A Rift Between Teacher and Student

When Changli received the letter, she was leaning beneath the corridor eaves, brewing tea.

The last rays of the setting sun fell upon her, casting a halo over her long pink hair.

She opened the letter with one hand, her movements languid and casual, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary greeting.

But when her gaze fell on the paper and she saw the familiar handwriting, the hand holding her teacup paused slightly.

"Changli:

After the battle in Jinzhou, I wonder if you're all right?

(I can't make up any more.)

The irises at the manor are blooming beautifully. I think that if you came, perhaps you would find a flower as lonely as you in some quiet corner.

Montelli"

Changli slowly lowered the letter and looked toward the distant horizon.

Her thoughts, however, drifted uncontrollably back more than twenty years.

Back then, she had been a homeless child.

Tacet Discords had attacked her village. Flames soared into the sky, and cries rose one after another.

She had unexpectedly awakened her Resonance Power, and only survived because of it.

She had been the sole survivor in the entire village.

In the days that followed, she wandered from place to place.

When she was hungry, she dug up edible roots in the wild. When she was thirsty, she lay down by a stream and drank a few mouthfuls of cold water.

When she was lucky, she found odd jobs in town, carrying goods, washing clothes, and chopping firewood in exchange for a bite of leftovers.

When she was unlucky, she went days without a single grain of rice, able only to curl up in the corner of a dilapidated temple and listen to the wind and rain outside, drawing her body into a ball.

She remembered one time when she had been too hungry to go on. She had crouched on a street corner, staring blankly at the steam rising from a bun shop.

The woman who owned the shop saw her and made a disgusted face, waving her away. "Shoo, shoo! You're filthy. Don't get in the way of my business."

She silently stood up and dragged herself away on weak legs.

That day, she thought, Maybe if I just died like this, life wouldn't be so miserable.

It was on a night like that, as she huddled beneath a dead tree for shelter from the rain, soaked through and shivering from the cold, that it happened.

A letter suddenly appeared before her.

As if conjured out of thin air, it landed cleanly on her knees. Not a single drop of rain wet the paper.

She froze.

After a long hesitation, she carefully opened the letter.

The handwriting was crooked, like that of a child who had only just learned to write, with a few words written in phonetic spelling.

She puzzled out the words one by one, reading very slowly.

She could no longer clearly remember the contents, only the general meaning: I heard you're amazing, already helping people with work at such a young age. You'll surely make something of yourself. Make sure you eat well and sleep well, and don't let yourself go hungry. I'll write to you again next time.

By the time she finished reading, her eyes were wet.

It was the first time anyone had told her to "eat well." It was also the first time anyone had told her she would "surely make something of herself." In those years, when everyone treated her like a beggar, like garbage, like an ill omen, that letter was like a ray of light shining through a crack in the stone.

She didn't know who had written the letter or how that person had found her.

But from that day on, a letter would appear before her every so often.

Sometimes it offered encouragement, sometimes it shared something, and sometimes it simply asked, "How have you been lately?"

Those letters accompanied her through her darkest days.

Later, her master took her in, and she began learning various arts. She gradually distinguished herself and became what people called a "genius."

Later still, she became Jinhsi's teacher and an influential figure in Jinzhou City.

But the letters never stopped.

One came every month, without fail. She had changed residences many times, but the letters always reached her without error. She had tried to trace their source, searching for a full ten years.

She had even wondered whether the person writing to her might not be human at all.

Now, more than twenty years had passed.

The child who had once only been able to write crooked phonetic spellings could now produce such beautiful handwriting.

And the homeless child who had once crouched beneath a dead tree waiting to die had become an influential figure in the Magistrate's Office.

Changli lowered her head and looked at the letter in her hand, the faintest hint of a smile flashing in her eyes.

"So you still remember."

She placed the letter on her knees, her fingertips brushing gently over the name "Montelli."

The last rays of sunset fell on her face, lending a touch of warmth to her usually cool eyes.

"More than twenty years," she murmured. "You've come to bother me once every month, come rain or shine, without fail. I grew accustomed to your letters long ago, and to waiting for them at this time every month."

She paused, picked up her tea, which had gone completely cold, and took a small sip.

"You said the irises at the manor are blooming beautifully."

"Then I'll go and see them."

Her voice carried an unquestionable certainty.

"I'll go see what you, the one who's been hiding all this time, actually look like."

A gust of wind stirred the letter on her knees. She held it down gently with her fingers and looked at the line: "I think that if you came, perhaps you would find a flower as lonely as you in some quiet corner."

"A lonely flower?" she repeated softly, the corners of her mouth curving up slightly. "You do understand me."

She put the letter away and got up to head back. Her steps paused for a moment beneath the eaves, and she turned toward the setting sun, a light in her eyes that no one else could read.

More than twenty years.

Would he be the sunny, warm figure she had imagined? Or a greasy middle-aged man, or perhaps a nasty old geezer?

"Montelli, is it? Then let me see what kind of person you really are."

The light in Changli's eyes dimmed slightly.

Jinhsi happened to be coming to discuss her upcoming trip to Rinascita with Changli.

At the thought of soon meeting the person she had longed to see for twelve years, she was in excellent spirits and full of energy, looking nothing like someone normally overwhelmed by mountains of official business.

She spotted Changli beneath the eaves at once and went over with a smile to greet her.

"Teacher Changli."

But as she drew closer, the envelope in Changli's hand, one she couldn't have been more familiar with, made the smile slip from her face.

Her breath caught slightly, and her palms began to sweat without her noticing.

Seeing Jinhsi arrive, Changli nodded in greeting. "Jinhsi, you came at just the right time. There's something I wanted to discuss with you."

Jinhsi's eyes were fixed on the letter in her hand. She hadn't heard what Changli said at all, and merely asked instinctively, "What is it?"

"The Fisalia Family has invited me to Rinascita to discuss some matters of cooperation."

"Oh."

Jinhsi's head was hot, and she didn't take in a word Changli said. Her gaze remained fixed on the letter in Changli's hand.

Changli noticed her burning gaze.

"What's wrong?"

Jinhsi reluctantly tore her intense gaze away and took a deep breath. Clinging to a little hope, she asked,

"Teacher Changli, that letter isn't yours, is it? Where did you pick it up?"

Changli lowered her head to look at the letter in her hand, an exceptionally gentle smile appearing on her face, as if she were savoring a memory.

Jinhsi's breathing quickened.

She swore that in all her life, she had never seen her teacher Changli smile like that!!!

Changli put away her smile and looked up at Jinhsi again. "It's my letter. Someone very important to me sent it."

"Very important?!" Jinhsi's voice rose considerably.

Changli nodded. "Mm."

"How important?" Jinhsi pressed.

"How important..." Changli murmured, carefully recalling the past: the warmth he had sent her when she had no one to rely on, and the sappy words he had sent her when she was studying diligently.

Her cheeks grew a little hot, and she awkwardly averted her gaze from Jinhsi. "He was someone I relied on once. Now..."

Jinhsi's heart leaped into her throat.

Changli was about to continue, but then she caught sight of Jinhsi's strange expression. She held back what she had been about to say and said instead,

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

She composed herself.

"First, tell me what you came to see me about."

But Jinhsi refused to give up, her eyes nearly turning red. "Teacher Changli, please explain yourself first."

Seeing how determined she was to get to the bottom of it, Changli grew displeased. "Jinhsi, this is none of your business."

"It is my business!!" Jinhsi's voice turned shrill.

Changli froze at the sudden shout.