105 Volume 4: The Wedding: A Harey Wedding Procession

"Lingling, can you see?"

"Daddy, Daddy, I can see everything! I'm taller than everyone!"

Tuzi chuckled as the little girl bounced excitedly on his shoulders. She'd only just turned six and this was her first time in Dongbian. They'd arrived the day before to find a spot to watch the wedding procession, and still ended up squished between a large crowd and a building. Thus, Tuzi had put Lingling on his shoulders so she could see properly.

"Are we really gonna see a Princess today Daddy? A Princess that looks like me?" Lingling reached up to her face and touched the birthmark that spottily covered most of her face. It wasn't gruesome, just a large, inconsistent discoloration of skin. It actually covered her entire body, but obviously the face was most noticeable. Because of it, she'd been mistreated and eventually abandoned in the wild.

It was Tuzi, a Hare Beastie running messages for the Imperial Army outside Lanhua, who'd found her. He could have left her but, perhaps because of Lady Mei Hua's influence, Beasties were particularly soft towards children. Tuzi barely had enough cultivation to turn into a human, so when he did, his speed dropped. Still, he changed his form from hare to human so he could carry the child back with him.

He got scolded ferociously for it but he didn't regret. It's not like he was the first Beastie to find someone and bring them home. It was practically a running joke at that point how Beasties found people and adopted them, taking them to Lanhua to give them a safe place to live. Many of the small villages along the eastern side of the mountains had started that way.

"Not exactly like yours." Tuzi responded honestly. "They say Physician Jia Ying is covered in scars."

It was said the Physician often wore a cloth over the bottom of her face not to disturb people—that is, humans—when she treated them. This naturally blew how bad the scarring was out of proportion in the public eye. Thus when people talked about the scars, it was usually just called a "disfigurement".

Lingling frowned, "Why does she have scars?"

Tuzi hesitated. It's not like the source of the scars was a secret, but it wasn't appropriate conversation for a child either.

"Bad people… hurt her when she was very young. They say the scars faded, but never disappeared. Those bad people made scars even the Fairy Doctor couldn't heal." He shook his head slightly in disapproval. Even the most violent of Beasties treated its own children well, why were humans so ruthless?

He felt two tiny hands clutch tightly around his head, so he hastily added, "Don't worry, the Fairy Emperor protects all of Lanhua. No bad people like that can get in."

Lingling's hands loosened and then she asked somewhat hesitantly, "The scars are on her face?"

"En."

"And the Second Prince still loves her?"

"En, en."

"Then will someone love me too?"

Tuzi lips quivered slightly but his voice remained smooth, "Of… of course someone will love, don't I love you?"

He pinched her leg, causing her to squeal in surprise. When the people nearby glared at them for being noisy, he hastily apologized.

In his village, Hare Village, the Beasties never minded her discoloration. The few humans that were there were old grandpa and grandma types. While they weren't cruel, they couldn't hide their pity either. And humans from outside Hare Village weren't at all kind and would openly comment about her birthmark and how it made her ugly. If she ran across children it was even worse, they would openly mock her without mercy.

Tuzi could have kept her away from such experiences, but Beasties didn't believe in coddling children. If a child was spoiled too much, it wouldn't know how to function when it was an adult. In the animal world, that meant a gruesome death. Naturally Beasties who loved their children didn't want them to die right after leaving home, so they didn't spoil them.

In Lingling's case, there would be no way of avoiding the disdain from her own kind when she grew up. If he sheltered her completely as a child, she wouldn't be prepared for the comments as an adult. The mental blow would be huge. He allowed her small unpleasant experiences now, when he could still comfort her afterward, so that she'd be prepared for it later.

Tuzi's hair was suddenly gripped and pulled, forcing his face to point up.

"DADDY! LOOK!"

The scolding words died in his throat as he saw what Lingling was pointing at.

There, coming from the direction of the nearby mountain peak, was a long thin cloud. And on top of that cloud was what could only be the wedding procession. As it got closer, the crowd was able to make out the details. In the front were two elderly people. Surrounding the procession were fairies, Beasties, and humans, acting as extended family to "protect the Bride". Behind that was what looked to be children, and then behind that were women with dark colored skin and bright blue hair.

The elderly bearded man and white-haired woman were likely the Fairy Doctor and Nurse. Tuzi had never met them personally, but the point of their ears showed they were fairies, and the only fairies that pretended to be that old were the Doctor and Nurse. A rush of excited whispers ran through the crowd as Beasties told their human companions who the old couple were.

For most of the human population, this was the first time they'd ever seen the Fairy Doctor and Nurse. On the rare occasion a human could afford the Fairy Doctor's services, he and his nurse never showed themselves unless it was a child. Only children were allowed to see them, or so the rumors went.

Of course, he, Tuzi the Hare Beastie, knew that was just the nature of fairies. For some reason only human children could see a fairy. To be seen by adults, an illusion of some kind needed to be cast. It was just that the Fairy Doctor and Nurse never bothered with such illusions.

