Book 2 Chapter 85

The two of them made it to his grandmother’s cave, and she was quick to make her presence known as the ground shook and that now all too familiar weight fell atop Li Wanyu and his bond.

Willow’s grandmother strode from her home, and both her face and core showed signs of distress. Likely due to the time it had taken him to get back. She then proceeded to immediately begin fussing over her grandson while Li Wanyu was left immobile by her power.

“Are you well, Willow? That stranger didn’t do anything untowards to you, did they?” She took a closer look at her captive, and a frown of recognition marred her face.

“You have the look of the Li clan about you, stranger. Convince me that that isn’t a cause for concern.”

Before he could answer, Willow attempted to diffuse the increasingly tense situation.

“Grandma, please let them go. They’re friends of mine.”

Thea looked into her grandchild’s eyes and placed a hand on his head, sending a quick pulse of qi into Willow’s mind before nodding to herself and dismissing the weight from Li Wanyu, much to his clear relief.

“He hasn’t used a mental technique on you, at least. So I can accept your judgement for now as I make my own.”

She shot the perceived intruder a considering look. “Make sure you don’t make a liar of my grandson now. I’m still hesitant to invite a stranger such as you into my home, but I suppose there’s enough food for the three of us. If you still need to eat, of course?”

Li Wanyu’s complaining stomach answered that question for him, and Grandma Thea cracked a smile at the young man’s clear embarrassment about the noise.

Willow could tell that Bingxin was quite indignant by the treatment she had just received, but thankfully her binder helped soothe her bruised ego. He was fairly confident that his grandmother could keep herself safe if the spirit attempted retribution of some sort, but it was better if things never got to that point.

The group made their way into the cave and Willow was comforted by the scent of tasty food that permeated the main room. The herbs that his grandmother used were a bit different from those of the rest of his family, even his extended one, but they were already familiar to him by now.

Grandma Thea added some of the mushrooms he’d foraged into the bubbling pot after giving them a quick wash and a rough chop. Once they’d fully incorporated into the dish she ladled out a serving for each of them and the three sat around the table and tucked in to the meal.

Willow didn’t have much of an appetite even after a long day of walking through the mountains, and for some reason the taste of the grilled goat meat mixed into the stew made him hear the echoes of screams.

Yet he still woodenly raised his spoon to his mouth repeatedly, and slowly began to empty the bowl in front of him. He knew the food was tasty, but it didn’t bring him the joy it normally did.

And then things became too much for him again. His heart raced and his mind was filled with screaming and burning.

He got up and made excuses as he fled to his room, curling up into a ball and covering himself in his bedcovers. If he blocked out the world then things would be easier to deal with, right?

Willow was vaguely aware of raised voices in the room he’d just left and felt his grandmother’s core flare up in concern and anger. Yet he could barely handle his own emotions right now, so worrying about the feelings of others was not something he dedicated much mental energy to.

Instead he sent his projection to Change’s void and surrounded himself with his friends as he did his best to shut out his surroundings.

***

Li Wanyu watched Willow flee from the dining area with a pit in his stomach. He knew that the child hadn’t been taking things entirely well, and he couldn’t blame them. While conflict was relatively common in the Allied Clan Territories, taking someone’s life could be difficult for adults, let alone a youth like him.

His musings on the matter were cut short by Willow’s understandably irate grandmother. Li Wanyu had not expected the welcome he’d initially gotten, but he braced himself with icy qi as the pressure from before made itself known once more.

“What happened to my grandson?” The older woman asked in a manner that reminded him of his own grandmother.

Li Wanyu thought of many different ways to frame what had happened earlier in the day, but decided to go with the most direct and unvarnished version of events.

“Willow took two lives today due to my negligence, more if you count the spirits they had bound.” He grimaced. “They were not clean deaths as he chose to use fire to do the job.” The grisly aftermath was still fresh in his mind.

Thea’s face visibly paled. “He what!?” She looked towards the direction Willow had run off to, clearly torn between leaving immediately to comfort him and getting more information from someone who was there to witness it.

She seemed to settle on the latter option. “Tell me exactly what happened and why.”

And so he did. He spared no detail in his retelling and even emphasised his own responsibility for the situation. Something that Thea seemed to agree with.

“The weight of taking a life should be borne by those better equipped to bear it. I knew things were done differently in the Li clan’s territory, but I thought this, at least, would be the norm. Clearly I was wrong.” The pressure on Li Wanyu had steadily increased after she’d uttered the word ‘weight’, until he was fully pressed into the table despite fighting against it.

Just as he began to be concerned that he would actually be harmed from the weight it was gone. “I am so terribly torn between wanting to cast you out and swearing you to my grandson’s service.”

Li Wanyu kept his eyes downcast, suspecting that he might wind up trading his freedom away once more.

“Yet he called you a friend. Someone who sold him out to that moonlit crone. Someone who forced him to take multiple lives through inaction. Someone who has made his life indescribably worse.”

She sighed deeply. “He really is just like his mother, trying to befriend someone who brought such harm on him.”

She sent a steely stare his way. “I’ll delay my judgement, but you won’t escape it. Now, I need to go assess the damage you’ve done to my grandchild for myself. Find whatever corner of my abode suits your fancy and stay there. If you choose to run, then I better not catch you.”

Li Wanyu watched her leave with tired eyes, and Bingxin piped up from her internal space.

Don’t like her. Threatens Friend/Warmth.

“She’s simply protecting what’s important to her.”

He got up and began to clean the dishes using water and ice, thinking back to a night filled with drink and talks of family. When he was done he glanced at the entrance to this cavernous home before settling in to sleep, picking the most comfortable corner he could find.

Li Wanyu would not leave until he helped to mend what he’d broken.