305: New Beginning

New Beginning

Bai Ye opened his mouth, but he looked so shocked that he couldn't even speak. He stared at me, with a myriad of different things flashing across his eyes in a mere second.1

"It's still me," I chuckled, knowing what the most urgent question on his mind was. But then I frowned as soon as those words left my lips. "Why did my voice not change?" I mumbled, disappointed to hear my own voice instead of the one from my memories.

"… How were you able to do this?" he finally asked, the same question as a moment ago. Clearly, the series of surprises had caught him completely off guard.

"Spiritual power is not the only thing that came back with the reconnection between Twin Stars and me. I might not have fully returned to my sword spirit self, but it's pretty close in terms of what I can do now." I grinned proudly. "Do you like it?"

Of course he did. The shock on his face slowly faded, replaced by a nostalgic smile. He lifted a hand, softly cupping my cheek, and his thumb traced the contour of my chin, as if feeling through his touch the memories that had been lost for all too long.

Then he closed his eyes. When they opened again, that wistful look was gone. "I prefer seeing you the other way," he said softly. "Can you change back?"

I blinked. "Why?" I lowered my gaze to study myself. "Did I get any part wrong?"

"No. You look perfect." His fingers grazed over my cheek again. "But like you told me, you are no longer a simple continuation of who you were before. As much as I miss this look of you—" he pulled his hand back, "—it belongs to the past. You taught me how to live in the present, Qing-er, and I like seeing you that way as well."

Never had I expected to hear such words from him. His voice was gentle but firm, with no trace of hesitance or reluctance at all, and a sense of uttermost pride rose in me at the sound of it. I nodded, reaching for that calling in my mind again. A halo of bright light flashed in front of my eyes before the familiar weight of my own body returned.

"Bai Ye," I clasped my hands around his, overwhelmed by what he just said. "You—"

The words were replaced by a small grunt when a sudden dizziness hit me. I stumbled a little, almost losing my balance. "Qing-er!" Bai Ye caught me hastily. "What's wrong?"

"… I think I might need that good night's sleep sooner than I expected." I rubbed my temple as he helped me sit down on top of a bare tree stump next to us. "Maybe I should have waited before showing you those surprises … Summoning that kind of power from Twin Stars seems to take more effort than it looks."

"Take a rest. We'll head back as soon as the lightheadedness passes." He leaned me against him, resting my head over his shoulder. Then he laid two fingers over my wrist, and his spiritual power seeped into me, probing gently for any signs of injury or ailment. "I should have thought of it … that battle must have been tough on your body. You should've—"

He paused, and the look on his face froze. Even his spiritual power ceased to move in me for a moment, before it picked up again and rewound its way through my body as if to reexamine whatever he had just found.

"What is it?" His strange act alarmed me. Did he find some serious injury? But I'd been feeling alright except for the tiredness, and I didn't remember getting hurt while confronting the sword spirit at all.

"… When was the last time you had your menses?" he asked at length.

"…" My mouth hung open. A month ago? Two? It was certainly before we left Mount Hua to come to his cabin … I finally understood the look on his face, and I was quite certain that the exact same look was now on mine.

"You are saying that I …" I looked down at my flat stomach, dazed.

Then I heard him laugh. A bright, ringing laugh that echoed in the quiet woods around us. "No more using those swords for the next few weeks." He scooped me off of the tree stump into his lap, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace. The spiritual power flowing into me turned from the examining probe into a wave of warmth, enveloping me with a calming energy. "You need lots of rest, and I'll help you steady the power balance in your body in the meantime. I'll also work on new dinner recipes for you when we get back. You need the energy for two people now." A tinge of belated fear trickled into his voice then. "I should've never let you face that sword spirit on your own … That was too much risk with a baby. Thank heavens both of you were safe."

I sat unmoving in his arms, my head still spinning. "I think I haven't fully come around to the news yet," I mumbled. "I can't believe this is happening … Is it a boy or a girl?"

He chuckled. "It's a bit too early for me to tell." He brushed his lips over my temple. "I hope it's a girl. Sweet and beautiful like her mother. But a boy will be fine too. He'll get a sister sooner or later."

I couldn't help but laugh at the prospect he was envisioning. "I see you are ready for a full house of children running around us already," I said. "Does that mean we'll need to find a new home soon? That cabin wasn't meant for even three."

The smile on his face broadened. "Didn't you want our children to grow up surrounded by neighbors and friends like you did? We'll find a nice village or town just like that, with a house big enough for each of our little ones to have their own room if they want to." He placed a hand lightly over my flat belly. "We'll fill those rooms with dolls and toys. We'll have a garden, so the girls can grow their flowers and the boys can roll in the dirt. We'll have a barn always ready for your animals, and who knows, maybe someone will take after their mother and become a spiritual pet trainer when they grow up …"

He babbled on about the life he imagined for all of us, and I listened quietly, so immersed in those scenes he pictured that I could almost see them unfolding in front of my eyes. It felt real—after the initial shock, I was finally coming to realize what this news meant for us. We were going to have a family … We were going to step into a new beginning that couldn't be more different and exciting than anything we had known before.

I buried my face into his shoulder, and I placed my hand over his, lacing our fingers together. There was nothing palpable from the baby yet, but at that moment, I knew both of us felt the unmistakable pulses of a new life coursing through us. A new life that was not only forming inside me, but also waving to us from afar, because the future we had been dreaming of was finally coming true. The happiness we had promised each other long, long ago was finally here.

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