Chapter 1
Ning and Ju were getting ready for the day in their home. Ning was preparing for his work at the boats, gathering fish for the village while Ju was tidying up the house before she too took off, to join the rhino-bear hunt. They had only been wed for two months but had gotten used to each other's continuous company.
Once Ning had his sandals on and his net securely over his shoulder, Ju stopped fussing around with the broom and picked up her spear and comb. With a smile, she went over to Ning and turned around so he could put the comb he had made her in her long, dark hair. It was made out of cedar and had been his betrothal gift to her, something she could use everyday to remember him if he ever got lost over the boat and never seen from again.
He combed her hair a bit before he let the back pieces fall and swept the pieces that would get into her face up into a bun. She turned around and gave him a kiss on his cheek over his steadily growing beard before heading out the door first.
He followed behind, grabbing his basket outside of the door, and they headed towards the beach together. It had become their habit for Ju to walk down with him and see him off since the fishermen took off before the hunters. They met few as they went down but none of them were other fishermen. Ning was the one who lived the closest to the dock without living on it and the one who did live on the dock left when the clouds told him it was okay to be on the water. All the other fishermen came from the other side of the village and if they saw that the dock man hadn't left, they didn't leave either. Ning usually waited for his fellows, for it would only take a moment and he could have a few more moments alone with his wife without the loud and teasing snickers.
As they made their way down the last hill, Ning was the first to spot the dock man's boat. He stopped.
"It looks like I won't be working on the boats today," he said almost gladly. "A good day for a rod and a stream."
He turned to leave but his wife held his arm.
"Wait, look."
Ning turned and looked at where she pointed. After the last boat pulled up on shore was the view of a hand, stretched out but unmoving. He was convinced that it was the hand of one of his fellows that had hit a drink too hard and fell asleep but Ju wanted to find out who it was.
"Please go check for sure," she asked him, "I will be thinking of it all day otherwise."
He sighed. "For you. But if it is Lin or Tu, I'm going to leave them there for their boat mates to fetch."
He let Ju stay up on the hill as he went down and passed the boats both docked and shored on the beach. As he came closer to the hand, he started to doubt his previous thought. Their skin was too pale to be a fisherman's, who were tan from being on the water all the time. He slowed and approached with caution, just in case the person was awake and might take him as a threat.
He didn't have to make it to the end to see that the hand was attached to a naked man curled up and shivering in his sleep. He turned to Ju and shouted,
"He needs help."
As Ju ran down to meet up with them, Ning came up by the stranger and got a good look at his face. He noted that the man must have been in the water for a good amount of time but he was still breathing, a good sign. He also noted that the stranger had the palest hair he had ever seen, a kind of golden color.
The stranger stirred at his touch and Ju's arrival. Both Ning and Ju gasped as they caught a glimpse of the stranger's colorless eyes but they changed quickly to their dark ones. The stranger's hair also changed to the muddy color of Ning's hair before he passed out once again.
Ning backed away quickly and blocked Ju. They stared at the stranger, scared of what might happen next.
Ning eventually risked talking to his wife. "I do not think this man is a man."
Ju looked at him, confused. "Man? I see a woman."
"What?"
They both looked, almost in horror, at the unconscious being. Not only had Ning seen their hair and eyes changed but now him and his wife weren't even seeing the same thing.
"Did you see the hair?"
Ju nodded. "And the eyes."
"What color is the hair now?"
"Like yours."
He relaxed a bit, feeling a bit better now that he knew he wasn't hallucinating for that moment. He turned his back on the stranger, trusting Ju would let him know if the stranger moved.
"Are you sure you see a woman?"
"Yes." she said stubbornly, "Are you sure you see a man?"
He nodded. "You think it is one of the spirits?"
"We can only hope not." She gasped. "What if they are someone cursed by them? How do we know?"
"I don't know," Ning inched towards the figure a bit. "What do you think we should do? Help our fellow out or kill it?"
She pulled her spear out of her husband's reach. "Can you kill it?"
"I touched it. I should be able to kill it."
In light of this information, she switched to a more defensive position. "Well then that proves she is one of us. We cannot touch spirits."
He nodded. "So what do we do? If he stays there, others might try to kill him right away, if he doesn't die from the cold first."
"Then lets pull her back up to our home."
Ning didn't like that idea. "You want to bring this thing home? What if he kills us?"
"I don't think it is a good idea to have you at home with another woman-"
He cut her off. "But I see a man."
Ju stubbornly continued. "But some one has to watch and since you are off of the boats today, you can skip work, yes? Saying your line got tangled in a bush or your rod broke or something."
