It had been almost a month since the competition ended. And within that month, Yun had never seen Yufan anywhere. Sometime within the month, she heard that he had left back for the warfront again.
Inwardly, she was worried for him. He had just recovered for a life-threatening injury not too long ago, and now he was going around like he was never hurt in the first place.
He needs to take it easy, otherwise, he will just fall sick sooner than later. She chided him mentally.
Yun jumped cautiously over the split tile on the roof, and continued walking, her hands raised on either sides as she maintained her balance effortlessly. The moon tonight was really bright and round, and the breeze was more warm than chilly.
Of course, the letter did not stop. But they had contained a more interactive element to them now, as they had begun to actually talk to each other, asking about their day, or asking about their opinions on something. The last one was two weeks ago, where he said he was packing up again, but he did not state where he was going, presumably to prevent her from worrying.
Inwardly, Yun tried to justify her worrying. Did she really care for him more than a patient? Or was she just worried as he was the first patient that she had healed without supervision, and with her "secret" powers nonetheless?
Coming to the edge of the building, she took a deep breathe and lifted one feet off the edge, and then another. The air served as support underneath her, and she was soon walking on stairs of air leading up the southern gate of the Sky Manor. No one normally comes here, and she found it a quiet place to be sometimes.
Just as she sat down however, she heard something roar in the distance. It was familiar, she realized, squinting into the distance.
True enough, in the distance, she could just make out the shadow of a dragon in the light of the moon. Her mouth dropped, as she stared at it in awe. It blinked out of sight soon after however, and Yun shifted her head from left to right, trying to find where did it went.
"Hi Yun."
"Yufan!" She turned around in surprise, looking at the man that was standing right next to her on the white tiles.
"I can see why you come here, it's a gorgeous view." He started conversationally, sitting down next to her.
"It is." Yun nodded. She hesitated for a few moments, but deciding to broach the topic on her mind.
"Yufan, were you at the warfront these few weeks?"
"Yes. Why?" He turned over to look at her, his eyebrows raised slightly.
"Nothing. I just- I got... No, I just wanted to say that it's not advisable for you to run around all over the Nine Realms, even though it's your duty to. You should take some rest and recuperate completely."
"Were you... worried?"
"No!" Yun looked incredulously at his question. "Fine, I might have been. A little. As your healer."
Her voice grew softer until it was just a mumble at the end. But she saw a smile growing on Yufan's face.
"Actually, I think that might be feeling a bit light-headed right now." He suddenly said, putting a couple of fingers up to his temple to massage them. His smile faded slightly. "I came straight away from the mortal realm without rest, and only now I feel like it's starting to tire me."
"You really should learn to take better care of yourself." She sighed. "Come here."
Yun placed on hand on his shoulders and turned him over while she placed two fingers each on his temples, massaging them with moderate pressure. "Does this feel better?"
He nodded, and Yun continued on for a bit as she felt his body relax under her touch.
"Here, smell this. I made this for you."
She held out a small pouch with smelling herbs from it, and he complied obliging, bringing it to his nose.
"This is for relaxation purposes, but it will not make you sleepy. So if you ever feel too stressed out or tired, that will be suitable for you to help unwind slightly. And when the smell starts to fade, you can stop by and have me replace it for you."
"Thank you, I think that I will use it often. It was kind of you to make this for me."
"It's nothing, really." Yun shrugged, but she felt butterflies flying in her stomach at the compliment.
"I have something for you too actually."
Yun turned over to him, feeling surprised. She watched as he pulled out a piece of jade that was white in colour and held it out in his palms for her.
"Here, I'd like for you to have this. I carved it myself."
The jade slipped into her palm, and she traced her thumb over the surface. In the moonlight, she could make out a dragon flying in the sky, and Yufan's name at the bottom. Her fingers caught another rough sensation at the back of the jade, and she turned it over.
It had her name on it as well, underneath a moonshine peony.
"How did you know that the peony is my favourite flower?"
Yufan just shrugged, pressing his lips together. "Do you like it?"
"I love it! Thank you Yufan, you really didn't have to." She turned the jade around and around in her hand. "I'll keep it on me at all times."
