Part 4, Chapter 18

Reunions

Ch 18

 

The village was bustling when the three friends returned near dusk.

“Maogen?” Xun asked, addressing a little fairy dressed in yellow who was rushing past. “What’s happening?”

Maogen (毛茛 - buttercup) turned and looked up at her, big eyes fluttering, “ Taiwu brought new comers to the village! I want to go see!” The girl said, breathily before rushing off again.

Xun sighed, Maogen wasn’t the brightest fairy in the village. If she wanted more details she was going to have to find them out herself. “Renping, could you go and find the twins please? I know they’ll need a bath after playing with the kittens this afternoon.”

Renping’s smile was a little devilish, “It’s still warm. I’ll just dump them in the river and have them in bed before you get home.”

“Just make sure you dry them off this time. It took almost two days for their bedding to dry out after the last time you pulled that trick.”

“No promises!” Renping replied. “You had better finish up the village business and get home soon.”

Renping rushed off before Xun could make a witty retort. Or not so witty. She was distracted after all. 

Xun and Jingyi proceeded to push through the small crowd to greet the new comers.

“Shun! Xiaomin!” Xun exclaimed. Her friends looked worn and overwhelmed by the mob that had turned out to greet them. Shun held a little girl slightly bigger than Changhuan on her hip. The child had her face buried hard into Shun’s side and was as silent and still as she could be.

“Xun,” Xiaomin said in relief. “Yu’Lou said we would find you here, but I wasn’t sure. Your guide wasn’t easy to convince and I thought he was going to leave us on the side of the road more than once.”

Xun rushed over to hug both of her friends, “Taiwu isn’t always the friendliest, but he wouldn’t abandon you once he agreed to take you, would you Taiwu?”

Taiwu grunted, shrugged, and handed a heavy bag over to Xun. “Here’s the payment from the last shipment. I left the rest of the goods in your house.” His duty done Taiwu took Jingyi’s shoulder and guided him towards their home at the other end of the village before the smaller man could start on an endless string of questions.

Xun turned to face the rest of the crowd. “These are my friends from the Palace. They will stay at my home for a few days until they decide where they want to live. Everyone go about your business, I’m sure the gossip will make its rounds over the next few days as you get to know them.”

The crowd was reluctant to break up so Xun looked over at Jiahao (家豪. - home/strong), who ran the small pub that seemed to have appeared magically as the village became more prosperous. His return look said she was going to pay for this one way or another before he raised his voice, “Free wine to celebrate our new members.”

Suddenly everyone lost interest in Shun and Xiaomin as they stampeded after Jiahao.

Xun smiled at her friends. “Shall we escape while we can?”