“There you are! Are you sure you’re well enough to be walking around?” VinWei1Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) immediately asked Snow, sounding all worried, while giving ZaiWin2Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). a harsh, condemning glare.
Snow nodded, looking up at her.
“I feel much better, thank you.”
VinWei released a sigh of exasperation.
“You’re the most irresponsible Chosen One I’ve ever met!” she threw at ZaiWin, her purplish eyes glistening in silent anger, and ZaiWin shrugged.
“What was I supposed to do? Tie him to the bed?” Snow immediately shivered at the sound of those words. “You think he’ll just stay in bed if I tell him to? Even without that bracelet of yours, he constantly defies my commands.”
Snow’s cheeks warmed up from embarrassment. He was sitting right there!, he wanted to shout.
VinWei sighed again, turning her now soft and gentle gaze to Snow.
“I know he’s far from being trustworthy, but you should try and listen to him from time to time,” she told him in a condescending tone.
“I’m feeling much better! Really!” Snow tried to reassure her, fearing ZaiWin’s reaction to her words. But he didn’t counter her statement, as if he hadn’t heard a word she’d said.
VinWei gave Snow a pitiful smile, as if she felt deeply sorry for his wretched luck, or lack of it, at having such an incompetent Chosen One. Then her astute gaze looked him straight in the eye, before turning to ZaiWin again with an angry scowl.
“You said they would go back to normal!” she accused and ZaiWin sighed.
“They will. I’ll make sure of it.”
Snow looked from one to the other. He knew they were talking about his eyes.
Sitting down right next to Snow, VinWei urgently captured his cold hands, her eyes looking intently at him.
“I forgot to tell you this morning. If you don’t feel like staying with him for a while, you can always stay here, with me. ZenTar will room with him instead.”
“That won’t be necessary!” ZaiWin promptly replied and VinWei immediately glared at him.
“You! Shut it! Forcing an innocent child to take the initiative at trying to patch things up between you two! Do you even know how lucky you are that Snow is willing to put up with you? You ungrateful, insensitive man! Zen told me about how childishly angry and moody you got, when Snow healed MenTar! And then you go and pull a stunt like that? Publicly kissing that girl?!”
Snow couldn’t help blush at her angry words. He felt so embarrassed that she had realized what had happened that all he wanted was to dig a deep hole and disappear inside it.
“Didn’t I tell you that Snow would feel as unstable as you?” VinWei pressed on.
“I … it’s okay, really!” Snow stammered, trying to put a stop to her endless barrage of angry, accusatory words.
“It’s not okay at all, Snow!” she fired at him next, making him cringe as if he’d done something wrong. “I know I told you to make an effort and try to talk with this idiot! Because there is no other way! You’re stuck together and that’s that! But that does not mean that I’ll turn a blind eye to the way he treats you! Have you no shame?” she demanded, glaring at ZaiWin again. “When will you man-up and stop trying to run away from yourself?”
Snow looked fearfully at ZaiWin, trying to guess just how angry he must be, hearing VinWei talk to him like that. But all he found was a serene but serious expression on his face, his blue gaze facing her unwavering.
“I just did. No more running away,” he declared with such vehemence that VinWei forgot what she was about to say.
Something inside Snow’s chest flipped strangely at that. Somehow, ZaiWin looked very intimidating again, although not in a scary way. He couldn’t really explain it.
Taking a deep breath, VinWei seemed to calm down, but she still stared threateningly at him.
“Don’t you dare go back on your own word!”
“I won’t.”
“If you ever break his heart again I will hunt you down like the plague!” she growled and Snow felt his cheeks burn all the way to his ears. What was she saying with that grave expression on his face?! And why was ZaiWin taking her seriously like that??
“I’m okay, really …” he mumbled, unable to understand exactly what he was saying, but they both clearly ignored him.
“That will never happen.”
Snow nervously bit his lower lip, his heart drumming against his chest.
VinWei’s tense shoulders finally relaxed, and she released a deep sigh. Turning her gaze to Snow, she gave him a warm, understanding smile. What exactly she understood he couldn’t even begin to guess, no matter how hard he tried.
