The night was deep, with no stars or moon in the sky, foreshadowing bad weather for the next day.
Mei Lin pressed her back against the jagged mountain wall, hoping the cold stone could cool the burning sensation in her body. She had already removed the arrow and applied some crude herbs, but the roughly treated wound throbbed with pain, making her dizzy head throb even more. She knew she was running a fever and didn’t dare let herself fall asleep, fearing that if she did, she might never wake up again. To stay awake, she clenched a sharp rock in her hand, stabbing herself whenever she felt she was about to pass out, keeping her mind alert.
She had found shelter in a rocky hollow on a slope. After escaping from Luo Mei, she had pushed herself to move deeper into the thick forest, avoiding open areas. Just because Luo Mei had spared her didn’t mean her soldiers would. Mei Lin no longer had the strength to cover her tracks, so she moved towards places where arrows and martial arts would be difficult to use.
Despite her efforts, blood loss and pain dulled her senses. While fleeing, she had lost her footing and tumbled down the slope. Though the fall left her dazed, it led her to this hidden hollow, concealed by overgrowth and tree roots. She knew she lacked the strength to keep running, and even if she could, there was no escaping the skilled soldiers. So she decided to take a risk and hide, waiting for Luo Mei’s soldiers to withdraw.
Luckily, she remained undiscovered until nightfall. Unluckily, her weakened state left her vulnerable to infection, and what had once been minor hardships now caused a fever.
Her throat was parched, her breathing labored, and the pain and exhaustion coursing through her body eroded her will to stay conscious.
In her hazy state, Mei Lin imagined the mountains filled with blooming spring flowers, rain gently falling, making each delicate white blossom even more beautiful. The fresh air was thick with the rich scent of February’s flowers, making her want to drift off into sleep and never wake up.
Her fingers twitched, finally lifting the rock, but she could barely muster the strength to stab herself. The pain brought a brief moment of clarity, but her body quickly succumbed to the heavy fatigue, as if something inside her was desperate to escape the prison of her body.
What did her mother look like? Mei Lin clung to this fleeting clarity, struggling against the urge to give up. For the first time, she allowed herself to wonder about something she had never permitted herself to think of before. And with that thought, a deep, almost unbearable desire to know the answer welled up inside her.
Why had she been abandoned? Where had she come from? Had she ever had a family like others, with siblings at home? She didn’t need to know all that. She just wanted to know what her mother looked like. Just that, nothing more...
Nothing more...
In the darkness, Mei Lin’s dry lips moved, murmuring softly, though no sound came out. She probably wasn’t even aware of what she was saying.
Maybe she wouldn’t make it through this time. Just as this thought surfaced in her barely-conscious mind, she suddenly heard a thud, as if something had crashed into a tree, even causing the rock above her to tremble. The sense of danger brought her back to full awareness, and she instinctively held her breath.
She focused, straining to hear, but after a while, there was no more noise. Just as her consciousness began to slip away again, a soft whimper pierced through the thickening fog in her mind, jolting her awake.
The soft, incessant crying agitated Mei Lin, who was already in pain and discomfort. She didn’t want to investigate, yet feared it could bring trouble her way. Left with no choice, she dragged her exhausted body out of the hollow, found the source of the noise—a dark figure—and, without caring if she grabbed head or feet, yanked the figure down.
She didn’t have much strength, but her action scared the person, who let out a startled scream. From the sound, Mei Lin could tell it was a boy going through puberty.
“Shut up!” Mei Lin’s head throbbed with pain as she spoke, her voice hoarse and rough, like sandpaper.
The boy was so frightened that he immediately fell silent. He wanted to ask who she was, but found himself unable to speak. He stopped crying, though his body still trembled uncontrollably.
“If you don’t want to die, follow me,” Mei Lin hissed, realizing she didn’t have the strength to drag the half-grown boy, so she lowered her voice and threatened him instead.
The boy, whether out of fear or a recognition that she meant no harm, obediently followed her back into the hollow below. Once they were both seated against the stone wall, and after not hearing any other sounds for a while, he realized that she had saved him. Grateful, he stuttered out, “B-brother, where... where are you from?” He figured they were both trying to escape, so maybe they knew each other. He didn’t even realize he had assumed she was a fellow prisoner like him.
Mei Lin didn’t answer. Perhaps it was the presence of another person, but she felt slightly better. She reached for a few pine cones tied to her waist and tossed them to the boy.
The boy, hit a few times, though not hard, immediately fell silent, thinking he had angered her. After a while, he cautiously picked up one of the objects that had fallen on him, felt it, and, puzzled, brought it to his nose to sniff.
“Crack it open... pine nuts...” Mei Lin couldn’t believe how clueless the boy was. She held back her frustration but finally spoke up, albeit with some difficulty.
The boy had been on the run all day without eating, so he was starving. Hearing it was food, he ignored the rough outer shell and began prying the pine cone apart. He even groped around in the dirt to find any fallen nuts, making sure none were wasted.
“Brother, you should eat,” he said, gently nudging her when he noticed Mei Lin was about to fall asleep again.
The boy hadn’t eaten yet, having restrained himself until he had cracked all the pine nuts. Now, he carefully offered them to her first.
Mei Lin’s eyelids were so heavy she could barely keep them open. She felt the boy’s touch but only managed a weak grunt, unable to respond. The boy waited for a while, and when she didn’t respond, he finally pulled his hand back and began eating the pine nuts slowly and carefully.
In the quiet of the hollow, the sound of the boy chewing echoed softly. Though a bit noisy, the sound kept them both from being lost in the darkness.
After finishing the pine nuts, the boy smacked his lips, still hungry. He listened intently for any other sounds, but all he could hear was Mei Lin’s labored breathing. The absence of danger finally allowed him to relax. Curling up into a ball, he too drifted off to sleep.
Sometime later, it began to rain outside. The autumn rain drummed on the leaves and branches with a soft, persistent rustle. The hollow, with its low opening and small space now occupied by two people, wasn’t cold. Their uneven breathing seemed to find a rhythm, creating a fragile sense of security. But just as everything seemed to settle into peace, there was another thud, as if something had crashed into the tree above them, sending dirt and pebbles from the cracks in the rock tumbling down.
Startled, both of them jerked awake, their eyes opening in the dark. Even in the pitch black, they could sense each other’s shock.
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