re free to dislike it all you want, as long as you make it work. I went through all the trouble of seducing Sun Linglu, just like you told me to, so you can put up with this.”
Lo Meifeng studied his face for several moments.
“You told her, didn’t you?”“That’s neither here nor there. What matters is that I did it.
“Of course, it matters. If she knows why—”
“I assure you that she didn’t care why it was happening.”
“How sure are you?”
“Supremely confident.”
“You’d be a terrible spy. It’s a good thing you decided to be a tyrant.”
“We’ve all got things we excel at,” he answered with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, I figure this will also make an adequate place for those mortals you’ve been training to use as a headquarters. There’s plenty of room for people to live. Areas for training. They’re even set up to do alchemical work, so you can make your own potions or poisons. It’s out of public view. I’d say it’s ideal.”
“It actually is perfect. Inspired, even. So, who did you steal the idea from?” she asked with a grin.
“Very funny. I am capable of thinking ahead when I’m not trying to do it at the same time someone is trying to kill me.”
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“That is distracting,” agreed Lo Meifeng.
“Here,” said Sen, tossing a small pouch to the woman. “I kept a few things for myself, but that’s most of the Lunar Tiger Sect's assets. Should be plenty to keep you all going for a time. I do expect you to negotiate fairly with the foxes and those mortals about how all of that gets distributed. They’ll need some of it to do their work, but I’m leaving the actual assets in your care for the time being.”
“Worried the foxes will run off with it?”
“Not really. Not at this point. I am worried that one of them will hide all of it because it sounded funny, and that they’ll forget where they left it.”
Lo Meifeng sighed and said, “I wish that sounded less plausible than it does.”
“Speaking of the mortals, how are they coming along?”
“I think they’re coming along well enough. Since you mean to have them doing something that no one else has ever done before, it’s hard to know exactly what kind of training they need.”
“Fair. Well, choose half of them, the ones you think are more ready, and let them know to start getting ready to move out. I need them to see how I handle things, so they’ll understand better how to interpret the things I send them to do.”
“You need to put one of them in charge.”
“I will, but not before I have a chance to get to know them all a little better. I’ll also listen to a recommendation. A bad choice there will haunt me for a long time, so I’d prefer to get it right if I can,” said Sen with a frown.
“That’s probably wise.”
“Did their robes and masks ever get made?”
“They did. I’ve got them in a crate at the manor.”
“Why are they in a crate?”
“Because they struck me as things that you should hand out. Maybe as part of a ceremony,” Lo Meifeng suggested.
“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.”
Lo Meifeng fixed him with an irritated look.
“What a fine memory you have, Lord Lu,” she sniped at him.
“I hate ceremony,” complained Sen. “I also have no idea what kind of ceremony to do with them.”
“I’m confident that you’ll come up with something appropriate. Have you decided what to do about those messengers you were half-training?”
Sen stared at her blankly for several seconds before he lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“You forgot about them, didn’t you?” Lo Meifeng asked with an evil smile.
“Forgot is such an—”
“Accurate word?”
“Yes. It’s an accurate word. It was one of those out of sight, out of mind things. Plus, none of them seemed to be getting very far with the new qinggong technique I was failing miserably to teach them.”
“Something to remember. When you’re the final authority in the land, and you tell people to do things, they don’t stop doing those things just because you stop paying attention.”
“So, they’ve been practicing since whenever it was that I last spoke to them?”
“They have. You might even be surprised by their progress. They seemed to think that you were going to teach them some kind of sword form if they mastered the qinggong technique.”
Once she said it, Sen did vaguely recall making a promise to that effect.
“I think I need someone to go around with me and write down the things I say I’ll do,” Sen observed.
“Now, you sound like a king.”
“Huzzah,” said Sen without any enthusiasm. “I don’t suppose you know about any other foolish promises I’ve clearly forgotten or tasks that I’ve been ignoring?”
Lo Meifeng frowned as she concentrated for a moment.
“Nothing comes to mind. I mean, except for the money you owe me.”
Sen jerked a little.
“What money?”
“From that bet we made.”
“I don’t remember making any bets with you.”
“Obviously. Aren’t these memory problems exactly why you just asked me if you’d forgotten anything?”
Sen narrowed his eyes at the woman and asked, “What did we bet about?”
“I bet you fifty gold that you’d give in and take the fox to bed.”
“Did you now?”
“I did.”
“Was I actually in the room when we made this bet?”
“Don’t get hung up on pesky details,” said Lo Meifeng, holding out her hand.
“You know, I’m tempted to pay you just because of the shameless bravado that took.”
“And?”
“I bet you fifty gold that I wouldn’t let you trick me this way.”
“When?”
“You shouldn’t get hung up on pesky details.”