“I thought you took a translation pill back in the day.”
“That makes it easier to remember and learn.It doesn’t put a Chinese dictionary in my head.I suspect it has something to do with spiritual energy, but I don’t know for sure.”
“If your baskets can hold ling...”Xi gave him a significant look.
Leander nodded.“I know.After I have made more baskets, we’re going to visit Auntie Daiyu and get some answers.”If the baskets had value because of thisling, Leander might establish himself as a serious craftsman.That would give him more status than just being one of Master Yang’s servants.While he would accept that role if it kept him safe, he would rather not have his safety depend on others.He’d already played sycophantic sidekick, and the gig did not pay well.
“I could help with the baskets,” Xi offered.Now they’d left the village Xi moved to Leander’s side.They left the path, walking through the flowers while orange petals rose into the air like a cloud.
“You can’t make baskets from shadow,” Leander said.
“No, but I know how to use shadows to create permanent stains.Shadows are more flexible than you’d think.”
Leander didn’t want Xi to become a big part of his life.It was hard enough to have Shanlin close.It felt as if his skin had stretched too far because a new person was underneath.His life was small with plants as companions.Their life cycles had become his sole personal connections.But now Shanlin had wormed his way in, not only as someone he had to protect, but as someone who made him want to change.
Asking him to take yet another new person into his life was too much.
“I don’t know why my baskets hold ling,” he said, “so changing anything could damage that quality of the work.We can experiment after we determine the worth of the baskets.”
“Right.But look.”Xi rested his hand on the basket strapped to the donkey’s back.Some reeds darkened while others slowly turned pale, as if they’d been sun bleached.In seconds, the plain basket had deep brown and bleached pale gray strands woven together.“Cool, right?The color stays unless I reverse the process.”
“Which you need to do,” Leander said sharply.“That is not our basket.”
Xi sighed.“You have not changed at all.”He put his hand back on the basket, and the color faded.“I can help.You don’t have to shut me out.”The basket was normal again, and Leander leaned against it.Since they had stopped, the donkey grabbed a mouthful of flowers and started chewing.
“I’m not trying to shut you out,” Leander said.They were wasting time.
Xi snorted.“Right, like you didn’t shut out Tecca or Petel or me.Hell, you shut Finn out even though you two loved each other more than any two people I’d ever seen.”
“Given that he got Tecca pregnant, clearly we weren’t that much in love,” Leander shot back.
“You knew Finn and Tecca messed around.You always said you were fine with that.”
“I was fine with teenagers fucking because they were exploring their options!I wasn’t fine with him getting her pregnant!I wasn’t fine with her taking over our life!”
“She lost the baby!She needed us after that!”
“I needed to know that my relationship wasn’t over, but Finn wasn’t there to say that.He was never fucking there to say anything I fucking needed him to say.And this is in the past.If you’re here to shove my nose in the mistakes of the past, you can find some other hiding place.Just because you ran away from your masters doesn’t mean I have to feed and clothe you,” he shouted.
Xi was pale, and guilt swamped Leander.He hadn’t meant to say any of that.Yes, maybe he felt it, but that was his pain.He hadn’t wanted to share it, and he definitely hadn’t meant to turn it into a weapon.But now the words were out there, and the color left Xi’s face.Leander swallowed, not sure how to repair the cracks he had just left in their fragile friendship.
He opened his mouth, but before he could cobble together an inadequate apology, Xi’s eyes fluttered, and he fell to the ground unconscious.
