Lies

"Mo Li, will you leave me?"

"Never."

"Then... what about An'er?"

"Never!"

"You lied..."

"You said... you never would..."

The night wind swept through the covered corridor, and the candlelight flickered. Xu Moli looked at Jing An's hand clutching the hem of his robe. Unease shone in the child's eyes.

"An'er." His voice softened as he wiped the sugar from the corner of the boy's mouth. "I never break a promise."

But Jing An shook his head. The bandage around it looked painfully white in the candlelight. "But yesterday... when you were talking to those people, you looked so angry."

Xu Moli's heart tightened. The court was rife with hidden currents, and assassins had already infiltrated the capital. He couldn't tell the boy a word of it. All he could do was pull him into his arms, breathing in the faint sweet scent of pastries in his hair.

"That's how I am with outsiders," he whispered. "Never with you."

Jing An suddenly smiled, as innocent as ever. "Then let's pinky swear!"

...That was all in the past.

Blood stained the snowy white ground. A vivid flower bloomed in the snow. The promise was still warm, but fate had already raised its blade. The man who had said "never" now used his back to build a final wall around him.

"Mo... Li...?"

"Mm..."

"Tomorrow... can I still have osmanthus candy?"

"Yes..."

Xu Moli's voice was so soft it sounded like a sigh.

The rest of his answer, the words he never got to say, faded beneath the sudden stench of blood: forever was too far away. Some people never even got the chance to see tomorrow.

Xu Moli (gong)

Jing An (shou)

Theme: Always keep your promises.