Daughter of Heaven

Chapter 41 - Schemes and Plots

Ning City 

"You're leaving food for her again?" Lin Yu asked as Yu Zhu placed a tray in front of Lu Xi's door. Lin Yu sighed, "It's been ten days and still she hasn't come out. I don't get why she's so scared of us"

Yu Zhu shook her head as she added tea to a cup and placed it on the tiled floor "She's not afraid. She's hurting."

Lin Yu's only experience with human emotions was mainly with Yu Zhu, she was confused, "I don't understand."

Yu Zhu stood up and came to sit with Lin Yu, picking up her chopsticks, "Children raised in war zones do not remain children for long. They learn to live with fear, they learn how to survive above all else. Right now she knows, instinctively that we don't mean her harm, so she'll watch and wait.  She's had plenty of chances to go to Zhu Zhan Ye while we were out these past few days."

"So what has she been doing?"

Yu Zhu looked sad for a moment, "Lu Xi was sold by the ones who were suppose to love her. She's feeling lost."

She sighed at Lin Yu who still looked confused and explained, "You are a snake demon, you've lived thousands of years but you still have trouble understanding why we grieve."

Lin Yu nodded as Yu Zhu continued, "We humans are like fireflies to you. We live brightly for a few fragile moments and then peter out to nothingness. Our emotions are intense and fleeting. The bonds between mortals, between a man and a woman, a child and her parents, between friends, it makes us who we are. It defines us. And when those are cut, we mourn bitterly."

Yu Zhu gestured to Lu Xi's door, "All her bonds were severed. She's lost everyone she loves. The feeling is...terrifying"

"Love is such a strange thing." Lin Yu said as she she supported her head on her hand, "Gods and demons rarely love. And even when they do, it may last for a few hundred years if they're lucky. But eternity? We get bored. For us, the only constant is change. We try not to feel everything."

Her eyes darkened, "I once asked Auntie White Snake why she fell for the human Xu Xian. Their being together caused her so much pain. I remembered the day he died, I asked her why she was crying and smiling as they carried him away from her tower."

"What did she say?" Yu ZHu asked.

Lin Yu shook her head, "she patted my head and said that without true loss, there was no true happiness. And she wanted to feel all of it, even if her heart was irreparably shattered."

Yu Zhu held her tea cup, "What a woman."

Lin Yu picked at the wood on the table, "The heavens punished her harshly,  she's buried beneath all that rubble of the Lei Feng tower, destined to be imprisoned until Xi Hu Lake dries and the tower falls. An heavenly edict that basically means she will never be freed."

"So demons do know what we humans feel." Yu Zhu mused, "It just has be all or nothing.

Lin Yu nodded, "That's the curse of being a demon or a god. You either experience an emotion so completely that it consumes you and everything you do or you don't really experience it at all. Why do you think those who fall for mortals end so tragically? They can't let go."

Yu Zhu though of Wei Yun living in a tree for hundreds of thousands of milennias, and quickly flicked away a tear as she hid her face from Lin Yu.

"I can see why Lu Xi feels sad now. I don't ever want to think about anything happening to you." Lin Yu said seriously, "And it won't because I'm here."

Yu Zhu couldn't help but smile and flick Lin Yu's forehead, "You won't need me if you ever fall in love. Romantic love"

"Not true." Lin Yu shook her head firmly, "I like flirting and everything, but i don't ever want love. Not after everything that's happened to mother and auntie White Snake. I hope I never fall in love."