Okay, so I know I've postponed the ending of this story for a long time, 3 years in running. But I'm going to end it, starting right now. Expect excrement hit the fan and nothing less. Also, I've added Chinese song lyrics for the poems, because I'm lazy and running out of ideas. See you on the other side.
深闺漫长 谁轻叹 "Deep in her chamber, who is sighing?"
Tessa arose, relieved that it was the day that their tutor returns, so she could return to her work on the study of Chinese myth, the tales of fantastic beasts, legends of flawed and egotistic gods, and the untold stories of Chinese Shadowhunters. As of late, she has been captivated and fascinated by the beast by the name of Heavy Ming bird, or it should have been, the Double-iris bird. Tessa read through mounts of records from China, and knew that Chinese Shadowhunters in the ancient times had kept the bird to ward off minor demons, but since Shadowhunters are a dying breed, so are the birds. Though a small number of Shadowhunters still possessed the amazing bird, most could only use statues and carving replicas of the bird. Through the drawings, it is still a sight to be behold. The strokes of the paintings hint at the sheer power the bird has. Thus, that is where mundane Chinese got the idea of putting up paintings of the bird on their doors during Chinese new year, the time when the Yin, the evil is at its strongest in the time of year, and when the people are the most vulnerable.
She looked up at the clock, sigh as she found herself again buried in a sea of books, papers, reports. Though she cannot complain about her livelihood, her children being well cared-for, and despite her lack of skill other than reading, she has been able to support her family. Yet, it was far from the exhilarating, blood-pumping Shadowhunting that she got used to when…
She guessed that she had Jem to thank for for her special field of work. She was bad at fighting, despite her harsh training with her tutors; she was no good at physical chores, so she could not be a scullery maid or that field of service work. And that left reading, her one true passion, and from the general Chinese basis Jem has taught the… short time they had together, take away the time they had been planning their disastrous wedding, she was able to learn Chinese mostly by herself, occasionally with the help Shadowhunters, whom had a small but growing flux with the growing turmoil from the revolutions occurring within the countries, which was slowly rendering the country unlivable, along with the blooming famine. Then, with her developing Chinese, she was able to convince the Enclave to give her an institute to run, that with her language skills, she was the only one with the time and effort to sort through thousands of years of reports from between the Idris, the Enclave, and the Sinclave (the Chinese council), since normal Shadowhunters had their shadowhunting to do, and the Silent brothers had, well, whatever they had on their allegorical plates.
Tessa felt that she was satisfied, but not content. Without a partner to fight with, without someone to save, and without a higher cause to live by, other than her children. She felt alone in the world, raising her children as the only parental figure. And Will was nowhere to be found, missing in action as per usual.
Lost in thought, her neglected stomach ceased to growl, and she became aggressively un-hungry.
There she was, sitting alone in the dimmed sunlight. The shadow nearly completely enveloped her. Her perfect figure held by her tight corset, hints at frailty and sallowness, like a flower withering, a moon waning. However, if you look closely patiently, you will see her grey hair slowly turn back brunette, and creases in her face slowly smooth out as the daylight slowly dimmed out.
