Shen Mingxia just stared at Ma Caihong with her eyes so wide that Sen worried she might damage them. Then, the woman lurched to her feet, slammed her hands together, and bowed so low she was basically looking at the floor.

“Lady Ma Caihong, this unworthy one is Shen Mingxia. I apologize for—” Her words trailed off when it finally seemed to occur to her that she hadn’t actually done anything wrong. “It is the greatest honor of my life to meet the esteemed Alchemy’s Handmaiden!”

When no one said anything, Shen Mingxia lifted her head just enough that Sen could shake his head at her in disapproval. Taking pity on her, Sen walked over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up straight. He gave Auntie Caihong a disapproving look because he could see that little twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

“Auntie, this is Shen Mingxia. You’ll have to forgive her. Being in a sect has clearly damaged her mind. Shen Mingxia, you’ve met my auntie. That is Kho Jaw-Long, or as I like to call him, Uncle Kho.”

“Kho Jaw-Long,” muttered Shen Mingxia, before her eyes threatened to do unnatural things again. “The Living Spear!”

If Sen hadn’t kept a firm grip on her arm, she would have done another of those incredibly awkward-looking bows. Instead, she sort of flopped forward at an angle and her arm spun in Sen’s hand. She lurched around and bumped into Sen’s chest. She stared up at him, and he could read the near-perfect panic on her face. He just shook his head again. Sen planned to wait for her to calm down. When she just kept shaking and staring up at him like he was the only boat in a flood, he knew he’d have to act. He lifted his free hand and poked her forehead with a finger. The tap seemed to jar loose a bit of sanity, which Sen came to understand might have been even worse. She started whispering at him.

“Sen, you need to get me out of here. You need to get me out of here right now! Do you have any idea what they’re going to do to someone like me?”

Ignoring her pleading, Sen spoke in a bland voice, “Uncle Kho, are you planning to kill Shen Mingxia?”

Uncle Kho, who had gone to sit on the floor next to Zhi and was exclaiming over her pictures, glanced up.

“What? Why would I do that?”

“No reason. I was just asking. Auntie Caihong, were planning on running some terrifying experiment on her with your alchemy?”

Ma Caihong looked like she desperately wanted to say yes, just to see what would happen, but Sen’s narrowed eyes put that idea to rest.

“Of course, I’m not going to run any experiments on her. The poor thing is a formation foundation cultivator in a sect. That seems far worse than anything I could do her.”

Shen Mingxia was still staring up at him, although he could feel that her heart wasn’t racing quite as fast.

“They’re really not going to do anything to me?” she whispered.

“One, they can hear you. Two, they’re my family, and you’re my guest. Three, you’re Ai’s friend. Of course, they aren’t going to do anything to you,” said Sen before he thought it through a little more. “Well, they aren’t going to hurt you. I make no promises about the kinds of questions they may ask you.”

Sen would never know if it was his comments, his clear lack of concern, or the reassurances from the nascent soul cultivators that let Shen Mingxia finally get a grip on her emotions. She did finally seem to realize that she’d pressed herself up against Sen like he was some kind of sheltering wall. She hurriedly stepped back and her cheeks went a little pink. Giggling, Ai came over and grabbed the woman’s hand.

“Auntie Mingxia, you made funny faces.”

“Yeah. I sure did,” said Mingxia weakly.

The little girl pulled the reluctant formation foundation cultivator over to where Uncle Kho and Zhi were sitting. Sen walked over to Auntie Caihong.

“Be nice,” he muttered.

“It was just a little fun,” she said.

“Not for her.”

“I suppose that’s true. I’ll make it up to her,” said Auntie Caihong before she looked around the galehouse. “Where’s Falling Leaf?”Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“She said she was going exploring today. We’re a bit close to the town for her liking and the forest is right there. I expect she’ll be back before too long.”

“Idle curiosity, why is there a sect cultivator in your home? You don’t usually get along very well with them.”

“She’s here because…You know what? That’s a really long story, and if I’m going to tell it, I should bring in that core cultivator who’s lurking outside. You should feel free to have fun at that one’s expense.”

“Sen!” exclaimed a scandalized Shen Mingxia.

“Oh, fine. Don’t terrify her. Actually, we should do that tomorrow. The girls are going to be all riled up with new faces here. No need to add to that chaos.”

As if to prove his point, the girls ran over to him yelling in unison. “Shadow dog!”

“Sen, make shadow dog,” pleaded Ai.

“Please, Uncle Sen,” chimed in Li Zhi.

“I don’t know. Have you been good girls today?” asked Sen.

The two girls stared up at him with identical expressions of pure innocence and nodded. From the look he saw on Auntie Caihong’s face, he thought she wanted to just scoop them both up and keep them forever. Sen stroked his chin in thought.

