Chapter74: Thanks, Sorry and Please

They ran through the forest at full speed. Shibi was still breathing weakly in Zen’s ars as he made his way through the forest. They made their way out of the forest and onto the academy grounds where they reached the healers headquarters soon after.

“Help! Help!” Zen shouted as he got in.

Hong Lu looked at Zen panicked face with a bored expression. “Graveyard shift my butt, this is the sixth student I’ve seen today,” she whispered to herself.

“Miss Hong!” Zen said, please help. He stretched his arms out as Jiahai and Rizon rushed in.

“I… We don’t do wild beasts.” Hong Lu said, looking at Shibi. “But I will heal you gu…”

“Please!” Zen said, before digging out a storage stone with one hand. “I’ll give you everything I have.” He showed her the stone.

“If he agrees to it,” she nodded towards Jiahai, with his arm hanging bloody at his side.

Jiahai gave a nod.

“Alright,” Lu Hong took Shibi from Zen and disappeared behind a room.

Zen paced up and down in the room as he waited for any news. Another healer eventually came and looked at the injuries he and Jiahai had. They had gotten healed enough and still they waited for news of Shibi.

Hours passed, the sky began lightening up, heralding the coming of the morning sun. Lu Hong walked out of the room, wiping his hands on a red stained cloth.

“Miss Hong, is Shibi okay?”

“Hmph,” Lu Hong threw the rag away. “Yes, the scorch ape is alright.”

Zen sighed in relief, already feeling tears threatening to spill as the room was filled with the morning sun.

“You did a good job on your pet though.” Lu Hong said, looking annoyed. “Next time you do that, don’t bring him to me.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Your Scorch Ape’s injuries are not from another wild beast.” She said. “It had injuries that could come from knife slashed, imprints suggesting he was punched by a kid with roughly your size of hands and even a shoe print of blood on its back that suggests it was stepped on.”

“I… I assure you I did no such thing.”

“Alright,” Lu Hong said sceptically. “Well, he should be good in a few weeks.”

Jiahai got to his feet and made to leave. This action caught Zen’s attention.

“Jiahai, thanks for your help.” Zen said.

Jiahai stopped. “You shouldn’t be thanking me, cause I’m not blameless in Shibi getting hurt.”

“What?”

“After we fought, I thought things between you and us were square but Xaun Bao did not feel the same.” Jiahai said, casting his eyes to the floor. “He asked me to attack Shibi… to make you hurt. I refused. And that was the last time I spoke to him and the other guys.”

“Then you had no part in attacking Shibi.” Zen said.

“Maybe not but I knew that if I didn’t do it, Xaun Bao most likely get one of the others to.” Jaihai said. “I should have warned you but my pride did not let me. For that, I am sorry.”

Zen nodded, “Back when we fought… when I hurt my leg, Miss Hong said that her collegues had told her that there was someone hurt in the mountain… me. You told them I was hurt, out there, didn’t you?”

Jiahai kept silent and the strange quietness stretched across the room.

“If it wasn’t for you,” Zen said, breaking the silence, “Shibi may be dead now. So, still… thanks.”

Jiahai left, Rizon loyally following after him.

Zen looked at Hing Lu and once again produced his storage stone. “Thank you Miss Hong.” He offered her the stone.

“Don’t call me Miss Hong! It makes me sound old and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m too beautiful to be old.”

“Sorry.”

“And I’m not taking your storage stone.”

“Really?” Zen’s eyes lit up. “You’ll treat Shibi for free!”

“I’m not that kind.” She said. “All I’m saying is that I don’t pawn things. I beauty like me can’t be seen in places that pawn things off.”

“I… I don’t understand.”

“Pawn your junk off but when your done, I want 15 gold coins.”

“15 gold coins!” Zen said. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Then your monkey’s health is going to take quiet a dive, unless I get my money.”

Zen once again found himself in the water elementist temple. He could tell that they remembered him, judging by how quickly they were able to send a message across the pond. The water pond leapt up and formed a disk while suspended in the air.

An image of his father appeared, looking down on him. Zen’s father sighed, an annoyed sigh. “What do you want, son?”

Zen dropped to his knees, bending his head down. The motion drew his father’s attention who sat forward, after the motion.

“Father, I need your help.” He looked up. “Shibi got hurt, badly, and the healer wants 15 gold coins.”

“How was he hurt?”

“He… He was attacked.” Zen looked down again.

There was moment of silence.

“Fine.”

Zen’s eyes widened as his head snapped up so fast, that his neck hurt. “You’ll give me the money!”

“Oh, you will receive 15 gold coins from me but I won’t just give them to you.”

Zen looked on in confusion, “A loan?”

His father shook his head. “Not exactly. I am purchasing something from you, for the generous price of 15 gold coins.”

Zen looked down again, his head deep in thought. He did not know of anything that he had worth selling to his own father. Everything he had was given by his family. “I… I have nothing to sell.” He said, looking up at him again.

“Oh but you do,” he said. “Peace.”

“Peace?”

His father nodded. “I will be busy these coming holidays, meaning I’ll need as much peace as I can get. So for 15 gold coins, I don’t want to hear your whining voice in my ear or mind. This means no communications such as this one, no news of your ridiculous exploits and failure. For the holidays, I want to forget you exist.”

Zen looked down.

“Well son?” he said. “For what I’m getting, 15 gold is generous.”

“Yes,” Zen nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Good,” he said. “Expect the money within the hour.”

The water dropped back down into the pond suddenly. His father had disconnected.

Zen continued to kneel there in silence. A numb feeling spread all over him. He felt nothing. Then, happiness spread across his heart. He smiled. His father had humiliated him but Shibi would be safe. For that, he would sell his pride a hundred times over.

“Alright, there he is.” Hong Lu said, leading Zen to Shibi after having received her payment.

Shibi looked up weakly at Zen and smiled when he was in the human’s arms.

“Is he okay? He looks weak.”

“You try being perky after having the crap kicked out of you.” Lu Hong said. “It’ll be back to normal in a few weeks.” Lu Hong smiled as she watched Zen whisper to the Scorch Ape. “You really like that ape, don’t you?”

Zen looked at her. “He is my only companion.” He said.

“Yeah, you got the cash pretty fast.” Lu Hong said. “To be honest, I would have happily accepted 7 gold coins but the speed you got the 15…”

“You would have accepted 7? But what about the whole thing you said about Shibi’s health going down if I don’t give you the money?”

“I had already healed it,” Hong Lu said. “It’s not like if you didn’t pay me, I could reverse y healing.” Lu Hong dug something out of a trunk and presented it to Zen. It was a container with round pills in it.

“What’s this?”

“Healing pills,” she said. “Good for human and beast. It will speed up the healing process for tissue, meaning organs and bruises.”

“Thanks,” Zen said, before going back to his dorm room, with a happy Shibi in his arms.