Immortal Mortals

Suspicions.

Sorry guys/gals, had to slow it down it bit, work is full on at the moment, and the end of the year means family commitments for me, will try my best to keep the chapters coming at least every two days. 

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The day the school was finished, all construction site overseers and their families were invited to celebrate an official opening, which also saw many of the townsfolk attend, including Ai and her girls.  It was quite a gathering and as the food and wine flowed and the children ran and played around them, Ai and Jie, suddenly found themselves together among the hustle and bustling noise of a happy gathering.  Smiling at each other as the children ran around them, they took each others hands and without a word, they both felt the need to leave.  Jie wanted to be alone with her, and she with him.

Hand in hand, he lead her back to her little house as they talked about their own childhood.  "I am the youngest of 5 children and the only daughter." Ai told him.  "My mother is the strongest woman I know, with a heart as big as the sky and love enough for every world that exists." she said smiling.  "My father too, he loves us all, but with me, he treated me as his most precious jewel." she said looking up at him.  "I was also exceptionally naughty, mischievous and wayward, but he never once lost his temper.  If anything I was the naughtiest daughter because he allowed it." she laughed as Jie smiled, not believing at all that she had been a naughty child, in his mind it wasn;'t possible, but her description of her childhood sounded strangely familiar, his mind automatically going back to the many conversations he had, had with Bai Zhi regarding his daughter.

Putting the thoughts aside, he wondered how to best answer her question regarding his own youth, being so different.  "I am an only child, and my father was very strict.  Though he loved me, he did not allow weakness in anything I did or said, so my childhood revolved around a schooling for boys and it was very tough.  But I excelled in everything I did, to gain his love and affection.  And when he did love, he loved deeply and without restraint, it was worth the effort to win it, because when I did well, his eyes shone so brightly I thought the sun lived in them." he said smiling down at her.  

My mother, was beautiful, kind, gentle and generous wtih her love, she was also exceptionally intelligent that not many have come close to the kind of mind she had.  I loved them both dearly, but they are no longer of this world." he said, the sadness that she could see, was hidden behind a smile, she could feel his love for them, and it hurt to know they were no longer around for him, or for her, she would not get a chance to meet them.

Squeezing his hand gently, they had almost reached her home, when she suddenly asked Jie to join her for a meal.  It would be the first time she had invited him inside though he had walked her home many times, this time she wanted him to get a feel for her, and it would in her home that he would.

Jie too felt he would get to know her better when she was in her own element, so accepting, he followed her all the way into her home. And on entry, he smiled, it was not what he expected.  For a quiet and shy woman, her home was not.  He expected an orderliness to it, perhaps the usual tacky ornaments that the Mortal Realm women liked to decorate their homes with, but hers had none of them, instead there was quite an impressive collection of books, music and even a zither, which did surprise him. In fact, the outside of her home with its pretty garden and fully grown trees, were more in line with her personality, yet the inside of her home was the complete opposite.  This was an interesting woman, he thought to himself as he picked up a comprehensive guide to the stars.  A book he did not expect her to have.  In fact, looking through her collection of music also had him smiling. They were not the songs of the Mortal Realm that most young women listened to, but unique instrumental music from far away lands.  Music that he too collected.