Book 5: Chapter 20: You Don’t

Book 5: Chapter 20: You Don’t

Falling Leaf came around the next morning once Sen started cooking food. He didn’t pester her with questions, just let her eat her fill. Only after plowing through bowl after bowl of rice porridge with pork in it and drinking a truly impressive amount of water did she even begin to look like she might want to talk about anything.

“How do you feel?” asked Sen.

He could have just taken a look with his spiritual sense and his qi, but Sen tried to only do that without permission when there was no other choice. Falling Leaf tilted her head back and forth before she answered.

“I’m fine. At least, I feel fine.”

“No lingering soreness? No problems moving around?”Explore the labyrinthine roots of this substance at Nøv€lß¡n

Falling Leaf gave him an alarmed look. “Should there be?”

“Spider venom can do all kinds of terrible things to a body, but I got a healing pill into you pretty fast. I’m just being cautious.”

Falling Leaf relaxed. “Why didn’t you just check for yourself?”

“I thought I should ask first. It’s the polite thing to do.”

“I’d rather you make sure I’m okay than be polite. Be polite with other people.”

Sen laughed gently. “Fair enough.”

He took his time with the examination. As near as he could tell, the combination of the healing pill and Falling Leaf’s own recuperative abilities had washed the venom out of her system. Sen was a bit surprised by that. That spider had pumped a substantial amount of venom into her. He couldn’t be sure if he’d been underestimating the potency of the pills, Falling Leaf’s ability to heal, or both. He’d expected to need to stay for at least another day before they left. He also checked her tissues and organs, looking for any kind of necrosis. Again, he found nothing. Unless Falling Leaf reported some new symptom to him, he saw no need to hang around unless she said she wanted more rest.

“I can’t see anything wrong. If you feel up to it, we can leave today, now even.”

Falling Leaf nodded and stretched where she sat. “I’m happy to leave this mountain behind. When we pick a mountain, let’s pick one without so many spiders.”

Sen shuddered a little. “Agreed.”

Sen gave her a sharp look at that comment. They had been away from the capital for more than a year and a half. When they had stopped at inns, Sen had done all of the talking. Beyond that, they’d kept to themselves. By Sen’s reckoning, she’d had more than enough time to shake off any bad feelings she’d had since they left the huge city behind. The fact that she was still wholly disinterested in interacting with other people concerned him. She needed some kind of connection to people that extended beyond him. Even if those connective threads were tenuous, she needed them.

“Don’t you want to make friends?” asked Sen.

“You don’t,” she said, frowning at him.

“I,” Sen started, then reconsidered. “I guess that’s true, but it’s not the whole story. I avoid people because they’re constantly trying to drag me into things I want no part of. I have a sneaking suspicion that Karma is making me work hard to pay off some old debts. I doubt that you’d have the same kind of problems.”

Falling Leaf gave Sen a dubious look. “If you say so.”

“I just don’t want you to have no one if something happens to me. If Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, and Uncle Kho ascend, who’s left?”

“Do you think they’d just leave me behind?” she asked, a line forming between her eyebrows.

“I don’t think they would, but I can’t promise you that either.”

Falling Leaf thought that over for a little while before shaking her head. “If that happens, it happens. I can’t live in fear of something that may happen someday.”

Sen wanted to push the issue, but he wasn’t sure where he could take the point. He’d stated his concerns. She’d listened to them and demonstrated her fundamental lack of worry about it. He wasn’t sure if the possibility was just too nebulous or if the uncertainty of the timeframe made it seem moot to her. Then again, maybe she was right to dismiss the concern. Falling Leaf was very much a person who lived in the now, rather than making deep plans for tomorrow. While Sen didn’t invest a lot of time in thoughts of the future, it was plainly evident that he spent more of his time considering it than Falling Leaf. Maybe that would change at some point. Maybe it wouldn’t. He couldn’t make her care about the future any more than he could make her care about other human beings. It was something she would have to come to on her own or not.

All he could do was ask her about it from time to time and see where she stood. He could encourage her to make connections, but even that had to be done gently. He couldn’t force her to like anyone. If he pushed too hard about it, he risked damaging his relationship with her. While he did want her to have more in her life than just him, he wasn’t going to sabotage what they had to make it happen. That could backfire in all kinds of ways that he couldn’t predict. It was a bit of a mess in his opinion, but not a mess in need of immediate action. Sen finished the food on his plate.

“Do you want any more?” he asked.

Falling Leaf shook her head. “We should get going again. I’d like to be off of this mountain today if possible.”

Sen peered up at the sky and judged the time. “If you think you’re up for moving a little faster, I think we can make that happen.”

An eager nod confirmed her willingness.

“Alright, then. Let’s get moving.”