Wen Reian

An Unknown Number of Years After The Long Night

The Spirit Orchard

"You really think I can do this? You think I'm good enough?"

Jin Songcai smiled at Reian from where the man was standing by the big tree, his arms crossed as he watched his new disciple gently reach out and touch the fawn.

The little spotted creature had somehow been conjured to life inside the dream by either Songcai, Reian, or them both, and it was clear what Songcai wanted him to do from the way the deer limped and chewed as his hind leg.

Reian just didn't know if he could...

Jin Songcai answered with a sigh; "It's not about 'good enough' you just believe you can, then you will. Besides, you've healed beings much larger than her before. Stop doubting yourself and concentrate."

Wen Rei nodded and closed his eyes, trying with a deep breath to exhale and release all of his anxiety. He knew it was only a dream. And yet, being so conscious inside it had begun to feel like he was simply entering another world when he slept. He wasn't just dreaming, Reian knew he was somewhere else.

Everytime he woke from these dreams with Songcai, Reian could feel in his heart and his body that his powers had truly grown. Like he practiced here, and it payed off out there-

"You don't need to touch the one you're healing," Songcai said.

Reian could hear that the man was walking behind him now, watching and taking in everything he did. Reian was also aware that the fawn nestled upon the leaves in front of him on the forest floor, was hurting deeply. A very acute pain that the boy knew was a broken bone.

Connecting to the soul of an animal was in some ways easier than a human being, Reian thought. Animals didn't build walls or fortresses around their hearts, there was no need to untangle any mess of lies or fears or questions. It was all very simple inside the little creature's soul... it hurts, it hurts, it hurts-

Because of that, Wen Reian latched onto this pain quickly, not using his hands as Songcai had instructed and only reaching out with his own energy.

"If you're afraid the healing process will be too much physically for them to bear, you can put them to sleep..." Songcai added. "Like singing the heart a soft song."

Reian did so then, easing the fawn to sleep and then beginning on her wound. Broken bones and things like that have sharp edges. Reian knew that if he began too eagerly or too fast, the corners of the pain would slice into his own soul and make it hard to continue.

"Remember," Songcai said, now standing behind Reian and watching him work over the boy's shoulder-

"Healing should always remain mutual. You are receiving and giving energy. Your patient's soul strengthens yours, which helps you strengthen them. Even when one is in the deepest slumber, their soul still shines and conducts light."

Songcai's soft voice was Reian's guide, as well as his own feelings. The boy gradually fixed the broken bone, one atom at a time, feeling the heart-warming rush of the creature's own energy as he sent out his own.

What... what is that-

Reian had almost fully healed the injury and was easing much of his aura away, when he suddenly sensed a lingering hurt from the fawn that had been drowned out before by the other, much sharper pain.

Unsure at first by the strange feeling and how subtly it had presented itself, Reian of course took the time before just diving in, to ask the deer's soul whether or not it wished to have this pain seen.

More often than not, human beings, animals and living things, all want to be healthy and happy and safe... except when they don't. And in that case, it's a fight with their spirit to heal them, and not one I want to take on.

The small little flicker of something not-good grew slightly larger, as if Reian asking had made it feel safe enough to come forward.

It wasn't physical pain, that was why Reian had such a hard time distinguishing it before. It's color and shape and density was not a hurt of the body, but one of the mind, and it appeared to be something that the fawn had carried much, if not all of her life.

Wen Reian felt his own heart's reaction to the sensation, and it shocked him when he realised that it was strangely familiar!

What do I have in common with a baby deer? This sweet harmless thing...

About to delve deeper into the cause, Reian stopped when he heard Songcai's voice, as if the man was in his head.

"Wen Reian, what is it?"

The boy tilted his head, still connected to the creature, aware that its lingering pain was due to a deep-set memory from its early days, and that Reian had the same memory buried deep inside his own heart. Something missing, a piece that was not all there.

"It feels..." Wen Rei grimaced, a bitter taste filling his mouth.

"Alone."

After several moments Reian felt the healer's hand resting lightly upon his shoulder, Songcai whispering gently;

"You're experiencing its emotions?"

Reian shook his head, "Memories."

He thought he heard Songcai exhale-

"That's interesting. You said it felt lonely?"

"Something more. Something... I've felt too. A long time ago, when I was only a few months old-"

When Songcai's hand slid off his shoulder and then his voice urged him to share more, Wen Reian pushed past the strange sense he had in his gut that this was something entirely new.

Everytime he healed, he felt as if the skill and know-how was ingrained in his body and mind. Now, these added emotions... am I connecting with the creature on a different level than just healing?

Wen Reian saw suddenly, like a mirage in his mind, a few swirling shapes with no faces or names, only feelings attached to them. He watched as these shapes with their strange colors, left something somewhere where it was all dark. Reian's soul stayed with this lost thing... he felt the ripping pain as he watched the two shapes part with it, the loneliness and emptiness and fear.

As those shapes paused for a moment, maybe feeling the same pain, their forms changed and became two large beats with horns; one a deer, the other a stag. They looked over their shoulders at the lost thing in the dark, where Reian knew the fawn's soul had left a piece of itself.

With tears already drying on his face, Reian opened his eyes. When he saw that Jin Songcai was kneeling in front of him, one hand upon Reian's cheek and his other upon the fawn, Reian's breath slid out silently, the name of the emotion he was feeling coming to life in his mind.

"Are you alright?" Songcai's blue eyes inquired, unworried only curious.

Reian nodded, swallowing. Then Songcai dropped both hands.

"I wouldn't believe it otherwise, but because its you perhaps it makes sense."

"What?"

Songcai gestured at the fawn, the little thing already waking gently and beginning to stretch all its legs, peering up into Reian's eyes with large innocent brown ones that had no trace of the fear and pain the boy had sensed earlier.

"You have healed her past,"

Reian frowned so Songcai chuckled softly, going to stroke the creature's ears as it nuzzled his hand...

"It takes a lot of work to become as good as you naturally are, Wen Reian. Most healers are able to fix small emotional wounds, but there are always what we call; trauma-scars that remain, even after extensive work... but you... you managed to somehow heal its past by reliving and connecting to her memory of a specific event."

"So..." Reian's heart was still aching over what he saw-

"You mean it's not normal?"

Songcai grinned, a smile so brilliant it immediately calmed Reian's racing heart. The boy smiled back when Songcai shook his head.

They both watched as the fawn stood, seeming to test its leg for a moment, and then upon realising it no longer hurt the creature strode calmly off into the woods, tail shaking happily as it bounded away.

Songcai spoke again once the deer had left...

"If you don't mind me asking," he said. "What was it? The memory you both shared?"

Reian's eyes followed after the deer long after it had gone. He knew that he would never forget the images or feelings he saw. He also knew that he had carried this his whole life, and that this experience had only made the memory clearer in his mind, a fact that he both cherished and despised...

Taking one last long deep breath, Wen Rei nodded, answering Songcai with a soft smile;

"Being abandoned by our parents."