Chapter 115 - Making Lunch

Yuzu’s eyes narrowed as she reached out to the box and pulled it out slightly to get a better look at the contents. The box was shallow and about the dimensions of a small book. Inside were a number of rings, an emerald brooch and a brass pocket watch.

These were likely all of the prized possessions of a single family. The rings were not particularly valuable, but were inset with precious stones. The brass pocket watch with a glass face was old but clearly well taken care of. The emerald brooch was the most expensive item in the box, but compared to the other items they were less interesting to Yuzu.

It took a moment for Yuzu to place the reason for her observation that the owner of the items was deceased. It simply looked like a family had come under some hard times and had to sell their possessions out of necessity.

There was one ring with a line of black onyx that ran down the center. It was made of silver with a finely etched geometrical design of angled lines. This was a mourning ring, a piece of jewelry worn to remember a deceased loved one. It was small, clearly made for a woman. The other rings were feminine and likely belonged to the same woman.

“So she was a widow…” Yuzu came to an understanding. This was the woman which her intuition had told her had died, whose family had sold her belongings.

The rings alone were not enough to make the deduction; the other missing piece of the puzzle was the pocket watch. It was polished, with a new glass face that had recently been replaced, but the watch itself was not working. The gear mechanism inside the watch could be seen clearly, and it was obvious that some of the fine parts had broken a long time ago and not been replaced.

After a moment of thought Yuzu pieced the story together. The owner of the rings and brooch had a husband who died many years back. She kept the brass watch as a memento, taking good care of the watch and even repairing the outside to keep it in good condition. However, she did not use it as a timepiece and so the gears inside remained broken. Their family was likely on the lower end of the middle class. She was able to keep the exterior of the watch in good repair, but finding the funds to fix the delicate gears of the watch was beyond their means.

If the widow was still alive, she may have sold the mourning ring or the watch, but not both. Neither items held much monetary value; such sentimental items were the kind that one would take to their grave. However, upon her death, that sentiment was no longer precious. Thus, her surviving family sold every last bit of her belongings to make their ends meet.

With a quiet expression Yuzu picked up the mourning ring and channeled her spirituality into it.

An image of an old woman lying on her death bed bloomed in her mind. The woman’s body was covered in red and black sores. She was dying from Devileyes infection, though she her constitution was weak enough that she passed before the final stage of the parasite took hold.

In the vision Yuzu saw her remove the rings from her fingers. She had the young man beside her take out a pair of silk scarves with gold embroidery and a watch from the dresser beside the bed. She handed them to him and implored him to sell her valuables.

“Get Cindy some help.” The widow coughed, “Don’t worry about me anymore.”

The vision ended, and Yuzu understood.

The silk scarves were not in the box. Perhaps they had kept them as mementos, or perhaps Xiang had declined to accept them as collateral.

Yuzu sighed softly as she scanned her eyes across the room. In a moment she felt the heavy weight of tragedy that burdened the customers of the shop. As a pawn shop owner she was used to hearing sad stories and seeing people who had fallen on hard times. Though on a deep level she was sympathetic, she’d long learned to harden her emotions and bargain with the poor and unfortunate in order to keep the shop profitable.

So as she looked around the room it wasn’t sadness or guilt or pity that she felt towards these people who were suffering, but duty.

As a pawn shop, their family helped people in their times of need. They weren’t benevolent, serving those in need like a charity, but they provided the support that they could while making a living. That frame of mind used to be enough for Yuzu to be comfortable about what they did.

But things have changed, haven’t they? Yuzu’s lips thinned into a mild frown. I can do more.

So much more.

~

Yuzu left the storage room, leaving the door unlocked and slightly ajar just as she had found it. She headed into the kitchen and started filling a pot with water as she opened the trap door to the larder. Climbing down the steep steps, she found a number of vegetables and brought them up to the kitchen.

About ten minutes later she heard Xiang’s footsteps thumping up the stairs, and her door being slammed open.

Several seconds passed before Xiang stomped back down and burst into the kitchen.

“Yuzu! You should be resting!” He said.

“Oh, now you want me to rest?” Yuzu was standing at the counter calmly peeling potatoes. She looked at him with an annoyed expression, “Aren’t you always telling me to work harder?”

“It’s fine, you can rest now.” Xiang said, “You’re-”

He paused as he stopped himself mid sentence.

“I’m what?” Yuzu challenged him, “Sick? Debilitated?”

“Don’t be so loud, there are still customers in the front.” Xiang said, suddenly lowering his voice. “It’s not a good time to be ill right now.”

“Oh, is there a better time?” Yuzu scoffed, then turned to continue chopping, “I’m fine. I feel better than ever. Since there are a lot of customers shouldn’t you be out front?”

“I just came to check on you.” Xiang frowned.

“Well, you checked on me. Now get back to work.” Yuzu said, “I’ll call you when I’ve finished making lunch.”

