[ChicletPrime]

• so attending a "sacificial" party-thing in the evening at the village and everybody is cavorting in masks with drums and things. They want to entertain the gods so that their wishes will be granted.
  
• Clueless Me: "Why do so many people want to live forever?"
  
• Zayne: "It's because their lives are fleeting. Yet every life is predetermind. If you try to change it, you'll only be punished."
  
• Did you ever watch the movie "Arrival"? it seems kind of apt at the moment as I contemplate what Zayne is saying.
  
• Zayne: "Do you want to live forever?" GOOD QUESTION. as best I can tell, i do but i don't really think its by my own choice or will?
  
• okay, end of exuberant part of the party - now soft music and a beautiful priestess dancing beautifully.
  
• Zayne: "Humans choose the most beautiful woman to be a priestess and dress her up like a goddess to invite a god to descend from the heavens. The priestess sings about her love for the god, then uses her dance to lure him out. She listens to his prophecy and then -- they consummate their relationship."
  
• SHADES OF WHAT IS PROBABLY IN EDGE OF CONTINUUM MYTH RIGHT?!
  
• So the priestess is sexy dancing to display for the lover she wants to ensnare. I cover Zayne's eyes.  (muahahahah! fantastic, good idea. don't look, Zayne! she is a temptress with nefarious motives! only Bai Ze should get that close to you.)
  
• Zayne: "What are you doing? You're the one who wanted to watch the ceremony."  Me: "Yes, I also make mistakes. That's why I'm reflecting and making amends. If you want to see a dance, I can do it whenever you'd like."  :D :D :D  Zayne: "I'd like to see that. Right now."  !!! wow. love you Zayne, never change. Sylus might be the most overtly sexy of my bound lovers, but you, good sir, are a wildfire just barely under wraps.
  
• gosh, i'm actually gonna do it? dance for Zayne by the altar, under illusion?
  
• oh hey! Zayne will help by providing music on his guqin. and I'm a Disney Princess as the birds are charmed and flowers bloom once again. "She dances with growing passion..."  go, me! in the space of an afternoon i've grown from barely tolerable adolescent to shining beacon of sensuality.
  
• "Was I good?"  girlfriend, I think Zayne is really looking forward to the consummating part now, so yes.
  
• Okay, back to the mountain. And its winter and the Tree is white with snow as well as flowers. Zayne is acting strange.
  
• aww, this Zayne also made me a pair of snowmen. that's adorable.
  
• Zayne says he will give me more difficult tasks now, so that I can become stronger. "As strong as you?" I wonder. Zayne gives me silence.  oh boy. yes, girlfriend. as strong as and maybe stronger. so that if he comes for us with intent to wipe out the snarl in the middle of fate's weave, we can hopefully escape.
  
• "His power is just like him - cold and honest."  amen, sister-thing.
  
• so i am making a hundred umbrellas to be used as spirital seals, powered by the magic of the Tree.  let me guess. Merlin and Nimue?
  
• I'm dodging work again, hiding in the umbrella frames I've built. Zayne passes by and mentions out loud that he's marking me down for skipping out on my training. I determine that i need to find his list of my skipping out and burn it.  why is he keeping me on again? ohhhh right, its for what's below my neck, not what's above.
  
• i am also vain. well, okay. i feel that one in my pride center, i'll let it slide.
  
• "As long as the snow on the umbrella doesn't melt, you don't need to be afraid of anything."  That sounds very forboding.
  
• now, after being sleepy all the time in this winter, with the umbrellas almost done and my training with Zayne almost over, i'm finding it hard to stay awake at all.
  
• Spiritual power pours out from.. the Tree? from Zayne through the Tree?.. it's icy blue and it lifts all the umbrellas into the air in a whirlwind of snow and flowers.
  
• Zayne reaches out and covers my eyes. "Would you like to rest? Don't be scared."  I ignore the odd feeling in my heart and close my eyes. "You can sleep for a bit longer. You don't need to wake up early."
  
• All I remember is that sleeping in the snow was nice. It was soft and not cold at all. After awhile my aching heart quieted down.
  
• Aaaand I wake up in the spring.
  
• "The flowers are blooming!" The Tree is covered with white blossoms. "Zayne!"
  
• "Zayne. Bai. Where are you?"  oh, girfriend. there's a folded umbrella on the ground.
  
• so i spend my time now sleeping under the Tree at night and i guess wandering around during the day. and then at some point I realize I can't sense the Sacred Tree anymore. My power is being suppressed.
  
• the days progress and get brigher. the snow never melts from the top of my umbrella. "Will he not appear until the umbrella breaks?"
  
• As I cry under my umbrella, Hua nuzzles me. awww! my tears wet her fur.
  
• A flower falls out of the tree. I don't recognize it but its white as snow yet not ice.  (jasmine!) Falling flowers represent goodbyes. The person I'm looking for might no longer be here. Hua comes and goes, giving me bright red fruits. (apples! i'm gonna pretend its apples)
  
• I plant the unknown flower under the Tree and leave Hua to guard both. I leave with my snow covered umbrella to see the wide, wide world. IMPLICATION: with my power suppressed, I won't be taken for a monster any more and can be free.
  

wow, it seems like Zayne is constantly sacrificing himself for me, trying to avert his role in my fate