“Uh, no?”

“It was worth a try.” Lí shrugged philosophically. He gave the unclad necromancer a critical look. “Huh... so that's what the little monk is into?”

“If ye know, then go away.”

“Don't be like that. Aren't you going to invite me in?” Lí dodged a lump of rock that came whistling towards his head, thrown by the witch. “You have some anger management issues, don't you?”

“Do ye just not have anything better to do than follow us around? What the feck do you want this time?”

“What do I want? Well, there's a certain little monk-” A significantly larger rock grazed the side of his face, exploding against the cliff behind him. Flying shards left small cuts in his brown skin. “Ha... Honestly, I'm not in the mood to be playing with you today. Enjoy your date with the monk.” In a whirl of white fur and eerie lights, the fox disappeared, leaving the necromancer blinking.

“What? Hey! What the – There's no way ye'd leave us alone like that so easily!”

“Pang Yau?” Sou Yuet sounded uncharacteristically groggy.

“That fox was sniffing around here again. What the hell does that bastard want?”

“Maybe there's a creature here.” Sou Yuet's voice grew sharper. The necromancer could hear them groping around for their clothing. “Hm, still wet. Well, that's not surprising, I didn't even hang them up.”

“Want some help?”

“Sure. Come away from the entrance. It's warmer here.”

“A bit of cold never killed me.” The necromancer's dry laugh disappeared quickly at the sight of Sou Yuet's unimpressed face. “It's funny.”

“Yes, you're very funny.”

“No, I don't mean that. I mean yer expression. Ye used to just smile all the time. Now ye're actually showing some other emotions.”

“Just because I smiled all the time doesn't mean I didn't have other emotions.”

“It's just good to see, that's all.”

“Is it?” Even in the dark, Sou Yuet's eyes carried a green glitter as they watched the necromancer over Sunny's back where they had once again hidden themselves. The necromancer busied himself stacking pieces of rubble to create a makeshift hearth around the glowing coals, and then laid their inner robes to dry.

“Are you hungry?”

“Me? I'm always hungry, but-”

“Sunny, I'm sorry to ask you this when it's so cold and wet out there, but can you see if there's anything to eat?” The monk scrubbed the bedraggled si dzi's fur energetically. “Good girl. Don't stay out too long. If you can't find anything within two incense-time, come back.”

She grunted and plodded out of the shelter. The necromancer very deliberately kept his gaze fixed on the gap where she had left. “She's getting real big. How is she doing that when some days we barely have anything to eat?”

“Pang Yau, be honest with me, I've made a big mess of everything, haven't I?”

“What? Why-” The necromancer began to turn to look at the monk, then remembered they were unclothed and quickly looked back the other way.

Sou Yuet laughed wearily. “Thanks.”

“This kind of thing happens when ye're living rough. Hell, there were sometimes months when I didn't eat. I burnt me whole left arm one time trying to learn how to start a fire, and then that got infected... Pretty sure I lost an eye once trying to chase a goat through some mountains. Slipped on some loose rocks and fell on... What I'm saying is, it could be worse.”

“I apologise for complaining like this. I'm sure this is nothing compared to-”

“It ain't a competition, dumbarse.”

“But I am supposed to be responsible for you and for Sunny, and right now I fear I'm failing at that. Now I've ever dragged you both on this selfish journey to ease my own conscience.”

“Hey, Ah Yuet, did yer parents say ye were selfish when ye were a little kid?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The coals shimmered.

“I... don't remember.”

“I can picture it, though. Two self-centred idiots who don't care about each other any more, and you left to feel like ye were just in the way.”

Aside from the crackling of the coals, the shelter was silent. It was only when Sunny returned, carrying the body of a large, fluffy rodent of some type, that the necromancer heard Sou Yuet draw a shuddering breath.

“Hello, Sunny. Good job. Good job.” The monk patted the si dzi, whose head could now easily rest on top of the necromancer's when everyone was seated.

The necromancer borrowed the dagger from Sou Yuet and efficiently skinned the rodent, cleaning it out and backing it on a rock that had been heated in the coals. Sunny happily wolfed down most of the still-warm innards. It was only when they had all eaten that anyone spoke again.

“Why do ye think Lí was here?”

“There's a strong presence of death here, but that doesn't fully explain it. There may be some creature here, or... I really don't know. We know barely anything about this place. I may have to ask Si fu when I report to him next.”

“Have ye actually heard anything back from him?”

“Not yet. But it's hardly surprising give how much we've been moving around. In any case, we should get out of here as soon as we can. We're not prepared to spend a long time in these conditions, looking for who-knows-what.”

“Agreed.”

“Let's go somewhere warm, with lots of food.”