“What will you give me for performing this mighty magic for you?”

“Hugs,” said Ai.

“Hugs!” said Sen. “How could I possibly turn down a treasure like hugs? Very well, I will summon forth the great shadow dog.”

Sen made a big show of concentrating before thrusting his hand at a corner. The form of a dog the black of deepest shadow sprang out and looked around.

“Yay!” cheered the girls.

Sen leaned down. “Where are my treasures?”

The girls both threw their arms around his neck for a moment before crashing across the room toward the dog. Fu Ruolan finally rejoined the conversation at that point.

“It looks like you’ve refined that one,” she said.

Sen nodded. “It’s getting better. I still haven’t figured out how to make it sapient.”

“Sapient?” asked Uncle Kho, rejoining the group. “Why would you want to make it sapient?”

“It’d make a good guard for them,” said Sen.

“What use is a shadow guard?” asked Auntie Caihong. “Would it come and warn you?”

That was when the Zhi climbed up onto the shadow construct and it began a slow meander around the interior of the galehouse. Ai walked behind them with her hands wrapped around the construct’s tail. Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong look mildly stunned. Fu Ruolan looked on with an air of smug satisfaction so thick it was almost tangible.

“Sen?” asked Uncle Kho.

“Yes?”

“Is that charming little girl riding on top of a shadow dog that you made?”

“Well, it’s not really a dog. It’s just a construct I made to look like a dog. If I can crack that sapience thing, though, I could make them a real shadow dog.”

“I think you missed the important part of my question,” said Uncle Kho. “You made that shadow construct solid enough that it’s safe for her to ride it?”

“Oh, yeah. That thing will stay tangible like that for five or six hours as it is. It was kind of a rush job. When I really focus on making one, it’ll last for a whole day. The problem is that I have to make it move around and interact with them. If I don’t, it just stands there. Not much fun for the girls when it’s like that.”

“How long have you been working to master this technique?” asked Auntie Caihong.

“It’s not really a technique. This was just something I figured out how to do on the side while I was trying to figure something else out. I mean, it’s got some uses in a fight, but it’s kind of slow to make anything practical. So, I mostly just use it to make things for the girls to play with.”

“Like what?” asked Uncle Kho.

“All kinds of things. Balls are pretty easy to make. I do flowers. Stuff for them to climb around on. It turns out that you can make a big, fluffy cushion out of shadow even easier than using air qi. And it makes sure they don’t get hurt when they fall. I make them houses to play in sometimes.”

“You make them houses?” demanded Auntie Caihong. “Tangible houses that they can move around in? Made from shadow?”

Sen nodded. “I do scale them down a little bit so they can reach everything. I also make sure everything stays a bit soft so there’s nothing they can injure themselves on. You know, it’s actually easier to do it that way than to make something that’s completely rigid. Took me a while to realize that.”

The longer Sen talked, the happier he saw Fu Ruolan get. He couldn’t bring himself to blame her. She’d had a hand in making this all happen. He supposed she was taking a bit of pleasure out of having taught him something that Uncle Kho and Auntie Caihong found so impressive. The fact that this was just a byproduct of trying to figure out the true technique probably added a bit more enjoyment to the moment. There’s probably some ego involved with it too, thought Sen. Fu Ruolan was a nascent soul cultivator who had, as far as he could tell, been living in the shadows of Auntie Caihong, Uncle Kho, and Master Feng for a very long time.

He wasn’t sure if this felt like a balancing of some old inequity to her, but she was genuinely happy for once. Far be it from him to steal that from her. Sen did smirk to himself as he reached over and grabbed Shen Mingxia as she tried to sneak out while everyone was distracted. He pulled her over and draped an arm around her shoulder. It was everything he could do to keep the laugh inside as she stared murder at him. Ignoring her glare, he plucked the piece of paper she was trying to hide from her hand and glanced at it. His heart melted a little at what he saw.

“It’s a rather good likeness. Don’t you agree, Auntie Caihong?” asked Sen, handing over the picture and ignoring the elbow that Shen Mingxia rammed into his ribs.

The nascent soul cultivator took the paper and peered down at the picture of Ai that Shen Mingxia had rendered in shades of black and gray. The girl wore a happy little smile while she pondered something unseen in the distance. Auntie Caihong looked up at the struggling foundation formation cultivator that Sen still had locked into place with his arm around her.

“Come with me, dear,” said Auntie Caihong. “We have something to discuss.”

“What?” wheezed Shen Mingxia.

“I wish to buy this. We need to discuss a fair price.”

Sen gave Shen Mingxia a big smile. “See. Nothing to worry about.”

Shen Mingxia’s expression told him that she was certain he had lost his damn mind.