When Grandfather Was Young

The carriage creaked along the road. Taliel leaned against the window, gazing out with excitement at the rolling hills and passing landscape. Inside the carriage, Xilutaiya wore a practical dark gray coat, her snow-silver hair draped casually over her hood and shoulders. At first, she had watched the scenery outside just as Taliel did, but by now sleepiness had caught up with her, and she leaned back against the seat for a brief nap. The gentle bumps of the mountain road did not wake her; once the rhythm grew familiar, it turned into a soothing cadence much like a lullaby. Sparse snow drifted from the sky. The carriage traveled at an unhurried pace across the open wilderness, where scarcely a soul was in sight—only an occasional bird swept past, leaving behind a stray chirp. In her hazy doze, Xilutaiya found herself recalling her past life: traveling back to her hometown whenever holidays arrived, which had also meant spending long hours on the road. The adults' laughter and chatter, the rises and falls of the mountain roads, and the crisp mountain breeze pouring through the windows—all of it felt so familiar, stirring a quiet nostalgia. Her hometown in winter looked different from her hometown in summer. There was no summer chorus of cicadas or shimmering light on the water, but in their place were the warmth before a crackling hearth and the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes. Time had slipped away. She and her childhood friends back home had slowly grown up, until each went their separate ways into unfamiliar, distant places. ... At dusk, as the sky grew dim, the carriage slowly climbed a high slope and then rolled down the other side. Out on the flat land below, a village nestled among fields came into view, its scattered orange-yellow lanterns glowing faintly through the twilight, guiding the carriage closer step by step. *Whinny—* The roan horse gave a long snort, breathing out plumes of white steam. Its hooves clacked lightly against the flagstones, and the carriage came to a halt. "Tiya, we're here," Taliel called back to the young girl as she stepped down in her little brown cloak. "Mm." The girl gave a soft reply, pulled her hood up over her head, and stepped out after her. The two stood in the village square. It looked just as it had months ago; only a few subtle details still bore traces of the battle from back then, such as charcoal ash caught in stone crevices or a notched gouge hacked into a railing. "My home is at the back of the village. Follow me." Taliel waved to the driver and led the way forward. Villagers they met along the road called out greetings to her. "You're back, Taliel!" "Haven't seen you in months—you've grown quite pretty!" "Hehe, thank you, Uncle, Auntie!" Taliel replied with a sweet smile. "I'm back!" she announced a little louder, as though itching to shout it at the top of her lungs to let out her excitement. As she walked, Taliel broke into a skip, her steps light and buoyant. Before long, they arrived in front of the village chief's house. The old chief had heard the commotion long before and was already waiting at the doorway. "You finally came back to see me, Taliel." He reached out and wrapped his granddaughter in a hug, and the two laughed together as they embraced. Only after quite a while of catching up did the old village chief reluctantly release Taliel to greet Xilutaiya. "Pardon me, Miss Tiya. I got a little carried away, haha." The old man had dark brown hair and a thick beard. "Not at all. How have you been feeling lately?" Xilutaiya walked over and set down two bottles of medicinal wine she had been carrying. "Drinking a little of this in the winter will do wonders." A small amount of Blazing Sun attribute herbs had been infused into the wine, making it very warming to the stomach. "Oh, you shouldn't have spent so much." He invited the two inside to sit down, then went off to arrange lodging for the driver and a place to unload the cargo. That evening, the three gathered in the cottage for dinner. On the table were freshly baked bread, smoked sausage, and steaming root vegetable soup. While hardly lavish, it was an exceptionally rich meal for the village. As the old man ate, he asked how the two had been faring in Burnt Stone City. When he learned that Xilutaiya was studying under Scholar Haide, he gave a thumbs-up. "Splendid! That elder is a formidable scholar. If I hadn't been so penniless back then, I probably would have sought him out for lessons myself." "Come on, Grandfather, when you were young, Scholar Haide couldn't have been that old either," Taliel teased, resting her chin on her hand. "He wasn't old, true, but he had already made quite a name for himself. Plenty of girls in Burnt