Li Wanyu was not having a good day. He wasn’t having a good month, if he was completely honest with himself.

  Weeks spent wandering the various territories of the clan alliance, chasing after two rare and elusive spirits. One was to go to his younger sister, the other to her fiancee in the Hao clan. When the spirits were first found it seemed like fate was blessing the alliance between the two clans, but now it just felt like it was laughing at him in particular.

  Because the spirits he was chasing had been bound by a child.

  Which meant he had three options, and he hated most of them.

  Option one, he kidnaps the girl and brings her to his clan. They would likely forcibly break the binding she has with her spirits and give them to their “proper” owners. As a “reward” for her “gift” to the clan she would likely be married off to one of his cousins, or, heavens forbid, himself. As a girl she would actually be treated fairly well in the clan, all things considered. She would be given resources and an education to make her a better binder. She wouldn’t be given the best resources as she was not “of the bloodline”, but she would want for nothing but her freedom.

  Option two, he ignores his mission and simply brings the girl back to her home. By the laws of the land the spirits are rightfully hers, and, as someone of good moral character, he should return a lost child to her family. Now the rule of law has never stopped the clans or great houses before, but he could pretend just this once that it did. He would be horribly punished by Grandmother of course, and his sister would then be bereft of a powerful spirit. Yet all of that would be worth it to save a child for someone of good moral character. Right?

  Option three, he kills the child. He had enough internal space that he could definitely hold the yin spirit with a heavy enough binding. Hao Wen was nowhere to be found as usual so the yang spirit would likely get away, but that would reflect more poorly on the Hao clan rather than himself. He would be greatly rewarded for completing his mission with “minimal” mess. Grandmother would likely prefer this option more than the first, which made him want to take it all the less.

  He glanced down at the girl his sister’s age wrapped in his silk outer robe. Only one of her grey eyes was visible through her mop of chestnut curls, and it looked up at him with growing suspicion. Clearly something he had just said made her distrust him, and he could guess what. Most people who lived on the fringes of society, like whatever backwater community this girl was from, distrusted the clans and houses. Usually with good reason, he was not so naive as to think otherwise.

  He looked to his silent companion, Man Yue, and they sent back gentle tranquility that helped soothe his growing agitation with the situation. In the light of the moon he made his decision. He steeled his resolve and prepared to do what he must.

  Li Wanyu was not having a good day, but the coming ones were going to be far worse.

  ***

  Willow wished she had access to her spiritual sense. Well, she wished for many things at the moment, but her spiritual sense was at the top of that list. She was used to using it to help fill in the gaps when she wasn’t picking up all of the social cues she should, and its absence was now sorely felt.

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  She hoped she was hiding her feelings well enough. Yet as the silence dragged on, and as a look of agitation began to grow on Li Wanyu’s face, she suspected she wasn’t. She also didn’t know what she’d be able to do if she had to escape from him, as her body hurt in ways she didn’t know were possible. She was also still lost in the woods, and it was almost fully night now.

  After staring at his full moon friend for a while, the young man had a look of weary resignation on his face as he turned back to Willow. He knelt down and picked her up, still bundled in the strange cloth, and she squawked in protest. “What are you doing?”

  He looked at her quizzically while he picked up her basket with his other arm. “Taking you home?”

  “I don’t wanna go to your home!” She said as she weakly struggled in his arms.

  He blinked. “I’m not taking you to mine. I’m hopefully going to find yours, and bring you there.”

  Huh? Had she misread the situation? Did he not realize that Willow had the spirits his clan was searching for? Her tired and foggy mind was working overtime to try and figure out what was happening.

  It came to the surprising conclusion that she was going home with zero consequences.

  She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Mister Li. My head’s all fuzzy so I wasn’t thinking right. Thanks for taking me home.”

  He smiled back, though his was a bit more tired. “You are quite welcome, junior sister. Now hold on tight, this shouldn’t take long.”

  He began stepping on moonlight. Each step brought him higher into the air, nimbly weaving around branches where he could, and briefly turning himself and the girl into moonlight to pass through them where he couldn’t.

  Eventually they broke through the canopy and saw the dimly lit sky. The sun was hidden by the mountains to the west, but had not fully set, its orange glow still tinting the purple sky. Willow was taking in all of the sights she could, having never fully seen the ocean of trees that surrounded her home before.

  Li Wanyu stopped on the top of one of the trees and looked at the bundle in his arms. “Do you know roughly what direction your village is?”

  She thought for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t know where, but there should be smoke from Uncle Lucius’ forge. It usually goes up really high when I see it. Dunno if it’s still running now though.”

  He looked around for a moment, seemed to spot something, and started running across the treetops. Man Yue orbited around them as they went, drifting in seemingly lazy circles despite the speed they were moving at.

  They reached the somewhat large clearing that housed the community that the girl called home in a short time. Looking down on it, Willow felt it was much smaller than it should be. It was her whole world, yet looking out across the treetops she realized it was such a tiny place in the grand scheme of things.

  There were only six buildings for one thing. Old Ping lived alone in the small hut to the left that was barely visible from where they were due to it being almost completely swallowed by the treeline. The Xin family home was on the opposite side of the clearing from where they currently stood, the shack that they cured the meat from their hunts was hidden from view behind their house. To the right was the home and attached forge of the Faber household, smoke still billowing into the sky as he worked. She could see the carpenter Mister Joaquin was sitting on his porch carving as usual, his home situated between the Faber and Xin family’s. There was the communal building in the center where meetings were held, and the spare furnishings for celebrations were stored. The communal well was also in the center of town next to the building.

  Finally there was her little farm and home directly below them. The small field that caused much of her frustration at the constant chores that went into maintaining it. The nearby pond that Da and Aunt Jieun made to more easily water our crops, and that everyone would play in and around during summer. Her mother’s grave behind the home, the unmarked stone plinth well maintained by her father.

  Finally, Willow was home.