Chapter 33- Meeting Royalty

Tian emerged from his cultivation with a happy sigh. He stretched slowly and luxuriously, feeling the wind on him. The smells of the lake, the marsh, the trees, all mixing together into something marvelously alive. He even thought he could smell birds. He sniffed again. He was definitely smelling something. Tian opened his eyes. Then closed them again. Clearly, his eyes had made a mistake.

He opened them again.

What a pity. It was still there.

The crane was only slightly shorter than he was. Mostly snowy white, it had a few dingy brown feathers still scattered over its head and neck. Bright pink legs. Bright crimson and brown beak. All normal, all fine. What wasn’t fine was the face.

Starting a quarter inch behind its brilliant yellow eyes and sweeping forward all the way to the beak, the bird’s face was completely featherless. It looked uncannily like some heretic had peeled the skin off of it, leaving a shocking, vivid red mess behind.

Tian forced himself to keep looking. The bird didn’t appear to be in any pain. It didn’t look damaged at all, actually, once you got past the “Who did this to you?!” of the face. It appeared to be content standing in the water just in front of Tian, occasionally dipping its head down to peck at something tasty.

He had to acknowledge the truth in his heart. Senior Redmane was a far more handsome crane than the specimen in front of him. Senior Redmane had the beautiful flash of red feathers at the top of his head. A face full of dignified bird wisdom. Gentle with a hurting junior, yet fierce when confronting the enemy. This bird, whatever virtues it might have, simply could not compare in demeanor or looks to the honorable Senior. The difference between the two was as wide as their respective heights.

Tian could respect the strength to struggle on in the face of adversity. Especially when the adversity was your face. The feathers that had come in white were brilliant white, long and elegant. The crane was probably quite beautiful when you saw it flying. Ideally from a long way off. And it might well be a long way off. He could feel the breath of immortality from the crane, though he couldn’t tell where in the Earthly Realm it stood.

“She likes how you smell. Like a flower in a pond that will have a lot of food in it.”

Tian jumped three feet up in the air and spun around before his feet touched down again. He had no idea anyone was behind him.

It was a fisherman, carrying a net and rod in a bucket on his back. He had a big straw hat, a straw rain cloak, and was otherwise the sort of muddy brown that made you wonder if his tunic and pants got that color through coin or hard work. Tian would have immediately labeled him as the most mortal mortal who ever died from surprising an immortal, were it not for his brilliant yellow eyes.

That and he spoke crane. Cranes apparently could both get very, very big, and turn into humans. Which seemed like another one of those important things to tell him, and nobody told him!

“Ancient Crane Monastery’s Tian Zihao greets the Senior!” Tian bowed ninety degrees and held it.

“Up, up. Where do you think you are, court? You will startle the others.” The fisherman patted his shoulder and stood him up. “I saw one of the Lin clan wandering around, so I decided to check up on who else was here. Who knew I’d find a wayward Snow Princess and a boy who smells like lotuses.” The elder shook his head. His face was perfectly straight, but Tian thought there was amusement in his voice.

Tian desperately wanted to ask many questions, but kept his mouth shut. Who knows how some Heavenly bird of prey would take it?

“She wants to know if you will be sticking around long.”

“I regret to inform the Senior and Her Highness that my schedule is not my own. I’m here by the will of Elder Feng, and will leave at her will too.”

“Hmm. Oh, she isn’t literally a princess. She’s just leaving her juvenile phase and is almost a full adult. The name the humans in the Broad Sky Kingdom give her species is Snow Grace Cranes. Males they call Snow Emperors, females Snow Empresses. They look quite regal flying and hunting in the winter.”

Tian smiled. Humans had a way of slapping their own nonsense ideas on animals. At this point, it was just plain funny.

“Not that there isn’t some truth to it.” The senior continued. “They soar for longer than any other crane. They can travel for months without any hardship. Quite good cultivators too, if they feel like it.”

Tian bowed his head slightly towards the Snow Princess. He envied her. To soar through the sky endlessly, stopping to eat and sleep, then leaping back into the blue, he could hardly imagine anything better.

“You envy her?”

Tian controlled his flinch. These cranes were a sharp bunch. And people kept telling him that he couldn’t hide his feelings well.

“Intensely, Senior. I dream of soaring through the clouds. My only fear is being lonely as I do so.”

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The fisherman gave him a good looking over again.

“Elder Feng the one in the little boat up there?” The disguised crane looked up and pointed at an empty patch of sky.

“Elder Feng is on the sky barge called Windblown Manor. That is perhaps what you are referring to?”

“Yeah, the one with the shack and the garden on it. Damn fool waste of space if you ask me. But you didn’t. Do you want to name her?” The fisherman looked back over at the Snow Princess, who had been waiting patiently, watching the conversation.

“Does she want me to name her?”

“No. As she is now, she can recognize individual people but can’t create a label to put on them. They just are. As she is.”

“Then no. If, one day, she wants me to give her a name, she can ask me.” Tian smiled. “It will be my first time naming someone. I will have to think of something good.”