Editing Heyu/Story

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{{Neighbor Stories
|s1_title = Speak Not of Returning Come Spring
|s1_text  = 
Every late autumn, the clan would depart for the warm south to spend the winter. Year after year, they traced the same path with the turning seasons, seeking only a place to rest.
This year should have been no different.

Inside the Plum Blossom Pavilion, the fire burned bright and warm. Wrapped in a mantle of soft brocade, little Heyu was little more than a fragile bundle, as warm and flawless to the touch as polished jade. The older youths of the clan busied themselves packing for the journey south. Yet, whenever they passed by him, they couldn't help but pause to steal a few moments with him.

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu Speak Not of Returning Come Spring Image 01|left}}

"Would you like to bring this river lantern with you, Young Master?"
"Mhm!" Little Heyu beamed, a smile sweet enough to melt the winter frost.
"And what about this? The little porcelain sheep we made together. Shall we bring it too?"
"Mhm!" He reached out and gently poked the little sheep held before him.
"I think we'd better pack this quilt as well. He never sleeps well away from home."
"Mhm!" Little Heyu wrapped both arms around it. <i>So soft</i>.
"What for? It's so warm down south. He'll roast under that thing!"
"Then how about this pillow?"
"Or some canned peaches, for when you're sick?"
"He'll need his cup for hot water, won't he?"

----

Before long, the pavilion had filled with people, their voices rising in a lively hum.

There was so much to pack. <i>This one... or that one?</i> Little Heyu furrowed his brow, unable to decide. He knew he was the frailest of them all, and that everyone had gone to such trouble for his sake. But it wasn't as though they were leaving forever.

"We'll come right back when winter is over, won't we? We don't need to take so much with us."

Silence settled over the pavilion. Then someone smiled. "I suppose you're right."
One by one, they drifted back to their tasks.

Outside, the autumn wind stripped the last lotus leaves from the pond. Only the pines remained.

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu Speak Not of Returning Come Spring Image 02|center}}

----

Just as they did every year, the clan set sail once more. Lulled by the winds and waves of the Starsea, little Heyu drifted into a quiet sleep. As for what happened next... he couldn't quite remember.

When he finally opened his eyes, the ship had been moored at an unfamiliar planet. It was a garden of unnatural, suffocating extravagance. Sunlight spilled over endless, lavish layers of blooming flowers, growing so densely that they completely swallowed the path back.

Before he even had the chance to say goodbye, his people were already gone. Perhaps they had found somewhere else they preferred to spend the winter.

Thankfully, Sister Jiu was still there, holding his hand with a gentle smile.
"Don't be afraid, Young Master. When spring comes, we will go home."

|s2_title = When Will the Bright Moon Guide Me Home?
|s2_text  = 
Even in the dead of winter, the courtyard remained a riot of blossoms. It was absurdly lavish, reeking of an unnatural wealth. Rumor had it that a true immortal from the heavens was housed here.

"Some immortal, huh? Won't eat this, won't eat that. Picky as hell. Hardest creature I've ever had to serve."
"Even if he's a handful, you'll serve him on your knees! He's the Boss's living elixir for 'borrowing years.' Watch your tongue, or you'll get us in trouble!"
"Come on, you really believe something so bizarre? Borrowing someone's lifespan? I don't buy it..."
"How else do you explain it? How else do you explain it? Eight years ago, the Boss's only son was swallowed by a giant serpent. Everyone thought he was a goner. But look at him now, alive and kicking! You have to believe it."
"By the gods... So this isn't just 'borrowing years.' It's... going against Heaven and changing your fate!"
One man's face was riddled with doubt, while the other's was filled with awe.

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu When Will the Bright Moon Guide Me Home? Image 01|left}}

"Exactly! They say the Boss invited an immortal down to the mortal realm. As the immortal grows sickly and their life shortens, the Boss grows healthy and long-lived."
"I heard the older female lady only lasted a couple of years here before she... Wait, was it really because of that?!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down! You want to anger the one inside? We'll be doomed!"
"Oh, you're just being superstitious! What are you so scared of? It's been dead quiet in there. He must be asleep. He can't hear a thing..."

But were immortals not supposed to be omniscient? With a simple calculation on their fingers, they could see through an entire lifetime. The two men looked up at the sky in unison.

They say immortals are always watching from above. What if their careless words had already offended the one inside?

Uneasily, they pushed open the jade-inlaid window and looked toward the room bathed in moonlight—

Empty.

How could it be empty?!

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu When Will the Bright Moon Guide Me Home? Image 02|right}}

Immortal? How absurd.
The aloof young man watched as lights suddenly flooded the courtyard, as if setting the jade halls and golden towers ablaze.

He pulled his hood low, snapped off a sprig of red plum blossoms, and stepped silently into the mountain mist.

The red plum Sister Jiu had planted... He had to bring it home. She always used to say the winters here were far colder than in their homeland. And that no matter what, he had to make it through, just until it was time to go home.

----

The young man stepped onto the edge of the mountain cliff, gazing at the moon hanging high in the void. Behind him, those pursuing him quickly gathered, their torches turning the night as bright as day.

The wind died down and the clouds scattered, leaving a solitary moon in the vast clear sky.

With a sprig of red plum blossom between his lips, the immortal leapt into the abyss, compassion in his eyes and his figure graceful as a crane. In an instant, he dissolved into a burst of blinding white light and vanished before their eyes.

