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The wings were a nice touch. Now that Jing Beiyuan had gone through the indignities of fledgling and come out with a beautiful bloom of feathers, the kind that would be plucked for ladies hair sticks, he was —not to put too fine a point on it— an exceptionally pretty bird.
White feathers, of course, but when they caught the light it was like he had been set aflame, transformed into a tiny firebird.
Perhaps it wasn't whatever the soulhook Envoy had planned, Jing Beiyuan could remember him running, but the mortal world had grabbed Jing Beiyuan before he could be reached. For a seventh life it could certainly be worse.
So he was a bird, a songbird of some sort, although no one had made it expressly clear to him what kind. He had entertained the notion he was a poisonous and exotic thing from the forests of Nanjiang , but that was an old man's fanciful thinking.
Jing Beiyuan was a beautiful bird in a lovely cage.
But the wings were a nice touch. He could flit from one corner of the cage to another, perch on a range of spots, eat seeds. There wasn't anything wrong with the cage, in fact, compared to the jasmine pot, it was a luxurious amount of movement.
In his old age Jing Beiyuan was getting fussy, as old men were want to do. But, after a life as jasmine and then sleeping through one on the three life rock, needing to eat and sleep and poop was a novelty that swifty wore off. It was lovely to fly about, but such a tiny body certainly needed to eat. It got boring.
While he was alone in the cage thankfully he was not sequestered in some private viewing room. It stretched along part of a wall and window of a storefront, although what exactly was being sold Jing Beiyuan had yet to figure out.
It was nice to see Helian Yi unstressed again, a life that had not yet turned to tragedy or starvation. Helian Yi was attentive, Jing Beiyuan never lacked for food or water. It was, for now, a good life.
On days like these, when the memories and knowledge of seven lifetimes was too much to stuff under the simple animal concerns of his life, Jing Beiyuan distracted himself with Helian Yi.
Helian Yi, who had managed to keep his name this time around, was dusting. The store, filled as it was with all manner of strangely shaped things, needed constant dusting. Helian Yi would hum while he dusted, losing himself in the task. He looked plain in this life, some trick in the fall of his hair and the curve of his cheekbones that let your eyes slip over him. It was always the same eyes, regardless of the face they lived in.
For now, the life they lived was good.
At the start, the life Jing Beiyuan lived with Helian Yi was always good. Jing Beiyuan resolved to remember the good times and manage the bad when it came. Helian Yi was in a good position, whatever the store sold he wasn't stressed over the coming or going of funds. It reminded Jing Beiyuan of the jasmine life, sitting in a pot watching Helian Yi do accounts. Unlike life as a jasmine plant, as a songbird, Jing Beiyuan could sing along to Helian Yi.
“Ah you're joining in already, Feng? Am I so bad at music I need your help?” Helian Yi put down the cloths he was using and turned to the cage. “Is there something you need?” Helian Yi slipped a finger through the bars of the cage and Jing Beiyuan nipped it, lightly.
“I see, my musical talents are no match for a connoisseur such as yourself,” Helian Yi laughed and fished some extra, special, seeds from his pocket. “I suppose putting up with me deserves a reward.” It was a novelty in this life, to see a Helian Yi so free and casual with laughter, the court expectations and the quiet, bloody war for the throne not sinking claws into him.
As Helian Yi poured seeds into Jing Beiyuans cage there came a voice from deeper in the store; “Are you talking to that bird again?”
Su Qingluan was just as beautiful in this life as in any other, and it was her presence that made Jing Beiyuan worry for his safety. It was not her fault, he knew, but in the combination of her and Helian Yi it was Jing Beiyuan who suffered. That was how it had been for five mortal lives, the pattern wouldn’t change for a sixth.
“Feng is scolding me for disrupting his peaceful contemplation with my pitiful song,” Helian Yi said over his shoulder. “He says I should leave the singing to him.”
“He is the smartest man in the building,” Su Qingluan laughed, appearing from around the thing Helian Yi had been dusting. “Hello Feng. How are you managing with such unmusical company today?”
This was perhaps the strangest life Jing Beiyuan had lived. He could ignore it for days or weeks at a time, distracting himself with the treats regularly hidden through his cage, but when Helian Yi and Su Qingluan stood next to each other like this and spoke so casually it shocked him. There was a level of progression through his lives, but as an animal or a plant the concerns of people had never made an impression, until they had too. There were significant parts of being human you really only cared about when you had thumbs too, it made disconnecting easy.
