The bedroom was big and sparse. Idony remembered the rooms back far away in Norwen. They were much smaller and cramped in comparison. Piled up with thick rugs or skins with windows covered by wood and rugs that could later be laid out during the day. This room was much different. It was a wide space with windows that allowed pale white light to fall in on the grey wood floor, the bed was clearly made for someone bigger than Idony with its white wood frame that extended into the ceiling with roots that traveled to the corners of the walls. The bed itself was covered by numerous thin sheets that felt unnaturally soft and silky. Other things in the room included a desk that was shoved towards one wall, shelves which held little statues or pots or other things she could barely recognize.

When she went to the window she did not see the courtyard or the forest however. She instead saw a somewhat familiar endless sea of dunes made of ash, gusts of wind reshaping them like waves. Further in the distance she could barely make out faint shapes of... something. They stuck out strangely from the ground, reaching up towards the endless white sky. Looking up at the sky began to hurt her eyes so she looked away and went back to the bed, sitting on it and putting her hands in her lap.

After a moment, he joined her as well. Sitting beside her quietly and staring out the window.

"This room is really big," she said when the silence became too much for her. Too oppressive. Like the light of the sky.

"I know."

"Why is it so big?"

"My uncle made it that way."

"You didn't make your house?"

"I don't need a house," Liu Xie replied. "He said it would be a nice place for me to come sometimes. But I hardly ever did. I'm very used to being mostly alone."

"Why?"

Liu Xie looked down at her, "you're just full of questions right now aren't you?"

She nodded, if she kept talking and listening then she would not think and the twisting in her heart could be forgotten. Why had he been so angry, and why had he left so suddenly? He had been speaking too fast. She could not understand him. She was too afraid to ask. "I like talking to you."

"Since when?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "Did Mama come here?"

Liu Xie's face took on a softer gaze then, "a few times. We never really stayed long because she still needed to be home when her father came back from the capital. I even remade the courtyard into something she would like."

"The courtyard is that big place with the trees, right?" She asked.

"Yes."

"It's nice, I like it," Idony said, swinging her legs now. The bed was not exactly far off the ground, but Idony was not a very large child either. "Did she like it?"

Liu Xie was quiet for a moment, then slowly nodded. "She did."

Idony tried to think of another question. "...So... when you both came here... what did you do!"

The silence came back, but this time Liu Xie stared at her with a completely still face. There was no expression on it and yet somehow she got the strange feeling she had made him a bit uneasy. Then he got up, "I think maybe it's time for you to sleep."

"What? Why!?" She demanded.

"...I'm your father, I can say that," he said, a bit hurriedly as he pointed at the pillow. "I'll wake you up in the morning."

Idony huffed but pulled some of the blankets over herself and laid her head on the pillow, crossing her arms and glaring up at the strange ceiling. Liu Xie left shortly after, she head the door shut very quietly behind him. Now what she had done? What was it that was wrong with the question? She did not want to sleep! She sat back up and yanked the blankets off of herself and hopped off the bed. Idony glanced over the room and found quickly there was not much of interest in it. But she did remember something outside being of interest to her. The little girl shuffled with bare feet over to the door and opened it just a finger's width, peeking outside and finding the hall empty of Liu Xie or the mysterious servant ladies. She opened the door further and slid outside into the hall, shutting the door behind her.

There were other rooms that they had passed, Rui Yifu, Ji Ying, and Bo were all asleep in them. She wondered if Liu Xie was asleep in another room or had gone off to go do... Liu Xie things. Ultimately what actually had her attention was a painting on a wall. It was not a long walk to it, and the lamps that hung in strange angles from the ceiling illuminated her path and the painting clearly.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It stood out on the otherwise blank wall as its lone occupant. A red haired woman with a gentle scarred face, standing beside a river and held in the shade of a willow tree. Despite being younger than Idony could ever remember her being, she knew who this was. Her chest tightened inside of her as she stood in the unseeing gaze of the painting, imagining that at any moment the woman in the painting might just step out. Her hands were visible in the painting, covered in small little scars made visible through careful flicks of ink. Idony wondered, did Liu Xie paint this?

She tried to imagine him doing anything like that. The man was weirdly sullen and stiff most of the time, she had difficulty imagining him able to paint such a nice portrait. Maybe he worked really hard so that he could show her mother. Idony bet her mother would like it.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?"

Idony jumped a foot in the air in shock, turning and bumping into the wall. Ji Ying was crouched down, staring at her with her bright amber eyes. The little girl took a moment to collect her thoughts and her dignity. "I can't."

Ji Ying's gaze flickered up to the painting and then back down at Idony. "Do you miss her?"

Idony nodded.

Ji Ying gave her a smile, "you'll see her soon, you know that right? Someone is working very hard to bring you two back together."

"I know," she mumbled. It certainly felt like it was taking a long time though.

