Su Lan

1301 years after The Long Night

Huichâng

The snakeskin bandages covered his hands, fingers, and from his knees down. Su Lan knew he should take it slow, be grateful he even survived and allow himself the time to fully heal. However, Yi-jun’s voice rang in his head day and night, and it was always the same…

“You know, I couldn't have done this without you.”

Su Lan knew that more than the war, more than just strategy and battle and court-enforced meetings, Yi-jun meant life. He meant that he couldn’t have stayed alive and done everything he did without Su Lan.

Su Lan adored that boy like he was his brother and with every breath left in his body, so with only that thought in mind, he forced himself to stomach all the handfuls of raw fish Yaeon brought him, and the pain causing his legs and hands to shake whenever he sat up and attempted to move around.

Yaeon… that’s what he’d decided to call her. It meant departure from what is known, and Su Lan thought it suited her perfectly.

Yaeon was there within seconds every time he fell, literally. Su Lan didn’t understand how she knew, but sometimes when he’d try to stand and walk to the other end of the cave, he’d do a little better than faceplanting immediately. Yaeon always snuck inside completely silent, aside from her anxious chittering noises, and she’d nudge him to his feet with her tail or hands until Su Lan relented and laid back down.

Su Lan didn't fancy his chances of going up against Yaeon’s brute strength if she decided to force him, especially if she used her tail.

Su Lan had glimpsed dolphins and whales, and of course seen the occasional snake, but Yaeon’s tail was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Fourteen, fifteen feet long, it started at her waist and, as far as he’d felt the times she’d pushed him around with it, was pure muscle. Su Lan entertained himself one night, as he stared over at the corner where Yaeon was curled up asleep, thinking about her completely annihilating Meng Bai’s army. It was a rather inspiring image…

Su Lan looked at the snakeskin covering his hands and legs, and he wondered if it had hurt Yaeon when she’d taken it off to give to him. Snakes shed their skin, but this didn’t feel like dead skin, it was cold and damp, and Su Lan knew that the longer he wore it, the faster he was healing.

The benefits of that in battle were astronomical, he didn’t even dare to think… The idea of bringing Yi-jun here and showing him exactly what had happened definitely crossed Su Lan’s mind a few times. He decided he’d give it some more thought, just as soon as he returned home.

He started keeping track of weeks with lines scratched on the walls of the cave. He had no clue how long he’d been here, but since he’d been able to move his hands to start the scratches, it had been six weeks. A month and a half. He needed to get better as soon as possible.

Su Lan tried to follow Yaeon out of the cave one time. She kept stopping to turn around and blink at him, like she wasn’t sure why he was up or what this game of ‘follow the leader’ meant.

When he’d finally managed to stop shaking and falling so much on his feet, Yaeon allowed him to join her outside. The cave where she lived faced the ocean, opening after a long tunnel onto a sandy beach littered with driftwood, shells and kelp. Su Lan wanted to try and get a bit higher, try and see where Hei’an City was in relation to where they were, but he stopped suddenly as Yaeon started doing that shimmying movement she did when she was anxious.

Upon looking closer at her face, it was clear that she wasn’t anxious at all, she was… hunting? Su Lan was absolutely speechless, staring at the creature as she coiled back, and then sprang all the way down the beach, half into the ocean, in an attempt to catch a crab with her bare hands.

“Ha!” A laugh bubbled out of Su Lan’s throat before he humbled himself immediately, realizing that Yaeon was now staring at him, said crab speared perfectly on her claws.

They stayed there on the beach for a while, Su Lan watching with much fascination, this creature that he’d never known existed as she seemed to go to and from the water, easily able to move on land but much quicker in the sea. For a second, Su Lan wondered if the mermaids he’d seen in old drawings were actually once based off of beings like her. She was pretty enough.

Yaeon looked back at him and made beckoning noises if he was too far. Su Lan sighed and followed, stretching his legs the best he could and helplessly smiling whenever Yaeon would glance his way. He hadn’t seen her this happy before, and it was so obvious that with every shell she picked up to show him, every tree she hung off of upside down, even everytime she chittered angrily at the sun since it seemed to hurt her eyes, Yaeon was showing Su Lan around her world.

She could even tell when Su Lan’s legs were hurting and he needed to stop. She made him sit on an overturned tree and fidgeted with the bandages on his legs until she was satisfied they weren’t coming off. Then Yaeon blinked a few times. Su Lan waited to see what she would do, when she made another soft noise and then began to coil her tail around his feet.

Su Lan laughed again, feeling as if he was being claimed by some overeager pet, as Yaeon finished and then abruptly propped herself up on the tree by his side. Eyes closed, it looked as if she was about to go to sleep. Su Lan took a few minutes to study her features in the sunlight, and he found himself wondering what her real name was, her age, where she came from. If there were others like her, or if she was the last one.

