Robin: Sending a Party Request

After handing out the last bowl of porridge, Jingxing set the iron ladle back on the rim of the pot. He shook his aching wrist. A little porridge still clung to his knuckles, and the sticky feeling made him frown. A middle-aged man beside him handed him a damp cloth. He thanked him, wiped his hand a couple of times, then picked up his bag of painting supplies and headed straight out of the camp.

The morning mist that had covered the camp had lifted. Sunlight spread evenly across the ground, as though filtered through frosted glass.

Jingxing found a rock sheltered from the wind and sat down. He opened his sketchbook and narrowed his eyes, considering a subject for the day's still-life practice.

In the end, he settled on the camp's main gate.

Jingxing used a flat brush to lay down an even base color, trying to recreate the hazy effect of the morning mist on paper. But halfway through, the brush handle snapped.

He stared at the broken brush and sighed. "Looks like I still haven't mastered keeping my composure."

After seeing the camp for himself, he simply couldn't keep a calm mind for his daily practice.

Sitting there, his head was still full of busy medical workers, worried refugees, and Robin's smile with its hidden gloom.

They didn't want to be here, and neither did Jingxing, but after Glenn and the others found him, it was too late to leave.

Just then, Jingxing heard deliberately softened footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw a pair of white ankle boots flecked with mud, followed by the dust-stained hem of a skirt.

The knitted cardigan over Robin's shoulders had been replaced with a thicker one. Its sleeves were still rolled up to her elbows, but two fresh scrapes marked her exposed wrist, and the iodine stains had yet to dry completely.

"Mr. Jingxing," she said, stopping a few steps away, her voice somewhat muffled by the wind. "I hope I'm not interrupting your painting?"

Jingxing stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. "No. My brush broke, so I was just sitting here in a daze."

Robin's gaze lingered on his canvas for a moment before she quickly looked away. She pulled a packet of energy bars from her bag. "It seems you didn't eat anything this morning, Mr. Jingxing?"

Jingxing accepted the energy bars. "Thank you. Is there something you wanted to ask me, Miss Robin?"

A faint flicker of surprise passed through Robin's emerald-green eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"If you were just delivering supplies, you could have sent Mr. Glenn." Jingxing tore open the wrapper and stuffed an energy bar into his mouth, his words muffled.

Robin took half a step forward and looked past Jingxing toward the rising sun. "Have you grown accustomed to this place in less than a day, Mr. Jingxing?"

"I wouldn't call it that." Jingxing packed up his painting supplies. "I just don't have a choice. The company could never let me leave ahead of the others, so all I can do is take it easy and be a harmless ornament here, just like you."

"A harmless ornament?" Robin's smile stiffened. "I don't think I'm just an ornament."

"You know it in your heart too, don't you, Miss Robin?" Jingxing stared into her eyes, his tone turning serious. "Rather than a refugee camp, this place is more like an elaborate birdcage."

Robin's fingertips tightened.

"A birdcage?" she repeated.

"Yes, a birdcage for locking away wishes." Jingxing kept an eye on the company security guards at the camp entrance, who were watching him and Robin, as he continued in a casual manner, "Your singing can't reach the places where it should be heard, and my brush can only record what's permitted to be recorded. We're both prisoners in this birdcage."

Silence spread between them.

Robin's breathing went from steady to slightly hurried. Jingxing turned his head just in time to see her smile collapse.

Looks like my expectations weren't off the mark, he thought.

Robin lowered her eyes and tucked a strand of windblown silver hair behind her ear.

"Three months ago, I was in Thousand Stars City promoting my new album." She finally broke the silence. "It was a great success."

"After the show finished recording, I was on my way out of the studio when I heard the managers of Interastral Peace Entertainment talking about this place. This planet had been brought into the interstellar trade system, and its people were fighting over the temptations that had descended from the sky." Robin's lips curved into a cold smile. "They laughed as they talked about how both sides had willingly sunk into depravity, but I couldn't laugh at all."

"I'd actually intended to quicken my pace and leave, but that Interastral Peace Entertainment director made a joke about me and the Family. He thought that even we Halovians couldn't stop this foolish infighting with our singing."

"So you came here to prove him wrong?"

"That thought did cross my mind at first." For the first time, a heavy weariness showed in Robin's eyes, like a layer of dust that couldn't be wiped away. "But I didn't make my decision out of spite. I truly wanted to restore peace here."

"But before I could act, Interastral Peace Entertainment's 'special operations team' took over my itinerary. They said all I needed to do next was establish a refugee camp here on the company's behalf. After the war, the company's media outlets would give it extensive coverage and take my fame to new heights."

"But that's not what you wanted." Perhaps it was because their situations were much alike? Jingxing felt that the distance between him and Robin had narrowed considerably.

Robin's shoulders sagged a little. "Yes. I don't want to spend my time here doing work that anyone could do."

"I want to sing." She clenched her fist. "I want to spread the miracle of Harmony here. I want to use my abilities to bring peace back to this planet."

"Followers of Preservation have no room for miracles beyond Preservation." The more she spoke, the more discouraged she became. She kept her voice so low that the words seemed to be squeezed through her teeth. "If I really showed a miracle of Harmony here, how could the company take full control of this market as the perfect mediator?"

"So, are you going to accept your fate just like that?" Jingxing turned his head so the company security guards watching from a distance couldn't see his face. "Spend three months as a mascot in this shack, then go back to Thousand Stars City to collect a trophy?"

"Of course not!" Robin's tone was resolute. "I will never allow my influence to be confined to this tiny refugee camp. I want everyone on this planet to hear me sing, to awaken their longing for peace, and to end this war that should never have happened and that the company itself has enabled!"

Jingxing gazed at her delicate features, moved for a moment by Robin's declaration.

If he helped Robin fulfill her wish, if he painted her looking so radiant on canvas, what kind of work would he create?

It would surely be a painting that would make his teacher proud and leave him completely satisfied.

So the "opportunity" Yaoguang mentioned most likely lies here, doesn't it?

Having made up his mind, Jingxing asked in a low voice, "Then what can I do for you?"

"Take me away." Robin's eyes lit up. "Take me away from here!"