Here is some bonus content I thought I'd add. The first is a conversation between Min and the Soothsayer that I cut from chapter 17 because it was screwing up the pacing. The second is Min's homecoming and what that was like. Now this thing is officially complete and closed! Thanks for everyone who read! Hope you all enjoyed!
Deleted Scene: The Soothsayer still talks in riddles
Blue predawn light glowed from the windows of the barracks when Min awoke. A few nurses still moved about here and there, but the space was largely still. She could see, toward the front of the hall, the dim candlelight where the Soothsayer sat beside Shen's bed. Min carefully unwound Lien from her shoulders and placed her on top of Wing who stirred slightly but remained asleep, and she made her way through the maze of stretchers and beds.
The Soothsayer turned to look when Min came and sat beside her, and Min took a moment to survey the damage.
Shen's entire neck and face were wrapped in bandages, but she could see where the blood was seeping through. The rise and fall of his chest was barely noticeable in the flickering candlelight that clamored against the blue of the morning.
"Is this what you meant? When you said he would pay for what he has done?" she asked quietly.
Shen broke into shudders and gave a low groan of pain, and the Soothsayer reached forward and rubbed his bare arm to soothe him. She looked at him as though he were a child, and Min wondered about their history together. Lang had mentioned that the Soothsayer had been in charge of raising Shen, but Min had no idea of the details of that relationship.
"No," the goat replied. "This is only the beginning of his trials." When Shen settled down into calmness again, she leaned back in her chair. "And yet it is a beginning nonetheless. He has needed a new beginning for a long time."
Min sat in silence next to the Soothsayer watching the candles flicker in the light breeze that swept through the cracked door of the barracks.
"I've been thinking," Min said at last, "I've been in need of a new beginning too."
The Soothsayer inclined her head to look at the bed next to Shen's where Lang lay snoring softly. "You have incited a great shift in their lives. And they have done the same for yours. So what will you do now?"
"That question keeps coming up. But I don't know." Min sighed. She could barely sort out her thoughts. Did they all really expect her to just get over what had happened?
"Do you remember what I told you when you first arrived on the shores of the village?"
"Not really. Something rather vague about the future, but I didn't really understand."
The goat leaned back in her chair, folding her hooves across her chest. "The future is not a rigid body. My prophecies are not the same as destiny nor are they the absolute truth. Different paths lead to different destinations. Shen chose his path the very night that he overheard my prophecy and took it in such a literal way, as though I was speaking only of appearance when I envisioned the warrior of black and white."
"But he did turn out to be literally black and white," Min said, frowning.
"And that was Shen's doing. Without the events he himself set in motion, do you think Po would have ended up in the Valley of Peace, where he would meet the ones who would train him?"
"Even so, I don't see how that could have been avoided. How else would anyone interpret the prophecy?"
The Soothsayer chuckled, her eyes twinkling just a little when she glanced at Min. "I can imagine those exact words coming from his mouth," she said, gesturing to Shen.
"I'm only trying to be logical." Min pursed her beak at the idea of being compared to Shen, but relaxed again, because in hindsight, the Soothsayer was probably right. Shen himself accused her of being "not so different."
"I foretold that if Shen continued on his path, he would be defeated—if. And he did continue. And he was defeated." The Soothsayer peered at Min through her small round spectacles as she spoke.
"Well, maybe that was not what he needed. I mean, he believed that his parents didn't love him. He spent practically his entire life trying to win their love, and it doesn't sound like he ever believed that they did." Min said. She wondered how differently her life could have turned out to be if things had been slightly different. If she had taken all her bitterness toward her family and found a different outlet for it, if she had been given the same power that he had to create destruction, would she have used it? If the traveling performers she'd met so long ago hadn't lit a spark of productive inspiration instead of destructive, where would she have been? Trapped in despair, probably, and blaming the rest of the world for my problems.
"He needed affirmation," Min said, the realization falling into place all at once. "He needed to know who he was, and he never found that key ingredient. The only thing that could come from that is chaos."
The Soothsayer turned her sad gaze back to Shen. "He was such a quiet child. And so obedient and sweet. Who could have known of the storm raging in this mind?"
"Who indeed? But maybe, they would have seen it if they cared enough to look." Min didn't mean for it to come out harshly.
