' Pretty..'

The intricate, yet simple geometric patterns carved on the silver incense burner on the ground grabbed Renshu's full attention. Hazel eyes widening, he took quick, little steps towards it, and sat down on the ground.

"Hehehe, you can keep that back RenRen hehe, I have a brand new one back in my room," Caihong laughed.

But Renshu was so engrossed in admiring the incense burner, that he didn't even hear what she said. He stared at this object of sudden interest, his cherry lips slightly agape.

As his slender, little fingers barely grazed along with the cool metal, another hand, comparatively larger and more calloused than his, shifted it towards him. His eyes followed the hand and instantly froze.
The hand belonged to a juvenile male, who on meeting his gaze, smiled brightly. Two more youths were sitting beside him as well, and the three of them looked alike. They all beheld him with sunny smiles.

His big eyes widened with fear, and his heart began to thump with an explosive speed.

A low, frightened whimper escaped his lips.

He began to see angry faces that weren't there, and read calm faces as angry.

His trembling fingers curled up into fists, his nails dug into his palms.

The throbbing in his eyes spread throughout his whole body. His terror tortured his guts, churning his stomach into intense cramps.

His screams seemed to ring in his ears.

Blind, paralysing panic.

It could have been moments, it could have been aeons. All of a sudden, he felt a warmth toast his back, and arms wrap around him.

"Come, Ren let's go," he heard a voice, which seemed to come from really far away, though he could feel the familiar cosiness right against his body.

Caihong peered into his unfocused hazel eyes and felt her own heart hammering against her rib cage with anxiety. She kept her face calm and gait casual with no hint of hesitation, as she pulled him to his feet. His slender fingers pressed into her forearms, almost drawing beads of blood. She could feel his whole body shaking. She placed her fingers against his racing pulse, which pressed outward irregularly, jerking the veins within.

Still swaying on his unsteady legs due to his morbid fears, Renshu didn't realise what was happening, till a gust of fresh wind hit him in the face.

"Ngh..." He whimpered and closed his eyes, waiting for the cool sensation to clear up his muddled mind.

"Ren!" Caihong exclaimed in alarm, as his eyes fell shut, and he lowered his head. She caught him as he lurched forward, and leaned against a pillar for support. She could feel his rapid breaths on her neck, as he stood there, with his head leaning on her shoulder.

"Renshu... Ren?" She inquired, rubbing soothing circles on his tensed rhomboid muscles, feeling them slowly relax.

After a while which seemed like forever, Renshu's half-lidded hazel orbs met her tea coloured ones.
Caihong smiled at him, " You alright?"

In answer, he slowly looked towards the ajar door of the Hall of Fragrance.

"You stay here, okay? Don't go anywhere," she warned, before slipping in through the door. Within a few minutes, she was out, holding the sachets of incense and the silver incense burner, which was to his great liking.

Caihong placed it in his hands. "Here, take. For you."

Renshu rewarded her with a small smile, as he clutched it with both his little hands and held it to his chest.

"Let's go, shall we?"

******

"Hahaha, that's not how you do it, heehee," Caihong's giggles filled the bed-chamber, as she slowly turned the open lid of the incense burner towards her, where Renshu had been trying to fill incense rather unsuccessfully.

She took the pieces and arranged them carefully. She held up her fingers, which began to glow a warm red and drew a fire talisman. Almost instantly, the intense, exotic fragrance filled the air.

Both the children inhaled deeply.

"There," Caihong breathed out, contentedly, while Renshu rested his head on his hands which were folded on the table. A peaceful smile graced his beautiful countenance.

"Looks like you two are having a lot of fun, huh?"

Caihong turned towards the person to whom the voice belonged and grinned broadly. "Mommy!!"

A short lady, dressed in the exquisite, royal green and gold of the Ruan Sect, glided into the room, with an affectionate smile on her face.

Caihong leapt up from where she was sitting and tried to scramble onto her lap.

"Aiyaa, you're growing up so fast, wait let me sit down first," the lady laughed, as she made herself comfortable on the bed.