"You would?"
"Of course."
• ───────────────── •
Yun woke up before dawn. Her hand was clutched tightly at her side, and she looked down at it, her fingers uncurling numbly from a piece of jade in her hands.
She stared at it, before running her fingers over the rough surface vigorously. On one side, she felt a flower, and a few more rubs told her that it was a moonshine peony. Her heart stopped.
She flipped it over, and another few touches told her that it was a dragon engraved into the cool stone. It slipped out of her hand and into her lap.
The weight of it just confirmed that it was real.
Gingerly, she picked it up again, her fingers shaking, before she woke up to get dressed. Her fingers slipped the jade into her folds.
She was never going to leave it, ever again.
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"Today, we are going to learn the Whispering Wind footwork."
Lord Xu flicked his fan close as he stepped to the middle of the mat.
"This is a footwork full of feints, and is made to easily outmanoeuvre any traps that your opposition might be baiting you into. So, watch carefully. I will demonstrate this to you."
Once Yun nodded, Lord Xu started taking forwards steps, before he turned in a half circle. A short pause, before he moved his feet again, this time, stepping forwards, and then pulling his feet back again. It continued this way, turning and evading completely, retreating from a possible threat, and then feinting his steps in several different ways that had Yun struggling slightly to memorise the footsteps.
"A total of seventy-two steps." Lord Xu said as he brought his feet together again. He had already made his way to the other side of the mat, which Yun only just noticed. It had seemed like Lord Xu was pulling back, but now that she had realised, he was taking a few steps forwards in various motions for every feint and every step he took backwards. "How many did you managed to memorise?"
"Almost... all of them, except the last fifteen steps."
"That's quite good already." He nodded. "I see that you dance?"
"I used to; it has been a while."
"It's alright, you still should have no problem memorising this with practice. However, do take note that you have to perform it faster, like so."
And then, Lord Xu launched into a flowing, swift collection of movements that looked almost nothing like the movements that he showed the first time. And within thirty seconds or so, he was standing in front of Yun again, not a single strand of hair out of place.
"That was impressive." Yun managed to breathe out.
"If you practice, you will be able to do it as well. But I place more importance on the ability to execute the movements during real fights if you ever got embroiled in one."
Yun nodded and stepped forwards to the centre of the mat as Lord Xu stepped off it.
"Now, try it out. I'll rectify any mistakes that you make."
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"Lord Xu, where is Ying?"
"She volunteered to run some errands for me." Lord Xu said. "You may take a water break."
Yun nodded, and eagerly bounded to her waterskin. It felt so refreshing after the constant drills that made her exhausted after the fourth or fifth time. She managed to get it right the first time before her break however, and that gave her a small sense of accomplishment.
"Lord Xu, may I ask some questions?" Yun begin suddenly, cutting the silence between them.
Lord Xu looked surprised, but he nodded and turned towards her attentively.
"Why did you let Ying instruct me so much when you are my mentor?" Yun asked curiously. "All this while, Ying was the one that had been teaching me rather than you."
"For you, and for Ying. Ying needed to learn how to teach to completely master the techniques she has learnt, while you needed someone more spirited and able to easily communicate with you to teach you."
Yun smiled awkwardly. "I thought you didn't really know how to teach at one point, that's why you never taught me."
Lord Xu coughed in a guilty manner at that. "I apologize. I just guess I did not know where to start teaching you."
"You see, I told you that light powers were very uncommon, even among Immortals, and I have never taught someone with your powers before, and it has thrown me off slightly."
"When you're as old as I have, you get humble, but ego is a hard thing to throw away when you are accomplished. I did not want to admit completely that I have no idea in how to teach you, so I had gone behind your back to do some research."
"I... understand." Yun decided to say. Not to lie, she felt somewhat cheated. But since she decided that she was going to train with Lord Xu, she will not regret that decision.
"You think I cheated you." He sighed, sitting down on the mat as well. "Maybe in some ways, I did. But I will make it up to you, by making sure I give you everything I promised. I have already made some headway, however. And we should be able to begin training sooner than later."
"Thank you, Lord Xu."
"You're welcome."