31_days | [July 7] [Original] Notes From Afar

Title: Notes From Afar
Day/Theme: July 7/slowly twisting the lilac stalks
Series: Elegy of the Willow Sword (Original)
Characters: Huan Qiangwei, Ling Xiao
Rating: G

It is all too easy to forget that there is now someone else in the house with her, what with the protracted silences and shadowlike movements when her back is turned. Huan Qiangwei knows very well the feeling of not wanting to impose oneself on others - it is a deafeaningly lonely path that leads to an even more bitter end. She wonders if Ling Xiao has reached that end, whether he realizes it or not.

Four times - she keeps count - he has walked out of the house to stand in the front yard, there to breathe in the crisp evening air. Twice he disappeared she knew not where, and was back inside when she woke up in the morning. It is not unlike living with a benign, wounded ghost. She has been through worse.

He mentioned his family only once; looking back, she supposed he was feeling particularly rudderless then. She was at the window, peering out at her vegetable patches through the reluctant drizzle. When she sensed him behind her, she paid no attention, thinking he was just passing by, as per usual. Then he spoke, and she nearly knocked her head against the windowframe from sheer surprise.

"I hope my brother is still alive," he mumbled.

"Alive and well," she replied. "Yes, I hope so too." She kept her eyes fixed on the tiny sprouts. His new (cruel word, new) face makes him uneasy, and the mangled sentences he sometimes has to push out. The reason he rarely talks is purely practical.

A full minute passed. Hearing no reply, she turned around. He was gone, probably back to his room; he might never have been here at all.

Such a small amount of peace her house offers him, and how she wishes she could do something about that. And yet, whenever this crosses her mind, a loud, irritated puff invariably escapes her. She makes it sound as if he is at death's door already, and she should have learned something about persistence after her son left.

Shou-er would have seen to it.