Later that evening…
I lay on the cool grass, letting the wind play with my hair.
“Hey miss.” I looked up to see a concerned Cricket. “This seat taken?”
“Grab some grass.” He sat down, cross-legged, looking out onto the pink-tinged valley.
“Geez, it’s beautiful out here,” he whispered.
“I guess.”
“Oh come on, I’ve never seen you this depressed. What’s up with you?”
“What’s up?” I sat bolt upright. “I’ve found out my best friend is my arch nemisis, my master’s gone, and I feel like crawling into a hole!” I breathed heavily after my rant. Cricket looked at me, his bespecticaled eyes trembling with an odd mixture of sympathy and fear.
“Alright then,” he whimpered.
“Well you asked,” I groaned.
“I’m trying to give you two a fair run for your money, but I want you to find Master. But Xiaoli,” he said, brushing my hair behind my ears, “no matter whatever happens, I’ll find a way to help you find Master.”
“Really?”
“You have my word.”
I breathed my first sigh of relief in two days.