Fic Update Thread: I can't drive 55

[Mamorien]

Threads of Destiny (OEX) 397 Recovery 5.

Ling Qi adjusted the tightness of the string. Better, but still misplaced. "Is it wrong to keep trying to reassure everyone? Hanyi noticed that I’m faking some of it, but she's with me all day."

"I don't think so. Course you aren't happy being stuck like that, but nobody is gonna be happier if you're acting miserable. Not even you."

"You could say it's unhealthy. I feel that since everyone is doing their best, I have to as well, even if it means fibbing a little." She felt that twinge again, deep in her chest, as she played. "There's a place for unvarnished, unmerciful truth. You need that at the highest levels where Cai Renxiang focuses, all turning gears and duty and obligation."

"But you gotta fib sometimes to make people comfortable?" Sixiang turned over on the couch. Resting their elbows on the arm of the couch, he looked up at her. "How'd that work for me?"

"Poorly. It was the intent of that lie that let me forgive you."

It was hard to find a single bright line here. All the same…

Sixiang blew out a breath. Their features rippled briefly, showing off the blank wooden plate beneath. "I get what you're saying. The Summit would’ve collapsed if everyone just baldly said what they meant and wanted without any cushion… And most of art is a lie of sorts. There’s music to make you see and feel what isn't there, fiction to paint worlds that don't exist, or poems to stir the soul with nothing but ink on a page…"

"I understand now why the Duchess breaks people who come under her scrutiny for too long. With no lies at all, the world is just too painful."

That awful conquering sword and twisted steel giant burned in her mind, and the cruel heat still smoldered deep in her bones.

Cruel was the wrong word. It would be better if it was cruel. No, those flames were merely horrifying in their utter unswerving certainty that they were burning for a righteous cause.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21188/...recovery-5