She felt Xiang’s eyes staring at the back of her head as she continued putting on a tough act. After a moment he left the kitchen and she heard him speaking to the customers again.

When Xiang had left Yuzu let out a sigh as she set down the knife for a moment. This definitely wasn’t her usual behaviour. She wasn’t one to take the initiative like this, and though she knew how to cook she didn’t enjoy it so she rarely made the meals. As for challenging Xiang… well, it did happen on occasion, but only when she was particularly frustrated.

Today, though, Yuzu did these things because she needed to make an impression on her brother. She needed him to stop treating her like a porcelain doll. If she was going to take on the role of the White Maiden, if she was going to help people, then she needed the freedom to do so. Having Xiang checking on her every ten minutes was not going to work out.

~

When Xiang returned some twenty minutes later he found Yuzu leaning against the counter, a book in one hand and a wooden ladle in the other. She was stirring the pot of stew while reading, seemingly completely absorbed in her book.

For Yuzu, who always had a weak constitution, reading was her main hobby. On days that she was feeling well she would read for hours. Seeing her looking so peaceful, Xiang breathed out a soft sigh of relief, feeling that she really had recovered significantly since the scare from the day before.

He stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a while, calmly looking at her. After a moment her eyes flickered towards him and an annoyed look crossed her eyes.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing.” Xiang said.

“Lunch will still be a while.” Yuzu said, stirring the pot and tasting a sip, “How are things in the shop?”

“Steady.” Xiang nodded, “I’m a bit worried… People are only making loans, no one is spending right now. Money might be tight for a bit.”

For a small loan shop, having a lot of business was not necessarily good. In times where many people were in need of financial help, the shop needed to spend a lot of money to set up the loans. The return on their investment would only come later - a month at the earliest for the standard contract. Ideally the customer would return to pay off the loan plus interest and retrieve their valuables. Otherwise, the shop would be short the money and would have to actually sell the item to make back their investment.

In the long run, particularly with Yuzu’s market bargaining skills, the shop took very little risk and nearly always made a good profit. But in the short run they would have to tighten up their spending and be careful about signing too many loans.

“We’ll manage.” Yuzu shrugged, “Want me to take over later so you can have a break for lunch?”

“It’s fine.” Xiang shook his hand in disagreement, “You need to rest. I’ll eat later.”

“Alright.” Yuzu didn’t put up a fuss as she picked her book up from the counter and started reading it again.

When Xiang turned to leave Yuzu stared after him with a small frown. Yuzu had tried impressing on him that she was fine, but he didn’t seem to be listening. She could tell that it was going to be difficult to change Xiang’s mind and get him to relax around her. It wasn’t like she could explain to him why she knew she’d recovered from her weakness. She could only convince him over time, and hopefully her acting would be good enough to sway his mind.

For the time being, though, there wasn’t a rush.

As she took her time to prepare the meal, she felt a tug at her spiritual intuition. She quickly looked towards the door to check the strings. She nodded as she saw that Xiang wouldn’t come back for a while, and turned off the gas stove. She’d had a premonition of this moment not too long ago, and so was already prepared for the interruption.

A number of illusory lights started to blink around her like beacons. Yuzu could feel their energy rippling gently towards her as she rushed lightly up the steps to her room.

Yuzu closed the door sat down on a cushion in the center of the floor. She closed her eyes and as she reached out to the stars she heard the soft illusory prayers coming from them.

“White Maiden, we pray to you for your blessings.” The voices which came from numerous people said.

The loudest voice of them all was also the most familiar. She was leading the group earnestly in prayer. Yuzu reached out to the light that represented Char Char and delicate thread formed between them.

Yuzu felt a tiny trickle of aether flow through the prayer towards her. She licked her lips softly as she reached out towards the dozen other lights, and a dozen other strings materialized.

Her skin began tingling as she felt her body grow lighter. The colours of the room around her started to fade as she used the energy of the prayers to form a connection with the white world. Her hair turned pure white and her clothes faded to grey as she found herself sitting in a white version of her room.

Just like when she had first responded to Char Char’s prayers, Yuzu grabbed hold of the string connecting her and Char Char and flew across it out of her room.

As she rose through the air Yuzu saw that her physical body remained in her room, sitting cross-legged with her eyes shut as if she were deep in meditation. This was the limitation of accessing the shrine from a distance - she couldn’t bring her whole body into the aetheric plane, just her consciousness.

In the blink of an eye she was hovering above the forest plateau. A number of golden threads, most of them flecked with black, were hovering before the small stone shrine. A small line of incense and bowls of peaches were spread out directly in front of the shrine. At the head of the small group was Char Char.

Yuzu calmly surveyed the area, noting that there were a few police officers and other individuals that had come along. She took her time, making herself comfortable and listening to the prayers that were directed toward her.

After a few minutes she nodded and touched Char Char’s thread.

In a quiet, ethereal voice she said softly to her friend,

“I am listening.”