He and It Chapter 34: A God’s Marriage (5)

Chapter 34: A God’s Marriage (5)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

“Do you want salt alone? What else do you want besides salt?” Sa’gya asked.

Yun Chi looked up at the beam and thought carefully.

“And…And herbs, that’s an important spice.” Yun Chi crossed his fingers. “As well as, all kinds of ingredients and fruits, clothes and a washing basin. Now that we’re talking about it, there should be containers for cleaning the food, washing up utensils, and a pair of shoes, I can’t stay at home barefoot all the time, well, then there’s….”

His eyes shifted to Sa’gya, and with a twist of his tongue, he said aloud, “…A comb! Then there are combs, grease, knitting needles and wool would be nice, files and chisels…I don’t know if you have such an advanced smelting process here, so let’s forget these two for now. The rest…”

He said whatever came to his mind, citing a long list of things, Sa’gya looked serious, listening to him, while “ummm” nodding.

So there was so much work involved in raising a pup…

Yun Chi said a lot in one breath, and when he stopped, he saw Sa’gya nodding frequently, and asked him curiously, “Do you have all these in the house?”

Sa’gya’s nod turned into a shake of the head, “Some of them not, but this island won’t always float on the sea. There is a fixed period every year when it will be pushed by the waves to the shore of the land bordering the place where humans live. At that time, a human city-state could be visited and we can exchange with them for what you need.”

Yun Chi asked in surprise, “What kind of waves can push an island?”

Sa’gya smiled. “The new God of Sea Waves. A very lax god, who often indulges his authority without control, and thus the waves on the Ice Sea possess more power than in the last divine era.”

He gently pulled Yun Chi’s fur blanket. “Come on. You’re able to get down now, and I forgot to prepare your clothes.”

Yun Chi was lame and he couldn’t walk fast enough. One man and one otter walked slowly through the house, around the stone dining table, and to the other wall.

Sa’gya, as he had before, expanded another room. This time it seemed to be a cloakroom, and one with a much more spacious door frame than the one in the small kitchen.

“Take a look, and pick out your own clothes.”

Yun Chi complied and went in, unsuspecting. He was instantly blown away by the colors of the clothes. He saw red like a glorious evening sunset, a pomegranate against the snow; green like the never-ending summer, the buds of the cedar trees; purple like ripe grapes in the midday sun, the shadows from the white roses; black like the long night that swallows the stars and the moon, the eternal mysterious death…

How could these be the colors that could appear on earth? They were the clothes worn by the gods, their masters have all passed away, only these glittering robes, flawless jewels and gold crowns, still survived the splendor of the past.

Yun Chi was stunned. He held the wall and accidentally pressed on a shirt decorated with moonstones and diamonds, scaring him into quickly letting go.

This was too much.

Sa’gya poked his head behind him. “What’s wrong? These were left here by my family before. Don’t you like them?”

Yun Chi turned his head and locked eyes with him stiffly, “No. These clothes don’t feel like they’re for people to wear…And they have meaning for you, right?”

Sa’gya looked at him in confusion. The sea otter’s expression was innocent, his round eyes without a trace of dust or dirt, a hundred times more icy than crystal.

“Why should I keep them as a souvenir?” Sa’gya asked. “They are useless, only memories are immortal. Dead things are not more valuable than the needs of the living.”

Yun Chi hesitated for a moment as he looked around the room and finally spotted the corner of a white dress.

He pulled the garment out gently, and the fabric then gurgled through his fingers like a clear spring; it was as white as the moon between the clouds, the cold glow of fire.

“I think this one is just fine,” Yun Chi said involuntarily. “It looks much more plain and everyday.”

Sa’gya’s eyes widened and he stammered, “This…this one? Are you sure?”

Yun Chi said uncertainly, “Am I sure?”

He looked at the white robe in his hand, and then at Sa’gya’s fur. Suddenly it dawned on him. “You didn’t wear this before, did you?”

Sa’gya covered his eyes and sighed.

“This is one of my short clothes. But now I can’t change back to my upright form, so you can wear it if you want,” he whispered. “Come and eat.”

“Ugh, wait a minute!” Yun Chi limped after him, clutching the robe that was as light as nothing in his hands, “From what you’re saying, can you still change back to your human form?”

Sa’gya whispered, “I can’t. It’s just that there is no need for the old god to maintain the image of being close to the believers, so to become like this is a return to our true nature.”

— Of course, it was more like a degradation that was difficult to reverse.

The latter half of the sentence was swallowed by Sa’gya, who did not intend to let Yun Chi know this.

Yun Chi nodded his head, not looking any deeper.

They sat on the ground and finished sharing the sea urchin that Sa’gya brought back today. Yun Chi washed his face and hands with the stored snow water, while Sa’gya was balled up on the ground, meticulously licking his paws, rubbing his eyes, wiping his head, and rubbing his cheeks and hairy ears.

Yun Chi washed his hands and nails thoroughly, before cherishing the change into the plain white robe. It was indeed long and wide, the shoulders could barely hang on, and the hemline trailed ethereally, reaching down to his calves.

“Button up.” Sa’gya suddenly said.

Yun Chi wondered, “What?”

