With that the flame screen closed in on itself and swirled into the palm of her hand, closing her hand the fire dispersed.
"And that's how I joined the the Great Cicada Monk on his journey to retrieve the scrolls on their grand adventure to the west..."
The three mortals stared blankly at the air where the screen was and had to process her words for a bit.
"Wait-!!?" Tang instantly stood up from his seat almost dropping his notebook and ink utensils, "You—!"
Mei and MK shoved the poor scholar aside as they beamed up at her with huge admiring grins.
"YOU WERE APART OF THE JOURNEY!?"
"YOU KICKED ASS IN THAT WAR!!"
"Yeah! The Demon Fox King finally died!"
"Thank god! Or else I would've hunted him down myself for harming our little Ren!"
"Agh! Ren! We gotta find a way to unseal them!!"
"But how!? They're in that super duper prison realm of eternal and stuff-!!"
"Ah-! Your right! But that could be centuries!!" MK panicked as he gripped his headband.
Jinhua quietly got up from her seat and grabbed all the tea cups with her tea set, "It's fine. I've accepted it long ago after giving up on finding a way." She hummed lightly as she stalked back to her open kitchen and now hand cleaning the cups and kettle.
MK and Mei followed after her and sat at a counter bar with stools that gave an open view of the kitchen.
"But wasn't Ren like your own child...? You know like the bonds of a demoness are strong.. How long were you searching for?"
Jinhua paused in her scrubbing with a white cloth.
"For 267 years I searched for an answer..." She sighed, placing the cups and kettle on a towel to dry.
She leaned against the counter where they sat at with a soft smile, "It's fine. I'm over it by now. After all it's been around 1362 years since it happened."
"What!?" Mei shrieked, "That means Ren has been without they're Ma for exactly 1362 years!!"
"Aghhhh that's too sad-!!"
Jinhua just let out a light chuckle as she walked around the counter with a book under her arm, "I'm perfectly fine and happy now." She wrapped her arms gently around the two teens and brought them in for a side hug on both sides, "As long you two don't get hurt like I failed Ren then I'm as happy as I could be.."
Mei and MK stiffened at the statement and almost could feel they're own tears pricking they're eyes.
"But you didn't fail them-!" MK tried to reason, but he was cut off by Jinhua as she placed a finger lightly on his lips to silence him.
"I did... And I blame myself for not noticing sooner about they're contract..." Her eyes looked down at the red ribbon that rested against her chest peacefully.
Mei wrapped her arms around her waist with teary eyes. Her face buried into her side while MK wrapped his arms around her neck and baby koala's her side.
Jinhua sighed in amusement as she walked away from the counter and towards the door where a calm Tang was waiting with his bag, "I see they've become clearly attached to you." He smiled playfully.
Jinhua looked down to see the children still latched onto her like leaches. Her eyes softened as she ruffled they're hair gently, "C'mon young ones... You need to go home before it gets dark..." She chuckled lightly feeling they're grips tighten.
"Noooooo...." Mei let out a muffled whine as she wrapped her legs around one of Jinhua's.
"We don't wanna leeeaavvveeee...!" MK complained as he buried his face into the crook of Jinhua's neck.
Tang couldn't help but smile at the scene, "They can stay here for the night... I'll inform Pigsy and let him know about MK. I can come back tomorrow morning to pick them up and try and fix anything in the books according to Jinhua's experience from when she joined the journey."
Jinhua dipped her head in thanks, "I can go with that..."
Mei and MK lit up in excitement as soon as Tang stated they could stay over.
"WERE GONNA HAVE A SLEEPOVER-!?"
"AT JINHUA'S PLACE NO LESS!"
They both squealed on joy as they jumped off the demoness and started to run about the small cabin, trying to explore and look for things.
Jinhua shook her head lightly and turned to face the scholar, "As long as they don't go destroying things, I'm fine. But even then it wouldn't matter because I could easily fix it." She smiled at the thought of they're petrified faces and crashing guilt of breaking her things on accident.
"Well I'll be off now, have fun with the teens." He waved off with a bright grin.
"Don't bother Pigsy too much now." Jinhua waved back with a playful grin.
Tang didn't answer back whether he didn't hear her or chose to ignore her slick statement.
At that she closed the the double screen doors and walked calmly over to the two teens who were buzzing through her belongings like 3 year olds.
"What exactly are you searching for?"
MK peered from behind a giant pile of armor and scrolls and was trying to read through them, "I can't find it!"
Mei rolled down the pile like an armadillo and shot up like a superhero, "Me neither, there's like no info about the dude."
"What info?"
"About the Macaque guy. He was with you guys on the journey, right?"
At the name Jinhua's smile fell, "Ah.. Why yes. Yes he was." She shifted around and turned towards a small chest hidden underneath a couple of fabrics in the corner of the room.
The two teens watched with baited breaths as she inserted the tip of her nail into the lock and shot a flame inside. As it clicked unlocked, Jinhua slowly opened the lid and grabbed the old parchment of paper from its residence.
