At the bottom of the waterfall, Amara came up for air.  She had her arms wrapped around Leiyu and swam toward the riverbank.  Once they reached the shore, she pulled him onto dry ground.  Placing her ear on his chest, she could detect a faint heartbeat.  She placed her hands on his chest and pressed down quickly.  Leiyu coughed up water.

He was still bound by the silver threads.  She unsheathed her dagger, put the blade against the threads, and carefully applied mild fire magic.  The heat burned through the threads.  Once he was free from them, she cradled his head in her arms.  After sitting like this for a while, she finally looked at her surroundings.

They were in a mist-filled forest.  The rushing waterfall behind them dampened all the other sounds.  The sky was cloudy and raindrops began to fall.

I need to find shelter, Amara thought.  She gently picked Leiyu up and carried him on her back.  She walked through the forest, the mist gradually giving way to a thick fog.  Eventually, she saw the outline of a small building.  Upon approaching it, she saw that it was a cottage.  The entrance was completely open, so she walked right in.

The cottage appeared to be abandoned.  There was a low table covered with a thick layer of dust in the middle of the dwelling.  Along the far side was a small kitchen area.  In the corner was a narrow bed covered with a thin blanket.  She made her way over to the bed and pulled on the blanket, sending up a cloud of dust.  Turning away, she coughed.  She gently placed Leiyu on the bed.

He’s completely soaked, she thought.  He’ll become ill.  She placed her hands on his cloak and applied mild heat.  A few minutes passed.  His clothes seem dry now.  She waved her hands over him to assess his injuries.  There is a lot of internal damage and his powers are still being suppressed.  I should go find the Ghost Twins again, but I don’t know where we are right now and Leiyu is too weak to travel.  I’ll heal him here first.

She got up and walked to the kitchen area.  Lifting a lid on a large storage container, she reached inside and ran her hands through a pile of dried grains.  Is this rice?  She looked around the cottage.  How long has this place been abandoned?  She spotted some other jars on the shelf.  Dried herbs, spices…need something more substantial if Leiyu is to recover.

Spotting a wooden bucket on the floor, she picked it up and went outside.  There was a river nearby.  As she approached, she bent down and saw the silhouette of a fish just below the water’s surface.  She dipped the bucket into the river to collect some water and placed it next to her feet.  Then she quickly reached into the water and pulled out a wriggling fish.  

You’ll do, she thought as she put the fish in the bucket.  Lifting the handle, she made her way back to the cottage.

***

Leiyu slowly opened his eyes.  His body ached and his breathing was irregular.  It took him a while to notice the person in front of him tending the stove.

“Thallios?” he murmured.  Amara turned around and looked at him with her golden yellow eyes.  “Oh, Amara…”  He began to sit up.  

Amara came over.  “Shh, just rest.  You’re injured."

“What happened?”

“We went over a waterfall.”

“What?”  He winced at the pain from suddenly moving.  “Ow…”

Amara placed her hands on his back and shoulders and gently laid him back down.  “Just rest.  I’ll take care of everything.”

Leiyu stared at the ceiling.  “Where are we?”

“In an abandoned cottage.”

“How’d we get here?”

“I carried you.”

He stared at her dumbfounded.  “Eh?  How?”

“It wasn’t that difficult.”

“...” He noticed the steam coming from the kitchen.  “Are you cooking something?”

She smiled.  “Yep, it’s almost done.”  She went over to the stove and ladled soup into a bowl.  She then returned to his side and helped him sit up again.  Taking a spoonful of soup, she blew on it to cool it down.  She placed the spoon up to his mouth.  He sipped it slowly.

“Is this congee?  How did you know how to make this?”

“Wasn’t too hard.  It’s just rice and water.  And I added a fish I got from the river.”

“Fish congee?  Wow…” He looked at her.  Thallios never showed any signs that he knew how to cook…but then again, this isn’t Thallios…

She continued to feed him spoonfuls of congee.  After the bowl was half empty, he suddenly asked, “What ended up happening with Astatine?”

“Astatine?  Oh, that guy…I dealt with him.”

His eyes widened.  “Oh…did he…die?”

“I’m not sure.  He threw you into the river after I enveloped him in flames.  I jumped in after you, so I don’t know what ended up happening to him.”

He looked at her in shock.

“He was going to hurt you,” she explained.  “I had to stop him.”  She paused and looked downward.  “Maybe I overdid it…”

“...”

“Is something wrong?”

