In A-Li's Qingyun Hall, his Fengjiu jiejie's luminous pearl sits at the top of his bed frame, beautifully glowing as it should be.

This time, however, Bai Qian noticed spider web cracks appearing at the corner of the pearl. It was a very tiny crack, but Bai Qian was very sensitive to these types of changes - which doesn't do justice to her obliviousness to her own love life - or maybe it was just because of the recent events.

She gently tapped the crack, but it worsened and there was a tiny hole now. Bai Qian immediately withdrew her finger and then noticed the thin but steady stream of red magical essence from the hole.

Bai Qian closed her eyes. 'First the fox. Now, don't tell me it's this luminous pearl that's been with A-Li for thousands of years already?' nevermind that. Why was it that her A-Li is the recipient of all these things?

Her Feng Jiu shared secrets with her, but that was thousands of years ago.

'Zhe Yan will probably know what this is,' but taking into account that Zhe Yan might not, Bai Qian bit her lip and made a hard decision. 'But if he doesn't, then I will ask Dong Hua Dijun.'

"Mother, mother!" just as she was peeling the luminous pearl from A-Li's headboard, A-Li arrived, looking from his mother who was peeling the luminous pearl then to the luminous pearl and back. "Mother, what are you doing to Big Sister Fengjiu's luminous pearl?" her Little Dough asked.

"This..."

A-Li shook his head. "You can't do that. I promised Big Sister Fengjiu I'd take care of it."

"But Mother is going to fix it," she told him. She held the luminous pearl in front of him, making sure to show A-Li the hole in the pearl and hiding the steady stream of red magical essence with magic.

She didn't even know why the pearl has a hole, for goodness' sake. It's a pearl, not some hollow container. "See? It was cracked."

A-Li gasped, covering his mouth with his hands. "Oh no! A-Li promised Big Sister Fengjiu I wouldn't break it!"

Bai Qian narrowed her eyes. 'Did she now?' But instead, she smiled at A-Li and hid the pearl under her sleeves. "How about this, you won't tell your cousin, and I won't tell her. I'm going to take this pearl to Zhe Yan and ask him to repair it."

"Really?"

Bai Qian nodded. "Really."

A-Li took her hand in his and dragged her out of Qingyun Hall. "Then... then we must hurry!"

::

Zhe Yan arrived in Feng Jiu's bamboo house just in time to see her exchange blows with the child that was found in A-Li's Qingyun Hall.

Feng Jiu easily blocked an attack from the child and hit the flat side of her sword on the back of his thighs. "Sloppy," the child snarled, careful to not let her see it and prepared to get up. "Still fighting clean?"

"Teacher, I have my dignity," he grumbled, thrusting his sword forward. Feng Jiu easily evaded it, kicking dirt to his eyes. The child screamed in frustration and pain, furiously rubbing his eyes. "It's really no wonder why you're my father's teacher!"

"Fenrir, no battles are won fairly, that's what you need to remember," she hit his lower back. "Your form is weak. Put more force on your back, your legs," she hit hit arms. "And your arms. How many times did I keep reminding you already?"

Zhe Yan winced. He'd been a witness to how Bai Zhi raised his sons and more often than not, his sons went to sleep with bruised arms, legs and torsos. But this... this was especially cruel, even for Bai upbringing standards. He can see the multiple bruises already present on his skin with his sleeveless clothes.

Feng Jiu's right-hand man was the first to notice him, and immediately greeted him. "Greetings to High God Zhe Yan," Cheng Jiao greeted. Immediately, Feng Jiu and the child - Fenrir? - halted and also gave their respective salutations. Zhe Yan almost found himself sighing. After that incident some 13000 years ago, the gap between Feng Jiu and her family widened over time.

At this point, Zhe Yan doesn't even know if they can still cross it.

"What brings High God Zhe Yan to my abode?" Feng Jiu asked, curt and polite, as a ruler should be.

Zhe Yan waved the urns of peach blossom wines he was carrying. "Can't I come visit?"

