I’ve decided to name the story “Acceptance”, which has much to do with stuff later on.

(Introduction to my Death Knight, Gnaea!)

The following is my animated depiction of what occurred:

Page One.
Page Two.

I think as I see more of these, I’ll add in more.  Also, the first incident could be considered this, but I didn’t animate it back then.

The reason that I’m making this post is because of something I read in a post on Big Red Kitty.  The thread itself was about BRK deciding to go Survival over Beast Mastery, which unleashed a torrent of surprisingly angry hunters.   In it BRK was pretty much called every name under the son except for a Child of Throm.  I guess I can understand that someone whose moniker comes from a talent in Beast Mastery might have have some fans that have “Beast Mastery” tattoed onto the small of their backs, but this was basically a retelling of Benedict Arnold as far as some people went.   I’ll admit that I think of BRK kind of like Tappy Tibbons from Requiem for a Dream; he makes dummies sit around and do nothing because he’s figured everything out for them, but… well, I guess it backfired the moment he switched specs!  Well, partially backfired.  Because many of the angry people were proud to admit that they were mouthbreathers, BRK could just walk around fire and watch them all burn as they stood in it.  It was not until I came to a particular gem though, that my jaw dropped.

“I love our 25 man Naxx/Sarth raid mistress. She just wants everyone to have fun. I think maybe that’s why the raid works so well. No one is forced into any one niche or spec. She even says, if you don’t want to raid on a raid night sometimes, just let her know so she can fill the spot for that night. It won’t lose you your raid spot.

She has already said she hates damage meters. And to never EVER post them in raid chat. You can run them for yourselves, but that isn’t what her raid is about. It’s about fun, and we’re progressing just fine for a group that’s made up of several guilds. Tonight will be 5 weeks of raiding, with saturday being 4 weeks at going 2x a week. We run about 3ish hours both nights. Tuesdays are Vault/Sarth/Naxx. Saturday is Naxx. Patchwork is down as of saturday once our healers figured out WTF they were doing. Hated Instructor Raz is our only sticking point because we have no shadow priests. Our holy priests are doing the MCing and don’t have the +hit a shadow priest would. This usually leads to 3-4 wipes/resets before we get the bastard down. DPS is not our problem.

What does that mean? I don’t have to change my spec. I’m already topping 3.5k dps in various fights as BM with a side of MM. In my gear, yes, I’d probably be dong a LOT better as SV spec. But i don’t like SV spec. So…. No one has to change their spec. Everyone just has to be able to do their job, keep bosses from enraging, and have fun.

Raiding is not Srs Bzns. Raiding should always be about fun. If you can’t raid as the spec you want, you’re probably better off saving yourself the seething hatred at arsehat raid leaders and sticking to heroics anyways.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be the best you can be, just be the best you can be and still thoroughly enjoy yourself. If you have to be #1 on the damage meter like BRK, so be it. Just don’t make everyone else feel they have to be the same way.”

Having survived a guild in which that kind of nonsense was accepted, I instantly grit my teeth and began to hurriedly type up a reply that left my indignation on the screen and blood on my keys.  There’s nothing worse to me than a person that is willing to accept the status quo as the norm — well, actually yes there is.  The person that is willing to criticize the people that try to improve are actually worse than the former, because their blatant narcissim keeps them from feeling that they NEED to improve.  Anyone that does “better” than them is simply trying too hard and it’s impossible that they might derive pleasure from the game, because well, they’re trying.  And who tries in a game?

I have a feeling that the people with that attitude are also the people that hugged the bench during high school sporting events. Just because something is a game doesn’t mean you should be slovenly in it, no matter how much you tell yourself you’re a casual.  Who plays WoW to wipe?  No one.  Even if you use it as a social networking tool, you still don’t want to look like an ass when you’re with your friends.  At least, you shouldn’t want to.  If it was okay to just jack around because it’s a game, then the Superbowl would be a lot less interesting as people tossed the ball away for kodak moments of laughter, and the NBA would be filled with overpaid, undertal– er, okay.  Maybe that example doesn’t work.

But you get the idea.