Holding it up, Jinhua smiled wistfully at the smiles that were held on the painting, "This is him. The darker furred monkey with red markings and golden eyes." She pointed a finger lightly at a monkey demon that sat beside a younger version of Jinhua grinning from ear to ear. Though the monkey demon looked irritated by being interrupted by The Great Sage as he tackled them both from behind as the others tried to stop him or hold him back. The whole picture was utter chaos in the end with laughter and bright grins.
MK rubbed his chin as he awed at the picture in question, "So that's the actual group of the JTTW.... Macaque looks identical to The Monkey King though."
Jinhua sighed and placed the painting on her desk, "They are anything but the same. They are almost like the different sides of a coin. Both parallel but in the end not the same."
Mei looked over the painting with a finger tapping her chin, "That's the Horse Dragon of the West? Ao Ji?"
"Correct. He was a partner of mine when we had to look out for the monkey duo. It escalated a few too many times when battling..." She lightly mused at the memory.
"We can share more stories another time..."
"What about your tattoos? We could hear about how you got them, next!" MK asked in blind curiosity.
Jinhua stiffened when she was about to open the door of her office, "That.. That story will not be told for awhile now, I'm afraid."
Mei seemed to have sensed the conversation going south so she grabbed onto MK's jacket and ran out the door yelling out an excuse to go find a room to sleep.
"I wanna take the couch!"
"No I wanna take the couch!"
And so on and so forth.
—
Sitting quietly on the back porch chairs, Jinhua stared out onto the court yard surrounded by a wall of bamboo and flowered vines to cover the back in secrecy.
Her hand fiddling with the two bells that rested against her neck.
Closing her eyes, she shifted her pointy human like ear into her head and on top of her head grew out tall cat like ears.
With the soft breeze, she could hear the sounds of three different rings follow through the air.
Two farther in the mountains and one a lot closer than expected.
With a click of her tongue, Jinhua opened her eyes in distaste, "Of course he kept his set of bells. That unruly little hair ball..!"
She leaned into her elbow and pressed two fingers along the bridge of her nose at the sudden headache she gained from thinking about him.
"Miss Jinhua...?"
Snapping herself out of her ruse, Jinhua whipped around to see Mei still in her sleep wear, with the attire of shorts and an green tank top that sported a dragon sigil on the corner where her heart laid. Her ink hair that faded into a jewel like color of jades trailed down her shoulder and back.
"Oh honey, sorry.. Did I wake you..?" Jinhua asked softly getting up from her spot to help comfort the child if needed.
Shaking her head slowly, Mei looked up at the golden demoness with a hesitant look, "Umm... I was thinking uh- If I could learn your sword style..."
"My sword dancing techniques?" Jinhua tilted her head in question at the sudden request, "What brought this on suddenly...?"
Mei rubbed her head wearily as she looked off to the side, "I just have a feeling that something is gonna happen in the future... It's probably just a gut feeling though..." She laughed nervously in a weak tone.
Jinhua placed her hands gently on her shoulder, a soothing laugh rang out through the air, "Do not waver in your feelings, young warrior. Trust them with all your heart. If you have a gut feeling that inclines you to ask me to train you in the art of the sword. Then I encourage you to listen to it."
"What am I supposed to be following exactly..??" Mei questioned with an uncertain look, almost lost even. Like she's been questioning this one statement for years in her life.
Kneeling down to Mei's height, Jinhua looked her dead in the eye, "It's a dragon's instinct. And Ao Ji had the same thing, which had served us countless of times of need on our adventures."
Mei looked up at the demoness in awe at the revelation, "So if I learn to wield the blade, my parents won't be disappointed, right..?" She asked hesitantly.
Jinhua smiled softly, as she got up from her spot, "They are your parents, they are supposed to support and love you, regardless of who you are and what you do." She gently grabbed hold of the girl's hand and guided her into the moon lit courtyard.
"Whether you train in the blade or study to become a noble lady of society, your parents should be there to encourage anything you wish to do." Jinhua held her palm up and ignited it in golden flames that spiraled around them, lighting up the lanterns that hung around the courtyard.
"And if they don't, then you will know that you have one other that will fill in that role." Jinhua smiled softly and backed away on the other side of the court.
Mei just watched silently as she began to weigh the demoness' words in her head and looked on with a warm bubbling feeling coursing through her chest. She couldn't help the bright smile that adorned her face as she saw Jinhua turn with two wooden swords.
"And from now on, Mei, descendant of the Dragon from the West, I, Jinhua, will train you in the way of the blade." She tossed one of the wooden sword to the unsuspecting girl as she fumbled with the wooden stick.
"How does that sound?" Jinhua glowed under the moonlight and the lantern fire outlining her figure.
'A Demon Goddess of War....' Mei couldn't help but think as she stated on in wonder. Quickly composing herself, Mei held the wooden sword up to the sky and swung it down so it was pointing at the demoness. With a determined grin lacing her lips, Mei answered.
"I'll be in your care, Master Jinhua!"