Wandering

by Nick Yee

The boy was born one autumn day when the Northern Wind passed through the village. The falling leaves traced out the gentle contours of the Wind's face and tresses. The birds, seemingly mesmerized by the evanescent apparition, did not sing that day.

The old Diviner stood over the boy, reading the lines on his palm, consulting her Book of Days, but the voice of the Wind whispered in her ear. The old Diviner began to mutter incoherently to the dismay of the boy's parents, but finally she told them that the Wind had given a part of his spirit to the boy, and that the boy was meant to wander the land with the Northern Wind's blessings. The father held the sleeping infant against his chest, and gave him the name Tian-Yi - "His clothes are woven with the skies".

When Tian-Yi was eight, he began to disappear for days on end. When he inevitably returned, he would tell how the path had carried him away and how it had carried him back. His mother would weep and embrace him tenderly every time he reappeared at their doorstep, but she knew that one day he would never return.

Tian-Yi began to wander for months, and then years. With each passing season, the voice grew stronger - a voice that beckoned him from nowhere telling him to go everywhere. He would linger momentarily in every village or forest he came by, but the path would carry him away. His feet began to be weighted down with the gentle pain of memories. And then one day, he arrived at a bamboo grove and was too weary to move on.

The bamboo grove took pity on Tian-Yi, and echoed with a deep resonance. They say he could hear the Spirits' voices because he too was untethered. And as he began to weep, the deep echo spoke these words,

"The Northern Wind wants you to be free, and gave you a part of his spirit. But if you never hold on to anything, you will never be free."

Tian-Yi retraced his path, passing through every village and forest he had seen before, and finally, for the first time in 8 years, he was home. His mother recognized the sound of his footsteps, and came dashing out of the cottage doors to embrace him. Amidst the tears, Tian-Yi began to tell them of all that he had seen. It would be weeks before he would finish, but he knew the moment he stepped through the doors that the everywhere he had been searching for was right here all along.