Granted, there are people out there that invest a lot of time into the game, but they’re also the people you want on your side.  They’re the nerdy mathmetician that’s now your accountant, if you will.  Who do you think makes most of the add-ons and macros that we so lovingly use?  Who actually does the theorycraft that most people accept as fact and go forth to use?  It isn’t Joe Sandals, that’s for sure!  No, it’s Marvin Corderoys (Okay, if I really met someone in corderoys I don’t care if they could effectively theorycraft Holy Priest DPS into being 5k DPS, I still wouldn’t talk to them!).

Now, I should make note of the fact that I don’t just mean “DPS” when I say Dedicated People Succeed.  You should look at your damage meters as more than simply a tool to record who hit what — you should use them to see how you could improve.  Take an hour or so, if you can, and just look over a WWS report.  What missed the most, how was your rotation?  If it means spending 5 less minutes giving yourself that extra work out in the shower, oh well.  At the very least the next time you raid you’ll be able to impress yourself by how much you improved.  And that is why dedicated people succeed, because improvement is not something that just “happens”.  You have to try things in order to change them, and if you just accept that only “elitist jerks and 16 year olds look at damage meters”, then you’ll always be at the bottom of those meters.

A lot of the people on BRK’s site were bitching at him because he “had to be #1 no matter what”, and you know what?  That should be the idea that we all strive for.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be #1, or that  you should do whatever it takes to be #1, but if you finish raiding and don’t feel like you gave it your all, then why are you playing?   I know that some people have 70 hours a week to play and others have like 6, but how you use that time denotes how your results will be.   If you spend all of your time sending people dirty tells, that’s cool, but dont’ say that you didn’t “have time” to run instances for gear.  Hell, in 6 hours you can do at the very least 5 heroics if you have your game face on!

And I really, really hate the excuse people use not to utilize their WWS reports.  “Oh, it’s just an e-peen showing!”  A knife is a tool that can cut your face off if it was used that way, but does that mean that everyone who is a chef is a sociopathic cannibal?  I think not! (That “think” is more of a “hope”, because that teppanyaki I had was suspiciously good!  Must remember to stop eating at Issei’s Happy Slicy Place) — In all seriousness, though, you’re not anymore “fun” because you don’t try to fix your mistakes.  You’re no more “casual”, because you don’t care how you do.  You’re just lazy and laziness is not somethng that people should be lauded for.  If you don’t care about damage meters, then don’t raid!  There’s no reason for you to do something if you feel you don’t have to apply effort to it.

In all honesty, I don’t care if BRK goes SV or BM.  I think that a player’s spec is entirely up to them, and what they do with it is based purely on their skill and the tools presented to them.  BRK decided to be SV, so what?  Does that make him any less of a hunter because he isn’t childishly loyal to an inanimate concept on a video game?  I think not. I’ve seen that argument used far too much for my liking, in fact.  “I was ret back when it was shit!” — yeah, really?  Grats on knowing that you were trash and not doing anything about it.  What, do you think that makes you a better player?  Generally when a class “stops being shit”, it’s because they changed the functionality of it, so all those years of being bad don’t add any more experience to what you’re dealing with.  It’s the same thing a lot of Draenei shamans faced when they were first created from their horde counterparts:

“I’ve been enhancement since 1.4!”  That’s great, really.  But this dual wielding thing is new to both of us, and something tells me you don’t want a dagger in your offhand, earth brother.

But anyway, back to the point, I’d rather raid with someone that does poorly and tries to improve, than someone that is average and thinks average is acceptable.  Have the humility to know that you can do better, and the dedication to make it happen.

1

It was a dark winter’s night, two weeks after the Western Capital of Tianlan fell, that a pregnant concubine named Yan’er entered Hebei village.

For the rural people of Hebei, the woman’s exotic beauty was something of another world. Her features were fair and seemingly untouched by the sun; symmetrical, with high cheekbones. Her forehead was a smooth, unblemished canvas that an Immortal had used to paint two slender and well crafted eyebrows upon. Those silken eyebrows were but precursors to her true majesty though, which could be found within her angular and almost feline eyes. Within those amber windows to her soul it was said the majestic sensation of witnessing a setting sun with a loved one had been captured forever in her resplendent gaze. Although she had been traveling for two weeks upon the back of the old mare that carried her into town, her thick black hair was so rich that it made the night’s sky seem pale in comparison. Even her high seated breasts appeared to be nearly as full of life as they were the pale, blue milk that rested beneath their soft, creamy surface.

