After Xinyu had indulged Brax in their fight and he was safely in the shade of a hut, she decided to go on a leisurely stroll to observe the town. To her, it was the most interesting thing in the world to see people with their flimsy bodies survive in the harshest, hottest climate. Drawing water from the air. Hunting the tiny creatures in holes. Purifying toxic fruits. She couldn't believe humans could come up with such survival tactics and make what was once impossible, possible.
She became so caught up in admiring the Southland village people's ingenuity that she almost didn't notice the white pelted fox scurrying around in front of her.
Xinyu was unfamiliar with the creatures of the land, yet she knew instantaneously that the fox did not belong there, as a fox with thick snowy fur in the middle of the desert couldn't have been natural. When the odd animal finally caught Xinyu's full focus, it danced eagerly, seemingly as a motion to follow. As she approached it, it pranced away at a pace she could easily keep up with.
"Hold on, strange white fox," Xinyu said. "If we are going into the desert, then I will need my bag just in case."
The fox nodded, seemingly understanding her, as she ran back to the hut Brax was in and grabbed her stuff. She also took a few canisters of water, enough rations for a few days, and a medical kit. She haphazardly stuffed them into her sack and gave Brax one last look. She smiled. Then she was off to the edge of the village, where the white fox was waiting.
…
Xinyu followed the fox for hours. Normally, she would've questioned the integrity of such a creature, but she sensed a bit of abnormal magic emitting from it using Erlang's eye, and that piqued her curiosity.
"Your energy, it feels familiar," Xinyu said as she ran alongside the little fox darting across the dry plain. "I can not remember where, but I have felt your magic before."
The fox seemed to ignore her when she said this, hastening its pace as the sun grew higher into the sky and the world even hotter.
After some more traveling, the fox's sprint turned into a trot, and Xinyu could see the object it was leading her to. It was the corpse of a pale girl.
"A dead body. That is not very fun," Xinyu said. The fox walked up to the body and nudged it with its snout. It twitched.
"Wah!" Xinyu exclaimed as she ran up to investigate. "They are still alive! Such resilience!"
Xinyu put her hand on the woman's chest and began to emit a faint jade glow from her palm.
"Awah! This is not a girl at all! A girlish boy?" she asked. The fox looked at the body, which was rapidly fading in vitality. "You are right, this is no time for that. I must heal him. I shall summon the powers of divine physician Hua Tuo! Breathe life into this dying soul!"
The green light of the healer deity's magic grew and encapsulated the effeminate boy's body in a cooling, gentle aura. With her specific god-thieving technique, Xinyu took most of the gods' magic forcefully with her will, but Hua Tuo was different. As an advocate of all life, the doctor god happily gave his magic in order to heal those in need. In a similar fashion, Xinyu had previously earned the respect of the twelve zodiac spirit animals during a bout of trials in her lands and made pacts with them. Their relationship was mutual, and thus was the magic Xinyu preferred to use since it did not involve the risky act of stealing from the gods. She was like a mosquito in that way, sneaking around for a tiny ounce of blood and mostly going unnoticed. Should any of the higher gods feel her presence, however, she'd be just as fast swatted away, and along with her, humanity.
As she gushed sweet healing magic into him, the boy began to move more vigorously, and his breath steadied. His eyes remained closed, but his heart beat with stability, and Xinyu let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Oh! You must be thirsty!" Xinyu said. She quickly unscrewed a canister of water and poured droplets into the boy's dry mouth. She also wiped his head down with a soaked rag to keep him cool and protect his skin from the deadly sun. At that point, it was up to the boy's own willpower if he were to awaken. Xinyu looked around, but the white fox and its magic had disappeared. Not even she had noticed where it could've scurried off to. She decided she would have to question the strange boy when he awoke.
With Hua Tua's healing aura rejuvenating the boy from the cusp of death, Xinyu spent the afternoon keeping his body cool. She constructed a makeshift overhead with branches gathered from surrounding tumbleweed and draped it with cloth from her bag to create shade. He clearly hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days, and while Xinyu was confident he'd live, she couldn't help but wonder why such an incapable, unprepared boy was traversing the harshness of the desert.
Still, she couldn't help but admire his fair and pale skin and soft hair. His eyes were almost like hers, but not quite, and his frame was even smaller; so much so that he seemed to disappear in her lap as she allowed him to rest his head between her kneeling thighs. She stroked his smooth hair as she whispered gentle encouragement into his ear.
"Blood flows like a river, and that river is strong," she murmured. "Do not let this harsh desert defeat you."
As the brink of evening dawned, the boy finally opened his eyes and sat up on the cooling earth. He blinked around, confused. He winced when he saw Xinyu, but was quickly calmed by her smile, as it was something he couldn't sense an ounce of evil within.
"Ah, you are okay! That is a relief!" Xinyu said, drenched in sweat as she finished a pushup and hopped to her feet. The boy looked at her with his bold indigo eyes. His awakened face, although dusty, seemed not to know a day's work. It was almost like he was a male princess; a beauty Xinyu could admire. His complexion reminded her of the heroes and goddesses from her land's mythos.
