The day of the meeting arrived with a clear sky and hot air.
Li Yuan stood at the edge of the Kael settlement, waiting for the party that would go to the landslide. Daran came out in simple but clean clothes—not a formal leadership attire, but also not ordinary work clothes. An outfit that sent a message: this is serious, but it is not war.
Torin followed behind him, with a wooden staff in his hand—not as a weapon, but as a walking aid for the old man.
And then Vareth. The young man wore darker clothes, with a belt from which a small knife hung—not a sword, but also not coming completely unarmed.
When Daran saw the knife, his face hardened. "We agreed not to bring weapons."
"This is not a weapon," Vareth retorted in a light tone. "It's a tool. To cut rope, to peel fruit. Every traveler carries one."
When he said this, Li Yuan heard through his Wenjing Realm the intention behind the justification—not practical need, but a statement. A statement that he would not come completely defenseless, that he did not trust the promise of peace.
Daran looked at him with sharp eyes, but he did not challenge him further. Perhaps because he knew that forcing Vareth to leave the knife would create a bigger confrontation. Or maybe because he was already tired of these small battles.
"Let's go," Daran finally said in a flat voice.
The journey to the landslide took several hours. They walked in a tense silence—Daran in front with Li Yuan beside him, Torin following with a slow but steady pace, and Vareth in the back, his eyes vigilant, observing his surroundings.
As they approached the agreed-upon meeting point—an open area near the landslide with a clear view in all directions—Li Yuan saw that the party from Valen was already waiting.
Mira stood with an upright but not aggressive posture. Beside her was an old man with a long white beard—likely one of their elders. And then Karim, with a friendly smile on his face, his hands folded in front of his body in a pose that looked relaxed.
The two groups stopped at a distance of about ten meters from each other.
No one spoke at first. Just stared at each other—assessing, measuring, looking for signs of threat or betrayal.
Li Yuan stepped forward, placing himself in the space between the two groups.
"Thank you all for coming," he said in a calm voice but loud enough for everyone to hear. "I know trust is hard to find at a time like this. But the truth is even harder to find without dialogue."
Mira nodded. Daran did too. But Vareth and Karim—Li Yuan noticed—did not react at all. They just stood, observing, waiting.
"The landslide is about a hundred meters in that direction," Li Yuan continued, pointing upriver. "I suggest we all go together to see it. No one is left behind, no one walks alone. We see the evidence together."
"And then?" Vareth asked in a sharp tone. "After we see this landslide—assuming it even exists—what changes? Kael is still hungry. Valen still has water."
"Then we will talk about a solution," Mira answered in a firm voice. "About how to clear the landslide, about how the flow can be fixed, about how we can work together—"
"Work together," Vareth repeated with a mocking tone. "With people who don't even share the same traditions as us? Who mix races and languages without shame?"
The already high tension suddenly surged. Some people in both groups tightened their postures, ready for confrontation.
But before the situation could explode, another voice spoke—a voice Li Yuan had not heard before.
"Vareth."
A young man stepped out from the shadows of a tree near the Valen group. He had not come with the official party—he must have followed from a distance. And when Li Yuan saw his face, he immediately noticed the resemblance to Daran.
"Kai," Daran whispered in a voice that was almost inaudible. Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard a complex mix of emotions—joy at seeing his son, but also pain, shame, and a wounded love.
Kai—Daran's son who married a Valen woman—walked forward with a firm but not aggressive step.
"Vareth," he repeated in a louder voice. "You talk about tradition as if it's the only thing that matters. But what tradition teaches us to let our neighbors suffer? What tradition says we shouldn't work together to survive?"
Vareth looked at him with eyes full of hatred. "You are a traitor. You left your tribe for these people. You have no right to speak about our traditions."
When Vareth said this, Li Yuan heard through his Wenjing Realm not just personal anger, but something more calculated. Vareth was using Kai—the unexpected presence of the defecting son—as a way to make Daran look weak.
"I left?" Kai retorted in a voice that trembled between anger and sorrow. "I fell in love. I married the woman I love. That is not betrayal—it is a human choice."
"A choice that shamed your father," Vareth shot back. "A choice that made us all look weak in the eyes of Valen."
Daran finally spoke, his voice low but carrying an authority that could not be ignored.
"Enough, Vareth. Kai is my son. And whatever happened between us, that is a family matter, not a political one."
But the damage was already done. Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard how the emotions in both groups had been stirred—anger, confusion, distrust. The meeting that was supposed to be about physical evidence had now become about something much more personal and explosive.
And then Karim spoke—his voice sweet, full of a seemingly sincere empathy.
"Perhaps this was a mistake," he said softly. "Maybe we are all too emotional for a meeting like this. Maybe we should retreat, take time to think, to calm down—"
"No," Li Yuan cut in with a calm but firm voice. "We are already here. The evidence is close. Retreating now will only make suspicions grow deeper."
He looked at Karim, and for a very brief moment—so brief that others might have missed it—something shifted in Karim's expression. Something cold, something calculated.
And through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard the unspoken intention: You see me. You know what I'm doing. But will you expose me? Do you dare?
Li Yuan did not respond with words. He just maintained his gaze—not with a threat, not with anger, but with a quiet awareness. An awareness that he saw, he understood, and he would act in his own time.
Karim turned away with a smile that returned to his face, but there was a tension in his posture that was not there before.
"Alright," Mira said in a voice that tried to regain control of the situation. "Let's see the landslide. As Li Yuan said—we're already here. There's no point in retreating now."
The groups began to move—reluctantly, with a tension that felt like a rope pulled too tight, but they moved.
And Li Yuan walked in front, leading them to the evidence that he hoped would be enough to cut through the manipulation and emotions that had obscured the truth.
But behind him, he heard—through his Wenjing Realm—a whispered conversation between Vareth and one of the Kael youths who had followed from a distance.
"Get ready. If this goes as we planned..."
And on the other side, a similar conversation between Karim and a Valen youth.
"Stay vigilant. The right moment will come..."
They are planning something, Li Yuan realized with a cold certainty. They are not just acting individually—they are coordinated. This is not a coincidence. This is a conspiracy.
But a conspiracy for what? To incite a battle here, in this remote place, where there are no witnesses?
He continued walking, but now with a heightened awareness, with a preparation for whatever was to come.
Because the landslide—the simple physical evidence—might no longer be enough.
Perhaps a greater truth needed to be revealed.
And perhaps the time for it would come sooner than he had planned.