(2) The Way of Hospitality

Once Anu's stubborn temper flared up, there was simply no soothing it. At this point she was single-mindedly determined to find Xiaoyi, caring nothing at all for reason. She knew perfectly well that Xiaoyi's forcibly taking human form was not truly the ideal solution, but having only just barely gotten to see Xiaoyi again, only for him to disappear once more in the blink of an eye, left her, for the moment, genuinely unable to let go of the ache in her heart, and so the little princess's willful, imperious temper flared up once more. The sprites all knew better than to interfere with Xiaoyi, so who among them would dare reveal even the slightest word about his whereabouts? They could only let Anu vent her frustration freely, doing their best to soothe her all the while.

"We really don't know..." Everyone shook their heads and waved their hands frantically, all united in trying to deceive Anu.

"You all... you all..." Anu, unable to contain her anger, drew her knees up, buried her face against them, and burst into tears.

Seeing Anu crying, the sprites grew all the more helpless, caught between two impossible choices. At this point everyone gave the oriole spirit a push, gesturing wildly for him to step forward and think of some solution.

The oriole spirit had a fine singing voice, but apart from being a skilled singer he possessed no other particular talents worth mentioning; pushed forward by the other sprites, he scratched his head, his face full of embarrassment.

"Would you like me to sing you a song?" the oriole spirit said timidly, shrinking back slightly.

"No." Anu doused the oriole spirit with cold water without a moment's hesitation, not even lifting her head as she continued to weep.

"Well then... you're welcome to take out your frustration on us instead, sword, dagger, anything at all — just have at it on us; after all, our hides are thick and our flesh tough, we can take it!" The banyan tree spirit stepped up boldly, volunteering to take on this arduous task on behalf of all the sprites. With his massive trunk and deep roots, taking a few sword strokes (or arrow shots) would naturally pose no problem at all — after all, this was something Anu often did whenever the mood struck her, and he assumed everyone had long since grown used to it — and yet this remark still left everyone else breaking out in a cold sweat.

Hearing this, Xing'er shot the banyan tree spirit a withering glare.

Not long before, this whole group had gone dutifully to the slopes of Phoenix Mountain to help search for Anu's lost Yin-Yang Daggers and Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword, only to come up empty-handed — how could this fellow have forgotten so quickly? Anu had been utterly devastated over this!

What a bunch of hopeless creatures! Not only did they have no way of handling a crisis, they even managed to actively make things worse.

The Yin-Yang Daggers and the Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword were Anu's most treasured possessions; losing them naturally left her deeply dispirited, and on top of that, with Xiaoyi having appeared only to disappear again just as quickly — how could she possibly bear all this?

"Only now that the dagger and sword are lost do you dare say something like that?" Xing'er turned the tables on the banyan tree spirit — he always carried himself with such a self-important, seniority-flaunting air, which had long left Xing'er, another tree spirit herself, thoroughly displeased. Seizing this chance to bite back with equal sharpness felt like a small measure of revenge, however slight, for all his past provocations.

"Well... well, don't we still have the Flower... Flower Rain Arrows?" Stung by Xing'er's jab, the banyan tree spirit refused to back down either, firing back at her.

Hearing that the Yin-Yang Daggers and Seven-Colored Flowing Light Sword were lost, Anu, already crying uncontrollably, dissolved into even more inconsolable sobs, and the assembled sprites all turned looks of accusatory suspicion toward the banyan tree spirit and Xing'er, as though judging criminals.

A whole crowd of sprites now chattered away noisily, everyone talking over one another all at once — and though the atmosphere was lively enough, nothing whatsoever was actually accomplished. They had meant to comfort Anu, but instead had only pushed the whole matter toward an even deeper abyss, growing ever more impossible to contain.

Meanwhile, Ziyuan, still standing in the pavilion, watched quietly as the little sprites floundered about, utterly at a loss, and could not help but find the whole scene rather amusing. However genuine and heartfelt their intentions, their heads simply did not work all that well. But as an uninvited outsider, he could hardly leap rashly into the middle of the fray, and so could only continue to "watch the battle" from the sidelines.

Suddenly, amid all their chattering back and forth, someone caught sight of Ziyuan standing in the pavilion out of the corner of their eye, and word spread instantly, one telling ten, ten telling a hundred, until every sprite's gaze had shifted toward him.

"The... the Celestial... Cro-crown... Prince..."

