Chance Encounters-An Eternal Love of Dreams Fan Fiction

Chapter Five - Fourth Meeting

A small red fox, its nine tails wagging behind it, gleefully run through the off beaten paths behind Tai Chen Palace on an unusually warm winter night. Feng Jiu had been waiting for the opportunity to transform into her fox form for a few weeks now as she has been resisting the urge to do so ever since Dijun had come back to the Palace. Although the paths and the field at the back of the Palace were empty at all times as no one was allowed to go there by the express order of Dijun, she didn't want to risk being there when he was in residence.  When she had first come to the Palace, she had asked Chonglin why the area was off limits and he had looked at her suspiciously knowing that she had a propensity to stick her nose where it doesn't belong when she became curious.  "Xiao Jiu, that's where Dijun meditates and cultivates when he is in Tai Chen Palace.  That area is imbued with his spiritual power.  He doesn't like it disturbed so please don't go there.  The last person who trespassed in that area was banished to the Mortal Realms and stripped of all powers for 5000 years."  When Dijun had been away for a year, Feng Jiu had gone there once in a while to transform to her fox form.  As a spiritual fox, she needed to transform from time to time or else her cultivation would suffer.  She couldn't transform anywhere else in the Palace grounds as someone might see her.  It would be difficult to explain the presence of a nine tailed fox running around the grounds of the Sky Kingdom if she was sighted.   However, It had been so long since she has transformed and she has been feeling the effects of it.  Tonight was the best opportunity she had as Dijun was not in the Palace and was not expected back until the next week at least according to Chonglin. Convincing herself that there was no risk involved, she decided to venture out. As she run around, she wondered where Dijun had gone to.  It must be for something important or else he wouldn't have gone there personally.  When Dijun had retired and handed over his position as Heavenly Emperor to the previous Tianjun, who had since also retired, he has rarely involved himself in the myriad of issues across the Realms preferring a solitary life.  However, when it comes to any events that would have far reaching consequence to the Mortal and Immortal Realms, he was still the one who had to deal with it.  She wondered what serious matter was transpiring to merit his personal involvement.  In the meantime, there's no use thinking about it now on such a nice night.  It's a good thing it's very warm tonight so I can stay out later.  Oh, how I've missed feeling the earth under my paws.

After a few hours of running around, her fox instinct told her that she was no longer alone. She quickly scampered towards a copse of trees on the other side of the field to hide herself.  She deftly climbed onto a tree and perched herself on one of its branches taking care to be as quiet as possible so that she can peer out at the field to see who or what it was that had interrupted her play. When she saw the white hair gleaming from the distance, she almost groaned out loud. He wasn't supposed to be here. Did she misunderstand Chonglin? He probably didn't see her though, at least she hope he didn't as he was still at a distance away from her. It was a good thing that she was in her fox form so her senses were heightened allowing her to sense him and flee even before she was sighted.

As she spied on him, she saw him stop in the middle of the field to gaze at the distant mountain ranges bordering the field on one side. There was an uncharacteristic slight droop in the square of his shoulders and Feng Jiu could see the exhaustion lining his face as she stared at his profile. She wondered what burdens he had to carry on his shoulders. It must be hard to be the Supreme God of the Universe. Looking at him now, solitary and alone, she felt for him. She knew he had no one to call family as he was a creation of the Heavens to save the Universe. He didn't really have any friends either because his position and power necessarily required him to always keep a certain distance from anyone else. What must it be like to have only yourself to count on, to not have anyone to share your triumphs and problems with both in times of happiness and in times of sadness? Although Feng Jiu likes to escape the Fox Realm once in a while to make new friends, explore new places, she always knew that she had people she could go home to. She knew she could always count on her family to support her. As she continued to stare at his solitary countenance, she wondered if there was some way she could make things better for him. He gives so much to the Universe, takes on so much to protect everyone. There must be something I can do to help him. Some way that I can help carry his burdens. That was a foolish thought, though, for what can she offer him, she wasn't verse in political machinations nor was she familiar with military strategies. She couldn't even understand the most basic Buddhist text that were part of her assignments when she was in school so she could not even converse with him on his favorite topic. She sighed, suddenly feeling useless. So deep was she in thought that she was not paying attention to the fact that she was pacing on a tree branch. Before she became aware of what was happening, she had missed a step and started to fall onto the hard ground. As she grappled to keep her balance (good thing she was still in her fox form), she was finally able to land safely on her paws. Unfortunately, the noises she was making amidst the eerily silent night had alerted Dijun to her presence.   She didn't even need to lift her head towards his direction to know that he knew someone else was there and was probably now walking towards her. She quickly transformed into her human form knowing that Dijun cannot see her in her fox form as that would be a disaster of epic proportion.  One look at her tails and Dijun would know instantly which family she belongs to for they were the only nine tailed fox clan in the Universe and it would not take him long to figure out that she was the Princess of Qingqiu and its future Queen. She would bring embarrassment to the Fox Kingdom and her family if she was punished for blatantly disobeying his edict, not to mention that they will find out that she has been working in Tai Chen Palace as a kitchen maid.  If Dijun didn't punish her, her father would be the one to do it.