The golden mark on Kuan Yin’s arm caught the eye of the Divine Couple. Mercury was sure judging by how they looked at it. As the messenger of the gods, he was accustomed to how the divinities reacted and had a rough idea of what was in their minds. The Queen Mother looked on, interest in her eyes as she looked at the mark on her daughter’s arm. Whatever it was that was stopping her move of inquisition, Mercury was not sure but if there was one thing he knew, it was that the Jade Emperor was looking at it sternly, as if already knowing what it was yet still was not sure.
They looked far different than when they were speaking to Nataku about the Runes. There was no longer the look of elegance and gentleness that the Queen Mother had brought up during that instant. The Jade Emperor did not look like all-knowing at all. But he looked as though he were a scheming black cat donning a mask of deception. They looked dominant and commanded for respect. Power was in their eyes – a power that ordered for respect and fear, a power of defiance for anything that opposes them. Yes, this was how the Divine Couple was.
“Mother…” Kuan Yin’s voice cut through Mercury’s thoughts, “Upon the request of Daisepha Odin and mine as well, I have come here to ask you for the Immortal Peaches to give to the mortal soul Esmeralda on account of playing an essential role assigned to her.”
“Esmeralda…” the Queen Mother Izanami spoke in a tone striking either answer or question.
“Essential role?” Izanagi asked, his eyes lifting from the golden coil to this daughter’s face, “The war between the Dark Elves and the Humans?”
Kuan Yin nodded.
“Odin had no business interfering with the Weaving.” Izanagi declared with a pinch of disappointment.
“Esmeralda prayed to him.” Kuan Yin replied.
“No. Esmeralda prayed to you.” Izanagi said again, more dominance in his tone this time as his eyebrow twitched a little, “You know that.”
“It was a mortal’s silent plea. And Daisepha owed her a deal of favor for taking them in.”
“They are gods, Kuan Yin. What kind of god holds hospitality as a favor?” Izanagi leaned back and stroke his beard, looking Kuan Yin from head to foot, “Hospitality rendered to a god is not a favor but a duty for a mere mortal… and a privelege indeed. Odin bears her no debt.”
“The Peaches are only for special people, dear…” Izanami muttered, her voice being muffled by the sound of the fan she began flapping.
“But Esmeralda is special. And Asgard owes her something.” Kuan Yin reasoned, holding up a calm composure that urged one to listen, “Persephone shot her with Babylon Tower. A mortal is not to die in an Aesir’s hands if and only if she is of threat to Asgard or if the killing was out of accident and deemed only necessary.”
“In addition, Persephone used her soul in order to control Daisepha and hurt Daidanpha. An Aesir will not use any soul in order to injure or torment any other Aesir or being unless this soul has been brought under said Aesir’s seniority. Esmeralda’s soul has not yet descended into Hel but was claimed by the body of Daisepha Odin so she had no right of manipulation over it as of the moment.”
The Divine Couple kept quiet. Mercury had to stop a smile from showing. Kuan Yin’s words were convincing and striking that the Divine Couple themselves hushed for a moment to think. To think that Kuan Yin was only a goddess of compassion, her way of interpolation was wonderful that it made him wonder how Odin, the God of Knowledge, would conduct himself.
“Struck with Babylon Tower…” Izanagi murmured, “Then her soul must be cleansed, I presume.”
“Cleansed?” Kuan Yin gasped.
“Yes. An unprotected mortal struck with a spell such as Babylon Tower will immediately die and its after-effects will carry on to her soul.”
“But it was the after-effects that killed her because Nataku had her protective sash around Esmeralda.”
“WHAT!” Izanagi hollered as he rose from his seat violently as a strong gush of energy burst out of him. Izanami stopped flapping her fan as a protective barrier surrounded her. The Jade Emperor’s eyes were wide in surprise and probably anger. Kuan Yin gasped at the outburst as Mercury put up a barrier that prevented her from being disheveled by the flare-up.
Kuan Yin could not figure out why her father was enraged by Nataku using her sash in protecting a mortal. After all, using it was upon the order of Odin and Nataku had to obey.
Unless, of course…
“That was meant only for gods!” The Jade Emperor roared, “What reason does she have to use it on a mortal!”
“Daisepha told her to protect Esme—"
“Was there no other means for her to protect the mortal!?” Izanagi shouted again, louder this time as if Kuan Yin was the person to blame, “And why did Odin have to ask Nataku to protect the mortal!?”
The Queen Mother Izanami gasped.
Why did Odin have to ask Nataku to protect the mortal?
Of course!
“Izanagi.” The Queen Mother said, closing her fan and getting up, “I believe I understand now.”
The Jade Emperor raised his eyebrow as he still fumed, sending his wife a threatening gaze. But Izanami stood unshaken and she smiled as if saying “Trust me.” And Izanagi’s shoulders dropped. The pressure in the room disappeared as he sank to his chair slowly.