The night that the Yan’er arrived within Hebei village was the same night that Marshal Yuan’liang and his Flying Tiger Cavalry rode out to the aid of the Western Capital, unknowing that their efforts were in vain. Had these two parties met – the pregnant concubine entering the village and Flying Tiger Cavalry leaving – history as it has come to be known would have been an entirely different ordeal. But in the darkness of the night the woman’s mare passed silently by, while the thundering hooves of the Flying Tiger Cavalry fulminated within the night’s air.

Despite the beauty that may have been attributed to the woman, she found it increasingly difficult to find a place in which she could take refuge. The people of Hebei were a very superstitious lot, and when a pregnant woman appeared in your doorway, it was simply better to turn her away than invite her inside and bring whatever demons she was running away from into your home as well. Alone and without a person to care for her, the pregnant concubine continued to ride through the streets of Hebei until finally she could go no further and fell from the back of her mare, who realizing that their journey had come to its end, promptly fell upon its side and died. Had it not been for the son of one of the Flying Tiger Cavalrymen, surely Yan’er would have perished in the snow as her horse did.

The man in question, savior to the unborn child that would one day call him father, was none other than Yi Wan. His father, Yi Zhao’an was the primary retainer of Marshal Yuan’liang and a man of legendary strength. Unlike his father, though, Yi Wan was a sickly man who had battled with chronic fatigue and migraines from an early age. He was considered something of a runt by his peers, and although his father’s prestige kept him safe from scorn, it did not prevent him from being left at home while the gallant men of Hebei rushed to the assistance of their emperor in his time of need. He was slight of build with a head of short black hair and a beard that was stylized after the scholars in the Western Capital. His face was long and drawn, and his eyes beady beneath a thick set of bushy brows that looked like two fat caterpillars sleeping on his forehead. At the moment he sat, forlorn, at the window of his father’s estate for quite some time. If he closed his eyes, he could feel the reverberations of the mighty battle stallion’s hooves quake the ground long after they had left his sight and pretend that he was amongst those proud men. How was he to know that his role in history was far greater than any that may have been gained in the field of battle?

The sight of the lone rider had been something that kept his eyes occupied for far longer than he realized. As fatigued as they may have been from gazing endlessly out at the frigid horizon before him, they were not so tired that he would mistake Yan’er and her beleaguered mare as one of the horses from Hebei. The steeds of Hebei were a stocky breed with shaggy coats that protected them against glacial winds. The mare that was before him had a short coat and wide, gentle eyes that pleaded for rest. The woman that rode upon the creature was very obviously pregnant, and while he should have rushed out to see what was the meaning of it all, for the time being Yi Wan did not find the courage to brave the cold and investigate for himself. When the woman came closer, perhaps he would invite her inside and allow her to warm up on his kang. By the end of the winter he would be returning to the Western Capital, anyway, and it was well known that a low ranking official such as he would have little chance to appreciate the comforts of a woman. After his father and the Flying Tigers returned peace and order to the capital, why, he was certain that he would be up to his neck in reforms and writs. Looking longingly upon the woman, Yi Wan was more than slightly surprised when both she and her horse fell.

It took the cold air of the outside world against his shoeless feet for Yi Wan to realize that he had moved instinctually to the woman’s rescue, and while all the caution and protectiveness that his mother had instilled within him from birth sprang into his mind, he could not help but progress toward the fallen woman. The soft snow that crunched under his feet was not so uncomfortable that he feared he would be frostbitten, but was sharp enough to keep him alert as he finally came to kneel beside the woman. Had his cowardice and passive inquisitiveness truly been the cause for her death?

