Lord Yangjian was an…awkward person, once you got to know more about him, like I did, during the length of his deployment along the Lunar-Earth route.

He had always been an austere military personality, a stoic man married to his job, and a warrior god quick to resort to... prejudiced measures. But underneath that rocky exterior, there was always a different, amusing side of him trying to break loose.

As one of the most direct princes of the Jade Emperor, Lord Yangjian lacked experience in little, insignificant ways that made him a clumsy person.

Sometimes, that meant, a bumbling suitor.

He appeared to us once with a bouquet in hand of brownish, greyish flowers.

This he offered up to my sister.

‘Why—thank you!’ Sister said with some confusion as she received the drooping blooms. ‘What are—where did you get these, may I ask, Lord Yangjian?’

The lord smirked. ‘I cut them off the head of a woodsland demon blocking my path, when I remembered your reputation for being a lover of flowers. I thought that their multicoloured pigments would complement the pristine white pallet that is your beauty.’

Sister and I both stared at the half-dead bouquet. It was obvious that the life and pigments had mostly drained from them the moment they had been severed from their main body.

‘Do you like it?’ asked Lord Yangjian eagerly.

‘They are’, Sister looked between the war god’s eyes and the dead flowers with some indecision, ‘—lovely! I do feel bad that they had to be cut, however—next time you should just leave them where they are, to bloom in peace.’

The war god widened his eyes, then closed them and nodded. ‘Understood’, he said with contrition. ‘Next time, I’ll bring the whole demon.’

Sister reminded him that demons are forbidden from entering the Lunar Realm, however, then consoled him that she appreciated his goodwill.

I watched the scene unfold before me as laughter bubbled inside my stomach. It was transparently easy to see his intentions for my sister.

I felt sorry for Lord Yangjian, but Sister had already had someone else who was a much better fit for her—Lord Houyi.

I had nothing against Lord Yangjian if he truly cared for my sister, but she deserved someone who could ease her burdens and support her, rather than give her more trouble with his tactlessness.

‘Tact’, I repeated to myself, wondering about Lord Yangjian’s reputation as a tactician. But my mind quickly occupied itself with other thoughts and imaginations.

I imagined... the sort of flowers Lord Houyi would have brought. What colours would they be? And how many? Would they be potted, and if so, in what type of pot? The permutations were endless.

At the very least, they would be real, proper flowers—and not demon appendages. But that was setting the bar too low.

And besides…

…Lord Houyi wasn’t coming to us anymore.

When Lord Yangjian had left, along with Xiaotianquan, Sister came back inside with the monstrous bouquet in her hands.

‘What are you going to do with that?’ I asked her with genuine curiosity.

She gave the flowers a glance, and sighed. ‘I reckon I could at least make them into a potion—or poison.’ She shook her head. ‘It would be wrong of me to let a gift go to waste.’

Well, I certainly didn’t want to be the taste-tester of that.

Sister took a whiff of the demonic flowers, and blinked. ‘We’ll have to be careful not to leave these among the other ingredients.’

It was then that I called out to her: ‘Sister!’

She heard the plea in my voice, and all extraneous emotions cleared her face, leaving behind only a gentle brilliance.

‘Yes, Yu’er?’

I fidgeted. ‘Is—Is Lord Yangjian going to stay and meet with us forever, from now on?’

Mild surprise lifted the fine arch of her brows.

‘I mean—he’s already been with us for a very long time—and—and’—

The lady goddess swooped down to embrace me.

‘Little One!’ she said kindly, voice like tinkling bells, ‘I am sorry you have had a hard time adjusting. It has been long indeed, and you have endured it well.’ Then she parted from me with a radiant smile. ‘But you will learn soon enough, that all long periods of time can be short, depending on the perspective you choose to take.’

I weaseled my ears free from the hold of her slender arms. ‘But how?’

Sister smiled, and softly brushed the tip of my nose. ‘Think of it as a tea party. If you choose to stare at vapor trailing from your cup, then time can seem very long—but if you simply enjoy yourself having a good conversation with your friends, the tea will have gone cold before you know it.’

