294 RTYY 293 - Meeting Again

Snow grumbled in annoyance as he made his way to the common hall.

That stupid ZaiWin! He knew that something had to be wrong with that white jar he'd bought! Wine! It was filled with wine! Granted it was peach wine, and it was actually very sweet and not bad at all. But Snow could hardly spend an entire day drinking wine, no matter what it was made of!

That idiot! Was he trying to get him drunk? Always treating him like a kid, calling him a brat right and left, and then wanting him to have nothing else to drink for an entire day but wine!

Making sure his scarf covered every little strand of silver hair, Snow walked to the wooden counter and timidly waited until the young woman standing behind it took notice of his presence.

Unlike what had happened when they'd arrived the previous day, now there were other costumers in the room, sitting at the tables, having their midday meal. Thankfully none had even glanced up to see who had walked in.

"Oh! How can I be of service, young master?" the woman suddenly asked him, and Snow looked up at her confused, dark-brown eyes. She looked like she was trying to figure out who he was and where he'd come from.

"Hmm, I'd like a jar of fresh water, please," Snow replied, placing a coin on the counter as ZaiWin had instructed him to do, and the young woman's complicated expression immediately melted into a huge smile.

"But of course, young master! Just one moment!" she immediately replied, quickly scooping the coin away, before she rushed out through the door in the back.

That idiot hadn't even apologized!, Snow went on, back to his annoyed mental grumble. He had just laughed on his face, when Snow had practically choked on the thing! Of course he had choked! It wasn't as if he had never drunk wine before! But he had never expected it to be so strong. The least ZaiWin could have done was to get his butt out of bed and come and fetch him some water! But no! He didn't want to go through the trouble of having to get dressed, he'd said. Please, just get dressed!, you idiotic man!, Snow had wanted to shout to his face. Anyway, what was he doing, walking around the room bare-chested like that? First he wouldn't take off his clothes in front of him even if his life depended on it. Now he refused to put them on! He was constantly swinging from one extreme to the other! It really, really irked him!

"Snow …?" a small voice asked, sounding doubtful, and he was immediately frozen in place, all his angry thoughts swept from his mind. Fear coiled around his chest as he slowly turned back. Big, black eyes were looking up at him, wide with disbelief, and then a huge smile took over the little girl's doll-like face. "It is you!"

Snow blinked, instinctively taking a small step back.

"RimJan …"

RimJan nodded eagerly, that bright smile still on her face.

"You remember me."

Of course he did. How could he forget her? Or her pair of beautiful dark-blue wings?

RimJan's smile faded away into an expression of deep concern.

"Were you all right? We were really worried about you. When we were finally able to go and meet you, you were nowhere to be found. And … and the holy man was … dead," she said hesitantly.

"Holy man …?"

RimJan nodded.

"Didn't you meet with him? The old man that lived in that cavern."

Snow's eyes widened in recognition.

"He was supposed to help you break your bond. Didn't you meet him?"

Ah, so the old man was dead, Snow thought bleakly. Now that he thought about that, of course he was. ZaiWin would have never allowed him alive. Not when he had seen Snow and knew what he is. He couldn't help feeling guilty about his death. It wasn't as if the old man had done anything wrong. He had clearly explained to him the risks of what he was about to do. And Snow had chosen to freely accept them.

"I'm … sorry …" he mumbled, and the little girl stared up at him for a moment, her eyes looking like dark pools capable of seeing inside his head. After an uncomfortable moment, she ended up smiling again.

"It's okay. As long as you're safe. We were really worried about you," she repeated and Snow nodded.

"I'm sorry about that as well. It was never my intention to just disappear like that."

RimJan gave him a cute smile and took a step forward, holding his hand. She felt strangely cold, Snow thought, gazing down at her small fingers. And that was saying something, coming from someone whose body temperature was naturally lower than normal.

"We have been looking for you. Xin was really angry when he found out that you had probably been taken away. But I knew we would see each other again, and that we would find you here," she declared, sounding proud of herself, and Snow glanced towards the open door.

"Is RyuXin here as well?"

RimJan nodded.

"Together with four of our older siblings," she replied with a bright smile on her beautiful face. "We all came to look for you. Come. I'll take you to them," she said, pulling him towards the door, but Snow's feet remained glued to the floor.

"I … I can't."

RimJan looked up at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Why? Don't you want to meet them?"

"I … " Snow hesitated, his gaze instinctively going to the door leading to the bedrooms.

"I thought you wanted to talk to us. We have so many things to tell you! Even this city. Did you know this is actually your home-town?"

Snow's eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

"What?!"

RimJan tilted her nose up proudly.

"This is where you were born. Don't you remember?"

Snow stepped back, slipping his hand away from hers.

"How … how am I supposed to remember something like that …?" He frowned.

RimJan tilted her head to one side, looking confused.

"Because you're a Celestial …? We always remember everything. From the moment we come into being. I can even remember what it was like, inside my mother's belly. Don't you remember?"

Snow shook his head in bewilderment.

RimJan looked even more confused.

"Well, it doesn't matter," she finally decided, that cute smile back to her lips. "We can tell you all about it. We can even take you to see your home. It's on the other side of town," she happily declared and Snow glanced towards the open door leading outside.

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Hmm, here comes trouble again 😔

On another subject. Damn. Don't know what happened. Somehow this chapter wasn't published and went straight to the drafts' folder. And here I was, checking for your comments, thinking that you were all strangely quiet lol. When in fact you just didn't have anything new to comment about 😔 Only noticed that the chapter wasn't there when I went to check which number was next 😑 Oh well ... On that account, today is double update 😁 So sorry for living you hanging. But this time it wasn't my fault 😅 Anyways, hope you guys enjoy it 🥰