It was clothing that did it, there was no reason for an animal to care about clothes (unless, an otherwise quiet part of his mind reminded him, it was being turned into clothes). For such a pretty bird as Jing Beiyuan, clothing was unnecessary, but he remembered the outfits he had worn, or had seen Helian Yi wear. Remembered layers of robes and embroidery and ornamentation. When he was bored Jing Beiyuan could see the ghost of those styles in what Helian Yi wore here, in specific trims or buttons that seemed straight out of their first life (and Jing Beiyuan truly deeply wanted to nibble those buttons). Even their hair seemed strange, Jing Beiyuan had never seen Helian Yi with hair so short.
“There is a reason I sell things, instead of making them,” Helian Yi said, rolling his eyes, “I know my limits.”
“Ah, lack of perfection is a struggle I cannot relate to,” Su Qingluan teased. “It must be hard to be outshone by myself and Feng all the time.”
Helian Yi threw the duster at her, a puff of grey exploding on the shiny silk of her dress. Jing Beiyuan trilled in amusement, ignoring the betrayed noise from Su Qingluan. Next to Helian Yi the silk dresses she wore seemed to have stepped out from his first life. On those days Jing Beiyuan felt such a deep anticipation that the breath in his lungs was borrowed.
It was a good life, for his last. Jing Beiyuan would try to remember the good for as long as it lasted.
Jing Beiyuan still had no idea what it was Helian Yi actually sold. Sometimes things moved, old things left or new things arrived, but what those things were Jing Beiyuan was uncertain. Helian Yi and Su Qingluan lived so comfortably yet could go a day or more without someone visiting the store. Maybe this was one of those curiosity rooms for rich people, dedicated to holding more and weirder things than birds.
Perhaps those long days where no one would visit and Jing Beiyuan was left to his own devices were balanced with these evening influxes of people. To call the shop packed would be an overstatement, no one was squeezed together elbow to elbow. But it was surely full, the crowd dressed a step closer to what Jing Beiyuan recognised as formal clothing, but also a step to the left in terms of the shapes they wore. It was loud, to the point Jing Beiyuan’s calls would go unnoticed by all except those closest to him, but the people were happy and interested in whatever strange things had been dotted throughout the room. Helian Yi himself was conducting the crowd, fishing people from dark corners and encouraging their attention back to the decor. Su Qingluan was a vision, holding court with a series of admirers whilst looking like she would rather be anywhere else.
If Helian Yi had simply sold something normal, Jing Beiyuan was sure he would understand everything by now. But Jing Beiyuan had decided he didn’t even care what was happening, so long as Helian Yi continued to supply seeds.
The strange thing Helian Yi had been constantly dusting in front of Jing Beiyuan’s cage had been moved, replaced by something big hanging from the ceiling with a lot of ribbons. In terms of things to look at it was an improvement, the ribbons occasionally caught the breeze in the store and fluttered. He hoped one of the shiny embroidered ones would drift close enough for him to steal. As it was they were tantalisingly close.
The man lingering by his cage didn't seem to care about the shiny ribbons. He had a drink in each hand, and a stash of other cups quietly hidden away on a little table. Jing Beiyuan had drifted closer and closer to him, while still remaining able to grab a ribbon the moment it was within reach.
“A-Xu, A-Xu, there you are!” another man, this one dressed in clothing Jing Beiyuan immediately recognised. Robes in a light blue, one layer of deep red occasionally peeking through. It was the kind of clothing you got by handing full control of your bank account to a tailor. The man did not seem to care about the fortune he was wearing, draping himself over the scruffier A-Xu like a particularly satisfied limpet.
“Get off,” A-Xu shrugged aggressively but the fancier dressed man simply leaned further into him.
“How could I leave you languishing in the corner like this? A gentleman like myself owes it to the world to pluck such a beautiful wallflower from his hiding place,” and he plucked one of the drinks from A-Xu’s hand like it was his.
Jing Beiyuan was delighted. Most people said boring things about whatever they were looking at and left again. This was the most exciting thing to happen since Helian Yi found a spider while cleaning and screamed so loudly Su Qingluan thought he was dying.
The delight of watching beautiful men flirt with each other was not the same as a bird, but it remained one of Jing Beiyuan’s favourite forms of entertainment.
“Some gentleman,” A-Xu scoffed, and followed up with an elbow to the ribs. Quietly, with only Jing Beiyuan to observe them, the two men tussled in an entirely undignified manner, somehow without spilling any drinks. The spat ended with them even more entwined than they had been. Jing Beiyuan tittered delightedly, wherever these men had been hiding they needed to come back regularly.
