1. Pearl Reborn: A Moment of Clarity in the Bamboo Lodge
Outside, bamboo shadows swayed gently in the morning light. When Daiyu opened her eyes, the familiar coppery sweetness had yet to rise in her throat. She gazed at the gauze canopy embroidered with curling lotus vines and curled her fingertips slightly. This was not the chilly side courtyard where she had spent her final moments, but the Bamboo Lodge where she had lived for years. Lin Daiyu went to the dressing table and ran her fingertips along the curling vine pattern on the bronze mirror. The girl reflected in it had delicate features, but the weariness that had never left her eyes was much fainter than in her previous life. She studied her reflection in the mirror and murmured, "Have I come back to life again?"
