Glacia: Hail to the Queen

Heping sat in silence, his fingers drumming against the arm of the chair in a methodical pattern. His face showed no emotion, but his eyes spoke words of wisdom and understanding. Across the table from him sat Seto San, anxiously awaiting any remote response.

After a pressing while, Heping mused a single word. “Trouble?”

Seto nodded frantically. “I don’t know who, and I don’t know where. But someone is calling to us, and they need our help.”

Heping’s expression remained constant, much to Seto’s frustration. Still, she remained peaceful at his gaze.

The old monk let out a deep sigh. “There is peace on Nangjiao once again. You and I both know I cannot leave it.”

“I know,” Seto echoed. “But… but I think I can do this on my own.”

For the first time in what felt like years, Heping’s expression changed as he raised an eyebrow. It was gone in an instant, but Seto was sure she had caught a glimpse of a faint smile on the man’s face.

“If you think you can do it on your own, you cannot do it on your own. You must know, deep within you, that you possess the strength to succeed.”

Seto tried unsuccessfully not to show her frustration. “Have you not taught me, master, everything you know? Am I not just as prepared as you to face to trials of the outer world?”

Heping’s face faded back into his predictable stoic stare. “If you are still referring to me as master, Seto, clearly you have more to learn.”

A single tear dripped down Seto’s cheek, and Heping gave way. “But you are a strong warrior, and you command the respect of many. This will be new territory, and you will be alone, but remember your inner power. Show the people why you matter and they will turn to you in their direst hour.”

Seto smiled a sheepish grin through her fear as Heping continued. “Do not let your emotions—“ he paused emphatically—“become your burden. They are a warrior’s powerful tool, or her greatest weakness. Learn to control them, but learn to harness them. You will be the greatest woman the world has ever seen, for you are the greatest woman the multiverse has ever known.”

Seto choked back a grin. “Yes, master. I will find those calling for help. I will show them my power and I will help them in their time of need. Though my true strength flows through community, I know you must stay. I will bear this burden alone.”

Heping nodded, and Seto rose, striding gracefully towards the hall’s southern exit. As she slipped through the door, Heping called to her.

“Seto?”

She turned, spying a wry grin on the wise man’s face.

“If you’re really so worried about going alone, bring the panda.”

---

“No, thank you.”

Seto stood in shock. “What do you mean, no thank you? There are no thanks to be given. I pled for you to join me in helping whomever it is that calls to me. Do you not care who they are, or what ails them? I thought you the champion of survival, and yet you turn down an opportunity to assist without a second thought? And you have the audacity to thank me, as if this request was an act of service towards you. Truly, Xiong, talking to you is often thankless.”

Xiong gave no acknowledgement to Seto. He knelt over an injured bird, carefully tending to a wound on its wing. “A little livilily powder will do wonders, friend. You’ll hardly know you were ever broken.” The panda took a miniature vial out of his satchel and dusted the bird with a sparkling red mist. The bird chirped feebly as Xiong lifted it into a makeshift nest he had fashioned from sticks and leaves on the forest floor.

“Stay there, brother, and heal. Within time, you will grow hungry. Do not fly on this wing until you cannot take the feeling anymore. At that point, you will be fully healed.” Xiong gently kissed the bird, then stood and faced the woman before him. “You have a lovely face but a sour tongue, Seto. To accuse me of apathy is to attack my very existence. I thank you for the opportunity to travel, and for the consideration that I might be fit to travel with you. But given my place in this world, I must decline.”

Seto began to protest, but the panda shook his head. “Seto, what don’t you understand? Do you not see the world around you? Every fallen leaf, every snapped branch. Every injured bird is a cry for help from deep within Nangjiao’s soul. Open your eyes. Open your ears. Live in the world around you, and not so deeply within your own ego.”

“Must you be so fucking callous?” Seto seethed, causing the panda’s ears to perk. “I see the fallen leaves. I see the shattered branches. I hear the world cry, but I feel the pain of a generation. We are not bound to this world. That is our gift, and our curse. You can live your life denying your truth, or you can open your own blind eyes to life beyond Nangjiao.”

Xiong tisked in disapproval. “A sour tongue, Seto. But a passionate one to be sure." He paused contemplatively. "Perhaps I misread your intentions. You really feel this pain?”

“I do, panda.” Seto breathed through her anger.

Xiong put a contemplative paw to his chin. “Then it seems you understand the pain I feel for the world surrounding me, though on a much broader level. I will join you in your travels since you require me.”

Seto once again began to respond but was cut off by the panda. “Meet me here tomorrow morning and we will attempt to discover the root of your pain. For now, I have some loose ends to attend to in the forest.”

The panda turned on heel and vanished into the twisting trees. Seto thought to call after him, but decided against it, and irately paced away in the opposite direction.

---

Xiong sat between two mounds of dirt, each marked by a pewter boulder. He rested a paw on each side of him, gathering soil between his claws and letting it slowly crumble back to the ground.

“It has been so long since I felt like I belonged, fu mu,” he whispered into the air. “So long since I felt connected to the world around me. I have tried to forge a connection with the land, the sky, the trees… but none reach back as I grasp for them. I’ve fought it for a lifetime, but perhaps…”

Xiong pondered quietly for a moment. “I have seen other worlds, though briefly. New horizons to be explored. New lands on which to leave padded pawprints. I know little about these worlds, but I know now that Nangjiao is no longer my home.”

He scraped a claw along one of the boulders. “No matter my desire for it to be.”

After an extended silence, Xiong stood, dusting soil off of his padded trousers. “I will go find where I belong, fu mu. I will become the panda you would have wanted me to be. And though I may be worlds away, I will never forget my origin. That I can say as fact.”

He took one more somber look down at the mounds beneath him. “Goodnight, fu mu,” he whispered, before dashing off into the falling dusk.