Feng Jiu smiled, then handed her sword to her right-hand man. "Cheng Jiao, continue with his lessons. This way please, High God Zhe Yan," Zhe Yan nodded, as Feng Jiu took the urns from his hands. He knew the bamboo house like the back of his hand, but it would do him no good if he told her that.

"A luminous pearl?" Zhe Yan received the large luminous pearl from Bai Qian and gently traced the hole, then it's spiderweb cracks. "How unusual for it to have a hollow inside," he mused.

Bai Qian shook her head. "It's not that," she waved her hands over the luminous pearl and broke the illusion. A steady stream of red magical essence was flowing out of the hole. "I've been cautious. First, Xiaojiu gave A-Li a white spiritual fox, which was actually her wolf pup in disguise. Everyone knows that Xiaojiu doesn't dare part with that wolf pup of hers. And now this?"

"Xiaojiu gave that to A-Li more than 10000 years ago, did she not? Right after her Heavenly Trial?" Zhe Yan pointed out.

"Then what is inside the luminous pearl?" Zhen Zhen muttered. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't feel like magic."

Zhe Yan stared at the essence more intensely before sighing. "Indeed, it isn't magic," he fell silent for a while. "Maybe the reason why Xiaojiu gave them to A-Li is because no one would ever suspect a thing," he observed their reactions, before continuing. "Think about it. A-Li is her cousin. It wouldn't be unusual if she gave him something."

"But why?" Zhen Zhen asks.

Bai Qian looks at her elder brother. "Why what?"

"The child is important to her," points out Zhen Zhen. "As far as we both know, Xiaojiu had little to no contact with children since that incident 13000 years ago. Could it possibly be... her son?"

Bai Qian widens her eyes. "It's not impossible. She was gone for 3000 years," Zhen Zhen didn't anymore point out that even Bia Qian had a son in her mortal trial. "For all we know, there's probably a reason why she has no feelings for Dong Hua anymore."

"Zhe Yan..." Bai Qian sheepishly peered at him.

Zhe Yan sighed. "All right, all right. I'll try to find out what's going on," he looked at the luminous pearl with skepticism. "But with that, if I don't find out what it is, I may have to pass it on to Dong Hua."

Bai Qian nodded. "I was also thinking of the same thing."

Feng Jiu's bamboo house didn't change much from the last time he saw it. It was still simple, but this time, the leather bound books on the table caught his attention. It was large, twice the size of the books he'd seen, and hard-bound. It was covered in leather, some gold ornaments and little gemstones, but it was still unfinished.

"What is it that High God Zhe Yan wants to talk about?" Feng Jiu asks as she pours him tea. "I don't think that High God Zhe Yan is here just to bring wine," she continued. "Is it because of Fenrir?"

Zhe Yan drank from his cup. "Fenrir?"

"The child," she answered. "The one I was teaching earlier and the one found in A-Li's Qingyun Hall."

"Partly. Your family is also worried of you," he told her, allowing sadness to seep into his voice. "It's been thousands of years since you visited them, Xiaojiu. Your father is worried. Especially after your marriage with Wen Chang Dijun."

Feng Jiu smiled, drinking from her cup. "But he isn't making trouble anymore, is he?"

Zhe Yan sighed. "Yes, that's one matter, but there is also another. You didn't visit when Bai Hong was born. Though your first aunt isn't one to bear judges, they were quite... sad," he struggled to find the right word for a moment. He couldn't use the words unhappy or grievances as they both knew just who should have the right to feel unhappier.

"I was busy reorganizing the regulations here."

"You don't seem to be quite busy now that you have the time to give Fenrir lessons," he pointed out.

"Fenrir is different," she answered simply. Zhe Yan didn't know if he should feel happy that she was finally showing someone genuine care or mad that she couldn't even spend time with her cousin. "I owe his father a life debt."

Zhe Yan prevented his head from drooping. The last time she'd gone off to repay someone a life debt, just look at what happened. "How so?" he struggled to say.

"Without his father, I wouldn't be here. So I promised him that as long as I was alive, I would keep his precious ones safe."

"Your Heavenly Trial?"