Ning didn't like being dishonest. "You could say your spear broke."
"I have my knife and even if there was a way to break my knife, I could always be used to herd the rhino-bear away if it takes down one of us. I have to go."
"What about the dock man? Can we trust this to him?"
Ju put her hands on her hips. "The dock man talks to no one and has never set foot into the village. Trusting him with a person is not a possibility."
He sighed. "You are going to keep at this until I give in and take him home anyway, aren't you?"
Her look said it all.
"Fine," he took off his shirt and went next to the stranger. With Ju's help, his shirt made it onto the stranger, curing him or her of some of their shivers. Ju helped to get the stranger on Ning's back and then ran up to the hill to look for anyone coming down the way. Thankfully, it was still early and as they rushed back home, they met no one else.
Ju opened the door and prepared their bed while Ning came in and hovered around her while waiting to set down their unexpected guest, who was lighter than they looked but still uncomfortably heavy for KK's liking.
Once on the bed, Ju tucked the stranger in and went to fetch some water.
"Watch," she said as she went through the door.
Ning chose to watch by sitting at their table, shifting his cushion so he could lean against the wall. Ju made no comment about it when she came back in, poured some of the water in a basin, grabbed a rag, and soaked it in the water. She put the basin and rag near their bed and went to whisper to Ning.
"Wipe the face and watch for sweat. If they wake up, ask who they are."
He shooed her away. "I know what to do. My mother caught the fever, remember? She was more maintenance than this."
Ju picked up her spear, this time ready to join her group in the village square. As an after thought, she went and kissed Ning on the cheek she hadn't already.
"Thank you, honey."
When she left, he sighed. "Maybe I should have been a hunter."
It was around noon when the stranger began to stir. Ning was right beside them, having moved his cushion from the table and mopping their brow every fifteen minutes or so. He was surprised to see their guest awaking so quickly but he was glad he could finally get his questions answered.
The stranger's eyes opened first and they were still as dark as they had turned down at the docks. Ning watched as they took in their change of scenery and slowly realized he was there.
Dark eyes fixed on him, the stranger asked, "Who are you?"
Ning didn't think it would hurt to let such information out. "I am Ning of the village of Zhou Bo. Who are you?"
The stranger turned to the ceiling. "I am called many names."
"Many names?"
The stranger went back to looking at Ning. "More than one. Out of all of them though, I suppose it would be best if you just gave me one."
He didn't expect that. "Me? You want me to name you?"
The stranger nodded.
Ning didn't think he would name a person until he had children with Ju and even then they would probably debate upon it. It was strange, being asked by a complete stranger he had been looking after for the last few hours to give him a name. He began to give it some thought.
"How about Xun?"
"Will I fit in with the name Xun?"
It was an odd question. "I don't see why not."
With that said, the stranger turned back to the ceiling. "Then I am Xun. Where am I?"
"In Zhou Bo, in my house I share with my wife Ju. Where are you from?"
"The realm of Spirits," he said bluntly.
This sent Ning crawling away. Xun watched him as if he were doing something odd.
"S-so you are one of those spirits? Are you going to kill us?"
"I used to be of the spirits but now I have the body of a human and must adapt. I am not made to kill but to bring peace."
"Why would the spirits want peace with us?" Ning grabbed the broom to defend himself. "They could kill us in minutes."
Xun made no attempts to get out of the bed. "Because humans are bringing the world out of balance and if this world becomes out of balance so does the spirit world. They could kill you in minutes but then that would just make things worse."
"Then why do you kill people already? Or spirit them away to your world to never be seen again?" he asked, unconvinced that Xun wasn't still a threat.
"You must be talking about the more harmful spirits. They kill and show themselves to the living. The only reason you can see me is because I have been given this body so you can trust me. I will not harm you unless you make me."
He was confused. "Then what is your mission, if not to hurt us?"
Xun turned back to the ceiling and closed his eyes. "To bring peace and balance to your world and to keep it that way."
Ning asked more question but Xun heard none of them, sleep taking hold once again.
Fishing was one thing that calmed Ning down, which was the main reason he had become a fisherman. But his nerves weren't settling down in the slightest after a couple hours into hanging by the stream. Once he had realized Xun wasn't listening to him anymore, he took up his rod and left. He no longer cared what happened to his spirit world guest and he wanted nothing more to do with him…them.
"How you doing over there, Ning?"
Ning was called away from his thoughts by one of his fellow fishermen, an older man named Min, who was sitting a few yards away.
"Oh, I've caught a few," he admitted, trying to shove his previous thoughts behind.
"Keh. You come late and still have better luck than me. How bad was your line tangled in the bush?"