Kuan Yin blinked at the exchange, trying to make something out of it but couldn’t. Izanagi’s eyebrows were still crunched together as he leaned back, propping his head on his hand as his eyes shifted in disappointment. Izanami opened her feathered fan again and began to flap it as she went down the steps. And as Mercury saw her coming towards them, his heart began pounding harder as if something was wrong.
“Kuan Yin dear…” Izanami smiled the dearest of smiles, “Entrust her soul to me and I will give her the Peaches.”
Kuan Yin bit her lip in hesitation as her eyes shifted from her father to her mother. Something felt like it wasn’t right and yet here her mother was saying she would grant the request.
Isn’t this what she had asked for?
“Don’t mind your father.” She said again, touching her daughter’s face, “You had always been blessed with such a sweet spirit, Kuan Yin. I, as your mother, understand that very well.”
“But…”
“Listen to me, Kuan Yin.” The Queen Mother touched the golden mark, “I am your mother, am I not?”
Silently, Mercury cursed. He was in no position to say anything regarding the matter be it for or against the Queen Mother. But his mind was shouting various thoughts he could not make out of. But, indeed, Mercury hated the situation. Kuan Yin sighed and the golden mark uncoiled itself and began to take Esmeralda’s form in glowing light. Her eyes were closed and her body relaxed as if in a deep slumber. The Queen Mother looked at Esmeralda thoughtfully as she smiled and said, “What a beautiful creation. This beauty is not fit to belong in Midgard.”
“What?” Kuan Yin’s heart pounded hard once.
“This beauty is for Asgard, of course. She deserves to dine with us.”
“Mother…” Kuan Yin’s voice was now trembling as her mother started off towards a door to the side of the throne, “Mother, you’re going to let her eat the Peaches, right?”
Izanami stopped at her tracks a few paces before the door. Izanagi stood up to follow his wife. Kuan Yin’s heart pounded harder as her mother answered, “But, of course, dear… How else is she going to be with your brother?”
Kuan Yin gasped at a sudden realization.
“No… Mother, wait!”
But her words seemed not to reach them as their figures disappeared behind the wooden door. A distraught Kuan Yin ran after them too late and Mercury was cursing again, a little louder this time.
Weren’t parents supposed to want their children to be happy?
“Mother, what are you going to do to Esmeralda!”
… Unless, of course, that happiness lies equally on a balance with sadness…
“Mother – Ah!”
Kuan Yin bounced with a thump off an invisible force and Mercury gasped, gliding towards her immediately as she remained still on the marble floor. Mercury uneasily watched her shaky image as he landed beside her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she uttered words muffled by sobs. For a moment, Mercury cursed being so small as he groped for anything to say to Kuan Yin to ease out the pain. And yet there was nothing. And that nothingness made him even more impatient. Thoughtfully, he looked at the closed wooden door. How he despised this dominance, this politics, this system! How he cursed every moment of it!
“What have I done?” Mercury heard Kuan Yin sob, “I… should have listened to you…”
“Maybe we can still…”
“There is nothing we can do.” Kuan Yin cut off what she knew Mercury would say. It was to give her hope. And hope was a thing of scarcity. Kuan Yin had learned about the human proverbs and quotations about hope. It made hope seem as though it was a thing of beauty. But beauty does not come without a price in Asgard. Hope was beautiful and yet scarce and painful. And to wait for it and be awarded with it is a golden moment. Kuan Yin would not want her hopes up only to be dragged back down again. It was painful enough that she felt responsible for something that she knew is horrible, something to hurt not only her brother but also others. And if she would dare to even think the Divine Couple – her parents – would have second thoughts in doing whatever it was they would be doing to Esmeralda, it would be even more painful.
Ah, how pitiful, the Goddess of Compassion! It was stupid of her to even think that her parents would soften for her brother. Loki had tried it once, her insistent brother. It was stupid of her to think she had even an ounce of strength that Loki had. Esmeralda was not cursed.
Not anymore.
“Lady Kuan Yin, it’s too late to do anything about Esmeralda but let’s do the best we can.” Mercury was speaking hastily in a low voice. And when the Aesir before him did not reply, he added, “I am the Messenger. I will glide down to Midgard to look for your brothers and tell them of this matter.”
“What should I do?”
Mercury looked at her, a living irony – the Goddess of Mercy who seeks mercy herself. It was a sad thing to see someone like her in a state such as this. “Lady Kuan Yin, do what you do best.” He muttered with a small smile, “Pray.”
“Pray…? To whom?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just pray. Someone will hear you.”
“You think so?”
Mercury paused for a while and smiled saying, “I know so.”
The twelve-inch Aesir lifted from the ground and fleeted away from Kuan Yin, out of Asgard and down to Midgard. And as she watched the smallest Aesir she knew fly farther and farther away from where she was, an ear-piercing shriek escaped from Asgard.
A shriek of help…
A shriek of pain…
And Kuan Yin prayed.