“God’s clothes, all woven by the light of the star of enlightenment, will not get dirty or damaged, so there is no need to be so careful.” Sa’gya moved to his side, raised his head slightly and tapped Yun Chi’s shoulder with his wet nose. “Here are the buttons. After you take them off, re-pin them according to your size.”

Yun Chi turned over the collar, and really saw a row of delicate rounded silver buttons, he gestured to the position of the shoulder, and moved the buttons inward several positions before feeling comfortable.

However, look at it. Sa’gya, when he was in human form, his shoulders were too wide, and between him and a giant was no difference…

Sa’gya bit the palm of his hand. His furry cheeks moved, as he looked at Yun Chi.

His heart was tickled…Did it turn out to make him so happy to see the pup wearing his own clothes?

“And shoes and other things,” he muttered. “Follow me.”

Yun Chi was happy to have clothes that fit, when he saw Sa’gya open the door to the room and gesture for him to follow.

“It’s…” Yun Chi looked at his thin clothes. Sa’gya narrowed his eyes and smiled, “Come on, it’s not cold.”

Really?

Yun Chi was skeptical, but followed the big sea otter, for the first time in days, out of the door of the strange house and into the endless falling snow.

It wasn’t not cold! The young man excitedly stepped on the snow a few times. It wasn’t an illusion, he really was not cold!

The wind and snow didn’t touch his body. Where they came in close before, now there was an invisible force field that deflected their direction. He was obviously barefoot, but the temperature he felt on his skin was like the coolness he felt in the winter when he was sweating from the thick quilt and stretched his legs out secretly.

God’s clothes, what a wonderful thing, Yun Chi lamented in his heart.

Sa’gya crouched down and said to him, “Sit on my back, it will be faster.”

Yun Chi asked, “Where are we going?”

Sa’gya smiled, “We’ll go to the other side of the island and look for the items you need there.”

“Yes!” Yun Chi gleefully climbed onto the big sea otter’s back. He had previously seen that Sa’gya was not used to having his body touched, so despite liking the god’s lovely appearance, Yun Chi had restrained himself and tried not to do anything that would make the other person uncomfortable.

Now that he had permission, he happily climbed onto Sa’gya’s back.

Yun Chi’s ten fingers were sunk in the sea otter’s rich and dense fur. Between his fingers, Yun Chi clearly felt Sa’gya’s back tremble.

He subconsciously released his hand and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Am I holding too tightly? Are you uncomfortable?”

Sa’gya tossed his head and whispered, “No, it’s nothing…You can come up.”

“If you don’t feel well, make sure you tell me,” Yun Chi was unsure and urged him.

He stepped onto the big sea otter’s back and leaned down to encircle Sa’gya’s neck. The sea otter took a step and used the snow to glide all the way to the beach, then quickly swooped down into the water.

Yun Chi was usually accustomed to Sa’gya’s slow land movement, but to see his speed in the sea, he still couldn’t quite adapt. In front of him, the blue and white sea was vast and endless, while on the far side of the sea, glaciers and snow-capped mountains rolled up and down like the beautiful, winding spine of a giant beast.

The ice floes broke open and made the clear sound of a million wind chimes. The sea breeze blew across Yun Chi’s cheeks, and the wind lingered with cool vapor. As they swiftly crossed the shallow ice, the wrinkled satin blue waves pushed the undulating ice, like white doves flying in the deep sky when the morning stars first appeared.

Yun Chi clutched Sa’gya’s body and opened his arms happily, feeling the pleasure of speeding in the wind, as unknown sea birds swirled above his head, spreading their snow-white wings and chirping.

“Wow-” he cried. “I’m flying-!”

Sa’gya’s chest echoed with a purring sound, as if he were laughing lowly. Yun Chi’s joy shone so vividly and blindingly on him that even as he swooped through the icy sea that was without a trace of temperature, he was so warm that he felt as if he were facing the sun.

He took Yun Chi with him and made a few more laps of the sea, as they laughed and joked, before he stopped at the beach on the other side of the island.

“I see it, what a big building!” Yun Chi put his hand over his eyes to form a pergola. “How come it is built here?”

In the dense and flourishing pine forest, the top of a huge and magnificent building shone in the light. After years of blowing wind, the hexagonal dome was long from its former glory. The gold paint decayed, carvings weathered, the stone pillars mostly collapsed and buried under the snow and pine needles.

“This is my last and largest temple,” Sa’gya said quietly. “Come on, let’s go in and find something.”

Following his lead, Yun Chi pushed his way through the dense pine forest and slowly made his way to the temple.

The temple was in disrepair, as if it had been broken by some huge force that could reverse the world, and was stuck deep in the snow-covered island.

Yun Chi frowned and looked at it carefully. His experience of traveling to the north and south and around the world had given him a whole new perspective on how to look at many things. He looked at the tilted angle of the temple and suddenly took a breath. “This temple…”

“It turns out that it is very big. Even this island is formed on it,” Sa’gya said. “Now, only the topmost layer is visible, and even the bigger portion can only be used as a pillar for the island. Nothing else.”

“Let’s go inside,” Sa’gya whispered. “It’s been a long, long time since I’ve…come to see it.”