After talking with the boss about when I would be working, I departed for my cave. I found all three girls awake - two were cultivating, one was meditating. Unfortunately I had to disturb Chit in order to administer some medicine but I stayed quiet for the sake of the other two.
“Hey Chit, sorry to interrupt,” I said as I lightly pulled at her clothes, I was still hesitant to touch her healing skin.
“That’s alright,” she said with her eyes still closed.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Still fine,” she said and cracked a slight smile.
“Right…” I said and smiled too, not that she could see.
“How did it go?” she asked me.
“Well, I am now a healer. So at least in that regard it was a success.” I said.
“Congratulations?” she asked and opened her eyes, looking at me with a confused face.
“Sorry, it’s just that I was expecting myself to perform a little better than I did.” She reached out her arm and patted me on the head, I shuffled a little more on to the bed and leaned my back against the wall. She took her legs out of the duvet and put them on mine.
“Much better,” she said. She was right, her skin was no longer quite so severely cracked, just extremely dry and scarred.
“I won’t let those scars stick around,” I said as I followed a particularly long one down her leg with my finger.
“I don’t mind them,” said Chit.
“Given the choice?” I asked.
“Prefer without,” she said as she looked at me with a serious face. I laughed, as did she. I placed my entire palm over her leg and began the healing process, she closed her eyes once again. Her body shivered as I washed my qi through her once again.
Her hand reached out and settled on mine. She squeezed my hand as I listened to her calm and melodic breathing.
Eventually the other two realised my presence and woke up out of their cultivation. “We are definitely interrupting something,” confirmed Safi as she noticed our handholding.
“Not this time,” I said as Chit tactfully removed her hand from mine and smiled sheepishly. “This time, we need you around.”
“How come?” she asked.
“We need to pick Chit’s new cultivation technique,” I said.
“Oh!” exclaimed Safi. “How exciting!”
“What?” asked Chit.
“Well, I figure you’re going to need a new one, and you’re not going to find any better than the ones I can provide.” Chit looked at me doubtfully, as did Eleb. “Just humour me?” I asked.
“Fine,” said Chit with a coy smile as she lifted her legs from mine and hugged her knees.
“First, we’ll start with her soul root. It’s called Under Forestia. It’s a wonderful, nature attuned soul root. Peace and tranquility, the drop of dew from a glittering leaf in the middle of a luscious forest during a sleepy, spring dawn. That kind of thing.
“She was supplying that with a technique cold as a blizzard and harsh as an icicle. The kind of winter where your finger sticks to things and tears your skin off when you try and rip it away. When she gets better, I will make sure to scold her properly for doing that.
“So we come to the choices. Faden’s forest. A technique that harvests the life of the ground and repurposes it as power for…”
“Sen’o!” shouted Safi. “Obviously not that one, why do you keep doing that?” she crossed her arms. I had a good laugh and decided to carry on.
“What if Chit hated forests?” I joked.
“Love them,” said Chit before I could take the joke any further.
“Right, well that’s not actually what Faden’s forest is. Picture a cold stream meandering its way through the forest floor, the stream slowly picks up stray leaves, stick and rocks as it flows. The soft ripples conceal the life hidden beneath the rock and moss on the riverbed. Such a stream is vital to the surrounding forest, without it, withering decay would follow. If such a stream were to come under threat, the trees themselves would pull at their roots and fight for it.”
I finished and the girls looked at me engrossed in my story. “Then I will carry on, to another option. This one is called Mysterious green. An eternal wanderer was travelling through a warm, wet forest. Not so dense as to block the sun which created patches of heat that sizzled at the wanderer’s bare feet as they walked. The wanderer passed by a plant, they had passed by many strange plants and by comparison, this one seemed unremarkable. However, no matter how much the wanderer looked at the plant, they could have sworn they had never seen that shade of green before.
“The wanderer sat and looked at the plant, considering its colour and as time went on, the plant began to respond to the wanderer in a way that only plants could. It clung to the wanderer and grew around them. Eventually the wanderer decided there wasn’t another plant like it, no instance of that particular green existed anywhere else. The wanderer cultivated through the plant in an attempt to capture its splendour, what the wanderer captured was unimaginably beautiful and unimaginably violent, all dyed a spectacularly mysterious shade of green.” I finished.
I had the girls under my thumb, they hung on to every word I said. “Hang on,” said Safi, all of a sudden. “These descriptions are much better than the ones you gave mine”
“I’m feeling a little poetic today,” I said as I shrugged.
“Well, don’t let me stop you…” she said.
“The last one then,” I continued. “Nameless, unfortunately. Maybe you can think of a good name for it once I’m finished.” The girls nodded in unison. “There was a pathetic little forest that bordered a town, for days the townsfolk attempted to get rid of it, swinging axes at the trees and sickles at the grass. Yet, every new day, they would wake up from their beds and find it regrown. The forest looked exactly the same, every day, no matter what the townsfolk did to damage it.
“Eventually the townsfolk grew frustrated and summoned people from other nearby towns and cities; they destroyed the entire forest in just one day. Nothing but stumps were left, no flowers, no plants, even the small pond in the middle was filled in.
“The townsfolk cheered, they were finally free from the weedy forest that sullied their towns good image. Suddenly a small spirit popped out from the ground and looked around. ‘You really need a lot of wood!’ it said. ‘I will make sure to grow as much as I can for tomorrow.’ The villagers' anger overwhelmed them, and they killed the spirit.
“A small boy, who took part in the decimation of the forest, watched as the villagers killed the lovely spirit. He cried and cried, eventually the villagers left him in the dying forest. They returned to their towns and celebrated all night.
“They woke up the next morning and were shocked to find that once again, the forest had grown back. The townsfolk entered the forest to see how it had happened, once they arrived at the little pond, they found the boy floating above it. Before any of them could say anything, they were dead. The entire life of the forest, all the energy and all the qi retaliated as revenge for the little spirit that was just trying to help.”
The girls were once again silent, as was I. It was a rather melancholy story, I had to admit, but it was a happy and hopeful technique that hinged upon giving and nurture, only resorting to violence when provoked.
“Spirit of giving,” said Chit. A small tear had formed in her eye.
“Then that is what we shall call it,” I said.
“You have a habit of saving the best for last,” said Safi who recalled the way I shared the techniques that suited her.
“It’s my way of testing whether I know the person or not. Did I get it right?” I looked at Chit, she nodded in response. “I’ll show you the technique and if you like it, feel free to use it. If not, I’ll help you find one that suits your soul root.”
“That poor spirit,” said Eleb, still reeling from the story.
“The forest still stands today,” I said. “Maybe one day, I’ll take you there.”
“You absolutely have to!” said Eleb as she jumped up and slammed her hands on my knees.
“I hope you can put up with me till then,” I said, jokingly.
“That should be my line,” said Eleb as she sighed and sat next to Chit. “I’m actually a little jealous.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s got something equally exciting lined up for you too,” said Safi who looked at me suggestively. I looked away with a smirk.
“Possibly...”
Casualperv Whoops I wrote another one...
After talking with the boss about when I would be working, I departed for my cave. I found all three girls awake - two were cultivating, one was meditating. Unfortunately I had to disturb Chit in order to administer some medicine but I stayed quiet for the sake of the other two.
“Hey Chit, sorry to interrupt,” I said as I lightly pulled at her clothes, I was still hesitant to touch her healing skin.
“That’s alright,” she said with her eyes still closed.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Still fine,” she said and cracked a slight smile.
“Right…” I said and smiled too, not that she could see.
“How did it go?” she asked me.
“Well, I am now a healer. So at least in that regard it was a success.” I said.
“Congratulations?” she asked and opened her eyes, looking at me with a confused face.
“Sorry, it’s just that I was expecting myself to perform a little better than I did.” She reached out her arm and patted me on the head, I shuffled a little more on to the bed and leaned my back against the wall. She took her legs out of the duvet and put them on mine.
“Much better,” she said. She was right, her skin was no longer quite so severely cracked, just extremely dry and scarred.
“I won’t let those scars stick around,” I said as I followed a particularly long one down her leg with my finger.
“I don’t mind them,” said Chit.
“Given the choice?” I asked.
“Prefer without,” she said as she looked at me with a serious face. I laughed, as did she. I placed my entire palm over her leg and began the healing process, she closed her eyes once again. Her body shivered as I washed my qi through her once again.
Her hand reached out and settled on mine. She squeezed my hand as I listened to her calm and melodic breathing.
Eventually the other two realised my presence and woke up out of their cultivation. “We are definitely interrupting something,” confirmed Safi as she noticed our handholding.
“Not this time,” I said as Chit tactfully removed her hand from mine and smiled sheepishly. “This time, we need you around.”
“How come?” she asked.
“We need to pick Chit’s new cultivation technique,” I said.
“Oh!” exclaimed Safi. “How exciting!”
“What?” asked Chit.
“Well, I figure you’re going to need a new one, and you’re not going to find any better than the ones I can provide.” Chit looked at me doubtfully, as did Eleb. “Just humour me?” I asked.
“Fine,” said Chit with a coy smile as she lifted her legs from mine and hugged her knees.
“First, we’ll start with her soul root. It’s called Under Forestia. It’s a wonderful, nature attuned soul root. Peace and tranquility, the drop of dew from a glittering leaf in the middle of a luscious forest during a sleepy, spring dawn. That kind of thing.
“She was supplying that with a technique cold as a blizzard and harsh as an icicle. The kind of winter where your finger sticks to things and tears your skin off when you try and rip it away. When she gets better, I will make sure to scold her properly for doing that.
“So we come to the choices. Faden’s forest. A technique that harvests the life of the ground and repurposes it as power for…”
“Sen’o!” shouted Safi. “Obviously not that one, why do you keep doing that?” she crossed her arms. I had a good laugh and decided to carry on.
“What if Chit hated forests?” I joked.
“Love them,” said Chit before I could take the joke any further.
“Right, well that’s not actually what Faden’s forest is. Picture a cold stream meandering its way through the forest floor, the stream slowly picks up stray leaves, stick and rocks as it flows. The soft ripples conceal the life hidden beneath the rock and moss on the riverbed. Such a stream is vital to the surrounding forest, without it, withering decay would follow. If such a stream were to come under threat, the trees themselves would pull at their roots and fight for it.”
I finished and the girls looked at me engrossed in my story. “Then I will carry on, to another option. This one is called Mysterious green. An eternal wanderer was travelling through a warm, wet forest. Not so dense as to block the sun which created patches of heat that sizzled at the wanderer’s bare feet as they walked. The wanderer passed by a plant, they had passed by many strange plants and by comparison, this one seemed unremarkable. However, no matter how much the wanderer looked at the plant, they could have sworn they had never seen that shade of green before.
“The wanderer sat and looked at the plant, considering its colour and as time went on, the plant began to respond to the wanderer in a way that only plants could. It clung to the wanderer and grew around them. Eventually the wanderer decided there wasn’t another plant like it, no instance of that particular green existed anywhere else. The wanderer cultivated through the plant in an attempt to capture its splendour, what the wanderer captured was unimaginably beautiful and unimaginably violent, all dyed a spectacularly mysterious shade of green.” I finished.
I had the girls under my thumb, they hung on to every word I said. “Hang on,” said Safi, all of a sudden. “These descriptions are much better than the ones you gave mine”
“I’m feeling a little poetic today,” I said as I shrugged.
“Well, don’t let me stop you…” she said.
“The last one then,” I continued. “Nameless, unfortunately. Maybe you can think of a good name for it once I’m finished.” The girls nodded in unison. “There was a pathetic little forest that bordered a town, for days the townsfolk attempted to get rid of it, swinging axes at the trees and sickles at the grass. Yet, every new day, they would wake up from their beds and find it regrown. The forest looked exactly the same, every day, no matter what the townsfolk did to damage it.
“Eventually the townsfolk grew frustrated and summoned people from other nearby towns and cities; they destroyed the entire forest in just one day. Nothing but stumps were left, no flowers, no plants, even the small pond in the middle was filled in.
“The townsfolk cheered, they were finally free from the weedy forest that sullied their towns good image. Suddenly a small spirit popped out from the ground and looked around. ‘You really need a lot of wood!’ it said. ‘I will make sure to grow as much as I can for tomorrow.’ The villagers' anger overwhelmed them, and they killed the spirit.
“A small boy, who took part in the decimation of the forest, watched as the villagers killed the lovely spirit. He cried and cried, eventually the villagers left him in the dying forest. They returned to their towns and celebrated all night.
“They woke up the next morning and were shocked to find that once again, the forest had grown back. The townsfolk entered the forest to see how it had happened, once they arrived at the little pond, they found the boy floating above it. Before any of them could say anything, they were dead. The entire life of the forest, all the energy and all the qi retaliated as revenge for the little spirit that was just trying to help.”
The girls were once again silent, as was I. It was a rather melancholy story, I had to admit, but it was a happy and hopeful technique that hinged upon giving and nurture, only resorting to violence when provoked.
“Spirit of giving,” said Chit. A small tear had formed in her eye.
“Then that is what we shall call it,” I said.
“You have a habit of saving the best for last,” said Safi who recalled the way I shared the techniques that suited her.
“It’s my way of testing whether I know the person or not. Did I get it right?” I looked at Chit, she nodded in response. “I’ll show you the technique and if you like it, feel free to use it. If not, I’ll help you find one that suits your soul root.”
“That poor spirit,” said Eleb, still reeling from the story.
“The forest still stands today,” I said. “Maybe one day, I’ll take you there.”
“You absolutely have to!” said Eleb as she jumped up and slammed her hands on my knees.
“I hope you can put up with me till then,” I said, jokingly.
“That should be my line,” said Eleb as she sighed and sat next to Chit. “I’m actually a little jealous.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s got something equally exciting lined up for you too,” said Safi who looked at me suggestively. I looked away with a smirk.
“Possibly...”
Casualperv Whoops I wrote another one...
