Chapter 129 - Lingering Perfume

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Ao Wen. If pressed, she could recall returning to her courtyard and having breakfast with Feng Xi followed by several hours creating lists of supplies and other things they would need to prepare for their trip. The detailed planning helped to keep her mind off the events of the morning and gave both women a better idea of what they might be able to do for the next few months if they wintered in one of the other nearby towns. Feng Xi didn't broach the idea of returning to Turning Leaf town before setting out for a greater journey but she hoped that after a few months away, Ao Wen would be receptive to the idea. 

That night, as the two lay tightly curled around each other in bed, Ao Wen fell into a strange dreamlike state. She found herself on an opulent bed draped in a richly embroidered midnight blue bedspread patterned with clouds and phoenix feathers. Gossamer azure curtains ringed the bead giving the room beyond a hazy and ethereal feeling. Ao Wen herself wore a fine silk sleeping robe in rich crimson with embroidery of gold. 

More shocking than the strange room, however, was the presence of another woman on her bed, wrapped in a seductively short black robe that displayed a deep valley of impressive cleavage and clung to every supple curve of the woman who radiated desire from every pore. 

"Senior Sister Qi Yue?" Ao Wen asked in surprise. This place didn't actually feel like a dream. It felt more like the garden where she'd met with Immortal Empress Mei Lien, but… Qi Yue wasn't one of her previous lives! How could she be here?

"Senior Sister?" Qi Yue purred, a warm and amused smile gracing her lush red lips. "My my, how many years has it been since you've called me such? Don't answer that," she teased. "Instead, help me understand who you are right now. You feel very young to have reached me. What's your name in this life, my love?" 

"My love?" Ao Wen asked, caught on the form of address. 

"Names first, my treasured flame," Qi Yue murmured with a sultry smile. "We have time to go slowly, you don't need to rush," she added with a wink.

Ao Wen took a deep breath, finding that Qi Yue rattled her even more than she had before. Was it because this time it was really her? Or was it because Qi Yue herself had become better at it? "In this life, I'm called Ao Wen," she finally managed. "So, I guess we…?"

"Mmm," Qi Yue answered, sliding herself closer to Ao Wen on the large bed and laying her head on the pillow centimeters away from Ao Wen. "I am, have always been, and will always be, your eternal love and your first wife. We've been through quite a bit together, you and I," she said with a dreamy expression as she considered the many faces her lover had worn over the years. Many faces, but always her. "Being apart in times like this is the hardest. I always worry about how vulnerable you are and that something horrible will happen to you before I find you," she said, trailing to a whisper at the end. 

"Haven't you found me now?" Ao Wen asked, confused about how she was talking to Qi Yue right now at all. That they had married… given what Ao Wen knew of her and the direction their relationship had been moving when she left, she wasn't too surprised and, if she was honest with her own heart, it was a pleasant surprise. She liked Qi Yue even if she didn't know yet if she loved her the way she loved Feng Xi… maybe one day she would. Those thoughts, however, she pushed away to focus on things that felt more immediate. 

"No,I haven't found you," Qi Yue said with a sad shake of her head. "The me that you're talking to now is a wisp of soul essence tucked into the Crown of the Myriad Paths Immortal Empress. I'm more like the lingering fragrance left in the room after my true self departs. I refresh this wisp of soul every time you invoke the power of the crown for your rebirth so you don't have to face everything without me. The Crown wakes me if it senses that… things are harder on you than they should be. Tell me, how old are you now and how long have you spent away from your current self? Who else have you been?"

"I'm a year older now than Little Yu was when we met," Ao Wen said with a smile. Even if it was just a wisp of a soul, it was more than real enough. She hadn't realized until this moment just how much she missed her time snuggled up with her alluring Senior Sister, gossiping in bed until the sun started to rise, teasing each other, even just being present together while they both studied for exams was a feeling she sorely missed. 

"I've been Jun Biyu," Ao Wen continued. "Only for three months. It was right after I awakened," she paused. "I suppose it's normal that I have a chat with my immediately previous self when I awaken? I spoke with Mei Lien and she recommended I learn a saber art to protect myself," she explained. "When I was Jun Biyu, it felt like it wasn't long after she awakened. I was out in the desert with seven other young cultivators learning the saber from Instructor Xie."

"You've picked up the Obsidian Night Scorpian Saber Art then," Qi Yue said with a smile. "You'll get yourself into all sorts of trouble with that one. It should pair well with your affinity for Earth in this life as well. Have you touched on that beyond the saber art?" 

"Oh, you don't know!" Ao Wen said, reaching out to pinch Qi Yue's nose and grinning. "I'm different this time. I'm not human," she said with a grin. "We're called Spirit Folk, and we carry the bloodlines of Ancestral Spirits. I inherited both my father's Earth Dragon bloodline and my mother's Vermillion Bird bloodline," she said proudly. 

"Vermillion bird?" Qi Yue said, slightly startled before putting on a secretive smile of her own. "I know someone who will be very happy to know that but I won't tell you who. Who else have you been?"

Ao Wen almost asked if it was the Phoenix that had gifted her the flames but seeing the look on Qi Yue's face she knew she wouldn't manage to get details out of her so she pouted and didn't ask. "After Jun Biyu, I spent almost three years as Cong Daiyu, from the last days in the orphanage until the battle with Song Yufeng in the Mao kingdom. You owe me something for that one, by the way. He still had a terrible thirst for you," she teased, falling back into familiar patterns with Qi Yue the more she spoke to her. 

"Three years," Qi Yue breathed, eyes wide in shock. "You spent three years and you're only sixteen? How long between your time as Jun Biyu and your time as Little Yu?"

"Six or seven days I think," Ao Wen replied honestly. It felt like long enough ago that she'd begun to lose track of the days. "I went hunting with, with…" she trailed off, trying to figure out how she was supposed to explain Feng Xi to Qi Yue if Qi Yue had become her wife! 

"You don't have to say it," Qi Yue purred with a smile. "Your eyes give you away every time my heart. You went hunting with your… girlfriend? Lover? Have you already managed to arrange a marriage at sixteen?" 

"Girlfriend!" Ao Wen cried out, ears burning with embarrassment. "I confessed to Feng Xi right after living as Jun Biyu," she mumbled, looking down at the bed spread sheepishly. "I was afraid that I'd get lost in everything and that she would think that it wasn't 'Ao Wen' who loved her but…"

"I understand. So you were hunting with your lover and?" Qi Yue prodded with a teasing smile. 

"And a friend, Tang Jin, we've kind of adopted him as a little brother," Ao Wen said, resuming her story. "But he was injured, haunted by the remnant energy of a spirit beast that has a similar bloodline to his own. I didn't know at the time what it was or how to help him. He wouldn't wake up, but I knew I'd been given 'Alchemy' as one of my words in this life so…" 

"Oh my poor little ember," Qi Yue said, reaching out gently and stroking Ao Wen's cheek. "No wonder your soul is cracking."