----

When spring came, a new tale took root in the courtyard: the immortal had ascended and returned to the heavens.

|s3_title = Timeless Springs, Familiar Soul
|s3_text  = 
Business was booming at The Named Springs, whose fame had spread far beyond the neighboring hills. Quite fittingly, it had made a name for itself.

"You really have an eye for location," remarked one of the guests as he soaked in the steaming water. "That legendary garden where the immortals are said to dwell is just a stone's throw away. No wonder these springs have something otherworldly about them."

The proprietor flicked his fan and gave a derisive snort. "When I first came out here to make a living, I'd never heard a peep about that garden. These springs owe what they are to nature. Gods, immortals, and all that lofty nonsense have absolutely nothing to do with it."

Just then, an old melon farmer came hurrying in, his face creased with worry. He'd spotted some strange-looking thing lying by the entrance, he said, and couldn't tell whether it was dead or alive. But if it had even a breath left, surely they couldn't just leave it there.

The proprietor paused, pinched his fingers together in a swift divination, and clicked his tongue. Snapping his fan shut, he rushed toward the door, leaving behind a muttered, "Just my rotten luck!"

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu Timeless Springs, Familiar Soul Image 01|left}}

Wedged between the snowy rocks lay a ragged heap of torn clothing, with fallen red plum blossoms scattered all around.

The hot spring proprietor gave the... <i>thing</i>, which was presumably a person, a tentative nudge with his foot.

"Hey there. Still alive, sir? We're running a hot spring here, y'know. A place for rest and recuperation. We don't do burials. So wherever you came from, best head on back!"

The thing that was probably a person slowly raised its head. His face was deathly pale, his eyes as dull and vacant as a piece of shattered jade. Then, in a voice as cold as a ghost's, he said, "I have nowhere to return to."

----

The proprietor's eyes narrowed into a smile so forced that a vein throbbed visibly on his forehead. Grabbing the wretched lump by the collar, he dragged him inside and, with a casual heave, tossed him straight into the steaming pool.

"I couldn't care less if you have a home or not, just spare me the poetic nonsense!"

The ragged remains of his cloak slipped from him into the hot spring. Veiled in long white hair, the weakened young man fell to his knees, coughing uncontrollably until his palm was stained with blood.

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu Timeless Springs, Familiar Soul Image 02|right}}

The proprietor seemed to give in at last. His usual smile faded as he scratched ruefully at his ear and clicked his tongue once more.
"I see you've got rare aptitude. Fate must've put you in my path. And since you're here anyway... well, let nature take its course and see if you pull through."

On the path homeward, there stood a hot spring inn. Only upon sinking into its waters did he truly come alive.

|s4_title = A Beauty in the Moonlit Woods
|s4_text  = 
Fleeing the southern winter, the young man cradled the sprig of red plum blossoms to his chest, carefully guarding it against the rocking of the boat that bore him toward home. 

To little Heyu, the journey felt agonizingly long. So long that the moment he closed his eyes, Sister Jiu would appear. He would see her leaning against the window, quietly unraveling the faded characters of an ancient book. And every time, he found himself burning to ask her: Why must our people live in hiding? Why is the road home so endlessly, unfathomably long?

"To keep from being found, of course." The memory, hazy and yellowed with time, suddenly found its voice. He realized with a pang that he had almost forgotten how she sounded. "That place... only those drawn by fate will ever find it. And when that moment comes, you will feel it, too."

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu A Beauty in the Moonlit Woods Image 01|left}}

"I don't want to feel anything." He heard the petulance in his own voice. To think he was once so willful, and that there had once been someone who simply let him be. "Those people bound to us by fate... they're all... they're all here to..."

"To 'borrow years' from us?" Sister Jiu suddenly laughed. But the frail laughter soon dissolved into a violent, unrelenting fit of coughing. The sound shook him to the core, setting his heart pounding with dread and leaving him scarcely able to breathe.

So the stories about borrowing years were true?
"To live or to die is but the natural course of things..." Her sigh stirred the flowing light. "Yet, most hearts in this world have nowhere to rest. And with nothing to hold on to, how is one to bear the weight of living? And so, they ask for the impossible."

----

How could the years allotted by Heaven and Earth ever be borrowed?
"If you carry compassion in your heart, you will see the soul in all living things." The immortal lowered her gaze, and the light that fell upon him was heavy with pity.

But why? Why? Why must we be the ones to bear such cruel mercy?
A child so young naturally could not understand. Yet someday...
A sudden wind swept through the ancient book, turning page after page as the boundless ink slowly faded into nothingness. See not. Hear not. Know not... Form alone endures, and therein lies longevity...

Why? Why? Why must we be the ones robbed of a home?
They had promised. When spring came, we would go home.
How did the wait for a single spring stretch into ten empty years?

If only I could see them again. Just one last time...
<i>To look upon the pines of our home is to see us.</i>
Just one more glimpse. That was all I begged of the heavens... 
<i>If you can't find your way home... promise me you won't cry.</i>

----

{{Neighbor Stories/Image|Heyu A Beauty in the Moonlit Woods Image 02|right}}

Home at last. His footsteps felt weightless, skimming the earth like the wind. Cranes danced gracefully amid the emerald bamboo. How could he have ever lost his way? <i>We are almost there. Look—</i>

Not a single soul remained.
Amidst the howling wind and swirling snow, the youth embraced the ancient pine, the sprig of red plum in his grasp having long since withered away.

----

<i>Young master, where have your thoughts gone?</i>
I was wondering... if I've come too late.
What if I were to ask for the impossible?
}}
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