Chapter 1 - GunGun and Dijun


I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.


Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,
Its ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:
You become an image of what is remembered forever.


You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same
Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.


Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man's days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –
And the songs of every poet past and forever.


-Tagore


I hope you enjoy the story. Thank you!


Gungun, I am your father


Dijun lovingly caressed the top of his head and drew him closer. Gungun felt a warm fuzzy feeling seeping through him as he wondered aloud."But! Mother said she gave birth to me by herself, I am fairy boy. Fairy boys don't have fathers like mortal boys. They only have mothers. uncle let me see my mother, I haven't seen her for so long. Mother! Mother! Wake up!"


Donghua didn't budge at all,  Gungun pouted in anger as he declared, "You move or else I will beat you up. I am Jiujiu's son, she even dares to argue with Buddha, I am not scared of anyone."


Donghua Dijun smiled ruefully as he reminisced about the time the little fox had broken a pine twig and told him that she would break him in half if he didn't stop spouting nonsense. He picked up Gungun in his arms and dejectedly mumbled to himself "she did not tell him about me"


Gungun tried to wriggle off and see fengjiu who was sleeping soundly. bai qian barged in. "Dijun, I told you once she cuts ties she can be extremely cold, she wrote to me so many times but never told me about Gungun. How that brat must have managed giving birth and taking care of a child all by herself "


"Dear Gungun, fairy boys do have fathers, see your uncle A-li, too has a father. Donghua Dijun is not lying to you he is your father. See you have silver hair like him." Gungun looked at the handsome uncle claiming to be his father, he did remember jiujiu muttering about someone called Dijun in her sleep, but she had told him that most fairy boys had silver hair like him. This ethereally beautiful lady mentioned uncle A-li, she must be his mother's aunt. Maybe she was telling the truth. It would be great if this uncle was his father, he was squishing him but it felt so nice to be held by him.


"Mother did tell me about A-li, who are you? Are you my mother's aunt?" Gungun asked her in response when a cute boy entered the room and tugged at her robe "Mother here you are, I was told my nephew is here, where is he and who is that kid you are talking to"


Gungun introduced himself to the boy, "I am Bai Gungun."


A-li pouted, "Why is my nephew such big boy already, I am not ready to be an uncle to a big boy. I thought he is a little baby, I had learnt so many nursery rhymes to sing to my nephew ,I thought i would be able to carry him all around jiuchongtian. Now i will have to get him a fire chariot like mine."
" - well that's because he was born 200 years ago. Isn't it better, you have a new playmate." His mother soothed him as he offered Gungun a smile.



"sorry, it's my fault you could not meet Gungun as a baby.Gungun, father is sorry for being late, for not finding you and your mother in time." Dijun said in a gruff voice as he pulled Gungun closer. He kissed the top of his head, a smile crept up on Gungun's face. His dearest wish to have a father had come true. His father was indeed very handsome, must be better than jiujiu at kung fu and swords too...What else had mother lied about? Maybe parents in sky kingdom did not steal cakes from their kids.


Anyway what was was wrong with his mother why was she not waking up after he had called her so many times and why was father feeding her that nasty smelling medicine when he came in? Gungun tried to get closer to fengjiu. Dijun held him back- "Gungun your mother just defeated a demon, she is injured, let her rest. Ah I dropped her medicine let me make another bowl. Be a good boy and don't hug her, it will hurt her."


"Mother defeated a demon!Woah!"


A-li stepping up to his role as an uncle offered, "Gungun come with me, I will take care of you. Let's go to my Qingyun palace, we will eat cakes, catch butterflies and play with the new toys my father brought for us from the mortal world." Gungun had noticed that fathers of his mortal friends used to bring them toys and stuff when they went on work trips. A-li's father brought toys for him from the mortal world. Would his father bring toys and candies for him? Gungun wondered and became very happy at the thought that yes he would. Then he would invite A-li and other fairy children to his home, what was this palace called though? It was so beautiful with such pretty fuling flowers and so many butterflies in the gardens.


A-li took Gungun's hand and had just reached the gardens when they saw liansong yeye, cheng yu, zhonglin, si ming, a pretty boy and fairy maids of Taichen palace standing right outside waiting to be introduced to Gungun. News had spread like wildfire in the sky kingdom, fairies were peeping in the garden from all directions just to get a glance at Dijun's son. So finally not only Dijun had found the bride he had lost, he also found the son he did not know he had lost. He was rumoured to have long silver hair like Dijun and big bright eyes. Overwhelmed by such attention, Gungun ran inside and hid behind Dijun who was feeding fengjiu her medicine. Oh thank god! those fairies can't come here. Why were all those people staring at him?


