saga

A Tianshi?!

Ah, Tianshi Li, my apologies for not greeting you more properly. I am called Saga. I hail from Higashi. Today, I travel across Yan.

My name is... Yuan Yu. I'm from Shangshu. I got lost on my way to the capital, but luckily, this sister was there to guide me.

Oh...

Tianshi Li, are you also on your way to Baizao? Are you perhaps on your way back to the Tianshi Bureaus?

Ah. That's right. I left the capital to acquire some special 'strain samples', and now I'm on my way back. If you're also going to Baizao, then shall we go together?

Xiaoyu, thou art blessed with luck. The matter of thy concern... Perhaps Tianshi Li may assist?

Hmm? What is it?

Oh. It's nothing, just a minor issue. I'll tell you about it once we reach Baizao!

Tianshi Li, the 'strain samples' you just mentioned, are they your wondrous 'devices', by any chance? Ever since I was little, I've read stories about the hundreds of different devices that Tianshis use, but I've never seen one with my own eyes...

Haha. I wouldn't call them wondrous devices. I've just... well I've been at the Tianshi Bureaus for all these years, and I've never seen any strain cultured this flawlessly... Let me show you!

O-Oh... I was just being curious about the devices... I apologize for being uncouth!

A rare occurrence to see Xiaoyu so brash...

No trouble! But I really don't have any wondrous devices here, only this thing. Look, it's quite good—

This would appear to be a... moldy orange?

Yes! Look at this mold! Look how well it's growing! It's beautiful...

This thing will rescue my schoolbrother's thesis...

Xiaoyu.

Gah... uhh...

What hast thou? Is it perhaps Tianshi Li's bag?

I wasn't trying to steal his money. I just wanted to borrow something for a little bit. I had every intention of returning it.

This thing thou seekest to borrow, Xiaoyu, might it be an entry pass to the Tianshi Bureaus?

I have pondered why thou toldest not Tianshi Li the purpose of thy journey. As thou fearest thy message may not reach the Tianshi you seek, would it not have been best to ask him to help find her?

Xiaoyu, I believe thy goal has been and remains gaining access to the Tianshi Bureaus. To go so far as to steal into Tianshi Li's luggage...

Dare I ask thy true intentions on the Tianshis?

The Tianshi thou seekst, what, in fact, is thy true relation to her?

If you're asking these questions, then you already know the answer. Do you really need to ask?

Only a few things in this world would lead one to take such a risk to one's life.

If not the repayment of a debt of kindness...

Then thou seekest revenge.

Saga reaches out her hand and touches Xiaoyu's forehead.

Be careful, little one.

I know you have a kind heart, sister, and will surely try to stop me. But that Tianshi killed my entire family. This is all I live for now: to make my enemy pay with her life, so my family can rest in peace!

Xiaoyu, the Laws of Yan are strict indeed. If it be true that this Tianshi did harm, why not report it to the Three Organs of Justice? The legal system will surely grant thee justice—why risk thine own life?

I... but I don't even know her name. How would I even report the case?

Besides, officials hold power; commoners do not. All those storybooks are full of unsolved cases. Without the help of some extraordinary hero or honest magistrate, how could I ever win a case against a Tianshi? I'm just a girl, on my own.

The murder of an entire family is a major case. The Three Organs of Justice would never turn a blind eye to something so grave, even without the killer's name. So long as there is evidence, even a Tianshi will face justice.

But I don't have any evidence...

Then how dost thou know the Tianshi did it?

I... I remember her. I remember what she looked like!

And the blood... the blood flowed beneath my knees...

I awoke under a huge pile of rubble. My house was ruined and empty. I couldn't even find my family's corpses. All of this happened... after I met her...

Who else, other than that Tianshi, could have done it? If she didn't kill my family, who did?!

Thou knowest not the Tianshi's name, then, when didst thou meet her? As a child, or as an adult? Didst thou find her in the ruins, or in thy home?

Uhh... I think... it was...

I just know it was her! I just know it!

Didst thou witness her killing thy kin?

I was looking for her... and I saw... lots of dead people... and I was the only one left...

Xiaoyu, I recall thine words, that there was nary a corpse to be found?

Their-their corpses... no... uhh... no...

Ah, Xiaoyu, be not alarmed. It was not my place to so interrogate thee. Such a traumatizing experience has an affect on the memory, 'tis natural.

How many... were in my family?

Was it eleven...?

Or five hundred?

Xiaoyu, have thee remembered anything? Thou have been quiet for quite some time.

I...

Pardon my forwardness, but wouldst thou tell me of thine origins?

