A Gentle Torment

Little Blackbird

AN: ((Hua Dong is a slight reference Ye Hua telling Mo Yuan's first disciple to call him Hua Ye in the drama. Will be related in the future.))

Mo Yuan's eyes open the second he's aware of his twin's presence on the mountain. Drawn away from his search for his Seventeenth, he calmly gets up from the dais, leaving his meditation cave to head straight for the lotus pond. He knows he'll be there and some part of him can't help but hope that he has news related to their missing fox. He'd even settle for finding the Ghost Princess at this point.

Spotting his brother looking down at the waters, he joins his side and waits silently for him to collect his own thoughts.

"Brother..." He's slow to come to him, unlike usual. Looking back to spot Mo Yuan, he can't help but hesitate, "I need to move my den. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind combining ours so that when Qian Qian returns to us, she'll have somewhere safe to rest."

Mo Yuan nods in agreement, slowly turning around to look over at the darkening skies painted across the lands in front of him, "I will gladly share my cave with you, but why are you hesitating?"

"Hao De and Su Jin were on Mount Junji." Ye Hua watches as Mo Yuan's face hardens into a firm frown, "I fear that we may need to keep her in the cave until they're dealt with."

His older brother doesn't answer for several minutes, keeping his gaze on the sky (in the direction that he knows to lead to the Celestial Palace, "I've been looking back on the short time I saw her during the dreamscape to try and find a few answers."

"And?"

"I'm beginning to think she's hiding intentionally. It could be both a blessing and a curse in disguise." 

"How do you mean?" 

"If what I think is happening, then she is better off hidden away for now, but being so close to a member of the Ghost Realm's royal family every day might have an effect on-"

From behind them, Mo Yuan is cut off by the sound of a small blackbird calling out to them happily. It lands directly on the ledge of the lotus ponds, twittering and chirping away as it preens its feathers momentarily, seemingly taking a moment to rest.

Spotting a small slip of paper tied to its leg, Mo Yuan slowly walks up to it and unties the small scrap of silk from the bird. Ye Hua is already joining his side when the blackbird flies off.

Meet me at the base of the mountain.

Sharing a glance with Ye Hua, neither need to speak as they cloud jump towards the direction the blackbird flew off to.

o~O~o

The twins follow the little blackbird down to the very base of the mountain, where another blackbird rests underneath the bough of an old tree, preening its feathers as it waits. When the first bird arrives, the other seems to grumpily ruffle its feathers before flying off towards the West.

Mo Yuan walks up to the spot where it was resting, almost missing the cloth bag waiting at the base of the tree. Picking it up, he pulls out two additional notes as his face sets into a frown.

"Brother, is she leading us to Qian Qian?"

".... No," Mo Yuan hands him both papers, "She wants us to make several elixirs and leave them at the abandoned outpost near where Seventeenth was last seen. Supposedly she's brought along the ingredients that are harder to find..."

As Mo Yuan searches the bag, his hand freezes the second he touches the smooth surface of a wooden bird. Pulling it out, he examines the handiwork. The surface is stained from paint that has long chipped away and the weathered wood has clearly seen its fair share of use and play. For a brief moment, Mo Yuan is drawn back to Ye Hua's birth and the flocks of brightly colored birds that flew through the Celestial Palace, singing their songs of celebration with nothing less than utter joy.