The air was tense, so tight that one slice from even the dullest blade could cut it without effort. Wei Wuxian, tears in his eyes, looked her over carefully. "Who are you, really?" He forced out through clenched teeth. Xiaoying found it hard to main...
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It was a crisp fall morning, the cool autumn breeze filtering up the mountain. The sounds of sparring could be heard with the rising sun, casting warmth among the chill air, as well as giggling children running throughout the area playing tag, kites, or other fun games.
The once young infant had grown into a fair young lady, casting her beauty all among the lands of the Celestial Mountain. She was as bountiful in her intelligence as she was in her looks, and even more so with her sword -- being one of the best swordsmen out of them all. Baoshan Sanren had taught her well to defend and attack, but she saw no reason to use it up on the mountain.
Xiaoying had made her way from her Jingshi further down to the middle of the mountain where everyone else was for most of the day, the morning sun barely rising, an orange glow over the green grass. She eventually made it down, greeting those she passed with a warm smile and swift yet caring words before continuing til she met the gardens.
She spent more time lately in the gardens than anywhere else, having took lessons from the elders on the mountain of how to maintain certain herbs, magical flowers and what kind of healing they served for, and she was well skilled in medicine enough that she could've opened her own shop as a healer in the real world if she wanted to.
Minutes turned to hours, watering the plants and drying the readied herbs, sweeping the fallen leaves from the walkways so she wouldn't trip, and overall caring for the overall garden. She had ground up several vials of dried herbs and was working on her latest batch to put into a medicinal tea that aided in strengthening one's spiritual energy for a short period of time.
"Xiaoying," Baoshan greeted the young woman that was tending to the gardens, watching all the magical flowers and medicinal herbs that flourished under her hands. "I have something for you." This perked the younger girl's interest, to which Xiaoying looked over to see a deep purple ribbon with a silver flower in her hands.
Xiaoying's eyes widened as she stopped grinding the herbs, looking down at the beautiful ornamental pieces, before back up at her teacher, the woman she could call a second mother. "These were the last things of your parents belongings when we found them." Baoshan Sanren said, a sad smile on her face. She approached her disciple, placing them in her hands. "The ribbon belonged to your father," she told her, "the lotus flower pin to your mother."
Cradling them in her hands, Xiaoying could feel the deep thrum of her heart strings being pulled. "Teacher Baoshan... Why are you giving me these now?" She asked, feeling the soft velvet of the purple ribbon sliding through her fingers, the sturdy edges of the pin.
The elder teacher sighed, before giving her young disciple a soft smile. Gently taking her by the arm, she linked it with her own before beginning to walk. "Come, I believe there are somethings we must speak about." She told her, to which Xiaoying was more than happy to oblige. She loved hearing new stories about her parents. They lived an amazing life that Xiaoying could only dream for.
They walked for around ten minutes, just appreciating the scenery around them for yet another time, "my Xiaoying, do you like your life here on the mountain?" Baoshan Sanren inquired, and Xiaoying looked at her in utter confusion. There was no accusatory tone in her voice, nothing negative, aside from a small twinge of sadness.
This caused Xiaoying to stop altogether walking. "Of course! Teacher Baoshan, you've given me more than I could ever ask for... If not for you, I wouldn't be alive. I love my life on the mountain." She responded, and she could only watch as Baoshan Sanren walked a little ways forward, stopping at the small stream that ran through this part of the mountain.
"I understand your feelings of wanting to go down the mountain. To seeing what the real world is like." Baoshan Sanren said softly, and Xiaoying was struck down in surprise. "How.. how did you-?" She could barely formulate a question, and the look on Baoshan Sanren's voice was enough to pang her heart with guilt.
"I've raised you since the moment you were born, Xiaoying, how could I not?" Baoshan Sanren said with a dry chuckle, shaking her head. She crouched down to the edge of the stream and Xiaoying walked forward, kneeling down beside her. "The stream is at a constant flow. While it may slow down or speed up, it will never stop." Baoshan Sanren looked to her right where further down there were beavers beginning to build a dam. "Not unless there is an obstacle in the way."
Baoshan Sanren stood up slowly, and took Xiaoying by the hand, pulling her up with her as she took both of her hands in her own, including the ribbon and lotus pin. "Xiaoying... My Xiaoying. You have come so far. You are so much like your mother once was." Xiaoying could see the tears hiding behind her elder's eyes, and she couldn't help but feel her own do the same.
"But this is not the life your mother would have wanted for you. She left the mountain around your age. I wouldn't imagine how she would feel knowing I continued to keep you." The older woman said, and Xiaoying shook her head, the tears now flowing freely down her face. "My life is here, my parents are here-" She stammered and Baoshan Sanren could only nod.
"We are your obstacle. Your barrier." She told the younger girl, reaching up to wipe away her tears. "If you chose to stay, I surely would be much happier." Baoshan Sanren said softly. She looked up to the sky, sighing in understanding, "but if you do, I fear the world will be in worse hands."
"I can't... I can't leave-- Teacher Baoshan, please, if I leave I can't return again! I wouldn't be able to see you, to see my parents, no one..." Xiaoying begged, trying to regain her composure but it was difficult when the fear of change was threatening to throw her whole world upside down. The fear of leaving behind everything she knew. The fear of new things surrounding her and swallowing her whole.
Baoshan Sanren could only smile. "You have us, my love," she took the ribbon the young girl was clutching, going behind her to weave it through her top braid, the dark purple a stark contrast against her white robes. "Your father will always be your rock, one you can lean on." Baoshan Sanren took the lotus pin, securing it up in front of her braid, showing proudly at the crown of her head. "Your mother will always be your compass, when you are lost and scared, she will be there to show you the way."
She picked up Xiaoying's sword, her Celestial Mountain charm hanging from it followed by a small, hand carved wooden lotus. Representing her parents and Baoshan Sanren. "I will always be your sword. When you are faced with danger, you will always follow through and be the bravest cultivator I know you to be." She passed Xiaoyings sword to her in one hand, and in the other she placed a scroll.
This was the scroll that held Xiaoying's drawings of her parent's tombs in it. Xiaoying clutched both to her chest, finding it hard to keep herself composed in all of this. What had she done for the ancestors to put her through this? All this pain, all this confusion and fear, for what?
Baoshan Sanren produced a small jar, one that Xiaoying didn't recognize. "Teacher Baoshan, please-" Xiaoying whispered, but the deed was done. Within a few short moments, the top to the jar was opened. The contents of the jar had been blown in her face, and within mere seconds she collapsed, passed out in Baoshan Sanren's arms.
And that was the last she would ever see of what she called home because when she woke up, she was in the middle of nowhere, the morning sky showing above her head and the realization had begun to set in.
No longer was she in the Celestial Mountains. Now she was in the real world.
