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vivalaethernet2024-12-24 08:59 pm
singlemilletgrain) wrote in vivalaethernet2024-12-24 08:59 pm
甲辰 003: 冬至
[video transmission]
Greetings, Crimson Corsairs.
[As usual, the elegant woman appears with a beaming smile amidst the warm steam rising from bowls of... something or other in her kitchen.]
I understand you come from many winter traditions, both in this land and in your homes. If you would allow me a brief intrusion... In Yan, it is customary to celebrate the Winter Solstice, the 'dong zhi.' As it is the longest night of the year, we give thanks that the light will return and the days will soon grow long once more. In the depths of midwinter, it is a reminder that balance and yang will be restored, no matter how dark the nights may seem. For those of us in agrarian communities, we give thanks also to the animals who have brought us through the hard times.
[A mischievous glimmer shines in her eyes.]
Of course, it is also the day that the venerable master of the stove, Zao Jun, reports to Tian on whether or not your house hold has been 'naughty' or 'nice,' which I understand is a part of some other traditions as well.
Please allow me to offer prayers to Tian on your behalf. What is it that you hope for when the sun returns in its full splendor?
[in person, all around]
[Shu appears at your door on this cold, long winter evening, knocking politely and awaiting an answer. Whether she sought you out specifically or whether she's never met you at all, she stands and waits in her warm coat holding an extraordinarily large soup bowl in her hands. Somehow, it does not seem to trouble her.]
Greetings, Crimson Corsairs.
[As usual, the elegant woman appears with a beaming smile amidst the warm steam rising from bowls of... something or other in her kitchen.]
I understand you come from many winter traditions, both in this land and in your homes. If you would allow me a brief intrusion... In Yan, it is customary to celebrate the Winter Solstice, the 'dong zhi.' As it is the longest night of the year, we give thanks that the light will return and the days will soon grow long once more. In the depths of midwinter, it is a reminder that balance and yang will be restored, no matter how dark the nights may seem. For those of us in agrarian communities, we give thanks also to the animals who have brought us through the hard times.
[A mischievous glimmer shines in her eyes.]
Of course, it is also the day that the venerable master of the stove, Zao Jun, reports to Tian on whether or not your house hold has been 'naughty' or 'nice,' which I understand is a part of some other traditions as well.
Please allow me to offer prayers to Tian on your behalf. What is it that you hope for when the sun returns in its full splendor?
[in person, all around]
[Shu appears at your door on this cold, long winter evening, knocking politely and awaiting an answer. Whether she sought you out specifically or whether she's never met you at all, she stands and waits in her warm coat holding an extraordinarily large soup bowl in her hands. Somehow, it does not seem to trouble her.]
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She smiles in greeting upon seeing him, briefly thankful that there would be no exhibitions to risotto dimensions today.
"May I -- Oh! Is this a new friend?"
As a farm animal, the chicken wholly seizes her interest as she gingerly steps around it.
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(So really it's just lizards and insects living in the risotto dimension. Best not to think too much about that though, really.)
Meanwhile, Link nods his head as the speckled chicken stares up at Shu. "She's Pepper," he says.
Pepper clucks. And then tries to peck Shu's foot.
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"Hello, Pepper."
Pepper gets a few scritches along the back of her neck, despite that Shu is still trying to balance a soup pot.
"You will make sure to keep Link strong with essential nutrients and protein, won't you?" A faint pause. "...Through your eggs." Although if Link consumes Pepper eventually, she certainly won't judge. Such was the life of a farmer. "I will be counting on you."
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"You want eggs?" Link says, immediately pulling several of them out of his pack. He had plenty of Pepper's eggs. Enough to share with Shu, certainly.
(Luckily for Link, the fact that he had the korok-enchanted pack meant he would not have to fear the inevitable fate of most chicken owners. He did had no need to beg people to take his excess eggs off of him. He could just keep them. Forever.)
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...Well. She didn't not want eggs.
"If you have extra. I can always use more for my cooking. Speaking of."
One final pat for Pepper and Shu maneuvers past her to set her pot on a table. "I have brought you something, if you have a moment to spare."
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Although to be fair, there were very few things Link had that weren't in quantities of 'lots'.
And he had indeed noticed that delicious looking soup of Shu's - so he's quickly giving her an eager nod, before moving to clear some space on the table and set out a couple of bowls for the two of them.
He leans over, trying to get a good look at the soup - as does Pepper, who seems to have taken the clearing of the table as an indication that she should get on top of it.
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"Today is an important holiday in my world. It is one in which we traditionally gather with our family and friends. In lieu of that, I thought I would bring this to all of you in celebration of the Winter Solstice."
She begins to ladle out some soup to pass to Link.
"This is a sweet soup called tang yuan. We eat it on this, the longest of nights, as a promise of unity, for the word 'tang yuan' is nearly homophonous with our word for 'togetherness.'"
Pepper gets a tiny little drop of sweet soup to peck at as well.
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He reaches out almost immediately, keen to start shoving it in his mouth - but then he hears her explanation, and pauses.
A promise of unity. Of 'togetherness'.
Not just any old soup. A meal that means something. And Shu choose to share it with Link; he's touched.
"...Thank you," he says softly.
The symbolism and meaning of the gesture is completely lost on Pepper however, who pecks Shu's finger.
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"The promise is of reunion, no matter how our paths might diverge in the coming year. We will come together again on the next solstice."
She pauses.
"The pink ones are nicer."
They taste exactly the same, but it's the psychology that matters. Link will notice that he has a particularly large tangyuan floating in his bowl as well, which Shu will point out.
