"Stay quiet." Said Zi as he led the woman who was wearing a cloak into the refectory of the monastery. Yala looked around the large, dark room as her bare feet touched the cold, stone floor. The walls were a light shade of beige while the floor was charcoal grey. The slim, wooden supports in the room were all a pale shade of fog grey and the wooden benches were all cedar brown.
"Over there!" Zi whispered as he pointed to a large umber colored cauldron that was placed on a small, sturdy wooden table at the front of the room. The pot was surrounded with small metal bowls that were stacked up into a few separate piles, each about a foot high. They approached the table and Zi lifted the lid off of the pot before looking into it.
"There's still some food left from supper," Said the young man as he grabbed the ladle from the pot and scooped up some rice before pouring it into one of the bowls. He then handed the small bowl over to the woman. Yala grasped the bowl with both hands and brought it close to her face as she smelled it's contents. The young man looked around for a moment.
"I'll see if I can find some chopsticks for you-" Zi looked over at the woman and, before he could finish his sentence, Yala had already planted her face directly into the bowl as she began furiously eating the cold rice. The young man just stood there and stared at her, seeming to be very perplexed by her preferred method of consumption.
She probably hasn't had a good meal in days- No! Weeks! She hasn't had a solid meal in possibly weeks. Thought Zi before he sat down at one of the benches near them. Yala sat down next to him as she continued eating barbarically. Once she was finished, she looked up at him, with grains of rice on her face, and released a loud burp.
"Shh!" He shushed her, "Stay quiet or else Father Hakue will catch us!"
"Looks like he already has." Said a familiar voice coming from behind Zi. The young man turned around and saw Hakue standing at the entrance of the refectory, in his pajamas, with a lantern in his hand.
"Father Hakue!" Zi quickly stood up from his seat. He greeted his elder by putting both of his hands in front of him and placing the knuckles of his right fist into the palm of his left hand as he bowed to the man.
"What is going on here?" Asked Hakue as he approached the two of them with the dim light from the flame illuminating his way, "Who is this strange woman?"
"I am terribly sorry, Father. Please, I can explain." He begged.
Once the older man was a few feet away from Zi, the woman leaped in between them. Yala parted her feet to be the same width as her shoulders as she bent her knees slightly to keep her balance. She placed her hands out in front of her and spread her curled fingers wide, revealing inch-long, teal green claws. She narrowed her eyes and began to snarl at him. Her rose pink eyes darkened to raspberry red as she focused on Hakue and flashed her sharp fangs at him. Her purple hair stood up on her head, revealing that those fibers sticking out of her scalp were not actually hair at all. Instead, the fibers formed large, shiny, frilly fins on her head. Tiny, sharp, periwinkle spikes, originating from her spine, began to protrude outward and pierced through the back of her cloak.
"Stay away from him!" Yala hissed while in her fighting stance.
Hakue stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?" He looked at her with a very disapproving expression. He could not look over the woman's head since her fins added nearly a foot and a half to her height. Hakue leaned to the side before he spoke to Zi. "What's going on?" He asked in a bewildered, yet calm tone.
Zi carefully placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, "Yala, please," he begged her, "He's not a threat. He's my father."
Yala relaxed her fins, causing the fibers and spikes to settle down. She retracted her claws back into her fingers but stayed alert in her stance as she kept her eyes on the older man. Hakue placed his lantern on a nearby table and sat down in front of them. That's when Yala left her stance and took a few steps away from him, keeping her eyes on Hakue. Zi took a step closer to him before he spoke.
"Father," the young man began, "This is Yala. I found her outside in the courtyard of the monastery. She was hungry, tired, scared, and alone."
"Listen, my son," Hakue sighed as he looked over at him, "I'm not upset with you. I don't mind if you want to help people that come here. You already know that we monks have been helping travelers for centuries."
"Then why did you seem aggravated with me?" Asked Zi, curiously.
"I am upset with you because you brought a woman into our living space." Hakue rested his elbows on the table as he observed the woman who was standing across the room, far away from the two men, "I don't have a problem with members of the opposite sex, however, this is a male-only environment. The only reason why I am agitated with your actions is because you will get in trouble if the abbot finds out about this. You know the rules of this place. No woman, no matter how holy, how powerful, or how important she may be, is allowed in our living quarters."
"But Father," Zi frowned, "How else was I supposed to help her?"
"Well," Hakue looked over at him, "Instead of bringing her here, where all the monks eat, you should've brought her into the temple, where everyone is allowed, and served her food there."
"Oh…" Zi looked down, "I guess I should've thought about that." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Listen," Hakue sighed as he stood up, still facing the young man, "I know you were just trying to help someone in need. However, you must think about the consequences of your actions. The Buddha emphasized the importance of one's intentions over their actions, but our abbot is very old-fashioned and we must follow his rules."
"I understand, Father." Zi nodded.
"On the brightside," Hakue placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, "As long as you didn't bring anything malicious into our monastery, then everything should be alright." He smiled.
Zi looked up at him and reciprocated, "I guess you're right, Father."
The two men then looked across the room where Yala was still standing. She had her arms crossed as she carefully observed Hakue in case he might attack.
"Yala," said Zi, calmly, "He won't hurt you. Come sit with us."
The woman shook her head.
"It is alright," said Hakue as he sat back down, "I understand that you are scared, Yala. But you do not have to be afraid of me."
Yala cautiously took a few steps forward before she sat down at a table in front of the two men.
Zi sat down next to his father, "Yala also told me that she needs our help with something."
"Oh?" Said Hakue as he glanced over at Zi before looking back at the woman, "Is that so?"
"Yes," Yala nodded, "Many years ago, I had a baby girl, she was my niece. But one day," she paused for a moment as she looked down at her hands, resting on her lap, as she grabbed onto her cloak, "They took her."
"They?" Hakue raised an eyebrow.
"Humans," said Yala, "Humans here. They took my baby niece."
"Here?" Asked Zi, pointing to the ground in shock, "In Ki-Xiang village?"