' Mommy....'

Caihong's voice began to play in Renshu's head.

' Mom...'

Caihong, who was now sitting in her mother's lap, looked at him gleefully and said, " This is my mother, Lady Ruan Quinyang."

' " Ren, I brought you your favourite soup," '

The light chirpy voice of a female echoed in his ears.

' "Ren, did you study well, son?"

" Yes, Ma, see, I got the best grade!"

"I'm so proud of you!" '

The muscles of his chin trembled.

' " How did you get hurt?!"

"Strings hurt Ren, bad, bad strings..."

"Yes, they are very bad strings indeed, come here, let me put some medicine, alright?" '

His cardiac muscles seemed to have been replaced by something too stretchy and flexible.

"Ma..." Renshu choked out while looking at the two of them. "Mommy... Mommy..."

' " You're the best Momma!! I love you this much."

"Oh my, hahaha, I love you too! This much! Hahahaha!!" '

He turned his face away, trembling. He couldn't stop. Even as he pressed his hands against the edge of the table, they shook. A lone tear traced down his cheek, and just like that, the floodgates opened.

"Renshu..." Caihong whispered. She heard a sob.

The sobs were stifled at first as he tried to hide his face. He clasped onto the table for support, his whole body shaking.

"Ma...."

There was a rawness to his sobs; his pain was a bloody, open wound.

His dark lashes brimmed heavy with tears; his hands clenched into shaking fists.

Caihong and Quinyang exchanged helpless, grieved glances.

Renshu wept, hot tears streaming from his bloodshot eyes, loud, heaving sobs tearing from his throat.

"Mommy... Mommy..." He couldn't say anything else. He let out a loud, heart-wrenching wail, his tears dripping down his wobbling chin and drenching the front of his robes.

Caihong hugged him tightly.

Images of Ehuang's azure eyes, which were of the same colour as her robes, her long, dark hair which glistened in the sunlight, kept flashing across his mind, wrenching anguished whimpers out of him.

"Mom... Mom..." The weight in his chest and the lump in his throat didn't allow him to say anything else.

They both stumbled towards the bed, where Quinyang was sitting. She gathered the boy in her arms and helped him get up onto the bed.

"Renshu?" She softly asked, tenderly wiping his tears away. "Renshu, look at me, please? Darling? Please?"

He looked, slow desolate tears making their way down his neck.

"Caihong's father and I have sent our regards to your parents. They will be here very soon, son," Quinyang held him in her arms, caressing his hair lovingly.

"Mommy...."

"You're like my own son, Renshu. Till your mother comes, son, will you let this mother take care of you? True, I may not know what you like, but I can learn."

Caihong piped up enthusiastically, " Yes, yes, RenRen, you are my best friend, my mommy is your mommy too!!"

Renshu hiccuped as he choked on his tears, shaking like a leaf, and clung onto the older woman's lapels. He cried like there was a gale inside him fighting to get out.

Caihong leaned in and kissed his tear-stained cheeks, making Quinyang purse her lips. But for once, she smiled and let it go.
In the meanwhile, Caihong abandoned her lap and pushed Renshu into her cradling arms.

"I want Mommy... Mommy.." he cried, clutching at Quinyang's robes. He felt gentle arms rub his back.

"Don't worry, son. Your mother will be here soon."

A tiny lapse let him pull away, blinking lashes heavy with brine before he burst into tears again.

He sniffled into a handkerchief which Caihong held near his nose, fresh salt drops pouring down like rain.
"Mom..."

The pain came in waves, minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling him back into the outstretched arms of his grief.

Quinyang began to hum a tune, as she gently rocked the crying child in her lap and patted his head. Caihong, who knew the song too well as it was her favourite lullaby, joined in.

As his exhaustion began to draw him into oblivion, the last thing Renshu remembered was the austere scent of the incense of placidity, and the warmth of two pairs of loving arms holding him in a secure embrace.

†******†

Mǔqīn is a formal way of addressing the mother.