They reached people before noon.
Not a town. Not a village either. More like a stretched-out mess of stalls, carts, animals, and half-built shacks clinging to the road like barnacles. Smoke drifted low. Voices overlapped. Someone was arguing loudly about salt prices. Someone else was already losing that argument.
Mei slowed without realizing it.
"…There's a lot," she muttered.
"Yeah," Tianlian said. "That's the problem."
She shot him a look. "Since when is 'people' a problem?"
"Since people started asking questions."
He didn't stop walking. If anything, he sped up a little—just enough to look like he had somewhere to be, not enough to look nervous.
The place had a name, probably. Someone had definitely shouted it earlier. Tianlian hadn't caught it. That was fine. Names tended to stick if you let them.
He didn't let them.
A few heads turned as they passed. Not him—Mei.
That was expected.
She stood out without trying. Clean posture. Alert eyes. Not desperate, not dull. People noticed that sort of thing faster than they noticed a quiet guy walking half a step behind her.
A merchant glanced at Tianlian once, dismissed him immediately, then leaned forward toward Mei.
"Miss, traveling west?" he asked, already smiling.
Mei hesitated.
Tianlian spoke first. "Passing through."
The merchant barely looked at him. "Supplies are cheaper if you buy now. Roads ahead aren't kind."
Mei nodded politely. "Thank you."
The man brightened. "You've got a good eye, miss. Cultivator?"
She blinked. "I—"
"No," Tianlian said. Flat. Boring. Final.
The merchant frowned, annoyed at the interruption, then waved them off. "Suit yourself."
They moved on.
Mei waited a few steps. "…Was that rude?"
"No," Tianlian said. "Efficient."
"That didn't answer my question."
"It did. Just not the one you asked."
She sighed but didn't push it.
They stopped near a water barrel by a cart that looked like it had been repaired too many times to count. Mei filled their canteen. Tianlian leaned against the wheel, eyes half-lidded, listening.
Two guards near the center of the sprawl were talking.
"…another inspection tomorrow."
"Again? Didn't they just—"
"Different group. Same excuse."
He filed that away.
A shout went up further down the road. A man stumbled, dropped a sack. Grain spilled. Someone laughed. Someone else didn't.
Normal.
That was good. Normal meant predictable.
Mei capped the canteen. "We should rest a bit."
"We will," Tianlian said. "Just not here."
She looked around. "Why?"
"Too many people who don't know each other pretending they do."
"…That's very specific."
He shrugged. "I've seen it before."
They edged toward the far side of the sprawl, where stalls thinned out and carts were parked more permanently. A woman sat on a crate, mending a sleeve. She glanced up at Mei, then smiled.
"You heading west, little sister?"
Mei nodded. "Yes."
"Careful. There's been trouble lately."
Mei frowned. "What kind?"
The woman's eyes flicked to Tianlian for the first time. She paused, then shrugged. "The usual kind."
Tianlian smiled faintly. It was the kind of smile that didn't invite conversation.
"Thanks," Mei said.
They moved on.
Once they were out of earshot, Mei whispered, "You noticed that too, right?"
"That she changed her answer when she saw me?" Tianlian said. "Yeah."
"…Why?"
"Because I look like I don't matter."
"That's not true."
"It is here."
They found shade under a warped wooden awning that no one seemed to be using. Tianlian sat, back to a post, knees up. Mei sat beside him, stretching her legs.
She glanced at him. "…You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"The quiet one."
"That's my default."
"No, I mean—you're watching without looking."
He didn't deny it.
A group of young men passed, laughing too loudly. One of them glanced at Mei, slowed, then elbowed his friend. They whispered.
Tianlian shifted his foot just enough that the heel scraped the dirt.
The sound was small. Sharp.
The young man looked at him.
Tianlian met his eyes. Blank. Uninterested. Like a clerk waiting for exact change.
The young man hesitated, then laughed it off and kept walking.
Mei exhaled. "…You didn't do anything."
"Exactly."
They rested there for a while. Long enough to not look rushed. Not long enough to look stranded.
A patrol passed once. Two men. Not guards—too mismatched. One glanced at Mei, then at Tianlian, then kept going.
Mei leaned closer. "We're being checked."
"Mm."
"Should we leave?"
"In a bit."
She frowned. "You keep saying that."
"And I keep being right."
After a few more minutes, Tianlian stood. "Okay. Now."
They moved again, slipping between carts, past a makeshift shrine no one was using, toward the westward road where traffic thinned.
Mei walked a little faster. "You're sure?"
"No," he said. "But staying gets worse faster than leaving."
That earned a weak laugh from her.
Once they were clear, the noise dropped off quickly. The sprawl shrank behind them, becoming just another shape on the road.
Mei glanced back. "…Do you think they'll remember us?"
"Maybe you."
"And you?"
He thought about it. "Probably not."
"That bothers me."
"It keeps us alive."
She didn't reply.
They walked in silence for a while. The road here was wider, flatter. Wagon marks overlapped. Recent.
Mei finally said, "You haven't explained anything."
"I know."
"…Are you going to?"
"Not yet."
She stopped walking.
Tianlian stopped too.
She faced him. "Lian'er. I trust you. But I don't like feeling stupid."
He rubbed his face once, slow.
"I'm not hiding things because they're dangerous," he said. "I'm hiding them because they're boring."
"That makes no sense."
"It does to me."
She crossed her arms. "Try anyway."
He looked at the road ahead, then back at her.
"People out here aren't looking for danger," he said. "They're looking for patterns. Who belongs. Who doesn't. Who can be leaned on."
"And we don't?"
"We don't want to."
She considered that. "…So what am I supposed to do?"
"Nothing different," he said. "That's the point."
She relaxed a little. "You're really not going to teach me anything mystical, are you?"
He snorted. "If I knew anything mystical, we'd be in trouble already."
That got a real laugh out of her.
They kept walking.
By late afternoon, the road curved slightly, revealing distant roofs—actual buildings this time. Stone. Organized. A real town.
Mei squinted. "That one looks… official."
"Yeah," Tianlian said. "Which means we don't go straight in."
"…Of course we don't."
He glanced at her. "Tired?"
"A bit."
"We'll circle. Find a place outside. Listen first."
She nodded. Then paused. "You keep saying 'listen'."
"Habit."
They slowed as the town drew closer, letting other travelers pass them. A group of traders overtook them, loud and unconcerned.
Mei watched them go. "…They don't seem worried at all."
"Most people aren't," Tianlian said. "Until they are."
She sighed. "That was almost philosophical."
He grimaced. "Yeah. Sorry."
She smiled anyway.
The town loomed ahead, walls catching the light. Flags stirred lazily.
Mei adjusted her pack. "So what now?"
Tianlian exhaled.
"Now," he said, "we let everyone else go first."
She nodded.
And for the first time since leaving Willow Brook, that felt like the right move.