The first thing Xu Hao did after discovering he could strengthen Sia was nothing.
He got up, washed his face in the stream, ate breakfast, and let Da Bao make fun of his archery. Then he took Sia around the edge of camp, checking each of her paws for thorns as carefully as if she were still the troublesome husky who used to jump onto his sofa with muddy feet.
She tolerated the inspection until he lifted her left hind leg. At that point she twisted around, licked his ear, and attempted to sit on him.
"That's not helping."
Her tail thumped against the earth.
"No, I know. You think you're being very helpful."
Er Bao approached with two bowls and an expression that suggested he had seen enough of the conversation to reach his own conclusions.
"Another experiment?" he asked.
"An examination. The experiment comes later."
"Is it safe?"
"I don't know yet."
Er Bao handed him one of the bowls. "Then let's start there."
They ate beneath the pines while Da Bao practised giving Little One commands with nothing more than gestures. The dog obeyed the first three, then decided a beetle was more interesting. Da Bao pursued her into the ferns, explaining at some length why a hunter's companion ought to respect its master's dignity.
Xu Hao watched them go.
"I've unlocked another option on Sia's card," he told Er Bao. "Superimpose."
"Does it say what that means?"
"Not in words. I know I can choose it. That appears to be the entire instruction manual."
Er Bao turned the empty bowl in his hands. "You used one card to create her and nearly died doing it. You made two copies, and that left you tired. Why would another card be easier?"
"It might not be."
"Then why consider it now?"
Xu Hao looked across the camp. Sia had caught up with Little One and was inspecting the disputed beetle. Both tails waved enthusiastically.
"Because a tiger stopped me with a sound. She went towards it anyway. If she has to put herself between me and another creature like that, I'd like her to have a better chance."
Er Bao considered that. "Would you accept the same risk if it were your own body?"
"I don't know. I'm rather fond of remaining uninjured."
"Then don't decide for her simply because you can."
Xu Hao hadn't expected that answer. He'd been thinking of Sia as a creature he needed to protect, and of the card as a way to protect her. Er Bao had reminded him that the process might demand something from Sia too. Nobody knew whether the drawing brush understood consent.
He put down his bowl.
"First," he said, "we find out what it costs."
* * *
That afternoon, they tried to discover whether the option could be examined without being activated.
Xu Hao entered the dark hall while Er Bao watched his breathing from outside. The brush hovered beside the deck. Sia's original card hung beyond it, attached by two faint strands to the copies the brothers possessed. His two specks of Dust Realm cultivation shone quietly nearby.
One line of writing appeared when he brought his attention to Sia.
Superimpose: Available.
He thought about refusing. Nothing happened. He imagined asking for details. The brush did not move.
Then he focused on the remaining blanks. He could count them now: ninety-eight, with Sia's original apart from them. Two copies had appeared without consuming additional blanks. Whatever Superimpose did, he suspected it would use at least one.
He opened his eyes.
"Nothing?" Er Bao asked.
"Nothing. Which, for once, is the result I wanted."
They spent the next hour discussing safeguards. Da Bao joined them halfway through, attracted by the prospect of a new ability and disappointed to discover that the immediate plan involved eating, resting and preparing a comfortable place to lie down.
"Why are we arranging blankets?" he asked.
"Because I might faint."
"You've fainted before. We caught you."
"I would rather not make catching me a permanent family occupation."
Da Bao considered this, then fetched the thickest fur from the shelter without another complaint.
They chose an open patch of ground near the fire. Er Bao put water within reach and asked Xu Hao to describe the first sign of trouble. Da Bao would remain awake on watch. Sia was to be nearby, though nobody knew whether her presence would matter.
At sunset, Xu Hao still hadn't made a decision.
He had the option to leave everything as it was. Sia was already a cultivated beast. She could run faster than any ordinary dog, sense danger in ways they hadn't fully understood, and make an enormous mess of his bedding. She was alive, or as close to alive as anything made by the cards could be.
The question wasn't whether more power would be useful.
The question was what he was willing to risk to obtain it.
Er Bao found him holding the edge of Sia's collar, watching the last light leave the hillside.
