The Wandering God

25 Zai Yu Sleeps By Day 1/2

宰予晝寢
Zǎi Yǔ zhòu qǐn
Zai Yu sleeps by day
Refers to a story in the Analects where Confucius remonstrates bitterly with a student for sleeping during lectures.

When Sanli first brought his seal to my skin, I felt nothing.

Then a tingling fire spread across my skin, not painful, but not comfortable either. It was something just below a tickle, but just above an itch. A strange, unidentifiable feeling, as though my body did not know what was happening, or how to react.

And suddenly that feeling was overwhelming. My head spun, and the next thing I knew, the floor of Kageyama's rooms was hard and cold beneath me. I did not remember falling.

"Ao?!" Sanli asked above me. I found the urgency in the prince's voice endearing.

As though I could die. Or sustain any lasting injury.

"Bloody hell Sanli, what have you done?" Kageyama's voice.

Sanli's smooth hand found my cheek. "Ao, speak to me!"

I opened my eyes. "And what would you like me to say to you, Little Prince?" I asked him, looking up at Sanli's worried face.

Sanli sighed with relief. "Anything... as long as you're alright."

My smile widened. I looked up at the two men crouching beside me. "Hmmm... anything? Should I tell you I was once known as Xiyu, the Sixth God?"

I half expected my words to catch on my tongue, but they didn't. The prince had done it. I was free of Yan's dratted spell at last.

Kageyama's face was already guarded, and it closed off further at my words. Sanli's expression however, was open, stunned.

When the realization of what I just said and what it meant hit him he leapt into the air, one fist raised, like a crowing boy who has just won a game of marbles.

"I did it!"

The prince returned to my side and helped me to stand and sit back on the edge of the table. I slipped my arms back into my robe and tucked it loosely about my front. My head still felt rather strange, as though I had drunk too much the night before.

I had, but I knew my current condition was because of Sanli's magic, and not drink.

Sanli reached up and lay a hand on my shoulder. "May I?" he asked. I nodded.

Sanli carefully drew back my robe, exposing my back. "The main seal is still there but... the silencing seals aren't just broken. They're gone completely!"

"How clever you are, my Prince," I said, patting him on the cheek as one might a child.

"I am, aren't I?" Sanli said, feigning nonchalance, but a slight blush showed he enjoyed the praise.

He turned to Kageyama, who had been watching us from a short distance all the while, dark eyes darkening. "Sho Sensei, can you believe it? I undid the Golden Emperor's spell! Hmmm.. I wonder if a similar strategy would work with the main seal..." the look in the prince's eyes got far away. I could almost see zih flicking behind his eyes as he came up with possible combinations.

Kageyama still said nothing. Then, "Come with me Sanli. I need to talk to you."

The fox grabbed the prince around the wrist and pulled him along, as though he was a boy.

"Sho Sensei—?" Sanli was surprised.

"You," the kitsune said, turning back to me. "Stay there." He pointed to the table on which I sat, in nothing but my loose robe. Then he pulled Sanli through a door and shut it firmly behind him.