The Stone King's Lover (石王的愛)

Chapter 16

Xie Yi-jun

2004 years after The Long Night

Wúmeng

<Town Hall>

Xie Yi-jun was in a bad mood, and despite the fact that his emotions were for the better part, hidden, that didn't stop anyone passing by from noticing.

He stood with his arms crossed at the back of the room, feeling strangely suffocated in the large house, as Master Hao introduced his friend, and town healer, to his disciples...

"Welcome," the woman said, grinning a toothy grin.

She was easily over a hundred years old, and Yi-jun could sense that familiar open-ness about her spirit that was alike in every healer from Wúmeng. They made you trust them with a single glance. The King felt like he was back here at the start of the war, visiting this place for the very first time, untrusting and unwilling to make new friends.

"There aren't many young people here anymore," the woman, whose name was Cai Yimu said.

"But my home is yours. Feel safe to explore, children."

With that, Master Hao bid the three eager-looking boys farewell, and as they scurried past him, Yi-jun saw the way Wen Reian was avoiding looking at him.

Regret and embarrassment was clouding the young King's mind... he should never have chased after the boy. Never have yelled. The sight of his tears, and they had most definitely been tears of fear, was the last straw. Xie Yi-jun knew from that moment on that he must stay away from Reian. It was too painful to imagine who he might be, and what might be just out of Yi-jun's reach.

About to leave as well, the King was pulled from his tumultuous thoughts when he heard his name being called...

"Xie Yi-jun," the woman said. "It has been a long time. Welcome back!"

Yi-jun felt a chill at the base of his neck, like all the eyes of the world had been turned on him suddenly, every single one recognising him and his colossal failure.

Turning to Cai Yimu, Yi-jun gave a soft bow and attempted to seem polite, though he was one panic short of stumbling brokenly out of there.

The woman herself was already busy pouring tea for three, and Xie Yi-jun suddenly realised it was more than he owed the leader of Wúmeng...

Burying all his discomfort and shame at being here after so long, the King tried to remember what Songcai used to say about accepting offerings from the elder healers. He'd only mentioned it a few times, but Xie Yi-jun thought he was supposed to help. When he offered to pour the tea, Cai Yimu smiled.

"It is my honor. Please, sit."

Yi-jun did so, beside Master Hao, thinking that perhaps nothing here was the same after so many years. It was a depressing thought.

For the most part, everything was different. Snow no longer covered the buildings and homes, the frost receding, and the ones that still stood few and far between. Yi-jun didn't even know if he'd be able to find his way around now if he tried.

When Cai Yimu also sat, her first words were not to her old friend. Instead she faced Xie Yi-jun quite directly, saying with clear enjoyment;

"You are very angry!"

Yi-jun was confused. He was confused because he thought he had done quite an excellent job sealing his aura. It had happened mostly of his soul's own will, but he'd agreed it was for the best. In truth, he didn't know if he'd be able to function if he released it now...

When he looked to his left, Master Hao was shaking his head... clearly Cai Yimu was often like this. Yi-jun didn't know how to reply. Yes, he was indeed very angry. But how could he explain why when he didn't even know?

Sipping her tea quite loudly, Cai Yimu nodded.

"It is understandable. Anyone in your place would feel lost and upset, don't be so hard on yourself-"

Yi-jun frowned. "Pardon me, but... how do you know all this? How do you even know who I am?"

Master Hao chuckled softly and Cai Yimu actually rolled her eyes at him!

Yi-jun sat back, suddenly feeling like he was in the middle of an old and secret joke. The woman smiled at him again, a joyful delight in her eyes...

"You know better than most," she said. "Healing isn't always about feeling another's hurt and easing it. Often, it is simply about being able to notice pain and sit together in a room with it, drinking tea."

The young King paused. On one hand, it was ridiculous to think that this stranger could immediately notice how he felt. And yet, on the other, he'd seen Songcai do it enough times to know that it wasn't impossible.

Cai Yimu sighed then...

"If you've come to make amends, I would say you've come too late."

"What?!"

Master Hao was clearly dissatisfied with what his friend had said, muttering; "A'Yi... not now."

She snorted, "Why not now?! I see someone before me full of grief. So full it drowns him. I am saying the time has come and passed for much of that grief to be eased by repaying those he's wronged."

Yi-jun couldn't help asking, "Who have I wronged? I've been asleep for so long, no one I've wronged is alive."

Cai Yimu shook her head, "Not true. There is one. Your efforts need not be wasted on ghosts, my young King."

Xie Yi-jun could hardly understand her, so Master Hao tried to translate...

"After the war," he said gently. "Meng Bai and his followers burned and slaughtered most of Wúmeng. What stands now are the last few descendants and practitioners of their ways."

Yi-jun could feel the panic already rising in his throat, when suddenly Cai Yimu reached out and took his hands in both of hers. They met eyes. Inside hers he saw some sense of Songcai. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he still held onto it with everything he had...

As her voice came to him, Yi-jun almost swore he could hear his dead lover's voice in her words;

"Yi-jun, what my ancestors did for you was our sworn duty. It was our choice, and our privilege. The tragedies that followed were not your fault, nor could they have been stopped by anything it was in your power to do. So you must not cry over our graves. Our spirits have moved on already, and your forgiveness must be sought elsewhere."

The King felt his heart easing at each word, though since his aura was suppressed and largely unaffected by the outside world, he wasn't sure how...

The only thing he could say as his heartbeat thumped in his ears was; "Where?"

It seemed only a second before Cai Yimu smiled, that Yi-jun had already heard the answer, from within his own racing mind.

The woman holding his hand nodded. "Start small, Xie Yi-jun." She said, "And I think you will be surprised."