Yu Yin has me bathe in the wooden tub of sweet smelling water, and dresses me up in a new tunic and pants. I can stand on my own two legs, but unlike the afternoon, I need to be supported in my walk. Ching's magic did something to me in the same way that Yu Yin's stripped it. I ask her about it along with about the things that Ching told me earlier, but it seems like this is among the things she can't speak to me about.

"Where's the old woman?" I ask Yu Yin, as we walk slowly along the cobblestone path together. It's her that's supporting me, the other hand holding the rod to the lantern. Almost at once, I can taste the grimy not-physical hands from before on my tongue, and press my lips tightly together.

Yu Yin doesn't answer me, but the arm wound around my waist tightens.

Trying not to think about what that implies, I try again. "What does...your master want with me?"

"It has been several nights since your shared dinner, Guest Chao," Yu Yin replies. Her voice swims in the air like a whisper of wind, snatched up to greedy spirits lingering in earshot of the path. "The Master has been impatient."

The puzzles. Our wager. I haven't even had time to think about it. Rather than fear of the unknown like the last time, uneasiness fills me.

It grows, especially when we arrive at the dining hall and a servant announces us. The other servants in rank and file standing before the great doors are beautiful as always, but something's different. Something solemn extends to their mannerisms, and while their eyes don't lift up to me as we pass by, they seem...frightened.

That's a guess, though. I'm not sure if it's right.

The dining hall is as large as I remember it, as Yu Yin helps me in. The table is set up exactly like last time, with marvelous foods adorning the table. The only difference is that the Beast no longer sits on the gold. In fact, I can't even tell if he's in the hall at all until a booming voice resonates out and practically shakes the floor in the Beast's anger.

You are here.

I'm wrong, I think, as Yu Yin immediately drops to her knees and me with her. The ground is hard under my knees, and she pushes us both into a deep bow. It's not a voice. It's in my head, and it's invasive, like it's crawling up my spine and large claws are closing themselves around my skull. It's loud in my ears, as if he were standing before me, so close to the touch.

You have kept me waiting.

Yu Yin says nothing, and doesn't even tremble. But when I turn my head slightly to look at her, her eyes have gone wide and she stares at the ground. My eyes track marks at the back of her neck that was hidden by the collar of her robes before: they're heavy and black even under the powder she's likely tried to cover it up with.

I know at once who could be responsible for this.

Why did you not seek me, when you awoke?

This...what did the Beast want me to say? "I was with Ching. I didn't know I was supposed to find you."

The pressure pushing me down lifts enough that I can lift my head. I don't hear the flap of anything, but the Beast lands before us from above. It's nothing elegant. It's a Beast, after all, hulking and snappish. He slams down, body moving almost snake like, as he presses his belly to the ground, and his open jaws snaps so close to my face as if snatching my very breath.

Yellow eyes stare murderously at me. The rumbling of the growl in his throat is like a baited animal ready to strike. "You," the Beast snarls, nostrils flaring, "swear that you have not tried to run?"

I think about how Ching gave me the magic to walk with my own two legs, and how Yu Yin took it away. The missing old woman too, who was the healer of the girl Mei. I think about the marks Yu Yin wears now, and my mouth dries in helplessness. "I have nowhere to go," I say, shortly. "And I pro-" Wait, but he doesn't believe in promises. I swallow heavily.

I wonder if I've been frightened of him so much that even trying to figure out how to soothe this anger is exhausting. He's be angry because he assumed that I'd run. I have to appease him somehow.

"Whatever you believe, there's nowhere I'd run to. I'm weak, anyway."

He doesn't move, and I see the reflection of myself in the slits of his eyes.

I look haggard, but surprising even myself, I know what look is on my face, and I'm not sure I like it.

"Ching told me about Mei," I say. "But I'm not her."