Of Wind and Dreams

Binds of the Shrine

https://youtu.be/ydYFsaOHEVA

Xiao walked past familiar roads and friendly brooks with a denim bag over his shoulder. He was so used to seeing the trees near the Shrine Gate, that with little effort he could easily recall which ones gave the sweetest shade and which ones to avoid in case of a storm.

As a kid, Xiao loved his home and didn't mind spending most of his childhood alone, as in his spare time he would run into the woods and later tell his mother about the beasts and spirits he encountered in his imagination.

Xiao's mother was the sole successor and inheritor of the Adepti Shrine which had a rich cultural heritage of over 600 years. The shrine was far away from the main city, in a remote nook surrounded by dense woods which were rumoured to be sacred grounds. Perhaps the distance and isolation of the shrine added to its charm, as they observed pilgrims and tourists throughout the year.

His traditional old home stood just beside the shrine, with its wooden columns and faithful windows that survived the weathering of time.

Ganyu was standing at the large door, waving her hand with enthusiasm.

https://youtu.be/C5oQ1K2cJnw

"You took so long!" She huffed.

"I got lost on the way."

"Lunch's going to get cold. Let's go."

"Xiao." A woman in a traditional silk robe walked out of the house's cold shadows. Her eyes were golden, but a deeper shade than his own and her nose had the same sharpness as Xiao's.

Xiao embraced his mother awkwardly and corrected his shirt collar as she left him.

"I was almost sure you wouldn't turn up." She smiled, her gentle wrinkles spreading at the edges of her eyes.

His mother was beautiful. Even at this age, when her back had begun to arch into a bow and her hair had started to look like silver threads, her smile had the power to set off butterflies in people's stomachs. If Xiao had to thank anyone for his looks, it had to be his mother.

He fumbled with his bag and took out a box, packed and sealed with care.

"Happy Birthday." He tried his best to sound cheerful.

His mother took the box from him and looked at it suspiciously.

"Is this Almond Tofu again?" She asked.

"It's a new recipe I learnt... Grilled Fish." Xiao answered a little offended by his mother's guess.

Ganyu embraced her and looked at the box with curiousity.

"This is such a thoughtful gift." Ganyu smiled.

"Is the little punk back?" A husky voice could be heard from the door as a burly man walled out. Xiao hoped no one noticed the sneer he let out accidentally.

The man he now called father, walked beside him and patted his on back with his heavy hands. His clear blue hair was long and tied into an unkept bun. So unruly.

"Don't be so hard on him." His mother waved as she walked away with Ganyu clinging onto her shoulder.

Xiao pushed his father's heavy hand from his back.

"It's your mother's birthday. Behave for today." He warned as he gave Xiao one last look and walked away.

Oh how Xiao hated him.

Maybe he was one of the reasons why he left his home anyway, his monster of a step father.

When Xiao was younger, he was used to seeing him around. On weekdays he would work at the construction site and in the weekends he would help out at the shrine as community service. He was his mother's old friend from school who just happened to settle in the same town as them, and then eventually married her.

Xiao didn't have any memories of his father, whatever he knew of his dad were mostly based of stories his mother told him. From his pictures and letters, he imagined him to be knowledgeable and poised, enduring yet gentle. His step father was nowhere close to that.

His boisterous laughter annoyed Xiao, his silly jokes angered him and his very presence made him want to lash out at him.

There was a subtle cloud of tension looming at the dining table, but nothing catastrophic happened. Ganyu was as enthusiastic as ever to talk about the strange occurrences at school and the horror stories her friends orchestrated from these events. Xiao never shared a lot, he preferred listening, that too with a distant gaze.

Other than the initial awkwardness of when they became step siblings, there wasn't any conflict between the two because they both started off as childhood friends. Ganyu always looked up to him as a guide and Xiao didn't mind being the more protective, aggressive one.

As they sat scattered in the room, his father tried to strike up a conversation with him. He asked Xiao about his basketball team, whether he was managing his attendance, and if he was being able to survive with the pay he got from work. His father would randomly strike up every small-talk topic except for the one he intentionally avoided, girls.

Xiao still remembered vividly the day they found out he was seeing someone from college, and for some strange invalid reason, they flipped out. He thought of the days he had to wait till 2 so his parents were asleep and he could sneakily call up his girlfriend, Lumine.

Eventually he got frustrated by the restrictions laid down upon him and fought his way to move to an apartment closer to the college. What started off as his act of rebellion later spiraled into an attempt to living an independent life, and Xiao liked it a little more than his earlier one.

Lumine and him broke up eventually, but Xiao still refused to return home as he wasn't giving up his freedom, while he still was young and bold enough to revel in it.

As Xiao walked away at sundown, he waved his family goodbye. It was not that he didn't miss them, he'd often find himself craving for the comfort his mother gave him, sometimes he'd switch on the radio even though it would be just some old doctor talking about a healthy diet, so didn't have to listen to the dull whirring of the refrigerator.

Sometimes in his dark days, he'd often find himself pondering, that no matter where he went, his home or back to his apartment he always felt like this.