The Wandering God

11 Spread out to the East and West 1/2

各奔東西
gèbēndōngxī
Spread out east west
To part ways

*~*~*~*~*~*

I had lived thousands of years, watched dynasties rise and fall, watched the land and the ways of men shift and change, but for all my long time on this earth, I could probably count the people who I could call 'friend' and who would call me friend back on one hand. And I doubt I would even need to use my sixth finger.

Lu would be one of those fingers. In fact he would probably be my thumb. Short, thick (the happy fool), and yet closest to my heart.

I had met Lu before he had become The Green King, before he had been a 'god'. When he had been just Lulin, a useless lout whose greatest joy was to drink too much with friends and listen to the rain on the trees.

It was on such a rainy day that I met him. Such a night actually. I had been living in the eastern ocean, but had grown tired of the taste of the sea and had come to try what the land had to offer.

We met by chance in a wood near the small town that would later become the metropolis of Zhanghai. The wood was dark with night and loud with wind and rain. The leaves had chittered in the background like the chatter of a huge crowd.

We had each instantly understood the other was not as they seemed. Lu had looked me over and said "How about a duel?"

I had favored the short sword at that time in my life, and one hung by my side. I ran my fingers over the braiding on the grip. "Oh?" I said. "Where is your weapon?"

Lu had laughed. "Not that kind of duel," he said and reached to his back. I tensed, waiting for him to draw his weapon. Instead he drew from his back a giant clay bottle, corked at the top with wax. "This kind. You drink, I hope?"

Suspicious, I had lowered my hand, but still kept it near my sword. "Why should I drink with you?" I asked.

Lu shrugged. "Why not? It's a wonderful night for it. And besides, do you need a reason for doing something?"

He spoke well. "No," I said, and grinned.

That had been the first of many drinking 'duels'. I can't remember who won that first competition. In fact, I can't remember who won any of them. Then again, neither could Lu. So I guess we were at a draw.

Then he had become a god. Despite the immortality it granted, The Green Throne had taken its toll on him, and he had seemed to age. No more time for walking in rainstorms and drinking late into the night. No time for befriending dangerous strangers in dark woods. He never said as much, but I think he regretted becoming a god.

I know I did.

After I was made a human, Lu was one of the few who still acknowledged my existence. All the humans and lesser mu'ren who had served me abandoned me, as did the other four. But Lu, Lu stayed.

Sometimes, when I was tired of roaming, I would find him, and we would drink, just like old times. Except for the both of us were changed. He was a king bound by responsibilities. I was an outcast, bound by my past.

After drinking and reminiscing, carefully avoiding some things and forgetting others, we would part again, he to his responsibilities, I to my road.

And then, about 300 years ago, he had met her.

If Lu had been a tree, endlessly giving shade and nurture to those around him, she had been a squirrel, greedy and eager to take what he could offer. I imagined she had some kind of a tragic backstory she spun for him with extra spice, and he felt obligated to help her. He had been a fool for sad stories.