“Madam, are you alright?” He asked, feeling quite the fool for letting the words leave his mouth. What person, save for one that felt anything other than “alright”, would fall to the cold ground in such a bedraggled state? He feared for a moment that he was speaking to a corpse, but as he looked to her partially exposed breasts he saw that they rose and fell with each shallow breath that the woman took in. Unless he moved quickly, he knew, she would be just as dead as the mare that she had fallen beside. For most men of Hebei it would have been a simple matter to pick the pregnant woman and her horse up and carry both inside, but as Yi Wan was anything but an ordinary man from Hebei, he doubted that he could lift the woman. In truth he probably would not have been able to had an Immortal not wished for Yan’er to live through that dark night. In a feat of strength that he would never have dreamed imaginable, Yi Wan lifted Yan’er with relative ease and carried her inside.

There were few creatures of a finer quality than the pregnant concubine; of this Yi Wan was sure. Although he had spent a good deal of time in the Western Capital and was thus accustomed to seeing attractive women, the one that rested before him at that moment was a creature apart the rest. The woman and her striking beauty were definitely breathtaking; even in her pregnant state she was a far more delicate flower than he had ever dreamed of touching. As Yan’er, weakened from her travels, warmed herself against the kang’s warm embrace, Yi Wan took the courtesy to examine her as a doctor might. His explorative search came to an abrupt end, though, when he saw the plum blossom tattoo that was placed so expertly upon her pelvis. His hands began to sweat and he at once recoiled.

Why, he had to wonder, was an imperial concubine all the way in Hebei?

Women such as the one before him were considered to be a forbidden temptation. Although he had only seen two in his life, they had with them enough retainers and attendants to appear almost as though they were nobles in their own right. With their soft voices and alluring eyes, they could make even the most stoic and staunch of men tremble in their wake, and although Yi Wan had never before had the courage to approach one of the beautiful creatures, he now could not help but appraise the woman for all of her majesty in that moment. Why would one marked with the tattoo of the imperial concubinage have wandered all the way out to Hebei, alone, in the middle of the winter? Could things in the Western Capital really have gone that badly, or was she simply a cast-down woman? The latter explanation seemed just as plausible as the former, but something told him that as he looked upon the woman’s peaceful visage that she could not have possibly been unfaithful to the emperor.

“Old Lady Wu,” Yi Wan called out from his position beside the resting woman. His voice had hardly left his throat before he heard the tired, bound-feet of the maid servant come dutifully into his room. The old woman had been his nursemaid in his youth and now seemed almost as hollowed out and weary as the horse that had brought the woman to the town. “I need more things to heat this woman with.”

“It’s a bad omen to bring in a strange animal on a dark night,” Old Lady Wu replied with something close to contempt on her voice. It was obvious she had been spying on the two for quite some time, and the incredulous look that was resident to her eyes showed that she was anything but approving of the situation as she saw it. “No one saw you bring her inside, you know. It’d be no real crime if you were to place her back where you found her.”

Yi Wan furrowed his brow and glared at the old woman. “You seditious old bawd, this woman carries the mark of the Imperial Concubinage upon her pelvis. Any assault upon her dignity would be a direct effrontery to Emperor Pao himself.” Although he was uncertain if his reasoning would be able to convince the old woman to obey him, he knew that he could not change his mind once he had spoken. “Now do as I say and bring me something to heat this woman with, unless you want me to set Ping to giving you lashes for your disobedience.”

Old Lady Wu let off a tired sigh in response to the threat, but did not argue any further. The fact that everyone in the town found Yi Wan practically contemptible due to his weakness did not supersede the reality that he was still his father’s only son, and a man that could not be treated unkindly without repercussion. “You’re too busy in the city to cook your own meals, I’m sure, but here’s a bit of advice, young master. Unless you thaw a piece of meat slowly it will fall apart and be little more than mush.”

For a moment Yi Wan prepared to make good on his threat, but as he thought of it what Old Lady Wu said he had to admit it did make sense. If the concubine was warmed too suddenly her extremities might turn to jelly, and he had a feeling that her benefactor would not have appreciated it if he returned to the capital with a woman with no arms or legs. “Very well,” he said. “Then bring me some warm water so that I can at least heat her spirit.” Old Lady Wu complied with the directive, and soon she returned with a small train of younger servants who peeked into the room in hopes of catching sight of the beautiful woman.

