Arc 6 - The Sad Song of Ice and Snow
That afternoon, after endless waves of humble bows of gratitude, and after being offered more food than they could possibly carry, all freshly harvested from the now healthy, plentiful fields of the village, they finally set out with the promise that help would soon arrive from the Capital, to guarantee that no more feimao1Literally fei (raging / furious) + mao (beast / monster). Raving beasts that appear in unbalanced, ungoverned lands. They possess destructive markings that in turn corrupt the land even further. Hard to explain in just 2 lines -_-; Anyway. Bad, vicious things that need to be killed. would invade the village.
Snow couldn’t help look back at all those men, woman and children, all bundled together by the village’s entrance. They were healthy now, bright smiles of their faces, but they still looked somewhat small and frail. None of them possessed any daitai2Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power. that might help them, nor had they been taught how to fight. They were just like Sand and him had been, thrown into the world, trying their best to survive while uselessly hoping for better days to come, for luck to finally knock on their door. But now he was different. Now he had power. Power to protect himself and to protect others, like those villagers. He even had someone willing to teach him. Being able to learn how to use it depended only on his own will. And so he couldn’t help wishing night would come, so that he could resume his training as soon as possible.
They hadn’t traveled far, when VinWei3Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) parted ways with them.
Even though she had insisted that she could very well find her way back home on her own, ZenTar4Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) hadn’t want to hear any of that. Especially now, that there were feimao roaming the border lands. And so, even though BigMountain had just joined them, he was sent away again, to safely escort her back to Weiin5Literally wei (crystal / precious stone) + suffix in (center), meaning the center of the Province of Wei, in other words, Wei’s Capital. All Capitals of all Provinces are named as such.. No matter how much she argued against it, or how she threatened to leave her bodyguard behind at the first opportunity, ZenTar remained unyielding till the end.
Snow couldn’t help smile, watching VinWei and ZenTar argue. Somehow, even though they were shouting at each other, and using a lot foul words he’d never dare to repeat, he couldn’t really feel scared like he felt when ZaiWin6Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). got angry at one of them. It was strange, he knew, but even though they were clearly arguing he still felt kind of relaxed.
After saying their goodbyes, they picked up the pace and traveled the rest of the afternoon without rest, trying to make up for the lost time.
When they finally stopped to set camp, the sky was already darkening, and so they rushed once more, trying to prepare everything to spend the night while there was still a bit of light left. It was rather late, when all the usual tasks were finally completed. And so Snow couldn’t help feeling surprised when ZaiWin signaled him to follow him.
Caressing Black’s forehead one last time, Snow silently obeyed his silent invitation, following him deeper into the scarce woods. When he reached the place he’d apparently selected, ZaiWin was already raising that dark dome, that quickly covered the entire area around them.
“What are you waiting for?” ZaiWin asked, noticing the boy’s hesitation as he lingered at the limit of his dome, and the Snow averted his gaze, clearly apprehensive about something.
“Are … are we really going to do this?” he finally whispered and ZaiWin crossed his arms, watching him carefully.
Was he still too tired after spending so much energy cleansing the village? Or had he guessed what he intended to do and was feeling afraid?
“Why not?”
“What if … they hear me again?” he asked back and, for a moment, ZaiWin couldn’t understand what the damn brat meant.
“You mean the feimao?”
The absence of a reply was answer enough.
So that was what was worrying him, ZaiWin sighed. Because last time they’d been attacked, he recalled, and the damn brat somehow thought that it had all been a consequence of him using his markings.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that,” he calmly declared, but Snow’s alarmed expression told him that he wouldn’t be convinced unless he explained it a bit better.
“It’s true that I think that the feimao we’ve encountered before came from Tei7Literally tei (metal). Where Tei is the name of the Clan, also the name of a Province.. But they can very well have come from Sur8Literally sur (plain). Where Sur is the name of the Clan, also the name of a Province.. In fact, Sur should be much more likely origin, since it has been an ungoverned Province for the past fifteen years or so. Even if I’m right, and they didn’t originally come from Sur, they most certainly have crossed borders by now, like they did to Wei, with the difference that in Sur there’s no one to stop them. Which means that be it today or tomorrow, no matter what we do, we will probably encounter them again. You think that you somehow called them …”
“They heard me and didn’t like it,” the brat promptly correct him and ZaiWin shrugged.
“Whatever the case. Unless you’re willing to stop using your markings until we reach a safer Province, there’s no use worrying about such things. Quite the contrary. The more you learn, the more you’ll be able to protect yourself should we encounter them again.”
The brat seemed to serious ponder about his words and, when he looked up at him, those pale eyes serious and unwavering, ZaiWin knew he had reached a conclusion.
“I want to learn more.”
ZaiWin restrained his own smile. Of course he wanted, he thought, watching him as he crossed the small practicing field he had created. Unlike those useless, pretty dolls, the brat not only had a will of his own, he also had ambition. And he clearly was hungry to know more, to learn more, to become more powerful. How very un-Celestial of him.
