White Hot Darkness

Part 4: The parents

Time passed; Sheng Li grew older; while he was still sick frequently and quite undersized for his age, he was growing nonetheless. It took him longer than it would have taken most other babies to learn how to sit up unsupported, to be able to pull himself up, to crawl. But what he lacked in physical prowess, he more than made up for with his quickly advancing mind.

The soothsayer noticed his developing intelligence as she continued to care for him. By the time he was four months old, she was certain that he understood a fair amount of the words that were being spoken to him. By the time he was five and a half months old, he was using certain babbling sounds or chirps in order to communicate different things, even though he couldn't properly speak yet. It was as if he and his nanny were developing their own little code.

Even when he wasn't outwardly showing signs of abnormally high aptitude, Sheng Li was prone to staring at things as if he was concentrating very hard on them. He nearly always looked as if he were thinking deeply about something. As a result, the soothsayer began to affectionately call him Shen, an abbreviation of his name that meant "deep thought." In time, this nickname was to stick.

One day, when Shen was seven months old, he was calling to her and trying to get her attention when he suddenly blurted out, "Na!" The soothsayer was shocked by this, especially when he reached out towards her and continued to repeat insistently, "Na! Na!" Maybe it wasn't technically a full word, but the fact that he was trying to say "Nana" was perfectly clear.

She was very proud of her precocious little chick, even if he wasn't making headway in the one area where he sorely needed it – social interaction. The only person he was ever comfortable with was her. He was deathly afraid of Lady Biming, who stopped by twice a week to give him medicine and injections, and even the servants made him nervous. How would this fare when he was older and needed to go out into the world and make friends? And what about his parents? Would he be frightened of them, when he finally saw them?

The soothsayer didn't want to wait around and find out. Lord Jin and Lady Ah-lam had not been to see the prince since his birth, and it had been seven months now. The time was ripe for them to see how well he was doing; they couldn't avoid it anymore.

And so, Shen was nearly eight months old when he truly met his parents for the first time.

For Jin and Ah-lam, the fact that their son had his certain…condition…was impossible for them to forget. Even if they never dealt with the boy themselves, they were always aware of the fact that he was there, in the palace, being cared for by someone who wasn't them. They could not progress as if he'd never been born; the fact that something was wrong with him did not erase his existence, and they didn't really want it to. They simply wished that Sheng Li had been born healthy and normal, and the fact that he hadn't been made them too fearful to try for another child.

When the soothsayer informed them of his budding intelligence, and that it was a perfect time for them to come and see him, they were both relieved and uncertain. They wanted to meet their son when he wasn't feverish and coughing his lungs out, of course, but dealing with him would be a new experience. Of course they were nervous about it. Still, there was something pathetic about the fact that they lived well within the vicinity of their son, and yet had never seen him.

And so, of course, they went.

They had never been to the soothsayer's quarters before, and they now saw that she had clearly devoted herself to making it suitable for her baby over the past few months. Every bit of clutter had been cleared away in preparation for the arrival of the royal peafowl, but Jin and Ah-lam still spotted an old produce crate filled with toys in one corner, and the stacks of herbs used for supplements and medicines laid out on the kitchen counter. But these details were soon thrust into their peripheral vision as the soothsayer herself came out to greet them.

"My lord, my lady, welcome," she said, bowing respectfully. "I'm glad that you could join us. Shen is just in the bedroom – "

"Shen?" repeated Jin, his long eyebrows arching.

"Oh." She smiled sheepishly. "That's what I've been calling Sheng Li. It's a term of endearment, you see. I call him that because…well, you'll see. Follow me…"

Shen was sitting on his own little bed in the bedroom, concentrating very hard on gnawing on a beanbag ball. When he saw the soothsayer, a smile spread across his tiny gray beak. "Na!" he exclaimed happily.

"Hello there, baby," she crooned, scooping him up as he held out his wings to her. She tickled his tummy a bit, and he giggled, nuzzling against her contentedly.

Jin and Ah-lam, who had been watching from the doorway, now cautiously came forward. When Shen noticed them, he pointed at them and chirped questioningly to his nanny. She told him, "That's your mama and baba, dear heart. They've come to see you."

Shen tilted his head at them, his crimson eyes shining with curiosity. The soothsayer remarked, "I think he understands that you're like him."

"But we're not like him," said Jin. "He is a bad color. We are not."

She frowned. "He's not a bad color, my lord…"

"He's cute," Ah-lam spoke up shakily, coming forward. "May I hold him?"

"You don't have to ask, my lady. He's your son, after all…"

Shen did not show any alarm as he was passed off to his mother. He chirped up at her softly as she took him into her wings. She didn't understand him, of course but she said gently, "Hello, Sheng Li. Do you know who I am? I'm your mama…"

He considered this for a moment, then announced, "Mmma!"

"Yes, that's right!" Ah-lam couldn't hide how impressed she was at this.

"Ma!" Shen began to insistently nudge her neck and chin, pecking at her feathers gently. He gazed up at her expectantly.

"Um…" Ah-lam looked uncertain. "What is he…"

"He wants attention," explained the soothsayer calmly. "He loves getting affection. Rub or scratch his tummy; that's his favorite."

A bit awkwardly, Ah-lam began to move her hand over the baby's stomach. He cooed blissfully, snuggling into her. She smiled. "Oh, you're such a cute baby, aren't you…why don't you hold him, Jin?"

"No, thank you," responded Jin stiffly, as if he was afraid that albinism was contagious.

"Are…are you sure?" Ah-lam was stroking the top of Shen's head now, and he was leaning against her shoulder, as a cozy as a cat curled up in a sunny window. "I mean, look at him, he's really very sweet…"

Jin's crest bristled. "Ah-lam," he hissed, "may I remind you that your 'sweet baby' has less than seven years to live?"

If a pin had dropped at that moment, it would have sounded louder than a fireworks show within the ringing silence that followed.

Abruptly and wordlessly, Ah-lam handed Shen back to the soothsayer. He opened his eyes and looked around, confused and hurt, wondering where his mother had gone. The soothsayer gripped her child firmly, glaring at Jin.

"Don't you dare look at me like that," Jin snapped at her. "We never should have come here. "No good can come out of associating with this…this bad omen!"

"He's your son!" she cried.

"He is a MISTAKE!"

"Ba?" asked Shen softly, gazing at his father through round red eyes.

Jin's eyes widened and he stared at his son as if the chick was an alien from another planet that had suddenly done something with a surprising amount of humanity. Then, without a word, he seized his wife's arm and dragged her out of the room.

That night, the soothsayer sat cradling Shen in her lap. She was unable to prevent the tears from rolling down her cheeks. "Na?" said Shen, knowing that she was sad and not understanding why.

"Your parents may not want you, my dear…they may think of you as a bad omen…" She clutched him firmly. "But I will always care for you.

"Know this, my little Shen…you will always be loved."

A/N - *sigh* I jinxed myself last time, didn't I? Here I was, so excited about getting so many reviews, and how many did I get for my last chapter? Two. That is unacceptable. Therefore, you were punished by not getting a chapter yesterday.

Please get used to the fact that I normally update this story every day. And remember - if you don't review, I will cancel it.