The Caravan’s Journey - Part 2

Chen Yun did not want to stay in the courtyard for much longer since it was difficult to get Leiyu to keep conversing. It was also very cold, and he did not want to fall ill.

“Don’t stay out here too late,” Chen Yun said. “You should get some proper sleep since we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Leiyu nodded and continued to meditate. Chen Yun sighed and returned to the corridor. He heard the raucous sounds of his fellow merchants and the other travelers as he approached the dining hall. They were still going strong with the dice game, and pewter cups were scattered on the table. He wondered if there was some gambling going on.

Time slipped by like sand in an hourglass. After the travelers played their umpteenth round and chatted themselves dry, the attendants ushered them to the sleeping quarters. It was a large unadorned room with cotton mats and blankets laid out on the floor near the walls and a brazier in the center to provide warmth. Chen Yun wondered if he should retrieve Leiyu from the courtyard. Part of him felt like he was already imposing too much on the taciturn man. He did not have to worry for too long, since Leiyu appeared in the doorway as everyone else was settling down.

Leiyu crossed the room to join the rest of the merchants. He picked a mat near Chen Yun and lay down, draping the blanket over himself. His back was facing the rest of the merchants. Chen Yun frowned. Many questions were burning in his mind, but he knew it was late. Besides, he was the one who had told Leiyu to get enough rest.

Under his blanket and cloak, Leiyu kept one hand on the hilt of his sword. This was an ingrained habit from the days he traveled alone. Whether he was sleeping in an open field or nestled in the comfort of an inn room bed, he always had to be ready to thwart an attack. He closed his eyes and let his breathing slow down. His consciousness began to fade, and he entered the world of reveries.

                                                                         ***

The vermilion sun slowly sank behind the silhouette of a mountain. In the sky, dusty rose hues deepened to indigo. Leiyu looked down at his hand. The frayed end of a thin red cord rested in his palm. The rest of the cord threaded between his fingers, cascading from his hand in a gentle arc that kissed the blades of the grassy field. It stretched into the distance, disappearing into the horizon. He closed his fingers inward and tugged on the cord. It pulled him forward, and he shuffled his feet to keep his balance.

The string was now taut, suspended in mid-air like an infinite clothesline. Swirling mist obscured his vision, blotting out the sun and sky. The wind picked up, and his cloak billowed. Bitter cold ice shards flew sideways, stinging his face and hands. He reached for the weimao that hung on his back and struggled to place it over his head. Another gust tore through like a stampede of icy dragons. He held fast to the cord to keep from being dragged away.

The wind suddenly cut out, and he lost his balance. He tumbled onto a pile of sand. The mist burned away, and he was back in the desert. The sky dimmed to twilight. He looked up and saw a figure with long flowing hair and fluttering robes standing twenty paces away. The person’s face was obscured.

Darkness clouded his vision. The sand gave away beneath his feet, and he felt himself in freefall.

He awoke with a gasp and gripped his hilt. The diffuse brazier’s light flickered against the ceiling. Everyone else was still asleep, breathing heavily or snoring. He loosened his grip and closed his eyes again.

Ever since he was young, he had variations of this dream. There was always a red cord in his palm and a setting sun. He used to think it was a fun game, playing tug of war with the mysterious string. As he got older, the mystery person with long hair and robes began to show up. He had no idea whether this person was supposed to be friend or foe.

When he was in his teenage years, he sometimes heard elders speak of the concept of the Red Thread of Fate. Everyone in the world had a fated person, bound through space and time by an unbreakable crimson cord. Arranged marriages were the norm where he came from, but the person your family chose for you might not be your fated one. Even if you settled down with someone else and did everything expected of you - building a home and raising children - without your fated one, you would never feel complete. Fortunately, you had more than one lifetime to find your soul mate. If you missed your opportunity in this life, you could always try again in the next. There were infinite lifetimes that you could go through, and you could find your fated person again and again, until the day the threads of time finally unraveled and all the realms returned to nothingness.

Leiyu sometimes wondered what it would feel like when he met his fated person. So far, he hadn’t felt much of anything for anyone. When he was growing up, he and his martial brothers would sometimes descend the stony steps of the steep hill where their sect compound was located and spend the day in town. His shixiong would often gaze at the elegantly dressed ladies strolling down the market streets. The ladies wore flowing silk dresses and adorned their elaborately coiffed tresses with dangling ornaments. Tasseled jade pendants hung from belts wrapped around their slender waists. Their faces were pale with powder, and they shielded themselves from the sun with paper parasols decorated with flower petals and butterflies.

Although his shixiong made ample commentary about the ladies and some even had the audacity to flirt with them, Leiyu always stayed silent. He thought the ladies were pretty as well, but in the way well-made scroll paintings were aesthetically pleasing. What piqued his interest more were the sunflower seeds he bought from the street vendor, or whatever snack he happened to be sharing with his fellow disciples at the time.

The brazier hissed, pulling him out of his thoughts. He decided that he should try to fall back asleep, since he had to be up again in a few hours.