Predestination

The Mountain

Yan Zhu would practice her powers on the cliffs away from curious eyes.  However one pair of eyes always watched her. A Xian Xue bird. He was mesmerized by the lights created by her fire spells. He was mesmerized by the shape shifting spells she was also in posession of, always waiting to see what she would become next or where she would appear next. She would always come to practice at the same time, once a week in the evenings. The Xian Xue bird, finally learning this, began to come early to sit and watch until she was done and later leave with the most wonderous colours and lights still in his eyes. For hundreds of years he saw her grow and her power become more wondrous until one day he decided to transform himself.

Xian Xue had the power to morph into human form.  He didnt know why he had this power, he just knew he had always had it.  Up until that point, he had spent all of his time as a bird.  He had never had the urge to transform himself and so he didnt really have any concept of what it meant to be human.  He didnt know what being a man meant.  Or for that matter what being a woman meant.  He had spent all his existence either flying, perching, or consuming something for energy.  He had never really contemplated anything more.  He couldnt have known how his appearence or body language would appear to others or the effect it might have.  It simply hadnt entered his mind.  He had always lived in the moment.

 Yan Zhu didnt see the bird tranform into a human, nor had she ever noticed that the bird had been watching her all this time.  But at one point she did notice a man walking toward her.  He had a particular gait.  It was very confident and self assured.  Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that the man was very attractive, her breath catching in her throat.  She quietly cursed herself for being so silly.  'Looks have nothing to do with it!  Its no reason to let your guard down.'  She thought to herself.  She looked on with suspicion, waiting to see what he wanted.

As he sauntered over to Yan Zhu he noticed that his heart beat faster.  He continued to smile but confusion and wonder showed in his eyes.  He quickly realized that he simply wanted to be near her.  He wanted to know all there was about this person.  His smile was so infectious and his brashness was so obvious that Yan Zhu's suspicion melted just a little and a hint of a smile started to form on her lips.

They were so busy not paying attention to anything but each other, that Xian Xue never noticed the tree root poking out of the ground just enough to catch his foot, causing him to plunge forward into the ground.  Though, because he had spent all his life as a bird, his instinct was to try to bat his wings to land gently instead of putting him hands out to catch his fall.  He fell straight onto his face.  Yan Zhu was so shocked by his actions she just stood there starring in confusion at the fallen man still on the ground with his arms spread out.  A few moments passed.  Xian Xue looked up in confusion and realized what happened.  Looking up at Yan Zhu he couldnt help but laugh at how silly he must look.  As many people do when seeing a someone getting hurt by accident, she couldnt help but burst out laughing.