The curtain of night has already fallen, but even after drinking another cup of tea promised to induce drowsiness, Yenisei finds that sleep evades her.
In theory, someone so heavily fatigued, should fall fast asleep the very moment the opportunity presents itself. But not for her.
On the contrary, her mind, so sick with worries, seems to run faster now than ever in the stillness of night.
Yenisei: ...
Bessmert: ...
Yenisei: sighs
She stands up, steps away from the couch, and treads lightly down the stairs.
Unwelcome in even her own dreams, she wanders around without direction.
Yenisei: The yard ... Go downstairs and through the main hall ...
Groping around for the railing in the darkness, she walks up and then down the steps.
One step, another step ... As she descends, a rustling sound envelops her in the darkness, like an indelible point that demands her whole focus.
Yenisei: Hmm? What's that sound ...
Yenisei: Where does it come from?
???: By the flowers in the snow, raise a toast and don't say no.
Yenisei: ...
Yenisei: Who is it? Someone's ...
Yenisei: ... singing?
Without realizing it, she departs the second floor and follows the sound into the spacious hall of the tavern.
With the cascading moonlight and melodious singing, the scene laid out before her is one that defies description.
???: By the flowers in the snow, raise a toast and don't say no.
Yenisei: What ...
Yenisei: The striped horses—how come they are ... glowing?!
Yenisei: What ...
Yenisei: What on earth is happening?!
Yenisei: I ...
Yenisei: Gosh!
With its red mane and luminous stripes, the "horse" stands there in the courtyard and turns gently toward her.
The singing continues, almost freezing Yenisei in place. She turns around sharply, trying to escape the sound, only to realize that she has already been surrounded ...
… by the group of wooden dolls who were in her cup earlier.
Wooden Dolls: By the flowers in the snow, raise a toast and don't say no.
Yenisei: ...?
Wooden Dolls: Fill your cup, fill your cup!
Yenisei: Are they ... asking me to drink?
Yenisei: Jiǔ Niángzǐ! Where are you?
Yenisei: Is she ...
Now, the wooden dolls, originally submerged in the stream in the courtyard, have begun to climb up the bank.
They surround her, spinning, singing, and contorting, with bodies clearly possessing a flexibility beyond what wood should possess.
Using this odd flexibility, they repeatedly lift their full cups toward Yenisei.
Wooden Dolls: No turning down, no turning down!
Yenisei: No ...
This invitation, perhaps initially hospitable, turns increasingly creepy in the dark night.
Making a choice now requires next to no thought. Yenisei jumps out from their enclosure and runs toward the other end of the yard—toward the water jar.
Fortunately, she clearly remembered the location pointed out by Jiǔ Niángzǐ.
Yenisei: I can't go back to my room. Need to lead them away.
The wooden dolls still sing happily, as if they are only playing a game of tag.
COMBAT
Yenisei: Ugh!
The wooden dolls stage a disorganized offensive, with a piercing song that twists Yenisei's perception of her surroundings.
She can only stand by the water jar, in a constant retreat, consciously nearing a dead end.
Wooden Dolls: sound of wood rubbing
Wooden Dolls: Clack. Clack. Clack.
Yenisei: No ...
Yenisei: Can't stop here. I must go ... farther.
Yenisei: Come here! This way!
The wooden figures have no ears, so it seems unlikely they hear or understand her.
Nonetheless, they are lured in, leaping forward with strange enthusiasm.
Never tiring. Just like those cups, always lifted high, constantly spilling and overflowing.
Wooden Dolls: sound of wood rubbing
???: ...
It seems these crude wooden creations are quick to be alert to sudden interlopers.
They immediately stop their siege of Yenisei and abruptly turn toward the tall trees in the courtyard.
Yenisei: Hmm? Where are they going?
Wooden Dolls: Clack! Clack!
The coercive rhythm plays heavier and faster than before, as they jump a few more hops toward the bottom of the tree—
???: Be off!
A wand of bone flies out from the darkness, scattering liquor and shattering the wooden figures into pieces.
???: ...
Serenity comes back to the scene, the end coming as swiftly as its beginning.
???: They are conjured ...
???: ... so feebly.
Yenisei: Who ... Who is it?!
???: Hmm?
???: It's you?
Yenisei: You? The feather man who stole our horses!
???: No matter. You're leaving with me.
Yenisei: Leave me alone! What is going on?
???: Silence. It's dangerous here, and words are no help to us.
Without hesitation, the giant bird grabs Yenisei's arms quickly, lifting her up and away from the courtyard.
Her struggle proves futile in the howling wind.
Yenisei: Aaaah!
The sound of flapping wings punctuated by the shrieking girl gradually fades in the distance, leaving only a disordered mess as evidence in the courtyard.
In the morning, Jiǔ Niángzǐ walks into the shambolic scene.
A still-intact wooden doll bounces around, gathering the remains of its kind into a ball.
Wooden Doll: Alas, alas. An arm is missing. Can't put them together, anymore.
