The man looked at Perla with a look of complete indifference. He didn't enter into the room further than the door, but his presence filled the room to bursting. Perla felt as though there was something pressing slowly down on her, all her organs and even her blood felt stifled! She coughed into her sleeve, her eyes glaring back at the rude man. Whoever he was it was clear that he was not friendly to her and would not be sympathetic to her feeling as though she was being juiced or something.
"It seems that Sixth Sister isn't feeling well. You have forgotten your courtesy in addressing the Young Master of the household." His voice rang clear making one think of a large waterfall, the timbre of his voice made the maids behind him blush, fidget and squirm and as though used to it, he didn't even turn to acknowledge them. He finally stepped into the room and the two maids closest followed while the others closed the door and withdrew. "Sixth Sister, you are lucky enough to receive some favor finally on your last day here. Mother has awarded you extra gold to take along during your exile. The Elders only intended to send you away with silvers, but Mother has taken into consideration your... birth mothers long and loyal service to the family and the fact that she has never fought for favor."
"Um... I'm not sure at all who you are. I lost my memory with my fever..." Perla looked at the man who called her Sixth Sister. There was no mistaking the fact that she ought to be his sister according to logic, but she couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. Silver, gold, last day and exile... Could it be that when her mother went to talk to the Elders that in light of her amnesia they'd decided to kick them out of the family? She remembered hearing yesterday that the original Suu and her mother had been unfavored here, but surely there was no actual sign of abuse on the body of either. Her mother still looked healthy, and even though she was sickly she had survived for 18 years. What possible train of thought could give rise to this complete jump of logic? She had forgotten who she was and everything revolving around her life because she didn't know in the first place; who was she to tell that she was not Suu?
"I must assume then that it is true. You have never spoken to me without fear in your voice, let alone forgotten your etiquette. I am Feng Guozhi, the eldest male. We of the Feng family may have no love for you, however, the rest of us siblings have never made things unduly difficult for you. Not because you were beneath us, but simply because you've hovered on the edge of life and death since young. Whatever enmity could have been between us was wiped clean by your unfortunate health. We as siblings have made a solemn vow, that so long as you do not attempt to harm us or the family, we will all leave you and Kasi in peace." Young Master Feng took a deep breath and looked at Suu, wondering what kind of things made life go so wrong in some cases. Even though none of them had really interacted with Suu for more than maybe a handful of hours out of each of their lives, the young girl had though fearful always been kind and helpful to them even when they acted like entitled little brats way back then. Whenever something was blamed on her, she'd never told on them. If they had hurt themselves she'd make sure that they were alright before calling for the maids to carry them away. She'd also given them all gifts of beautiful handkerchiefs for each birthday. Each sibling had a mythological beast, but none had paid attention really until they'd gotten older... She'd put so much love into them and they'd pretended that she didn't exist or that she was a burden. And now as though perhaps given a chance to escape such an environment that had never accepted her, the Heavens had taken her memory of everything.
Perla noticed the complicated emotions that flitted quickly back and forth across Gouzhi's face and was wondering what he felt guilty for. There was nothing that he could do in terms of opposing the Elders' choice, and she couldn't blame him for feeling guilty that his sister was being driven from the family while she was not only sick but had just suffered from brain damage. Truly it was a miracle that any of them had survived she thought to herself, with a family such as this how was anyone supposed to become a functioning adult when the people who made the most important choices were reacting like she was a plague? You don't treat humans like this! And since she had determined that this was real, it had to be somewhere in Ancient Times, like before the wars and such maybe? When the Asian culture was prospering in its reign. Ugh, she didn't really remember a lot to do with world history right at this moment, and couldn't think of which time period she had traveled to.
"There's nothing to feel guilty for... Eldest Brother?" she said the last questioningly before receiving a nod from him and continuing with a bit more confidence, "My mother and I, we will take the generosity offered to us to live well. After all, I'm an adult. There's no reason for caring if we leave this place or not." As she looked at the man, Feng Guozhi, she felt a faint sense of bitterness in her heart and it caused her to rub her chest. After he watched her for a minute or two he decided that his job here was done and that there was no longer a need to intrude here. He said farewell softly and left as quickly as he came.
Perla looked down at her hands, they were so soft even though the skin was a bit dry from dehydration. This body was nothing like her previous one, except the face... she'd looked a bit like this when she had first hit puberty but her features had blossomed with proper care and nutrition. She supposed she could manage to take this strange life that she had been given and turn it into something useful here. She nodded to herself as she made a choice until she found a way home or until she died she would no longer think of herself as Perla... she would be Suu so as to try to better fit in here, in this place she didn't understand, a time not her own. Her mother would return sometime today and would probably be happy to learn of her progress of recovery. Even though that girl Ki wasn't yet here she had to assume that she would be here soon, to avoid the wrath of her own dear mother.
Speak of the Devil and he will appear, Ki entered the room gracefully, carrying a tray of food. Food that once placed near her, she couldn't identify. It smelled like chicken, that had a fragrance unlike any that she had known before! It made her mouth water without a care for her image and her stomach grumble in response. She had no time for shame as she looked at the young woman in front of her who sat down and began to feed her the food in the bowl. She tasted chicken, ginger, and garlic. She couldn't identify the other tastes either, however, it was good. Why had the chicken soup she'd eaten all her life not been as flavorful as this? In her household, the food was simple, without much todo. There were rare occasions where she was feeling fancy after she got older and began to cook herself and added more spices to the meals but it didn't taste like this at all! Maybe things weren't going to be so bad if she could eat such tasty food as this every day...