SINCERITY

As the evening came around, Muyang was done with the gardening for the day. He crept into the kitchen, hesitantly sliding the stool across the floor to sit next to Marshall, who was peeling potatoes.

The boy's feet were humbly tucked onto the leg rest of the stool as he sat there, watching the disciple peel the potatoes, as if waiting for permission to speak.

Marshall set a second knife on the counter and pushed a few unpeeled potatoes towards the boy, who got the hint and joined in on the task.

Marshall glanced sideways, "Was weeding the garden fun?"

Muyang bowed his head, not looking up from the potato in his hand, likely still ashamed. "It was..."

"Fun enough to help around the garden even after you finish serving your sentence?" Marshall quipped.

The boy glanced up briefly, a hesitant smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I think so. Miss Evelyn knows a lot about plants. I scraped my hand with a trowel, and she told me I could use the broadleaf plantain leaf to cover the wound."

Marshall chuckled, nodding. "So you want to learn more?" he asked, continuing to peel his potatoes with practiced ease.

The boy mumbled an affirmative response and there was a comfortable silence for a few minutes, interrupted only by the soft sound of peeling and the occasional clatter of potato skins hitting the bowl.

Muyang seemed to relax as the minutes passed, the initial tension fading away.

When the potatoes were stripped of their coats, the little fox scooted closer, getting into Marshall's personal space. "Did I tell you about the best book I've read?"

He subtly nudged the boy away. "You've told me plenty, but I don't know which one you consider the best one."

"Alright, then listen to this!" Muyang snapped his fingers. "There's a book with two characters—one is a black dragon that shapeshifts to human form and the other is a forest spirit that never leaves his woods."

"Once day, the dragon crashed into the woods, and there was a big argument. But they ended up becoming friends who travel and solve mysteries together. The forest spirit went from protecting his trees to protecting the dragon," Muyang bounced his foot excitedly as he explained the story.

Marshall raised an eyebrow in amusement, chopping an unevenly peeled potato. "Why would a dragon need protection?"

"Because the dragon is being hunted by people for his scales – if you wish on a scale, that wish comes true, so people want his scales to make wishes. But the forest spirit doesn't have any wishes."

The disciple's brows arched higher in intrigue. "That sounds rough for the dragon. So, the forest spirit protects him from the hunters?"

Muyang nodded vigorously. "Exactly! The spirit uses his magic to hide the dragon and create illusions to confuse the hunters. It's really cool how they work together. And the spirit doesn't even want anything from the dragon, just his friendship."

"Heh," Marshall chuckled at the innocence of the tale. "That sounds like a wholesome story."

"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed. "And the characters remind me of you and Wyn."

Muyang tipped into the other's personal space again. "People are chasing you even though you're innocent, just like the dragon. And Wyn was stuck in the Northern Snow forest like the forest spirit."

Marshall paused, the knife hovering over the potatoes as he glanced down at the fennec fox, who was looking up at him with wide, earnest eyes.

"How do you know I'm innocent?" he asked, resuming his chopping.

"I just know. You're not a bad person, and I don't care about anything else." The boy beamed, carrying on with the story, "Anyway, just like the forest spirit, Wyn doesn't want anything from you. He just wants to help and be your friend."

Marshall scoffed softly. He focused on the rhythmic motion of the knife slicing through the potatoes, trying not to get too excited. "Why do you think that?"

Muyang tilted his head, thinking for a moment before answering. "Wyn doesn't pay much attention to other people, but he talked about you a few times."

The disciple's hands stilled, his curiosity awakened despite himself. "What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything now, but a while ago he called you 'incredibly persistent'," Muyang replied.

Marshall snorted. "Something's telling me it wasn't meant as a compliment."

"Well, I don't know for sure..." the boy tilted his head, and his hair fell in such a way that it almost looked like he had two huge ears. The sight was amusing, making him resemble the fennec foxes hopping around Liangdu all the more.

The conversation moved on and Marshall returned to preparing the vegetables. Dinner passed and another day wrapped itself up.

➳ ➳ ➳

The daylight resigned and the colors fell off the sky along the sun, leaving it dark with murky clouds.

Muyang had begged Wyn to stay the night, and so Miss Evelyn had fetched an additional set of blankets and a mattress, grinning proudly that her remote home was buzzing with life.

Sandwiched between Wyn and Marshall, a starfish had sprawled out, hoarding two personal spaces at once. He was deep asleep, exhausted after the squash theft and the aftermath of weeding the garden.

Despite the stillness of the night, one pair of eyes remained wide open, glinting in the dim light as they roamed over the wooden ceiling, tracing its patterns and cracks. Surrendering to the restlessness, Marshall carefully moved Muyang's arm off his shoulder and left the bedroom.

He tiptoed down the creaky wooden stairs not to wake anyone before slipping out into the cool night.

After pacing through the garden for a while, he sat down on the bench by the heliotrope shrub. From that spot, he could oversee the entire garden and the grassy paths leading away, which he surveyed for a while as if looking for an intruder.

The disciple absentmindedly reached out to touch one of the velvety flowers next to him. The tiny clusters had drooped for the night, the purple eyes peeking at him through half-closed petals. Leaning in closer, he took a deep breath, the sweet scent subtly tickling his nose.

As if on cue, the urge to sneeze had come to ruin the moment. His thoughts scattered like the fallen leaves, falling out of his mind. He sneezed himself away from the heliotropes, scooting across the bench.

"Bless you," came a voice from behind.