"You don't have to do this," he said.
"I know."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because I'm not sure there's ever going to be a day when I'm completely certain."
Er Bao sat beside him. "Father used to tell us that courage doesn't mean choosing danger when there's no reason. It means choosing carefully when every road has a cost."
"Did he tell that to Da Bao?"
"Frequently. It didn't always help."
They watched the sunset for a while. Sia lay down and placed her chin on Xu Hao's shoe, the same trusting habit she'd had as a puppy.
Xu Hao scratched behind her ear.
"I'm going to try something," he whispered. "I don't know whether you'll like it. I wish I could ask."
She licked his wrist and went back to watching the trees.
It wasn't an answer. He refused to pretend otherwise.
But he knew the choice was his, and if anything went wrong, the responsibility would be his too.
* * *
Before he returned to the fire, Xu Hao asked Er Bao to come with him. He wanted to speak to both brothers before he made a decision. The copies belonged to the brothers now. If strengthening Sia could change them, he had no right to pretend the decision affected only himself.
Da Bao was examining Little One's teeth by the light of a small oil lamp. The husky accepted the indignity because he had a piece of meat in his other hand. Er Bao sat beside Grey, carefully removing a burr from her coat.
"There's one more possibility," Xu Hao said. "The copies are supposed to improve whenever Sia does. If I use Superimpose, you may find your companions changing as well."
Da Bao brightened. "Stronger teeth?"
"Perhaps. Bigger bodies, new skills, a sudden appetite for your last pair of boots. We don't know. And we don't know whether the change could hurt them."
Er Bao's expression became thoughtful. He laid the burr aside and examined Grey's face, as if looking for an answer there.
"We could return them to their cards while you try," he said. "Would that help?"
"I have no idea. It might make things better. It might trap them in the middle of whatever happens. I don't want to make up a rule and stake their lives on it."
Da Bao put his hand against Little One's chest. He felt her heartbeat, then nodded slowly.
"Then we watch them," he said. "Like you watched Sia when you first summoned her. If anything looks wrong, you tell us to stop."
"If I can," Xu Hao said. "That's what frightens me."
Er Bao looked at him. "Then if you become unresponsive, we won't try to interfere with a process we don't understand. We'll keep all three safe, look after your body, and get help if we can. You won't be doing it alone."
Xu Hao hadn't realised how badly he needed to hear that. He looked at the brothers, at three dogs who had come from two copied cards and one impossible memory, and found that he could at least make a decision without pretending to be fearless.
He waited until he'd eaten again. Then he lay against the folded fur, with Er Bao beside him and Da Bao keeping watch beyond the fire.
"Tell me when you're ready," Er Bao said.
"I doubt I'll ever be ready. Let's settle for prepared."
Xu Hao closed his eyes.
The hall opened. The deck waited. He brought Sia's card forward and examined the familiar drawing until every marking on her face was clear.
Superimpose Sia?
He thought of the tiger's paw passing beside her throat. He thought of the first night he'd brought her into this world, and the helplessness that had followed.
"Yes."
A blank card separated from the deck.
The brush began to paint.
At first Xu Hao felt nothing. A pale outline of Sia appeared on the new card, the strokes gathering into the familiar white blaze on her forehead, then the dark patch around her ear. He watched it with the intense concentration of a man examining an irreplaceable manuscript for damage.
The new card drifted towards the original.
They touched.
The pictures dissolved.
For one terrible instant there was no Sia in the hall at all.
Xu Hao reached towards the empty light.
"Sia?"
Nothing answered.
Then the brush moved again. A fresh card formed in the pale glow, and Sia's outline began to return, larger in the shoulders, stronger through the neck, every line of her familiar face unmistakable.
Xu Hao barely had time to feel relieved.
The pain came from somewhere deep inside his chest. His arms felt hollow. His thoughts began to scatter. Outside the hall, far away, somebody called his name.
He wanted to stop the brush. He wanted to call the whole thing off. But the drawing continued, stroke after careful stroke, while his strength drained into it.
The last thing he saw was the tip of the brush touching Sia's eye.
Then the light went out.