Mei Hua could not get back into the Traveler’s Cave. After some time, Ye suggested it was because she’d left for too long and knew this part of the mountain too well. Basically, she wasn’t “lost” and so the path wouldn’t appear.

“I think the only way to force it to appear is for you to get lost again. And to do that, you need to go to a place you haven’t been before.”

Mei Hua groaned. Naturally it would take quite a bit of traveling before she got to an area that was new to her. But since she really didn’t want to spend the winter sleeping outside, she clenched her jaw and accepted her fate.

Several days passed after that, Mei Hua telling Ye all about her adventures among the humans. She had thought he wouldn’t be interested, and maybe even get mad if she mentioned it, so at first she’d kept quiet.

When Ye found out, he said simply, “If you’re going to be gone for two years, at least tell me what you were doing. Otherwise all that time you were away would end up being for nothing.”

So she explained all about the town, the people, anything she could think of. Ye was fascinated by all of it, asking detailed questions for anything he’d never heard of.

“Why hasn’t the Emperor contacted me?” She asked when almost a week had passed.

“Did you want him to?” Ye looked astonished at the possibility.

“No, yes. Um. I thought for sure he’d demand a payment for me coming back, make some terms… I dunno, something.”

The leaf fairy was silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“He’s always been a little odd with you, did you know? The fact that he made a deal with you to begin with was strange. Usually his fairies detest humans and go after them immediately, but his deal prevented them from touching you. And even the animals were hesitant to make trouble with you, since their Master was so ambivalent. In a lot of ways, you became like an untouchable existence here.”

Mei Hua heard this and her head drooped. “…I lost that protection.”

Ye shook his head. “No, he actually broke the terms of the agreement first.”

At her confused surprise, he shrugged.

“He said he’d not help or hinder, didn’t he? But he cured your illness. That’s helping. So he broke it first.” He scoffed. “Isn’t it lucky for him the agreement had no punishment if he broke it?”

“But the townspeople at least…”

“Didn’t you sing? And didn’t they?”

She stared at him stupidly.

“He’d broken the agreement, but you kept singing every day for all those years. And then the townspeople sang too, though not nearly as well as you. He probably counted it as payment.”

This time she scratched her head. “I see… he really likes music, doesn’t he?”

“He likes yours, I think.”

“Oh.”

They were silent, comfortably so, for a few minutes.

“I haven’t sung in two years.”

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t know. When I sang in the town, it didn’t feel right.”

“That’s strange. It shouldn’t matter where you sing. Did you want to sing now that you’re back?”

Her face scrunched up in thought and then she smiled.

“Do you know, I think I do? I’m not sure if I’ll do well though. I’m out of practice.”

Ye laughed. “So? You’ve got time to relearn. Let me get your pipa!”

When Ye came back, Mei Hua played the ancient lute and sang. At first the words were awkward, but with each verse her voice grew stronger and more confident.

She sang a song about greetings and partings, about leaving home and coming back, and saying you’re sorry. Sometimes her own song made her sad, and sometimes it made her laugh. But each line was true to her own feelings, her own heart. It was the rain after a drought, two years worth of singing squished into one never-ending song.

She sang until her voice was raw and scratchy. Only then did she stop, exhausted.

The enchanted path to the Traveler’s Cave appeared when she started thinking of sleep. Had she gotten lost without realizing it? Pulling that familiar wood ring, and seeing that familiar room, she’d have cried again if she wasn’t tired.

When she lay down in her bed, she suddenly realized the bed had grown to fit her. She’d never noticed before, but now she knew. This Cave really was built to give comfort to the lost. After snuggling under the blankets, she instantly fell asleep.

Ye stayed with her for a while before leaving and going back outside.

Standing in the flower field was a Stag. It looked very old.

“What do YOU want?” Asked Ye with annoyance.

“She came back.”

“She did.”

“Will she stay?”

“Maybe.”

The Stag flicked his ear and snorted. “She promised she’d stay.”

“Yes, but humans can break promises. And I won’t hold her to it besides.”

“…why?”