With a meagre meal in their stomachs and their robes somewhat drier, they boarded the ginseng leaf and continued south. The sleet had eased, and some welcome bursts of sunlight were piercing the clouds.

“Gotta admit, it's pretty,” the necromancer mused, gazing out across the vast expanse of mountains. “We've got mountains back home, but nothing this size.”

They weaved between the white and grey peaks, heading towards the smudges of green that were beginning to appear. The smudges resolved themselves into stunted pine trees as they came closer, which grew taller as Sou Yuet guided the leaf downwards. They paused at a mountain stream to drink, and Sunny quickly returned with a musk deer carcass, trotting proudly back to the monk and the necromancer with her prize. They farewelled the spirit of the animal before the necromancer split up the carcass, built a fire, and they finally had their first decent meal, complete with some fern fiddleheads that Sou Yuet foraged from the surrounding countryside, having first rubbed the sap on the inside of their wrist to check for a reaction. The young fronds were crunchy and tasted pleasantly like some kind of green bean. The necromancer carefully buried the deer's bones with a garland of leaves from a small tree nearby.

“He said it was his favourite plant.”

They were reluctant to move for the rest of the day. Sou Yuet did their best to wash Sunny with water carried from the stream, combing her fur with pine cones until she looked less woebegone. Their own hair was a dirty, tangled mess, so it underwent the same treatment as Sunny's fur. The sun was setting as the monk sat behind the necromancer, combing the wet, black locks. The pinecones kept breaking.

“Maybe ye should just cut it all off.”

“You didn't seem to like that idea when we first met.”

“I'm just talking out of me arse. Don't actually cut it all off.” The necromancer flopped backwards next to the monk and stared at the stars. “Huh. Same stars, different place.”

Sou Yuet lay down too, and Sunny sleepily snuggled between the two humans.

“What do ye think that bull wants ye to do?”

“I don't know.” Sou Yuet turned so that they could hug Sunny like a giant toy. “I don't know what to expect. Whatever it is, I'll deal with it.”

“And if ye can't?”

The night was cold, a breeze making the pine needles whisper.

“If I can't-”

The necromancer's scarred hand found the monk's. “Ye don't need punishment. Don't just accept whatever happens.”

“I was in the wrong this time. It needs to be remedied.”

“Were ye? And what's the remedy? Would ye accept it if it meant ye got hurt?”

Sunny snuffled against Sou Yuet's ear, and the monk couldn't answer.

“I reckon ye would have said 'yes' straight up when we first met. I'm glad ye're at least hesitating now. Go to sleep, stupid monk.”

There was no sign of Lí that night, nor the next morning when they finally continued their journey, and so they remained none the wiser as to why he had appeared the day before. At first they simply walked, enjoying the crisp air and the warm sun, and then flew for a few hours, watching the vegetation below them grow steadily greener and denser. The forest would be broken in places by neatly terraced farmlands, stepping down the steep slopes, until at last the topography levelled out.

They headed south, and east, until they began to hear singing.

It was far in the distance, but the singers were loud and wild, their calls echoing over the land. A clash of drums and other instruments accompanied the singing, and with a nod of agreement between them, the monk and the necromancer jumped down from the leaf and continued their approach on foot.

The forest ended abruptly. They found themselves gazing out across grey farmland, the soil dry and poor, to find a large village of yellow mud and straw houses. Although still distant, they could clearly see a huge bonfire, roaring and crackling, in the village centre, and small white figures seemed to be gathered around it.

The figures resolved themselves into a mixture of dogs and people as they came closer. Sunny wriggled eagerly, clearly wanting to leap forward and play, but Sou Yuet scratched behind her ears soothingly, and although she whined in complaint, she maintained her trot by their side.

The people, dressed all in white, were heaping lengths of woven white cloth onto the fire. All around the flames were bowls of some kind of bean porridge or soup, milk, water, and vibrant, scented flowers. One man in particular seemed to directing the proceedings – he carried a painted scroll in his hands and seemed to be singing a story. The audience of humans and dogs listened solemnly, some through tears, occasionally joining in with the leading man's words.

A body was already burning within the pyre.

The necromancer watched avidly. Sou Yuet glanced at him to find his lips moving silently. Still, it wasn't right to linger at the edge of an unknown person's funeral. Sou Yuet patted the necromancer's shoulder.

“Pang Yau, we should go.”

“... Wait...”

“WAIT!”

“Who...?”

One of the people listening to the song had caught sight of them. He leapt up eagerly, followed, one by one, by several more of the audience, human and animal. The monk and the necromancer stared in bewilderment at the people eagerly rushing towards them, all calling out, “It's you, it's you! You're really here!”