January 2026
Gifts from on High
ChatLegend Scroll Logs
Month of the Weasel, Third-Day
ExHeroGirl:
Dad. Did you have to send a recorder through the gift portal?
TranscendantChaos:
Ah, it’s there already! Good. Should I send a dizi? Or maybe bagpipes? I thought a recorder was simpler to learn while still appropriate to your current geographical milieu. Has he mastered it yet?
ExHeroGirl:
No, because I haven’t given it to him
TranscendantChaos:
You should. How else will you know if he has talent?
ExHeroGirl:
Dad. He’s three. Let him have a childhood.
TranscendantChaos:
You were two and a half when you started playing clear melodies on the dizi.
ExHeroGirl:
I was an outlier. Also times were different. You can’t expect him to be the same
TranscendantChaos:
But of course I can! I know his lineage. There are immortals in his bloodline, you know.
* * *
Month of the Tiger, Fourth-Day
ExHeroGirl:
Dad. A jian? Really?
TranscendantChaos:
You need to stay in practice even though the wars are over, correct? It’s just running around after your child, with an edge! Heh.
ExHeroGirl:
I’m afraid he’s going to cut himself. He’s too young for a sword
TranscendantChaos:
Well then you are going to have to be fast enough to stop him! You cannot tell me the hero of the Three Gorges Battle cannot handle one toddler.
ExHeroGirl:
What is your goal here, Dad?
TranscendantChaos:
He is my grandson. Surely he has some talent somewhere. You are his mother, you need to draw it out of him. I’m too far away to do it myself so I am just supplying the equipment.
ExHeroGirl:
I’m his mother, and I’m saying no more edged weapons until he’s old enough to choose what he wants.
ExHeroGirl:
Nobody’s on the cusp of war here and I’m more concerned about his emotional development than his level of achievement
TranscendantChaos:
Fine. I will look for something less injurious. At least let me know how he does with the jian.
* * *
Month of the Swallow, Sixth Day
ExHeroGirl:
DAD.
TranscendantChaos:
I take it the lion came through! Is it still moving? I thought keeping it animated would be better than a stone lion coming through the gift portal.
ExHeroGirl:
It’s still moving and I don’t know where you thought we were going to KEEP a moving stone lion. Certainly not in the house!
TranscendantChaos:
Of course not. Stone lions live outside. Have you forgotten? They are guardians. Oh wait, in pairs. Maybe I need to send you another one.
ExHeroGirl:
DO NOT.
TranscendantChaos:
Or maybe I should send you 44 of them. That would be funny.
ExHeroGirl:
DO NOT.
TranscendantChaos:
Or even–
ExHeroGirl:
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT SENDING ME FORTY FOUR DEAD LIONS OR I’M TELLING MOM
TranscendantChaos:
Aiyo. Let a grandfather have some fun, at least. Won’t trial the child, won’t train him–I thought a magical pet would be neutral territory. What does your husband say?
ExHeroGirl:
He says this is between me and my side of the family
TranscendantChaos:
Smart man, staying out of it. I like him. Even if he is not a hero like you are.
ExHeroGirl:
You don’t need to be a hero to live a good life, Dad.
TranscendantChaos:
Certainly. But it helps. And it helps you live a long one.
ExHeroGirl:
If you survive.
ExHeroGirl:
…
Thank you for the peaches.
TranscendantChaos:
Yah. I remember you always enjoyed them. The ones you have there are–
ExHeroGirl:
Yes?
TranscendantChaos:
Different.
* * *
Month of the Dragon, Twelfth Day
ExHeroGirl:
Ok the invisibility cloak is actually a pretty good gift
TranscendantChaos:
Oh! I remember I used to get into TONS of trouble as a boy with it and–wait, wait. I sent that months ago!
ExHeroGirl:
Yeah, I intercepted it. I’m screening everything you send through now
TranscendantChaos:
Well that is just boring. Why did you hold onto it for so long?
ExHeroGirl:
Waited for him to get taller so I could spot his feet under the cloak
TranscendantChaos:
Pahhhhhhh what is the point of that?
ExHeroGirl:
It teaches him to crouch, and build up his quad muscles. That was a fun few days of chasing him around. Weren’t you the one after me for training him?
TranscendantChaos:
Oh! An invisibility cloak was all you needed?
ExHeroGirl:
That and he figured out the gift portal
TranscendantChaos:
He did what? Aiya, I just heard a crash, I might need to go investigate. Your mother is busy entertaining a celestial dignitary at the moment.
ExHeroGirl:
He was wondering where all his new toys were coming from and why they stopped and…he figured out how to make it go in reverse
ExHeroGirl:
Wait, why aren’t you also with the guests? Why are you here talking to me?
TranscendantChaos:
Dignitary traveling incognito. I pretend not to recognize him. What do you mean “in reverse”? I haven’t seen anything get returned?
ExHeroGirl:
The jian was involved, incidentally. He said he needed its parts for something
TranscendantChaos:
THAT’S MY GRANDSON!! Wow! A mage talent! We have not had one of those in the family for six generations! Why…why do I hear giggling?
ExHeroGirl:
He took his invisibility cloak with him and some of his favorite tools. So watch out for things being taken apart and not put back together
TranscendentChaos:
Oh no
ExHeroGirl:
Tell mom I’ll come by on CloudTransport in a few days to pick him up if he doesn’t get tired and reverse the portal back. Have fun being Ah-Gong!
TranscendentChaos:
Oh no
TranscendentChaos:
When did he get so fast?
TranscendentChaos:
Why did he get so fast?
TranscendentChaos:
Oh no
TranscendentChaos:
Oh no
TranscendentChaos:
Help
ExHeroGirl:
🙂
* * *
Ⓒ V.H. Chen
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