Never expecting the Celestial Crown Prince to have made his grand appearance yet again, the sprites, recalling the careless slip of the day before that had exposed Anu's true identity, could not help but let expressions of sheer panic and terror spread across every one of their faces.

"Wasn't he... wasn't he already gone? Why has he... come back again?"

Thoroughly frightened, every sprite now felt their own life in peril; no sooner said than done, before Anu could even respond, they had already scattered like startled birds and beasts, vanishing in an instant without a trace.

"What's going on?" Seeing the sprites' strange behavior, and every last one of them having fled without exception, Anu looked up in astonishment, turning together with Xing'er toward the pavilion.

"The Ce-Celestial... Cro-crown... Prince?" The two of them could not help but cry out in unison, Anu's face still streaked with tears.

Seeing Anu and Xing'er turn their gaze toward him, Ziyuan bowed respectfully. "Ziyuan greets the two young ladies," he said.

At this moment, Anu and Xing'er could scarcely believe their own eyes — with no one to guide him, this Celestial Crown Prince had somehow simply appeared, silently, in the pavilion — this was truly beyond belief. And what was more, he was a Celestial being; Anu remembered how, just before leaving, Xiaoyi had specifically instructed her to stay far away from Celestial people, which left her feeling rather awkward now. With the Celestial Crown Prince showing up uninvited like this, what on earth was she to do?

Anu and Xing'er dug their fingernails lightly into each other's palms to ease the anxiety welling up within them, then, hand in hand, walked into the pavilion together.

"You... how did you get in here?" Having entered the pavilion, before Xing'er could even return the greeting, Anu had already struck first.

"I walked in," Ziyuan answered earnestly.

"That's not... I mean the paths here are so hard to recognize, you... you... how did you know the way? You've only... only walked through here once... and already you know it?" Anu, having just cried so hard, still spoke with a broken, hiccupping catch in her voice.

"Actually, it was twice — once coming, once going." Ziyuan gestured earnestly with his fingers as he explained, still perfectly serious.

"You..." Anu and Xing'er exchanged glances — this was simply astounding! After all, of everyone living in the Mist Forest, great and small, from the Queen down to every last sprite, even with the advantage of familiarity with the terrain, who among them hadn't lost their way at least a few times before finally learning to navigate it properly? A memory suddenly surfaced in her mind — her brothers' past praise of Ziyuan's exceptional intelligence — and now she had truly seen it proven with her own eyes. She had almost wanted to compliment Ziyuan herself, but remembering he was a Celestial being, and that she absolutely must not boost the morale of an outsider, she forced the compliment already on the tip of her tongue back down.

"Well... you still shouldn't have come uninvited like that, it's far too presumptuous." Though tears still glistened in Anu's eyes, she refused to show the slightest weakness. This Celestial Crown Prince was really too rude, showing up at someone's home without so much as a word of warning.

Hearing this, Ziyuan's face took on an expression of genuine difficulty. He gestured toward "the path he had come by" and said, "The Celestial Court at least has a South Heavenly Gate, with heavenly soldiers standing guard who can announce visitors; the Mist Forest doesn't even have a gate, nor anyone to announce me — this really has left me quite at a loss. Where exactly was I supposed to stand and wait to be summoned by you, Miss? If you had never happened to notice me, wouldn't I have had to stand there until the end of time itself?"

"I suppose that's true too..." Somehow, Anu found herself feeling that everything Ziyuan said made perfect sense, and she found she could not even argue against it.

"The Mist Forest has never had any guests before, so we have no established way of receiving them. You can stand wherever you like — just tell me quickly what brought you here." What Anu said was, in fact, entirely true — when had the Mist Forest ever had guests before? Everyone here went out of their way to avoid attracting attention, let alone establish any proper way of receiving visitors.

"Would you like to wipe your tears first?" With this, Ziyuan held out a handkerchief before Anu. There were still unshed tears glistening in her eyes and on her face; having been so thoroughly startled by Ziyuan's sudden arrival, she had not yet had the chance to tend to them, and looked all the more pitiful and delicate for it.

"No need for that!" Only after Ziyuan's reminder did Anu realize just how much her crying had disheveled her face, and she felt a wave of embarrassment. She had been about to accept the handkerchief Ziyuan offered to dry her tears, but then remembered Xiaoyi's warning to stay away from Celestial people, and, on top of that, that she was, after all, the very culprit who had made him suffer two arrow wounds — feeling rather awkward at heart, she declined Ziyuan's kind gesture and simply used her own sleeve to wipe away her tears instead. To her surprise, this gesture of hers drew a soft laugh from Ziyuan.

