Writers Month 2021 # 10 - Amongst the Fireflies
Writers Month (August) 2021
Day #10
Word: Sunshine / Setting: Aged up/Deaged
Fandom: My Vow To My Liege (MVTML)
Characters: ChenFeng, AhYu, YiGuang...
Pairings: Umm Onesided ChenFeng x AhYu
Warnings: None
Rating: K
A/N: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT expect poetry, or that wonderful ability the 'chinese' (I know, I know, wrong term) language has to paint words as if it were a work of (visual) art. But everything else should be in place, at least...
"Come on now, silly boy."
She laughed, running ahead of him, under the dying light of the sun. She was eleven years old, but sometimes she still acted as if she were a very little girl-- at least with him. The only Princess, the one daughter of King HeLu, Princess TengYu, was ChenFeng’s one sole companion. But he was three years older than her, and the difference was noticeable already, his height towering a good seven inches above her, and he hesitated to follow her. Then she called his name, and he walked towards her, his steps becoming lighter and lighter with each step, until he was running too.
ChenFeng, she had said. He found that the sound was sweeter, whenever she was the one to speak.
Truth be told, in his eyes, no one seemed as important as the young Princess TengYu; no one as lively, no one as dear. Except, perhaps, King HeLu. He would forever be indebted to him, and although he was sure he could never repay his kindness, he was willing to try. But if he was indebted to him, for honor, he was indebted to her, too. She was, after all, the precious jewel of the King, and he had been entrusted to her as a companion she could play with. He would never, ever let anything happen to her. That was one of the reasons he had been training so fiercely, as soon as he had some spare time-- which is to say, the moments Princess TengYu didn’t require his presence.
There weren’t that many of those moments. Per some reason, she almost always wanted him close.
“Look, ChenFeng” she told him, stopping in her tracks, once he reached her. She took a long breath, to recover, “YiGuang will be coming in a little while, and I wanted to show him what we found last time. Is that alright with you?”
“Anything my lady decides will be alright.”
“I’ve told you to not call me that” she frowned. “AhYu is fine.”
He shifted his pose, feeling awkward. “I insist that is fine.”
She scoffed, shaking her head. But her eyes softened. “C’mon, ChenFeng. It is fine. My father-- King HeLu won’t be mad. I promise.”
Then she took one of his hands. “Look, there they are!”
She pointed out towards a small, hidden patch of land, leading to a small pond. It was dark enough already to see that there, in the dimming sunlight, there were fireflies near the pond.
She smiled, but he could only remain stiff, while she grasped his hand. She noticed his silence, and turned her head to look at him. She laughed lightly. “You know what? I won’t let go of you until you call me by my name.”
“You are Princess TengYu, and as such--”
“You know what I mean, ChenFeng!”
Now she sounded menacing. He swallowed, feeling exactly as if his back were against a wall, and he had a sword pointing towards his chest. Except, there was no wall, and the sword was just her incisive stare, or maybe the finger pointing at him.
He had just opened his mouth when her eyes lit up.
She let go of ChenFeng’s hand, her previous threat forgotten, and walked towards her other friend. ChenFeng turned around slowly, feeling awfully conscious of the sudden lack of the warmth on one of his hands. YiGuang greeted the princess, and smiled at ChenFeng too. But ChenFeng could only nod as a greeting, sending a glance towards his empty hand. The weight on his chest reminded him of a rock, the rocks that lined up the tiny pond; the pond, with an increasing number of tiny lights, of a shiny green color, that both TengYu and him had found the night before.
He had been so close to saying it. But, alas, the moment had passed. YiGuang, with his serene, amiable personality, attracted people without even trying-- Princess TengYu included. YiGuang was kind, always had a smile ready, and always knew what to say, two of those aspects completely opposite to ChenFeng: ChenFeng, the orphan, as everyone knew him, had no social ability, nor a smile ready to show. Ironically enough, the only one he used to spend time with, besides Princess TengYu, was YiGuang. Indeed, the three of them were friends, and they all cared for one another. But sometimes ChenFeng found himself wishing to be more like YiGuang, and less like ChenFeng; to be like YiGuang, who was able to say ‘AhYu’, with such simple sincerity...
“AhYu”, ChenFeng whispered, his voice lost in the breeze.
“ChenFeng, come” she called him, smiling at him before moving towards the pond. “The light has dimmed enough already.”
Has it, really? ChenFeng thought, his chest aching, looking at her. There was no more sunshine, true; but there, amongst the fireflies, he couldn’t help but think she had a light of her own.
