KuanXiWhale

On the road, Anto first wants to find out what happened to her with the Whale - how she got taken, how she was treated, where she was released, etc. He's very concerned, and also looking to figure out how indignant to be in future dealings. After hearing her story, he'll tell her about the trip to the World Above, as well as a summarized version of the travels before that. Then he'll describe the expedition he's putting together, and why.

(Anto is sympathetic throughout this story. He doesn't bother to hide becoming angry at various parts of it as well.)

She was taking her little carriage from the Port of Auspicious Voyage to the Butterfly Kingdom, when there was some splashing outside. A big guy threw her driver overboard, and then opened the carriage door and pulled her out into the water. They sunk a whole bunch, and then she was somewhere... she's not really sure where, she thinks it was mostly at the bottom of the ocean, but it was a little bit like the World Above too.

Anto asks for more detail on the big guy, to confirm that he's Renyu. "Wise of him not to mention that."

Then, the Whale was yelling at her - that was kind of confusing, and it was partly about her being a servant of the Phoenix, and it was partly about her making a mockery of the ocean with her little carriage, and partly some other things she didn't understand all of. She thought he might be just thinking about killing her, so she tried to bargain with him - sure, he could kill her, but the Phoenix has *lots* of people, it's not like that will hurt Her much. She tried to suggest that it would be better for the Whale to try to use her against Phoenix, without giving him any actual ideas for how to do so.

"I figured, it would seem plausible, but I don't actually know enough to hurt Phoenix, really. So I thought it might be a risk that was okay to take, since I knew if I stalled him long enough you would rescue me somehow."

Anyway, they ended up making a deal - each day that Kuan-Xi told the Whale something even a little bit useful, the Whale would keep her alive and breathing and fed and all of that. And Kuan-Xi knows a *lot* of just a little bit useful things, so she spun that out for a long time. She couldn't tell any of the actual *secret* secrets, but she talked about the Shrouded Isle a lot, like the blockade, and some of the less secret things that she had found out about in the run. And a little bit about Anto, too - she did keep telling the Whale that Anto would rescue her, because sometimes when you work that sort of thing into a spirit bargain, it can push it towards being true. "And it did!"

"Clever."

She didn't ever tell the Whale you were the Wu Xing, but she did mention doing Unbinding things (especially since it was part of her plan to make it true that you would rescue her, which is a lot like unbinding).

Anyway, after a little while of that, the big guy went away to see what he could find out about the blockade. And after *that* the Whale got really angry, and she thinks something happened to the big guy, and that was when the Whale got the idea of making Anto rescue him in exchange for Kuan-Xi, since she still wasn't dead.

"So it was really just opportunistic? It didn't seem to make sense, entirely, since I and others would've been entirely open to approaching the Whale in a friendly way, and might've been willing to help him regardless. Based on Renyu, though, he's just too grumpy to think that way."

She doesn't think Renyu had anything personal against her - he was bringing her to the Whale, and the Whale was the one who was angry.

But she's rather concerned about your digression here.

"What do you mean by being willing to help the Whale? Would you throw down the Phoenix to put the Whale back? Would you really rather be touched by the Whale?"

"What? No, of course not. Why does it always have to be everything or nothing? I was talking about helping to free Renyu, captured by servants of the spider. I don't think Whale's ever likely to get what he really wants. But that doesn't mean he couldn't be better off if he treated people like potential allies instead of enemies."

"Look, I don't really understand what happened between Phoenix and Whale. And even if I could I'm not messing with the cycle without being a lot more sure of the consequences. But couldn't there be ways to re-balance things in smaller ways? To make Whale less forgotten without messing things up, and give him less reason to join team Spider to get back at Phoenix? That's what I was hoping might come of meeting Renyu. After that meeting I don't think Whale is willing to live with that, though. And so he gets nothing, and he gets more grumpy."

She frowns sadly. "I don't think it's possible to make him less forgotten - he isn't a Great Spirit, and it doesn't work to have people remember that he is if he isn't. When people want something they can't have, they don't get happier if you give them something else instead and tell them to be happy with it - I think spirits are like that, but even more like that than people are."

(back to her story)

Anyway, she still had to keep telling the Whale a thing every day, though she thinks at the point he wouldn't have been able to kill her if she stopped, but she didn't want to be the first one to break a bargain.

"Did he say anything about not grabbing you again? Xian and Min Feng did the negotiating, but I don't think that was actually included in the deal we made. Is he going to be grumpy if you use your carriage across the ocean again?"

"I don't think I'm going to take my little carriage across the ocean again, just in case. I hadn't thought of it before as thumbing my nose at the Whale, but I can see why he doesn't like Phoenixes treating the ocean like it's land."

"And then I guess you rescued the big guy, and the Whale dumped me out in the Butterfly Kingdom, only I found out the name had changed, and the circus had already left. I had to go home first to tell the Song of the Phoenix about the Whale, but then I started trying to catch up, and it took forever."

"And how did they react to that? I would think the Whale might've been worried about reprisals, acting directly against Phoenix like that."

She tilts her head. "Phoenix cannot act directly against Whale again until the balances are even. And that's not likely to happen for a long time. So it is good to know that Whale is acting more openly, so we can be more cautious."

"It's good to know Whale didn't actually use you to get to me, but Master Koji warned me that if word gets out that I can be manipulated this way it'll be trouble. The spirit and demon in Dutiful Serenity tried to ask for exactly that kind of leverage over me, but we'd made the deal well enough not to have to answer. It seems like I can't avoid dealing with spirits, but every time I do I discover something I don't know well enough to do it right. I don't want to end up getting you hurt."

She sighs, and takes Anto's hand to give it a quick squeeze.

"Have you heard about that sect of the Selfless Path that wears gauze veils, to avoid gnats flying into their mouths? And they only take one step at a time, to not step on a beetle or an ant? Perhaps they don't hurt anything, but they don't *do* anything either. I think you have to do the right things - and a lot of the time that's going to have to do with who gets hurt and who doesn't, but you can't ever make it so that nobody ever gets hurt."

Then she frowns, and glares at Anto. "And if you ever do something really bad because someone threatened me, then I am going to be *really* hurt because I'm supposed to help you do great things, not wrong things. And if you do that, then I'll have totally failed and I'll probably be *crushed* and go and jump into a volcano in despair. Okay? So it wouldn't even work to make me not hurt."

Anto chuckles at that, but does look a bit relieved and squeezes her hand back. "Thanks, that helps. I'll try not to make you jump into any volcanoes."

"But for great things, you missed the World Above. I think I could've used your help, but we managed to get in there alright..." Exciting story ensues. :)

Well, she is certainly excited to hear about that.