"And you know what?" Ji Ying leaned forward a little closer to Idony. "I was sent here to help with that! It's a secret though, so you can't tell Liu Xie or the other ones."

Idony frowned and looked into Ji Ying's face. It was a blandly pretty one, but there was something familiar about it now that she thought about it. It was in the eyes. "Why can't I tell them?"

"Oh well, you know Liu Xie. He gets angry or offended so easily at things, so why tell him that anyone's been sent to help him with that? He'll just throw a fit like a big kid," Ji Ying explained, waving her hand like trying to ward away a bug. "He's so obnoxious like that, don't you think? There's a reason why he has no friends. His personality is all wrong. Only a few people ever liked him and those people were all related to him, or were your mom."

"I like him," Idony huffed, surprised by how defensive her own voice was.

"Yeah, sure you do. But that just makes... what, five people that like him in four thousand years?" She snorted. "Even Lady Gu wasn't really thrilled with him."

"You knew him? Before?"

Ji Ying nodded, "yeah. I know tons of people, I also knew that fat bastard who turned me into a damn pig!"

"Baozi?" Idony stared up at the woman in disbelief. How could she be Baozi? "Baozi was a boy pig."

Ji Ying gave her a strained smile, "so... about that 'boy' thing..."

"Ah, this explains your personality." Rui Yifu's cool voice came from close by. He was walking up towards them, smiling with his sharp teeth visible. "You know, I was about to ask you why you looked like all the servants here."

"It's none of your business, you damn fish," Ji Ying stood back up and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "I'm just having a conversation with Zhu'er here, it's rude to cut in."

"Pigs don't talk," Rui Yifu replied.

"Well I'm not a pig, am I?" Ji Ying sneered.

"Oh yes, that's quite correct," Rui Yifu closed the space between them and shifted around so he was standing in front of Idony. "You're not even a human though. You're simply another doll servant."

Ji Ying's face flushed violently red and she bared her teeth like an angry dog, holding herself tightly. "How dare you..." she hissed. "I don't know what makes you think you can just say horrible shit like that."

"Am I wrong?"

Ji Ying did not answer.

"So who actually sent you, miss? Was it actually Lady Gu? My, my, I keep running into fellow liars. How interesting," Rui Yifu's chuckle was low.

Idony suddenly wished she could not understand the language again. At least then her mind would not be trying to make sense of the weird conversation between the two adults.

"Liu Xie's uncle sent me, that's who," Ji Ying admitted bluntly. "Not that it should matter to you."

Idony felt strong hands suddenly wrap around her and was lifted up by Rui Yifu. He looked different nowadays but at least she knew him better than the lady in front of them. "It does matter to me though, this group of ours only has so much room for liars and those hiding their actual faces you know. I'm going to guess given that you're capable of talking you're a rather well made little doll though aren't you? Why, actually, were you sent?"

"I was sent to be Zhu'er's friend, that's all," Ji Ying replied. "I don't know if there was a plan to change me back at that point, but what I do know is that because of you and Liu Xie wandering off and leaving the two normal mortals alone, all of that shit back at the Free City happened! If you guys had just set aside your stupid distrust for each other, I wouldn't have needed to be split apart from her and we all could have been past the Silent Mountains now! She wouldn't have gotten hurt again," Ji Ying pointed at Zhu'er. "This stupid journey wasn't supposed to end up like this!" She stomped her foot, frustration writ in her face. Idony's own ears burned a little as she remembered hefting her pig out of the window and desperately asking it to find Liu Xie and Rui Yifu. She was not sure if she knew if it would even work. Were pigs actually that smart?

Rui Yifu's face still had its strange smile on it, but his eyes narrowed. "Where did you... go, after the city burned?"

"Where do you think I went? Imagine waking up one day in a human shape once more, and needing to figure out where to go from there because nobody told you anything, and you got abandoned!" Ji Ying's face was flushed a violent shade of red. "I decided to go find Lady Gu because I knew she'd be most capable of helping me, and she had sent a bunch of her disciples to come help too, so obviously she would-"

"Ji Ying, as a doll servant, do you ever get tired?"

"Don't call me a damn 'doll servant' you vinegar filled fish!"

"Do you get tired?"

"No," Ji Ying admitted. "Why?"

"So, you should have been able to go straight to Lady Gu's mountain right?"

"Yes?" Ji Ying replied, confused. She locked eyes with Idony and reached out, Rui Yifu stepping back. "Hey-!"

"On your way there, did you notice anything odd?" Rui Yifu asked.

Ji Ying put her hands on her hips, "odd? Huh..." She seemed surprised and somewhat confused, like the questions did not make sense to her. "Just... running refugees, the monsters sometimes- I stayed away from those things. What are you trying to get at?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know where you were for over a month," Rui Yifu replied, turning around. "Zhu'er, do you remember where your room is? I'll put you back to bed."