“Oh, that’s right,” she suddenly said, opening the pouch hanging from her belt and fishing out what looked like a handful of small, bright crystals. “Let me see if it’s long enough,” she told him and Snow noticed that the small crystals were now linked together by a thin, silver wire. He instinctively recoiled away from it, hiding his hands on his lap, leaving a confused expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”
Snow blinked. He could almost feel it again, the burning pain of the silver blades that had cut him, the wounds refusing to close for days without end, his skin forever scarred.
“Is that silver?” ZaiWin asked but didn’t wait for an answer. It was obvious it was, taking into account Snow’s reaction. “Snow is allergic to silver.”
“Allergic?” VinWei asked with a surprised expression on her face.
“He gets horrible rashes if he so much touches it,” ZaiWin provided and Snow lowered his head, afraid he might somehow denounce his blunt lie.
“Really? I didn’t know. I’m so sorry,” VinWei honestly apologized and Snow shook his head.
“It’s okay …”
“Hmm … I can change it to copper, I suppose,” VinWei wondered out loud, looking at the small bracelet in her hands. “It’s just for the time being, anyway. Once we get to Wei3Literally wei (crystal / precious stone). Wei is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. I can give you a better one.”
“I’m really sorry,” Snow asked, feeling bad by the fact that her hard work had all been for nothing.
“What are you apologizing for?” VinWei asked, good-naturedly, stuffing the bracelet back in her pouch.
Watching the small pouch, Snow suddenly thought of something.
“Those crystals … They are charged by people with daitai4Literally dai (light) + tai (mark), or holy Markings, considered Heavenly Blessings. They’re the source of power., right?”
VinWei nodded.
“That’s right.”
“Is it hard to do?”
“Hmm … more than hard, I guess it’s time-consuming and exhausting,” she declared with a pensive expression on her face.
“And you’re growing them here?” She had told him something about that, although how a person could grow crystals the same way they grew vegetables was a strange concept to grasp.
“I am. Nox5Literally nox (night). Where Nox is the name of the Clan, also the name of a Province.’s mountains have pretty much the same mineral constitution as Wei’s. It’s all a matter of atmospheric conditions, really. Not to mention that Nox’s land remained corrupted for a very long time. Usable crystals never grow from corrupted lands. But now all that has changed. Nox even has a Tien’Elhar6Literally tien (Heaven) + el (supreme) + har (girl child). The Heavenly Beings also known as Celestials in the common language. to bless it. And so I’ve decided to give it a try. Of course, they’re not as big nor as pure as the ones that grow in Wei. But they’re still usable, if all you want is to charge them with simple, everyday utilities. I’m even inclined to believe that there were crystals in these mountains as well, at some point in time.”
“Could I charge a few of them?” Snow asked and VinWei’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’ve spent all those healing and purifying crystals on me. I thought that I could help you replace them.”
VinWei immediately shook her head, her expression going from surprised to horrified in a split second.
“You most certainly can’t! And you can never say such a thing in front of anyone else either! Do you understand?”
Snow nodded, although he didn’t understand at all.
ZaiWin, seating beside him, released a deep sigh.
Taking a deep breath, VinWei seemed to calm down again.
“You’re a Tien’Elhar, Snow. You are an existence above everyone else. You have to see yourself as this rare, sacred, unreachable treasure. You can’t just go around, offering to solve other people’s problems just like that.”
Snow frowned. Suddenly his strange dream came back to him. In his dream, he too had been this untouchable, unreachable person. And he had hated it. Being seen as such an important person had raised him above everyone else, yes. But it had left him alone. And it had distanced him from the one he had wanted to be closer to more than anything.
Blushing at the memory, Snow quickly pushed the memory of his dream away.
“Why not?” he honestly asked and VinWei sighed in exasperation.
“Firstly because, even though I know you don’t like it or agree with it, other people will assume that you belong to that idiot, over there.” She mentioned ZaiWin with a tilt of her chin and Snow’s frown only deepened. No, he did not like it, much less agree with it! “People will expect you to obey his every word. They will expect you to be unable or unwilling to act on your own, and to only do something when he tells you to. At the very least, they will expect you to ask for his permission for such things. So, if you offer to do something like this, they will undoubtedly find it weird, to say the least.”
