When I came to, I could hear crying. Mistress Fu’s, Kaoru’s, and an infant. I had no idea how long it had been, just that we were safe.

For now, anyway.

As I sat up, I could feel Li’s gaze on me. His eyes widened, and suddenly he turned his head aside.

Oh. Naked. Guess my clothes would’ve been kinda wet and filthy between the late snow and the mud from the massacre.

I got up, and found a spare set I’d had the presence to pack before we’d fled. All I had now, aside from my life. Well, my life was the important part.

My life would make the next steps possible.

But first, Li. Once I had enough on that he wouldn’t be embarrassed to look at me (I still don’t understand the human hangups about nudity, but I can respect them well enough), I sat down in front of the boy and held him again.

“It… it just…”

“Shhhh. I know. We’re all shaken by what happened.”

“You aren’t.”

I pulled him back a bit, and let him feel just how badly I was trembling.

“I’m a rabbit, Li. I didn’t survive long enough to awaken without understanding the fear of predators. You were one of them, remember?”

He shook at the thought, and started mumbling apologies.

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“It’s in the past. As is our life at the monastery now. It’ll hurt, and that hurt won’t ever go away.” I thought briefly of the kits I’d been nursing that day so long ago now. What would they have been like if they’d lived? “But we need to set that pain aside, just for a moment. I need you to focus, and listen to what I have to say.”

He looked me in the eyes, still stricken with grief and pain, and nodded.

“What would you do, if I told you I intend to take revenge?”

The grief turned back to shock, utter disbelief.

“There’s no possible way-”

“There is, Li. It’s not going to be easy, but the Tortoise King is sloppy. He’s been too used to his own power for too long, and that’s the very reason we’re alive. But someone like that being in power, a selfish child who only brings harm to others… even if I didn’t want to kill him for revenge, Li. I’m going to. The world will die as long as people like him are in power.”

“But that means…” Li still sounded like he couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“Yes, Li. It means killing all four of the Heavenly Emperors, as well as everyone who supports and enables them. But it also means replacing what they’ve built, a society focused on their personal satisfaction and glorification. If we just kill them, it won’t solve anything. People at least as bad as they were will rise to take their places, and countless innocents will die in the bloodbath. So we need to build our own government, our own army, our own society to fight back against what is. It won’t be easy, and I will need your help. Do you think you can get past what you saw today, what happened to all of us?”

Li’s eyes started to re-focus, some spark of himself returning. He nodded, and stood.

“Day before yesterday, though I can understand you needing rest. My teacher puts a lot upon her shoulders.” He turned, and bowed. “I’ll see that you have a decent meal, then set to cultivating. If I am to be of any use to you, or to my dao, I must gather more qi.”

I felt his dao solidify as he walked out of the room. The tears were flowing now, at the loss, at the pain, at getting respect from Li, at seeing him have to grow up from the worst possible experiences.

We’d all be changed from this. But not one of us would be alone.