Feng Jiu nodded. "Yes-" but then her face changed. It was a quick change, one that changed from a slight smile to a flash of pain to which she quickly reverted back to her previous expression. Feng Jiu put a hand to her mouth.

"Are you okay?" The luminous pearl under his sleeves was pulsating and radiating heat. He attempted to take her wrist to read her pulse, but she retracted her wrist, stood up and bowed.

"I-I don't feel quite... well," she forced her words out as beads of sweat dripped from her forehead. Zhe Yan deduced she felt pain in her chest, as he could see her chest rapidly moving.

"Do you need hel-"

He saw Feng Jiu bite her lips. "No," she cut in. "Forgive me, High God Zhe Yan, but I will not be able to see you out."

Zhe Yan hesitantly nodded and left the room. Outside, he could hear Feng Jiu hit the floor and her wheezes, most probably clutching her chest.

'No choice, it is,' he decides.

'I will have to see Dong Hua.'

::

Feng Jiu wheezed, pathetically crumpled like a heap on the ground as she desperately wished for the pain in her chest to go away.

'What's happening to me?'

Cheng Jiao found her like this a few moments later. The pain had still not subsided and it was a miracle that she hadn't passed out yet.

"My Lady!" exclaimed Cheng Jiao. Feng Jiu glared at him to silence him as Cheng Jiao helped her up, and because it was already an emergency, he had no choice but to carry his mistress to her room.

"None of this matter must be made known to Fenrir or Jormungand," she tersely said, gasping and wheezing as she struggled to sit on the bed, writhing in pain. Not hearing a response from Cheng Jiao, she raised her voice and reiterated. "Understand?"

Cheng Jiao bowed. "Yes, My Lady."

Emptying an elixir bottle, Feng Jiu proceeded to direct pure soothing essence to her heart, and without another word, turned her head sideways just in time so that the blood she spat did not get into her sheets. "Impossible... impossible..." she whispered, clenching her fists that it was impossible not to draw blood.

Cheng Jiao peered at her, alarmed. The temperature around them dropped. Ice crept along the cracks of the walls, and the flowers in the table were encased with a thick layer of frost. If he wasn't so busy panicking about what the problem was, a three paragraph praise would've already been on his mind on how deserving his Lady was of her title as the Enchantress of the Frost. But if she was going to carry this on, then Prince Fenrir and Prince Jormungand would know immediately that something is wrong.

"My Lady, what's the matter? Please calm yourself first, lest you want the Princes to find out," he told her. Feng Jiu closed her eyes, willing her birthmark which was now blue and was floating in front of her forehead instead of on her forehead - like how it was before when she was the Enchantress respected by everyone in the Nine Realms - to return to normal.

Feng Jiu clutched her chest, fear gripping her. 'The luminous pearl - the luminous pearl! It must've been damaged!' blood stained her nails. Her sealed emotions were starting to return to her.

If the luminous pearl was only slightly damaged, she could repair it and shove back the emotions that had returned to her. If the luminous pearl was shattered - which was undoubtedly NOT what happened - then she would just suck it up and continue like nothing happened. She can NOT risk performing the spell another time. She only did that so that there can be no hindrance in her stay here. She had her little boy waiting for her back in Folkvang, and she'd be damned before she returned to him as a corpse.

For now, she can relax that the pearl was not shattered. If it really was shattered, then her sealed emotions would have come back to her and the damage she would acquire would be akin to trucks running over her over and over again. If she would not be on Death's doorstep with that damage, then she's going to be in a vegetative state, and in a much, much worse condition than Loki is in.

She evened her breathing. "Cheng Jiao, accept my order."

"Present!"

"That luminous pearl-" she glanced at him sharply, relieved that he knew what luminous pearl she was talking about. "-bring it to me. Unnoticed. As soon as possible."

"Understood, My Lady!"

Cheng Jiao did not need to be told twice before he took off.

::::::::::::::::::::

I don't know what to write here so I'll just tell y'all to stay safe.

Don't forget to vote, comment and follow my profile!

Happy Reading!

-_star_shine_2004_