Yingyue closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, deciding on the spot that nothing smelt better than meat roasting over an open fire.
"A-Ling"she called"you can come over now".
She was rubbing her hands together in anticipation when Ling joined them in front of the tent.
"What a wimp"Haoran sneered"you can't even handle the simple chore of skinning animals".
"Don't be like that,"Chao chided "A-Ling did most of the hunting, remember".
"Nobody said he didn't".
Yingyue looked at Ling in concern. As Chao said, he had indeed done most of the hunting. However,as soon as they began to cut up and skin the meat, Ling had developed a noticeable pallor, as if he was going to be sick, and his palms had gone clammy with sweat. So, despite Haoran's disapproval, Chao and Yingyue had convinced him to sit that one out.
"You should go first, A-Ling"Yingyue said.
"Me?"he looked up, surprised.
"No your shadow, idiot"Haoran mumbled, earning himself a poke in the ribs from Chao.
"No need"Ling declined"thanks, A-Yue".
"Sure. Then I'll just pick for you".
She grabbed the largest chunk she could find and shoved it into his hand.
"Here. You should eat well so you don't collapse again. Frail children need enough food, don't you know?".
Ling stared at her, the "I'm not hungry" he had wanted to say dying in his throat.
That warm feeling was back again. So warm he suddenly realized just how cold he had been feeling.
It felt like standing in the sunlight.
*
*
*
Yingyue woke up with a start. The atmosphere sure had gotten surprisingly cold after dusk.
She looked around, at the other camp beds in the tent.
Then her heart skipped a beat. Ling's bed was empty. Immediately, Yingyue scrambled to her feet and hurried out of the tent as fast as she could, only to see her friend seated right outside the tent, his back to her,a blanket around his shoulders, staring up at the moon.
Yingyue thought she might faint with relief.
"A-Ling, what are you doing out here?".
Ling turned to look at her.
"A-Yue?Why aren't you asleep?".
"Right back at you. Are you trying to catch your death out here?".
"I'm fine".
Yingyue sat down beside him and looked at the moon.
"Is the silver lady up there somehow more beautiful today?"she joked.
"She's always beautiful"Ling played along.
"Am I permitted to get envious?".
"You're beautiful too".
"Of course I know that. Did you take me seriously?".
"No. A-Yue is incapable of envy".
"Really? How can you tell?"she asked eagerly.
"I know what envy looks like".
"You've encountered an envious person before,then?".
"I guess you can put it that way".
"Is that how you got this scar?".
Ling followed her line of sight to his exposed lower arm. He did not reply as he rolled down his sleeve to hide it once more.
"Who did that to you?"Yingyue persisted.
"It's no big deal. Just a souvenir from training at home".
Yingyue,who had never been allowed to even hold a sword before she arrived at the Mist Oasis, could only imagine the nature of this training.
"It must have hurt"she said quietly.
"I've had worse"Ling shrugged.
"Is that why you won't hold a sword, no matter what?".
"No. Not at all. I don't fear my own injuries, A-Yue".
Yingyue heard the concluding note in his voice. She knew he wanted the conversation to end immediately, so she swallowed her other questions and took his hand instead.
They sat in companionable silence, watching the beautiful lady in silver together.
Meilian raged silently as she returned to the camp. She had pursued the beast as far as the edge of the forest, relentlessly firing arrow after arrow and sending her sword whenever she could, only to suddenly lose sight of it in a most unexplainable way.
Had it disappeared into thin air or something?
It was there, and suddenly it wasn't, like some sort of illusion.
Now she was returning from her fruitless venture, with a painful gash on the knee for all her trouble.
What do I do, she wondered.
There wasn't supposed to be a beast here. And she was the supervisor. If any of the juniors ran into it later and got harmed, the Pan sect would count it as her failure and consequently deem her unreliable.
Meilian wouldn't be able to take that. She was the least talented member of the A-list, and unlike those three geniuses who never had to try, she had worked herself nearly to death just to maintain her place in that group.
The Pan sect rules dictated that a supervisor could ask for help if they encountered an overwhelming situation, but Meilian was not going to do that.
She had to resolve this on her own,or she would never be able to face the Guangchang clan again.
As she walked towards her tent, something made her look left. And she saw her younger brother, sitting hand in hand with Meng Yingyue and gazing at the moon.
Meilian paused and watched him for a moment, several emotions churning in her chest. Then her eyes narrowed to slits and she turned away.
He was yet another one of them, another existence that would not stop reminding her of all she was: utterly imperfect.
*
*
*
A stunned silence followed Meilian's announcement. She carefully observed the faces of the juniors.
