Despite it feeling as though making the shadow wolves had taken a lot of time, Sen was surprised to find that it was still morning when they had all gone outside. Not that he felt the same weight of time pressing down on him the same way anymore. As they’d be taking mortals back with them, he’d expected the journey back to the capital to take weeks, or maybe even a month. The shadow constructs changed everything. If they could meet his expectations, which he thought they could, that journey would only take a handful of days.

It didn’t mean he could linger at home. Every delay was measured in lives lost, but it did mean he could take the rest of this one day rather than heading out immediately. Nor was it a wholly pointless delay. He needed some of that time to make the number of shadow constructs they’d require to make the journey. He also knew that he was going to have to give Auntie Caihong, Fu Ruolan, and Lai Dongmei some information. Otherwise, the three might explode from the sheer volume of frustration that was building inside of them.

Despite all of that, Sen found himself able to enjoy the chill morning air unencumbered for the first time in a long time. Problematic as his feat might be in the long run, it was still noteworthy. He had accomplished something that he’d been chasing after, fruitlessly, for years. That achievement filled him with a warm sense of contentment. It also soothed something angry and restless that had been gnawing at him for some time. While many might have seen his victory over the spirit beasts at the capital as more important, it had been a hollow experience for him. He took little pride in excelling at destruction. Any fool with a torch or a spear could destroy if they were motivated enough. Sen might be foolish sometimes, but he didn’t aspire to being a fool.

The constructs were as far from destruction as he could get. They were something he had made. He had created something instead of tearing something down. Watching the girls playing in the snow with their new guardians only added to that sense of contentment. He had used his mind, his intuition, and his power to make them safer. They weren’t safe, yet. That wouldn’t happen unless he won the war. That thought was usually sufficient to put him right back on edge, but reducing the danger they faced even a little was enough. It might only last for the one day, but it was enough. For a few minutes, he could just be present without the thousand worries of tomorrow crushing his peace of mind.

“She seems happy,” said Falling Leaf from beside him.

Sen followed the line of her gaze and saw that she was looking at Ai, who was yelling encouragement to the shadow wolf she was riding.

“I think she is,” said Sen. “I’m not sure how much the sky monster will like it.”

“Sky monster?” asked Falling Leaf before understanding lit her green eyes. “Oh, you mean Dancing Cloud. She definitely won’t like it.”

“Well, I guess that’s between her, Ai, and the shadow construct to work out.”

“She might just destroy it,” said Falling Leaf with a thoughtful look.

“She better not,” said Sen.

He would be aggravated if he had to redo that work because the Fenghuang was jealous. The situation would be even more aggravating because it would upset Ai if he started yelling at her Big Bird. She was very attached to her birds. He’d just have to hope that the spirit beast was more interested in Ai’s well-being and safety than securing the lion’s share of his daughter’s attention. A notion that, on balance, he thought was probably the case. He wasn’t sure of the Fenghuang’s age, but it was probably old enough not to overreact to the construct. Sen hoped that was the case anyway. He had a feeling that having an argument with the sky monster would make him look rather absurd.

Shaking off that mental image, Sen forced himself to consider what he needed to get done that day. He would be making more constructs, but he also needed to go tell the mortal prisoners that they were getting an extra day before they left. That also reminded him that Sua Xing Xing had come up with a way to let him spare the elderly among the mortals. He should probably collect her and go deal with that. It was a task that Sua Xing Xing or anyone else from the sect could deal with, but he wanted to make his expectations clear. This was a reprieve, not forgiveness. He’d just about convinced himself to go and do that when Li Hua walked over to him and Falling Leaf. She cast a complicated look at Zhi, who was piling snow onto her shadow wolf, before looking at Sen.

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“Yes?” he asked

“Is that thing… Is that thing safe to be around my daughter?” she asked.

“Do you think I’d leave one with my daughter if it wasn’t?” he asked in turn.

Li Hua pursed her lips before nodding an acknowledgment.

“Still, what am I supposed to feed it?”

“Feed it?” asked Sen blankly.

“Yes. It needs to eat, doesn’t it? Probably a lot by the size of it.”