The old fairies were dressed in simple but elegant robes of green. The elderly man had his hair up in a single black hair-crown, and the elderly woman had her hair in a simple bun with a single gold hair pin. They looked plain compared to the rest of the procession, but they were low-key people so maybe getting too dressed up made them feel uncomfortable.

As the procession got closer, Tuzi could see the expression on the two old fairies faces. Though the Fairy Doctor was trying to keep a stern, serious expression, he couldn't hide the twinkle of happiness in his eyes. Meanwhile the Fairy Nurse was openly beaming and laughing. The rumors about the Fairy Doctor being prickly and the Nurse being friendly turned out to be very accurate.

Behind them was a palanquin of white and silver carried by eight strong but beautiful men with brown skin and blue hair. The palanquin was made of dark glossy wood, with silver on the corners and handles shaped into flowers. A fluttering semi-transparent curtain hung around the four open sides.

Walking just behind palanquin were children of all ages, dressed in simple but expensive outfits of green and blue. Their faces were flushed with excitement, pointing at the people below them. They were apparently as amused and amazed at floating in the sky in a cloud as the audience was at watching them.

There had been rumors that Jia Ying would sometimes come across a sick or abandoned child and take them in. It was assumed she found them new families, but no one really knew. The Physician was notoriously tight-lipped about her private life, rarely talked about life in the Palace, and never ever talked about previous clients. But seeing as these children walking in the place typically given to family, no one had to think very hard about how Jia Ying had gotten so many children. Rather than give them away, she just out right adopted them.

A new wave of conversation rippled through the crowd. If these children had been adopted by the Physician, didn't that mean they'd been living in her home, which was in the Palace? And now that their Mother was a Princess, didn't that make them some kind of royalty too? These children had not only been saved from death or extreme poverty, they accidently climbed right up to the heavens!

Behind the palanquin and the children were gorgeous women with the same brown skin and blue hair as the men carrying the palanquin, in their hands were musical instruments. Even from a distance, people could hear their delicate playing. It was a gentle sound that lifted the spirits of everyone who heard it, making even the grieving and depressed feel better.

People were somewhat puzzled at these dark-skinned people. Were they a new kind of fairy? But their appearance and aura didn't seem quite right for fairies either. As the crowd was trying to figure out who these new-comers were, the procession passed over the city, starting at the entrance gate.

The music paused and then started again, but this time it was fast and joyous. Whenever people heard it, they forgot their gossiping and felt a surge of happiness and affection. They couldn't stop smiling. If they were near family or friends, they would reach out and hug them, filled with a sudden gratefulness for their company.

The wedding procession slowly made its way through the town of Dongbian. As the procession passed by, flower petals appeared over the crowd out of seemingly thin-air. There was a strong feeling of magic and wonderment no matter where a person looked.

Small bags of treats began appearing in the hands of children, while silk stringed coins would suddenly appear in the adult's pockets or on top of their heads. The adults couldn't see, but the children did: tiny fluffy human shaped creatures colored like a rainbow were flying over the crowd dropping gifts at random. Their fluffy antenna, big eyes, and simple patterned wings made them adorable even in their strangeness. Surprised shouts and gleeful squeals could be heard from the crowd as the fairies gave away their gifts.

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Now that the procession was on the ground, people could see inside the palanquin. The bride was dressed in light blue, her hair piled on her head in an intricate bun and then covered in jeweled silver ornaments. Her outfit had gold embroidered flowers along the sleeves, collar, and edges. More amazingly, it seemed as though the flowers were moving and the blue of the cloth rippled giving the illusion of flowing water. In her hand was a round fan that had an embroidered Blue Flower Tree on it. When she held it up, people could see the embroidered tree seem to sway with her movements, as if a rush of wind was blowing through its branches.

The Bride herself was delicate but lovely. Her face practically glowed with joy, making her charming appearance almost dazzling to onlookers. The Physician who usually hid her scarred face, wore simple clothing and did rough work for a livin,g had been transformed into a Fairy Princess for all to see.

It was only if a person looked carefully could they see the scars on her face. Not many in the crowd thought to look for those scars, but Lingling did.

"She's beautiful Daddy. Even with the scars, she's so beautiful."

"That's right, didn't I say? Even if you don't look like others, it doesn't make you ugly. Some people don't think that way, but what does that matter? If anyone dares make fun of you in the future, ask them if they'll also make fun of the Second Princess. Heh. See if that doesn't shut them up."

Lingling blinked and then laughed. She wrapped her arms around her Father's face and hugged him. "I'll do that from now on Daddy! I will!"

A small fluffy fairy that had been floating over their heads, heard their conversation. It pulled out an extra large bag from empty space and dropped it on the child's head.

Surprised, Lingling grabbed the thing on her head and looked up just in time to see the fairy move on. In her hand was a bag, which she excitedly opened to see what was inside.

"Daddy, Daddy! I got sweets from a fairy!"

"Hoho, isn't my little girl the luckiest?"

"Here Daddy, have some too."

Before he could do anything, sweets were stuffed into his mouth.

He smiled as he chewed on the sweets contently.