Chapter 385: Pureflower Moments
Zae Zin Nim sat in the audience, watching Omilaena and thinking it was almost unfair how fast the other woman had advanced in a month.
Instead of belching out smoke, Omilaena let it waft from her lips, so subtly that it almost seemed to emanate from her soul instead. She moved in smooth pirouettes, her robes trailing through the blue smoke and drawing out tendrils, as if painting the air itself. Even though her opponent was doing her best to defeat her smoke with fan strikes, Omilaena spiraled around her attacks as if they were just part of the dance, spreading her web of poison further.
Eventually the other woman collapsed, gasping for breath as the poison began to overwhelm her. This was actually mild for Omilaena, just enough to cause weariness and light-headedness. As soon as her opponent surrendered, Omilaena ended her dance with a sweeping bow to the audience, which applauded.
All it had taken was a little talk and Omilaena had grasped all the principles of grace and beauty that Zae Zin Nim had tried to explain. She had developed to match the Pureflower sect so much faster... and yet Zae Zin Nim didn't feel any jealousy.
It was hard to feel anything like that, watching her wife so beautifully wreathed in blue smoke. Zae Zin Nim realized that old habits were reasserting themselves, here in competition with so many women. But Omilaena was the one person she wasn't in competition with, at least not truly, not viciously. At most her wife would tease her about not advancing quickly enough with her new palm technique.
As she walked out to congratulate her wife, Zae Zin Nim flexed her hands at her side.
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