Even in their chapped state, the woman’s lips were luscious and full. They parted slightly as the warm water approached them, and a soft moan escaped from her. It was a sound that could have caused a statue to cry, or a corpse to groan. It was a sound that caught Yi Wan by such surprise that he almost spilled the water onto the woman. His fingers trembled as he regained control of himself, and he carefully poured the contents of the bowl into the woman’s mouth. She began to drink with a tepid sipping that gradually blossomed into a rapacious gulp. Before long, some of the color was returning to her face, and her skin slowly attained a vibrancy that had a nearly surreal quality. She did not awaken, but the look of contentment that beset her features spoke of her stability for the time being.

For two days following the concubine’s arrival to Hebei, she slept without showing any signs of awakening. Yi Wan dutifully sat by her side as though the child in her womb was indeed his, and although he was motivated to look toward the window each time that he believed he heard the sound of hooves approaching, he found that for the time being his attention was better spent focusing on the woman that was before him instead of on whatever lofty ideas and dreams that may have previously occupied his mind. Old Lady Wu’s catty comments could easily be ignored if only because he knew that there had to be a reason that this woman would have arrived at the estate. He should have been in the Western Capital, but a bout of sickness had convinced him to remain home before making the arduous trek back to his residence. Had he left, the woman surely would have frozen to death in the snow, or perhaps been trampled by the Flying Tiger Cavalry as they rode off to the emperor’s assistance.

The plight of the emperor was something that vied heavily with the concerns that he felt for the concubine. The ambitions of Emperor Pao were something of legend, and while none would have believed he was capable of conquering the roaming spirits that plagued the lands, little by little he had done just that. From the treacherous baigui that haunted the steppes of Yi Province, to the hongliyu that terrorized the seas of Yan, Emperor Pao and his valiant Marshals had brought an end to many of the threats that beleaguered the land. Marshal Yuan’liang and the Flying Tiger Cavalry had been instrumental in defeating the baigui, who had for quite some time acted as practical overlords to Yi Province.

Baigui, or white ghosts, were an aptly named collection of creatures that were capable of moving silently despite their massive bodies, and had enough strength to fell a healthy tree with a single punch. They were of the complexion of snow, with hair and beards just as colorless. Their eyes were bright blue and their bodies covered in many scars from tribal fighting. With a single huff from their powerful lungs, they could blow down a castle’s fortifications. For centuries they had roamed about Yi Province during the winter and pillaged to their heart’s content, before retreating back into the Savage Lands and leaving the people to rebuild until their next arrival. Hebei had been built by the emperor to stymie their influence, but even then it had never been dreamed of that the people of Hebei would one day ride out in a campaign to rid themselves of the baigui once and for all. It was in those battles that Marshal Yuan’liang and Yi Wan’s father, Zhao’an, earned their acclaim as they conquered elements and spirits in order to bring peace to the land.

But it had also been those campaigns that brought about the predicament the empire now found itself within. In all there had been four marshals chosen to lead four campaigns against the larger of the spiritual kingdoms. Marshal Zhang Yuan’liang attacked the Baigui, Admiral Tingzhe was pitted against the Hongliyu, Marshal Xiao Feizhi assaulted the Caolong, and finally Marshal Xiao Hsu advanced on the Tuohu. It was the latter two that created the animosity that would eventually bring about the splitting of the Qing Empire.

Xiao Feizhi was the daughter of Emperor Xiao Pao and the twin to Xiao Minzhi, the emperor’s spiritual advisor. A woman of unparalleled martial prowess, she and her cavalry were paramount in bringing the defunct Mao into the empire. It was generally agreed upon that she would become the next ruler of the empire, although an empress had not been crowned in nearly three centuries. The Caolong that she was pitted against were the notoriously vicious blue dragons of the Northern plains, who called upon thunder and storm to wreak havoc on any that did not pay homage to them. With her vanguard command Liao Xu the Unrestrained, she set to meticulously purging the land of these nefarious creatures while at the same time returning their spirits to their ancestral homes.