“No…I guess we can’t do anything now.  I did talk to him before you came back though…”

“Oh?  What did he say?”

“He said his family was killed by your father’s soldiers when they invaded the Southern Region.”

The bowl and spoon fell from her hands and onto the floor.

“Oh…” she said, almost whispering.  “I didn’t know…”  She picked up the bowl and spoon from the floor and took them back to the kitchen for washing.  Her face was solemn.  “I guess he wanted revenge then?”

“Not sure.  Maybe.  It would be understandable if he did.  But he made it seem like his goal was just to bring you back to the Earth Priestess and that she would deal with you.”

She frowned.

“I told him this as well, but I don’t think it’s right for them to take vengeance on you for something you had nothing to do with!”  He winced again in pain.  “Ow…”

She turned back toward him.  “Don’t move too much.  You’ll injure yourself again.”

“He said it didn’t matter since you were just the vessel for the Fire Goddess…”

She smiled wryly.  “Well, he’s not wrong…”

“You’re more than just that!”

Her eyes widened and met his.  They looked at each other in awkward silence.  She finally smiled slightly.  “Leiyu, just rest.  Don’t get too agitated.  It’ll take a while for you to recover.”  She went back to his side, helped him lay back down, and placed the blanket over him.  She then went outside for air.

She sat under the awning and looked toward the sky.  More raindrops cascaded downward.  Drawing her knees up to her chest, she buried her face in her arms.

***

One week later…

Leiyu was lying in bed when he heard a noise from outside.  Amara walked into the cottage carrying a bucket of fish and an armful of large lotus leaves.  He watched her as she prepared to cook.  

With a snap of her fingers, she started a fire underneath a wok on the stove.  She laid down the lotus leaves on the kitchen counter and placed the fish on top.  After seasoning the fish with dried herbs, she wrapped it up like a bundle and tied it with a long piece of cut-off lotus stem.  She poured some water from the bucket into the wok.  Then she picked up a makeshift steam rack that she made from tying sticks together and placed it at the wok’s center.  Finally, she placed the lotus leaf fish bundle onto the steam rack and placed a lid over the wok.

Later, after all the cooking was done, the steamed fish was laid out over the lotus leaves on top of the table.  She scooped some of the fish into a bowl and brought it over to Leiyu.  After she helped him sit up, she blew on a spoonful of fish to cool it down, and then placed the spoon up to his mouth.  He ate slowly.

“Oh my…” he murmured.  “This is so good!”

She smiled and continued to feed him.

You continue to amaze me every single day, he thought.

***

The clouds cleared up at night time and the light of the moon shone through the tiny windows of the cottage.  Leiyu was lying in bed while Amara lay on the floor, wrapped in her cloak.

“Amara?”

“Hm?”

“Is it uncomfortable sleeping on the floor?  We could switch.”

“No need.  You’re still recovering.”

“...” Leiyu sighed.  “All right…good night, Amara…”

“Good night, Leiyu…”

***

One month later…

Leiyu’s recovery was very slow and gradual, but he could now walk on his own, although he still needed to occasionally lean on Amara for support.  They went on daily walks to build his strength and stamina back up.  Usually they stayed close to the cottage, but today they ventured a bit further into the forest, with her supporting him by the arm.

As they walked past the trees, they could hear the faint sounds of music playing in the distance.  Looking at each other, they decided to satisfy their curiosity and walked further ahead until they encountered a lake.

In the middle of the lake was a lone pagoda.  Seated in the pagoda was a woman clad in elegant blue silks, playing a stringed guqin.

“Wow, that’s the first person we’ve encountered since we arrived in this forest!” Leiyu exclaimed.

The woman looked up at them and strummed across the guqin strings.  A beautiful sound accompanied by a wave of energy radiated from the instrument.  Ripples formed in the lake as the energy wave headed toward them.  Amara formed a shield with her own energy and blocked the incoming wave.

The woman put her fingers on the guqin strings to stop their vibration.  Although the instrument was large, she picked it up as if it were weightless and leapt from the pagoda.  Gliding gracefully across the lake, she landed softly before them.

“This is the first time I’ve had visitors since I’ve gone into seclusion,” she said. “Usually no one can come in because of the barrier around my sanctuary.”

Amara and Leiyu looked at her in confusion.

“But I suppose you’re not ordinary people,” the woman continued.  

They continued to stare at her.

She smiled.  “Pleased to meet you at last…Goddess of Fire…"