The fortress did not rest simply because night had passed.
By midday, the stone corridors were loud with movement again. Orders were shouted, answered, repeated. Liang Wei moved through it all without drawing notice, one body among many, her place already accepted as if it had always been there.
Temporary command did not change much. She was given a small group to oversee, routes to memorize, and schedules to follow. The work was steady and unremarkable, which suited her just fine. She spoke only when she had to and spent most of her time listening.
By the third bell, her name had stopped sounding strange to her ears.
The baths were assigned in set rotation. She waited for the later hour, after most had already finished.
The bath chamber was nearly empty, thin steam clinging to the stone ceiling before slipping away through the vents. The water had cooled by then, barely warm enough to dull the chill, but that did not bother her. She went in alone and barred the door behind her.
The room was small, with a shallow stone pool and a single bench along the wall. There were no screens, no real privacy beyond what she made for herself. She moved quickly. Her outer robes came off first, folded and set aside, followed by her undershirt and the bindings beneath it. She did not hesitate or look down. Every movement was familiar, done the same way each time.
She stepped into the water and sank until it reached her shoulders. The cold bit hard enough to steal her breath for a moment before she forced it steady. She washed fast, arms and neck first, pulling her hair forward to keep her face hidden if anyone forced the door. Her back stayed straight, her attention fixed on the sounds beyond the walls.
No one came.
When she was finished, she rose at once, water sliding off her skin and back onto the stone. She dried herself thoroughly before dressing again, rebinding everything exactly as it had been. By the time she left the chamber, the steam had already thinned, as if she had never been there at all.
No one noticed when she returned, exactly how she wanted it.
Wei Yunfeng did not follow her. Instead, he took note of smaller things. That she always waited for the later rotation. That she chose the colder hour. That she never stayed longer than necessary.
It told him more than watching her fight ever could.
The afternoon passed with drills and reports. Liang Wei moved between them easily, answering when spoken to, silent otherwise. She corrected a formation once without raising her voice. The men adjusted without complaint. She did not overstep.
By evening, the fortress began to quiet. Torches were lit along the walls. Shadows stretched and settled. Liang Wei was dismissed later than most.
She returned to her assigned space through the narrower corridors, avoiding the upper levels. When she closed the door behind her, she let out a breath she had not realized she was holding. Her sword rested where she had placed it earlier. She knelt and unbound it.
The blade caught the low light as soon as she touched it. A faint glow stirred along the metal, and heat pushed into her palm, sharper than before. Not enough to scorch, but enough to warn. It spread fast, uncomfortable, insistent, like the blade was pressing back against her grip.
Her fingers tightened once on instinct but she released it just as quickly.
The sword slipped from her hand and struck the stone with a dull sound. The glow vanished at once. The heat was gone, leaving her palm tingling. She did not reach for it again. She lay down where she was, back to the wall, breathing steady, leaving the sword where it had fallen.
Sleep did not come.
She lay on her back, eyes open, counting her breaths until the numbers blurred. The stone beneath her held the cold. Her palm still tingled where the hilt had been, a dull reminder that refused to fade.
She shifted once, then again, but the room felt too narrow, the air too still. Every sound echoed in her head. Footsteps somewhere above. A door closing. The faint scrape of metal on stone.
Her thoughts refused to settle.
Somewhere else, far above the lower quarters, Wei Yunfeng stood at a window and looked out over the darkened yard.