Jiu Niangzi: ...
Wooden Doll: Late. You are late.
Jiu Niangzi: What's going on?
Jiu Niangzi: I told you to keep the house, not to tear it down.
Wooden Doll: Being, a, good host. Offering, a drink.
Jiu Niangzi: Offer a drink to whom?
Jiu Niangzi: Those two ladies should be soundly asleep upstairs.
Wooden Doll: One, was downstairs, at night. Bird man, with her.
Jiu Niangzi: Bird man ... You mean that feather man? He had been here?!
Jiu Niangzi: What was he doing here? He's not even a Xiángruì, nor is he doing anything good. Do not offer a drink to him!
Jiu Niangzi: Humph. If I were the one treating him, I would ...
Wooden Doll: He took one, with him.
Jiu Niangzi: I would ... I, wait, what?
Jiu Niangzi: Took whom with him??
Wooden Doll: The scarlet. The brown, took away, the scarlet.
Jiu Niangzi: Brown? Scarlet? What color is that?
Jiu Niangzi: sighs You're just confusing me. I'll make you one more mouth next time. What on earth are you talking about.
Bessmert: Hiss ...
Jiǔ Niángzǐ turns around to see Bessmert fall over the threshold.
She quickly approaches with her skirt held up, and the wooden doll jumping up and down, hiding behind her.
Jiu Niangzi: Be careful! I'll help you.
Bessmert: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Bessmert: Where's Yenisei? Did you see her upstairs or in the yard?
Jiu Niangzi: Are you talking about your red-haired friend? Did she go out?
Bessmert: No, not very likely. She would have told me if she was going out. Or at least ask someone to pass on the message.
Bessmert: Did you really not see her today?
Jiǔ Niángzǐ racks her brain, her voice coming out serious and resolute.
Jiu Niangzi: No, not this morning, no.
Bessmert: ...
Bessmert: The missing persons cases! Is this how they happened?!
Jiu Niangzi: I-I don't know. Lǐzhèng didn't make it in time to tell me the details ...
Bessmert falls into silence. This is a loss that she finds difficult to accept.
Bessmert: If—I'm only saying—if this is another missing case, there must be a clue or two telling us what happened.
Bessmert: Could you please look around and see if she has left anything in the yard? She must have been taken from there, or I would have definitely heard the noises.
Bessmert anxiously grasps Jiǔ Niángzǐ's hands. Their hands are equally coarse—one pair exposed to age and sun, and the other exposed to grueling work.
Jiu Niangzi: Stay calm. Let's go ask Lǐzhèng.
Bessmert: Wait ...
Jiu Niangzi: What's wrong?
Bessmert: I sense an arcane energy. Someone cast a skill in the yard.
Bessmert: Follow me.
Jiu Niangzi: Where are you going? You can't see! Just tell me. I'll take you there.
Bessmert: No, please follow me.
Jiu Niangzi: You're heading toward the water jar. I was here last night to get water.
Bessmert: It's somewhere close to the water jar. I sense it clearly.
Bessmert wades through the stream and stops in front of the water jar. She crouches down to find something among the scattered leaves in front of her.
Jiu Niangzi: Is this a bone?
Bessmert: That makes sense. Lǐzhèng told us that the feather man uses a bone wand. Yenisei also saw something similar in that giant bird's hand when we faced him outside the city.
Jiu Niangzi: I knew it! Now, we have the proof, we can ...
Bessmert: No, it's not enough. And Yenisei is missing.
Jiu Niangzi: Why not enough? He left his bone wand, which means he was here before. And your friend is missing! Still not enough to prove his guilt?
Bessmert: But only Yenisei knows what the giant bird looks like. She also drew the picture of that bird.
Bessmert: Without her, we cannot confirm that the feather man and the giant bird are the same creature.
Jiu Niangzi: I don't understand. You're saying that, even if we have his bone wand, we can't prove anything?
Bessmert: Exactly.
Jiu Niangzi: But, I think you're overthinking.
Bessmert raises her head slightly, conveying her confusion in unsubtle movements.
Jiu Niangzi: I-I mean, whether enough or not, it's not up to us, right?
Jiu Niangzi: I know nothing about the law. It ... it just doesn't feel right.
The girl's voice quietens down, giving rise to her own hesitation.
Jiu Niangzi: I'm just thinking ... we should do something, because you are sad.
But Bessmert already understands.
Bessmert: ...
Bessmert: You have a point. Then we ...
Jiu Niangzi: Let's go to the Zhící now! Lǐzhèng will be there today. He is supposed to tell me something about the Dùshuò Festival.
Jiu Niangzi: Let's tell him what happened today. He will know what to do!
Bessmert: Sure.
They decided to head towards the Zhící. Bessmert puts away the bone wand and follows Jiǔ Niángzǐ's footsteps carefully, one at a time.
They leave the wooden doll standing in place, a sentinel atop the rest of the debris.