Stone City fancied and admired him," the old man answered, ruffling Taliel's hair. "I was barely twenty then, working as an adventurer in Burnt Stone City. Scholar Haide was in his early thirties, already a second-order Secret Words scholar, and helped the previous Viscount Xuefeng manage official affairs. He often led people out to visit the nearby villages and resolve disputes, so many folks around here knew him. "Some villages still have the primer booklets he left behind. Word was, he scraped together his own money to get them printed. Although literate folk were still few and far between, it at least gave those who wanted to learn a way to do it," the old man recalled. "I didn't pay much attention to that sort of thing back then. I was focused entirely on taking adventurer commissions to earn money—and that was how I met your grandmother." "What did Grandmother look like? Was she pretty?" Taliel asked eagerly, shaking the old man's arm and pressing for an answer. "Your grandmother..." The old man stroked his beard. "She wasn't the kind of beauty who caught your eye at first glance. She came to Burnt Stone City with a traveling circus. Her aunt worked with the circus—word had it she was a diviner. "I didn't have money for a ticket back then, so a few companions and I climbed over the fence to watch the show. Right then, we ran into your grandmother coming out to dump a bucket of water. "She was about eighteen or nineteen too, with wispy chestnut hair tied into simple braids on both sides. Her smile was wonderfully sweet, and I was completely enchanted by her dimples. "We didn't get to see any circus performance. My companions and I were chased right out by your grandmother with a broom. A slip of a girl showing no fear against several sturdy lads like us—it was truly astonishing. "Still, we had to make our living in Burnt Stone City for the long haul, and there was no sense in landing in the sheriff's office over something like that. We wouldn't dare lay a hand on her, so we just chuckled sheepishly, dodged the broom, and ran. "Even so, that was how we met. For the rest of the time the circus stayed in Burnt Stone City, I kept going back to find her, and gradually we grew close. "She told me plenty of tales about faraway places—fire-breathing lizards, crows and sparrows that could understand human speech, and black vines that rose up at night. "All sorts of stories that left me utterly dumbfounded. Even though I'd seen quite a few strange things as an adventurer, she still managed to give me a scare now and then. "She seemed to take great delight in seeing me spooked and felt awfully proud of herself. Just like that, we had endless things to talk about. "Yet good times never last. The circus had to leave eventually, and the time came for us to part ways. "She pleaded with her aunt, hoping she could just stay behind, and I stood by her side through it all. "That was the first time I saw your grandmother's aunt. I forgot what she looked like long ago, but that deep purple hood and the crystal ball before her have appeared in my dreams ever since. "Her aunt didn't agree at first, saying your grandmother wouldn't find happiness staying here. Because she was a diviner, many in the circus believed her words, and so our first plea failed completely. "At the time, I didn't hold out much hope either, nor did I have the courage to force her to stay. I was neither respectable nor well-off, just an ordinary adventurer living hand-to-mouth who hadn't even stepped into the first order yet. "Those last few days slipped by, and when I had braced myself and went to see your grandmother off, she seemed to make up her mind all at once, leapt down from the carriage, and threw herself into my arms. "I have never remembered any feeling so clearly. When I held your grandmother in my arms, that warmth and softness became the source of my sweet dreams for a lifetime." The old man poured some wine as he spoke slowly. "Faced with your grandmother's persistence, her aunt had no choice in the end. Sighing, she told me to take good care of her, and gave your grandmother a necklace, telling her to keep it safe. "Happiness arrived so suddenly. Soon afterward, we returned to the village and held our wedding. Many friends and relatives came to give their blessings, and the joyous festivities lasted for days. "From then on, I lived a peaceful, warm life. Every day when I came home, the first thing I did was hug your grandmother, tell her about what happened that day, and eat together. Whenever I came across anything novel or tasty back then, I'd bring it back for her. Just doing that brought so much joy. "We lived so happily like that, until later, when your father was born." The old man's tale drew toward its later chapters.