"It seems to me as though you have been in a similar place," the Soothsayer said, finally. "You know what it is like to have been overlooked and to have only yourself to rely on."
Min could find nothing to say to that.
Bonus Feature: Homecoming
Min inhaled deeply, taking in the earthy scent of the Gou City streets. There on the outskirts, the roads were unpaved, and commoners trudged through the mud left after recent rains. Lien tightened around Min's shoulder.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" she asked.
Min reached up and brushed Lien's scales lightly in reassurance. "It's now or never."
They stayed over at an inn for the night to prepare for their venture into the privileged districts. Mostly, the respite was for Min.
"It's not a problem for us to go with you. I don't care if we get whispered about because we're not dressed up," Wing said, fussing with his whiskers. "As long as you need us, we'll be there."
Min shook her head. "No. It's fine. Like I said, this has to be something I face by myself. It is my past, and I should be the one to deal with it."
"Okay, as long as that's your decision alone."
"It is." Min sorted through her bag of memories again, staring at the Missing Person notice. She had left on her own. She would return on her own. Somehow, she didn't feel there would be proper closure any other way.
Even dressed up in the best clothes she had, Min could still feel every eye turned on her as she walked through the mansions of the upper districts. I hope they haven't suddenly decided to move house, she thought distractedly. Her memory served her well, however, and soon she stood before a too-familiar great house.
The autumn colors were out in the front garden and the entryway was adorned with red and gold banners for luck. Min took another deep breath as she stood before the large wooden door, then rang the bell at the side.
A panel opened, allowing a pair of eyes to peer out at her. "Who are you?"
Min straightened herself, recalling years of practice from her childhood. "Xiang Min, first daughter of Lord Xiang Kuai and Lady Xiang Yin. I require audience with the Lord and Lady."
The eyes scrunched in confusion. "Lady Min has been missing for years now. Why would I believe you? You might be an imposter."
"And what purpose would that serve? Must I go through all of my childhood memories of this place to convince you? At the very least, you would do well to bring me in so that someone older might recognize me. If I am speaking the truth, it would be rather poor form of you to have kept me waiting outside, talking to a pair of eyes," she said, looking down her beak as much as possible. The servant's eyes shifted in confusion, and murmuring could be heard from behind the door.
The doors creaked open and two servant pheasants gestured for her to enter. They led Min into the entry hall where she settled on a lounge chair.
"The lord and lady are busy. You must wait here, and then we will decide what to do with you," the senior servant told her.
Stuffy as ever, Min thought, rolling her eyes when the pheasants had left. And they certainly don't believe me. Hopefully that doesn't prove to be too much of an obstacle…
The minutes crept by, and Min wondered what her parents could possibly be so busy with. It occurred to her that the servants might be stalling until they could figure out how to get rid of her. She stood and wandered into the hall. No sense abiding by the house rules all of a sudden when she never had before.
The rooms and décor all looked different, but the structure of the house was the same as she remembered, so Min let her feet carry her. The main halls were empty. Servants had other corridors to use to avoid getting in the way of the family and their guests while they went about their work. She gazed vacantly at the ornate vases and tapestries that lined the halls, smirking to herself. It all screamed Gaudy Peafowl.
"Shouldn't you be working?" someone said, and Min turned sharply to see who it was.
The peahen who stood before her craned her neck and peered closely at her. "Just a moment…I know you," she murmured.
"Mei." A small smile crept onto Min's face, despite herself. "It's been a while."
At that, the younger peahen's eyes widened, and she hurried forward, all the while, staring incredulously at Min.
"It—it is you! It is you!" Mei cried, nearly leaping into the air. Her shining burgundy robes fluttered about her in her excitement. "Min! You're alive!"
"Yes, I—" The rest of Min's words never made it out of her beak as her sister threw her arms around her in a rather un-noble fashion.
Finally, Mei released her from the embrace but still clutched her shoulders. "I cannot believe it. We all thought you were dead. We looked everywhere. What happened to you?" Her sister's wonder turned into a glare. "Why did you do something like that? We were worried sick!"
Min stared in shock for second. "I'll be honest. At the time, I didn't think I'd be missed."
This earned her a light smack on the shoulder. "What would make you think such a thing? Did you truly think we cared so little for you?" Mei's glare faded into a frown. "Did you?"