"What are you laughing at?" Seeing Ziyuan laughing at her, Anu looked somewhat displeased.

"I'm laughing because Miss Anu has such a bold, uninhibited spirit, unconcerned with small details." As he spoke, Ziyuan cast a spell, causing the handkerchief to vanish instantly into nothingness.

In Ziyuan's eyes, a Celestial woman could never possibly do something as coarse as wiping her tears with her own sleeve — that would be far too vulgar an act — and yet, when Anu did it, it carried instead an inexplicably unique charm all its own; he could not quite explain why, but felt only a certain joy welling up within his own heart.

"Of course it is." Anu, realizing Ziyuan was in fact praising her, felt rather pleased with herself, and finally broke into a smile through her tears.

Seeing Anu smile through her tears, Ziyuan conjured a cup of water in his hand and casually took a small sip.

"There's no other way — since this esteemed place has no established way of receiving guests, I suppose the guest will simply have to provide his own tea and water to drink." Finding Anu utterly delightful, Ziyuan, seized by a sudden playful impulse, began to tease her.

Seeing this, Anu rubbed her fingers together, as though feeling a rush of great interest. Celestial food and drink was, after all, delicious beyond compare, unmatched by anything found elsewhere; during the decade or so Grandfather had spent here, she had been fortunate enough to drink the "nectar" he conjured, and had never once forgotten its taste since. Now, seeing Ziyuan drinking his own "nectar," an expression of open envy spread all across her face.

"Would you like some?" Seeing the longing in Anu's eyes, Ziyuan felt a secret delight rising within him — this girl was so unaffected and genuine, so full of childlike innocence, that it seemed to be rubbing off on him as well, for here he was actually engaging in something so "frivolous" as teasing a young lady.

"Could I have some?" Anu was pleasantly surprised. Ziyuan appeared to be quite generous indeed — not only had he brought his own tea and water, but he seemed entirely unconcerned about their earlier grievances, willing instead to treat the very host as his own guest. Though she felt a little embarrassed about it, the thought of getting to drink some "nectar" was enough that she stopped caring about anything else.

Ziyuan conjured another cup of nectar in the palm of his other hand and handed it to Anu.

"Here," Ziyuan said with a smile.

Anu accepted it joyfully and drank two mouthfuls; perhaps because it had been so long since she'd last had any, she found this cup of nectar even more delicious than the one Grandfather used to give her.

After two more sips, she remembered Xing'er was there too.

"Could I ask you for another cup? Let my sister here have a taste as well." Anu looked at Ziyuan and gave him a faint, gentle smile. Of course, she felt a bit embarrassed at heart — what kind of host was so shameless, not only failing to properly fulfill her duties as host, but instead constantly demanding more from her guest? Fortunately, the little sprites had all scattered by now, or asking for a cup each for everyone present would have made them look no different from bandits raiding a household.

"Mm!" Ziyuan had originally only meant to gently tease Anu over her utter lack of any proper way of receiving guests, never expecting such an enthusiastic response — and it ended up drawing the two of them even closer together.

"Here," Ziyuan said, conjuring another cup of nectar and handing it to Xing'er.

"My thanks, Your Highness." Seeing that she, too, had been given a share, Xing'er hastily bowed in gratitude. She accepted the nectar and took a sip, her eyes lighting up at once.

"It's so good!" Xing'er laughed, taking hold of Anu's hand — never in her entire life had she tasted water this delicious, and she was especially grateful to Anu for winning her a cup as well. The two girls drank and laughed together, thoroughly delighted.

"My father is probably just jealous that other people have such good fortune and such wonderful things, that's why he wants to fight them," Anu murmured to Xing'er beside her ear as she drank, discussing her own father in a hushed voice.

Though Anu spoke only softly, she had forgotten that Ziyuan was, after all, a full-fledged Celestial being — what faint sound could possibly escape his hearing? This offhand remark of hers had completely exposed her identity as the Asura princess. Ziyuan had, of course, already known she was the young Asura princess all along, but hearing her say it so casually still struck him as rather amusing all the same.

"She really is a girl entirely without guile," he thought.

Having finished her nectar, Anu began to think it over seriously — surely the Celestial Crown Prince hadn't come all the way to the Mist Forest for no reason at all, just to drink some nectar; he could drink whatever he wished at home, after all. And so she asked Ziyuan, "What did you come to the Mist Forest for?"