Discovery

"Milord, Master and Third Master are back." A servant announced. Kousei was in the living room discussing matter with the patriarch of the clan, and some of the older generations clan members.

The news of his son's returned excite him and make him nervous. Though it was more inclined towards the latter. He was confidence of his son's ability but he couldn't be to be anxious.

What if something had gone wrong? What if the rumors regarding the growth of the fruit was a hoax? There were so many what if's going on in his mind.

His grip on his teacup was shaky, trembling even. Kobaru sighed. He nodded towards the servant boy, telling him to move along. They hurried towards where Asuna currently resting was; the garden, having her afternoon tea. The other clan members also followed along as they couldn't contained their excitement, they invited themselves and sat down. Seeing so, Asuna couldn't helped but to chuckle. When they heard her laughter, they themselves let out an awkward laugh. Firm footsteps could be heard growing louder and nearer towards the garden, until figures emerged from the doorway.

Kei revealed a startled face and a laugh afterwards as he gazed at the much unneeded crowd. They strode towards the gazebo with a little old man in tow.

"Greetings, everyone." Kanneki greeted not before he let out a playful laugh. The little old smile and nodded his head while Kei hurried towards his mother.

"Good, now what's next? Where is the fruit?" Kousei who had been impatient, asked. His eyes scanned Kei in anticipation.

"You're that confidence that we get to obtain it?" Kei shook his head and smiled wryly. He took out a Jade bottle that contained a translucent liquids and passed it to Asuna.

"Take every little sips until it's finish. Once a day." Muqing, the little old man said.

"Good, good, it will work right?"

"It should, let's see after a few weeks. Steady your spiritual energy before the intake, and mediate for awhile after."

"En, I'll do it exactly as you say."

She smiles, genuinely happy and then diverted her gaze to her sons. "Kei, Kousei, thank you." Her eyes turned misty and she sniffles her sobs. She wiped her tears away and composed herself. They gathered together, having teas and snacks. One by one, every members of their families joined them. Now almost the entire members were present, except the children and teens. Obviously this were a grown up gathering.

As they talked, Kousei suddenly remembered about something.

"What happened in between when you were searching for the fruit?"

aWhen the question flowed out of his mouth, he noticed the change in expression of both of his sons. Their faces turned serious and there were helplessness in their eyes. His couldn't help but be confused. He shift on his seat nervously. It shouldn't be something big right? But aren't they looking fine? There were what's and why's inside his mind.

"What is it? Talk." Kobaru firm voice sounded within the garden. His brows furrowed.

"If there's something you need to say, then speak."

Kei sighed. His hand moved to his face as wiped the imaginary sweats on his forehead. Kanneki directly slumped on the table.

Their journey had taken a toll on them – mentally. It had a week since, they had been rushing on their journey back with a pressured mind, riding on their beast with full forces. It had been hard on their buddies, charging ahead nonstop. When they were near the kingdom did they slowed down a bit. They had almost completely forgotten about the occurred events that had happened as their minds were preoccupied by the thoughts of hurrying back home as soon as possible. Now that their father had asked, how should they explained this?

"Something did happened." Kei started.

"Everything was fine at first, well except for some pestering creature." Kanneki continued. They ignored Kanneki's remark and urged for Kei to continue.

"Indeed, something happened and it caught me by surprised. It was something I've never once imagine would ever happen."

Their attention change to Muqing, their confusion and curiosity grew.

"The Golden Jade Fruit Tree, the fruit that we were searching for, was growing on top of a Soul Fluid Lake."

"What's a Soul Fluid Lake?"

"I've told you that the fruit is a treasure right? Then the Soul Fluid is even more heavenly. Though I'm not entirely knowledgeable about the full extent of its ability, what I can tell you is it's useful in nurture a tired soul, or someone who have the same problems as Asuna, it can be consume directly, unlike the fruit, it need to be refined into pills. " Muqing reached for his pouch and brought out a small version of the Jade bottle with the same translucent fluids in it. He put it on the table as he pulled the bottle opened. When it was opened, a soothing fragrance wafted in the air. After taking a whiff of the essences, their soul was nourished and their spiritual energy stirred.