“Those things …” Snow began and hesitate again. It was so rare of him to take the initiative to approach him that ZaiWin couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward as well. “MenTar9Literally men (lake) + tar (wind) says that you’ve fought them before.”
“I have.”
“Back in your Province?”
“That’s right. When I first got there they were everywhere.”
“And you managed to chase them all away?”
“I managed to kill most of them,” ZaiWin corrected with a cold grin.
“Do they … die like any other living creature?”
ZaiWin paused for a moment to study him. Was he trying to learn how to kill them?
“For the most part. There are three types of feimao. The ones we encountered before are the most basic, harmless type. They’re like overgrown animals. Those looked like wolves, but they can look like any animal, really. Even birds. Even though no one really knows how they came to be, some say that they were actually animals at some point, and that they had their inner nature corrupted by darkness, which ended up transforming them into that. The ones that are like this will die like any other animal would die. The difference being that you can’t get too close to them. They all have an aura of death around them, inside which nothing will be able to survive. Everything will simply rot away as you’ve seen, and they spread it wherever they go.”
The brat nodded with a serious expression on his face and ZaiWin knew he was carefully committing his every word to memory.
“Can’t it be reversed? If they were once animals …”
“No. And don’t even think about it!” he quickly added reading his intentions on his face. “Others, much more powerful and much more able Celestials than you, have already tried it. It doesn’t work. You’ll only get yourself tainted in the process. Feimao must be destroyed as fast as possible, so that they won’t be able to spread their decay any farther than they’ve already done.”
“Why have they become like that …?”
ZaiWin took a deep breath.
“That’s not an easy question to answer. Just see it this way. There is a balance to everything. If the people is well cared for, they will care for the land. If the land is well cared for, it will provide for the people. The Governors are the ones tasked with caring for the people and protecting the land. When everyone does what they’re supposed to do, a kind of healthy balance is achieved. But once the balance is broken, unless someone is able to quickly restore it, things will only get worse and worse. Unbalance only leads to more unbalance, until it reaches the point where the land itself turns against its people.”
The brat stood silent for a moment and suddenly looked up at him, his gaze so shockingly clear that ZaiWin almost took a step back.
“But you restored it. The balance,” he declared. “MenTar says it took you many years, but you did it! So it can be done! Why can’t we do it everywhere else as well?”
ZaiWin sighed. Yeah, he had almost forgotten that the one standing in front of him was still just an innocent, silly brat.
“It’s not that it cannot be done. It’s just that there aren’t people willing to do it.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?! First of all because no one is eager to risk their lives and the lives of everyone around them on a daily basis, for a dozen years or so. You think you just get there and blow on the feimao and they fly away?”
The brat blushed embarrassedly and averted his gaze.
“And even if there were people like that, suffering from some kind of stupid hero complex. The El’Dur10 Literally el (supreme) + dur (ruler). Name given to the Emperor always has the last word, regarding who governs the Provinces. And if he does not appoint a new Governor for a ungoverned Province, then there’s nothing anyone can do about that.”
“Why wouldn’t he? Doesn’t he want the Empire to be prosper and peaceful?”
It was ZaiWin’s turn to look away, a deep frown marking his forehead.
“Who knows what that bastard is thinking, besides filling his bed with women and his stomach with food,” he grunted under his breath and waved his hand as if that could push those thoughts and memories back to where they had come from. “And enough talking. Today I want you to start practicing your ice markings.”
The pondering expression on the brat’s face quickly turned to one of pure panic.
“I … I can’t control it.”
“Of course you can’t. Isn’t that why we’re doing this?”
“But, but, but …”
“Enough buts! Take off your clothes and sit down!”
The brat lowered his head, shoulders slumping, but he still obeyed, sitting down and undressing, carefully folding his coat and tunic before placing them on the ground beside him.
“You already know how this works, what you need to do. It’s the same as before.”
“It’s not the same …”
ZaiWin had to tilt his head to try and understand what he’d just mumbled.
“What?”
“It’s not the same!” Snow repeated, this time clearly, raising his head to look up at him. “It’s not the same at all!”
“How so?”
“If I can’t control it … if I fail … everything will …” his voice broke and he averted his gaze with an awkward expression on his face.
It took ZaiWin a while to understand what he was so afraid of.
“You freaking brat!” he declared, squatting down in front of him, his movements so fast that he actually startled him. “Are you so carefree that you really have the time to be worrying about other people? Besides, who do you think I am? No matter how much you practice, you’re still a hundred years too early to you think that you could kill me!” ZaiWin practically declared to his face, wanting it to sound as much as a challenge as it did.
The brat blinked twice, taken aback by his harsh words, but at least he didn’t cower in fear any longer, which left ZaiWin inwardly pleased.
Lowering his gaze, Snow took a deep breath.
“I will try it then …”
Now that was more like it!, ZaiWin agreed, rising to his feet to squat again behind him.
The freaking brat didn’t flinch anymore either, or peered scared over his shoulder. He simply remained there, sitting legs crossed, shoulders relaxed, waiting.
Whoo more about Snow (/◕ヮ◕)/ (✧∇✧)