"I always knew I would outlive him, but I never thought this day would come," Mimi presses her forehead against the stone coffin.
"En."
The surviving jade twin takes his place by her side, his face nearly untouched by the ravages of old age. Wei Wuxian had his arm wrapped tightly around the white-cloaked cultivator as the family stares down at the final resting place of the clan leader. A rare death for a seasoned cultivator. The clan leader had died peacefully in his sleep, wrapped in his wife's arms.
"What will you do now?" Wei Wuxian asks, watching Mimi suspiciously.
"The Gusu clan will be led by our eldest daughter Xifeng," Mimi sighs, shifting her now white hair over her shoulders.
"I did think of continuing, but," Mimi stares at the coffin, "I am tired. I will say my goodbyes and retire to the mountains."
"We are your clan. You should stay!"
Mimi studies Master Wei; the old man before her still exhibited the same amount of energy as he did when they had first met so many years ago.
She bows to the cultivators, "I am not strong enough to outlive my children."
The two cultivators look at each other before bowing their acquiescence. Mimi leaves the Gusu sect mausoleum. With difficulty, she leaves flowers at both Lan Sizui's and Lan Jingyi's tomb. The two cultivators had perished in an explosion trying to rescue children from a celebratory banquet that had mixed up large quantities of gunpowder to use in their fireworks. The fury Mimi had unleashed upon the men responsible was still whispered in darkened rooms. Mimi sighs and pays her respect to Lord Qiren. The statue marking his tomb stared disapprovingly past her toward the western sky. He had died throwing himself in front of a trident protecting Master Wei of all people during a night hunt.
Without the overpowering former clan leader, the jade twins took full control of the Gusu clan sect. With Mimi's subtle influence from within the shadows, the Gusu clan slowly relaxed its strict demeanor before Mimi gave birth to her third child. Without the presence of Lord Qiren, the food is better, and the rules become more like a set of guidelines. Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan became more relaxed with their relationship. Even displaying more affection in public. Mimi never stops researching the peacock brooch, following every lead until the path to the brooch eventually dries up. Realizing her wife would never be healed, Mimi spends her time devoted to her family. Trying to make every moment with her ever devoted clan leader last until the very end.
The light of the setting sun nearly blinds her as she steps out of the cave. Daiyu and Qiaolian pull her into a hug.
"You will be leaving us soon?" Qiaolian says, her voice sad but understanding.
Mimi nods, her voice tight, "I've stayed too long."
"You could stay with our clan. We would never desert one of our own."
Qiaolian and Daiyu appear the same as they had for the last eighty years. They both are older and more reclusive, but that does not stop the pair from getting into mischief and helping with the children.
"I would still have to watch all my children slowly grow old and then die before me," Mimi begins descending the mountain.
Her children being only half kitsune, would not be immortal. They have quite a bit of power but cannot shift. They will live for a long time but will eventually join their father in the mausoleum. Dumplin and Chen have gone to study abroad.
"They have their own lives now. My children have children. Cloud Recesses is blooming now. But I sense in the near future; the magnolia trees will wither. The halls will empty. Buildings once full of laughter will become shrines long forgotten. Allow me to remember it as it is now. I can only wander those rotted halls in my mind's eye," Mimi sighs, looking back at the mausoleum, "When will my heart become a necropolis?"
Daiyu and Qiaolian beg Mimi to stay, but it is no use, "My mate is gone. The magic keeping me here is fading. I feel like I am being worn away by the hour," Mimi looks down at her claws, half expecting to see her hands and arms to be translucent, "I am done with my time here. My children do not need me anymore."
The three spirits step to the boundary of Cloud Recesses. The evening is quiet as if filled with anticipation.
"I would like to do this alone," Mimi requests, "I don't know what will happen, but I think it should be . . ."
"No," Daiyu says, her voice steady, "You have refused to stay with us. But the least you can do is allow us to send you off into the unknown."
"You know she will get her way whether you like it or not," Qiaolian smirks, wrapping an arm around them both.
"Let's go to the library pavilion," Mimi finally says, secretly relieved that a part of her family would be with her.
"Alright, wherever you like," Qiaolian says quietly.
Leaning her head on her eldest sister's shoulder, they walk across the way to the library pavilion. Mimi takes the large set of keys from her robes and unlocks the pavilion. The library had only grown in the last eighty years. It is the crown jewel of the cultivation world. People traveled from miles around to see it and explore the shelves. The library is as much part of her family as her own children.
"When would you like to do it?" Qiaolian whispers, looking around the empty library.
