Two black eyes narrowed as he saw the scene before him; a youth sleeping peacefully against a wall, surrounded by flowers. However it was not quite the romantic picture one would think. The boy's pink lips were slightly parted and there was the clear line of wetness from the corner of those lips leading down to his chin. As Jin Li's expression twisted in distaste, he could not stop the thought that trailed across his mind; "Why you?"
After the confrontation in the training grounds, Jin Li had tried to consider Justin's reasons for liking that girl... but gave up after two minutes. These sorts of reasons (he hadn't listened beyond the initial points)... the same sort that his uncle used to explain away why he had fallen in love over and over again... might as well be describing a pet. Just as he had come to see Leon.
After all, did his small alchemist not have those large black eyes that seemed aggrieved when not wearing his ugly glasses? Such as that second day Jin Li had known him and had been abandoned by him in favour of swimming in a cold lake? And then there was the way he often required protection; his meridians could have been trashed beyond repair if those fools had disturbed him while he broke through into secondary cultivation and his body had been at risk when that cutsleeve took a liking to him.
Leon would curl up against his body at night, uncaring that he was using the great him as a pillow or source of warmth. He was too trusting and too naive.
Granted, he was more useful that an ordinary pet, his cooking had improved as had his brewing of tea. He sought to improve more pills for him, thus the side effects would be less when he took them. But still...
Jin Li squatted had down before the boy he'd labelled as a pet, while he considered these things and noticed that his small alchemist was beginning to awaken. He had long lashes for a boy; Jin Li could see them fluttering as his glasses had fallen askew as he slept. The movement grasped his attention for several moments, before Leon opened his eyes completely and adjusted his glasses, obscuring his view. Despite his eyes becoming hidden, the dazed expression was still apparent as Leon took a deep breath of air, wiped his chin upon his sleeve and glanced about himself.
He froze as he saw the youth before him and stuttered out; "J-J-Jin Li! W-What are you d-d-doing here?"
Jin Li sneered slightly as he replied haughtily; "This Lord has found that the tea brewed in the martial arts school is not to his liking, thus came here. It seems you have some skill." Actually, this was not the case, though he admitted he did actually prefer Leon's tea. It was just, he had been running through the tree tops and over the mountain slopes to burn off a little energy built of irritation and had found himself stepping into this garden in the end.
"Oh," Leon replied and began to ungracefully push himself off of the ground.
"Never mind," Jin Li told him, "this Lord will brew the tea this time and forgive your complacency." He stormed out of the garden and into the hut, leaving Leon to stare blankly at his back. The alchemist tried to ignore the heart skipping in his chest as his mind repeated all the martial artist had said since he woke.
Don't get any hopes up, he told himself.
Dusting himself off, he followed Jin Li into the small hut to find that the other had placed the kettle upon the iron stove and had taken the container of tea off of the shelf. Leon washed his hands before taking two cups and the pot of honey from their resting place and putting both on the low table. The tea was brewed in the pot during this silent time and shared between them. The silence was comfortable though produced as two hearts settled in each other's company, while tongues remained quiet unwilling to disturb the atmosphere with words about what had occurred between them just a couple of days prior.
After the tea was drained, they did exchange some small talk and when it was clear that Jin Li was staying for dinner, Leon said nothing of it, just arranged several dishes with reheated soup from the day before, rice, stir fried vegetables and boiled eggs. The meal was eaten with no fanfare (and seconds and thirds were enjoyed by half of the occupants of the hut) and still Jin Li expressed no intention to leave.
This made Leon both nervous and happy as well as cursing his own heart over the fact that he couldn't hate Jin Li nor send him away. Leon was cursing himself that he could disregard everything just to find contentment sharing once more Jin Li's body heat. But as Jin Li seemed to be avoiding that subject and both were already treading on scattered eggshells, Leon couldn't bring himself to talk about it either.
Thus he settled on the bed next to Jin Li, closing his eyes and allowing his breath to become steady and shallow, thinking it was fine to confront Jin Li in the morning... or perhaps next four-day break. But for now...
As Jin Li listened to Leon drift into sleep beside him, he once more considered the revelation that he had had the afternoon after the confrontation. Teacher Corvus had been trying to learn of Sun and his 'type', or rather what both boys sought in a girl. Even when one had no intention of speaking about this, one cannot help ones thoughts wandering to answer internally such a question, but in Jin Li's mind only one small person appeared.
Not attractive! Too skinny, though the bones were no longer prominent and flesh had rounded the once flat bottom. The hair was strange, speaking of deviation, failure and weakness and yet there was strength in that there were signs of working hard to regain what was lost. And then there was the ugly glasses, but what they hid beneath caused a skipping heart and a breathless sort of reaction. Leon was like a pet and yet not like a pet for Jin Li had never cared for any small animals in the past and did not grow attachments to things. What was useful was used and what was not was thrown away... but imagining himself throwing Leon away actual seemed to hurt his chest.
Even the almighty he could only think of one explanation for it and it was not heartburn! It took all of yesterday and this morning to come to terms with it and yet still he originally had no plans to confront it. And yet...
Now that Leon seemed to be sleeping, he could no longer keep the words inside him. "It seems this Lord may actually have affectionate feelings for you. Do not think that this Lord will show you any kindness just because of this, however...! And rejection is not an option for you either."
