The Librarian and the Fox Princess: A Past Reframed, Volume II

Chapter 12 - The Island Mistress Pt. II

A/N: Image credit - Geri Chapple at Unsplash.com

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Immediately she cocked her head up towards the birds. "Do you guys know what the black market is?"

The birds looked at each other uneasily. Some of them used their talons to grip the branches tighter to prevent from shifting awkwardly.

While she could at times be particularly empathic, she knew it didn't take any extra sensory powers to know that they knew about the black market but couldn't tweet freely about it.

"You guys can't tell me, huh?"

The birds that were spread over three different branches all looked down uncomfortably.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's okay. I'm always cock-blocked from it anyway. I guess I just don't have the karma for it yet."

The birds then looked at each other. They were surprised she was so understanding and easy-going about it. They felt bad they couldn't tell their mistress.

Suddenly, one of them sent an image to her mind. In it she saw a scene of ten large roasted birds grilled over several fire pits, each with glossy rich light brown skin, crisped from melting fat. In this scene, Dong Hua stood holding Cang He, still dripping with fresh blood while surveying the scene of cooking birds. Plastered on his face was an uncharacteristic maniacal smile.

"Oh no! I wouldn't let him do that. Never!"

Another Luan bird sent her an image. This time, Dong Hua had torn off a large drumstick, placed it on a plate and brought it over to her. She licked her lips greedily before grabbing it and taking a big chomp.

She suddenly felt very embarrassed. This was all her librarian's fault for letting them know she enjoyed roast duck.

"Um ... I certainly love roast duck but I would never eat you. I'd rather have grass soup instead! And as for Dong Hua, if he ever tried to roast you guys I'd wrestle him to the ground before any of you lost a feather!"

They looked at each other and bobbed their heads with low hoots and chirps. She was indeed the Mistress of Bihai Cangling.

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Taking a walk along the beach, she spotted a young sea turtle on the sandy shore, no bigger than the size of her palm. It was flipped over on its back, probably from the force of the waves that brought it in.

She was taught in Qing Qiu to not interfere with the natural law with the wild animals when it came to relationships between predator and prey. However, this little turtle flipped over on its back was an unnatural occurrence and she knew it could die or become a meal for a predator easily. She watched as it struggled to rotate its small flippers desperately trying to turn itself over.

She looked up to the Luan birds who perched on the branches of a nearby tree. "I have to help it."

They warbled their affirmatives.

She stepped over slowly and squatted down.

"Hey buddy. You're going to be okay. I'm going to flip you over very slowly," she said in a calm and soothing tone.

She carefully picked the turtle up and slowly turned it upright and placed it on the sand. She stroked the soft shell several times gently.

"Would you like me to bring you closer to the water? Or were you wanting to go somewhere else?"

She was more just thinking out loud but realized she suddenly received an image in her mind of being submerged and gently swished in the aquamarine hues of the ocean.