Memories

Little Dragon

In a blink of an eye, Bai Qian found herself in Ye Hua's lap, cocooned in his warmth embrace, her head nestled in his neck, and her most favourite scent in all of 8 realms saturated her senses.

We continued where we left off.

"Little Dragon, I left your parents for only half a morning, and this is what awaits me," said Zhe Yan with a hint of laughter in his tone, followed with the flourish of his right hand, gesturing to the embracing lovebirds on the stone platform – still quite far away from their current position.

His left hand was holding a precious cargo – the little baby Ye Hua had entrusted to his care earlier this morning. The little dough – dubbed as Little Dragon by Zhe Yan – was peeking his head from under the cloth. His hands were pushing down the outer cloth. The wind was blowing in his direction, and with it were the essences of his parents. He sniffed at the familiar scents and gurgled happily. His right hand started a tapping motion on Zhe Yan's chest, urging him to move forward. Zhe Yan had stopped walking and Little Dragon was not happy.

"Impatient, are we?" Rhetorically, Zhe Yan asked the little hyped-up immortal, knowing full well the question would be left unanswered. But he had been having these one-sided conversations with the little dragon ever since he came back to the Nine Heavens to pick him up. And even though there was no answer, the sparkle in the baby's eyes when he was talked to was more than enough for Zhe Yan. Besides the spark of intelligence in those eyes, Zhe Yan recognized a tint of mischief. "You and I should team up and wreak havoc against your mother, Little Dragon. Let her have a taste of her own medicine. Though let's keep that between the two of us, okay?"

The little hand kept on tapping, so Zhe Yan felt obliged to explain further. "I really thought it would take at least half a day for your parents to reconcile. Obviously, I miscalculated the effect of your father's expressive eyes. Your mother was a goner, Little Dragon. But I happen to know how vindictive she could be, your father will bear the brunt of it when he least expect it. But let's keep that little tidbit between the two of us, okay?"

The little dough smiled in response. Zhe Yan smiled back.

"I came back earlier because I couldn't stand being there for much longer. Plus, I can feel how excited you were to leave that suffocating place! It was a coincidence that we arrived here just in time. Your parents just made up, but from the looks of things, they haven't got the time to taint my stone platform. That would be one image I could never unsee! Timing is everything, you see, my boy. And my timing had always been impeccable. Let them think this old phoenix predicted everything up to the minutes, okay?"

Another smile in response.

Zhe Yan assumed walking, humming all the way, to give Ye Hua and Bai Qian sufficient time to notice their arrivals.

When they were within earshot, amazed none seemed to notice anything at all, Zhe Yan caught Little Dragon's eyes, smirked knowingly, and coughed. Loudly.

Surprised by the loud cough, Bai Qian jolted in Ye Hua's arms. But when she tried to completely disentangled herself from him, he only let go a fraction, so that they were within proper distance for company, but not far enough that he couldn't touch her.

Ye Hua, on the other hand, was more annoyed than surprised. He and Zhe Yan had, after all, agreed upon bringing their son to the Peach Blossom Forest on an undesignated time. Zhe Yan had simply said that he would know when the best time would be. And for the High God to choose that exact moment, when they were lost in each other's arms, Ye Hua felt deprived of her touch.

But the moment Ye Hua thought it, he felt guilty. His son had been deprived of his mother's touch since the moment he was born. This was an important day not just for the two of them, but for the three of them.

His train of thoughts made him missed the silence that was gripping Bai Qian. He noticed her lack of movement the same time his son noticed it. The baby had stopped gurgling, his little eyes was fixated on his mother.

Tears were streaming down Bai Qian's face. Her anguished apparent.

"Little Five," admonished Zhe Yan, "we've talked about this."

Bai Qian glanced at Zhe Yan. Sobbing, she said, "Su Su thought his life would be better without her. She didn't even want to hold him, afraid she wouldn't be able to let go once she did. How could—how could I did that? Left him just like that?"

Zhe Yan sighed. "Su Su was a part of you, but you are not a part of Su Su. A part is not greater than the whole. There were pieces missing when you were cursed as Su Su. Little Five, I would gamble all of my wine collection, that if you, the whole you, were faced with the same situation, you would not have chosen the same path."

Not adding anything, because he also believed what Zhe Yan was saying, Ye Hua put his hand on the small of Bai Qian's back and gently pushed her forward. "Our son has been waiting for you. Go to him. I promise you, like father like son, he has already fallen for you..."

Just to prove his point, the little dragon reached with both hands, almost falling from Zhe Yan's grip. Her maternal instinct reacting with a whip-like response, Bai Qian ran and took hold of her son. The moment his warm little body was in her arms, Bai Qian felt another invisible fracture mended itself. Her son was cooing at her, sniffing at her scent, and then he sighed deeply, contented. She too, took a whiff of the top of his head. At last, she was whole again.

Mother and son reunited, Ye Hua felt a push of energy. He looked up in question and Zhe Yan simply quirked his eyebrow. You're just going to stand there? Really? After all of this? Didn't I tell you to do better this time? Is this your best?

The unsaid questions – taunts – propelled Ye Hua into action. Embarrassed he needed to be reminded to act, especially since the past was evidence enough of moments when he should have acted instead of doing nothing. But he was also grateful that Zhe Yan was there to knock him to his senses, Ye Hua moved forward and put his arms on his two most precious treasures and just be.

Feeling satisfied and another urge to pat himself on the back, Zhe Yan made his way to the stone platform and poured himself a drink. He deserved it, after all. He had been making trips almost non-stop back-and-forth between the Nine Heavens, his forest, and Qing Qiu.

Seeing the Black Dragon, Little Five, and Little Dragon reunited brought a smile to his face. The three of them were conversing silently, obviously in baby talk. Little Dragon was patting his mother's cheeks, his face alighted with joy. Little Five was looking at her son with so much love, Zhe Yan's heart doubled in size. And protecting the two was the Black Dragon, one Zhe Yan had become very fond of.

In the distance, Zhe Yan felt the arrivals he had been waiting for.
Finally, now to the fun part, he thought.