Chapter 75 - Argument

It was late in the morning the next day when Yuzu woke up in her bed. The curtains had been partially shut, though the sun still shone in brightly leaving a pool of sunshine on the floor.

She remembered being laid in her bed after Xiang brought her into the room, though she couldn’t recall whether he had spoken to her at all. She felt weak, her limbs were heavy. A sudden noise drew her attention to the side of her bed, and she became aware of Xiang, who was sitting next to the bed, leaning against it with his head resting against the bed frame. She quickly realized that he was asleep.

Had he been here this whole time?

She sat up, her arms trembling and aching as she pushed herself to a sitting position. It surprised her how weak she felt, despite sleeping for the whole night she hadn’t recovered her strength at all. The motion stirred Xiang from sleep, his eyes fluttering open and looking at her.

The two siblings watched each other in silence for a bit, neither of them knowing what to say at first. Yuzu watched Xiang carefully for his usual grumpiness, but his expression stayed neutral.

“How are you feeling?” He asked eventually.

“Okay.” She said.

“You fainted last night again.” Xiang said, “Are you sure?”

Yuzu instantly felt irritated as she frowned and looked away, “I said I’m okay.”

She could practically feel Xiang tense up at her dismissive tone. She purposefully avoided eye contact with him as she continued, “Why? Do you need me to watch the shop?”

His voice was unusually calm as he said, “No. Just... making sure.”

He stood up with a sigh. Yuzu could tell that he had a lot of things on his mind. She was waiting for him to patronize her, but instead he only said, “I’ll fix you up some breakfast.”

He left the room and Yuzu lay back down on the bed on her side, looking across the floor of her room. Hazy golden strings drifted quietly in the air.

After a minute Xiang returned with a small bowl of rice porridge. He sat down on the bed, the frame creaking gently underneath the thin mattress. He offered the bowl to Yuzu but she motioned for him to put it on the windowsill beside the bed.

“Zwei’s gone to the police station this morning.” Xiang said, still holding onto the bowl, “From what I heard they are speeding up the recruitment process due to the events of last night.”

“Where did you go last night?” Xiang asked when Yuzu didn’t respond.

She had no desire to explain any of the events that had happened to her to Xiang. Based on his mood, she could tell that any story she made up would be questioned further. She took her time, eventually saying vaguely, “Just for a walk.”

“A walk to where?”

“Around.” Yuzu said. “I don’t know.”

“How do you not know where you went?” Xiang asked.

“Why is it so important?” Yuzu grumbled.

“You were out for hours, Yuzu.” Xiang said, the tension in his voice increasing, “You came back after midnight. We had no idea where you were!”

“I was out with Char Char, okay?” Yuzu said, “She needed help.”

“Help with what?” Xiang asked.

The complicated story of her adventure with Char Char yesterday flashed through Yuzu’s mind briefly as she quickly dismissed the idea of explaining anything. “Nothing. Nevermind.”

“What do you mean, nothing?” Xiang asked, his voice rising. “Zwei said you went to see Grandma Jingyi, but now you’re saying you were with Char Char. What’s the big secret? Where did you two go? And if she was with you, why did a police officer have to bring you home?”

Yuzu groaned loudly in irritation as she turned around in her bed to face the wall. She had mentioned Char Char’s name as a way to try to quickly end the conversation, but instead it had the opposite effect. She immediately regretted mentioning her friend’s name as she felt like she didn’t have the energy to deal with Xiang at all.

“Yuzu, talk to me!” Xiang said, grabbing her by the arm. She tried to shake him off but he just pulled her away from the corner. She rolled over completely and stuffed her head into her pillow without responding.

Xiang sighed loudly, shaking her, but after not receiving a response he let go. “Yuzu, I’m not trying to interrogate you. I just want to make sure you’re okay! Can’t you just talk to me instead of acting like.. like a child!”

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“Can’t you just leave me alone!” Yuzu yelled into her pillow. “I don’t want to talk to you!”

There was a sudden pause as Yuzu’s words hung in the air. Xiang sat back, shocked by the words as he swallowed heavily and looked away. His lips moved as if he were about to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

Yuzu kept her head buried in the pillow, her breaths laboured from trying to breathe through the fabric. She wondered if she could just suffocate herself there so that she could get some peace and quiet from Xiang.

After a painfully silent minute, Xiang stood up.

“Eat before the food gets cold.” He said bluntly. “I’ll be out in the back if you need me.”

Then he left the room and shut the door.

~

At the base of the Cloud Peak mountain, a small village was waking up after a quiet summer night. The trees in the valley seemed to be more lush and vibrant to the villagers, and the water of the river that wove along the valley floor sparkled in the light of the rising sun.

The village buildings were simple one or two room homes with brown shingled clay roofs. The white plaster walls were well kept and the dirt paths were well maintained and free of weeds.

A stocky tailor named Walt was busy at work in the small room he called his workshop when there was a knock on the door. His wife came in with a ream of cloth and other materials that he had ordered.

“Dear, did you hear?” She asked as she started putting the items away, “Bonnie had some visitors last night, a boy and a young man came down from the monastery.”

