"And alas, that is how I ended up here, among the beasts of Gū Shān Mìdòng, alone, forgotten, a faded spirit without a reprive from my solitude." Xiangshi lowered her hands, which she had raised and moved about this way and that while telling her story, as though drawing it up in the air. It was very graceful to watch. She sighed, examining her long, scarlet fingernails again while floating in the air, cross-legged above me. "In short, I have been here for a thousand years, and I will be here for a thousand more. But that does not bother me."

I blinked. I was sitting on that sparkling blue platform of stone cross-legedd like Xiangshi, resting my chin on my hand while listening to her describe the gross, sexist antics of her dad. "...It doesn't bother you...?"

Being alone in these winding, dark caverns for a thousand years...DIDN'T bother her? I mean, sure, the glittering blue sapphiric stone all around was beautiful. But, like...no company besides the occassional rabbit? And the demonic beasts deep within the caves, said to be older than the gods? No one to talk to? Even about, like...a tummy ache? No one to complain to about how hard being an immortal was, and vent about how tasty dragon beard candies are?!

Alone?

For eternity?

Xiangshi gracefully waved her pale, thin-fingered hand, perfectly smooth--and slightly translucent, I noticed; seemed she was really leaning into her spirit state, huh?--and a pipe materialized out of the air among swirls of purple and scarlet smoke that glittered in the faint glowing blue light of the cavern. She breathed in, long and deeply, then blow out smoke from between her lips. It rose into the air, glittering, almost seeming to form faces that tried to push out of the clouds of smoke and escape.

"It indeed does not bother me. Perhaps a few times, every now and then, I think to myself that it would be nice. To have a listening ear, that of another spirit, another immortal, a companion to speak my mind to, tell stories back and forth, to hold in the winter months when these caves grow darker and colder..." Her voice trailed off. Her dark, scarlet-tinted eyes had grown misty. She didn't seem to see the cave around herself. I cleared my throat awkwardly, shifting my butt around. This was like when people said that "their eyes looked far away..." Real awkward situation when it happens in real life, let me tell ya. Or, in a second life. Or, whatever. Another real life. I was never big on philosophy in my first life anyways.

Finally, Xiangshi's eyes cleared, kind of like a pearl being drained of all its opalescence and left clear. She looked down at me, blinking like she'd forgotten I was there, and took another long drag of her glittering smoke, blowing it out over my head into a cloud. "Anyhow. Most of the time, it does not even cross my mind. That I am bound here, that I am alone. I have spent a thousand years protecting the caves of Gū Shān Mìdòng, and I will spend a thousand more without batting an eye. For this..." Xiangshi gestured all around.

As she spoke, something strange happened.

The cave began to glow.

Yeah, sure, they were already glowing a faint blue, sparkling and shiny and all that. But as she raised her hands and looked around, everything pulsed. It glowed brighter, lighter, blue like the sky and ocean waves in the sun. Figures, or shadows, maybe, seemed to be moving in the walls, dancing in the glowing lights and twining together, breaking into wisps, embracing. The floor of the cave shook slightly, and from all around there came noises: a faint grolwing from somewhere far, far away, maybe the sound of a snoring demonic beast; the squeaking of rabbits; the dripping of water from damp cave ceilings into sparkling blue ponds somewhere among the caverns; a whirling breeze from somewhere, and the sound of rustling leaves somewhere, maybe bearing fruit. It felt like my eyes were being opened to everything around me at once, like I was being lifted and swept to the middle of the caves of Gū Shān Mìdòng and all the walls were made transparent and I could hear everything at once.

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I'm not really that sentimental and stuff--I mean, I still have the necklace from Lady Du, but, I never got that emotional, you know? In this life or the last--but something about this feeling...

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling a shvier down my spine.

It was beautiful.

After a moment, the noises quieted, one by one, and the bright glow of the walls cooled and the shadows slowed their dancing, and I felt back in my body. Xiangshi's hand lowered slowly. She was watching me closely, as though looking for my reaction. Her eyes were glowing bright from within, like with a fire.

"This is my territory," She said firmly. "Whether I am banished here for one thousand years or a hundred thousand, I will protect what is mine. I once thought to give it to my father to pawn his cheap favor. But now that I know his favor would never fall on me because of who I am, I will guard what was my own from the beginning."

I nodded in awe, just resisting the urge to clap my hands together in admiration because that's not very professional immortal, if you know what I mean.

"You're so cool!"

Xiangshi blinked. She frowned, forehead crinkling, as though puzzled. "...Cool?"

"Yeah!"

She wrinkled her nose. "What is this 'cool'?"

I scratched my head. What was the best way to describe modern slang to a thousands of years old immortal from a different universe and different era?

"...It's like, you're...uh, cool! Like, amazing! And, uh...huh...Chill? You're...badass!!! Yeah! Badass!"

"...Ass?" Xiangshi's right eye twitched, and her hand tightened on her pipe. "...You call me an ass?"

"NO! Nono, uh, nono!" I waved my hands and just barely resisted laughing because that was a silly as hell response even if it was genuine. "It's like...ugh...cool is badass...and badass is cool...It's like you're admirable! But like, better and in a more, uh out of the ordinary way? Like you go against the grain! Or, whatever. You know?"

Xiangshi pondered this, tilting her head at me with a wrinkled brow. "...Admirable...but different...Mmmm..." Suddenly, a small smile alit on her face, the first genuine one I'd seen since she'd appeared a bit ago. "I like this. This 'cool' and...'badass'." Then her face straightened out, and she took a deep puff from her pipe. This time, blue and purple smoke spilled from her lips, smelling like fresh almond cookies. Delicious!

"There is something...'cool' I need from you, Immortal Xia Yue."

I raised my eyebrows, puzzled. A thousands of years-old immortal, needing something "cool" from me...? Maybe...some kind of favor? Like making her some food? She had been stuck in this cave for a thousand years, after all. Maybe she wanted a snack?

"Uh, if you need anything food-related, you should know I'm a horrible cook..."

"Food-related?" Xiangshi looked confused again. "I have plenty here in my caves--goji berries, Electric Sour Berries, small game, Crisp Strength Roots, and hundreds of others. No..." Xiangshi tilted her head, smiling with her cherry lips. Her smile sent a shiver down my spine. Scary! "I have some...information on my father.

"...I need you to relay it for me. I have been looking for someone for a thousand years to end my father's petty godhood by revealing his crimes. And I think you might be the first with the audacity to do so."