Sen had to suppress a smile. It only sounded like a silly question because he already knew better.

“It doesn’t eat. It’s not actually alive,” Sen said.

He wasn’t sure that was accurate, but he didn’t want to confuse the issues in Li Hua’s mind. She gave him a skeptical look before turning her eyes on the shadow wolf that was hopping around her daughter.

“It looks pretty alive to me,” she noted dryly.

“I know,” admitted Sen, “but it’s not. It won’t get hungry, or cold, or have any needs that a normal dog would. Its only purpose is to protect Zhi.”

Sighing, Li Hua said, “You could have at least asked.”

“Yeah,” said Sen, wincing at the criticism. “I apologize for that. After I made one for Ai, it seemed like the thing to do. But I wouldn’t have liked it if someone gave Ai something like that without asking me.”

“It’s probably for the best,” she answered with a shake of her head. “Zhi would have begged me for one, and you wouldn’t have been here to make it.”

Recognizing that he was being let off lightly, Sen just agreed. They made polite conversation for a few minutes before the woman drifted off to meet Zhi’s new friend. Before he could get distracted again, he turned to Falling Leaf.

“We should go.”

“Where?” she asked.

“To visit the mortal prisoners.”

Falling Leaf made an unhappy face and said, “Why would I want to do that? Do you mean to kill them?”

“No, but you should start getting used to these tasks. I have to do a lot of things that you’ll find boring. If you mean to keep watch over me, you’ll have to be there for them.”

The ghost panther weighed those words.

“Very well,” she said. “If we must do this, let us do it quickly.”

Sen and Falling Leaf left everyone else behind at the galehouse and went to find Sua Xing Xing. Even when it was the Patriarch waiting, it still took several minutes for the woman to disentangle herself from the mountain of tasks that seemed to clutter her every day. Then, the three of them flew over the town to where the prisoners were camped. Falling Leaf made Sen carry them both on a qi platform, which he found odd.

“Didn’t you ever learn how to make a qi platform?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said.

“Then, why did you make me carry you?”

She gave him a baffled look and asked, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Sen blinked a few times, snorted, and said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you’ve been spending too much time with Lo Meifeng.”

Falling Leaf shrugged with a magnificent lack of concern. Sen settled them inside the mortal part of the camp, and Sua Xing Xing landed next to them a moment later. He looked around for the old man he’d spoken to last time. Sen wondered if he was going to have to start issuing orders when he spotted the man hobbling out of a tent. He waited as the elderly mortal made steady, if slow, progress toward them. When he arrived, the man offered what was probably the best bow his ancient back would allow for, only straightening when Sen nodded.

“Lord Lu,” said the man. “Is it time for us to leave?”

Sen just looked at Sua Xing Xing. She gave him a slight nod before focusing on the old man.

“Lord Lu, in his infinite wisdom, has decided that some of you can better serve him here. Let the following people present themselves.”

She read off a comparatively short list of names, but the process still dragged out. It wasn’t a matter of people resisting. It was simply that every name on the list was someone far beyond their best years. It took them a while to walk to where Sua Xing Xing had indicated. Sen wasn’t sure that he could have maintained his passive expression without so much recent practice with capital politics. When the last person joined the group, Sua Xing Xing looked them over.

“It has been determined that each of you has expertise that will benefit this city. Therefore, you will be put to work here, providing insight and guidance. You will also help to care for the children who will remain behind. It seems wise to provide them with familiar faces.”

One of the men in the group looked utterly confused. He started to speak only to be harshly silenced by others who better understood what was happening. It was only then that Sen moved or spoke. He stepped up to the man who had volunteered himself to speak for the mortals. Leaning in close, Sen spoke with a soft, deadly tone.

“This is the limit of my mercy. Do you understand?”

The old man nodded as hard as his neck would allow, the threat not being lost on him. Sen shifted his gaze to the rest of them. Most of the others also nodded, their eyes wide. He supposed they would explain it to the ones who still seemed uncertain. Turning to the rest of the mortals, he spoke again.

“We will leave first thing in the morning. Be ready.”