Hiding behind a cover of lotus leaves and their fluttering flowers, and with her head peeking through the stalks of water-side reeds, sat Wei Zhiruo on her small canoe. Its oars lay forgotten besides her feet, the only other object on that decrepit looking boat. Wei Zhiruo sat, observing a weeping beauty, who lay kneeling betwixt a patch of grass growing by the shore.

“Why do you think she is crying?” For a while this thought perplexed her and so she asked aloud. No one replied.

“...She must have fallen into this pond –look at that place, isn't that a pair of shoes floating? Was she thrown in there? You cannot just fall down by yourself so far away from the shore like that. What happened here...?” Wei Zhiruo was mostly mumbling to herself. She observed, thought and tried to hold this conversation with herself.

The beauty, lamenting by the shore, looked wretched. She looked like someone who had just drowned and resurfaced. Her soaking and dripping hair and even those clothes - if it was any colder, they would have been covered by a layer of frost by now. But the girl kept crying, as if she couldn’t feel the cold. Or those growing chill in the air as morning approached closer. Her skin though was turning blue.

“She has been crying for so long—poor girl. She is going to catch a cold if she keeps doing that.” Wei Zhiruo observed this mostly for herself.

Occasionally, the beauty would mutter something to herself, while the rest of the time she was quite busy wiping away her tears. But they kept falling, running down her fair cheeks down onto the ground hastily losing their traces therein. She did whimper a few times, but then suddenly broke out in an unexpected sort of laughter. Its echo haunted the night; as did the tear drops that seemed to penetrate the fabrics of her reality, and fall piercingly over some silent, still waters.

She didn’t look right. There was obviously something wrong with her. Has she gone insane? But not quite like it— but right, there was a little bit of madness in it too.

Wei Zhiruo pried several emotions flashing over her features, yet still couldn’t make up her mind whether to go out and meet. Should she go do something to soothe that girl, or remain in hiding? Finally, after pondering on its pros and cons, she decided on the latter. After all, there was always that probability that the girl might know the original owner of this body.

This wasn’t some wild place; that girl was definitely a resident of this manor. And most importantly, Wei Zhiruo could feel her blood resonating with that girl’s. That only happened between blood relatives.

What if that girl asked her what she was doing here instead? Should she tell her the truth —that she was out hunting for something invisible to most human eyes? Or that she entered and lost herself in a strange space, getting out of where it almost took her half the night? Who will look insane then?

“Marr, talk to me please. Say something.” Wei Zhiruo tried to distract herself. But, no expected reply came. At this, she narrowed her eyes, stopping her palms from clenching into a fist. She heaved in a mouthful of cold air, then took a deep sigh.

"It's so Cold." Wei Zhiruo muttered looking away. “Should we go back now? It’s already past most of the night and there is no sign of it moving out. Maybe it's not even in this space right now -?”

Moreover, she still didn't know clearly whether that Rune over that hexagonal structure would lead her to an actual space, or whether that space was even related to those invisible peering eyes. She could only come back another time to find these things out - there was no hurry. All things will eventually fall in their rightful places.

It was getting colder, staying any longer would be extremely taxing on her body. If she caught a cold, she would be bed-ridden for most of the week. Heavily malnourished, her body was suffering down to her bones. It was stunted and rigged with wounds and hidden diseases of so many kinds, she would need to nurture it for at least a year before it could even reach the level of a normal human.

It would be faster, if her original bloodline started merging with this human body first. Then she would heal all these deep wounds along with those over her soul - in just half a year’s time. But that was still a long project, and would definitely need some precious herbs and tonics to support it. Precious medicines needed money and this identity was so sensitive.

“Marr, are you really weak and cannot reply back, or are you busy merging? If you are not - don’t start now. It's hardly safe right here, at least wait for me to go back to my chamber. Don't overexert yourself right now - I'll see how we can get some of those mortal medicinal herbs here. Since this world has humans, there must be some sort of similarity in the nature of herbs...” Wei Zhiruo thought deeply, many names running through her mind. Angelica, wolfsbane, a talon of red rosefinch, and Aster starwood...and this just made a small pot of 'healing' medicine...