‘But that’s all because of my emotions!’ I protested.

Sister laughed fondly at my reaction, as though she had anticipated it, from long, long ago. ‘That is why, Little One, we must choose our emotions.’

‘Choose them?’ I repeated incredulously.

She nodded. ‘Control them.’

All of a sudden, I lost all my hope. Emotions simply came to me, and most of the time, I was not even conscious that they were there. They were invisible things, and powerful forces that were in control of my thoughts and actions. And I was supposed to control them?

‘But how...’ I whimpered, and she flicked a finger at the side of my paw.

‘Same way you focus, and attune your spirit with the cosmos—patience and calm.’

My droopy ears perked up. ‘Like in fortune-telling?’

‘Yes!’ she cheered. ‘Exactly like in fortune-telling! To peer into time, you must first extract yourself from its currents. And to know what it is you must do—what you can or should do—you must first remove yourself from what it is you are doing and thinking now. Only when you are free from fast and slow, and past and present, will the fortunes unfold before you.’

I didn’t understand everything she had just told me, but I was aware that they were important things, and felt my mind becoming more serene, and my senses becoming sharp and keen, as the words were absorbed into me.

She let me go to my feet on the ground, and I rubbed my eyes clean of the sentimental mess that had threatened to fog it from earlier.

‘...I’m sorry’, I told her.

Sister smiled softly. ‘It is not your fault, Yu’er.’

I shook my head. ‘...I’ll try harder.’

She rubbed the fur of my head. ‘I’m sure you will!’

I nodded along with the gentle movements of her hand. ‘It’s just, I was a bit sad that it’s been a long time since we last met Lord Houyi, is all!’

Suddenly, her movements stopped. And I gazed up into her tranquil face.

It was that expression again.

From the banyan tree. From the mortar.

‘I know, Yu’er’, she said to me gently. ‘I would feel that time is longer too if I thought about it like that.’

Then she rose with all of her pristine white brilliance.

‘But you want to know a secret?’

‘Uh-huh’, I nodded immediately.

She giggled at my childish response.

‘Today is the Day of the Magpie Bridge!’

‘Wow!’ I cried.

‘You don’t even know what that means, do you?’

‘Not really, no.’

Sister laughed. ‘The Day of the Magpie Bridge is when the spacetime barriers between the Earthly and Heavenly Realms are relaxed enough that the gods of the Earth can quickly visit the Heavens and return without fear of trouble stirring in their jurisdictions without their noticing.’

I nodded. ‘Uh-huh...’

‘Which means that Lord Houyi’—

‘Lord Houyi can visit us!’ I cried and bounced exuberantly.

‘Took you long enough!’ Sister giggled.

Then, a cautious thought gripped me. ‘But will he come?’

Sister froze for a second before my question. Then she bent down to me.

‘I’m sure if you’ve been a nice little girl, who’s been diligently studying and practicing your magic, then Lord Houyi won’t be cruel enough to let you down!’

‘Really?’ I asked her eagerly.

‘Really!’

With her reassurance, I leapt to my feet to the corner where I always practiced, and occupied myself with training again.

Little did I notice the melancholy expression on my sister’s face, as she gazed into the White Above.

It had truly been a long time, since last we had met Lord Houyi, since our last contact even, through the reflections of the magical mirrors.

And his absence from our lives had weighed upon us, upon Sister particularly, who was always more aware of things. And not even the Day of Magpie Bridge could help her allay her feelings.

I, however, was oblivious to all her worries, as I simply occupied myself with thoughts on how I might best showcase my progress to Lord Houyi once he arrived. I thought of many things, from singing to snow-building to reciting the principles of arithmetic—and of course, magic.

I wanted dearly to show him how I’ve improved in the fortune-telling arts he had taught me, but I wasn’t sure to myself that I had improved at all.

So I decided to do something that was more guaranteed to win his reaction.

I plucked the channels of energy within my own being into vibrance and light, giggling at the ticklish feeling that it gave.

I recalled the reaction of Lord Yangjian, as light engulfed my form, and remolded me into another.

I was going to meet Lord Houyi!