The wards on the door brought weaving to Xi's mind even though he had never worked the loom himself. The wisps came together to make strands, the strands became fabric. Unlike the silk, the magic ribbon did not draw the eye, it repelled all senses compelling an intruder to walk away. Once he understood the nature of the thing, his hsin sheared right through the middle.

The door slid to the side revealing what on Tiandi might have been a mage's laboratory or a smith's forge or both.

The tubes carried their bounty of liquid metal along the ceiling, but the splitters directed small amounts to the workbenches. Set metal was also everywhere: metal stretched into wire, twisted in spirals, beaten into plates and cast into ingots, all that metal scattered around or inserted into automatons. Strange instruments in exotic colours and shapes could have been finished products, tools or weapons.

Among the clutter, a pair of matching short swords propped against a wooden block drew Xi's eyes, the refreshingly familiar objects, with a clear purpose, beautiful. The swords had a heavy spine and aggressive chopper blades that would bite into anything almost as good as an axe. The metal was darker than bronze, with a raindrop pattern, green in hue but not the green of a patina.

"Guard the door, Chong Xi."

Sayewa went around opening valves and filling her containers with liquid.

Xi leaned against the cold metal wall next to the door, though he did not know what he was supposed to do. If a Celestial burst in, the best he could offer was a heartfelt apology. His eyes kept darting towards the swords. As the faery continued to scavenge, his spine unglued itself from the warming metal behind it. Step by a reluctant step, he drifted away from his post towards the swords. A metal weapon would disrupt his talents, but he thought that the blades would look just right in Minh's decisive, agile hands.

"Chong Xi." Sayewa's voice was still a whisper, but she was throwing urgent glances towards the door, an unusual strain evident on her face.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming." He stroked the swords's leather-wrapped hilts, because he could not leave without touching them, and hurried back to the door.

Three things happened at once.

A gleaming stack of metal boxes separated itself from the wall, soundlessly.

The door closed into his face, also soundlessly.

A dome of glass dropped to trap them. Soundlessly, of course.

The silence was what frightened him more than the coordinated precision of the three actions used to trap them. Instinctively, he huddled closer to Sayewa, watching the top of the metal boxy structure tilt, inspecting them.

The thing moved next to their glass prison, liquified and remodelled itself into a shiny copper lion with a mane of identical curls.

"Your Illumined Grace!" Sayewa cried out, pulling Xi down to his knees next to her. She was still clutching the box with the samples too. Xi admired her grit.

"Ah, you must be from Tiandi. Always hugging the floor." The lion's whiskers made a melodious sound as he spoke. "Did the old rat send you?"

"The Mistress of Rats sent us," Sayewa confirmed.

Celestial Lion prowled while she told the tale. He kept on pacing after she'd finished. The air started to run out in their jar, so Xi freed himself from Sayewa's grasp, sat down cross-legged and slowed down his breath, leaving as much air for the faery as possible. If anyone stood a chance of talking them out of this conundrum, it was her.

The lion had finally stopped his pacing and waved. The glass dome lifted up, releasing them, leaving Xi dizzy. He rolled forward from sitting onto all fours, dropping his head down. It was not so much the reverence, it made the fighting for breath easier.

"I am considering setting a trap for the old rat to get a slice on her meddling with the world under the interdict. I liked it there," Celestial Lion said.

Xi nearly expected Sayewa spill the beans on the Mistress of Rats not having any influence on the events back home, but she said nothing.

"I will let you carry my samples to her, Tiandi-dwellers. But first..." Celestial Lion flipped his tail, and his snarl took on an enigmatic aspect. "From what I remember of your culture, you delight in stories with magical creatures and riddles. Here is one for the quiet one.

Quickly now. What do you wish for, but cannot have?"

It did not feel real, a Celestial looking quizzically at him, Sayewa squinting, both of them seemingly waiting for him to do something. The leaden fatigue flooded Xi despite the tension. The unknowable aspects of the city, all the things he could not understand around him, the Celestial's puzzle that had too many answers, and none - it all hammered his hsin.

Love, he thought desperately, the answer has to be love.

His tongue would not obey his mind, it would not release the word. It was much like his test - he knew his name, he could not say it.

Love... Moving like in a dream, barely aware of what he was about to do, Xi kissed Sayewa on the lips. The touch was brief, cool and fragrant, like kissing the first flower to open in the morning. The faery's feelings moved through amusement to concern so fast that Xi could not decide if he had gleaned affection at first.

It was not a dream.

He'd just smooched a faery.

Given a chance, he could explain it. Oh, please, give me a chance!

"A logical choice, Chong Xi. A faery is even more long-living than a mage, and is designed to love humanity," Sayewa commented. "You Illustrious Grace, allow me to explain my companion's logic—"

Celestial Lion chortled. "I accepted the answer, even though I expected Chong Xi to point to the butterfly swords he admired earlier."