But even after waiting for a long while, when she didn't hear any reply –all those herb names got jumbled up in a mixture of fear. Wei Zhiruo rubbed her shoulders with her palms to escape the cold. Her heart, though, was growing colder by the minute. Apprehension, fear of losing something after gaining it, and that deeply entrenched familiar fear of finding that she had just been imagining things in her head —she could hardly take her mind out of that, and just somehow sat still, rubbing the bumpy surface of the wooden canoe. It was wet and sticky, and felt obnoxiously irksome.

Chilling breeze seemed to be sneaking up closer to her, rubbing their hands over her shoulder and wet and naked feet to make her feel their presence all the more. She felt the numbness of the cold already making her muscles stiff, and hard.

A cloud of fog had imperceptibly flown closer to her and built this towering maze of views: some peeking bushes of wild reed peeking down closer at hand here and trees cowering down at the shore over there, a vast carpet of rippling black waters underneath and a wide expanse of blue-black sky hanging overhead. Nearly everything was still, and frozen. A creeping stillness reigned, as fog stole closer and closer rolling down like a tumbling river of smoke.

"Who would've thought that just a while ago it was a clear night?" She mumbled distractedly, whispering under her breath. She didn’t need to lower her voice, as her surroundings were completely shielded behind an invisible film of her Spiritual Consciousness. But she couldn't make herself talk aloud.

It was not a figment of her imagination, she urged. It was her companion, her blood that talked and thought and accompanied her like…forever. YueMarr, to whom she was talking to, Wei Zhiruo knew it would have reached him even if she just thought about it in her mind. But she wanted to hear his reply, his childlike, soft voice. Confirm that what was almost fantastical was definitely not a piece of her imagination - or a longing that had maddened her to her root!

Her blood, the most mysterious heritage she had after being born a bloodkin. They, Marr and her, had been together since birth. After all, Marr, which manifested from her blood, was a part of her body. When he didn’t know how to talk, he would send her images and when he could, her days were full of his random chatter. They didn’t need words to convey their thoughts to each other. Ever. But they talked like friends.

What books he liked, and which tree smells the best to him, and which birds and flowers she should look at once more, she knew it all. What kind of sky’s blue he preferred the most, and which sunlit day he wanted to remain living in forever - he used to chatter all the time. When they took their usual walks in the capital city, it would always bubble inside her, absorbing all he saw, memorizing whatever he could.

It felt so empty, when she couldn’t hear him talk like that. But it was okay now - at least it was still with her. Her past body’s blood —which should have been burned into oblivion by the sacred fire upon her death, it was once again flowing in her new body. How he had managed this feat, she could only ask him later.

Wei Zhiruo kept rubbing her palms to generate some heat. She even rubbed her face, but felt that it was of little help.

"Will it rain tomorrow? If it’s clear, it would be great to go out and see what other places in this mansion look like. And meet some people. What do you think? Will others recognize me, or find something strange about me if I did that?"

Wei Zhiruo could hardly predict other people’s responses. What if there really was someone very close to Original self? What will she do to explain her changes to such a person? If she didn’t have some of the remnant memories from the body, she would have completely given up on continuing her stay here. The language, the expressions and mannerism – these were just the basics to continue to fit in using this identity. So many secrets were hidden in plain sight.

A child of her age doesn’t have a close maid to look after her, her courtyard looks dilapidated and almost half emptied out of its utilities; it wouldn’t take a genius to guess that there was something wrong with her current identity. But what was it? Has her mother offended the family, or what else could a seven-year-old child do to earn such ostracization?...but there was something else that struck her mind while trying to think of reasons. Her eyes.

All the people in Jinghai had brown, black eyes. But her body had blue ones –a blue which was almost Cerulean. Like her past self. Did that mean anything? She had her past blood, her eyes were blue too...but she was definitely a human!

Maybe the answer to all these doubts lies in the sealed memories?

“Marr, at least tell me about this seal. When did I do this to myself– and why? It definitely is a Rune. But when I think about it, my head starts hurting. Did I seal my memories about something? Don’t tell me it was to lessen my guilt about overtaking this body –Marr?”

