Ming Zhu and The Pearl that Shines

Chapter Twenty-Six - You Are My Sister

In the dream, Xiao Xiao wandered. The landscape was wintry, bleak, and she found herself wearing her favorite rabbit-fur muffs and ermine-lined gown. Her boots left deep prints in the snow.

There was a gaping hole in her heart, a searing pain. Something was wrong: Ming Zhu had cried out suddenly, as if she had been seriously wounded, and the connection with the dragon princess faltered, a light about to be snuffed out.

The snow drift grew stronger and Xiao Xiao shielded her face from the stinging ice. She followed her instinct. In her palm was the green pearl, its glow pulsating weakly.

Fresh blood spotted the white snow before her, a path of red unnatural petals. Xiao Xiao followed it, feeling the pearl throb, like a struggling heart. The trail of blood stains led to a clearing and there, a silver dragon lay, breathing heavily, her silver-scaled flanks heaving. A deep red gash cut deep across her tail and it bled profusely.

"Ming Zhu!" Xiao Xiao screamed and ran towards the silver dragon, skidding on her knees without care. She touched the silver scales gently; the dragon shuddered, sobbing.

"The wicked woman has a Taoist priest," Ming Zhu said softly. "An evil priest, who fought me and hurt me with a spirit hook. The wound is deep. I feel my blood leaving me. Oh, I hurt so much, so much. And I am so angry... I will kill him..." Her voice trailed off. The dragon convulsed.

"No, no, no," Xiao Xiao whispered. "You can't die. Stay with me, Ming Zhu."

In her hand was the book of herbs. She didn't know how it got there. It was a dream, after all. Shivering with fear and sorrow, she flipped through it, until she found the page on poultices. But where could she find herbs in this wintry landscape?

It was a dream and she knew, from talking to Master Gao, that some people could control their dreams. So she wished, very hardly, for herbs like dandelion, sea buckthorn and mu dan pi, her hand closed in a tight fist over the pearl.

The herbs didn't materialize. She despaired, while Ming Zhu breathed shallowly beside her, the blood staining the snow a deep deep red. She began to weep, her tears trailing down her cheeks in cold rivulets. She felt so helpless. She felt she had failed Ming Zhu.

"Listen to me," Xiao Xiao said, staring desperately at her book of herbs. "You will be saved. I will help you. You must trust me."

When her tears fell on to the snow, plants began to emerge, leaves unfurling, uncurling. The herbs, Xiao Xiao thought, shocked.

She tore off her muffs quickly. She had to move fast.

Xiao Xiao peeled the leaves and petals off, mashing them up into a paste. Ming Zhu cried out, in a shrill scream that resonated in the clearing, when Xiao Xiao applied the paste on the wound.

The wait felt like an eternity.

Ming Zhu's breathing evened out and began to sound deeper, more relaxed. Then before Xiao Xiao's eyes, the dragon's shape blurred, wavered and turned into a young girl in a sea-green hanfu. She rested her head on Xiao Xiao's lap, her eyes teary, her face bloodless. Her hair, loosened, was dark as the river at night.

"You are my sister," Xiao Xiao said soothingly. The skin was clammy beneath her hands. She rubbed some warmth into the girl's fingers, noting the slight curl of the nails like tiny claws. Gradually, Ming Zhu quietened and slept.

~*~

Xiao Xiao started awake. It was close to dawn. She was holding onto the book of herbs.