Caihong earned herself a disapproving glare from Elder Lady Ruan as she yawned widely. Not that it affected her anyway, so she stretched herself like a cat and proceeded to leisurely crack her knuckles one by one. She flopped down on the floor and kicked the shawl off her lap. She turned her head to the side, only to find the balls of wool beaming at her, and gave them a morose look.

"Grandma, please don't make me do this," she whined, slightly flailing her limbs about. Silence was the only response to her plea, for the older lady didn't dare look at her again. The latter knew that she wouldn't be able to face the cuteness charm, or rather curse, as she had renamed it, for a second time.

"Four hours of knitting."

" Hmmph!"

"Huh?!?! How dare you hmmph at me, young lady?!?!! I will -"

" Ah hahaha, forgive me, aiya... I'm sorry. Just pretend you didn't hear anything.. okay? Merciless."

'This girl,' Elder Lady Ruan shook her head.

Caihong had learnt how to knit almost three weeks back and still stared at her needles with a look of such disdain, as if asking the question, "From which world of rotten bitter gourds have you popped up from?"

She still hadn't been able to wrap her head around which needle to pull and on which one to wound the thread, the result being a clumsy tangle of wool, completely contrary to her agility, and her grandmother fighting the urge to facepalm herself.

Nonetheless, she pushed herself back to a sitting position and sighing,  reluctantly picked up a ball of wool.

She looked out of the window. Zhang Taio was teaching the skills of archery to a few recruits. She smiled longingly, and her thoughts took her down the memory lane back to the day, a little more than a week back, when she had first held a bow in her hands.

Zhang placed a bow in her hands and knelt behind her. Placing his large hands on her little ones, " This is how you hold it," he explained. Caihong had just about enough time to register the technique in her brain, before a throb at the back of her head catapulted to a peak, making her eyes see white dancing spots.

*/ It was a large training court, just like Caihong practised in, except for the fact the quarters were decorated with purple and golden, and that this court was a little smaller.

A girl stood there, with her back towards her gaze, practising archery. She looked like the same age as her and was dressed in royal blue, purple and golden robes. Each arrow hit the bull's eye.

All of a sudden, there was a piercing shriek. It was a name that had been called out. Caihong strained her ears to hear the name but failed. The voice sounded from too far away, and thus, it was unclear.

The girl started at the voice and turned around to look, lost her aim. The arrow flew off haphazardly.

There was a sound of an awkward thud, followed by a yelp and a gasp.

She swivelled back towards the targets, to look from where the gasp had come. A hilarious sight greeted her eyes.

It was a young soldier, who happened to be dumb enough to casually stroll into the court when she was practising archery. He hadn't even noticed her in the first place.

But he was lucky enough to have turned on hearing that scream, or else he would not have noticed the stray arrow. He didn't even have the time to move when the projectile landed in a clean arc embedding itself in the ground right in front of him, almost grazing along his crotch.

The frightened cry had come from this very soldier, who was now shielding his crotch with both his hands. He swayed a bit in his position, twirled, and fell in a dead sweaty faint, his eyes rolling back into his thick head.

The girl burst out laughing, tears prickling the edge of her tea coloured eyes, which had now turned into beautiful crescent-shaped slits./*

What amazed Caihong was not her skill at archery, neither the beauty nor the robes. It was the fact that this girl looked exactly like her. They looked alike.

But soon after, she too began to laugh. She began to laugh so hard, that she was sure that Zhang, who was standing right next to her, must have thought that she had been dropped on her head when she was born.

Seriously, what was so funny about learning to hold a bow correctly?

Caihong didn't seem to care, her whole body shaking with her laughter. So when she released the arrow, she hit a 7 out of 10, which was quite impressive for a first-timer.

Or rather, a hysterically giggling first-timer.

Fingers working on the needles absent-mindedly, her thoughts floated back to all those times when she had begun to ponder over that girl.
Who was she? A long lost twin? That would surely explain why they look alike.
How come her mother had never said anything about a twin birth? Was that girl dead then?
No no. How could that be? She had seen for a fact that she was practising. She was laughing. Then...
Was she lost? Is something being kept as a secret from her?
By the way, why was she using an old fashioned bow? Not that bows had developed much, they were the same, but the structure of the bow was quite different. Never mind, Caihong decided to teach her how to handle a bow of this age, sister or not.