“Ah,” the gentleman spotted Jing Beiyuan, “I see how it is, my dear A-Xu found the only one here better dressed than me.”
Jing Beiyuan shimmied his feathers at the complement, making sure they would deploy to the best quality.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Gentleman Wen couldn’t hold a candle to the natural beauty of this fellow,” A-Xu smiled winningly, even as the Gentleman Wen gave him a very ungentlemanly pinch to the side.
“I see how it is,” Wen bemoaned, “there is clearly no competing with such a fine specimen. I’m sure he will keep you in the luxury my spoiled A-Xu is so accustomed to.”
“He hasn’t been dragging the attention of—” A-Xu started but Gentleman Wen cut him off, pinching A-Xu’s lips shut.
“Ah ah ah, no borrowing trouble my dear A-Xu. Have a drink with me and smile in the faces of all those assholes that can’t prove anything, hmm?”
Oh yes, Jing Beiyuan desperately needed these two to come back. If only he had met them in a life where he had thumbs, they would have got along like a house on fire.
“Welcome young sir, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask,” Helian Yi smiled out from what Jing Beiyuan had to assume was the counter, despite the lack of anything that seemed built for managing money.
The young man looked vaguely familiar, something about the series of decorated braids in his long hair, that meant Jing Beiyuan kept an eye on him as he looked around. There was a dissatisfied turn to his mouth as he looked up at the ribbon thing in front of Jing Beiyuan’s cage. At least Jing Beiyuan was not the only one not to know what that was.
Worse, he had not managed to snag even one of the shiny ribbons.
“Any questions, sir? I get the impression that’s not the piece you’re after,” Helian Yi had moved away from the counter, his most charming smile turned to full. That, Jing Beiyuan knew, was a devastating attack. None but the most cold hearted could deny Helian Yi when he looked at them like that. It had been useful in the court, for all it could rarely be deployed. Here it could be deployed regularly in whatever use Helian Yi needed it for— largely separating people from their money.
It seemed this man was indeed cold hearted, barely spearing a glance at Helian Yi.
“It is my teacher’s birthday soon,” he said “He is a man who has everything he could possibly need and will buy himself whatever he wants when he wants it. It makes him,” here he pulled a face that suggested Helian Yi’s store was not the only reason for his sour look, “exceptionally difficult to buy for.”
“Quite the predicament indeed,” Helian Yi sympathised. “We specialise in a more unique offering than most. Perhaps you will find the answer to your woes. Are there any colours your teacher is drawn to? Or themes perhaps? While we are currently focused on our latest showing, if that is not to your teacher's taste there are other pieces available.”
There was no point in paying attention to Helian Yi buttering up customers, all it did was make Jing Beiyuan think of their first life together. It was easier to settle into the rhythms of being a creature when you didn’t also try to scrabble to be a person. Life was easy as a bird.
Jing Beiyuan was smoothing some wayward feathers back into place, an action that was far from dignified, when he realised the customer was watching him. There was a sense of shamelessness that came with being an animal, but this was perhaps a touch too far. Jing Beiyuan halted his preening, tilted his head at the man, and tittered.
The man didn't change his expression exactly, but there was a reduction of tension. His eyes, that had been dark pools, sparked with mischief. There was something about him that itched the back of Jing Beiyuan’s brain.
“Hello,” he said, focused entirely on Jing Beiyuan, “aren't you a lovely creature.”
Jing Beiyuan tittered again because it was true, he was a lovely creature. It was always appreciated when others recognised that as the immutable fact it was.
“Indeed,” the man smiled and Jing Beiyuan realised that it had actually been for the safety of those around him that this man had looked so dour, for the smile transformed his face into one of beauty.
He moved his face closer to the cage and Jing Beiyuan took his opportunity to strike. Darting with a swiftness he rarely got to show off he snapped up the braid, beak clicking against the shiny bead. Jing Beiyuan, soaring on his own success, danced on his feet and attempted to pry the bead from the man's hair. The ribbon that taunted him for days might have escaped, but nothing could escape Jing Beiyuan for long.
“Ai, Feng!” Helian Yi shouted from across the store. “Let go of him!”
Jing Beiyuan lept back, the braid falling from his beak. The bead hit the bar of his cage as his victory slipped away.
“I'm so sorry, sir,” Helian Yi looked mortified. “Please accept my apologies, he has never done such a thing before.”
“You need to give him more enrichment,” the man said, seemingly unconcerned about a bird attempting to steal his braid.
