At last, Little Nonpoint brought the child before Meng Chuan.
"Uncle Meng, they're awful." Little Nonpoint's eyes were red as he voiced his accusation.
By "they," he meant the people of this Zhuangzi, as well as the mighty figures perched high above everyone in the Stone Kingdom Imperial Capital.
Even Little Nonpoint, kind by nature, was angry now.
He had once had his Supreme Bone torn from his body. Afterward, he had been treated unjustly, and his family had been persecuted.
Even the child made to stand in for him had been bullied here and suffered terribly.
Such sickening things kept happening.
At that moment, Little Nonpoint felt no kinship with the Stone Race and no sense of belonging among them.
"Bad people will meet bad ends," Meng Chuan said, certain of it.
"This child stood in for you here and suffered a great deal in your place. Remember this: he is your brother. Your own brother."
Meng Chuan spoke earnestly to Little Nonpoint. The child had no name of his own; from the time he could remember, he had lived for Little Nonpoint.
He had endured many terrible things, leaving scars no child could easily erase.
"Yes! I know. He's my own brother!" Little Nonpoint nodded hard, then introduced Meng Chuan to the child.
Meng Chuan gave him a warm smile.
Little Nonpoint then took Meng Chuan by the hand and led him into Zhuangzi, to a room.
An old man was there.
Of the two old men Meng Chuan had sensed when Little Nonpoint entered, one had already passed away.
Seeing that Little Nonpoint was alive, the old man, who had been at death's door, had departed without regrets.
The man before them was now Zhuangzi's only elder.
"Great-Grandfather, this is Uncle Meng. He's been very good to