I have something of (some) importance in this author's note! there is one instance where I have some words underlined, that is in absence of FFN allowing me to do a strike-through. Also, at this point, I can't remember properly, and I don't have the book with me, but the dream that is after the line break I'm 99% sure is purely my idea. I'll let you know in my note next week, when I have a chance to compare with the actual book.

I hope you all had a good Christmas, and I'll see you all in the new year!

-owl

Meilin knew a lot of things, and she wasn't stupid. She knew full well that if she didn't get something to drink, or eat, very soon, she wouldn't last much longer. So, yes, Meilin knew that her death was imminent. She was also starkly aware that leaving Greenhaven had not been the best decision she had ever made.

Jhi was ambling along with Meilin, her slow steps almost too fast for the girl to keep up with. After all, the panda wasn't starving, she was in a death trap of food. Jhi had been leading the way through the maze ever since she had been let out of passive state. Meilin was unsure if it was truly wise to follow Jhi, but it wasn't like she had much other choice.

Rats had been coming out at night, feasting on the fallen bamboo flowers. Every once in a while, one of them would come and sniff at her. A few times Meilin had begun to worry 'what if they decided that she was food?'

With no other option, Meilin continued to follow Jhi, leaning on the panda as they ambled through the dying bamboo maze.

Almost an hour after it had gotten dark, Jhi stopped walking. Meilin looked at her quizzically. Why would they be stopping? They normally walked later into the night than this. The bear met Meilin's eyes, and a deep calm drew over her.

With the help from Jhi, Meilin was able to put aside her hunger and fear, and sense the world around her. The musty bamboo scent that wreathed around them and clung to Jhi, and the faint fear scent that Meilin was producing was there too. She could hear the bamboo stalks rattling together at the top of the maze, where the wind was blowing through them, making a beautiful harmony that reminded Meilin of the music she would listen to as a small child.

There was also the sound of metal scraping against metal. Meilin snapped her head around towards the out of place sound. Narrowing her eyes, there seemed to be the faintest spot of light. She tilted her head at Jhi.

"Is that what you are trying to show me?" she asked.

Jhi couldn't smile, but Meilin could feel through their bond the sense of pride from Jhi. With renewed vigor, Meilin struck out a new path, towards the sound and the growing spot of light. It wasn't a direct path, as they were in a maze, but eventually she reached her goal.

Sitting at the fire was an old woman with silver hair, wearing a dark cloak, stirring something in a metal pot with a metal spoon. Next to her was a tall traveling pack, loaded with pots, pans, knives, and almost anything else that Meilin could imagine one would need for food preparation.

Whatever was currently being cooked smelled amazing. Meilin walked the last few steps needed to enter the circle of light given by the fire. Then she spoke. Her voice was rough and scratchy from disuse, and Meilin wouldn't have called the sound she made human.

"Greetings, Old Mother," she rasped. "Can a weary traveler ask for food and water? I have money, I can pay."

The woman turned to look at Meilin with beady black eyes. "Payment? No payment is needed, nor should it be asked for aiding the lost. Sit, drink my water, she my food, my fire."

"Thank you. I am Meilin, and this is —"

"Jhi the Great Panda needs no introduction. You can call me Xue. Now, would you like some stew?"

Meilin nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, please." Once she was given the stew, she ate quickly, then gratefully accepted the water that Xue offered her. "What was in the stew?" she asked, sipping the water. As much as she would like to gulp greedily, she knew that would result in her throwing up everything in her stomach.

"Rat and bamboo shoots. There's no other meat in the Maze currently. Just thousands upon thousands of rats, feasting on the bamboo flowers."

The little camp fell into silence for a few moments, save for Jhi munching on bamboo. Meilin was zoned out, her eyes gazing ahead, seeing nothing and everything at the same time. Her attention was drawn when a bamboo blossom drifted into view and landed in the pot of stew. Quick as a flash of lightning, Xue plucked it out with a considerably sharp pair of chopsticks.

"The bamboo decorates its own grave as it dies," Xue said mournfully. "The Maze will need to be replanted."

"And who will be left to do that?"

"Zhong has always rebuilt. We will do so yet again. The continent as a whole has yet to give up entirely. There's still freedom fighters."

That piqued Meilin's interest. If her father was still alive, he would be with the freedom fighters. And the best place to hide out would be in the Great Bamboo Maze. It also seemed likely that Xue would know her way around the Maze. "Please tell me how to get to them!" she asked in excitement.

Xue nodded, a sage look on her face. "In the morning. For now, sleep."

Meilin nodded as well and moved to lay against Jhi's body. She closed her eyes, and, well fed and warm for the first time in days, she fell asleep almost immediately.

Meilin opened her eyes, but some part of her knew that she wasn't awake. Maybe it was the way the colors around her were wrong, or the fact that she was at home, in the garden where she had first met Rollan. The garden where she would sometimes practice with her quarterstaff.

As she took in more of her surroundings, she saw a massive panda, towering over her. At first she was terrified, after all, a panda was a bear, and had large teeth. This one, being giant, had teeth almost as long as her forearm. Then she noticed the panda's eyes were silver.

It was Jhi.

"Jhi?" Meilin asked in a hushed voice, reaching her arm out towards the panda.

"Meilin," Jhi said, smiling as well as she could. Where Arax's voice was resonant and commanding, or Rumfuss' voice was scratchy and unsure, Jhi spoke with a voice that was rich and calm. It was nothing like Meilin had ever heard before.

"Thank you for following me," Jhi added. "I know you are still finding it hard to change your ways from running headlong into a situation that may or may not call for that response."

Meilin nodded. "I am trying. And you're right, it is hard. Thank you for your patience, even when I don't deserve it."

Jhi shook her head. "We are still connecting, becoming a pair. We are truly bonded, yes, but there's a ways to go until we will be as close as Tarik and Lumeo, or Lucette and Bryer. Remember, I am just as new to being a spirit animal as you are to having one. Please know I am doing my best to find a rhythm with you."

"And I will try harder to understand you. Where are we?" Meilin asked. Their surroundings were changing. The beautiful garden was beginning to wither and die, the stone work around them were becoming cracked and weathered, moss and lichen springing up.

Jhi shrugged. "I am not fully sure. There is something wrong here, though I know not what it is. There are some things I want to tell you, but something won't let me. Please know that you are mine, and no matter what happens, I forgive you."