“Ask for permission …?!” Snow repeated in outrage, turning to glare at ZaiWin.
“Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who decided that things should be like this,” ZaiWin quickly declared.
“Is that how the other Tien’Elhar behave?” Snow asked, looking back at VinWei, and she sighed, nodding. “They agree with this??”
“I don’t know if they agree, or if they’re just naturally obedient like that,” VinWei replied.
Obedient? That was way beyond being obedient!, Snow thought angrily. That was almost as if they were …
“Fucking mindless dolls!” ZaiWin grunted.
That’s right, Snow thought. That’s what ZaiWin always called them. And he was starting to see why. And yet … he recalled the golden-haired little girl, the way she had smiled and played around the Temple, puddles of golden light forming beneath her small feet. And he recalled NimMai, tall and breathtakingly beautiful. He recalled the way she’d spoke, her bright gaze, her firm posture. Neither of them had looked like mindless dolls to him.
“And then there’s the need to protect you,” VinWei went on with another sigh. “If you start helping everyone you cross paths with, more and more people will come, begging for your help. They will eventually try and take you away, so that you can bless some faraway land, or heal someone unable to leave their home. In desperation, they will force you to exhaust yourself time and time again, and they will get angry when you fail to grant them the precious help they need. You can’t possibly save everyone, Snow. How will you choose who to save? And how will you explain this to those in need?”
Snow lowered his gaze. He hadn’t thought about that. But, now that he did, he could easily see where his naive goodwill would lead. Not only him. The people themselves would probably fight over him, maybe even kill one another.
“That’s why it is widely accepted that Celestials will only bless they’re Chosen One’s Province,” ZaiWin added. “That way other Governors and their Calzai won’t be tempted to kidnap them. If not, wars would most certainly be waged in order to get their hands on a Celestial. The bounding system was probably created to prevent exactly that. Celestials bound with a Chosen One, who in turn is bound to a certain Province by birth or by Imperial decree. And then the Celestials will only use their markings when and if their Chosen One tells them to, which means that it’s not the Celestial who’s choosing who to help or save. That is their Chosen One’s responsibility. That way, should the people find their choices unfair or unjust, they’ll never turn against the Celestial. They’ll retaliate against their Chosen One who, in turn, will have the right, not only to ask for their Governor’s support, but also to request the Imperial Army to defend them. Everyone knows this, and so no one dares say a word against the way the Chosen Ones make use of their Celestials.”
Make use … Snow gritted his teeth at those words.
“All this is actually to protect you,” VinWei said with a pleading expression on her face.
He understood that much. He didn’t like it one bit, though. And not only because that dreadful system meant that he would have to completely relinquish his hard-won freedom. Freedom even to decide how and when to use his own daitai! Above all, he didn’t like it because it was obviously unfair to those who needed help. It made everything dependent on how humane and caring a certain Chosen One was. And it left the people at the mercy of a few chosen elite. The Chosen Ones could very well just lock themselves up in their luxurious palaces, living a life of abundance, and simply leave the people to suffer, even though they clearly had a way to help them right there, within their reach. He couldn’t help feeling that it completely overthrew the true reason why Tien’Elhar were born in the first place. Suddenly he couldn’t help wondering if ZaiWin too, would lock him away in some rich palace once they were officially registered. He knew he would hate him for it, if he did so.
“So, you understand, right? You can’t just go around, offering to heal or help other people. That’s also why Tien’Elhar are forbidden to charge crystals. There are only so many Tien’Elhar, which means that crystals charged by them would be too few, too rare, too precious. They would be priceless, especially because no one else bears healing daitai as powerful as yours. Which means that there would be a risk of people trying to force you to charge crystals against your will. Maybe even keep you captive just for that purpose. Having a Tien’Elhar charge a crystal, even if she agrees to it, it’s no small crime, punishable by at least twenty years in prison. If it is proven that the Tien’Elhar was coerced or forced to do it, it can even be punishable by death.”
Snow lowered his head, nodding, clearly understanding what she meant. Still, he couldn’t help feeling sad. Somehow, being told that he too would have to behave like that, felt unnatural and constricting. That was just not right, he knew in his heart.
