“Does he have a name?” Mei Hua asked her fairy friend.

Ye looked thoughtful.

“Huang Jin.”

“…you mean like the color…?”

“Yep. The color gold. Just call him Jin.”

She glanced at them both. Leaf and Gold. Who were the parents to these children? Could she find them and smack them upside the head?

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Jin. I’m Mei Hua.” She gave a polite bow to the man, which he attempted to imitate, and almost fell head first into the dirt. She grabbed him by the shoulders, stopping his fall. “I see your balance needs some work.”

Clearing her throat, she helped stand him up right again.

“There’s so much going on here, I don’t even know where to start.” She pressed her palm on her forehead. “I suppose learning to stand up properly will be the first, balance the next, uh…”

“Talking.”

“Oh right.” She was quiet for a moment. “Exactly how do you teach someone to talk?”

“Uh… well, like how you teach a baby I guess?”

“Don’t you just talk at babies? Does that mean I just talk at him?”

Ye gave a slow, uncertain nod. “Yes… I think so.”

Scratching her head, she turned to Jin and tapped the side of her mouth. “When I talk, watch my mouth, my tongue, my lips. See the way I form words. If you need, I can talk slowly and then you can try to imitate it. Does that make sense?”

Jin just stared at her hopefully. Mei Hua gave him an uncertain stare back.

“What happened to him that he lost the ability to talk?” Mei Hua asked Ye.

“Ah that…” Ye frowned. He thought about where the corpse was and then looked hard at the face of the Emperor. A vague notion rose up in his mind. “I… I think he fell.”

“You think? How are you not sure?”

“No, well…” The fairy paced in a circle. “It’s difficult to explain. My memories on him are a bit… unclear.”

This only added to her confusion.

“Never mind. It doesn’t really matter how it happened. The point is, he fell, I’m pretty sure. The fall was big enough, it killed him. The Emperor revived him.”

“The Emperor can revive the dead?!”

“Apparently, if he puts his mind to it.” Ye shuddered. “Let’s hope he never does it again though.”

“What, why?”

“Because he destroyed a piece of a mountain to the south of here to do it. It was terrifying.”

Mei Hua’s eyes got very large and round. Jin had been resurrected by the Emperor. That was really something. As far as she knew, that was the first time it’d ever happened.

“Why did the Emperor resurrect him? Is he special somehow?”

“Uhm…” The fairy tugged on his hair, a bit uncertain. Jin was giving him a very intense look that Mei Hua did not understand.

Finally Ye shrugged. “He’s special alright, a special kind of stupid.”

“I know he’s got problems, but that’s a bit rude, Ye, even for you…”

“The Emperor, I’m talking about the Emperor.”

“Alright. You always say that about the Emperor. So what’s that got to do with—”

“Don’t ask me, I’m the victim here! I tried to talk that stupid Emperor out of it. Did he listen? No. He never listens. Well, fine, so now I’m stuck with this,” Ye pointed aggressively to Jin, “idiot for who knows how long.”

The fairy suddenly covered his eyes, rocking back and forth. “Give me my life back, you stupid Emperor! MeiMei and I were going to have so much fun but now—! You idiotic, moronic, slow-witted, brain dead—urck!”

Jin had gone over in the middle of Ye’s hysterical outburst and, falling to his knees heavily since he had almost no balance, grabbed the leaf fairy in his hands. He started to squeeze Ye viciously, the little fairy’s eyes bulging out from the pressure.

“Hey, stop! Stop! You’re hurting him!” Mei Hua yelled, smacking Jin without holding back.

Jin stared at Mei Hua for a moment, apparently unaffected by her hits, and then released the fairy suddenly. Ye dropped like a stone, wheezing.

Putting her hands on her hips, she scolded Jin. “Even if the Emperor assigned us to take care of you, attacking Ye like that—! Absolutely forbidden! Do you understand? He’s my friend, and now he’s yours, so no violence!”

“Don’t—cough hack—worry about it.” Ye managed to say while Mei Hua scolded. He knew he’d taken his verbal attacks a tad too far and had it coming.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ye. If the Emperor brought him to us to teach him, then I’m teaching him. The first thing is not to harm friends and allies.”

Ye coughed some more before sitting up. Brushing himself off as if he hadn’t just had a near death experience, he cleared his throat.

“Yes, well, Jin was just upset because I was speaking ill of the Emperor.”

Mei Hua scrunched her eyebrows up. “He’ll die of rage if he gets angry every time you say something mean about the Emperor, so he just needs to get use to it.”

Ye choked on his laughter, while Jin scowled deeply.

“Anyway, I’m going to need to make you more than a skirt to wear. Hanfu shirt, pant, shoes…” She listed off what she needed to herself. “I suppose straw shoes will have to work for now. Ye, is the straw I gathered still here? I forgot to check on supplies.”

“Yep, it’s still there. Everything you left is still where you left it.”

“That’ll make things a little easier then.” She said with relief, and then grabbed Jin’s arms and pulled him up and then steadied him. Holding onto his elbow, she instructed, “Alright, follow me then.”

He obediently followed right up until they got to the entrance to the cave. He stopped abruptly, causing Mei Hua to stumble slightly.

“What? What’s wrong? Are you afraid of the dark? The inside is well lit, so don’t worry.”

Jin blinked, his eyebrows pinching together. He looked worried and a little fearful.

Seeing this, Ye shook his head helplessly. “Jin, what stupid useless thoughts are going through that head of yours? Hasn’t the Emperor come in here? Only once, but did anything bad happen then? No. So what have you to worry about?”

Mei Hua hadn’t known the Emperor had only come into the cave once, nor did she understand what that fact had to do with anything, but it worked well on Jin. He bobbed his head and took a timid step forward. When nothing happened, he took another. And then another.

Finally, he sighed and walked with confidence, until he came to the wood door. He stared it blankly, not knowing what to do.

“Let me.” Mei Hua offered, grabbing the ring and pulling. When the door swung open, Jin became very excited. He looked at the door and then at the inside of the room. His head was almost spinning from how much he was looking around.

“Er, glad you like it…” Mei commented, seeing his wide eyed wonder.

“This is his first time.” Ye said, neglecting to finish: being here as a human.

“Yes, well, not many have been here since it’s for lost hikers…”

Ye chuckled slightly, “True.”

“Ye.”

“Hm?”

“What aren’t you telling me about this guy?”

Ye scratched his chin, impressed at how quickly she caught on. He felt such an astute observation deserved as much of the truth as he could give: “The Emperor doesn’t want you to know.”

Mei Hua raised an eyebrow. That had been a genuinely honest reply. If the Emperor had forced him into silence, then digging would only make Ye more miserable.

She nodded, “Alright then. Then what you’re allowed to tell me, that will be enough.”