The Water Sprite

A High Goddess

19,995 Years Ago

Watching silently as Mo Yuan raced passed them and into the hut, the urge to laugh was so strong, but not moving an inch, they waited.

To the Empress, she saw something in his eyes she had only ever seen in her husbands, and it was the reason why she did not stop him.  He might have thought he loved her daughter, but what she saw unconditional adoration, admiration and a desperate desire to protect her at the expense of his own life.  Mo Yuan didn't just love her daughter, he already owned her.

Silently she sipped on her wine, as Zhe Yan and Bai Zhen tried to make themselves look busy while excitedly watching the door.  He had been in there for some time, and beginning to worry, they almost rose, only to watch as he finally emerged with her in his arms.

Having rushed in to snatch her up quickly, he had stopped himself from touching her when he realized her mother and Zhe Yan had forgotten to dress her.  Covered only in a thin blanket she was still completely naked.  For a long time he sat beside her wondering what to do.  

He could get her mother of course, but having rushed past them like a man crazed he felt foolish having to then walk back out to ask for help.  Instead he had gingerly assisted her into the clothing her mother had prepared for her on the low table while keeping his eyes averted.  And no matter how much he wanted to look, he did not.  He kept her decency as he then slipped her shoes over her feet. 

Now dressed in a pale blue silk and lace dress, he held her protectively against him as he walked out of the hut, down the steps and passed her family without a word.  By the time he hit the path that led to the rock pool, all three were rising to follow quietly behind him not wanting to miss a thing.  And though they all had an idea that he would be the one to release her energy, they did not fully understand how or even why it was blocked, but they all knew the rock pool would play a very big part in it.

Keeping themselves at a safe distance, Mo Yuan entered the clearing that held the rock pool and immediately he began to feel the throb of her energy the closer he got to it.  Now that he was aware of what she wanted, it was as if she were now waking even though her eyes remained closed.  

Lowering himself to his knees beside the rock pool where she always sat, he held her gently against him.  Silently he could feel her body communicating with him in a way she had never done before, but he felt her need for him to understand what she wanted clearly, yet being unable to speak, she was forced to make him see it.  And as her energy enveloped him, slowly and very gently her mind talked to him.

In his mind he saw flashbacks of what had happened, why she was dressed the way she was and why he too was wearing odd clothing.  Images of their time together came to him, and rather than seeing his own life and what he did, he saw hers.  Her energy wanted him to understand how much she had relied on him as a child, but through the lessons he had taught her, she had used them to grow.  She wanted him to understand that she appreciated what he had given her.

This was her final lesson.  All her life she had made assumptions, judged others harshly without facts to back it up, forced her views on everyone who would listen, but most of all, she took everything for granted.  Her wealth, her titles, her views, her opinions and even the kindness that so many had shown her over the years including her Water Sprite who had given up fifty thousand years to get her that point in her life.  Yet stubbornly she had refused to accept it, instead she accused him of trickery.

But the truth was, only once, at the very beginning of their journey did she actually ask him directly if he was a Water Sprite, yet just assuming that he was without actually waiting for an answer, she took it as a given.  And though Mo Yuan never corrected her, it was up to her to determine the truth of his identity, yet she never did, it was as if she did not care for his identity anyway.