Chapter art by ウラ: https://twitter.com/hamburg_oniku
It all started with an official letter being delivered to her residence a few days prior. It had the seal of the realm-keeping commission of the Yaoqing and it was addressed to her. Sushang had applied to join the Cloud Knights before this, under her mother's instructions to join the army. Slipping out the piece of paper stored within the letter, she read its contents.
"To Ms. Li Sushang:
We have received your application to join the Cloud Knights of the Yaoqing. We are happy to inform you that your application has been successful.
Please report to the nearest Realm-Keeping commission office in your area at 0800H tomorrow and present this letter to the person in charge.
May you forge your legend among the Xianzhou with the Cloud Knights."
Her eyes went wide as she finished reading the letter. Jumping for joy, she quickly relayed the news to her parents who also congratulated her. After which her mother went to her room and returned with something wrapped in cloth. On closer inspection, it turns out to be the family heirloom sword - the Xuanyuan sword.
"I did say this sword was one day to be yours." Mother smiled as she handed the sword over to her. "Although I suppose if things are still the same as they were during your father's time... you'll probably be dispatched to the Luofu for quite a while for training."
The next morning, Sushang headed to the realm commission office branch. Showing the letter of admission to the receptionist at the front desk of the Realm-keeping commission, who led to a room to welcome all the new Cloud Knights, where she came to a realization.
Was she the only girl here?
The eyes of the other Cloud Knights stared in her direction and although she sensed no killing intent, something about a few of those stares made a chill run down her spine. Paying no mind to them, she took a seat and waited for the welcome speech to begin.
A man had stepped onto the small podium before us and began to speak. He was more decorated than the usual Cloud Knight, but a lot less when compared to the Generals of the Xianzhou, leading one to concluded he was an officer of sorts.
"Welcome to the Cloud Knights. On behalf of the Xianzhou, thank you for your service to protect and defend the Xianzhou." His eyes darted around the room, and as if able to sense what happened before he entered, he frowned, cleared his throat, and continued.
"Ahem. Anyway, if you look around, you may notice your batch of soldiers are not completely consisted of men. If you do wish to have your legend written among the Xianzhou, I would suggest you focus on yourself and avoid getting distracted. And as a warning, do not underestimate any of the women who have become Cloud Knights, for we have some prominent women such as our Lady General herself. Is that understood?"
"YES, SIR!" The room rang out in unison.
"Alright, that ends the welcome speech. As for plans, you have three days to bid farewell to friends and family. You'll be sent off to the Luofu for training in three days. Report at the spacefaring port at 9a.m in three days. Dismissed."
Three days came and passed quickly, and soon the day to depart to the Luofu had come. Sushang's father had work and was busy, so only her mother was able to come along to see Sushang off at the spacefaring ports.
Before she stepped onto the ship headed off the Luofu, Sushang's mother held onto her hands. Her expression was one of both pride and worry.
"Be careful alright? I know there are some good men within the ranks of the Cloud Knights just like your father, but not all of them are like him. Others will approach you for impure reasons, so make sure to have discernment when talking to them." Her voice was concerned.
"Also remember to read some books alright? You never really had a knack for your studies, so please do some studying while you're off duty... And don't forget to write to us once a month! And..." Her tone changed from one less of concern and more of that of a typical nagging mother.
Sushang grumbled as she assured her mother. "Yes, mother, I know, I know. I'll do all that.
Entering the jade gate of the Luofu. She arrived at the Luofu's customs. The man running the customs counter office counter was a Vidyadhara man. As she approached, he took out a jade abacus, slid it across the counter, and said uninterestedly, "Name, Personal belongings, origin, reason for travel."
She picked it up and began writing, mumbling as she wrote.
"Name... Li Sushang. Personal Belongings... One Xuanyuan Sword. Reason for travel... Cloud Knight training. Origin... Yao... Yao..." She looked at the man and gave a nervous laugh. "Uh... how do I write Yaoqing again?"
The Vidyadhara man blinked a couple of times, his expression a mix of irritation and bafflement across his face. He sighed as he gestured for Sushang to hand over the jade abacus. He waved her off as he went through her details to continue through the customs. "I'll fill up that last part about the Yaoqing for you. Just head on through."