So you still suspect that I'm a poltergeist?

My family name is Yuan. I live at the foot of Zuanjiang Peak with my mother, my father, my brother's family, and an elder sister. The banana plant by the window, I remember how many leaves it had. I remember it all! I know exactly where I came from... how could I...?

But those bloody wastelands... what are...

Sister! Pinch me, touch me—I'm warm, my heart's still beating. I know hunger. I know thirst. I... I can't possibly be one of those monsters from the storybooks, right?

I have had many strange encounters over the years... but never once have I seen any wandering souls or ghosts like those of strange tales. It seems there are no ghosts on this great land.

Xiaoyu, thou sayest thy memory is clear. What exactly dost thou remember?

I remember... it was like... I got separated from my family; I chased after them, but all I found was a bloody mess...

I remember I was born at the foot of Zuanjiang Peak. My family loved me. Ever since I was small, I'd had nary a care nor worry...

I loved to listen to stories... I often played with the girl who lived next door. She used to wear her hair in twin buns. On the fifth of May, when she turned nine, I gave her a five-colored hair ribbon...

There's something I treasured dearly... I kept it by the west window, on the desk, beside my dressing mirror... it was... it was...

*Sigh*

A pea?

Li lets out another sigh. He takes a yellow talisman and puts it to 'Xiaoyu's' chest. The delicate strokes on the paper light up immediately, with a faint glow.

What... what are you doing?

The talisman works. This proves you're a product of the Tianshi Bureaus.

You are a pea soldier.

A faint fragrance of pea blossoms.

At the foot of 'Zuanjiang Peak'.

...I've had this habit of talking back. Even the neighbor girl used to scold me for it—once she got so flustered she almost threw away my... what was it again...?

I'm ashamed to admit that I always fear fire...

...I felt an unease at her story, but... a pea soldier...?

This is the Tianshi's 'Legion of the Scattered Peas' technique. During particularly busy times at the Agricultural Bureau, they'll sometimes conjure a squad of pea soldiers to help out.

But... come to think of it, the pea soldiers usually all look the same. They don't have consciousness or memory, and they aren't active for very long. They definitely wouldn't think they have families or personal histories.

The talisman confirmed she's a pea soldier; that's not in doubt—but for her to look like this, and carry such mixed-up memories, something strange must have happened to her.

'Mixed-up memories'? Indeed. Her memories are most muddled. However, I believed it was merely owed to the trauma she has...

I got up early today and heard most of your conversations. You two were making quite a lot of noise...

Sure, the Nongye Tianshis use pea soldiers for chores—but the technique's name is 'Legion of the Scattered Peas'. That tells you what it was really meant for: warfare.

I heard Xiaoyu mention getting 'separated from her family'. I think she got separated from the rest of the pea soldiers when the Tianshi summoned them and had to run to catch up with them.

The 'bloody mess' she mentioned, I think, was the battlefield she was summoned to. Perhaps she arrived late and saw only the post-battle carnage, and all the blood scared her back into pea form.

Typically, the Arts wear off after a few days, and the pea soldiers return to dust.

But I have no idea how you ended up in the hands of that Yuan girl... maybe someone cleaning up the battlefield picked you up and gave you to her?

I don't know how the girl kept you, but somehow, a lingering trace of the Arts remained in the pea, affecting your consciousness...

You kept saying how you love to listen to stories. I bet that Yuan girl loved to read storybooks, and she read to you every day, right?

I'll guess you want to go to the capital because that's what everyone does when they run into trouble in the storybooks, yeah?

No. It's probably because... Xiaoyu married her neighbor. He passed the imperial examination, and she went to the capital with him...

I had just... forgotten that part.

Oho! That actually makes sense. You're quite the storyteller—your memories might be scattered, but you still managed to weave all these bits into a narrative!

Then why… why do I look like Xiaoyu now? Aren't pea soldiers supposed to be without memories or consciousness?

What surprises me more is that even though you had already reverted to a pea, under the care of Xiaoyu, you managed to transform into her form. How? And you managed to live this long, with such a strong consciousness...

If I hadn't confirmed that you were a Tianshi product with the talisman, just judging by your looks and your behavior, I'd have thought you were...

Uhh... forget it. I'd rather not say.

(...Zuanjiang Peak—if I recall correctly, last time I encountered Dusk and Mr. Lee at Rhodes Island, they mentioned this exactly place...)

At any rate, I'm afraid you've mistaken yourself for the Yuan Yu girl and mixed up a bunch of memories into one strange, singular narrative. You thought you were going to the capital on a mission of vengeance.