Chapter 47- The Bindings of Past and Future

Tian was so drunk on the sight of the bracelets, he didn’t even see the tea set the Wangs made. He was sure he would appreciate it later, but now he could only stagger a bow and call for Burning Heaven to come and get him. He used the jade ear cuff to call for Liren to meet him at home, sounding half mad. They were perfect. He didn’t even want to touch them, lest his fingers leave the faintest smudge on the polished stone.

Burning Heaven carried him over the Monastery, with its whitewashed walls, black tile roofs, green eves, pillars painted red and decorated with endlessly colorful sacred symbols, holy animals, guardian gods and devils and things he couldn’t even put names to. When did they fade into nonexistence? When did he stop seeing all the beauty and mystery?

It was a vivid life. It was an explosion of color, and if happiness was fleeting, wasn’t it doubly important to savor it while it was here?

He clutched the box, knuckles white. His rope dart twitched in his sleeves, anxiously shifting. He had the urge to wave it around like a scorpion brandishing its tail, saying “Stay back!”

Burning Heaven flew in through the hole in the ceiling, landing next to the pond. Old Toad was as he ever was, securing the pile of rocks in the middle of the pond. Tian tossed him a coin, just to be safe. He would raise his left hand and end this wretched world if the toad ate one of the bangles.

Should he prepare something? Was there a right way to give gifts? He had always just handed them over when he wanted to give someone something, but those were just things. The bangles mattered. They were memories and connection and the thread tying past and future. How do you give over something like that? And they were matching bangles- did he just slip on his? Should he do it now? Probably not, right? She should see them both in that beautiful lacquered case.

He walked back and forth. Burning Heaven couldn’t understand a single thing he was thinking at her and ignored him after finding a cozy spot to settle down. Fair enough. Back and forth, back and forth. What could possibly be taking so long? The Discipline Squad couldn’t be that busy. Were they tidying up the bribery accounting?

“Zihao? What’s all the fuss?”

Liren came into the cavern, pulling off her wide hat and smiling at him, and he still didn’t know what to say. All he could do was clutch the lacquer box as she walked over. The butterflies trailed around her, excited that she was here. They always seemed drawn to her. Tian never noticed the way they flocked around him in even greater numbers.

He held the box out to her, offering it with both hands. Liren stopped to look at him for a moment, her smile getting even bigger.

“For me?”

Tian nodded, then shook his head, then nodded again.

She hurried over and opened the box. She gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. It took her several deep breaths before she could reach her shaking hand and pick one of the bangles up. She examined the carving carefully, her eyes catching every detail, before turning the bracelet around to read the engraving on the inside.

“It must be terrible. She’s crying.”

“Oh Zihao!” She carefully slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, then lifted the other from the box, sliding it on to his. It felt so light, for such a weighty thing. Then she cupped his face in her hands, and asked him a question with her eyes. He smiled and stretched up as she bent down.

Their first kiss was in their garden, blessed by butterflies.

Tian sat on a bench in a quiet corner of the Monastery. He wasn’t entirely sure how he got there, but that was probably down to his brain being completely fried.

“I always wondered what it would feel like to have urges. And now I know. I have a powerful urge to kiss her again. Strange thing.”

“Not that strange. Normal, really.”

Tian nodded, thinking the voice sounded a little familiar. It took a few seconds for sound to connect to memory, reaching his nervous system before his mind. Tian launched up from the bench in an explosive jolt, spinning in the air to land with his fist cupped in a textbook perfect bow.

“Forgive me, Elder Rui! I didn’t notice your arrival.”

Elder Rui’s dignified mustache twitched. “I’ve been sitting next to you for twenty minutes now.”

Tian had no excuse. He could only bow deeper.

“Alright, alright, enough. Have a seat. We need to have a good talk.

Tian straightened up and rubbed the back of his neck as he awkwardly sat down next to the Elder.

“I see you still have the storage ring I gave you.”

“Yes, Elder, along with the arts you kindly provided. I use them almost every day.”

“You earned them. You really didn’t let down my expectations. It feels like… so long ago, now. But it’s been less than ten years.” Elder Rui’s eyes crinkled slightly before going soft. Tian wondered if he was remembering the martial practice courtyard at West Town Temple and his spar with Liren. It was the day he announced they were going to the Redstone Wastes as the Monastery’s vanguard.

“I tried my hardest. Every day, I did my very best.”

“I know, I know. You are a good boy, Tian. You really didn’t let me down. It seems I let you down, though.”

Tian didn’t know how to answer that.

“No comforting words?” The Elder asked.

“I seem to be bad at them, so I’ve stopped trying. Apparently, I’m the worst liar in the sect, in the sense of not being good at it.”

The two didn’t look at each other, preferring to observe the swaying camphor tree that shaded them.

“Hah. Yes, you have always been exceedingly honest. Excessively honest.”

Tian didn’t know how to answer that either.

“Can I ask you something, Tian? Knowing that you will be truthful?”

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“Of course, Elder.”

“Do you hate me?”

Tian paused, then shook his head. “No, Elder. I don’t hate anyone, I don’t think. I dislike some people strongly, but you aren’t one of them.”

“You don’t think?”