The Fairy Emperor was a strange person. He kept to his word, and neither helped nor hindered her survival efforts. She didn’t see him after that initial meeting until many years later, having almost forgotten about him by then.

Her next meeting with the Emperor was when she’d gotten deathly ill during a particularly harsh winter. She could not sing for well over a week, because her coughing and sore throat would not allow for it.

Seeing as the agreement allowed for missed singing during illness, Mei Hua had not worried much about her suddenly stopping (also, she was too sick to care). So she was very surprised when the Emperor himself came to check on her.

When she’d first seen him, she couldn’t look directly at him because he’d disappear. But the second time, she could see him very clearly. Rather than a huge, carnivorous beast, he came looking like a young stag. His fur was a dark, dusty blue but his eyes glowed bright gold. If she’d been in better condition, she’d have been a little scared at the surreal appearance.

Ye had been astonished at his arrival.

“Why are you here?” Ye emphasized the ‘you’ somewhat rudely.

“She did not sing, so I came.”

“You agreed that if she got sick, she wasn’t required to sing.”

“I did.”

“…so why ARE you here?” This time Ye was puzzled.

“She did not sing, so I came.” The Emperor repeated, as if this answered anything.

Seeing that the Fairy Emperor was going to be obtuse, whether intentionally or not, Ye gave up that line of questioning.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you make yourself useful and heal her?”

The Emperor eyed the fairy, disliking his disrespectful attitude.

“Why should I do any such thing?”

Ye thought for a moment.

“If you do, I’ll be respectful for a day.”

“A full earth rotation.”

“A week.”

“Six full moons.”

“How about a month and I don’t act even more vicious after the time is up?”

The Fairy Emperor eyed Ye wearily.

“Agreed.”

The Emperor than turned to the sickly, coughing girl and breathed on her. A golden mist surrounded her body, sank into it, and instantly the coughing stopped. Her fever broke and her face turned to a normal color.

Mei Hua had been vaguely aware of their conversation.

“Thank you.” She said earnestly, looking into the Stag’s golden eyes.

The Emperor’s ear twitched, as if surprised.

Exhausted from a week of coughing, she quickly slipped into a slumber.

After observing her for a bit, the Stag turned to Ye, reminding him, “She must sing starting tomorrow.”

“Yes, Lord.” Ye replied in his most polite voice, without a hint of sarcasm.

The Stag Emperor stared at Ye before saying with some amusement, “Visit more often, this next ‘month’. I desire conversation with you.”

Ye’s whole face stiffened and then relaxed into a pleasant expression.

“My Lord speaks, this servant obeys.”

The Stag nodded and then turned and left.

When the Emperor was gone, Ye stomped his feet in a fury to vent his frustration. After exhausting himself, he hopped onto his MeiMei’s bed and laid a little hand on her cheek.

“He doesn’t deserve it, but for you I’ll do anything.” He whispered before snuggling close and falling asleep too.

After this, Mei Hua would occasionally catch glimpses of the Emperor, always in his Stag form. Sometimes he was a young Stag, running through the forest to unknown places, sometimes he was very old and wise looking, gazing down at her when she played her pipa lute and sang. But he never came too close, so she never got a good look at him.

One day, Mei Hua was practicing her tree climbing (which she did for fun and for strengthening her body) when she saw huge clouds of smoke rising into the sky. It was near evening, and at first she didn’t notice them. Alarmed, for fire was no joking matter on the mountain, she followed the smoke trying to find it’s source.

She had just exited the forest when Ye cried out:

“MeiMei, wait!”

“What is it Ye? There is smoke, I must—”

“The smoke is coming from outside the mountain.”

“…oh.” Mei Hua slowed down and finally paid better attention to what she was seeing. There was a great grassy field in front of her, and beyond that, far far beyond, was the town she’d once lived in. Climbing up a nearby tree to get a better look, she saw that the part of the town was ablaze.

Focusing her qi in her eyes, she was able to see in better detail what was going on. Her heart tightened at the sight. There were people in armor setting fire to the houses, murdering the men, violating the women, and dragging away the children. She withdrew her qi and looked away, feeling sick.

“What did you see?” Ye asked, worried by her reaction.

“T-they’re being murdered.”

“They?”

“The townspeople. I think there’s an Army invading the town and destroying it.”

“Ah… I’ve met those Army things before. You don’t think they’ll come here do you? I’d rather not have to deal with them again… I hope they stay down there.”

“Don’t you care that people are dying?!” Mei Hua almost shouted, horrified at his apathy.

Ye tilted his head. “Why should I care? Did they do anything good for me? Did they do anything good for you?”

Mei Hua shook her head. “Not everyone was bad there. Not everyone deserved to die… like that.”

“Even if you say that, what can you do?” Ye gave her a hard stare.

She bit her lip, feeling conflicted.

“You realize if you leave the mountain, there’s no guarantee HE will let you back, right? And even if he does, he may make you pay a harsher price the second time around.”

“I… I know.” She bowed her head, the heaviness of her choice weighing her down. “But to do nothing…”

“It’s a fight between humans, MeiMei. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Don’t say that! I’m human, Ye. Human. And those people aren’t strangers. My parents knew them, some of them were kind to my family.”

Ye was quiet for a moment and then sighed.

“Then go to them. I have no idea what you think you can do, but go and do what you can.”

Feeling awful, Mei Hua looked at Ye with tear filled eyes. “I’m sorry Ye. I know I promised, I know but…”

He chuckled wistfully. “Forever is, indeed, a long time.”

She looked at him in confusion. “Of course it is?”

“Ha! Never mind. Go.” Seeing her sad face, he hopped up on her head and smacked her. “Don’t be like that! If you’re going to do a good deed, do it with your head high. No regrets, you understand?”

Mei Hua took him off her head and kissed his little cheek. “I love you Ye.”

She then sat him on the ground and began running.

Ye watched her vanishing figure and cried. As he did, the shadow of a stag fell over his shaking form.

“Why did you let her leave if you were going to cry?”

The leaf fairy sniffled, too sad to even be angry at his insensitivity.

“Haven’t you learned after all this time? Trapping them never works. They will leave in the end no matter what you do. The important thing is whether they love you or curse you when they go.”

The stag became very still at Ye’s speech. But after a while, he turned and left.

Ye did not bother watching him go.