Unlike his sister, Xiao Hsu was not very much of a military commander. As the only son of Xiao Pao, and younger than both Feizhi and Minzhi, he was the most logical if not deserving candidate for the title of emperor. He was a small and weak man that relied on his sister Minzhi’s spiritual advice over any actual aptitude of his own. It had been her advice that informed him of a method in which to overcome the Tuohu. By using an ancient artifact known as the Scepter of Command, Prince Hsu was capable of controlling the spirits of the lost and confining them to inanimate objects such as armor. In this way every soldier that he lost could be conscripted back into battle, and the spirits that he defeated could be brought under his power as well. This was the method in which he gained his two most powerful commanders, Baihuang, the Suppressor of Hell and Heilong, the Soother of Heaven. These two spirits were more than powerful enough to overcome the Tuohu and it was with a triumphant army that Prince Hsu returned to the Western Capital while his sister still battled with the Caolong.

Prince Hsu was received as a hero when he returned to the Western Capital, the first of the marshals to achieve his goal. The people were initially mystified by the magnificent creatures that came with him, but were mortified when they realized the spirits of their loved ones were trapped in the armor that they once had worn. The outcry was mighty and Emperor Pao confronted his son for his shortsightedness and the insolence that he had to enslave not only his own people’s spirits, but the spirits of the Tuohu. What none could have counted on, though, was the fact that Prince Hsu would use his newly acquired army to stage a coup in the Western Capital. Word had it that not only was Marshal Yuan’liang returning to assist the emperor, but also Princess Feizhi and Admiral Tingzhe. Surely the insolent prince would be brought to justice for his act of treason.

Before Yi Wan’s mind could play over the potential realities that would result from the fated conflict in the Western Capital, though, the soft sound of the concubine’s coughing drew his mind back to the fore. He looked down to his ward and prepared to adjust her blankets once more, but was surprised to find that she was looking at him. Her eyes, like two large suns captured upon her porcelain countenance, looked directly into his soul. Yi Wan almost flailed away as he rose to a stand, and found his constitution once more tested by the woman’s magnanimous gaze. “Madam, you’ve awakened!”

“My time on this earth is not much longer,” the woman said in a voice that was but the faintest octave above a whisper. There was a sudden urgency in her eyes that bespoke the importance of the moment, but try as she might she could not find the words with which to speak. Yi Wan took her hand tenderly and shook his head.

“Do not speak in such a manner, madam, when this blizzard has subsided I will find a doctor and we’ll see you back to health,” he said gently while petting her hand with affection. “You have undertaken a long expedition from the Western Capital all the way to Hebei; I strongly doubt your fate would be one that would come to its end at this part in your journey.”

“But this is where I was destined to be,” the woman responded suddenly. Her eyes once more looked into Yi Wan’s, but this time he was not quite as overcome with the force of her enthralling gaze. He saw that the urgency was a very real thing, and dared not stifle the importance of the moment with any mortal desires that he may have felt. Once she was sure that she had captivated him in her stare, she wetted her lips slightly with her tongue and then spoke again, the rasp of her voice almost lost within the howling of the wind outside. “The Western Capital has fallen.”

The words were spoken with such a grim finality that Yi Wan was uncertain exactly what he should do. He sat, mortified, for several moments before shaking his head. “That is impossible; we have only recently heard report of Prince Hsu’s treachery. Marshal Yuan’liang and his men should be within Hu Xing in only a matter of days. I heard word that Princess Feizhi was already at the gates of the city.”

“Princess Feizhi is no more,” the concubine wept. She placed her hands to her face and shook her head sorrowfully. “Oh if I were not so weak, surely Marshal Yuan’liang would have been spared the same fate.”

Yi Wan could hardly believe what he was hearing. “That is impossible! Princess Feizhi is said to be thrice the general her brother is, so how could she be defeated by him, let alone she and the might of Marshal Yuan’liang?”

The concubine continued to weep for a prolonged period of time until finally she could regain herself. “Prince Hsu’s armies are an abomination upon this world. They are monsters and spirits the likes of which none would have ever imagined possible. I saw with my own eyes that demon-spawned varlet Heilong, with Prince Hsu, slay Princess Feizhi. The city has fallen to him, and I was sent here with a missive from the Emperor to keep Marshal Yuan’liang and his men here so that they might bring Hsu to justice. We would have arrived in time if not for that banshee Baihuang and her forces attacking my escort. I escaped, but my protectors did not.”