A-li came running after him - "Gungun why did you run away, let's go let's go..."
Zhonglin peeped in from the door and saw Gungun hiding behind Dijun. He immediately went outside asked everyone to leave. He even threatened those fairies that were trying to steal a glance that if they did not leave or bothered Gungun at all, he would personally kick them out to the mortal world.


He came in and informed Dijun that he had sent everyone away. Gungun did not trust him though and continued hiding behind Dijun. Dijun took his hands and lifted him on his back. "let your mother rest, come I will take you both to Qingyun palace. Bai Qian look after Xiao Bai for a while. I will be back soon."


Dijun, A-li and Gungun set out towards Qingyun palace. They had just reached the Pundarika pond when they were accosted by liansong and chengyu. Gungun hid his face in the crook of Dijun's neck.


" greetings Dijun, chengyu has come to offer her assistance in taking care of little highness. Fengjiu is unwell so chengyu would be honored to assist." She offered with a polite smile while attempting to sneak a peek at her best friend's baby boy. How bad she couldn't knock some sense into this coldie and that stupid fox. Poor child would have lost both his parents and would have never known his father. Liansong chimed in "you just woke up, let chengyu take care of Gungun. Zhonglin,Ah-li, chengyu and I will take care of him till you both are well."


Dijun reluctantly agreed," ok, you can take him out to play for a while but zhonglin and I can manage. Come let's go to Qingyun palace."


Dijun dropped them off at the gates of Qingyun and was returning back to taichen palace when Si Ming the bagua manual and Lord zhe yan greeted him. "Dijun, Bai zhi Dijun has asked me to inform you that they will be visiting tomorrow to meet their great grandson, now where is he I have brought this season's best peaches for him."


"well zhe yan since you are a medical sage, don't tell me you did not know about Gungun. She must've asked you for advice, didn't she? " Dijun unsmilingly questioned the Phoenix.


Zheyan -........


After half an incense of time, he finally regained his composure. "Erm, Well she did, but when she immediately went off to the mortal world without telling anyone, I thought she wanted to forget you completely and did not want to keep the child. So I never even told anyone in the family not even Zhen Zhen.


But then she did keep the baby, and ran off to save you, she must love you more than we thought, she couldn't after all cut her ties with you and was only putting up a brave face all these years. Had I known that she wanted to give birth to Gungun, I would've stopped her from going to the mortal realm. You don't think we would leave her alone to raise a child by herself."


"Little princess has always been stubborn like that, I am very happy that she is back at taichen palace. " Siming added nervously.


"well all of you can meet him tomorrow with the family. He was living with Guchou and is not used to being around so many people." Dijun informed them.


In Qingyun palace A-li begged Chengyu to tell the story of how Fengjiu jiejie and Donghua gege had defeated Miao luo. Gungun was quite surprised to know that his father had been the emperor of all realms and absolutely delighted by the fact that he was a legendary warrior who had led 72 legendary generals under his command. He fixed a deal with Chengyu that he would listen to what chengyu said for every story she told.


He was very sleepy after such a hectic day so Chengyu took him back to Taichen palace. When they arrived at the palace Dijun was painting a screen. Chengyu was about to ask zhonglin where Gungun's room was, when Gungun ran off to see what Dijun was doing.


"father what are you painting? "Gungun asked rubbing his eyes out of sleepiness. -" I am painting a screen for you. Do you want me to paint more butterflies?" Dijun took his arms drawing him nearer to show him the screen.
"Father I too want to learn how to paint" Gungun shyly requested, his watery doe eyes full of expectation.
"I will definitely teach you, but you are tired, let's sleep, we will paint tomorrow. " Dijun picked him in his arms and took him to his room next door.


Gungun was surprised to see so many gifts in his room, there was even a parrot which was sleeping on its perch when they entered. Dijun told him that his grandparents and others in jiuchongtian were very excited to meet him. They had sent so many gifts for him. Would he like to meet them tomorrow? He promised they would not stare, everyone loved him and so they could not wait to meet him. Gungun agreed as Dijun tucked him into bed and sat at his bedside caressing his hair as he fell asleep.


— Writing has been a stress buster for me during the pandemic. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy and that my story gives you happiness in such trying times. Let's also take a moment to appreciate all our frontline warriors across the world who have been working relentlessly to save lives.


See you next week with another update. Please comment and vote if you enjoyed my story.

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