Chapter 11: Rainclouds
"Gotta hand it to the construction team." Lavi stretched his arms over his head. "They sure made a kickass library."
"It's a shame it's raining today." Allen spoke up, blissfully unaware of Link's annoyance beside him. With an inaudible sigh, the Inspector set aside their half-finished report and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was hoping to go for a walk today."
Lenalee glanced up from the book in her lap and turned to the massive bay windows lining the east wall of the archives. On an ordinary given day, they allowed for the sun to stream in and provide lighting for a rather comfortable lounge, but today, storm clouds had rolled in from the ocean, threatening to break over the main headquarters.
Miranda nodded in agreement and abruptly shuddered. "It reminds me of October ninth."
"October ninth?" Timothy glanced up from their chess game and frowned at the elder woman. "Why? What happened on October ninth?"
"It's a long story, dear." The clockwork exorcist extended a hand to move her remaining bishop, then thought better of it and instead moved her rook across the board.
Lenalee smiled and reached down to pat her friend's shoulder, then looked around the rest of their circle. Allen was sitting to her left on the settee, pouring over a mess of reports with Link, who sat on his other side. Across from them on the other sofa, Lavi lay sprawled out with a book over his face and his arms crossed behind his head. He'd been like that for the past twenty minutes or so, and up until he'd spoken up about the library, Lenalee had assumed he was asleep. "I don't think the rain is so bad." She said.
"But it's so gloomy out there." Timothy pointed out. "You can't play outside when it's raining. You could slip in a puddle or get sick."
"I know, but rain does a lot of good." Lenalee closed her book, keeping her index finger between the pages to mark her spot. "My brother used to tell me this story about four dragons who brought rain and rivers to China when the people were starving."
Lavi lifted his book off his face. "Oh, yeah, I remember hearing that one. That's how the Heilongjian, the Huanghe, the Changjiang, and the Zhujiang got their names, right?"
She nodded, but before she could say any more, Allen suddenly set aside his report and turned to her. "I haven't heard that story before. You should tell it."
"Oh, I…" Lenalee trailed off as she looked around the group to find a series of expectant eyes staring at her. All except for Link, who seemed sufficiently annoyed at the interruption. She was about to say no or maybe later, when Timothy piped up his approval as well.
"Pleeeeaaaase?" The boy exorcist grinned, blue eyes wide.
The girl paused, let out a small laugh and smiled. "All right." But only because this reminds me of when Daisya and I begged General Yeegar to tell us the story of why the sea is full of salt. Now, how did Komui always begin… "Many years ago, China had no rivers or lakes, and the people of then relied on the rains and sea. There was the Eastern Sea, and within those waters lived four dragons." Lenalee set aside her book entirely to count them off on her fingers. Just the way Komui used to. "They were the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon, the Pearl Dragon. One day, while the sun was high in the sky, the Four Dragons left their home in the sea to play in the clouds."
She continued her tale, describing the dragons' shock and horror once they saw the wilted earth and withered crops of the humans and how they petitioned the Jade Emperor to send rain to the starving people. How the Emperor pretended to promise he would grant their wish, only to ignore their plight in favor of watching the fairies dance and play their music. "He was in charge of the land, the sea, and Heaven itself." She explained. "Acting without his consent was a terrible crime. So when ten days passed and rain still had not come to the earth, the four dragons hatched a clever plan."
Her audience listened in varying degrees of fascination. Timothy was absolutely enthralled, staring and waiting eagerly for her to continue. Lavi was nodding in approval, anticipating the following of events in a familiar story. Allen and Miranda were listening politely while Link was watching the storm clouds outside. At first, it seemed to Lenalee the Inspector wasn't interested then realized suddenly, that he hadn't resumed trying to work on his report. Was he listening, too?
She told them of the dragons' plan to scoop water from the sea and cast it raining down upon the starving land, which angered the sea god. He quickly informed the Emperor of what the dragons had done, and the Emperor was furious. "He gathered his armies and ordered them to seize the dragons." She spoke of their flight through China, escaping the Emperor's men at every turn until the great Mountain Generals captured the Four Dragons and imprisoned them forever. "Even then, they did not regret what they had done, and so they chose to turn themselves to water. The Black Dragon became the Heilongjian in the far north, the Yellow Dragon became the Huanghe in the heart of the nation, the Long Dragon the Changjiang to the south, and the Pearl Dragon became the Zhujiang River in the very far south. And thus the four great rivers of China were formed."
As she concluded, Allen, Miranda, and Lavi brought their hands together in applause, followed quickly by Timothy. "Well done." Miranda said, smiling. "That was beautiful." Lavi and Allen nodded in agreement, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, no." Lenalee waved a dismissive hand. "Thank you, but that's nothing compared to the way my brother tells it. He's got a great voice for each of the dragons, and a really petty, small voice for the emperor."
"Are you kidding?" Timothy leapt up, punching a fist into the air. "Those dragons were so cool, standing up to the emperor to do what was right! They saved the day!"
"That's right. They did." Lenalee smiled. "The Four Dragons defied the will of the Jade Emperor, supreme ruler of the land, the sea, and the heavens, in the name of a greater good, and in doing so, they saved the innocents suffering at his negligence."
Allen patted her shoulder. "It was a good story. Thank you for sharing it."
Lenalee smiled back at him. "Thank you, Allen, but you should probably get back to work now. You've got a report to finish, remember?"
"Oh, right! I'm sorry, Link!" Her younger comrade snatched up his papers and resumed writing with more energy than ever. "Where did we leave off again?"
The Inspector glanced over his charge's white hair, his eyes meeting Lenalee's as he nodded his thanks for redirecting Allen back on track. Or so she'd thought. "I've never heard that story before, Miss Lee. It was well told."
Surprised, Lenalee smiled a shy smile, then returned to her own book, easily finding her page as rain began to fall against the windows. "Thank you, Inspector."
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D. Gray Man is owned by Katsura Hoshino.