A smile appeared upon the other youth's lips as he turned over and curled into Jin Li's chest. "I l-like you t-too," came a whispered response.
Jin Li's cheeks flushed, but in the darkness, it could not be noticed. "That's only natural." A silence descended upon the two youths lying upon the same bed and Leon felt fingers slide beneath his chin, his face lifted slightly. "This Lord will kiss you now."
"Okay."
One young man of just below average height, with hair that was of both black and white stretching in long lengths over his narrow shoulders to fall below his pert bottom, stepped out, in a slight daze, of the small cottage that had but one room though it was filled with the necessities of living. Following him, was a taller young man with the stature of one spoke of in tales of immortals, his long black hair tamed in a silver crown and red jade pin upon his head. His aura seemed other-worldly, despite the poorer quality of his robes and trousers, and yet that look was slightly marred by the smirk upon his devilishly handsome face.
The taller youth shut the door behind him, startling the smaller one out of his daze and a blush rose upon his pale cheeks. The thick glasses upon his nose could not hide this. The grin upon the other's lips widened more as he reached and grabbed the other before covering his mouth dominantly, until the knees of the smaller youth weakened and he could only cling onto the taller one to keep himself upright.
"This Lord will be leaving now," Jin Li declared as his obsidian eyes glanced downward with a satisfied glint, preening inwardly over the appearance of Leon's swollen lips.
"O-o-o-Okay," Leon could only stutter breathlessly before watching Jin Li run off into the distance. He pinched himself to make sure he was awake, before his core swelled with a glowing heat. That heat seemed like his small chest would not be able to contain it as it pushed against his ribs and galloping heart and Leon felt as if he would burst. Of course, he did not, but he did have to calm his innersea from swirling merrily out of control due to the overwhelming happiness he felt.
He couldn't say which path he took to walk to the Food Hall, nor could he tell you what he ate. With hidden smiling eyes and lips that had formed a seemingly permanent curve, he entered the Herb Hall after abandoning his breakfast a little later. Maimai happened to be there, amongst the small crowd and the moment her sharp eyes clapped upon Leon's face did she squeal and leap on him in a clingy hug.
"I want details," she whispered into his ear, causing his face to glow red.
Fortunately, before he could answer, Teacher Sagi appeared and with a kind smile, beckoned Leon over to him. Leon gently pushed Maimai aside with light words before making his way to his Master. However, a moment later, he found himself on the floor having face planted.
"Are you alright, Leon?" Teacher Sagi asked as Maimai kneeled beside him. Leon frown as he rubbed his ankle.
"I'm ok-Kay," Leon replied as he got to his feet, pretending not to see the sweeping looks of disdain and mockery, while others turned their heads aside pretending not to notice him. He shook his head inwardly, deciding not to worry about it and followed Teacher Sagi out of the back door.
The Teacher wished to share with him some techniques about caring for plants, particularly uncommon and rare plants. Although Leon's small achievement of late had been mentioned amongst the Alchemist Teachers, the majority still were biased to those with the ability to produce good and high quality pills, thus Leon was still unworthy in their eyes. Leon was in his third year, there was still plenty of time until the youth would be forced to leave the school due to age, but his repertoire was on par with a student a year behind and his pills still average. Thus Teacher Sagi decided to teach Leon about other things as well to expand his knowledge base and ensure his future.
Leon was fine with this for the more he knew about herbs, the more he thought he might be able to improve his pills, thus this lesson was satisfactory to Leon.
In the afternoon, he was given the recipe for Burning Blood Pills and began to practice this violent pill. Just like its predecessor, the Burning Blood Pill required a very hot fire and great deal of attention. It was aimed at giving cultivators of the second and third stage a boost in ability with the side effect of weakness once the boost had worn off.
Some of the ingredients were familiar to Leon, as they were used in the Burning Energy Pills, but the purple spirit grass had been replaced by songmist moss and there was the addition of a couple of other herbs as well; Devil's eye nettles and Crimson knotweed. Just as with his first attempt at making Burning Energy Pills, he failed with the Burning Blood Pills; three times in the end, even caused the cauldron to crack. He pondered over what to do.
With the Burning Energy Pills, he knew to use a little sap from the purple spirit grass to stop the ingredients burning to dust, but the songmist moss did not have the same succulent dew hidden in its form. As he pondered this problem, Maimai entered the room in the Teaching Hall wanting advice, but paused as she glanced at his ingredients.
"Why do you have false nettles?" She asked picking the 'devil's eye' off of the ground.
He glanced up at her and then stared hard at the herb in hand. No wonder he couldn't get the pills to form, he'd been using the wrong herb! "M-must h-have b-been m-mixed in b-by m-m-mistake?" Leon suggested as he picked up another length of the nettle. False nettle was such a tricky little weed, but he should have noticed that the stem tips were indeed the wrong colour. They were white like the bulbous rootcrop, not black like that of the devil's eye. The false nettle could only mimic another nettle's leaves, not it's shoot.
"Be more careful next time," Maimai suggested as she went to get him some actual devil's eye nettles. Leon sighed and went to get himself a new cauldron.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT