見義勇為 (jiàn yì yǒng wéi) - See what is right, act with courage.
----------------------------------------
“Gong Dze? You're strangely quiet.”
They had been travelling for several hours now. In her loong form, Gong Lau Yan had carried Zéyì through the dark waters from Tin Yeung Wong's palace. Zéyì kept her eyes closed until they burst together onto the drought-stricken coast of Dzue.
Despite regaining the sky, Gong Lau Yan maintained a contemplative silence. Zéyì wrapped her hands around the bases of the loong's antlers. They felt warm.
“No secrets,” Gong Lau Yan's voice was a murmuring rumble in Zéyì's head. “A Yì, do you remember not long after we first met, a typhoon hit the border of Chun and Shisuan?”
“Vaguely. My mind was...”
Kinda fucked up? Fan Bi'an's voice suggested.
Not now, auditory hallucination.
“Why do you mention it, Gong Dze?”
“There were people from Dzue there.” Gong Lau Yan's rumble was tinged with melancholy.
“Then the storm-”
“I made them leave before I... before the storm hit.”
Zéyì heard the unsaid meanings behind the words, and her hands gripped the loong's antlers tighter. Now they were descending. The barren lands of Dzue still rolled below them, but they were dropping on a trajectory towards Tsaam Lam, the pine forest at the border with Shisuan.
The exhausted skeletons of the dry pines shivered as they landed. Zéyì's eyes flickered from side to side as pine needles whispered under Gong Lau Yan's flowing movement.
Despite the desiccation of the forest, there were still scattered trees with green needles. The bark on many of these was crumbling away, revealing sickly smooth inner tissue. Galls and burls weighed down the branches.
“He must be very sick,” Zéyì murmured. She thought about the sluggish, sedimented trickle of the Lau Yan River and pressed her face to Gong Lau Yan's scaled neck.
“It doesn't excuse what he's done.”
“That's not what I meant, Gong Dze.”
“I know. I'm telling myself.”
“Is that...?” Zéyì had caught her first glimpse of the portal through the dead trees. Gong Lau Yan watched her from the corner of her eye.
Although she fell silent, Zéyì's lips moved. Her eyes grew whiter, darting back and forth over the circumference of the portal.
“What is it, Zéyì?” Gong Lau Yan asked at last, when even the silent movements of Zéyì's lips had stopped.
“I don't... really know. There are meanings in the miasma around the portal... But I couldn't say what they are. Not with any words we could understand.” Her eyes were ghostly pale, barely any black left in the irises. Gong Lau Yan nudged her knee with a long whisker, and Zéyì blinked and smiled, the black returning to her eyes like a swirling tea leaves.
“So why did we come here, Gong Dze?” She slid from the loong's back, and Gong Lau Yan transformed back into humanoid form. They passed a flask of water back and forth until it was empty. Zéyì's eyes still stung.
“When Dzue fell, the people fled... The curse seemed to have begun from the city of Ming Yuet – well, that's not surprising, given what we know now – so those further away had more time to escape.” She gathered up a handful of dry needles from the ground, watching them crumble between her fingers. “Tsaam Lei...”
Zéyì watched her silently. Even if she had wanted to say something, she would have been interrupted – the next moment, two people stepped out from the portal.
“Siu Wan? And... Xiè Wújiù?”
So this is the demon who charmed Dzue Yi-sang, Zéyì thought, bowing politely, but she changed her assessment almost immediately. Xiè Wújiù was tall and muscular, with a dominating air, but she conscientiously opened a parasol for Haat Ngan Wan to shade her in the leafless forest. It was clear who was charmed by whom.
“Gong Dze. Chun Jie,” the doctor responded coldly. “No... Cousin.”
Cousin. Zéyì felt the phrase squeeze her heart. “I... Y-yes. Yes. Cousin Ngan Wan. And... it is nice to meet you, Lady Xiè.”
The demon nodded solemnly in response.
“Did you know we were coming?”
“I thought you might,” said Haat Ngan Wan. “I've been going for a walk every now and then, just to check. How have you found those pills?”
“They work well,” Gong Lau Yan grinned. “Nice work, Siu Wan. If you could make a few more... Is... something wrong?”
Zéyì looked from the loong to the doctor, and then to Xiè Wújiù. From the look on their faces, though, it seemed like she was the only one oblivious.
“So, are you here to finally fix this situation?” Haat Ngan Wan said, at last.
“I've... requested my aunt take the land.” Gong Lau Yan crouched and stirred the ground with her hand. “Zéyì agreed.”
“YOU-!” Haat Ngan Wan bit back a shout. Gong Lau Yan and Zéyì stared, taken aback. The doctor glared at Zéyì. “Has she told you? In fact, have you not thought of it yourself? Ha, perhaps not, given the way you threw aside the last kingdom you had.”
“What are you talking about?” Zéyì asked calmly. Her eyes were turning white again. Xiè Wújiù subtly shifted to stand slightly in front of Haat Ngan Wan, who said, “So that's the grand plan, is it? Sweep it out to sea, forget it existed?”
“We're tired, Siu Wan,” Gong Lau Yan sighed. “Dzue should just rest.”
“And the people of Dzue? You've seen them, Gong Lau Yan. You know how the survivors are living. Will you turn your back on them?”
Oh, Zéyì thought, realisation crashing down on her like a wave. There are people from Dzue still...
What did the world call Dzue?
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The Gū Kingdom. The Criminal Kingdom. The Kingdom of Empty Stomachs.
A cursed place.
So any person who had come from that place...
“Gong Lau Yan,” Zéyì said quietly, barely able to squeeze the words past her constricted throat. “The survivors of Dzue... How have they been living? Why did you destroy that border town where the refugees had been?”
“How do you think they've been living?” Haat Ngan Wan asked bitterly. “I've travelled through the Four Kingdoms and seen... Do you know about the patches they have to wear? All Dzue refugees have to wear a black patch with a worm design attached to their clothing.”
“I didn't... I didn't know-”
“There are people of Dzue in Chun!” Haat Ngan Wan exploded. “Weren't you the saintly princess? How could you have not known?”
“Siu Wan-”
“You're worse, Gong Lau Yan! You did nothing to rescue them, and now you just want to wash the whole thing away-!
“Haat Ngan Wan,” Gong Lau Yan rumbled, her eyes glowing green as scales rippled across her body. Zéyì immediately threw herself in front of the enraged loong and held her tight.
“Lau Yan... Don't...” Precious tears rolled down her cheeks, drying quickly in the parching air.
Haat Ngan Wan, shaking, looked ready to burst into tears too. Gong Lau Yan gritted her teeth, returning Zéyì's embrace.
“Gong Dze.” The doctor's voice was strained. “I know... Please. Don't give up on Dzue.”
“I'm tired, Siu Wan,” Gong Lau Yan said hoarsely. “So's Zéyì. So are you. How do we keep going?”
The dry air was like a noose.
“Lau Yan.”
“Zéyì?”
“What happened at the border town?”
“... There was a small group of Dzue refugees there. The rest of the town were soldiers... They were beating a Dzue man when I was there. And the way the refugees acted-”
“Murder, torture, rape, severe assault... I've seen it all,” Haat Ngan Wan said faintly. “I'd treat someone at a village, come back a week later, and they'd been hurt worse. Or they wouldn't be there anymore. And Gong Lau Yan, you just... was it fun, playing the famous demon hunter? Going on adventures? Running from what happened? What is happening?”
“Lau Yan dealt with that border town, didn't she?” Zéyì cried defensively. “Besides, she's been unwell!”
“I KNOW THAT!” Haat Ngan Wan screamed, and even in that situation, Zéyì found herself wondering at the control that the doctor held, not a single tear escaping her. “I know... I know... But who else can do anything? All I can do is wander around with my meagre skills... “
How old was Haat Ngan Wan? With her cold indifference, she seemed ageless, but now, on the verge of breaking down, it occurred to Zéyì that she was so, so young.
“Can you not get help from your aunt?” Zéyì asked Gong Lau Yan quietly, although she thought she already knew the answer.
“She's the guardian of the ocean. She wouldn't have the power to fix Dzue... only take it below the sea.”
“Is there truly no-one else?”
“The other divine guardians left for the Heavenly Realm centuries ago. And Dze-dze... There's no-one.”
Zéyì could feel her lips peeling. She tried not to lick them.
What should they do? Stay and try to do something? Like what? It would be like throwing a cup of water into the desert. Wouldn't it be better to just go? They had to go to Vurdzcahar to deliver Tin Yeung Wong's message...
“Gong Dze.”
“... A Yì?”
“The Junior Sibling of mine we're going to meet... They're one of the direct disciples, aren't they? Of your mother, even. With a strong Wood element, they could regrow plants... And...”
She pulled back to gaze into Gong Lau Yan's eyes, her own exhausted, but something stirring deep within them. “They have to go and catch Tsaam Lei... Don't you think... Maybe...”
If they had the guardian spirit of Dzue's remaining river, the spirit of the pine forest, and the two direct disciples of the Divine Guardians of Wood and Water...
“... we might... have a chance.”
The enormity of the task before them temporarily fell away under the surge of hope.
“Vurdzcahar... We have to go...”
