Yunzhi's Wedding - Pt.3

When I woke up, my head was still spinning and I felt as though a ton of bricks had fallen on me.

"What - what happened?" I cried weakly.  A green face suddenly loomed before my eyes and as my memory flooded back, I sat up.

"My tail!  What did you do with my tail?"  I yelled.

"At last!  I thought you'd never wake up!  What about your tail?" grinned the Forest Queen.

I turned round and craned my neck to see whether my tail was still there.

"It's still there, you silly cat." said the Forest Queen.

"You mean ... you mean you didn't cut it off?"

"Of course not!  That was a joke I played on you ...ha! ha! ha!"

"A joke!  I don't think it was all that funny ...." I said indignantly.

"Of course it was funny!  You cats have no sense of humour!  Enough!  The antidote's ready and we should get going before it's too late.  Come!"

All of a sudden, we were back at Yunzhi's shack.  The Forest Queen handed the bottle of boiling green liquid to Yunzhi.

"Let her drink this, then she'll wake up."

Without a moment's hesitation, Yunzhi carefully poured the liquid into Su Lin's mouth.  For several minutes, nothing happened.  My heart turned cold.  What if the Forest Queen had betrayed our trust in her?  Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Su Lin's eyes fluttered open and she cried weakly, "Yunzhi!  Yunzhi!"

Yunzhi hugged her to his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks.  His father hugged them both, equally overjoyed.

"You did it, Your Majesty, you did it ......" I cried, turning round to thank her ... but there was no one there. She had gone.

I raced out out of the shack looking for her but there was no one in sight.  I slowly walked back to the shack, disappointed that I didn't have a chance to express our thanks.

Just then, Ning came running along, panting heavily.

"Da!  I can't get any doctor to come here - they all said it's too far ...."

"It's alright, Ning," I said.  "She's going to be fine."

We both went inside the shack and were happy to see that Su Lin had fully recovered.

"I don't know how to thank you, Da," said Yunzhi.  "Where's the Forest Queen?  I must thank her too."

"She's gone," I said.  "Don't worry, I'm sure she knows how grateful we all are."

It was getting dark and Ning and I said our goodbyes.

"Do come and visit us, any time..." said Yunzhi.

As we left the shack, I told Ning to go on ahead.

"There's something I have to do, Ning.  I'll catch up with you."

I headed for the small grove where the Forest Queen's statue stood.  On the way I picked some wild flowers and when I reached the grove, I placed them at the foot of the statue.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said softly.  "You're just great!"

I stood looking at the statue for a few moments, then turned and ran to join Ning.

"OK, Ning, let's go home ....."  I said as the sun started to set over the mountain tops.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said softly.  "You're just great!"