[Can you be quiet for a minute? Please Ama? Let me concentrate in peace will you? Can’t you see that I am busy?! Why are you chattering so much for-? You can just meditate and see me for yourself - why don’t you do that instead of asking me to talk to you outside. It takes so much energy to communicate right now. Can't you think of that on your own? What are you doing Ama?] An angry voice sounded inside her head.

‘Finally, he talks.’ Wei Zhiruo felt herself losing all her unsettled fear instantly. Her body eased, then her anger started bubbling up. Her eyes narrowed down into a slit, and her fist clenched hard. She would have thrown a few fists at someone’s head if he was in front of her at this time.

[Say it again?! I am chattering? I wouldn’t chatter so much if you would just reply. How would I know I am not just talking to myself, if you wouldn’t reply even once? Can’t you just meow a meow, a little nyah would do to! Send me an image - for god sake. Let me know that I am not losing my head and just talking to myself! I could at least make sure that you are not dead yet!] Wei Zhiruo retorted angrily.

[You wouldn’t have to feel this way if you had the courage to come inside and see me yourself! You just had to meditate to find me, I live in your body- not too far away is that?]

[Good! Now I am a coward, too right? I haven’t even started on your behavior today. Whole day - Marr. You left me wondering alone for such a long time – and all this while I thought you were dead! At least say something. Just a notice like, ‘Ama, I am still weak, I cannot talk to you, let's meet later’ would have done. But you didn’t even squeak. I checked my soul when I woke up this morning, you were nowhere Marr. What else would I have thought?Tell me Marr, what should I make out of this?]

[That I must be in a dormant state–? Did that thought ever cross your mind? But let's not argue right now - I told you I am busy! Not now, Ama. You are undergoing a late Awakening for God’s sake, woman! Give us both some time to deal with this first!] Marr still didn’t come out to meet her but his words finally distracted Wei Zhiruo enough to bottle up her frustration.

“What do you mean? Second Awakening?”

[Yes. Our second Awakening. You will see soon– let me do some things first. I need you in here, come inside and sort out these systems for me. Don’t keep mopping like that! Get busy.]

Wei Zhiruo raised one of her eyebrows but didn’t reply.

“I still don’t feel that kind of tumultuous change inside me. Yuemar? What do you mean we are going through another Awakening?”

[It's in your inner body - meditate and see for yourself. I am not talking to you right now - you lose all your thinking ability once you get angry. Did you hear me say ‘meditate’ even once? I am busy Ama. I'll come to you when you are in the right state of mind.]

Wei Zhiruo, finally stopped prodding. She spread her Spiritual Consciousness and looked down at her widespread palms using her Inner eyes, peering past its outer flesh, looking through its tendons, its bones and muscles. All its joints were as clear as was the red flowing liquid in those, fine thread like blood-vessels – her human blood.

There were also those red cells floating, and those fine nerves working just fine in another nervous system. She had learned what a healthy, fully functional human apparatus looked like. And it could hardly be called one. Dark elements were plaguing the blood vessels, as did some other sort of dark spots intermittently sticking to her spinal cord. What they were she couldn’t tell. But they felt ominous.

Wei Zhiruo eyelashes fluttered, flapping in the white mist—just then, an owl hooted quite close by and flew over her head, hastily diving into the sea of fog. She looked up, breaking from her trance, a little alarmed. Seeing that it was nothing but an owl lunging on its prey, she relaxed her stiffened nerves.

“There is no obvious modification in my biological systems - the heart, kidney and the guts are all working as usual. I am still, positively, a human. Even if it’s a second Awakening, it is still the first phase. And there is no elaborate ritual or prayers to the ancestor, no chant, no soul guidance, and we are not five-year-old kids! With not even a shred of Mana in the air, how do you think we will manage to awaken at present? There is not even a drop of Liquid Mana crystal to support us when we get exhausted – why now, Marr? Couldn’t we have arranged for auxiliary herbs or such things before plunging headfirst into this? This body cannot suffer the pain of a second Awakening right now! We are going to die.”