Princess Snow and the Empress

22: Stay with Me

Chow Chow turned his head to follow her gaze. "Oh! Don't you recognize it? It's a Qilin, Princess. It must be visiting from the upper realms."

"A Qilin!" Snow echoed. She rarely saw images of the Qilin, though she recalled they were regarded as auspicious and almost as significant as dragons, which symbolized imperial power. A dragon-like head on a deer's body, hooves like an ox and fish scales on its body – what a strange creature, she had thought when she was younger.

If she recalled correctly, they only made an appearance during the reign of a wise and benevolent ruler, or shortly before the birth or death of a great sage. Not surprisingly, her ancestors were eager to claim that a Qilin had been sighted during their reign.

She watched it move away, its flames illuminating the trees around it, before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Wait a minute! It was a very long shot, but she just had to try. "Do you figure we can ride the Qilin back to Earth?"

He goggled at her like she had just suggested they hunt the Qilin for its meat and scales. "Princess, it's a Qilin," he said, emphasizing the last word. "It's not a horse or a mount that you can ride and direct where you want it to go."

"But it does go down to the earthly realm, right? Do you think it can take me back?"

His large, round eyes grew even rounder. "I thought we just had this conversation! Princess, I know you really want to go back, but there is no way back. There is just no way."

Snow was starting to get tired of being told no all the time. "Then how did I get here in the first place? Why can't I go back the same way I came?" She gasped like she had been struck by lightning. "Take me back, take me back to that cave I came out from!"

"You can't do that, nobody's gone back the way they came!"

"Has anybody tried?"

"No! Why would they? Why would anyone leave this" – he threw his arm wide over the water – "to go back to suffering on Earth?"

She blinked, her eyes going over the still waters, brilliant blue skies, and greenery around them. He had a point. Not many people could enter the heavenly realms, unless they had done exemplary deeds or had unblemished souls. But she set her jaw. "Hasn't been done before," she said slowly, "Doesn't mean that it cannot be done."

"Oh!" He smacked his forehead. "Heaven help me!"

"Come on! No time to waste, turn this boat around!" She started paddling with her hand.

"Princess, listen to me." His expression was serious. "What about the Empress? Wouldn't you be putting yourself back in harm's way?"

"She probably thinks I'm dead already, she wouldn't think to come after me," Snow said confidently.

He slumped like the air had gone out of him. "You just have an answer for everything, don't you? You want to go back because of that male, right?" When she nodded with enthusiasm, he continued, "What happens if you could go back, and that's a very big if... but your body is gone? Have you thought of that?"

She had not. She had only heard Erden's voice and seen him outside the cottage, but she had not sighted her body. What if the dwarves had already cremated or buried her? What if her body had already decomposed?

"Your soul will have nowhere to go for eternity. Do you understand, Princess? Do you really want that to happen?"

A wandering spirit for all eternity. Condemned to roam the Earth and suffer unquenchable thirst and insatiable hunger, finding no rest and no peace. A hungry ghost, like the ghosts in Sixth Brother's tales. Really, Snow, do you want to take that risk?