"Of course, please tell me your thoughts." Lihua said.

"If we combine our forces, we have a higher chance of survival." Thorin started telling them. "In this we can all agree. Should we find any treasures, say silver, gold, or anything that we can divide up evenly, we split them up equally. Should someone find a treasure, say a scroll, weapon, or armor, things that cannot be divided up, the person who finds the treasure will get to keep the treasure. Should someone finds a medical plant, that person gets to keep it."

"That sounds fair enough." Lihua said.

"There should be no stealing or plans to ambush one another. Both sides should fight to keep everyone alive. We should not let our greed over run our senses. Those that cannot follow these simple rules, are free to go explore by themselves."

"I agree." Takeshi said.

"If we all can agree to this than, I can rest my mind slightly knowing that we will have a better chance of survival." Thorin said. "When I was 13 years old, I was able to go to the Phantom Mirage. Time there moves slower than this world. Time there is twice as long and twice as deadly. At that time, there was no one who survived the previous Phantom Mirage to guide us. We had to go alone and with no one willing to partner up and explore together, the people who went into the Phantom Mirage together easily died there. The beasts there sometimes have three heads and five tails. You'll never know what kind of beasts you'll run into. There are also castles that I've seen in the distance. I thought I could find refuge in the abandoned castles, but they were just as dangerous as the forest. There were hidden traps and beasts that chased after you. When I finally found my way out of the castle, my mind and body was tired. It was bleeding from the claw marks from beasts and in my hand was a rare treasure. I was even more tired when I came out of the castle."

"Your treasures." Lihua said. "Where they worth it?"

Thorin laughed bitterly. "My experience there made me grow up fast. It made me rely on myself and distrust people. The treasures I found reminded of that every day. The only people who mattered to me were my family. Even though I am a Master Teacher, I would say I am a bad Teacher, for I cannot find it in my heart to care for my students the way they deserved to be cared for."

"You're a great teacher." Chiyo said. "You're just selling yourself short."

Thorin kept quiet not believing what Chiyo said. They had this conversation before and had always had the same belief.

"Out of the four treasures I found, there was only one that I gave away." Thorin said. "I used it selfishly, wishing it would work, but in the end it didn't."

"What was it?" Dai asked his father. Even he didn't know about this.

"There was a medicinal plant I found called Everlasting Silver Bells. It's suppose to give the person who eats it an extended life." Thorin said sadly.

"Who'd you give it to?" Takao asks.

"I gave it to your Grandma a couple of weeks before she passed away." Thorin admitted. "I made it into a tea and fed it to her. In the end it didn't do much good, since she died a couple of weeks later."

Lihua's hand searched for Takeshi's hand and once she found it, she squeezed it tightly. Tears started falling down her face as she realized that maybe the medicinal plant did work. The Everlasting Silver Bells brought her into Young Miss Lihua's body just as she died. This is the way the Everlasting Silver Bells worked and no one knew it.

"When I brought the plant back, I thought it was just a weed. However where I found the plant, it was behind a glass cage. Thinking it was important I took it with me. When I came back, I found an old plant book with the same drawing of the plant. All it said on it was it's name and that it could help extend the life of a dying person." Thorin said sadly. "In the end it didn't work. Maybe the book, they too didn't know what it was and just wrote whatever in it."  

Lihua wanted to shout out to Thorin that it worked.  That she was right there, sitting in front of him.  She wanted to hug Thorin and tell him that his Mother was still alive and well.  She just wasn't in the same body, but her soul and heart was the same.  

Lihua gripped on to Takeshi's hand stronger, squeezing it tightly as she controlled her emotions.  Her veil started getting wet and she couldn't let anyone know that she was crying.  Luckily she wore two veils that day, one see through veil and on top a laced veil.  The laced veil made it harder for others to see her face should they study her veil.  

"Anyways." Thorin said as he cleared his throat.  "Since both sides agrees to the conditions, there should be no issues for the both of us.  May we meet again in two days and journey to the Phantom Mirage as one and survive the dangers safely." 

"Till then."  Takeshi said.  

"Till then."  Thorin said back.

The moment the door closed, Takeshi gathered Lihua into his arms and have her sit across his lap.  Xin and Ethan were soon dismissed to guard the door as the tea house servants left with them as well.  The moment they were alone, her tears broke and she cried out sorrowfully.  Her veil was soon untied and her face jammed between his neck as she cried on his chest.  Takeshi's large hands rubbed her back in comforting circles as he let her cry.  

He couldn't tell her not to cry.  For he knew it would only make her cry even more.  She always held back her sadness when it came to her family.  Choosing to live her current life to the fullest.  But there were times when she would fall into a spell of sadness that she would hide away from everyone.  Not wanting them to know what sorrow and longing she held in her heart.  She hid it away, not wanting anyone to worry for her.  

But even though she tried her best to hide it, even afterwards, Takeshi could tell with one look at Lihua that something was wrong.  She would laugh too loud or smile too much.  She would be too animated and too flighty.  His heart would break each time she tried too hard to pretend that she was okay.  He wanted her to tell him her troubles, so he didn't ask her what was wrong.  He wanted her to open up to him and come to him when ever she needed someone to talk to.  But she never had.  Until this moment.  

This moment, he just held her in his arms, letting her know that he's there for her and if she wanted to talk, he'll listen.