She had already made up her mind to ask her mother, Lady Ruan, if she had a twin or not.
For they had just too much in common. Besides this wasn't the only vision she had had of this girl in royal blue, purple and golden robes. She had been having them for more than a year. And now she wanted nothing more than to find out who this girl was.

They had the same cascading mane of dark chocolate curls.

They had the same tea eyes.

They had both mastered archery at a young age.

They both played the Ruan.

And for another big mammoth reason.

They both hated bitter gourds.

Caihong always felt a strange warm familiarity whenever she saw her, even though she didn't know her name yet. She somehow always knew what she would do next. If Caihong had been placed in the same stakes, she believed that she too would have done the same thing.

She had been quite excited to talk to her mother. She had wanted to learn more about this supposed twin, or doppelganger, or whatever. This girl in all her alikeness to her was truly intriguing. Caihong was equally determined to solve this mystery as to why she was dreaming or having visions of this person day after day.

But, as we all know, Timing is everything. If it's meant to happen, it will, at the right time, for all the right reasons. We just need to keep believing that everything happens for a reason.

So it had happened with our little Ruan Caihong too. All her plans to talk to Lady Ruan had been washed down the drain, when her father, Sect Leader Ruan, called her to his room to tell her that she would be going to the hills with Zhang during the weekend, to learn and practise meditation.

Caihong smiled lopsidedly, as she remembered her dejection at the failure of her plan. Yet, the very next morning, she had been prancing around Zhang, asking anything and everything about the hills. She had squealed with joy when she learnt that the place where they were going to, was the place where he had been found by the Ruan family.

She remembered deeply inhaling the fresh scent of the lush green forests, the wildflowers, and the damp grass. She desperately wanted to fill her lungs up with all of it. She tripped over the undergrowth more than thrice. She was absorbed in observing everything, trying to imprint it in her memory all at once.

After a good night's rest and sound sleep, Zhang had woken her up at dawn, to watch the breathtaking sunrise over the rugged peaks. To her, it was the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen in her very short life of 10 years.

The sunrise arrived as if it had missed the sky and wanted nothing more than to warm up those blues to a radiant gold. Above those tangerine mountains, kissed to their heady blush by the sun, were clouds that moved in shoals. The sky was equal parts blue and a chorus of greys, streaked with silvers and golds. It resembled a prism; all the colours had blended perfectly into each other. Frames in the pale triangle ahead, the grey at first, then silver, then pink as the earliest sun rays caught the summit. The leaves shimmered like mirror flecked mosaic and the morning dew sparkled on the bejewelled cobwebs and grass.

Soon after, Caihong found herself in a grassy meadow that was shaded by the forest canopy. The air felt fresh and new; a gentle breeze caressed her skin. The dew drops, adorning the forest, seemed to glow with their golden radiance. The entire place was peaceful, serene, and silent, except for the chirping of the birds and sometimes a raucous cry of an animal foraging for food.

Zhang had taught her how to do a handstand that day. As soon as Caihong propped herself up on her little hands, her arms began to tingle and go painfully numb due to the entire weight of her body on it.

"AIYAA ZHANG GEGE!!! My arms are going to-" she wobbled.

Zhang quickly caught her before she fell and held her up by her ankles.

"Careful!!" he exclaimed.

"My hands hurt..ouch," she looked up tearfully and whimpered.

The tall man kneeled, still holding her little ankles in a large, warm, calloused hand and smiled at her.

"Are you brave, mèimei?"

"Y-yes."

"Do you want to learn this?"

"I do."

Zhang looked really satisfied with her response, and to boost her own confidence and determination, Caihong smiled.

"Close your eyes. Take deep breaths. You will get used to this burn in your arms. This will steadily decrease and in return, increase your strength.

Concentrate.

Concentrate.

Concentrate.

Keep breathing."

They both stayed like that for some time, with Zhang holding Caihong up by her ankles.

"You can do this.

Keep trying.

I'm here.

Don't let go.

Believe in yourself that you can do this."

Slowly, he felt the little girl relax under his hold. The trembling ceased and her posture became upright.

He let go of her feet.

She did not fall.

Her upside-down figure stood firm and fast, her eyes closed, calmness bestowed on her features. Her arms held up her weight with an air of pride and determination.

Zhang placed a hand on her yellow inner robe-clad diaphragm.

" Concentrate on your core, mèimei.

Concentrate on your spiritual energy.

Focus it at one point. Bring it together. Hold it together with a steadfast grip.

Try to find yourself, mèimei.

Zero in on your inner being, the soul that resides in you.

Try to find who you are."