She could tell what they were thinking. Why was there a monster here? Most of these children had never seen any nonhuman creatures before, much less hunted any,as they were more or less still fresh from their parents' embrace.
And this event was supposed to be a hundred percent safe, taking that into account.
"There is no need to panic"she added"as long as you don't leave the camp, you should be safe. I'm going to find it in no time, so you have nothing to worry about".
Without waiting for further reaction from them, the successor of the Guangchang clan was off on her venture.
"This is bad"Yingyue grumbled as she and her teammates returned to their tent"I wanted to explore".
"I'm sure there'll still be enough time for that after the danger passes"Chao replied.
"No one said you had to comfort her"Haoran rolled his eyes.
"No one said you had to act like a jealous child"Yingyue stuck out her tongue.
"Who are you calling jealous?!".
"Now now, you two..."Chao was once again forced to act as peacemaker.
Suddenly Yingyue asked.
"Where's A-Ling?".
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?"Haoran retorted.
"He left at dawn, told me he was taking a walk. Is it just me, or is he taking too long?".
"A-Ling is frail, isn't he?"Chao said"he can't possibly keep walking from dawn till noon, can he?".
"Do you think he might have gotten lost?"she asked.
"Lost?"Haoran snorted"your beloved friend is probably just spacing out somewhere".
"Or he could have run into trouble,"she replied"like, a large, beastly, doglike kind of trouble".
That instantly ruined the jocular atmosphere.
"Oh no"Chao muttered.
"What's the 'oh no' for?"Haoran asked.
"This is bad. If A-Ling runs into that thing alone...".
"I'm going"Yingyue grabbed her sword and stood up.
"I'm coming with you"Chao said.
"No, you're not"Haoran replied.
"Yes, I am. You don't get to decide that for me. You can stay back if you want".
"What if you do run into it?".
"That's why I'm going".
"You...".
"A-Yue, let's go".
The two of them left dear Mr Haoran behind and headed out without delay. But they had not even gone further than three steps when he joined them.
"Fine"he grumbled"I'll go with you to find him".
"Really? Thank you, A-Han"Chao said brightly.
Haoran looked at the boy, beaming as if he had been done a very great favor, and looked away.
"Of course I'm coming, how can I not?"he mumbled to himself"you'll send yourself to an early death if I'm not by your side".
"Hm? What did you say, A-Han?".
"Nothing".
They walked in silence, out of the camp and through the forest.
*
*
*
Ling had lost his bearings.
Which was pretty bad, because he had planned to return to the camp as soon as possible. He did not really mind wandering as he tried to find his way, but he knew enough about Yingyue to know that she was already worried.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up, and he stopped in his tracks.
Ling knew that feeling: he was being watched.
He could always tell, precisely because he did not like being watched.
But this was not simply a matter of his social issues. It could easily be anything in those bushes, including that creature from yesterday.
Ling turned, simultaneously releasing an arrow. The arrow was already about to hit its mark when the bushes parted to reveal none other than Pan Chao,who really might have met his death if he had not lifted his already unsheathed sword and sliced the arrow.
"Oh,"Ling said blandly, lowering his bow"it's you".
Chao was pleasantly surprised.
"A-Ling, it's you".
"What are you doing here?".
"We've been looking for you".
Ling's face was the very picture of surprise.
"Huh?Why would you guys...".
"You were gone for so long".
Ling blinked.
Well, that was true. But how does it answer his question?
"Why are you alone,then?"he asked.
"We went separate ways, so we could find you faster".
"You went off on your own,"Ling raised an eyebrow"Pan Haoran let you?".
"Huh? Well, he did make a bit of a fuss, but it's not like he can actually tie me up and throw me over his shoulder or anything, so. Anyway, let's head back".
He took Ling's hand and they began their walk. Ling endured it for a while, but eventually he just had to slip his hand gently out of Chao's hold. Gestures like handholding were a little more intimate than he was comfortable with.
Chao did not ask any questions. He just looked back to make sure Ling was following, and walked on.
They walked in silence for so long that both of them could not help but notice that something was off.
"A-Ling,is it just me or are we walking in circles?".
"We definitely are"Ling replied, placing his hand on the trunk of a banyan tree"we've passed this tree before".
"That's strange. We might have just arrived, but I'm certain I know this forest enough not to lose my way to this extent".
"It's possible...if we've wandered into a befuddling array of some sort. Which we evidently have".
Panic crept up Chao's spine.
"This is bad".
"It could get worse"Ling replied.
And it did. The area of land they were standing on suddenly chose that moment to break and cave in, taking the two boys down with it.