"It is lucky to eat the big one first."
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There's a soft, almost melancholic hum from Link, in response to her explanation. Come together on the next solstice. They probably would; Link didn't expect this war to end anytime soon. And he likes Shu. He'd be more than happy to celebrate with her again.
But he wishes he could be home, celebrating with Zelda. With their friends.
These thoughts go unvoiced, however. Instead, Link uses his spoon to pick up the biggest tangyuan, and eat it.
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Shu quietly takes a tangyuan from her own bowl and gently bites off a piece from the tangyuan, allowing the black, sticky filling to ooze out. It is sesame paste, with a slightly gritty texture that contrasts the chewy softness of the rice flour exterior. If she observes the slightly melancholic expression on Link's face, she does not comment on it.
"This time of year is always significant to me. There is nothing to harvest any more. It is a time for pause -- and reflection."
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At least Shu can be a positive influence, however.
"...A lots happened," Link says softly. Thinking himself about everything that he'd been through, everything he'd enduring.
He'd ended up in a whole new world. Been on the run. Been captured before he could escape the Empire's clutches entirely. Then, rescued by the Corsairs. Now fighting fore them.
Shu's been through many of the same things. She must be thinking about them too.
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Shu smiles as she confirms that her thoughts are running along similar lines. There is an air of lightheartedness to her musings.
"Yet I never envisioned anything like this. You don't think about the complexities of another world altogether. It is simply a... hypothetical thought experiment if it comes up at all. ...Well, the portal in my world also leads to a dimension of demonic corruption, so it's hardly comparable."
This is not the sort of thing one usually says so casually, but Shu takes a spoonful of sugar soup.
"Where would you be right now, before the New Year, Link?"
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Huh. Sounds a bit like the dark malice and gloom that had afflicted his world, maybe. But Link chooses not to comment on that; Shu had asked him a question.
"...Hateno village," he says softly. "In our house."
Or 'Zelda's House', as most of the villages thought of it. People always gravitated towards her, remembered her, while Link tended to fade into the background. But he didn't mind; he liked it that way.
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"You and Pepper?"
She hadn't thought that Link's affection for the chicken would have extended so far so quickly.
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Link, meanwhile, looks faintly bemused while shaking his head. No, he didn't share it with Pepper. Pepper hasn't even ever been to Hyrule.
"...With Zelda," he says. Maybe Link's cottage wasn't what Shu would have thought of as the home of a Princess. But...it was.
He misses it.
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It takes her a moment.
"Ah."
Shu is suddenly all benignant smiles, for there are few things more endearing for an immortal demigod than young love. Link's bowl is refilled automatically after which she clasps her hands together.
"Of course. How stupid of me. You must forgive me for my prattling on about reunion and family. May I share something with you? It is a piece of Yan poetry that speaks deeply to me."
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But he does pause after a moment, and tilt his head to one side in an unspoken, Yes?
If Shu wants to tell him a poem, he's listening.
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"Shang ye...!"
Her recitation is in Yanese initially, for it flows far more fluidly and dramatically in her native tongue. She imbues each word with emphasis and meaning, and though he may not understand the words, the sentiment of emotion and heartfelt passion is clear. It is not a long poem, and when it ends, she slips swiftly into the language of Esthere, an older form of her world's Victorian language.
'By Heaven!
I with you and you with me,
Forever with no wane nor end.
When the mountains fall
And rivers dry,
When winter brings thunder
And summer snow,
When heaven and earth collide
Then
Only then
Shall we ever break asunder.'
My love."
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But he listens, giving Shu his complete attention. And he understands.
And thinks of Zelda.
"...Pretty," he says softly.
Link, alas, is very much not a poet. Deep, eloquent words are beyond him. But maybe Shu will get what he means, anyway.
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"...Whenever I am apart from someone I love, I think of these words. For there is nothing under heaven that can truly separate our bond."
She cups her steaming soup and allows the heat to infuse her hands with warmth.
"It is not the same, of course. I have eleven siblings scattered across the world, and it is many years' passage between our meetings. But we are as one. ...So tonight, let us celebrate the solstice in the promise of reunion with the ones we love."
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Nothing under heaven or earth that could separate them. And yet...this would be the third time Link's been separated from Zelda. The first had him sleeping for a hundred years in the Shrine of Resurrection. The second had Zelda traveling through time, for thousands of years, as the Light dragon.
He'd spent a lot of time with the Light dragon. Sitting with her. Holding her horns. Crying himself to sleep on her forehead. But even when he was right next to her, they'd still been apart. Zelda had still been gone.
Now they were separated again.
Link liked Shu's poem. It was...nice. Meaningful. But he's not sure he can take as much comfort from it as Shu does.
But he doesn't want to ruin Shu's gesture with all of his gloomy, heartsick thoughts. So with his head still looking down at his feet, he nods. Yes, they can celebrate.
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But she holds her soup instead and continues to allow the chill of the winter night to whistle past the walls. The silence isn't comfortable, but she does not find it oppressive, either. Shu is thinking of siblings she can never meet again, siblings she fears to meet again, siblings who can never truly come together, even if they were one. After some time passes, she speaks again softly.
"...What do you hope for in the new year, Link?"
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"Defeating the Empire. Going home." Home, where Zelda was. That was his biggest hope, more than anything.
But he thinks on it a little further, and then adds: "Get my stuff back."
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"What sort of things?"
As far as she is aware, he has already had more than everyone else in the Corsairs combined owing to the magical bag he owns.
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