Here Beside Me

Lesson Number One

written: 06.12.22-07.21.22

Once upon a time...

HERE BESIDE ME

G/n looked down at her sheet of paper, deciding to herself, "According to this chart, I put the coins here..." She looked up and noticed M/n pacing around the room while her husband and youngest daughter sat quietly on either side of G/n, drinking tea, S/n's new husband, Honghui, by her. "Relax, child. The spirits tell me Fa Mu will arrive and propose to Y/n before the sun sets. There's still time to get in on the pool." She winked at her, horrifying M/n.

"Mother!"

F/n placed down his cup, gulping it down, and agreed, "Gambling is like playing mahjongg with blank tiles. No one really wins."

Satisfied, M/n went back to pacing. With F/n's eyes on her, he slipped his mother his share of the bet at Honghui did the same, getting a disapproving look from S/n.

Taking both, she mocked stealthy enough to make it sound like the truth, "I'm enriched by your presence, my son."

M/n looked back suspiciously, so F/n excused himself. "I...think I'll go pray."

As he left, someone knocked on the door. M/n opened it to a little girl with two buns and a missing tooth with two buckets on a stick. "Hello, Sha-Ron."

Brightly, she bowed and asked, "Is Y/n-jiějiě here?"

"Why, she's out in the field."

"Yeah. Doing her chores," G/n agreed.

"Oh. I'll go help her!" Sha-Ron began to run off, but came back over and bowed again. "Uh, thank you," she said before running back off.

Closing the door, M/n said with a smile, "The children all love Y/n."

"And why not?" G/n asked, chuckling. "She's strong, she's brave, she's beautiful...she's a chip off the ol' block!"

-

Y/n was out in the back, doing her chores and training at the same time. Her hair had grown out longer since the war. She swung around her rake as Sha-Ron caught sight of her. Taking the buckets off, she decided to use the stick as get own staff. As she ran to Y/n, other little girls came running out.

"Hiya!" she screamed, taking a battle position.

"Hiya!" the girls repeated, one stumbling. "W - whoa!"

She turned around and raised a brow. "Hiya."

D/n ran over, barking and jumping around excitedly.

"It's okay, D/n," Y/n said, petting the top of his head to calm him, then turned back to the children. "What's going on here?"

"We wanna be like you, Y/n-jiějiě!" Sha-Ron announced, jumping and kicking in the air. "Hiya! Hiya! Hiy - oof!" She fell on her butt and everyone, including her, laughed.

Giggling, Y/n admitted, "But, I'm still learning myself."

"Please?" Sha-Ron begging, crawling towards her, everyone else shouting out agreements.

Relenting, "Okay, I guess I can show you a few moves."

"Y/N'S GONNA TEACH US HOW TO KICK BUTT!"

As everyone cheered, Y/n laughed, trying to get them all to calm down. "Whoa! Hold it! Calm down!"

She continued when they calmed. "That's lesson number two. The first and most important lesson is to be gentle at the same time we're being tough." She punched her hand to demonstrate.