"I . . . I want to wander around first. Say my goodbyes," Mimi says quietly, running her hands over the shelves.
"Take your time," Daiyu smiles sadly, wrapping her spidery arms around Qiaolian.
"Thank you," Mimi whispers as she moves alone, caressing the numerous parchments.
Putting her nose to the air Mimi breathes in the smell of old books and mint. Her husband's scent still permeates the air. When she reaches the deepest part of the library, where the scent of pages banishes any lingering trace of the clan leader, Mimi stops and presses her forehead to a shelf. Even after these many years, Mimi kept the clan leader's forehead ribbon that he had given her that day in town. Mimi reaches up to touch it, brushing her fingers against the insignia of his name. Looking up, Mimi catches sight of a book she had not seen for an exceedingly long time. The book of spirits her mother had thrown at her in Shen Manor. The day Mimi had made off with her sisters. Mimi plucks the book off the shelf. Chen must have hidden it away here to prevent a rouge scholar from seeing it.
Sitting on the ground, Mimi holds the book in her lap. Opening the cracked cover, Mimi smiles as she sees Chen's annotations correcting some of the bigoted comments. Mimi turns page after page, following her sister. The end of the book soon comes to an abrupt halt. Much like my life, Mimi thinks as she lays her hand on the back cover. About to replace it on the shelf, something rattles in the book. Curious, Mimi shakes it. Yes, there is something embedded in the back cover. She pulls at the soft leather, and it nearly crumples under her grip. Gently holding the book upside down, Mimi shakes it. A dark object falls into her lap. Mimi picks it up, and her heart accelerates in her chest.
"Qiaolian!" she shouts at the top of her lungs.
Shattered glass followed by loud thump echoes from somewhere in the library. The elder fox spirit rounds the corner with Daiyu close on her heels. She sees Mimi on the floor and lets out a scared breath. But assessing that she is not in any danger or harmed in any way, Qiaolian leans dramatically against her petite wife.
"Oh, cub, I am incredibly old. Please don't rattle these old bones . . ." Qiaolian says as Mimi holds up the object that had fallen from the book.
"Is this?" Mimi laughs hysterically, running her fingers over the engraving of the peacock.
Qiaolian falls to her knees, dragging Daiyu with her, and takes the brooch from Mimi, "This, this is it. Where did you find it?!"
"This fucking book!" Mimi shakes the book in her sister's face.
"Where did you get that?!" Qiaolian shrieks and pulls the book out of her sister's hands.
"Mother threw it at me the day I made off with Chen and Dumplin. She told me . . ."
Qiaolian is flipping through the pages rapidly with Daiyu looking over her shoulder with a perplexed expression before looking up at Mimi.
"She told me to take it. To just take it," Mimi says, staring in awe at the peacock brooch.
"That bitch," Qiaolian says sadly, as Mimi thinks of the tasks.
"During the tasks, they would mention a woman with black hair and green eyes," Mimi stares down at the book.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Daiyu finally says, still trying to process everything.
"I wanted to push it down until I couldn't feel it anymore. Besides, I thought the spirits were messing with me. Trying to fuck me over more than I already was."
"Your mother completed the tasks," Daiyu says, pulling her wife's arm over her so she could see the brooch properly, "It's just as I remember."
"But why?" Mimi asks, still trying to wrap her head around it.
"I guess we'll never know unless someone asks her," Qiaolian says. She didn't look particularly pleased with the idea.
"I'm not rattling that vixen's cage," Mimi stares at the brooch. All this time, it was here in this book.
"Perhaps she wanted to help her kids in some way. Make up for past mistakes," Mimi says quietly.
The three spirits stare at each other doubtfully.
"But this means you will be able to heal Sara," Qiaolian says, grasping Mimi's hands.
"Yeah," Mimi breathes and looks down at her wrist. The ribbon seems to shift impatiently under her skin.
"You still believe deep down that Sara took her own life," Daiyu says quietly, and Mimi flinches.
"We still have no way of knowing who did it. Perhaps it was in the archives, and it spoke to her. Perhaps the police still have it," Mimi is beginning to sound hysterical.
"You will never know until you return," Qiaolian says quietly, hugging her wife to her closely.
"That's right," Daiyu says, following Mimi's gaze to the ribbon.
Mimi shakes her head from side to side, overcome by years of grief and the clan leader's recent death.
"Let us help," Qiaolian entreats, pulling her sister close.
Pulling away, Mimi uses her claws to open her wrist until she could see the ribbon. It pulses at her weakly.
Mimi cuts the ribbon, "Please be there when I wake up."