As she went through she headed to the Starskiff jetty and took a look at the transit line of the Starskiffs of the jetty. "Cloudfair... Cloudfair... Nope! Can't find it." She tapped one of the Cloud Knights on duty and asked him for directions. She could not see his face, but she sensed that he had the same expression as the Vidyadhara man had at the customs. A chuckle sounded from within the helmet as they went back to the transit map.
"We're here now." As he pointed to a point on the map. "Go to Jetty Stratus and take the Starskiff there to Central Starskiff Haven, then swap over to Jetty Nimbus and set the course for Cloudfair. Should arrive there in about twenty minutes." He said as he pointed to the location of the map, where Sushang noted how the route the Cloud Knight traced out and attempted to memorise how the characters of the stations looked like.
After missing a few stops, setting the Starskiff to head to Cloudford, and a bit of wandering did Sushang finally make it to Cloudfair. Almost an hour had passed since she talked to the Cloud Knight when she made it to the Cloud Knight's base camp she was assigned to. It looked more like a school campus than a military camp from the outside, but as she entered she could tell this was indeed a military base. Cloud Knights were running laps around the huge Parade Square, there were some in exercise areas and some sparring in open areas. A group of Cloud Knights ran past her, some of them shirtless as their sweat glistened off their well-toned bodies. She averted her eyes as she headed to the administrative building.
"Li Sushang. Ah, there we go." Sushang scrolled through a list of names and clicked on hers on a large four-square mirror on the counter of the administrative building. A woman soon came out from the back with a set of card keys and a bag and passed it to her.
"Building 72, room 502. Rooms can be set up to your preference, but drilling or nailing anything into the walls is prohibited. Report to the training hall tomorrow at 8 a.m." The woman said flatly before heading back through the door she came from.
She took a look around as she entered her room. It was a simple, plain room for one, devoid of any decorations, which was to be expected. On the right wall of the entrance was a set of rules and regulations regarding the dormitories. A single bed existed in the corner and opposite it a little dressing table with a mirror. A small cupboard was placed next to the bed and on the ceiling a ceiling fan with lights attached to it that dimly illuminated the room, brightened by the sunlight that came through a couple of sliding windows. The bathroom was small, only containing a shower, a toilet, a sink and above it a mirror. It was rather dim, illuminated with a small light and sunlight filtering through a window for lighting, but at least it was clean.
Looking into the bag that was given to her, it seemed like it contained basic supplies - bedsheets, a couple of sets of basic military clothes, a set of clothes hangers, a towel, and some soap - although Sushang had brought her own, so that soap would not be seeing any use.
"Well, I better get my stuff ready." She stretched as she set up her room.
And so the evening passed and morning came. Walking into the training room with the rest of her Yaoqing Cloud Knights, this would be the first time she saw the faces of their Luofu counterparts. All of them looked well kept and had a serious expression on each of their faces as they stood at attention. Suddenly one of them caught sight of her, tapped the elbow of his buddy next to him, and soon a tiny commotion stirred among them, as their gazes attempted to look in her direction, however subtly.
"Alright, we'll start with some introductions. We'll do some basic drills, then we'll move on to sparring. After which the superiors will decide your pairings." One of the officers announced. Soon enough it was her turn, and so Sushang stepped forward.
"The name's Li Sushang. Pleased to meet you." She said with confidence. And soon after the preparations for sparring began. When she was paired with one of the Cloud Knights, she studied him for a second.
'Hm. He has a good build and looks well trained in the spear... his eyes are filled with a certain determination... he'll make a fine opponent.' She thought to herself.
"And begin!" The officer struck a bell to signal the start of the sparring match.
Sushang sprang forward, greatsword in hand. She could see the man's surprise at her speed, she made a smug little smile within. The man managed to block her strike as he stumbled a few steps back, but the inertia of swinging the sword she still struggled with even after all those years training under her mother caused her to lose her footing a little, and she too stumbled.
The spar continued for what seemed to be a few minutes to Sushang, but in actuality, they had been trading blows for almost half an hour, till the officer in charge concluded that no visible victor was seen in this sparring match and rang the bell to signal the end of the match. It was a tiring match, seeing as both of them were panting and sweating heavily after the spar, but this was perhaps the most fun she had sparring before.
The sparring rounds had ended and the superiors had begun to announce the pairings. She would be paired with the Cloud Knight that had sparred with her earlier to her delight. She walked up and held a hand out.
"Well, it seems like we're partners for the time I'll be here. Pleased to meet you, partner!" She said as she smiled happily.