"Ming Ran~!" Cang Yuan lay sprawled across the porch of the Bamboo Hut melting in the summer heat. Ming Ran trotted over with some tea. Cang Yuan whimpered, "Why is summer so hot?" He took a sip of the tea and rolled over. "Oh... and I still have to deliver the documents to Tiger Peak. I don't wanna!" He rolled over a couple more times to demonstrate his distaste. Wei Ning sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow.
How was training? Ming Ran brought him a towel.
"It was fine minus the fact that some rapid tigers took up the whole path. Sometimes, Master, I think your rules are unreasonable." he sighed.
"You're telling me!" Meng Yu groaned, "Remind me why we can't fight disciples from other peaks? They think we're weak because we never fight." Cang Yuan groaned.
"This again? This is exactly why you aren't allowed to fight with other peaks! Sometimes the strongest beasts are the ones who refuse to use their fangs." Cang Yuan sighed. "Ming Ran, be a dear and deliver these to the Tiger Peak."
When the tiger is present, the foxes content themselves with the slopes.
"Nonsense. It is not as though we are not able to fight, but that we have no real need to. What is the worst they have done to you? Barbed compliments? Rumors? Teasing? Verbal bullying? Words like that are only spewed by the weak. Have you never noticed that it is the smallest dogs that bark the loudest? Because they are the most fierce? No. Because they wish to sound stronger, along comes a bigger dog, however, and they will be ripped to shreds." Ming Ran held out his hands and received the documents from his shizun.
In other words, the truly strong do not act unless they have no choice?
"No. The truly strong do not act unless they have something they must do. Petty vengeance or proving yourself superior are things you wish to do, not something that you must. Only draw your weapons when you have something that must be done."
...
"Or so he says." Meng Yu sighed as he sauntered alongside Ming Ran, "Is letting everyone walk all over us something that we should just put up with?" Wei Ning sighed, shaking his head.
"If one is continuously passive, they will be unable to protect anything. Waiting does nothing but bring regret." he stated. There was a time that he thought that words could not do any real damage, however, it brought the people he cared about to their knees. The sounds that he sometimes forgot about; the rumble of cars, the buzz of crowds, the melody of glass meeting glass, the sound of cheering, the harmony of laughter. Sometimes he felt as though he couldn't clearly remember what they sounded like. Other times he could hear them as he walked about the supple bamboo and could hear the whisper of the wind roaming about the leafs.
Ming Ran carried the papers over his shoulder in a sack, and felt his way through the grove with his walking stick. There was a collective silence in the group as they soaked in the rare serious lessons from their shizun. Oftentimes his lessons were wrapped inside playful banter, and it made them search for the meaning in every little thing he did. Their master was a man who was free spirited and-- much like the wind-- would follow whatever path he was blown to. Weaving through trees, about mountains, and surrounding everything. Ever since their lovemaking in this very grove, Ming Ran had been trying to find out exactly the point of these exercises. All the pranks and games and banter that had made up his time with his shizun. Lately, Ming Ran had been told to go alone from place to place, doing odd jobs and errands.
Upon arriving at the gate, Wei Ning and Meng Yu stopped, an air of unease rippling off of them. Ming Ran tilted his head and turned to face them.
"We aren't allowed to go with you, but be careful, okay? The upcoming tournament has everyone in a frenzy." Meng Yu was uncharacteristically uneasy. He was like an ice berg floating in the ocean, weathering every storm and catastrophe that came its way. Watching the uneasy shudders of such a giant, made others feel equally uncomfortable. Would the ice beneath their feet crack and give way? Ming Ran could only nod and wave them goodbye.
Ming Ran had more or less learned how to navigate the world around him even with a blindfold. Everything has its own unique qi and it became easier to make ones way through the world by sensing the path. Perhaps it was because he had been relying more on the ground beneath his feet, Ming Ran felt a particular closeness with the earth element-
The air around him moved, and he both felt and heard the sound of something whizzing passed his ear. Before he knew what was happening, Ming Ran felt himself leaning against the earth beneath him, his lungs filling with air as adrenaline pulsed in every muscle of his body. A few voices raised in laughter, and he felt a group of people come closer.
"Aw, man! That was priceless! Did you see the way he jumped!"
"Pft. Did we scare ya?"
"Look he's shaking! What a wuss!"
Ming Ran gathered himself, and found his feet. In one sweeping motion, his toe flung his bamboo walking stick into the air. It met his palm and he twirled it about his fingers a few times before tapping it hard against the ground. He felt the group tense as though he would attack any moment. For one full minute, the air was stagnated with tension. Ming Ran let out a sigh, and began to make his way passed the group of boys. Their aura went from unease to annoyance. One of them grabbed his shoulder, squeezing hard.
"Hey! We aren't done here."
Ming Ran shuddered, and shook his head rapidly.
"What? You scared now?"
"And why... should he be scared?" the ominous aura couple with the familiar qi told Ming Ran that the next few minutes would be painful indeed.
"Gong June..."
"You boys got some balls messing with my adorable little brother, don'tcha?"