Kunlun Mountain Part 2 - The Masters Disciple.

Chapter 11 - Part 2. The Proposal

 He couldn't remember the last time the boy had come to the cellar to completely obliterate his brain.  Whatever the reason to have driven him to this point, must have severely unsettled him.  Though, that he had chosen to remove the barrier spell, suggested whatever the problem was, involved the girl herself and not the Disciple.  Normally he would bury himself in the library for days and sometimes into the night if he was troubled, or he would go into seclusion for days, though Mo Yuan never allowed him to go more than a week, his body was still growing, and he would not manage longer periods without sustenance.  

Some time in the night. Mo Yuan had left the girl sleeping while he prepared the sobering soup. And going by the amount of wine in her small body, she would need at least 3 bowls.

Now cradling her in his lap, he had waited for her to waken, while he lightly dozed. It was the first time he had seen her female form since that time, a memory he had buried deeply refusing to give it any space in this thoughts, and even though it had briefly risen when he had moved her onto his lap, he quickly pushed it back down.   1000 years had passed with the memory successfully forgotten, and for thousands more it would remain forgotten.

"Shifu?" her soft voice broke into his thoughts.

He must have dozed off, he hadn't felt her move, he thought to himself as his now open eyes looked directly into hers.  She had moved enough of her body to swing it around to look at him and her still tearful eyes were looking at him fear.  Probably because she thought she would be in trouble, and she wasn't wrong, she had not only risked being caught by her seniors in her true form, she had drunk over half of his 100 year old wine.

Reaching to take up the first bowl of sobering soup, he pulled her back against him and began to feed it to her.  Ignoring her pleas to feed herself, he held her tightly and forced all three bowls into her between her continued sniffing and intermittent sobs.  Then holding her against him, he gently stroked her hair while the soup worked it's magic and she finished the last of her tears. It took a good hour for her tears to subside, but once done, he lifted her off him and turned her to face him.

"What happened Bai Qian?" he asked her softly, but the tender look in his eyes, merely restarted her tears.

In between more broken sobs, tears and now hiccups, the story began to unfold.  From the marriage arrangement with his 15th Disciple, the cruel stories circulating the Realms and her own perception of her physical body, Mo Yuan pieced together a very tragic tale.  Now he understood why an innocent young girl just reaching maturity would feel so very vulnerable and hurt.  It was a hard age for any girl, especially when physical attraction was paramount and when ones physical appearance is brought into question, the result can be devastating.

While she talked, Mo Yuan sat quietly listening, allowing her the time to vent at the cruel gossip spread by people who didn't even know her, her parents insensitive and thoughtless consideration of a marriage union between herself and her Disciple brother, a brother who was just as much blood to her as Bai Zhen,  and her own insistence that she was fat ugly and undesirable.  He had heard enough.  

Never had he been so angry with her seniors and the world as he was at that moment.  Her cries were heartbreaking, and no matter what he told her, nothing would change her mind, she refused to listen to reason even when he conjured a mirror to prove to her that she truly was very beautiful.  

In the end. he pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried.  He had three issues to deal with, but the most urgent was her self esteem and a few days away from Kunlun Mountain was the answer.  The last thing he wanted, was her seniors to see her in the state she was in.  Even if he were to return the barrier spell, her unstable emotions would only break it.