The Bird and the Wyrm-Chapter 56: Pain & Truth

At first, I thought I’d just been imagining it (I usually have you on the brain after all) so I walked closer and crouched under the window where your voice seemed to have come from.

"Some people have illnesses that take far longer to treat." This time it was Aunt Yeung’s distinct voice.

"But at least they get to be awake for all it it," you said. "If I go to sleep again, and manage to wake up, I’ll be waking up to a completely different world. Again."

After the initial surprise of running into you I quickly became anxiety as I realised just how personal this conversation was. I was preparing to carefully crawl away to the little staircase I’d just spotted when Aunt Yeung spoke again.

"Have you spoken about this to Misha?" she asked and of course I stopped.

"Talked to him? You just told me you need to redo the seal. When could I have told him?"

"I mean about the seal as a whole."

"I’ve... mentioned it, I think."

Aunt Yeung scoffed. "I really don’t understand what that kid sees in you. You treat him like this yet he’s still willing to move the heavens for you."

I blushed to no one in particular at that.

"So?" you asked.

"So, in the past you would have been annoyed to have to sacrifice more years of your life to this but you wouldn’t have refused, not like this. You have a strong will to live. If you didn’t then the original seal would never have succeeded. But now with Misha in the picture-"

"He’s not waiting for me," you interrupted.

There was the sound of a door slamming and distant footsteps. I thought I was lucky enough to not have you run into me just then so I thought I should also escape before-

"There’s a special layer of hell for liars and eavesdroppers, Misha Long," came Aunt Yeung’s voice.

I slowly looked around then up into her face as she leaned out the window, casting a shadow over me.

"I... didn’t do it on purpose..." I said weakly. "I’m playing hide-and-seek with-"

"Come inside," said Aunt Yeung, cutting me off. "There’s a thick fog coming. It’s not good to be outdoors."

I shut my mouth, rose, then climbed in the window, your words still ringing in my ears. Each time they did, it was like a thorn poking into my heart.

My feet hit the ground inside and I looked up. I’m not sure what I was expecting from a place controlled and decorated by your aunt, but it wasn’t this.

Plants. That’s the best word to describe it. Plants everywhere, small ones with climbing arms on shelves and tables, air-root ones slung to walls or pinned to pieces of wood, large ones standing in pots or scaffolded to the columns down the centre of the space. From the ceiling, bunches of all kinds of plants were hanging up to try and there was even a skylight in the roof with gold tinted glass that let in a warm, yellow light.

Or it would have, had it not been so overcast outside. The fog she’d mentioned earlier was already here.

My thoughts immediately went to you, wondering if you were already safe inside somewhere else, or if you were standing high up somewhere, looking at the misty world.

He’s not waiting for me.

Did you think I was so... disloyal? Weak-willed? Flighty? I couldn’t find the words to describe it but it felt bitter in my mouth regardless.

"Get that watering can in the corner," said Aunt Yeung. "The plants over there need watering." She waved to the far end of the room.

I’m still not sure what it is about her, but your aunt has a really commanding presence and I immediately found, grabbed then tried to use it to water the plants.

"Uh, where do I get water from...?" I asked, looking around for a sink or something.

"What water?" huffed your aunt. "Can’t you create water?"

"Create...?" My eyes went wide as she came over to me, and with a wave of her hand, the watering can suddenly became three times as heavy and I nearly dropped it. A few drops of water sloshed out the top and onto my leg. "You can make water!"

My genuine praise seemed to strike a nerve with her and she flicked her long braid over one shoulder. "A simple spell. Even the smallest of dragonlings can do that."

"That’s amazing!" Okay, I was playing it up a little, but I was genuinely amazed.

Turning one thing into another, or teleporting things around and all that is impressive, but to simple create something out of nothing - that was another level. How does that square with the laws of physics? Law of conservation of mass? Was there now a watering can amount of water missing from some lake somewhere? What was the basis of this sudden appearance of water? I naturally had lots of questions that I really wanted to ask but I decided that I’d better do something else first.

"Do any of these plants have specific requirements when it comes to watering them?" I asked as I walked to the far end of the room with the watering can.

"Use your instincts," said Aunt Yeung.

"Okay."

I stopped in front of the first plant and carefully looked a it. I had no idea what it was but that wasn’t the point. I had a strong feeling that your aunt was testing me right now and I sure as hell didn’t want to fail it.

There are always clues in a test, be it from the way a question is phrased to how many questions are spaced out on the page - these are all clues as to how to get a good mark. What had Aunt Yeung done? She’d told me to water the plants, but she’d also filled up the watering can with magic and said that it was something that dragons could do.

I was dragon, she knew that, so was the comment not just a dig at me but perhaps a clue?

I raised the watering can and tipped some water out.

I’ve never kept plants before but I’ve always liked going out right after a rain shower just to be around all the happy plants. Before I just used to think it was one of my quirks but perhaps it was more than that. I focused on the plant and tried to feel how it was feeling, much like how you might look at a person to gauge how they were going.

At first the plant seemed listless and still, but after a moment of watering, I suddenly felt like it perked up a little. Not literally - I didn’t see the plant move or anything - but I couldn’t shake the feeling that what I feeling really was from the plant.

I kept pouring and pouring and then stopped when I felt something like getting full after a meal come from the plant.

I glanced at Aunt Yeung.

She had her eyes fixed on me but she said nothing so I went on to the next plant. And the next. And the next.

After a while, I lowered the watering can and turned back to her. I’d finished watering all the plants and had just run out of water. "Should I...?"

"Bran’s right in thinking you have talent," said Aunt Yeung. "But don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re years behind where you should be."

I shut my mouth and nodded in agreement. I hadn’t had any of those really strict teachers with a heart of gold before, but I’d consumed enough martial arts media to be familiar with the trope and I had a feeling that that’s what was playing out right now.

"Alright, what did you want to ask?"

I blinked, confused by the sudden question. "Ask...?"

Aunt Yeung folded her arms and slouched to one side. "That’s what you were snooping about for, right? To find out information."

I bit my tongue and wondered if I should try to explain again that it really had been an accident, but she didn’t give me the chance.

"I don’t mind curious people, curiosity is important. So, ask."

Was this a genuine offer or another test? I eyed her cautiously and decided to play it safe.

"What exactly is Whale Toes?" I asked. "Is it this place?"

The light from the window, though murky, was bright enough to light up her eyes so that I could see her cat-like pupils. The pupils that were the same as mine.

"It is this place, but it is also more than that," she replied. For a moment she’d seemed surprised by my question but she took it in stride and walked to a cluster of tables on one side of the room. She stooped and picked up a glass with a thin, vine-like plant growing out of it. She held it up to the light and turned it slowly. "It is a group of people, the group of people you have met here, but also others. Some of us have common interests, some of us do not, though we all share a common view of the world in at least one aspect."

"What aspect?"

"Life has value." She set the vine and its glass on the table then reached for a pair of scissors which she used to trim off the end of the longest limbs. She stripped the leaves, placed them onto a small thatched dish, then placed it on the window sill. She then took the vines and cut them into tiny pieces and put them into a mortar. "Can you guess why it is called Whale Toes?"

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