Among the blossoms

 

Milo didn't want it to sound like a plan yet it was. They'd have to spy on the Beggar's Sect before they showed an interest in it.

"I don't know what you're up to?" ChaCha made him feel a bit unreasonable, but she seemed to be second-guessing him lately. It wasn't that way when they first met. Milo looked at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering what had changed. Sometimes, she was so considerate of him and yet not so much at the moment. 

"Why so much doubt?" He wanted to know. Of course, they were doing a bit of an exercise among the cherry blossoms on the outskirt of town. It was always a good thing to fly about with ease. And especially to be ready for the unexpected. Was it all that fangirling she did with the figment of her imagination? Was he supposed to feel some sort of sympathy about this little digression? Maybe she missed him? The archer. But Milo would not dare ask. Still, he almost tumble out of the sky at the thought of a nightmare it could be. Oh, he knew he had other things to tend to.

"I don't know why you even care so much about the Beggar Sect," ChaCha shrugged as if he was hiding a big secret.

Milo sighed. He found a pink tree of blossoms to drop to the branches of. He waited for her to sit next to him, but she sat in the tree opposite of him as if she had her reasons.

"Well, you said you were interested in medicine," It was all for her. Now he felt as if she could care less. But he spoke of the medicine man then. "I remember him well. He was amazing and helped so many during starving times." In fact, Milo stayed with the young man a short while as a child and learned a bit about herbs and old medicines one could find off the land. True, it wasn't much, but Milo was grateful for those childhood days. His name was Old Sands now. He'd come to be a part of the Beggar's Sect when the leader fell ill.

Milo couldn't imagine any of the oldtimers being alive, but it was possible. He hoped it would be true.

"It's just... we can't just walk into the sect," He then told her. "From what Qing has said, the sect is only pretending to be beggars when they actually aren't."

"That's rather absurd, isn't it?" ChaCha winced, but she came closer then as if she might trust him after all.

"Times are hard, maybe these businessmen have fallen, but I doubt it." Milo nodded.

"So much pretending going around, you know." 

ChaCha festered a frown and hugged herself. 

"Who knows, Old Sands might be long gone. Worse yet, what if he's not right in the head." Milo was even lipped about it.

"How could you say such a thing about the master of remedies?" ChaCha looked at him as if he didn't have enough faith.

"But anything is possible," he told her it could be hopeful just as much as being dreadful.