The armies arrived with the dawn.\u00c2\u00a0 They brought arrows and swords, and delivered screaming death to the citizens of Xing Xing.\u00c2\u00a0 All the pretty flowers, the rock gardens, the quiet river that meandered alongside the town, ran red.\u00c2\u00a0 Even the sun refused to come fully out, choosing to hide behind thick, tumultuous clouds.<\/p>\n
For a thousand years, perhaps, Xing Xing had existed peacefully, regardless of emperors or conquerors or generals or madmen or prophets or fools.\u00c2\u00a0 Always, there was a mayor.\u00c2\u00a0 On this day, the day Xing Xing fell, the Mayor was an honorable old man, a rich man with white hair, a kind and gentle soul who had spent the last years of his life helping his fellow citizens become rich themselves.\u00c2\u00a0 In Xing Xing, the definition of the word rich had little to do with money.<\/p>\n
There was a police force, all of six men strong, and two women, who bore arms, but between two armies they might have wielded sticks and rocks.\u00c2\u00a0 They were cut down brutally, by soldiers of either side, in front of children, in front of their parents and grandparents, on the steps of the temple.<\/p>\n
Over the course of centuries, Xing Xing brought many poets to the world, playwrights, stone masons who worked on the wall, opera stars, philosophers, men of state, visionaries, luminaries, and never-do-wells.\u00c2\u00a0 On the steps of the temple, near the world-famous rock garden, after an extended chess match, the greatest love of an entire century had its first kiss.\u00c2\u00a0 Fathers taught their sons to fish.\u00c2\u00a0 Rice was grown, tea steeped, treaties brokered, murderers put to justice.<\/p>\n
Xing Xing birthed legends, both notorious and illustrious, and at least one myth that has endured for generations than can be counted.<\/p>\n
Legends say the town was birthed and built by one of the ancient goddesses whose name has been forgotten.\u00c2\u00a0 The Jade Emperor settled here for a time, as a child, and the Four Beauties of legend perhaps all had mothers from Xing Xing.<\/p>\n
But this day brought armies, and chaos, and panic.\u00c2\u00a0 One boy ran through the dirt, weaving between the fighting soldiers, somehow avoiding the swift sharp swords, and found his grandfather\u2019s small hut on the edge of town.<\/p>\n
His grandfather was an old man, one of the eldest elders, blind, weak, who sometimes complained about the cold in summer but little else.\u00c2\u00a0 He sat on his knees beside a burning cauldron folding paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandfather,\u201d the boy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShush,\u201d the grandfather said.\u00c2\u00a0 The sound of war clattered just outside his door.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut grandfather,\u201d the boy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy ears work better than yours,\u201d the grandfather said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cI can smell the fires, and the blood, and I tell you again, child, shush.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u2019m working.\u201d<\/p>\n
He finished folding the bird, which was not unlike a crane but not exactly the same.\u00c2\u00a0 He picked up another paper and began again.<\/p>\n
The boy waited as patiently as he could, but boys in Xing Xing have no more patience than boys elsewhere.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cGrandfather,\u201d he said again.<\/p>\n
The grandfather paused.\u00c2\u00a0 He closed his hands over the paper, turned his head to the boy as though he could see him and asked, \u201cDo you have something to tell me which I do not already know?\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy, having nothing, simply said, \u201cI\u2019m scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grandfather smiled, and held out a hand.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cCome here, child.\u201d\u00c2\u00a0 He held the boy close, then continued folding his paper.<\/p>\n
A flurry of arrows came through the window, through the thatch roof, through the thin walls, striking in a random pattern but missing the boy and grandfather.\u00c2\u00a0 One broke on the side of the burning cauldron, and one went into the fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur story is over,\u201d the grandfather said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m afraid the reality of war will overwhelm Xing Xing and only ash and cinder will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can\u2019t be,\u201d the boy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is,\u201d the grandfather said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cNow watch.\u201d\u00c2\u00a0 Having finished the second paper bird, he picked up its twin and gently closed his hands over them.<\/p>\n
The boy watched.\u00c2\u00a0 His grandfather was a great trickster, an illusionist, who could disappear coins and, though blind, could read the faces of playing cards.\u00c2\u00a0 The fire flared, briefly, and then went out.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, little ones, fly,\u201d the grandfather said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cFly.\u201d\u00c2\u00a0 He threw both hands into the air, releasing the paper birds.\u00c2\u00a0 They fluttered, they drifted toward the ground, they glimmered, and then they stretched their wings and circled around each other.\u00c2\u00a0 They fluttered, briefly, like moths, one now red, the other gold.<\/p>\n
A soldier threw open the door.\u00c2\u00a0 The paper birds zipped past him, over his shoulder, deftly avoiding the sword he swung in surprise.\u00c2\u00a0 \u201cArchers!\u201d he cried.<\/p>\n
\u201cFly,\u201d the grandfather said again.<\/p>\n
Outside, the paper birds rose into the air, dancing together, frolicking, flittering and fluttering, rising higher, higher, higher still.<\/p>\n
Then the arrows came, a veritable wall of them, from multiple directions, arrows of two opposing armies converging on two paper birds.\u00c2\u00a0 A few tore through the wings.\u00c2\u00a0 A few were lit, bringing fire into the air, and one of those struck the gold paper bird.\u00c2\u00a0 The flames spread quickly, but still it rose, still it ascended.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a little flame, yes, but it was a little bird made of paper, and despite the magic animating it, nothing could save it from the flames.\u00c2\u00a0 Even as ash, it strained to fly, and its red twin continued to dance with it, even as a second volley of arrows raced heavenward.<\/p>\n
None of those arrows reached their mark.\u00c2\u00a0 The gold bird, now flakes of ash, drifted into pieces, each of which floated, twirled in the wind, and descended.<\/p>\n
The red paper bird, however, sprouted feathers, a beak, tiny talons.\u00c2\u00a0 With a bird-like shriek, she soared.<\/p>\n
The boy smiled, and stayed in the crook of his grandfather\u2019s arm, and said, \u201cThe red one, grandfather.\u00c2\u00a0 The red one got away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSee,\u201d the grandfather said, even as the solider raised his sword to strike, \u201cour stories will not go untold.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The armies arrived with the dawn.\u00c2\u00a0 They brought arrows and swords, and delivered screaming death to the citizens of Xing Xing.\u00c2\u00a0 All the pretty flowers, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}