Mercy

Suzhen opened her eyes.

It had been so long since she cultivated. Perhaps that was why she had struggled to concentrate. She barely felt rested, but she supposed even a short stint was better than nothing.

Slowly she stood up, taking in her surroundings from her old favourite spot on the rocks.

The empty landscape and bare branches were strangely comforting. The peace and quiet were calming after the riotous emotions and happenings of the past few days. The snowy scenery was bleak and lifeless, but the clean, pure whiteness fell on her eyes like a balm.

She drew a deep breath. The light was starting to fade. She ought to leave soon, in case Xuxian and Yuanzheng were back. It had taken her an hour to track down the bandits in their hideout, but she had found them eventually, and the fight had been fierce and short. Using her spirit energy as well as her double swords she had killed them all. It had been over in less than half an hour. As quietly as she had come, she had left the valley, wearily casting aside the broken swords, with several flesh wounds. She would need to heal them before she returned, or Xuxian would be worried. Running her finger thoughtfully along one on her arm, she watched it seal back slowly under the small burst of energy, and closed her eyes, feeling the slight smarting sensation.

Her thoughts went to Gong Yezi, the last smile he had given her. Just an eccentric, alcoholic old man, perhaps, but he had been her friend. And Bai Suzhen's friends would not die unavenged. She had kept the silent promise she made to him when she cradled him in her arms, gasping his last breath.

And the villagers would not need to live in fear again for a long while. A small smile came to her lips, and she stretched out her arms with a sigh, feeling the cold wind rippling against her. A great tiredness had suddenly fallen upon her, and she longed suddenly to curl up with her head on Xuxian's lap, and sleep everything away.

"Bai Suzhen!"

A deep voice shattered the silence. She started sharply and turned to see the monk standing below, looking up at her.

A straight dark figure against the whiteness of the snow, he had appeared without her even realizing it; it must be his lightness kungfu. What was he doing here?

Her eyes narrowed. One look at the grim expression on his face was enough. She knew, with a sinking feeling of dread, that the confrontation she had always known must come one day was finally at hand.

"Fahai, you followed me here. What for?" Her voice was cold and sweet, like the draft of wind that played with her hair.

"Demoness, you've pretended enough. Your hands are full of human blood. Zheng Haoran's barely buried and you've already struck again. Twelve lives, no less! Do you know no fear?"

His voice thundered in the valley. "Give yourself up for the punishment you deserve. Don't make me resort to violence."

He held out his alms bowl. The coppery rim glinted ominously in the light. Suzhen flinched slightly at the sight of it.

She looked piercingly at him. "You make a weighty accusation. What makes you so confident that I killed Zheng Haoran?"

"Are you denying that you did not just kill twelve men? Their bodies are still in the snow, their blood still fresh."

Suzhen studied him warily. "Well, yes," she said at last. Her words hung in the air like icicles. "I had nothing to do with Zheng Haoran's death. But those twelve men, I killed them."

Fahai drew a deep breath. "You admit it, then."

"I am not ashamed to admit that. They were bandits. They killed innocent people; they killed Gong Yezi. They deserved to die, and I did it to protect the people here."

"Your sense of justice is warped by your lust for blood." Fahai said curtly. "You are a demon; you are in no position to pass judgment on humans. Your blood lust will control you if you continue to feed it. One day, those same innocent people you claim to defend will be at risk from you."

Suzhen looked scornfully at him. "What do you know, monk? Do you really believe I would hurt Xuxian?"

"You do not belong with him in the first place. For that very reason alone, you could hurt him."

Fahai's words were like stones sinking into a lake, awaking a painful memory that lurked buried at the bottom. They fell heavily on Suzhen's ears.

She turned on him with a tortured face. "You have never loved before, monk." she said bitterly. "You are hard as stone. You insist on thinking that I would hurt Xuxian--hurt these people."

"Actions speak louder than words," Fahai said shortly. "Can you deny that you've used your powers to take lives?"

"Only those that ought to be taken," she replied fiercely.

Fahai laughed. It was a frightening sound, and Suzhen had to restrain a wince. "And what makes you qualified to decide that?"

Suzhen released a low breath of frustration. It clouded her vision briefly, a little mist that disappeared rapidly, as if swallowed up by the tension filling the air.

Springing into the air, she landed on the ground several feet away from him, so lightly that the snow barely scattered under her feet.

Snowflakes fell silently between them as they locked gazes, muscles tense, each ready to spring at the first warning sign.

Fahai's voice, when he spoke, was calm and steady. "Considering that you had good intentions, I can make this offer to you. Come quietly with me and accept your punishment. I will not tell Physician Xu the truth."

Suzhen looked at him with despair in her eyes. "And have him think I disappeared from his life like that, without a word? What will he think of me? It will break his heart. What kind of mercy is that?"

"The most you deserve, and the most I can give." Fahai replied sternly. "Would you rather he knew the truth?"