There was a missive? Why had he not thought to check the woman’s horse before it was covered in the winter’s snow? Yi Wan looked frantically toward the window and then back to the concubine. She continued to weep and for a moment he feared he might join her in her sorrowful display. But he had to be strong, he told himself. For once in his life he would be the son that his father expected him to be. It was then that he realized the true horror of what had been said. If Marshal Yuan’liang was fated to death, then that meant his father was as well. Even if his father could escape without Yuan’liang, he knew that Zhao’an would rather perish from the earth than live a day without his lord. Yi Wan was overcome with grief, but as he prepared to speak he was surprised by a startled cry from the concubine as she clutched her swollen abdomen.

“My baby is coming!” She cried in agony and closed her eyes. The small room was suddenly filled with the sweet smell of femininity that Yi Wan had never before experienced, and caught in its wave he felt his head begin to swim. The water that spread along his kang sizzled faintly as it fell to the oven near it, and he was drawn back to reality to find that the concubine was already perspiring and heaving as a mare might as she attempted to foal.

“I’ll get Old Lady Wu,” Yi Wan stammered as he rose from his seated position and made his way for the door. His legs felt as though they were made of jelly, and the intoxicating scent that permeated from the woman’s spilled fluid was enough to make him feel as though he had dunked his head into exceptionally rich wine. By the time that he had made it to the door, one of the servants that had been busily eavesdropping had already gone to fetch Old Lady Wu, who was hobbling along with two others in tow. “She’s having her child!”

“That is what pregnant women are prone to do,” Old Lady Wu murmured as she shooed Yi Wan to the side and made her entrance into the room. If she was at all influenced by the mystical aroma of the woman’s broken water, she did not falter in her step in the slightest. The two young women that came with her also seemed resilient to the scent, which made Yi Wan wonder if the smell only affected men, or perhaps only affected him. In either event he found that he was little more than a spectator as the women set to assisting the fatigued concubine in her birthing. “This woman is hardly part of this world, how is she going to bring a new life into it?”

“You mustn’t give up on her, old lady,” Yi Wan said from his position near the wall. He peered toward the concubine’s face and found that she was caught between the realms of sleep and an all too tempting darkness that could only be the end of her life. “That tattoo on her pelvis means that she is from the Western Capital.”

“And all the way out here,” Old Lady Wu commented as she rung out a rag and handed it to the one of her assistants. Her old, gnarled fingers touched against the concubine’s supple flesh with wild disregard, and clutched slightly before willing her to open her legs all the more. “Clearly whatever bastard she is about to birth is not the seed of her keeper.”

“You’ve quite a lot of nerve to slander someone as you bring a life into this world, you crass old woman!” Yi Wan shouted in dismay. He thought for a moment to rush over and strike Lady Wu for her insolence, but the fact that she was the only one that knew what was happening in that chaotic moment meant that she was not someone to be taken lightly. Instead, he was alerted to the concubine’s hurting as she let loose a aggrieved howl. “She’s in pain!”

“Because she’s pushing a melon through a hole that a pea was intended to go through,” Old Lady Wu responded without revealing any forms of uncertainty. She had delivered a hundred children before this one, and would probably deliver a hundred more before the Immortals took her away. “If you want to be useful, young master, hold her hand and tell her she’ll be alright.”

Yi Wan thought to refuse the directive initially. Men of Yi Province did not sit in on their own wives’ childbirths, let alone those of strangers. But the very thought of leaving the room at that moment seemed so wrong to him that whatever sense of properness or social convention that had been instilled within him was forgotten as quickly as it presented itself. Timidly he walked toward the concubine’s side and knelt in place. The serving girl that had previously been assisting the concubine with her pain moved aside and looked with mild confusion to Yi Wan, and then Old Lady Wu. For once, the old woman’s face actually revealed shock.

Never before had Yi Wan felt fingers as soft and tender as those of the concubine, but as he slipped his fingers along hers he knew that he was destined to be there at that moment. Her aggrieved howling subsided slightly, and although the faint tremors of pained moans escaped her, whatever part of her soul was wounded in her laborious breathing was for the moment assuaged by his presence. “You’ll be alright,” he said resolutely to her.