Ye snorted back at the Stag. “Humans weren’t meant to live alone forever. One day she’ll look back at those two years she was away, and she may think to return. I won’t bind her to me, if it means she’ll always wish she were somewhere else.”

“She has you.”

“But I’m not human.”

“Family…”

“What?”

“Humans need a human family, is that not so?”

“…well, I mean yes, but what has that to do with—”

“So if she were to have a family here, she would stay.” The Stags eyes bore into the leaf fairy.

“That… what exactly are you planning in that thick skull of yours?” Ye asked, a sense of unease rising in him.

“I can do it. I can make—no, convince, her to stay. Family, family…! Just need to make a family!” The Stag stomped the ground, it’s age rapidly decreasing until it was a young fawn. It suddenly began leaping around, excited at it’s own idea.

“Hey, hey! You! Whatever you’re thinking, just stop right now! No good comes when you get involved with people!” Ye was shouting at the Stag, trying to calm it down. He was really afraid of what this stupid Emperor might cook up on his own.

“I must go!”

And the fawn was suddenly a young buck, shooting through the underbrush of the forest, running like the wind. Ye cursed, stomping the ground, before giving chase.

There was no way he was going to let this Emperor just do whatever. Not with his MeiMei’s wellbeing on the line!

The stag ran for a long time, and then came to a ravine that cut through a southern part of the mountain chain. There, at the bottom, was a mummified human body. The stag came close to it and began sniffing.

Ye shuddered.

“What do you need a corpse for?”

“Family, family, need a family.” The stag muttered, ignoring Ye. He then said brightly, “There’s enough, it will work.”

“What will work?”

The Fairy Emperor changed his form, this time into roughly a silhouette of a human. Something like a hand reached out and touched the mummified corpse. When it did enormous amounts of energy poured out of the hand and into the corpse.

Ye actually screamed in terror and fled. He was not the only one, every living thing that had leg or wing turned tail and ran as far and as fast as they could. The power the Fairy Emperor was expended was so huge it was actually deadly.

Plants wilted and then burst into flames before disintegrating into dust. Softer rock and minerals actually melted. The ground under the corpse buckled and cracked. A sound out of the range of living things shook the air. And a gold light shone so brightly no one could look at it.

Everything nearby, even the dirt itself, seemed to hold it’s breath.

And then the light dimmed and the ground cooled. A gentle wind blew through the area and everything was still.

Trembling, Ye crept back to the center of the disaster. He’d seen the Emperor do some crazy things in his time, but he’d never witnessed anything like that.

In the center was a body. The Emperor and the corpse were no long there. A man lay there instead.

Ye approached the man cautiously. The man’s hair was very long and black, while his skin was a very pale white, as if never touched by the sun. His body was lightly muscular and even laying down, he looked to be on the tall side.

When Ye looked at the man’s face, he felt like he’d seen it before. The face was angular, with perfect symmetry, and a straight nose that connected directly to the forehead without a dent. His lips were wide, but peak-less. His eyes where down turned, slightly narrow and—

Ye actually jumped in shock.

They were piercing gold, fading into blue-gold. Glowing blue… The glow was faint and the color slightly off, but Ye recognized it. The Blue Flower Village. The people of that place all had glowing blue eyes, and this man’s eyes was very like that.

The thing is, those eyes had gone extinct. They didn’t exist anymore. Mei Hua had said so herself, that even their descendants were normal humans now.

And what’s more, who was this? Seriously, he’d seen this face before! While he was straining to remember, the man began to move.

With great difficulty, the man sat up and looked around. He stretched his hands in front of him and began to wiggle his fingers. Then he looked at his legs and began to move them too. After that, the man began to touch himself, his legs, his arms, his chest, his pe——

“STOP THAT.” Ye yelled and rushed over, slapping the man’s hand. Really, what was with this guy?

The man hissed, pulling his hand away and shaking it. He then touched the hand, right where the red was appearing from Ye’s slap. He seemed totally amazed by the changing color of his own hand.

“Who are you?” Ye asked, baffled by the man’s behavior.

The man suddenly took notice of him.

Without opening his lips, he spoke in a voice Ye did recognize: “Do you not know? I am the spirit of the mountain.”