Threads Chapter 410-Development 2
The air was cool, crisp, and dry out away from the lakeside, brisk with the promise of oncoming winter snows. There were many small paths now snaking out into the farmlands and pastures. Closer to the center of the settlement, they were laid with gravel, but most were simply packed earth, cut and leveled, the barest beginnings of drainage paths planned at their edge. The pastures were not a grand sight, merely a series of small outbuildings dotting the hills to hold equipment and supplies within a simple but well warded fencing that followed the rolling elevation of the landscape.
She'd sent a messenger ahead while they toured the gardens of the manor properly, and soon they were off, splitting from Zhengui as he trundled off toward the distant flumes of the geyser he had made. Hanyi was humming behind her as the spirit pushed her chair along the path, and Ling Qi could see her craning her neck and squinting up at the higher hills and low peaks in the distance with a scrunched up expression.
"Everything alright?" Ling Qi asked.
"I'm just getting a feel for this stage," Hanyi explained. "It's a lot like the places north of here, all disordered. There are big spirits, but they're just kinda flopped out, doing what they do. I bet if Big Sis helped show them what a proper winter lady I am, I'll have this place whipped into shape in no time!"
"We haven't gotten to sing together in awhile, have we?" Ling Qi mused. She had wanted to focus on the refinement of her successor art to Master Zeqing’s song, but the summit simply hadn't given her many opportunities to do so. The icy air up there would probably be good for her recovering meridians, too.
"Yeah, that sounds fun! Even if Big Sis is a bit crispy, she still has a voice to listen to. Now… Oh, look at that!" Hanyi's voice rose into a piercing squeal as she pointed past Ling Qi's head up toward the top of the hill that lay beyond the gate of the pasture.
There, staring down at them, was what looked almost like a living cloud. The sheep was about half as tall as a human and nearly twice as wide when accounting for the curling, wobbling fleece projected in every direction. The fleece was all clear and white, only barely marked by dirt and dust on the lower edge where it nearly swept the ground around the beast's hooves. Its pupils regarded them with blank disinterest as it chewed on a tuft of hardy mountain grass, oblivious to the qi pouring off her junior sister from excitement.
"Hanyi," Ling Qi chided gently. "Don't scare her."
She was pretty sure that she'd just stopped her junior sister from leaping the fence.