I decided on names for all three of us. The man must be important to me based on our observations it was likely that he was my lover and in turn my child's father. We decided to take the name Bai which was carved as the mansions name.
* * *
The man held the baby out to me when I first woke up and I was happy to see that I had a son. I couldn't remember much about anything but I instinctively knew what to do to care for my son. After I got to see my son the man sat next to the bed and we began to discuss the facts.
One thing we realized is that we had no idea who we were, two we seemed to be familiar with each other despite the loss of other information, and three we must be the child's mother and father. While I began to get familiar with the house were we lived I realized it was a mansion. On the outside there was a plaque declaring the place as 'Splendid Bai Mansion'. In the house there were many rooms and one master bedroom on the first floor and a few more master bedrooms upstairs.
I decided that instead of having no names we needed to figure out names. Me and the man talked about names. We decided on Bai as our family name tying us to the only home we knew. I thought he reminded me of a great one so I suggested his name be name be Yi in turn he said Dai Yi suited me instead. He found among the various painting in the place, a sketch book but it was full of names and numbers, so he only glanced at it telling me some of them.
Using the sketch book as help we named name him Kai Ren. As for my son I believed he deserved a name with more of my own mind. I wanted to call him little bun but alas a name should be given. After contemplating on many possibilities we agreed on one. We named him Zhao Ren.
"Dai Yi, my love, my heart," Kai Ren teased me. I loved the name he bestowed on me happy that it was of his choosing. A name is power and it felt like he had just granted me a lot of it. I felt as though we were married but we had no proof to support nor to deny it.
We did feel familiar and for about a year we grew our small family adding many small animals and a garden to the Bai mansion. We never went too far from the mansion as supplies would always magically be available to us. There was a beautiful lake about a half mile from the house that we used as our water supply and between the river the lake fed and the mansion many beautiful pear trees bore delicious fruits. There was one tree that bore peaches and one that bore only one single fruit that never rotted and that we never picked from it's beautiful branches.
My son and I had a bracelet of odd material but it never bothered either of us and it gave me a sense of security so I didn't off take it off. Kai Ren and I also had similar necklaces which we also never bothered to be rid of. There was a small farm that we make fruitful and thus we began a quiet life.
Zhao Ren had began to crawl and soon walked. He was only a year old but he was growing fast. In less than three months he began to run and so as a family we would go out and explore small areas and enjoy the forest of pears. We had replanted the seeds of the peaches and pears and soon the mansion was covered in small saplings.
In the house me and Zhao Ren painted using an old storage we found filled with art supplies. We made many pieces together and we added them to the gallery of already present paintings. I hadn't noticed it before but one day Kai Ren pointed out that most of the paintings all looked like the ones I did. I thought it was just a coincidence and took as a compliment instead.
Kai Ren had a sword and he could practice wielding it while entertaining me and Zhao Ren. My son had white hair similar to Kai Ren and both of them had eyes of multiple colors. They looked like each other but I couldn't help but feel this small sliver of unsure feeling. I had the slightest doubt that Kai Ren couldn't be Zhao Ren's father, they were a great match of each other maybe it was just my traits that seemed to separate the similarities they possessed.
As the days grew longer and Winter came again Zhao Ren grew fascinated with the sword his father wielded and I began to worry about how safe it would be if Kai Ren nurtured Zhao Ren's love for the sword.
One night as I went to bed with Kai Ren after putting Zhao Ren in his own room for the first time. I began to discuss with Kai Ren that our son should be at least half as tall as Kai Ren before he could teach him to sword fight. There was no threat to us and therefore I believed waiting to teach our son to defend could happen later in his life.
Even though Kai Ren was also in no hurry to teach the sword to Zhao Ren, Zhao Ren had been growing very fast. He was only five years old and he already stood higher than Kai Ren's waist. Zhao Ren begged to learn the sword even though he knew nothing of the deal made between me and his father.
On request of Kai Ren, before Zhao Ren could grow any older and learn that we didn't seem to be married, Kai Ren and I had a secret wedding vowing to each other, the gods, and the winds of the six directions that we would love each other in all of our lives, from now until the ends of time, in every life and even in death we would belong to each other.
We carved rings ourselves, mine was made of bamboo and peach wood, and I carved his name into the inside of the ring. The ring Kai Ren made me was pear wood and bamboo inlaid in a thin band of peach wood soaked in the oil of peach blossoms, and he carved a simple heart and wrote our names on the inside. We presented them to each other and placed them on each others hand. About a month after our secret wedding we found out that I was with child. Going into the third trimester I grew tired easily. Zhao Ren had been understanding of why I would be less and less able to play with him but he still held onto his dream of wielding his Father's sword.
"Mother, please tell Father to teach me to wield his sword!" Zhao Ren pleaded with me one day. I hadn't felt very good for a few hours and I tried my best to soothe my ever growing son that soon his Father would teach him but I needed them both to help me with the baby first.
With the coming of the new baby Zhao Ren eased himself into a role of helper, but he secretly used branches as a sword and tried to mimic the moves of Kai Ren. I worried about Zhao Ren feeling replaced so I made him a wooden katana to appease him.
Ecstatic about me hand making him a sword Zhao Ren practiced and gave me a show of his skill so far. I watched as my son gracefully swept his sword through the air in defensive positions. Watching him I was happy and I squeezed Kai Ren's hand. We sat together in my bed admiring our son's mostly self taught skills.
When Zhao Ren finished I clapped and whispered to Kai Ren, "Soon I will be busy with the baby, it is about time he should get to learn from his father now," I smiled at him sad that I would be spending less time with them. They had filled my days and nights with love and I knew we would all spend our time together with the new baby as well.
On the day I was giving birth the sky filled with a strange sight and a strong aura was present. I gave birth to another son and he was strong, he greeted the world with cries like claps of violent thunder. Kai Ren helped me to deliver our child despite me telling him to attend to Zhao Ren.
My second son was beautiful, he had small eyes of an ocean green, he had a small patch of silvery white hair with a few notes of red, and he had a pattern on his small shoulders like wings. He was born with a mark like a feather on the side of his face with the same tones of the mark on my forehead, he too was born with a bracelet on his tiny arm.