“Your advice is of course appreciated, sir,” Helian Yi said with a smile. “Is there anything I can get for you now?”
“How much?” the man asked.
“I'm sure in light of this, if something has caught your eye, we can find a price that suits you.”
“Good, how much for him?” the man nodded at Jing Beiyuan.
Jing Beiyuan froze, and tried to catch a glimpse of Helian Yi’s face. Was this the moment? In every other life they had lived together it has been Jing Beiyuan with him until the last moment. As a human Jing Beiyuan had lived and died at the pleasure of his emperor, every life following that had followed the same pattern.
Jing Beiyuan had never been sold by Helian Yi. He had been offered silk, he had been crushed, he had been skinned, he had starved, he had been abandoned. In all those lives he had not been sold. Whatever his fate had been, it was delivered by Helian Yi, by action or inaction. It had never occurred to him that Helian Yi could separate them like that. Their fates had been tied for so long, not even Meng Po’s soup had been able to claim the connection — for better or worse.
“I apologise, but Feng is not for sale,” Helian Yi’s smile was sharp and the silence stretched.
“If you are going to look after a living creature you should look after him properly then,” the man said, seeming unruffled by the exchange. “Provide the appropriate environment, rather than displaying him as another piece of art.”
“If there is truly nothing for sale here that captures your attention, perhaps you might have better luck in another premises.”
“I’ll be back,” the man said simply. He was looking at Jing Beiyuan when he said it.
Helian Yi stood next to the bird cage as the man left the store. It was, in this life, the closest that Jing Beiyuan had been to recognising his first Helian Yi.
“What does he know, hmm?” Helian Yi asked finally. He turned his attention to Jing Beiyuan and fished out some sunflower seeds from his pocket. “As if there has ever been a more spoiled bird than you.”
Jing Beiyuan nibbled the seeds, and allowed Helian Yi to push a finger through the bars and stroke his head. His mind was curiously blank.
Jing Beiyuan had not expected Helian Yi to keep him.
For all the days could be long and quiet, there was an easy rhythm to life in the store. Jing Beiyuan began to recognise the regulars, although he couldn’t be sure what they were regularly doing. Sometimes they must be buying things, because things left the store never to be seen again. Far be it from Jing Beiyuan to decide what was worth spending money on, but perhaps some nice sunflower seeds would make people happier.
The two men who had so entertained him at the evening event, Gentleman Wen and his A-Xu, had been back on a few occasions. With a sense of dawning delight Jing Beiyuan had realised that Gentleman Wen made things that got sold in the store! Here, walking amongst the mortals, was the strangest man imaginable. Jing Beiyuan took to bowing when he entered the store, not out of a respect for the creations (although he had enjoyed the ribbon thing) but out of a respect for getting people to give him money for them.
Gentleman Wen, who’s full name had not been revealed to the prettiest bird in the world, was usually within bothering range of A-Xu, to the point Jing Beiyuan had never seen them apart. Helian Yi seemed to age a year for each of their visits, but their antics caused Jing Beiyuan no end of delight.
The things Gentleman Wen sold, Jing Beiyuan was reluctant to call them art based on how it didn’t resemble anything like the art he had known, seemed to be popular, as many of the things that had been in place at the evening event had since been taken away, assumedly to new homes.
Jing Beiyuan supposed that if you were that attractive, people would buy whatever you sold. A-Xu played at being immune, rolling his eyes and acting like he was paying more attention to Jing Beiyuan than anything Gentleman Wen was doing, but he was quick to poke back when teased.
If there was a competition for who could give Heilan Yi his first grey hair, Jing Beiyuan wouldn’t hand the victory to them. But the competition was much more fierce than anticipated. Luckily Jing Beiyuan had the home ground advantage.
One visitor who definitely wasn’t buying things was Ping’an and his locked case. Whenever he was in the store he had the impossible-to-surprise energy of someone who had been so permanently shocked that nothing else could compare. He was also determined to ignore the bird in the room.
Jing Beiyuan was happy to take that as a challenge. The cage’s position meant he could see people coming before they reached the door, which he took full advantage of. The moment the Ping’an came within sight Jing Beiyuan was prepared. When the Ping’an touched the door Jing Beiyuan breathed deep, and when the door opened Jing Beiyuan sang . In the loudest, most piercing call he could make.
Ping’an didn’t flinch, because he was already permanently flinching, and because this was far from the first time it had happened.
“Ping’an, your admirer has missed you,” Su Qingluan smiled at him, speaking loudly be heard over Jing Beiyuan.
