Rosa: A Wangxian Reincarnation Story

Rosa 18:Demanding the Truth

All of them gathered after dinner. It was something Qinyang insisted on. This group had known each other in a long-ago turbulent time yet had never gotten to understand the people that now sat in the large, comfortable room she had stuffed with pillows and loveseats. A vintage bottle or two of wine was always provided by Alain's private stock. Plates of truffles and cookies were scattered around. As usual, Halo sat in a distant corner, curled into a huge pillow, quiet and watching the group (when she was not studying books on martial arts and swordplay) as they either reminisced or had a heated discussion or two.

Mr. Nighe joined in, loving the acceptance he was finding. A sense of belonging. He and Xavier often sat near one another, the mutual love of the missing Nie Mingue bound them and they were becoming friends because of his memory. Xavier would spend time running lines with him for his latest play. He had secured his first speaking part, The Drunken Porter in Macbeth. He was beyond thrilled and had handed out tickets to everyone.

"You'll love it, Alain! It's at the Barboursville Vineyards every year, Shakespeare At The Ruins. Please everyone, please say you will come."

Who could say no to the pleading puppy before them. He was overcome with joy and ran back to study his script.

Wei Ying always sat on a cushion in the very center of the floor. He was never without his sketch pad and he did studies with pencils and pastels of everyone. It was such a part of the nightly routine that everyone forgot he was there at times until they realized that they were the next model under his intense observation.

Lan Zhan was immersed in security. Improving arrays and talismans. Planning Yenay's training. Searching for clues of Xue Yang's location. His early release from prison and his complete disappearance were consuming his thoughts.

Qinyang was curled up on a loveseat reading Jane Austen's Persuasion for the one hundredth time. The lost love between Anne and Captain Wentworth was especially poignant for her right now The last few lines, as she watches him drift further away from her and enter the orbit around a younger woman increased her feelings of sadness and she laid the volume aside to go into the communal kitchen and empty the dishwasher. Idle hands...

She rejoined the group and leaned her head against the back of the small sofa, and was startled when she felt Yenay sit beside her

She held her breath. And felt a hand slip into hers. "You are upset?"

"No. Not really. Just alone with my thoughts."

"That is not necessarily a good thing."

"I know. But my books and my thoughts are the way I seek peace from life and I lose myself in them. My avenue of escape."

Yenay picked up the leather-clad volume and opened it at random.

She read the first passage on the page out loud without thinking...

"All the privilege I claim for my own sex, (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it!), is that of loving longest when the existence of that hope is gone!"

Qinyang averted her eyes quickly. That passage! Why did it have to be the very one that mirrored her frame of mind for the last five years? She swallowed hard and took the book from Yenay's hands then laid it on the side table next to her now cold tea. It was bad enough living like this, but to have it displayed before the woman she loved was hard. To hear the soft voice echo it out loud was even worse. To see her fully understand the import of those words, the resignation, and the dreariness of a future without a partner's full commitment was unbearable. Her worst vision of the rest of her life had been laid bare to the only person who could save her but could not.

"Sometimes. Jane Austen does not suit my mood." She stood and stretched. "Everyone. I have to head for bed. I am a little tired tonight."

She walked swiftly away, dignified back held ramrod straight, suddenly unable to bear the room. Lan Zhan looked up and saw Yenay standing there, looking upset, and approached quickly. "Yenay, please join me. I am working out a schedule for swordplay. I feel it is time to begin using Baohu Zhe again."

After they sat at the desk, he spoke softly."There are times when Qinyang needs her time alone. She self isolates. Almost all the time it is only for several hours, maybe an evening. Her worst time was for three years, alone and with nobody to help her. She will be fine in the morning."

"I am sorry. I did not mean to upset her. "

"Stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong. Just stay here for a little. I was wondering if you play chess. Your instincts are good, but honing your strategies needs to be worked on at the same time."

"I know the basics."

"Let's pass the time that way for a while." One by one the others drifted to their rooms. Two hours passed and then Yenay shoved the board aside, staring hard at Lan Zhan.

"Tell me about those three years. Why was she alone? Where was I? Where were her brothers? Why is she so desperate to save me now?"

"It is a hard story to tell. Yet it is a glorious one as well."

"Then you are the proper one to tell me. You will be direct and you will not soften it."

He directed her over in front of the fireplace and as the flames crackled he began to tell her the story of two girls who found an unconventional love that they cultivated together. Cherished it, nurtured it, and nearly lost It. A love that has lasted a thousand lifetimes.

It took until dawn and it had many pauses as Yenay tried to absorb it all.

The night they were torn apart, and the damage Qinyang endured. The Punishment Hall. Her Sun's escape from Cloud Recesses, her madness at the Lodge. Their reunion.

As he spoke her mind opened a bit more with each joy and each horror as they played out. She could see it all happening as if she were a lone viewer in a movie house. Qinyang, losing it all with no hope for the future ahead. And with it, Yenay's own desperate fight to make her way back to recover her Soldier's Woman.

After Lan Zhan was through, she stood up on shaking legs, and could not speak. She just looked at him as he dealt with his own reawakened sorrow and then she knelt, and stretched out a low bow, prostrate on the floor. Then she rose and walked into their bedroom.

She gazed at the sad features and the traces of dried tears on Qinyang's face, partially covered by the long golden hair. She had finally fallen into a deep sleep. Yenay's breath was fast and her heart  beat like she had run a race, pounding frantically. She sank down and sat cross-legged next to the bed. She was seeing her Sun with new eyes. No, she was seeing her through ancient eyes at last.