Sek Gon considered this offer.

And then he threw Chan Bik over his shoulder, and ran away.

There's no way anyone is staying and playing with you, you lunatic!

Teem Djeung Baak looked stunned for a few seconds, then she threw back her head, laughing wildly. “Oh, Little Handsome, you do want to play! I'll catch you!”

Sek Gon didn't look back. With Chan Bik sobbing and begging him to stop, he raced through the forest, feet barely skimming the leaf litter. He could hear Teem Djeung Baak chattering excitedly behind him, and although he was fast, he was carrying a woman almost the same size as him.

And to be honest, he was more of a sprinter than a long-distance runner.

He tried zigzagging, left and right, up and down, but Teem Djeung Baak stayed close behind him. Her chattering had stopped, though, and a small wrinkle had appeared between her shapely eyebrows. He couldn't shake her off, but she couldn't catch up to him either.

And all at once, her presence vanished.

Sek Gon halted immediately, slipped on a mossy branch, and the two of them fell from the canopy into a thick layer of dead leaves. Chan Bik bounced once, almost half the height that she had fallen, crawled upright, and promptly threw up. Green-faced and shaking, she staggered upright, then vomited again. Sek Gon lay like the dead where he had fallen.

Cold sweat pouring down her face, Chan Bik spat to try and clear her mouth. “You... Don't follow me. Don't come near me. Don't... How could you... You really don't care about anyone except yourself, do you? You selfish bastard...”

Exhausted by this brief tirade, she stumbled away into the night.

Sek Gon had not moved. His eyes were closed. His ears twitched.

Chan Bik had barely disappeared when he opened his eyes to stare into the darkened canopy above him. His neutral expression darkened.

Sek Gon pulled himself upright, and began to run. Back towards the way they had come.

*

“He just left you there?”

Chan Bik nodded, crying too hard to speak. A concerned female disciple of the Mountain School of Mount Fa hugged her soothingly, looking askance of Gou Dzing.

“Gou Si-hing, what's going on? Who is this man she was talking about?”

They were seated in the infirmary of one of the five schools of Mount Fa, the school of Earth arts, Way of the Mountain. Chan Bik had been picked up by a wide patrol and brought immediately back to the sect. Gou Dzing looked grimly as he watched her sob.

“Someone I thought I could trust, Cheng Si-mui. What was he thinking...?”

“I know I can be an awful person sometimes,” Chan Bik whispered, her words a little slurred with tiredness and the swelling of her cheeks. “But this is too much...”

“I'm going to look for him.” Gou Dzing attached his sword to his hip and nodded to his junior sister. “Please look after her, Cheng Si-mui.”

“Do you want us to come with you?” A few other disciples of the Way of the Mountain, who had been listening to Chan Bik's story, rose to their feet.

Gou Dzing smiled , but declined. “I'm only going to talk to him. I don't want to be aggressive, so it's better if it's just me.”

“What about the woman?”

“I've dealt with her before. It'll be alright.”

“Call us immediately if something happens.”

“We know you're strong, Si-hing, but it's better to be safe.”

An image of Sek Gon standing beside him, flicking blood from a sword that had moved so fast that he couldn't follow with his eyes, came to Gou Dzing's mind. His mouth tightened.

“I'll be fine.”

“There's a person at the gate!” came a call through the night. Everyone's heads swung around at once. Gou Dzing waved them back as they tried to follow.

“Stay there! I'll go and look.”

A figure stood on the path outside the gate. Dressed in cultivator's robes, his hair tied back, a sword at his hip that Gou Dzing knew was in desperately need of a clean yet was sharper than ice -

“Sek Gon.”

Those silver eyes did not look up. Instead, they wandered away into the night. “Is Chan Bik here?”

“Yes.”

“... okay.”

Sek Gon turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“... I don't know yet.”

“Come inside.”

Sek Gon nodded. As the disciples on guard began to open the gates, a few of the disciples from the infirmary had come outside despite Gou Dzing's words and began to question him anxiously.

“Si-hing, is that him?”

“Is this really a good idea?”

“Leave this to me,” Gou Dzing said softly. He went down to the gate to meet Sek Gon, and found Chan Bik already there, leaning against Disciple Cheng.

“How dare you come crawling here!”

Sek Gon stared at the ground.

“Well? SAY SOMETHING! Are you going to even apologise?”

“... for what?”

Chan Bik slapped him. Across the face, as Teem Djeung Baak had done. Once, twice.

Sek Gon didn't even move to defend himself, although to be fair, the slaps of a civilian against a cultivator probably had little effect. As Chan Bik was readying herself for another slap, Gou Dzing firmly grasped her hand. “Stop, Lady Bik. You need to rest, and slapping Sek Gon isn't going to help anyone.”

“Don't stop me! You've been so complacent about his weird personality!”

“Cheng Si-mui, please take her back to the infirmary. Give her a sleeping draught.”

Chan Bik was led away, crying and cursing Sek Gon. Gou Dzing turned to him now. “This way.”

Hostile eyes followed Sek Gon to the meeting room where he and Gou Dzing sat down. Another disciple brought them tea, although they placed a cup in front of Sek Gon with great reluctance. The young man drank it without any apparent concern.

“Sek Gon. Can you explain why Chan Bik's face is like that?” Gou Dzing's voice was very, very soft. For the first time, Sek Gon seemed uneasy. He put down his cup, eyes darting about under their half-closed lids as if seeking the correct answer.

