Spring Winds

I tried to imagine what the final result of Senior Sister's gift would be, as the lithe silver hairpin spun as I rolled it between my thumb and pointer finger.

After I was dragged back to Yu Lan Peak and found a way to work on it in my free time, I was able to remove what seems to be centuries worth of grime and rust off if it. Who knew it would be a hidden gem as after scrubbing off the guck revealed a slender and bright white silver body?

And who says I don't have an eye for art? Looking at this slender stick, I already feel a whole bunch of inspiration surging out of me whenever I look at it. I'm sure whatever it turns out to be, it would still look great.

I hope Senior Sister will like it.

"Sigh," speaking of Senior Sister, she's been absent for the past few days.

After saying that she liked me, Senior Sister quickly shut herself up into closed-door cultivation.

But the way she left irked just a bit. After she said her part, she disappeared in a puff of smoke as I had done back in Yu Dao City. Well played.

However, after she left and I was all alone out in the snowy open meadow that I realized my predicament!

I had no idea how to get back since we transported here with a teleportation talisman Senior Sister made. And to make matters worse, Senior Sister took away all of my special ink and paper to make more!

Thanks, Senior Sister! What a good sister you are! Eat my tofu[1] and then not even offering me a ride back home! You know that my sense of direction is terrible!

Somehow I was able to return, and now here I am in my current predicament. Alone and bored, and not to mention confused.

"Hah, what to do," I muttered as I continued to twirl the stick in my hand mindlessly.

---

"Father, what does this flower mean?" I cheerfully asked as I held up with my small hands a long, slender, and green stem with little rosy hanging off of like tiny bells.

"Ahh Ling Lan[2]" Father smiled. The spring frost had begun to melt on the ground and out popped small bell-shaped flowers covering the entire area. His feet crunched on the frosted ground as he made his way over to me. He crouched down to my level to admire the flower with me.

"This flower means that one is incomplete without the person that receives it," Father said as gently plucked the flower from my small hands. "However, though it is beautiful and has a romantic meaning, one must not be fooled. Don't miscalculate the flower season or love a flower mistakenly. Once you get lost, there's no way back. In the end, it might be the flower that lets you down," Father muttered as he continued to admire the hanging blossoms with a sad look in his face.

"Father?" I looked up, confused. "Why are you so sad?"

Snapping out of his trance, Father smiled back down on me and rubbed my head. "When you are old enough, you'll know Naran. Just take your Father's advice, okay?"

"Okay!" I quickly forgot the somber mood from before and returned to my cheery self.

"Come along now, Naran. We must set up camp from the new season," and he hoisted my small frame into his arms and walked us back to the rest of the clan.

---

"...father…" I muttered as stared off in a daze, its been a long time since Father has come to my mind. Even though I can't remember Father's face anymore, somehow, that piece of wisdom stuck with me. Strangely, this memory would come to mind after all this time.

"You've been muttering to yourself for the past hour, what troubles you?"

"Master," I turn my head slightly to see Master taking a seat beside my hunched over form. Seated on the edges of a small cliff, the two of us sat on the cold rocks that overlooked the magnolia forest. "Master, you are getting older. It's not for you to be sitting on cold rocks."

"Bah! Though these bones are old, I'm still strong in spirit! And I wouldn't be living this long if something like cold rocks affected me," Master retorted. "Enough talk about me came here for you. What causes you to sigh so woefully."

"I'm just trying to figure some stuff out," I sighed as I tucked the silver hair stick into my b.r.e.a.s.t pocket. "A lot of things happened in the last weeks."

"Hmm, well, if you want to talk, I'm all ears," Master offered.

Could I tell him? I gave Master a weary side-eyed expression. Yes, he may be my Master, but our relationship was barely a year old.

Some things can't be said just yet.

"Thank you, Master. But I'd like to be alone for a while," I said, overlooking the view. The view

"Are you sure? Sometimes it helps to talk to someone about your problems."

"I'm sure, Master," I gave him a reassuring smile. "Thank you for your offer, but I just need to need this stuff out on my own."

"Alright, I'll be around if you need anything," and with that, Master walked off. Watching him go, it tempted me to call him back; however, I doubt he would be able to help me. So I just let him go.

Taking out the hairpin once, more I continued to imagine what it could become. "Lian Hua, Lian Hua," I mumbled as I tried to picture a lotus growing out of the silver end. "No, no, that won't work." The stick was relatively straight. However, it had some kinks in it, making it curved…

Like a magnolia branch! "Yu Lan! That's it!"

I jumped up for joy as I had finally come up with a plan for this stick! The flower is meaning full for both of us, and it has a sweet message behind it. Since the flower grows on trees, they can live up to a century! No wonder Master has so many of them. If you're going to plant a flower, why not have one that lasts as long as you?

And not to mention the white magnolia symbolizes Yin, the feminine side of life, and purity and dignity.

"All of the things that-" I paused my rant and sat back down. "Represent Senior Sister." Ah, I suppose I'm not completely obvious to Senior Sister's feelings.

Holding my face in my hands, I just let myself think about all the stuff that happened between us.

Did she like me all this time?

"Argh!" I groaned out in my hands. Looking up again, I try to let cold air warm my red face. "Senior Sister likes me."

Slap!

Hitting both sides of my face, I held my sore cheeks as I gathered my thoughts together.

"I'm such an idiot!" Why? Why would Senior Sister like such a dummy like myself? And why didn't she say anything sooner?

"Ah," collapsing into the snow, I just lay there on my back and face the sky. Almost wishing that the storm would only cover me entirely to calm the raging heat, I suddenly feel within me.

Why do I feel like this?

I didn't feel any of these emotions before. Not even when-

"Not even when Big Sister confessed, did I feel anything," I mumbled out.

Senior Sister wasn't the first to confess her feelings for me. Even back then, I somehow attracted mosquitos and butterflies.

And somehow along the way, Big Sister had feelings for me too.

I can remember her confessing to me, and just feeling an emptiness within me. I liked Big Sister a lot, but not in the same way she had loved me. But I ended up saying that I liked her back anyway because I wanted to repay her for all the things she did for me when I was younger.

However, in the end, it didn't work out, and she ended up leaving.

Senior Sister Wan didn't forgive me for what I've done, and that's why we have such a strained relationship nowadays.

"Is this what you wanted, Big Sister?" I asked the sky above. "Did you want me to wallow in misery as you continue to haunt me for years to come? So that you may cause friction in any relationsh.i.p.s that may come?" I couldn't help but feel the sense of guilt and frustration wash over me. It was like a tsunami of emotions that have come to drown me and anything else that occupied my mind.

So that in the end, I would only think of her.

That girl in white.