A Whimsical Oldwomanhood | Gatekeepers of Magic

Black Jade

"How did she take it?" Daiyu asked as Fenghuang returned home mere hours later.

Surprisingly well. It answered with a little trill of a laugh. Though I should have told her to sit down first.

Daiyu sat in the flower pavilion in her garden, basking in the peaceful stillness that mild winters always brought. Fenghuang rested atop a rock just outside the partly enclosed space in which the old woman tended her osmanthus, lotus, and orchids.

"That is good news. We haven't gained a new member in too long. I'm afraid our numbers dwindle with each passing season— caretakers and creatures alike." The old woman turned her attention to Fenghuang, satisfied with her flowers' formidableness in the coldest time of year. A few pixies fluttered around the pavilion as well, keeping watch over the flowers alongside Daiyu. Their delicate hands placed upon soft petals or hardened leaves to encourage the flowers to stand tall despite the harrowing chill.

No matter how long she had been friends with the ancient being, its magnificence never failed to entrance her. She gazed at it while it took some time to respond.

Even so, hope remains. You'd do well not to worry so much. Fenghuang looked knowingly into Daiyu's eyes.

Daiyu let out a long breath, "I know, I know." She held up her strong hands. "I worry enough for the both of us."

When you've lived as long as I, you come to learn that such worries are a waste of time. Action is the best remedy.

"Yes, Fenghuang. I would counter, though, that some worry is good— it means you care." She said with a wink.

It laughed again. The ways in which human minds work will never cease to amaze me.

After that, the two old companions sat in comfortable silence for a while. Fenghuang folded its legs underneath its belly and rested on the rock, observing the familiar garden. Despite having been alive for countless centuries, Fenghuang could always find something new to appreciate. On this winter's day, it was the slender bamboo reeds clacking against each other from time to time due to the movement of some element or creature. The smooth stalks reached hopefully toward the open sky, but their small leaves sprouted from its length sporadically, as if also striving to acknowledge each level of the surrounding environment, from the smallest ant underneath the freezing soil to the last leaf clinging to the gingko tree.

Fenghuang knew that Daiyu, like itself, honored the world around her. There she sat with perfect posture despite her age, thick black hair streaked with gray as straight as her back, swayed only by the occasional slight breeze. Even at her most relaxed, sitting within her sprawling traditional Chinese garden, she looked a formidable woman— and she was.

Daiyu's Sight had come to her later in life than most who were gifted with it. She was not born with the Sight, though she always had the makings to be a part of the magical world. An active advocate for the environment her whole life, she had lived in many different parts of China to carry her message and to learn about the many different ecosystems within the great country so as to better help them.

On one such journey to visit and support sanctuaries for the endangered giant pandas, she stumbled across a mountain bamboo grove that flourished and buzzed with an energy quite atypical of the withering world around it. Daiyu was astonished and felt a hope like she hadn't felt in years (even back then, she was getting up in age). Amongst the proud stalks of bamboo, she glimpsed many giant pandas, more of them concentrated in one area than she had ever seen before. Their soft, round bodies contrasted beautifully with the thin, tall bamboo all around them. In fact, it was probably the largest group of the gentle, lumbering creatures remaining in the world.