“Honorable patron, never before have I seen your face or heard your name,” the concubine wept as she fought to keep her eyes open. With every word that she spoke, a thousand pleas seemed to exist within the shallow breaths that she took in. Her magnificent eyes of amber once more focused upon Yi Wan’s, and he held her hand more assertively to show that he paid close attention to what she said. “My stay in this world draws closer to its end with each push that I make! Please, do me one final favor so that I know that my role in all of this chaos will have been served dutifully.”

Yi Wan was unsure of what to say. A logical man would turn down any such request by a stranger, and yet as he looked into the woman’s eyes he felt as though they had known each other for a lifetime. She was no different than a sister, and as he held her hand he could feel her waning spirit reaching out to his in a plea for acceptance. With a faint nod of his head, Yi Wan consented. “I will do as you ask of me, madam, but please do not speak with such finality. You will be fine.”

“I have come as far as I was intended and done what was asked of me,” the concubine said with a cry that seemed to rend her insides as it escaped. Her body shivered as she contracted her muscles in an attempt to free the weight that was attempting to break free of her hold. “When this child has left me, so shall my spirit be free. Please, protect my child.”

“As though it were my own, honored sister, I promise that I will do just that.”

“The baby is coming,” Old Lady Wu said as she began to free the child from its enclosure. “Push with all of your spirit, girl! If you want to be free of this burden, you’ll have to do more than lie on your back!”

Could she truly be rid of her burden so easily? After hearing Yi Wan’s promise she knew that she could, and so she rested her head once more against the kang and closed her eyes. The pains and toil that had been acquired during her travels to Hebei sprang up before her once more and attempted to suppress her last bit of energy to keep her from birthing the child, but she could not surrender her spirit without accomplishing her task. With all of her being she pushed until she could push no more, and felt two lives slide out of her. The child that she had carried dutifully for nine months was the first. The second was her own spirit, which escaped directly behind the baby, and vanished into the afterlife.

The cold hand that Yi Wan held told him that the concubine was no more. Try as he might to believe he could bring her back to life by simply wishing it to be, he knew that her spirit had left her body. The baby released a terrific cry as it was met with the cold air of the world outside of its mother, and as Old Lady Wu set to clearing it of the afterbirth that clung to it, Yi Wan rose from his position at the corpse’s side and moved to the baby. “May I hold her?” He asked in a voice that hardly seemed his own.

“As far as I know, young master, you’re the only person in this world that would want to.”

The old woman’s harsh comment was sorrowfully true, and as he looked down to the child he saw that her bright golden eyes were the same as her mother’s. In that instant he knew that he would give his life for this girl, and she would give her life for the empire.

“What should we name her? We don’t even know where her mother’s people came from,” Old Lady Wu said.

Yi Wan walked with the child toward the window and looked out over the blizzard that was before them. As he looked into the sky, a single star shone brightly in the distance. In its glow he knew that the girl’s mother had found her way to her ancestors, and furthermore that she was watching over them at that moment. The baby reached tentatively for his drooping beard and caused him to look to her once more. What did he know of her mother, of raising children, or of being a man in his own right? What did he really have to offer the child other than the memory of her mother? He had not even known the woman’s name or origin and now he was caring for a bastard that he did not know. The only thing that he could think of in that moment was the sole reason that he had protected the girl’s mother in the first place. A sorrowful smile beset his features as he gazed upon the girl’s bright eyes, and she responded by offering him her first smile ever.

“Qianmei,” he said softly. “Beautiful Plum Blossom.”

]]> http://shattersphere.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/the-legend-of-qianmei/feed/ 2 shattersphere http://shattersphere.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/its-always-best-to/ http://shattersphere.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/its-always-best-to/#comments Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:38:41 +0000 shattersphere http://shattersphere.wordpress.com/?p=237 ]]> Respect Your Elders!

After a day of doing the achievements, Guiva now has a new hairstyle and a new title!  I rather like both, myself, but I suppose we’ll see if the hairstyle sticks around or not.

Deep down, I am still an RPer I think.  I didn’t even think of doing this for the violet proto-drake, I just saw “Elder” and figured it’d be fitting for a senior shaman.  Oh well, don’t tell anyone and we’ll all be okay.