Yanping: In my homeland, the people living under the mountain had a preference for jade wares.
Yanping: I can only scarcely remember when those delicate jade pendants first came into fashion in the city. They resembled their coins; rounded, with a hole in the center.
Yanping: Some were glossy green, others pale white. They would feel warm if kept close to the body.
Yanping: Perhaps that's why it was worth so much.
Yanping: I first saw it on the belt of a scholar.
Scholar: ... I ... pray ...
Scholar: ... keep us safe ... in this place ...
Yanping: What is that ...?
He raises his head from behind his wings and to look down through the leaves.
This is not the first time he has heard a human here.
Yanping: Another seeker of blessings.
Yanping: I wonder why they put so much trust in the power of this tree ...
Yanping: Perhaps they do this simply for peace of mind. I suppose it doesn't matter.
Citizen: Good day to you, young master. I've seen you up here a lot of late.
Citizen: Here to pray for the exam? You have shown good devotion. The tree fairy will surely look after you.
Scholar: I can only hope to be so blessed.
Scholar: I come here to pray every day, but I do so just to reassure myself, in case I become too nervous in the exam to remember what I have learned.
Citizen: You ought to play some music underneath the tree.
Citizen: People say they hear songs coming down from the tree, but no one has ever seen any bird or man playing it. We figure it's a fairy.
Citizen: And if you play music to please her, the fairy might give you her blessings.
Yanping: ...
Getian never expected he'd be the cause of a superstition.
He had just learned a song from the bones. It had been a quiet day, and he was practicing.
Who would have thought it could be so misconstrued?
Scholar: Wouldn't I be ... swaying the fairy's judgment if I did so?
Scholar: I should just say my wishes as they are. Then it's the fairy's choice to grant them or not.
They converse for a little longer, until the second voice begins to fade away.
Now the only voice is the one which woke him from his dream.
Scholar: I wish for the people here to live a life of peace, safe from disaster, and that their hard work will be rewarded with bountiful harvests ...
Scholar: ... that merchants will be safe on their journeys ...
Yanping: His wishes are all about others.
Yanping: How curious ...
He loses himself momentarily in thought before casting another glance down to him.
Yanping: That backbone ... He may make a good counselor in the court.
He rarely read other creatures' bones outside of his own people.
Bone reading so often makes one curious; and curiosity in turn could be the cause of many troubles.
Even when he wanted to read another creature's bones, he would inevitably talk himself out of it.
He tries, with some difficulty, to not make this an exception.
Yanping: Pity he will live a disturbed life. Over-righteousness often comes with misfortune.
Yanping: He will die for his beliefs. I cannot help but wonder if it might be a …
Yanping: ... No. It's none of my concern.
Gětiān pulls back his glance from the man and his bones.
But the voice inches closer.
Scholar: I must set out tomorrow.
Scholar: Let me see. I don't have anything valuable, actually. I'll just leave this here, as a token of sincerity.
Scholar: I promise to return with better offerings to show my gratitude, well, if my wishes come true that is ...
Yanping: ...
As the man approaches the tree, the bird withdraws more deeply into its leaves.
There is a rustling of fabric and grass. Something is put on the ground.
Scholar: Right. This ... should do it.
Scholar: Farewell.
Gětiān cannot dare to look until all is quiet again.
Below him now is a jade pendant. The same that had hung on the young man's belt.
The bird ponders for a moment and puts it into the tree's hollow.
Yanping: Nobody will look inside the tree's hollow. It's safer here.
Yanping: And should he come back to look for it, I will find a way to return it to him.
Yanping: What is lost must be returned, so one may be spared unwanted troubles.
The thought puts his mind at ease. And he returns to his sleep.
Yanping: After the young scholar left, life in the forest became quiet again. I spent many long hours in that tree, napping or just listening to the wind.
Yanping: But the scholar never returned.
Yanping: Perhaps it is just as his bones foretold; and he was taken by death young.
Yanping: Even if I was wrong, mortal lives are short. The pendant no longer had a master.
Yanping: Until I met its second owner.
Scholar's Son: So this is the tree Father mentioned. It's more flourishing than I imagined.
Scholar's Son: I wouldn't be surprised if there truly was a fairy here.
Yanping: I hadn't seen many blessing-seekers for some time. It seemed now that people only gathered under the tree to talk and laugh before parting ways.
Yanping: Humans ...
Yanping: Hmm?
Seeing this young man recalls a similar scene.
His bones are strangely similar to those of the young scholar who visited so many years ago.
He foresees that this man too will meet a similar end.
Yanping: I thought people in the outside world cherished their lives more than anything. How come he would rather die than stand by? It's meaningless.
Yanping: Risking your life just to say something that might not even be adopted. How reckless! It's not worth it.
Yanping: Is this necessary?
For him, spending so much time in this tree, well perhaps it's merely habit ... But this is where the humans come to make their wishes.
And he listens to their requests, trying to understand what draws his race to them.
He no longer blames his people for leaving home behind. Still, he is puzzled.
... Why did you go into the human world? Why did you sacrifice yourself?
Scholar's Son: Father, the places you used to talk about, I visited them all.
Scholar's Son: You warned me not to follow in your footsteps. But I chose this path on my own.
Scholar's Son: Besides, I have already seen the beauty of the world. I can't bear to watch it being ruined.
Gětiān listens silently from the treetop.
This had been the moment to return the pendant.
Scholar's Son: Such a beautiful tree should stay here alone, so it won't be destroyed.
Scholar's Son: Enough empty words. I've made up my mind.
The young man walks away with determination. Never looking back.
The bird knows at that moment he will never see him again.
From then on, he found himself returning to the hollow to check on the pendant.
Within a few short days his prediction appears to come true.
Yanping: As I thought.
Yanping: What could he have gained from this desperate course of action?
Yanping: ...
The jade, now broken, seems like little more than a mound of pebbles. But the bird picks them up.
Yanping: I tried to repair it. Doing the best I could, afterward I tied it to the end of my bone flute.
Yanping: I thought maybe I would come to understand them more by repairing the jade.
Yanping: They struggled for what they knew was impossible, and even died for it unknowingly, just like my people.
Yanping: Not long after that, a strange rumor went around the village—that people there were being mysteriously turned into horses.
Yanping: I decided to find out what really happened.
Yanping: Turns out I am also part of the story.