Su Lan wished they could speak sometimes, but also already knew that Yaeon had her own language which he understood perfectly…

She was intelligent, she had human emotions and expressions, she seemed to understand not only Su Lan’s physical pain, but his mental anguish. She curbed the loneliness and sorrow he felt everytime he thought of home.

What Su Lan thought of now, as he watched the sun dappled over Yaeon’s skin, her webbed ears flicking off a bug as it came to land on her, was that a creature like this, who held no malice or distrust for him, would not have saved just him if there had been any others to save.

Yaeon wouldn’t have left Yuan Ning and Tan Zhi there after that sudden rock collapse if they had still been alive. Who knew what had happened, who knew where they were, but Su Lan wept silently as he thought of their meaningless deaths, their families who would be devastated. He needed to get home…

A bit of movement caught his eye, and Su Lan froze under Yaeon’s watchful, golden stare. She tracked his tears as they fell, and Su Lan felt her tail tightening around his legs, not hard enough to cause pain, but almost as if she was giving him a hug.

Clearing his throat, voice hoarse from going unused for so long, Su Lan whispered-

“Thank you,”

He watched her eyes flicker, maybe she was trying to process his words. Su Lan tried to put more feeling into it, as he said again, looking right into her eyes-

“Thank you for saving my life…”

To his surprise, not only did Yaeon seem to understand right away, she also reached up and slid the back of her hand over his cheek. Su Lan was used to the scales by now, they felt smooth and cool as she touched him.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Seeing how fascinated Yaeon was as she then brought her hand to her face and peered down at it, Su Lan was positive that even if she was a creature thousands of years old, her heart was innocent in every way.

Yaeon’s eyes narrowed in interest, not unlike it did when she was staring at a seashell or a bird’s egg. Her forked tongue which he’d seen only on occasion darted out, tasting his tears. She blinked, then made a face like it was pleasant. When she looked back at Su Lan, it was with that same satisfied, eager expression, and he couldn’t help but smile as he laughed.

“No, no! No more-” because it looked as if she was seconds from pouncing on him instead of an unsuspecting crab.

Yaeon made a sound that was clearly delighted, and he watched as she seemed to mimic his smile. Her tail began to unwind from his legs, sliding off his feet, and then she rose up to be face to face with him.

Su Lan thought in that moment, that her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and that to have such a magical creature so entirely fixated on him of all people, made him both awe-struck and embarrassed to say the least.

Then Yaeon made a chirping noise and leaned in to bump her forehead against his. Su Lan inhaled sharply, noticing that while it didn’t hurt, Yaeon was still making that chirping sound as their skin rubbed together.

He thought that it sounded a bit like she was talking, rambling even… maybe even saying repeatedly, thank you for not giving up, and for allowing me to save you-

When she pulled away, there was so much genuine caring in her expression, that Su Lan no longer wondered about using her strength or her healing abilities to their advantage in a war. He didn’t even think she should be anywhere near other people, who might just exploit her or fear her as he once did.

Yaeon started heading back towards the beach after a few minutes, gesturing for him to follow. His legs felt better, and she could probably tell, but it was getting late and Yaeon wasn’t nocturnal. She slept the same hours Su Lan did and always seemed deeply upset whenever she was woken by a strange noise or the ocean waves crashing.

With a sigh, Su Lan stood. Following Yaeon felt safe in a way he wasn’t used to. It felt like, for once, there were no hidden dangers, or agendas. Like everytime she led him somewhere, she knew the path, and that they’d only explore what was safe. Having that respite from the endless anxiety of everyday life, Su Lan finally realized truly how awful this war was, and how his homeland didn’t deserve to live in fear. Everyone, Xie Yi-jun more than anyone, deserved to feel like they were being led in a direction that would present a safe haven…

Su Lan left the grove of trees, the setting sun making the beach glow a little, waves coming in gentle upon the shore. Yaeon was a little ways off, half in the water, seeming to be tussling with another crab or a rather feisty fish.

“SsssSSs!”

Fear gripped at his heart. Su Lan heard the desperation in that cry, the pain. Ignoring his own as he ran, it was mere seconds before he collapsed in the shallows, shaking hands going to turn over Yaeon’s tail as she continued to twist and thrash.

Crimson blood clouded the water around them, and Su Lan winced as soon as he saw what was wrong.

Somehow Yaeon had ended up with a metal fish hook embedded in her tail, right where her thigh might be. The amount of blood that was still gushing and the size of the hook made it obvious that this wasn’t just a flesh wound.

Knowing Yaeon was adept at healing and shed her skin regularly anyway, Su Lan tried to just help her out of the water and onto the sand, being gentle, trying to push back his nausea every time she cried out in pain.

Kneeling by her side, he placed one hand near the hook. She was glaring down at it, baring her fangs which he hadn’t seen before now. He took his hand away and thought about what to do. As he debated pressing something, like fabric, against the wound, his thoughts were interrupted by the sight and sound of Yaeon reaching down and violently yanking the hook out.