For such a secluded village, this kind of news was considered interesting and unusual.

“That’s nice.” Walt said as he continued to work without looking up.

”One of them is a Noga police man named Finn Mackenzie. Rina told me that he’s actually not bad looking, and he’s quite young.” Mrs. Walt said, talking without waiting for her husband to respond, “Isn’t it strange that they’d arrive in the middle of the night? I wonder if they were visiting the Monastery and got lost, or perhaps they were on the way back? You know, since he is a police man, do you think he might know our daughter?”

“Maybe not.” Walt shrugged, not too interested in the news as he held up the piece of fabric he had just stitched to exam it. “Isn’t the police force very large? Just because they work in the same organization doesn’t mean they’d meet.”

“Still, it would be nice to hear some news.” She sighed as she began tidying up the room, reorganizing spools of thread and picking up pieces of cut fabric. “Maybe you could go talk the man, I hear they’re at Ah-Sing’s having brunch - oh, did you know the monks in Huan can eat meat? How strange, right? Rina said that he’s just a boy, and his robes are brown instead of white and blue. What was his name again? Edward? Edwin? Anyways, some of these monks are so young, aren’t they-”

“Edwin, did you say?” Walt raised an eyebrow as he looked up at his wife.

“Something like that. Some of them are abandoned at the monastery at birth, aren’t they? How unfortunate...”

Mrs. Walt continued speaking as Walt stood up and walked over to a cabinet and picked up a small item on top of it. It was a small tin that had been encrusted with black clay. He had found it inside the stomach of the fish with the missing fin that he had received as a gift the day before from his friend.

After dinner, he had cut and peeled off some of the clay, letting him open the lid of the tin. Inside was a vial of a strange looking liquid and a small handwritten letter. It read:

Edwin, take this while performing ‘Candle Lighting’ after lighting the fifth candle. Master will come find you soon.

Not knowing what to make of it, Walt had returned the letter and vial in the tin, planning to talk to his friend about what to do with it. It seemed liked it would be important to ‘Edwin’, and the word ‘Master’ made Walt wonder if it was from the monastery. He figured that he would send the tin up with someone to the monastery to see if it could be returned.

However in the morning he had promptly forgotten about it. It was only after hearing the name Edwin that it triggered his memory. With a thoughtful look in his eyes he placed the tin in his pocket and turned to his wife,

“You know, I think I might go see them after all. You said they were at Ah-Sing’s place?”

“Yes.” His wife nodded as she cleaned up without noticing Walt’s pocketing of the item.

“Okay. I’ll be back soon.”

The village was small, with only twenty houses, a set of small docks and a few buildings for drying and storing fish and food. There was only one road that wound through the town, which was spread out due to the hilly and winding terrain. Walt’s home was up a small path, obscured by the trees with a small garden plot that his wife took care of. He only had to venture down about ten minutes before he reached the main stretch of houses that were gathered around the docks.

The bay sparkled in the morning sun, bringing a smile to the middle-aged man’s face as he took a deep breath in of the fresh mountain air. The waters around the village were twisted and varied as they wove through the many small uninhabited islands out on the bay. It gave the village a secluded, sheltered feeling while also providing a beautiful scenery to look at. This walk down to the village around the winding path lined with wild flowers was his favourite part of living outside of the main area. On this morning, the flowers looked especially rich in colour.

Ah-Sing, the fisherman who had given him the crescent trout, lived by himself on the edge of the main stretch of houses. Walt greeted his neighbors cheerfully as he walked through the peaceful village. Many of the men were still out fishing for the morning, it would get a bit livelier at noon once they returned.

The front door was wide open as Walt entered Ah-Sing’s home freely. Sitting around the floor around a small round table were Walt and two visitors. The first was a police man with ash blond hair, the other was a young monk with a shaved head. They were eating thin, fried rice noodles with fried smelt and fresh vegetables as sides.

“Ah, Walt, what brings you here this morning?” Ah-Sing asked pleasantly.

“I heard you had visitors.” Walt said, his eyes meeting with the monk’s, “I thought I would come to say hi.”

“This is Edwin, from the Heaven’s Gate Monastery in Huan, and this is Officer Mackenzie from the Noga police.” Ah-Sing introduced them. “Walt here is an old friend of mine, and the town’s best tailor.”

“Everyone in this village is so friendly and welcoming.” Edwin smiled. Walt was far from the first person to come and say hello to them that morning, “It almost feels like we’re important guests here.”

Finn smiled politely beside Edwin at the remark as he ate without speaking. His eyes had an impatient look to them, as his thoughts were solely on returning to the city.

“Hans is taking his cart to Noga in the afternoon, so these two are waiting for him to come back from fishing.” Ah-Sing explained. His eyebrows raised slightly as he noticed the contemplative look on Walt’s face. “What’s the matter? Something on your mind?”

Walt subconsciously placed his hand in his pocket, closing it around the mud-caked tin as he looked directly at Edwin and asked, “Do you know what ‘Candle Lighting’ is?”