Aftermath (A series of ELOD one-shots)

VI. Retainer (Part 2)

A/N: All Jiuchongtian rules and procedures referred to in this chapter are products of my imagination.

Also, OC warning! I hope you find him as entertaining as I did when I was writing him. It's quite interesting to explore how other people see DJ and FJ, from a third person POV.

Disclaimer: Cutie artwork above not mine, credit goes to the artist/owner. All other characters belong to the brilliant Tang Qi Gong Zi, without whom this story would not be possible.

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Newly minted fairy Dai Zhenren glanced through the scroll in his hands, deemed the contents acceptable, and neatly set it aside.  He took another, glanced through it for a few moments, and placed it on the "return" pile -- there were a couple of mistakes in there that needed to be sent back to the recording section to be rectified.

He was perusing through a third scroll when a commotion near the entrance to the Immortal Registry's Archive Section took his attention.  A fairy of the same rank as his burst through the doors, nearly bursting to the seams in excitement.  "Have you heard?  Hey, have you heard?"

The half a dozen or so immortals working around the Archives lifted their heads to regard the newcomer.  "What happened?"  Someone asked, with the air of someone pretending not to be interested.

"Taichen Palace rejected the final shortlist of applicants for Her Majesty's personal retainer," the fairy panted, eyes gleaming.  "All five of them."

"Again?" Another fairy asked, this one not bothering to hide his affinity for gossip.  "That's the third time this month."

"The immortals at the appointment bureau are tearing their hair apart," the news-bearing fairy continued.  "The search for the Dihou's retainer had been going for almost a year.  This is the first time ever that they have been so thoroughly stumped in finding the perfect one that Dijun would approve of."

By this time, the news-bearing fairy was surrounded by his colleagues, who had all abandoned their respective tasks to soak in this latest piece of information about the deity that ruled over them all.  Dai Zhenren have been working for the Immortal Registry's Archives for quite some time now, ever since he entered Jiuchongtian nearly a year ago.  He had only seen Donghua Dijun once, when he was granted a title soon after his ascension.

Just like everyone else, he had been rendered utterly speechless and immobile before the ancient god's formidable presence.  He could barely remember how Dijun looked, although it would not matter -- no one in the Four Seas and Eight Realms had the same regal bearing and elegant appearance as the icy, silver-haired, purple-robed deity.

The granting of titles have been especially celebrated that year.  Dai Zhenren learned afterwards that he belonged to the first batch of immortals who ascended heaven hundreds of years after Dijun had ordered the closure of the Jade Lotus pond.  No one was exactly aware of the true reason for the closure, or why it was suddenly decided that the pond will again be opened, but then, no one ever dared to question nor unravel the reasoning behind His Majesty's actions.

"This is really puzzling," one of the fairies commented.  "I heard that those who made the shortlist this time all came from collateral branches of Jiuchongtian's royal family.  Where else can you find more competent candidates, other than that distinguished line?"