Gou Dzing sighed and rubbed his face. “Are you not talking because you have no way to defend yourself?”

“...”

“Sek Gon, if you don't talk to me, I can't understand what you're thinking.”

“...”

“I'm giving you an opportunity to defend yourself. Tell me, why did you let Chan Bik get injured like this?”

Sek Gon toyed with the empty teacup, and his eyes darted around the room, and he said nothing.

Gou Dzing was about to stand when his eyes dropped down to the hands holding the teacup. They were very slightly trembling. He leaned forward, speaking more gently. “What are you scared of, Sek Gon?” The faint scent of smoke, and something singed, reached his nosw. Looking closely, he could see some smudges of ash on the other cultivator's clothing and even a little on his cheek. He rubbed it off with his thumb. “What's this?”

“... ash.”

“Why do you have ash on you?”

“...”

“I'm not accusing you of anything, Sir Sek, I'm just wondering where it came from.”

“... campfire.”

“When you and Chan Bik set up camp? I thought she built the fire.”

“... yes.”

“So why do you have ash on you?”

“...”

Gou Dzing changed his tack. “Did you get this ash on you when Chan Bik was building the fire?”

“No.”

“Did you... go back after you left Chan Bik?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you go back?”

“... that woman...”

“Teem Djeung Baak, is that right?”

“... yes.”

Gou Dzing rubbed his dark eyes wearily. “Sek Gon, do you realise you've done something wrong?”

“... yes.” The affirmation was barely audible.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“... I let Chan Bik get injured.”

“Was it on purpose?”

“No.”

“Lady Bik is a normal civilian. She hasn't trained yet. What did you think would happen if she had a confrontation with a dangerous person like Teem Djeung Baak?”

“...”

“Why didn't you stop them?”

“...”

“Please. Sek Gon, please talk to me. Whatever it is that is going through your mind, I need to know. Say anything.”

The silvery eyes rose, very slightly, and fixed on Gou Dzing's hands. Sek Gon opened his mouth.

And a barrage of words flew out.

“I was angry because she took my rabbit and besides she seemed very confident about fighting Teem Djeung Baak so I thought it would be rude if I interrupted because I know people get upset when their fights are interrupted so I decided to just eat dinner but then Chan Bik couldn't actually fight so I thought it would be best for us to leave but then for some reason she wouldn't leave so-”

“Wait wait wait!” Gou Dzing tried to recover from where the words had pinned him to the wall.

Sek Gon's jaw snapped shut again.

There was a very long silence.

“Sir Sek... do you... have a lot of thoughts? All the time?”

A mute nod.

“And all those thoughts... are they hard for you to express clearly?”

Another silent nod, but this one was quick and excited. Gou Dzing felt a little twinge in his chest at the sheer eagerness of the gesture. He sighed very deeply.

So... this was all the result of misunderstandings. What was this, a trashy romance novel?

“Sir Sek... if you don't say anything, people are going to misunderstand. Lady Bik thought that you had abandoned her. She became anxious and thought her only option was to try and deal with Teem Djeung Baak by herself, even if she is weaker.”

Sek Gon fiddled with the cup. It tipped and the dregs of the tea spilled out.

“Lady Bik is impulsive and hot-headed.” Speaking of impulses, Gou Dzing reached out and put his hand on Sek Gon's, stilling them. “I... I'm aware that a lot has been asked of you. You didn't really want to be involved in all of this, and I made you look after Lady Bik.” He bowed his head to the table. “I'm sorry.”

Sek Gon looked at the hand on his. “... what do I do now?”

“Well... I think you need to apologise to Chan Bik. And explain.” Gou Dzing's mouth twisted ruefully. “She'll probably have a hard time forgiving you, but it's important to do anyway. And then...”

They studied their overlapped hands thoughtfully.

“Then you should practice communicating. We can't have this happening again.”

“... okay.”

What the heck, since when was this guy so obedient?

“Let's get you some food, and a bed, and we'll see Lady Bik in the morning when we've all had a rest.” Gou Dzing laughed as Sek Gon's face expression changed very slightly at the mention of food. “Come on.”

As he lifted his hand away, he felt the minutest of flinches. “What...?”

Sek Gon's hands were soot-stained, so it was difficult to see the wounds below in the dim lamplight. Gou Dzing had to hold them close to his face to realise that Sek Gon's fingers were covered in burns, some bleeding. “The fire... What happened?”

“... it... that woman...”

“Say whatever you're thinking, I'll work it out.”

“... I... I thought it was strange that she stopped following us so I went back to look and she used our campfire to set fire to the forest so I had to put the fire out but also she was still there and she tried to stop me so I fought with her and then put the fire out and then looked for Chan Bik because you said I needed to look after her...”

“Let's get your hands treated. I'll bring some medicine, since I think that it's best you don't go into the infirmary with Chan Bik there.”

Sek Gon looked at his hands. “They're okay.”

“Even if you have high cultivation you shouldn't be careless. Just wait here, I'll be back soon.”

As he finally prepared for bed later that night, Gou Dzing reflected on what he had learnt. He sincerely hoped that Chan Bik would be accepting of Sek Gon's explanation, but he foresaw a difficult task ahead.

Sighing, he undid his hair and fell onto his bed, the snores of his fellow disciples rumbling through the dark in their shared dormitory. As he drifted off, his thoughts turned vaguely towards Teem Djeung Baak. Who the hell was she? What was with that flirty tone she used with Sek Gon?

His last thought before he fell completely asleep was one of trepidation.

That woman... she's going to be trouble.