It was an apt name for the weapons that folded together like two mirrored wings. Heartened by the benevolent twinkle in the Celestial's gaze, Xi sighed. He had passed the test, and lo and behold, the words now flowed freely from his lips, and less awkwardly than the kisses. "A kiss was closer conceptually, Your Illumined Grace. The swords also reminded me of... of someone I will never see again, but --- "

And just like that, he was tongue-tied again, weighed heavily by something from within.

"Never and impossible are the words frowned upon here," the lion chided and tilted his head towards the swords. "Take them."

Xi heard Sayewa shift uneasily behind him, and asked, "If I bring them home with me, would it unleash the Inscrutable Contagion?"

"They are not of our making. I acquired them in a quaint world on a whim as a souvenir. Save for the beautiful workmanship, the blades have no energy... magic you would call it. You found your way to them, and that has to mean something. I am curious what it is... so, go on, take them."

An ant does not refuse an Emperor's gift. Xi bowed, slipped the two swords together, and stuffed them behind his belt with numb fingers. Slimmer than the new moon, hope whispered into his eager ear. If this has to mean something, let it mean against all odds I will see Minh again.

Distracted by the loud, irregular tempo of his heart, Xi barely heard Celestial Lion say, "Return to your employer, give her my samples, get the blueprints, save your world, or whatever else you plan to do."

Belatedly, Xi threw himself on the ground next to Sayewa, to receive an annoyed 'tsk' for his efforts.

Celestial Lion dismissed them with a regal wave of his paw.

The door gaped again, but just before they crossed the threshold of the lab, he spoke up. "Wait. The faery one, come here."

Sayewa obeyed, and they whispered between themselves for a few moments. If they wished to be secretive, they need not have bothered with lowering their voices. The noise of the workshop would have covered anything short of shouting.

The faery tore herself from the Celestial's side with a look of a palpable regret and a prolonged farewell, then marched on in thoughtful silence.

Xi cleared his throat to attract her attention. She did not pay him any heed, but he plunged in regardless. "I apologize, Serene Mother. I acted on impulse. It was an impudent gesture."

"It is unlike a mage to do so." Sayewa said distractedly. She walked a few more steps lost in thoughts, then gave a shake of her head and re-focused on him.

"If you are struggling for control of your hsin, Chong Xi, I extend you an invitation for a stay at the Temple." Her usual clipped manner was back. Xi did not know if he was sad or glad about breaking her trance. He squirmed under the gaze of her four eyes, feeling like a sample of metal they'd just collected being examined. "There are precedents in history for mages taking a retreat with us after taking the name. Our records indicate it is not always a smooth transition from an apprentice to a mage."

"I... Maybe." Xi said, deflated. He did something he'd thought he'd never do. He'd kissed a woman. He'd kissed a faery! And she'd lectured him on the properties of his hsin, and offered a simple fix. It irked him by some reason, making him look for an excuse to reject her impeccable logic, which was also unlike what the mages should---

"I must speak to my mother first."

Strangely, it sounded less like an excuse, more like the right thing to do. After years of anguish and months of fighting, he found his mother only to run away in a fit of pique. And she let him. She'd always let him do what he wished. Perhaps that was the root of his problems. Maybe if he patched up their strained bond, his thoughts would stop chasing the impossible desires like a dog after its tail.

"A wise course of actions," the faery agreed soothingly.

Her voice tugged at Xi's heartstrings almost in the same way the memory of Minh's laughter did. He could not go on with his emotions dashing out in all directions like that, like the runners from a strawberry plant, trying to anchor his affections on someone.

Maybe he should lock himself away in the faery monastery for a few decades until he could get a hold of himself. Reflexively, he found the handle of the butterfly sword. And how am I going to give these to Minh then?

Xi gritted his teeth in frustration. "Do you know of any apprentice who grew empathic after taking his name?"

"Hmm." The faery did not stop, but three of her eyes did not leave his face, and a healthy crop of golden yellow flowers came up in her hair. "I do not, but I will conduct research when I can. Could you describe it more precisely?"

Xi shrugged. "Of late, I feel what others feel when my flesh comes into contact with theirs. I can only speculate that it is muted, but it has a powerful effect on me, as I am used to modulating my hsin."

"Hmm," Sayewa repeated. She stopped to cup his cheek, affection unmistakable in both the touch and the voice. "Yu's imprint is a strong one, Chong Xi. Eventually, it will fade as you practice your craft."

And, even after her fingers withdrew, and she walked off again, he knew that sadness veiled the affection and that neither was directed at him. He should have known that Yu would haunt him.

The silence of the private kind thickened again between them, while the crazy Celestial city continued clanging, trampling and whooshing about. They reached the Mistress of Rat's abode without saying another word to one another.