Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 29 - Second Revelation

17 year old Olivia wanted to make contact with her mentor, Esther, a princess from an ancient Chinese dynasty, in the woods on Alderley Edge. But she was too late and so, just as in the legend, she walks inside the Edge along a tunnel, past treasure, knights and horses, emerging into a large open space where there is a Chinese junk with figures next to it. She is about to learn the truth about the malachite pendant and the flashing images that Esther has been using to teach her the Secrets of Science.

------------------------

Standing next to the big junk in the cave that was a ravine, Olivia saw a familiar figure, and walked quickly towards her. 

“Esther! It’s me!” she called.

“Livvy! What are you doing here? I was waiting for you before, next to the tree. I thought you forgot!”

“No, it’s just, I was delayed, my parents were going out but then, oh dear, it’s a long story.”

“Oh!” she said with a worried expression, “there is no problem, is there?”

“Oh no, it’s fine.”

“Oh that’s good. It’s very very nice to see you!” said Esther nodding and smiling.

“Nice to see you too. And look! I got you the book! Well, it’s not the real book, it’s, kind of, a photocopy. Here, this is the one isn’t it? The one you wanted?”

Esther took the bundle of stapled A4 sheets in her hand, and held up the front page, Esther read the title and shook her head.

“Oh no,” she said with a sad expression, shaking her head, “very sorry! Very, very sorry! This is not the right book. This is not the book I wanted!”

Olivia looked at the cover, dismayed.

“Not the right book? The characters are not the same?”

“No, this is a different name, you see. Different characters!” she said, pointing at them.

“Oh, I went to a lot of trouble to get it... I went to the library with my mum. And then I made a copy for you. But it doesn’t matter, it was all just a waste of time, and money”

“Oh no,” said Esther, eyes wide open, almost panicking, “no, it was not a waste of time! When you are an explorer, when you want to discover, if you make a mistake, it’s not a waste of time. Here, let me have a look at the book.”

She browsed the pages, flipping over each A4 sheet in turn. Surprisingly, she too was having trouble with a few of the more obscure Chinese characters. She spoke a few lines aloud.

“I have never seen this book before. It is not from my time.”

She looked through a few more pages, read some lines, and then handed it back to Olivia. 

“I don’t know this book, or the man who wrote it, but I think it contains many secrets! I think you should try to read it Livvy, even if it is difficult!”

“Oh yes, Esther, yes, I will, I will.”

Olivia carefully took the bundle of sheets back and put them in her bag. She looked round and saw that the two sailors were playing mahjong. There were a few others who were sleeping, and one was polishing a piece of wood.  Another was cooking food at a wok. The aroma was delicious.

Esther turned around and spoke to them in her ancient form of Chinese. They looked up, nodded and smiled.

Olivia looked around and then back at Esther.

“And so, is Zhu Gwang Ming not here? I would so much like to meet him.”

“Oh,” said Esther, now a tragic expression on her face,. She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head, “Sorry, very, very sorry but… Zhu Gwang Ming is dead!”