[ChicletPrime]

• I am very unreliable. i keep trying to dodge the work that Zayne gives me although I've stated two or three times already that I really need to figure out how to pay him back for his spiritual lessons. So I say a thing, but don't do the thing. I would not take me on as a student, ever.
  
• At least Zayne loves me for who I am, whiny flakiness and all.
  
• I get the impression I've been on this mountain for an untold number of years. Because "this year" I get to go with him and Bai Ze on his visit to the local village.
  
• I try to buy a gift for Zayne, but the merchant doesn't want to be paid with sacred twigs or stones. I am a fool.
  
• Zayne didn't bring any money either. Oops.
  
• I'm going to go on tangent here for a second - I am liking Zayne and the setup quite a lot, but I am irritated by the characterization of the girlfriend - enough so, that it's hard to overlook. This kind of helplessness and mean-spirited-ness of how she's written as approaching or doing things is not working for me at all. In Golden Sands, she was also in the ballpark of this kind of personality but it felt... better? Because she was spoiled as heck and deliberately kept in the dark. It felt okay that she had to learn to be a better person, and it also fit Rafayel's playful yet biting persona as well as the foil against it.
  
  Zayne is so grown up in all his interactions, an absolute pillar of goodness (godness?) and duty, that this kind of flighty/careless personality constrasted against his just rings wrong. Why is he even putting up with her? I would not put up with her. She comes across as a cranky thirteen year old. If I was fated for this relationship, I'd be having a serious conversation with the Tree about my options.
  
• Zayne... uses his foresight to tell fortunes from a kiosk at the side of the road? We descended from the sacred mountain to busk?
  
• Hey, we're under spell disguises so we seem more legit. And I have odangos in my illusory hair, awww. I wish there was a visual of that, c'mon Infold, I wanna be Sailor Moon.
  
• I guess we busk for actual money? I suppose that's a good enough reason but not sure why we need money on the mountain. Although I guess the super pretty hanfu have to come from somewhere.
  
• Oh no. Zayne will do a real fortune for me. "There will be an unfortunate event in your life. After it occurs, you will wield a power that can shake heaven and earth." Well! That explains about five of my lives right off the bat, including the last one with your Tower life.
  
• ...aaaand I stake some of Zayne's hard earned busking money to go buy him that gift now. He lets me get away with everything it seems.
  
• Obligatory old man arrival. I like that Zayne is called "Your Grace" in english. I've always loved that title. I also like "Your Excellency" for the record.
  
• So whoever this guy is, the old man part is a disguise and Zayne sees right through it. Astra, mebbe? No, probabaly not. He calls the girlfriend "...that variable." I am the anomaly in the Matrix! "She's finally appeared." Hells yeah, I have arrived and been a pain in the Master's side for ages now. I have a goat named Hua. 
  
• "I've seen her fate. It's clear, untainted and untouched." interesting. "There are no signs of her becoming a variable."  oh, even more interesting. so fate is destiny, until it suddenly isn't?
  
• Old Man: "I heard a small serpent went mad in the mountains. Your Grace must know the reason, yes?"  Okay, is Bai Ze telling stories in town on its drunken weekend parties? Because nobody else was there. Why did the Viper go crazy then, old man?
  
• Old Man Voice Actor is very good!
  
• "...Since Your Grace has already accepted the role of Si-Ming, the variable must be eliminated as soon as possible. Any problems that could occur in the future then will be avoidable."
  
• Oh crap.  I guess I'm something of a flux point? My continued existence will, by my nature, foul up the lines of fate or something? I guess if you're the avatar for Astra, that's a definite issue if you're in charge of keeping destiny rolling along.
  
• Hey! Old Man is offering to off me himself, if "Your Grace" is unwilling. Rude.
  

Okay, the wikipedia entry for "Si Ming" is really interesting.