Ning didn't like to be dishonest but he was thankful for once that his line actually did get caught in a bush right outside his home, though it only took a second to get it out.
He shrugged. "I am here now, aren't I?"
"True true. It looks like we won't be eating a lot of fish tonight though."
"Maybe the rhino-bear hunt will go better, huh?"
Min nodded. "Hope so. They should be here by now. Oh, but they might be late. I heard the next village over had a forest fire a week ago so they might be late migrating over here."
Ning shook his head. "Rhino-bears would just charge through. They are here alright."
Min slapped his leg. "Ah, I just remembered. That merchant from the south came up here the other day with news. I'm sure your wife is hearing the same story right now: There were these two clans that were at war with each other but now they are combining together to make a city. They say that their unification and peace was brought on by a woman who can bend the earth."
Ning's nightmare returned. "W-was she a spirit?"
"No. From what I hear, she was born and raised by completely normal people. The rumor is that she had a lover in the other clan and he was killed in the war so the huge badger-moles they have down there taught her their ways so she could end it. Glad that isn't you and your wife, eh?"
Ning did his best to smile. "Hehe, yeah…"
A moment passed before Min became frustrated. "Ugh, I'm calling it a day. None of the fish want anything to do with me today."
Ning sighed. "I guess I will too," he said before mumbling to himself, "I probably should keep my eye on that spirit."
Min whistled at Ning's fish. "Seven? I don't think you and your wife will ever get hungry."
"And Ju hunts with the others," Ning pointed out, grinning as he picked up his catch.
One of their fellow fishermen called across the water. "Hey, where are you two going?"
Min answered. "Hey! He caught seven fish already. He is going to take everyone's luck!"
Ning elbowed him. "I can't take luck. Don't tell them that or they might think I'm a spirit or something."
Min laughed as they headed back to the village. "Everyone is so superstitious these days. I bet you haven't even met a spirit in your life."
"Met one just this morning," Ning mumbled to himself.
"What was that?"
"Oh, Ju and I were just talking about spirits this morning."
"Really? What about?" Min said, interested. He was just as gossipy as his own wife and knew many things about spirits.
"Uh, just questions. Like, you can't really touch a spirit, right?"
"You sure can't," Min said as he messed around with his line so he wouldn't be poked by the hook. "But they can. The mean ones can hit you hard and spirit you away to where you will never be seen or hear from again. It is actually pointless to run but that is the last thing going through people's minds when they come near."
"Mean ones? So there are nice ones too?"
Min stopped and put his hand on Ning's shoulder. "Don't ever mess with nature unless you can't help it. Even then, offer something so the spirits you might offend do not come for you. That is how bad spirits come to be: when we put things out of balance or destroy too much. Spirits are everywhere, including in ourselves, and as you can see, we are not evil to begin with. I would like to think nothing is born to hurt or be evil but as my ma used to say: We can't help being ourselves."
Ning nodded. He was glad he brought it up to the older man.
Min slap him on his back and continued down the path. "Watch: there is probably some nut ball out there messing with things right now. Don't let me catch you doing such a thing."
Ning thought long and hard for a moment. He supposed earlier he was carrying things too far with Xun. He thought that just maybe, Xun really wasn't there to hurt anyone. He began to think of ways to say he was sorry when he caught a whiff of his catch and grimaced at the stink. He had to get home and prepare them before Ju came home.
"Lady Li, we are ready."
Dressed all in white, a raven haired woman of small physique was sitting at a mirror, staring at herself and petting a fox-mouse resting in her hand. Her face was a mask, showing no emotion whatsoever, not even that she had heard the call. The man who had informed her was kneeling at the entrance to her tent, waiting for her answer.
He was about to speak again when she finally spoke.
"Only General Park may call me Lady Li."
The man quickly fixed his mistake. "My apologies, Lady Li Feng," he said as he got to his feet, grinning. "But I am General Park."
Lady Li Feng rose and came over to him, letting the fox-mouse fall to the floor to scurry away. "I know."
General Park held her close, still grinning. "We are ready to take control of the city of Chin, just as soon as you are ready to lead the way."
"What would you do without me?" she asked.
"Well all I have is the people. Without you, we couldn't move and most of my troops would be dead."
Lady Li Feng pushed him away and went out of the tent. "Of course they would. I am the brains of this operation as well as some of the brawn." Opening up to a legion of readied troops, she took off her cape to reveal similar armor to what the troops were wearing, except her armor was completely white compared to the green of the men and women before her.
She turned and finally grinned at the general. "Let's cause some chaos, shall we?"