28 The Shrine of Ceaseless Tears

~DEMURE YU~

The humans did not visit the faery lands freely, but it was not forbidden. With his bloodline, however, Yu did not expect to trespass with impunity. Luckily, the dead leaves, softened by winter's chills, did not rustle under his foot. His breath hung white in the morning air. At the border stones, Yu held it, then let it out again.

There is no turning back.

He took his first tentative step into the faery land.

Nothing. No outraged fairies. No compulsion to leave. No immediate death. Was String-of-Pearls right? Have the faeries stopped their hunt for me and mine? Unlikely.

Yu had no intention of pushing his luck, so he skirted the Hill just along the border.

Wide trails rather than animal tracks weaved around the trees covered in hoarfrost. He saw no footprints but his own in the muddy patches or leftover snow banks. Clear water glistened in the middle of the forest pools trimmed with lace-like ice. The underbrush was cleared away along his path.

Finally, he got to a crossroads where four more trails started from the joining at the foot of a shrine. The holy place was so ancient that Yu did not recognize the Celestial it was dedicated to. He could not read the inscription either because the word-forms were too old to be remembered. Of course, he was not taught many to start with, but he was as certain of the symbol's antiquity as if he were a celebrated scholar. Some knowledge is just born with a man.

Am I more human than I know?

The stillness of the place was soothing. Yu had rarely felt at peace in his life, so why would the domain of his sworn enemies feel so good to him?

Am I less human than I know?

Yu placed his hands on the cold stone, closed his eyes and ran his palms over the script. Despite the age of the shrine, the carved lines were sharp, either spared by time or restored. The place was not deserted, but it was still tended to and alive with meaning. One by one the symbols yielded to him, through a welcome miracle.

"A Fool runs at the first sight of it,

The Wise walks towards Sorrow,

Chases what cannot be outrun."

Yu sighed, and took off in the direction the Celestial image was pointing, between the trails. His non-trail dead-ended in front of an outcrop of cream-coloured stones, turned pink by the sunset.

The rockface extended upward at least five times his height, and at first sight was blank and smooth. However, just above his shoulder, Yu noticed something that might have been a handhold in the times before reckoning. He pondered the imagery.

A rock of grief weighing one's chest perhaps? Worth trying. He grabbed the handhold, pulled himself up, and found another one higher up. He kept on climbing and, before long, cursing.

Clinging on by my fingernails? Is that what it was supposed to represent? Or am I wasting my time?

He reached the top of the outcrop by the time the sunset burned itself out. Dusk was gathering, but the mouth of the cave he found there was darker still. And barely large enough for a grown man to crawl in, so Yu sighed, went on all fours and pushed his body in, inch by painstaking inch.

The scrapes and bruises healed up fast and caused Yu nearly no discomfort. His instinctive revulsion for dark narrow places, however, was not eased by squeezing himself past decomposing rats. The live ones had the decency to scurry out of the way for the time being. Soon, Yu saw a rosy glow at the end of his tunnel.

Ancestors, let there be no more poetry involved in saving Sutao from the Inscrutable Contagion.

With this prayer on his lips, Yu closed his eyes against the blinding light and inched forward some more.

There was an incline, a sharp edge, and then... nothing. He squinted, and part slipped down, part tumbled down into a cavern. Once his eyes finally adjusted, he could see his surroundings.

The source of light was a disk about twice the human height in diameter. It was hard to say if it was reflecting the light or emanating it. A myriad of tiny and very sharp crystals covered every surface in the cave. They sent the light in every direction revealing whimsical mineral formations and carved statuary.

And some more rats.

"There is a ladder cut in the wall beneath the tunnel's exit. It descends right down to the floor," someone told Yu.

Yu yelped in surprise and twisted around wildly to see the speaker. She sat in a meditation pose in one of the darker corners. He took her for a statue at first, a statue of a faery.

"You did not know it. It follows that this is your first time here as well, Demure Yu."

"What's 'here'?" Yu asked. This faery knew who he was, and was not attacking him. He was not going to invite a confrontation.

"It was once called 'The Shrine of Ceaseless Tears'. This light is a portal to the abode of the Mother of Sorrow in the Celestial Realm. Only a Celestial who commands all of the Five Elements can open it."

Yu started to understand why she'd waited for him by the portal. Two beings who have the command of Five Elements between them might just--- "I see."

"No, you don't. At least not all of it." Like all other faeries, she had leaves and blooms growing through her hair. A few buds burst open above her temples as she scoffed at him. It was a pretty sight, but Yu sensed a hint of strain in the faery. Is she working to win my approval? Why?

"I am acolyte Sayewa," the faery introduced herself. "I warded Sutao against the Inscrutable Contagion while you've healed it. We walked the same streets, Yu. You have many enemies in the Temple, but I am not one."

Were he a gentleman, he would have bowed and expressed his delight. But Yu was a beggar, so he blurted out: "And you've waited for me here to tell me that you alone don't mind me much?"

Pine needles poked through the faery's braids, and even a tiny pink pinecone. "Do not be a fool! I've studied the medical scrolls, and I had to go to the times before the Final Interdict to find similar epidemic. I am convinced that the Heart of Contagion is in the possession of the Celestial named Mother of Sorrow, the Mistress of Rats. Hence, I found her Shrine."

Yu glanced around. "There are plenty of rats here. I hope you are correct about the Heart as well."

Acolyte Saeywa scoffed. "You know I am. You can feel it too."

"How did you know I was coming?"

Her four eyes swept from Yu to the Portal, and the tiny blue blooms fell off her eyelashes. So much like teardrops...

"I did not," she said after the flower-fall stopped. "I've tried to open the Portal and failed. Thus I proved to myself that I needed you. I had to regain strength before setting out for Sutao to find you. You spared me crawling through the tunnel. But, apparently, not the explanation."

"If you knew it took the Five Elements to unlock the Portal, why did you try to go through it on your own?"

"I am young and ambitious."

"You are. But that's not all of it."

Another avalanche of petals tried to conceal the bright blush on her amber-coloured cheeks, but her voice remained firm when she confessed: "I have used qi before to heal."

Yu tried to look Sayewa straight in the eye and discovered that he had too few eyes for that. He fixed his stare one her flora-free forehead: "Don't turn back on your creed."

The faery shook her head in a resolute denial, causing the predictable petal storm, "I am not permitted to read the legal records dating back to the Final Interdict, and I do not understand the rules."

Yu waited out the inclement event, and took his turn to bare his soul: "I wish I had a creed, and rules to follow."

The faery looked thoughtful, "You walked the Hill of the Five Seasons unchallenged, did you not?"

Yu nodded.

"This means that the wards did not detect the difference between your blood and mine. We are..." she waved her hand in the air, looking for a word, "not dissimilar."

He had no troubles locking gaze with her now because the faery's eyes challenged him to argue.

"There are reasons why the faeries are forbidden from cultivating qi," Yu assured her. "But if you need a scroll to tell you that, I hope you will find one."

Acolyte Sayewa frowned in a human fashion instead of setting off another floral display. "I will take this under advisement. Now, come with me to the Portal."