"Did you… save me?" the boy asked in a hushed, timid voice.
"Dangran! A fox led me here! A white one," Xinyu said. "It seems you have the favor of that spirit! How fortunate of you!"
"Kitsune…" the boy trailed off.
Xinyu's face lit up, and she crawled up to him with an excited glint in her eyes.
"Kitsune? My friend! Tell me, how do you know her?!" she asked blaringly.
"I should be asking that of you," the boy said. He tried not to stare directly at her, as her radiant soul was much too bright to stare at directly. Even in the moonlit sonata sung by dusk, she shone like a sun in the night sky.
"But you must be trustworthy if she led you here," the boy said. "So, um… who are-"
"Oh! I apologize, for I have forgotten my manners," Xinyu said as she bowed before him. "Hailing from a nameless village in the east, I am the daughter of poor but happy merchants! Thy name that I carry with me, always and proudly, is undoubtedly Xinyu Ma! Fortune to have found you!"
"You talk oddly."
"I talk as I must!" Xinyu said. "Words are the means by which we communicate, each sentence a picture. They must be full of meaning, and as beautiful as can be. At least, that is what I have been taught, and so I shall convey. But that matters least of all now. I would much like to know who you are!"
The boy was estranged by Xinyu's eccentric speech and unsure of what to make of her. Although he was warned to be cautious of the outside world and untrusting of strangers, the girl couldn't possibly have had ill intentions. She saved him from a terrible fate, and she seemed to know Kitsune. Anyone the fox revealed herself to would have to be good, as she only showed herself to righteous individuals.
"I'm Musique," the boy said, his voice sheepish and uncertain. "Can you tell me how you know my m- Kitsune?"
"We met at the mountain pass," Xinyu said. "Her and that oversized cat."
"You encountered Bai Hu? And you survived?" Musique asked.
"Of course. There is no one stronger or more determined than I!" Xinyu said pridefully. "Whether they are a mere house pet, a guardian deity, or even an angelic soldier. None are my equal, for I am the one who makes the impossible possible."
Hearing this, Musique pondered for a minute, then stood up out of the hut. Then, he clasped his fist in his hand and bowed his head, imitating Xinyu's eastern cultural gestures.
"Thank you very much for helping me," Musique said. "But I must hurry off. If we meet again, I hope I can repay you for your kindness."
"You are trying to get rid of me so soon?" Xinyu asked. "You are still weak. Stay here and rest. Unless you wish to freeze in the desert night."
"Ah, I guess you're right…" Musique said, sitting back down.
"Why is a frail boy like you in such a harsh place?" Xinyu asked.
"Kitsune sent me here to retrieve an artifact from a lost city. One she said the world may rely on one day far in the future," Musique said frantically. "I don't know what she meant by that or why she would entrust me with such an important task, but I really don't want to fail her."
"If the fox had not brought me here, you would have, with certainty," Xinyu said.
"I'll try to be more careful from now on," Musique said. Xinyu stared at him, then sighed.
"I have no choice!" she proclaimed. "The Merchant of Joy shall see to it that you succeed in your quest!"
"No, I won't ask for your help," Musique said. "You've really done enough."
"Girlish young boy, I have already decided," Xinyu started, looking at him proudly. "From here on, I shall protect you and your smile. I am sure that is why your guardian deity has led me to you."
"It's probably going to be dangerous," Musique said.
"And you have nothing to worry about as long as I am here," Xinyu said with the dragon zodiac's assurance. "Of that, I promise."
"But why?" Musique asked. "We have no ties, and you have no reason to burden yourself with a stranger. I'm sure you're on your own journey, and I don't want to burden you any further."
"I already have too many burdens upon my back," Xinyu said. "One more does not make the others less, or more. My feet are already sore from always walking uphill. My arms have grown numb, my lungs are well out of breath, and my vision continues to wane each day. I am tired of the weight. Even so, I will carry it all, arrogantly and proudly, until the day I die. That is simply because it is the way I wish to live."
"You're… not a real person, are you?" Musique asked. "I'd already crossed Styx, haven't I? I'm in some sort of hell right now, that has to be it. Is it the sixth level?"
"My friend! There is no afterlife," Xinyu said. "Once you die, all that is left is what you have left behind. Maybe there is a place where our soul rests, but the me of now dies when this body finally falls. And mark my words, it shall fall in the most spectacular way!"
"I… you're… you-" Musique started, trying to get the words out, but unable to. He was never good with words. Only the notes of a melody, which could barely convey a feeling. Overwhelmed and overstimulated, he grew dizzy and passed out. Swelling in a disarray of feverish dreams, he slept through the entire night.
When he finally awoke once more, Xinyu was standing in front of the rising sun with her arms crossed. She gave him a smirk and spun around.
"Let us go find this amazing object!" Xinyu said, marching off without a second of hesitation. Musique was taken aback at how brash the girl was. He watched, in envy, how her small, but strong back walked confidently forward. If only he had an ounce of her spirit, perhaps he could be courageous too. He could free himself from the tremors he felt with each step and chase the dream he'd desired since the moment he saw his idol sing for the first time.