"This is the extra bottle of the fluids that I gave Asuna. In fact, this is not the fruit I've been talking about at all. I didn't manage to get my hands on the fruit but with this Soul fluids, the effects will be even better."

"Really?" Kousei doubtfully asked. He eyed Asuna, which the latter laugh while nodding her head in understanding. Kobaru was not convinced like the rest of the clansmen, he thoughtfully eyed Kei and Kanneki.

"There's more to it right?"

Else why would they revealed such a serious expression? They managed to obtained an even greater treasure that'd would help their mother, shouldn't they be rejoicing too? He noticed it the moment they sat, there were undoubtedly a joyful and relieves in their eyes. But if all that happened was just that, they wouldn't be showing such expressions.

Hearing the certainty in his grandfather's voice, his also expression turned serious. He spoke, "The fruit tree was giving out a natural light glow as it bathed in the moonlight. As the moon reached it brightest, we saw the glow growing brighter, we all thought that the fruit was going to ripen soon but the glows turned a shade brighter that it was almost blinding. Then we saw the fruit tree was hovering in mid air as its glow turned into a subtle low glow."

"I knew at that moment something was wrong, so I went ahead when everyone was still in their stupor and reached for fruit. But I was still a little step too late. Everything was slowly disappearing so I could only manage to get the Soul Fluid in a moment of panic. But who knew it was a blessing in disguised." Muqing spoke.

"By the time we realized something was amiss, it was already too late. We dashed towards the tree but then the ground started to shook. And we were pulled underground. It was made of crystallic ice, forming a cave, or more precisely, an ice tomb." Kanneki continued. They took turned in narrating what happened on their entire journey.

"What happened next?"

"We were trapped so we chose to venture inside the tomb."

Kei stood up from his seat and motion for the others to follow him. As they walked he began to continue his talk.

"We ventured inside, whilst searching for the exit. Then, out of nowhere, Guardian Spirits appeared before us, it didn't speak but somehow we understood what they meant to say. We were let to a spacious room, it was the burial chamber. Inside, placed an ice casket."

Kei guided them to their ancestral hall. There in the middle of the hall, laid a crystallic casket made of ice, decorated in sculptured ice flowers. It shone under the sunlight, giving off a blue glow. There was a drop of silent before roars erupted.

"You brought it back?!"

"We shouldn't have disturbed someone's eternal slumber!!"

"This is disrespectful. Oh dear God, explained yourself."

Kei walked towards the ice casket and faced his clansmen. "We didn't intended to at first. But we didn't understand why the Guardian Spirits insisted us to bring it away. We chose to obey in the end, as they pleads us."

"Come." Muqing said.

Kousei and Kobaru together with everyone walked up towards the casket and peered down. But what they saw made them let out a sharp gasped. It was not an ice casket but a frozen ice sculpted itself; and inside was a child!! A small child!!

"Oh dear, it's a child! How is this possible!"

The child barely grows any hair yet!! Even if it was a normal casket, and the child was buried deep in the tomb, they felt a slight compassion. And even more this was an ice sculpture! With the child in it!

"There is a wisp of energy emitted from the ice. The child is still alive!" Asuna gasped. She touched the ice sculpture as if she was trying to caress the child, oh in fact she was. She had a soft spot for little children. Her fingers were numb the moment it make contact with the ice sculpture–almost frozen. Even she, an adult was paralyzed by the touched, how could a child possibly endured it?!

"Oh dear God! I can feel it! The child! It was as if the child is calling out to me!"

Women gasped, they pushed their men away from the circles as they hovered over the child. They touched, they caress, they let out a cry. It was frozen solid, they couldn't believed someone was cruel enough to sealed a child like this.

The men could only smiled wryly as they watched from the side. Their women were delicate most of the times but sometimes they were quite scary if provoked.

"Now what do we do about the child?"

"The child was clearly still alive. Did the Guardian Spirits inform you of anything?"

"No, they were leaving in a hurry. It was as if they were running from something."

"Why should we do then?"

The women somehow, amidst the chaos heard the question. They whipped their head fast that their husband were afraid it would strained.

"I say, husband. We keep the child."