“Mmnnn-”

Her sigh that might have been relief wasn’t even heard by Su Lan as he took in the sight of the gaping hole spilling dark red blood, and the fish hook in her hand which was barbed and still clinging to a few pieces of her flesh. He immediately spiraled into a panic.

“Oh gods! What the- why would you! Yaeon, stop moving!”

She was already trying to shift onto her tail to slither back to the cave, but at the sound of her name, she paused.

Su Lan bet he looked terrified. She’d reacted like she was in so much agony, yet now it seemed she was completely fine, yet the color of the blood spilling out down her beautiful tail made his stomach roll.

He looked around, desperately trying to think of something to stop the blood. He knew she could heal fast, but she wasn’t yet and seemed perfectly content just to keep on bleeding!

I can’t believe I’m doing this-

Cringing internally and with a resigned huff, Su Lan undid the drawstring on his shirt and yanked it over his head. He’d thought at length about how Yaeon had known to keep his clothes and return them to him after he no longer needed so much snakeskin as a cover, for she didn’t seem to have the need to wear any. Su Lan had stopped that train of thought after deciding that he might not want to know the answer…

Yaeon made an alarmed sound, eyes growing wide as Su Lan wadded up his shirt and gently pressed it to the wound on her tail. Just knowing that it might help stop the blood flow made him feel better immediately.

Su Lan saw the fish hook still in her hand and went to take it, intending to bury it in the woods or toss it into a volcano or something, but when he reached for it she pulled away and chittered noisily, something that sounded a lot like-

“Excuse me, that’s mine! I found it in my tail, so I get to keep it!”

Su Lan hung his head and sighed.

“You make no sense…”

She just trilled happily and examined the hook. Yaeon collected things, he knew, like shells and crab bodies and other weird items. He’d even seen a couple of bird nests in that pile she had near where she slept. He didn’t want the hook added to that collection, but what could he do?

Su Lan sighed again, ignoring her tail’s small movements in favor of pressing a bit harder on the wound. Upon realizing that the blood was no longer seeping through the fabric of his shirt, he pulled it away slowly, only to be shocked speechless.

But, the-

The wound, the blood… it was all just, gone?!

All that was left was a small discoloration on Yaeon’s tail where her scales were a little more silver than blue. That was it. Either on purpose or as part of her natural abilities, Yaeon had healed herself in less than a minute, and was now already shimmying onto her front to stand up on her tail and skitter away, her happy noises echoing through the mouth of the cave and straight into Su Lan’s ears.

One day, just one day, she is going to astound me by doing something I expect-

Wincing as he rose to his feet, his legs complaining about him running far too soon, Su Lan wobbled back to the cave, distinctly aware that he knew so little about this creature that saved his life, while it felt like she knew everything about him with only a simple look.

Su Lan realized with a bit of alarm how much that frustrated him. He wanted to know her better… wanted to fully speak her language, aware somehow that she already understood his.

The look on her face when she tasted my tears, what a thing that was, Su Lan thought, as he watched Yaeon arrange her new hook among the rest of her random objects. She circled around them a few times, and he watched in amusement as she had to throw a poor escaping crab back into the pile repeatedly.

The way she thinks and speaks and feels, I want to know it all… I want to thank her, in her own tongue, for saving me, and not letting me die-

Su Lan sat down on the pile of dried seaweed that had become his bed, and he stared at the lines marking the months he’d been here. The months in which he could have dragged his broken body back to Hei’an City, even if it took everything in him.

He could have done it by now. He could be sitting in meetings with Yi-jun, organizing the funerals of Yuan Ning and Tan Zhi… overseeing training on the practice field and bothering his King with the “ridiculous” notion of an arranged marriage with a powerful neighboring state.

He could have done all that, and Su Lan maintained that he still would. He just… he just has to figure Yaeon out. He has to know that she will be safe, and collect shells and nap in the sun and terrorize crabs when he leaves. Once he knows that, he’ll go home.

That night, instead of coiling around her objects or around herself in the corner that she likes, (Su Lan noticed that a small trickle of water drips down from above onto that corner and keeps her cool, which is why she prefers it) Yaeon surprises him once again by coming over and staring at him questioningly for a few moments while he lays there.

“What is it?”

Yaeon carefully smoothes her hand over the bloodstain on his shirt. Su Lan watches in amazement as the blood turns brown, then lighter and lighter until it vanishes completely. Yaeon doesn’t remove her hand from his chest. Instead, with a soft sigh, she lowers herself until she can comfortably rest her head there.

Su Lan thinks his heart is beating so fast that she might be doing this just to listen to it. Then her eyes flicker closed and he notices the way her tail coils slightly around both their bodies… She's going to sleep.

Su Lan stays awake probably longer than he should, watching Yaeon breathing gently, and wondering why, as every second passes, his yearning to protect her from all harm grows and grows, until it feels like all he is.