The Water Sprite

Family

19,992 Years Ago.

Mo Yuan was pacing the landing outside his Kunlun Mountain Chamber and had been for hours.  Not once had he sat himself down, that Bai Zhen was becoming worried.  Zhe Yan and the Empress were inside his chamber with the Celestials Medicine King awaiting the birth of their first child, and unable to stop the mans pacing, he kept his face to the sky while the Disciples remained on their knees at the bottom of the landing also waiting for news.

Fourteen hours had passed, and though Mo Yuan had ordered them to their chambers to rest, this was one of the rare times he allowed them to disobey, because this child was just as much family to them as it was to him.

But no amount of pacing and watching the door handle of his chamber was making the baby come any faster, if anything, it merely prolonged the wait and exhausted his already tired mind and stretched nerves to breaking point.

Also watching on was Bai Zhi, who sat quietly on a small stool Chang Shan had brought for all of them, but being the only one sitting, the pacing was beginning to grate on his nerves.  Though he kept it to himself, as the memories of his daughters birth came back to him.

He along with the Empress had already been informed that their long awaited daughter was finally going to be among them, and like Mo Yuan, he too had paced the platform directly outside the main entrance to the Fox Den having been kicked out by Zhe Yan and the Empresses friend who was a midwife for the East Seas, and all because he had tried to sneak a peak through the open door.

The screams they could all hear coming through the closed doors was just as terrifying for Mo Yuan as it had been for him.  The birth had not been easy, but jokingly he had suggested the little girl who was fighting to remain in the womb, might end up being as stubborn and unyielding as he was when he was younger.  And no truer thought had ever passed his mind, because she had most certainly been that.

Now sitting on the little stool looking at nothing in particular as his mind delved inwards, he almost missed the subtle change in the screams that were pounding against his ears, but he notice it, and in an instant he was on his feet and bringing Mo Yuan to a standstill.

"It is almost over, the child had already broken through." he said softly.  Having witnessed the sounds of every single one of his wifes birthings, he knew the subtle change in the way the scream shifted in intensity, which would at any second become bloodcurdling as the childs shoulders passed through the cervix.

And he was right, not only did the doors shake with the intensity of the final scream, but he had to hold Mo Yuan back from rushing at the doors in  anger at being kept out.  All decorum was lost in those few seconds as he fought the man off him only to have Bai Zhen and Die Feng man handle him to drag him back.

But the fear they too were feeling , was soon swept away, when Zhe Yan finally appeared looking exhausted but jubilant with the child in his arms.  Screaming for all she was worth, the little girls fists flailed the air in indignation at being forced out of her warm home and into the cold.  But she was quickly gathered up into her fathers arms, who held her gently as the men crowded around him to get a first look at the little one who had also kept them up all day and night and into the following day.

"Shifu.  Congratulations on the birth of your daughter."  his Disciples chanted before moving back to bow low to the ground.

"She is beautiful....." Bai Zhi whispered as Bai Zhen leaned in to also look at her.

"So beautiful..." he whispered as he took in the wispy black flaring hair and the large doe eyes that were rolling about in her head.

Near tears, but holding them in, Mo Yuan nodded at them, before entering the chamber where he quickly made his way to Bai Qian who had just been washed down and the bedding below her changed in order to receive them.