The Water Sprite

A Fated Witness

49,800 years ago.

Mo Yuan continued to use his rock pool even though he was no longer her Water Sprite or teacher.  Now and then he would catch glimpses of her in the Grove as she took almost daily strolls.  But it was even rarer for him to see her at his rock pool.

Initially when he had let her go, he did not return for almost a year.  Zhe Yan had told him she continued to visit daily in the hope that her Sprite would come back, but eventually the visits lessened.

His feelings for her had began to grow to an inappropriate level, so having forced himself into seclusion, he now felt he was ready to return to the world and to her.  He had to know for certain that he was over her, so he began once again to visit the rock pool.

The few times she had visited, she did not speak, she merely smiled down sadly at her Lotus.  Though she would hum tunes and once she even sang it a lullaby.  Her voice was very sweet and soft that he wanted to hear it again, but she never did and nor did he interrupt her.

He saw her in total seven times that year and each time, his heart would flutter a little more.  She was truly exquisite, and she had not even finished growing, but he never said a word when she arrived.  He merely watched her.

However it was that day, she finally spoke.  Initially she had merely sat and played with the Lotus and always a little sad, but this time her eyes were shining brightly.  It was the first time since their parting that he had seen her with a a look of anticipation, as if something very important was happening.  Listening to the melodious sound of her voice and the soft tender way that she played with her Lotus, Mo Yuan kept his eyes on her the entire time she was there, and he also listened to everything she had to say.

And it was while she was talking that he noticed the change in her energy as she told her Lotus that she would soon ascend, only he knew her ascension was much closer than she thought.  And that was because her energy was fluctuating wildly about her.  The color too was uneven but as he watched and listened, he also noticed the tone deepen.

Her lotus too was undergoing a change, and though he had noticed it, he didn't really think too deeply on it at the time.  He knew she was due to ascend, but no one really knows when exactly it will happen so he had let it pass.  Her Lotus was in full bloom, which meant she was healthy and all was well in her mind, well enough to not worry.

Her hair was pulled up loosely at the sides, while the rest fell about her shoulders and the pastel blue dress she was wearing.  He noticed everything about her, from the softness of her gaze to the delicate way she moved.  He had never thought it would be possible for a rare beauty to grow even more so, but along with the soft tone of her voice and the sparkling glow in her eyes down to the full lips that spread into a wide smile, he could not help but stare and admire the view.

Admiring her from behind the cascade, Mo Yuan smiled when she did, his eyes softened along with hers and when she ran her hands through the water, his smile deepened.  

But the smile soon turned to a frown, when she began to talk of the only two women who had ever affected his life so dramatically and traumatically that he almost let slip that he was there.  The pain at losing them both was still raw, but he held himself together as she described the kind of woman his mother was.

He had never known her but he had held onto ever story he had ever been told.  Like the rest of the world, he grew up on the stories of a heroine so powerful and  knowledgeable, that he had fully placed her on a pedestal that no other woman would ever claim.  

And Bai Qian had been right when she said that his mother had held the title of number one beauty, but there were a few things she had left out of her story to the Lotus.