“If only everyone was so happy to see me,” Ping’an smiled wide and his eyes were flat, “please tell me -”
“Helian Yi is in the back office,” Su Qingluan assured, “I’ll take you through.”
“You are more kind and wonderful than the moon,” Ping’an declared, following her to the back of the store.
In the way of one who had to entertain himself, Jing Beiyuan continued to call at the top of his lungs until Ping’an had disappeared from sight. The second the door closed behind him Jing Beiyuan was silent again.
“Ai ai, must you do that every time?” Su Qingluan asked in the ringing silence. “What has that poor man ever done to you? He keeps us in birdseed you know!”
In fairness, attempting to explain that Ping’an reminded Jing Beiyuan of his long suffering servant in his first life and was just as fun to tease, was not going to help the situation. Even if Jing Beiyuan could speak in a language Su Qinluan would understand.
Fortunately as a bird it was not Jing Beiyuan’s job to help situations. When Ping’an left the back office Jing Beiyuan welcomed him at the top of his lungs until he had left.
While Ping’an had been the most regular visitor, there was a new contender.
The man with the braids showed up at noon, every noon. After failing to purchase Jing Beiyuan he had seemingly decided if you couldn’t gift a bird, you had better visit it. Often, and more regularly than anyone else ever visited the store.
Jing Beiyuan knew he was a pretty bird, how wonderful to have confirmation.
After the first week of the man’s visits Jing Beiyuan had discovered two things, the first was that the man’s name was Wu Xi. The second, that there was a new contender in who would give Helian Yi his first grey hair.
“You know, if he keeps coming around Helian Yi might think you’re really going to run off with the strange foreign boy,” Su Qingluan teased. “Off to live a life in the exotic forest of Nanjiang and spend all your time dodging poisonous snakes. But then who would light up our days so much?”
The mass of tempting ribbons had been removed, Jing Beiyuan dared not believe someone had spent money on it, and in its place was a black pillar. It was polished to a point that Jing Beiyuan would catch a glimpse of himself in it, appearing like a white smudge on that unending black. There was another, behind it, that was tall and white and matte. Jing Beiyuan still didn’t know what any of it was supposed to be, but Gentlemen Wen had been very happy with himself.
The result of the young Wu Xi’s ongoing visits was that Helian Yi had dedicated even more time and effort into showing Wu Xi up. It seemed no sooner had the man been sighted than Jing Beiyuan was getting more, and more ridiculous, decorations in place. Su Qingluan was the only one who seemed to appreciate there was a war of attention being played over a bird. It made her company the preferred one after visits, as Helian Yi tended to be too busy marking his territory and getting yet another decoration.
“Indeed, you are handsome enough to deserve it,” Su Qingluan soothed. “I suppose we are lucky there is not a sudden need to change vets that would put his clinic in the running, hmm?”
Jing Beiyuan was fairly certain he had not been to a vet in his life, it was not an experience he was eager to seek out.
“Don’t look so spooked, Helian Yi will think I’m telling you terrible things,” she sighed, one hand resting lightly against the bars of Jing Beiyuan’s cage. She was quiet for a long time, long enough for Jing Beiyuan to dart closer to her and nip the pad of her fingers.
“Oh, was I not paying enough attention to you?” She smiled, moved to run a finger across his head, and Jing Beiyuan accepted it with a heavy heart. The battle between Helian Yi and Wu Xi was not enough to disguise the fact something else was going on. Jing Beiyuan felt the future closing around him, bright, strong and tight like imperial silk.
No one wanted to involve the bird in discussions, so the information Jing Beiyuan had was half connected scraps from when Helian Yi and Su Qingluan hissed harsh whispers at each other. It didn't particularly matter what the issue was however, because Jing Beiyuan already knew what this was. This was the same thing that always happened, when life with Helian Yi was getting comfortable. Soon would come the distraction, the thing that Helian Yi could fix if he only paid attention to that and not to the bird. The famine he could survive by eating his beloved dog.
There was no amount of knowledge that would make the coming change better. Jing Beiyuan was a bird, was a mortal, was living his last life in the grip of Helian Yi.
Hopefully, the end would be gentle.
It might have been the sound of breaking glass that woke Jing Beiyuan, or it might have been the shouting. He opened his eyes to chaos. The glossy black pillar in front of him was gone, a blaze of fire taking its place. The air was thick with smoke and Jing Beiyuan knew this was it. The end had arrived.