Zéyì turned back to Haat Ngan Wan, leaning against the reassuring bulk of Xiè Wújiù. “... C-Cousin. We're all tired, so I don't know how well we'll do. But I want to do something. So... I'll bring Tsaam Lei back here. We'll need your help to heal him. And if we start there, maybe, one day, we'll be able to restore the whole country... I'm not a saint, or an Immortal. All I can do is try. I'm sorry I was late.”
Haat Ngan Wan closed her eyes. “Wújiù.”
“Now, Ngan Wan?”
“Please.”
The demon nodded to Zéyì. “Before you leave, I'll teach you how to harness your demonic powers properly. You've barely got a lid on them as it is.”
Zéyì bowed. “I'll be in your care.”
----------------------------------------
“Anger. Fear. Envy. Pride. Emotions than can lead to so-called demonic energy, qi deviations, and the like. Do you think they're bad, Your Highness?”
“They can be heavy and fierce emotions that harm others.”
“What if those emotions can drive you to action? Righteous anger, concern for the well-being of others, drive, self-confidence? What if these deviations of internal energy occur not because of the emotions themselves, but the inability to understand and use them?”
They sat opposite each other on the other side of the portal, on a stretch of dark grass in the Demon Realm. Xiè Wújiù was watching Zéyì's eyes carefully. White and black fought for dominance.
“What is that technique you're trying to use?”
“It's one of the cultivation practices of the Wudang Sect. Balancing the Yin and the Yang in the soul.”
“It's useful, but it looks like you haven't been able to fully stabilise it. You've got a grasp of various aspects of both Yin and Yang, but you're running away from the darker parts of yourself. Without that acceptance, you'll never gain full mastery.”
Zéyì considered the demon. She had short hair, like her brother, a rare sight in the Four Kingdoms, but she was more muscular. She sat with an almost aggressive confidence, and Zéyì wondered if this was what it meant to embrace those darker parts.
“There is Yin in all of us. The shadow, the cold, the anger, the sorrow. There is Yang in all of us. The light, the warmth, the contentment, the happiness. A person who is filled with happiness, always, without knowledge of sadness, is hollow. They cannot understand others. A person who is always angry will never have contentment. Are you laughing?”
“I'm just so surprised that I'm learning this from a demon.”
“Well, knowing is one thing, understanding and accepting is another.” Xiè Wújiù shrugged. “Most demons have learnt similar principles, but how many of them actually follow properly? None, I would argue.”
“Even you?”
“Why not? When we speak of embracing that which is dark, many think it's a free pass to be as harmful as they like. We're living beings. Perfection is not for us. It's for those whose time no longer moves. It's for the dead.”
Zéyì couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through her.
“Your Highness. You have been brought up in a cultural that seeks to hide the darkness. Honour. Righteousness. Duty. Forgetting that we are living beings and imperfect. Pretending that the disgusting and hurtful parts of us don't exist.
“If you continue to pretend that you are a one-dimensional, pure being without any flaws, walk away now.”
Zéyì looked at her hands, at the silvery scars all over them. Why had she chosen to keep them?
“What are you thinking of?”
“My scars... but also, Gong Lau Yan. I love her very dearly, but... how old are you, Lady Xiè?”
The demon considered her gravely. “Lady Gong is far, far older than me. She has lived too long.”
A wordless spike of anger stabbed through the back of Zéyì's head. She clamped her teeth together.
“You're angry, and yet you're suppressing it.”
“I... there must be a reason why you said that. I can't simply... If I get angry, I might hurt you.”
“Do you think you're a monster, Dzue Dzak Yaat?”
“Why did you say that, about Lau Yan?” Zéyì whispered.
“Those who live long lives see so many things. They know too much. They have felt too much. Why do you think the Divine Guardians abandoned the Mortal Realm? Why do you think the guardians of the demon realm left?”
“Demon guardians? I didn't-”
“No, you wouldn't. Everything was buried after the Human War... Ah, you call it the Great Demon War, don't you? I suppose Lady Gong never spoke of it. That's not surprising. How are you feeling now?”
“Confused.”
“Why?”
“Because... it feels like now I'm learning something else about Gong Lau Yan... Why are there so many secrets?”
“You misunderstand me. Why confusion? Why not anger? Betrayal? Distrust?”
Zéyì shivered again. “I'm just suppressing them...”
“Every time you experience an emotion, observe it. Without judgement. Where is it coming from? Why is it manifesting this way?” Xiè Wújiù stood, cracking her neck. “About Lady Gong. When you live that long, things blur. Memories of what was said to whom, who knows what, how something happened, can get confusing. I doubt she always hides things from you deliberately. Sometimes the past just hurts.”
They could see Gong Lau Yan and Haat Ngan Wan sitting several li away across the dark grass, the doctor's hair shining brightly. They seemed to be sitting in silence, looking up at the sky.
Without a word, Zéyì and Xiè Wújiù began to walk slowly over the dark fields to join them.