Min averted her gaze and rubbed her beak. "At the time," she repeated, and Mei drew back. "But things are different now. I can see that already. That's why I came back."
Mei led her down the hall. "We must find Mother and Father. They must know you have returned to us."
"Aren't they busy? That's what the servants said."
Her sister sniffed in amusement. "Only with lunch."
"I remember you would frustrate us," Mei continued, "because of how different you were. And so stubborn too." A smile flickered onto her face before falling into solemnity. "We never thought to ask what you felt."
"Both sides could have done a better job of things," Min said. "I wasn't exactly understanding either."
"Even so, I had not realized how simple it is to forget what is important. You only realize it when it's absent, seemingly for good. I've heard so many people say so and read the same in many books, but…I never thought it might apply to me."
They approached the old dining room, where the lord and lady took their meals. A golden pheasant servant stood outside the door.
"Lady Mei," he said with a bow. He glanced up at Min suspiciously.
"This is my sister, Min, returned to us at long last," Mei said imperiously. "You will treat her with due respect."
Confused, the servant nodded. "Yes, my ladies," he said with a bow, and he opened the door.
Min paused briefly in the threshold, but Mei pulled her forward by the arm. The sight of her mother and father made her throat tighten.
"Mother, Father, look who has come!" Mei announced, tugging Min along.
"I hope they are important for you to interrupt our meal," her father said. Min rolled her eyes briefly. He looked up to see who had entered and froze in alarm, then craned forward, peering at Min. Her mother followed his gaze and likewise stiffened.
"Can that be?" Lord Kuai murmured, getting to his feet.
Min attempted to sigh out her anxiety. "Mother, Father, I'm back."
"Min?" her mother tried, as though worried she might embarrass herself by using the wrong name.
With a glance back to her sister, Min stepped farther into the room and nodded. "It's me."
At those words, her parents rushed forward, and she felt her body tense. Lady Yin clasped Min's hands and examined her face closely. "It really is," she said.
"You've been alive all this time?" her father asked. "Why did you abandon the family? Why did you leave us?"
Min winced at the word choice and sighed again. "I was at odds with what you wanted of me. I felt stifled and unaccepted. I was young and impulsive, and I felt at the time was to leave my past behind me and become who I really wanted to be."
"But now you've returned." Her mother reached up to touch her face, making Min's feathers ruffle in embarrassment. It was odd to have her mother doting on her now.
Lord Kuai seemed less pleased. "We mourned you. We all thought you had died—"
"Do you prefer that?" Min interrupted, more sharply than she intended.
Her father lurched back in shock. Mei stepped in. "No, never that. But you caused us great strife, disappearing the way you did. Father's anger comes from that grief."
"I know." Min averted her gaze. "That was the reason I came back—to say that I'm sorry for leaving you without a word." She ran through her memories, reiterating yet again the reason she chose to return. Confidence began to return to her, and she stood taller. "I wasn't sure how I'd be received. But I knew whether you cared or not, I had to come back and settle everything. Whether you cared or not, I wanted you to know I'm alive and thriving. I had been running from my past for so long, and now I've come back to fully come to terms with it." A smile crept onto her face. "I'm happy that you did care after all. And I'm sorry I hurt you by leaving."
"Then, does that mean you are here to stay?" her father asked in a low voice.
Min shook her head. "This is no longer my home. My path in this world is different from yours. I've met good people along the way, and my place is with them now. I'll be leaving soon again."
Mei touched her wing. "So soon?"
"Not immediately, if you prefer. But I have friends who are waiting for me, so I can't stay long."
"You're not planning to stay at an inn in the city are you?" Her mother ruffled indignantly. "At least stay the night."
Min could not help but laugh. "There's nothing wrong with the inns. But I will stay the night."
"If you are going to frequent the inns, please let it not be known that you are one of the Xiang," Lord Kuai said.
"You couldn't possibly stop me," Min said, rolling her eyes and laughing at the appalled expression on her father's face.
He regained composure and sniffed loftily. "I suppose they wouldn't believe you in any case. Your clothes and accent would fit right in with that lot."
"Father!" Mei chided, then looked apologetically at Min. "Although, he is right. You sound so funny!"
"And despite claiming you missed me, I see that not much has changed in terms of your approval!" But Min smiled when she said it. Somehow, that made everything seem more right in the end.