Book 8: Chapter 39: Discernment

Book 8: Chapter 39: Discernment

Sen and Grandmother Lu spoke for another two hours before she announced that she was weary from her journey. Sen called Pan Shiji in and told her to arrange a room for their most honored guest. The young woman’s eyes danced back and forth between Sen and his grandmother, trying to parse the relationship and getting nowhere with it. She eventually retreated to do as she was told. While that was being taken care of, Sen decided that there was one more person that Grandmother Lu should meet. It was a meeting he wanted to be there for, just in case. She followed him with curious eyes as he led her to a hallway that was not substantially different than all the other hallways and knocked on a particular door. There was a long pause before Glimmer of Night responded.

“Yes?”

“It’s Sen. There’s someone important that I want you to meet with me,” said Sen, casting a brief look at Grandmother Lu before he added one more thing. “There’s no need for the disguise.”

“Disguise?” asked Grandmother Lu.

“He’s a spider-kin. He was transformed into a generally human shape, but his appearance can be a little unsettling right at first.”

Sen was cut off by the door to the room swinging open. Glimmer of Night peered out of the room, his chitinous features and liquid black eyes as unreadable as ever. Grandmother Lu lifted an eyebrow at the sight of him but appeared otherwise unruffled. Sen stepped into the room, let Grandmother Lu step past him, and closed the door. That promptly cast the room into total blackness, so Sen conjured a few small fireballs to hover in the corners. He turned to the spider.

“Glimmer of Night, this is my grandmother, Lu Jia. Grandmother, this Glimmer of Night, one of the spiderkin.”

The woman and the spider stood in complete silence for three solid minutes, just looking at each other. Every once in a while, one of them would tilt their head a little to one side or the other but that was it. Sen wasn’t sure if this was good or bad or if they expected him to carry the conversation. When he was finally ready to interrupt the silence, Glimmer of Night finally did something. He gave Grandmother Lu a very respectful bow.

“Glimmer of Night greets the matriarch,” said the spider.

“I greet you Glimmer of Night,” said Grandmother Lu with a gently amused expression before she looked at Sen. “We can go now.”

Sen was very confused but, apparently, the pair had reached some kind of understanding. The heavens only knew how. Sen dutifully opened the door and escorted her out into the hallway. He looked back into the room and extinguished the fireballs before closing the door. As they walked down the hall, Sen looked over at Grandmother Lu.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Oh, he seems like a very nice boy. Very practical,” said Grandmother Lu.

Sen fought with himself about whether or not to ask the next question, but curiosity won out in the end.

“That’s fair. Relationships can sour. Honestly, though, I doubt it will be a problem. I get the feeling that it’s almost as hard to leave that circle of hers as it is to join it in the first place.”

“I’ve met a few people like that along the way,” said Grandmother Lu.

The pair lapsed back into a comfortable silence until Pan Shiji knocked, waited a respectful interval, and then entered.

“A room has been prepared,” she announced.

Sen went to stand up, but Grandmother Lu waved him back into his seat. She eyed Pan Shiji, who seemed to wilt beneath the intensity of that gaze.

“She’s young. I expect her legs can carry her far enough to show me my room. Can’t they, girl?”

Pan Shiji looked almost petrified, but she managed to squeak out a lone word.

“Yes.”

“Good. Sen, I’m sure I’ve kept you from countless things that can’t do without you, so go make yourself useful. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Pan Shiji's expression turned from petrified to mortified that someone was ordering Sen around. He made a valiant and successful effort to maintain a calm demeanor. He inclined his head to Grandmother Lu before turning his attention to Pan Shiji.

“Please see to it that our guest has everything she requires.”

The girl nodded before Grandmother Lu all but pushed her out the door. Sen waited until he was certain that they were gone before he let himself snicker at the memory of Pan Shiji’s expressions. The last few weeks had, mostly through observation, taught him that people in servants’ roles had a strange kind of pride in it. They also took the reactions of their “superiors” very seriously. Openly laughing at the girl, however harmless it might seem to him, would injure her pride. While it wasn’t a perspective that he understood personally, he wouldn’t go out of his way to inflict unnecessary injuries. There was enough wanton cruelty in the world without him bumbling around and inflicting it through sheer inattention.

He also knew that Grandmother Lu was right. Lo Meifeng was probably pacing somewhere, fretting about all of the things that he wasn’t getting done right now. The right thing to do was to go find her and get back to work. Instead, he gave himself five minutes to sit and just feel good about the fact that Grandmother Lu was there. Like so many other things, he’d been forced to push aside how much he missed her in favor of dealing with trivial matters like not dying and dealing with stupid turtles. It had been a hole in his life. For the first time in a long time, that empty place inside of him was once again filled with the woman’s curmudgeonly love.