The certainty of dying a sixth time was not enough to override the animal panic that took over. As a songbird Jing Beiyuan was small, small body, small wings, small lungs. All of him was small, and the gaps in the bars were smaller still. Space enough for a person’s finger, not enough for Jing Beiyuan to squeeze through.
It had been one of Wu Xi’s few compliments to Helian Yi’s animal care, that Jing Beiyuan had a cage large enough to grant him a modicum of freedom and was appropriately safe. As instinct drove him to peck and claw desperately at the bars Jing Beiyuan wished it was not.
More breaking glass. A rush of night air, swiftly eaten by flames.
Helian Yi, bleeding and broken, cambering through the broken glass.
As a bird Jing Beiyuan didn’t stop scrabbling against the bars. As a man on his seventh life, Jing Beiyuan watched as Helian Yi fumbled with the gate of the cage. His fingers were broken.
It was hard to breathe, the fire raged, and Jing Beiyuan watched as Helian Yi failed and failed and failed at opening the cage with fingers that didn’t bend the way fingers were meant to. His face was swollen, a sheen that might have been sweat but was probably blood caught in the firelight.
There was no reason for Helian Yi to be here, in a burning building. No reason that Helian Yi should be coughing and battling the smoke and flames for Jing Beiyuan.
And then the cage door opened. Helian Yi reached a clumsy, broken hand, to grab Jing Beiyuan, and Jing Beiyuan let himself be grabbed. There was smoke in his lungs, there was Helian Yi’s blood in his feathers, there was no world, no life, where Jing Beiyuan predicted this would happen.
Helian Yi lurched out the window, Jing Beiyuan clutched to his chest. The night air was sticky with summer heat, loud with sirens and alarms. Sense, or something resembling it, returned to Jing Beiyuan with the fresher air.
“Ah, I’m sorry Feng, I’m sorry,” Helian Yi was panting, stumbling, and still holding Jing Beiyuan safe against his chest.
There was a crowd forming, an overwhelming crush of strangers pouring into the summer night to gawk at the burning building. Jing Beiyuan could hear them, but compared to Helian Yi they didn’t matter.
“Oh I’m sorry, You’re a smart bird aren’t you, Feng? You’re such a clever bird you’ll be okay, won’t you? You need to be safe.”
Helian Yi threw him into the air. It was a clumsy throw, but it was a throw. Jing Beiyuan flapped his wings frantically, short hops around his cage had not prepared him for the open air. There was a breeze, there was the hot air of the burning store, none of these were things Jing Beiyuan was prepared to compensate for. Jing Beiyuan flew with all the grace of a plum falling off a table. The noise, the smoke, the sounds, all of it together disorientated him. He could only tell up from down because he kept falling that way.
He grabbed the first ledge he could, huddled in the windowsill, and shook.
Perhaps this had all been some horrible dream, perhaps he would wake up in his cage with a perfect selection of seeds on offer. Perhaps Helian Yi’s blood would not be soaking through his feathers after saving Jing Beiyuan’s life.
Something thunked against the glass where he lent, exhaustion kept Jing Beiyuan from falling off the windowsill. Black beady eyes in a fuzzy face stared at him, the sable’s mouth open to show needle teeth.
Jing Beiyuan froze, and the sable batted the window again. It was too much, to be saved from a fire just to become a sable’s midnight snack.
The room brightened, blinding Jing Beiyuan to all but the silhouette of the beast. His eyes adjusted as a man wrested the sable from the window, the sable seeming to lose all bones or body consistency in its efforts to stay near Jing Beiyuan. Fortunately, the man seemed used to its antics. The beast was stored in a crate, and even then Jing Beiyuan was sure he could still hear it against the glass.
The other half of the window opened, and Jing Beiyuan recognised the man, Wu Xi. Without the decorations in his braids and dressed for sleep he looked much softer than when he was scowling at Helian Yi.
Seeds were sprinkled on the other half of the window, and knowing what would happen Jing Beiyuan hopped cautiously to them.
He tried not to tense when Wu Xi grabbed him, tried not to panic when he was brought inside where that beast lived. He was taken through the room, into something only recognisable as a bedroom because there was a bed in it. Wu Xi made space on a desk, still holding Jing Beiyuan in a firm but gentle grip, and carefully washed the blood off.
“Feng?” Wu Xi asked, as the white of his feathers was revealed. “What happened to you? How did you get here?”
Jing Beiyuan would like to know that too.
“Hmm,” Wu Xi soothed. “I will get you home in the morning.”
But Jing Beiyuan had the feeling he was already home.