The Water Sprite

Assessment of a War God

100,000 Years ago

Unknown to Bai Qian, her lessons began the day she agreed to take care of the Lotus flower.  It was just a new bud, which she learned was a symbol of Potential.  If she was to learn under Mo Yuan, then she along with her Lotus, otherwise known as Bell Flower, would both reach their full potential together and through the Lotus, not only would she grow under Mo Yuan,  her full state of mind, body and spirit would be reflected through the Lotus.  It was the perfect representation of the human condition, she would be able to determine her own growth, by the growth of her very own Lotus.

"When will it change color?" she asked as she gave the little white bud a bit of her energy, something she would have to do daily in order to keep it alive until it had grown enough to manage on weekly energy boosts.

"Well, that will depend on you." Mo Yuan said from behind the cascade.  

Watching her play happily with the flower, Mo Yuan smiled.  Not only was she much happier and settled, she seemed to have taken to the flower as an extension of herself, which was the purpose of gifting it to her.  She needed to focus her energy and mind on something other than herself.

"Me?" she asked stumped, then thinking it might have something to do with the energy she was feeding it, she immediately began pouring as much as she could into it.

"If you continue to eat after you are full, what happens?" Mo Yuan asked gently but holding back on stopping her.

Stopping what she was doing, she thought about it.  She loved food more than anything, and would continue to eat even after she was full but Mi Gu would always stop her.

Shrugging her shoulders, she continued to feed her Lotus her energy.  "Mi Gu never gives me too much, so I don't know." she said suddenly frowning at the flower.

"And why does he not give you too much?" Mo Yuan asked beginning to smile at the frown.

"Because he said I will get sick." she said before gasping in horror.  Not only had her little Lotus begun to wither, but it had sunk lower in the water.

Bursting into tears before throwing herself into the water to rescue her Bell Flower, Mo Yuan chuckled softly.  Throwing out a gentle stream of energy to lift her out of the water and back onto the ledge, he then instantly stilled the water in order to give the flower a chance rest peacefully from all the excitement. 

 "Child, what will splashing about in the water and crying do to help your Lotus, other than upsetting the flower and drowning yourself ?" he asked as she coughed and spluttered the mouthful of water she had taken in, having sunk the moment she entered the water because it was too deep for her.

"Nothing." she whimpered in a small voice, before gaping at the cascade.  "Water Sprite, did you use magic to lift me out of the water?" she asked.  It was known they were not very strong magically, though they could manipulate water to do interesting things, like make whirlpools and even water spouts, they were not normally able to manipulate anything else.  In fact they were known more for their ability lure the unsuspecting into the water rather than saving them from it.

Ignoring the question, he watched as she dried her eyes.  They had been together for an hour already and as yet, no real teaching had taken place.

"What brought you crying to my rock pool this time child?" he asked.  Of course he knew, but he wanted her to verbalize it herself.  How she worded the events of the night before would give him a deeper understanding of how her mind worked.

"Papa spanked me." she said dropping her bottom lip before flopping down onto the grass behind the rocky ledge to peak back at the cascade.  "Bai Yi did too." she whimpered.  "Bai Zhen would have too, but I ran away." she said sulkily before throwing her harmless spark spells at the rocks ledge.