He is distantly aware of someone approaching him, thoughts wrapped up in one of the common mantras that he reaches for when seeking to centre himself for the work of meditative cultivation, but it is no hardship at all for Jin Guangyao to resurface from below those still waters to greet Palamedes with a smile that manages to be both warm and politely courteous. After all, he would not have found this place on his own nearly as easily, and it had been fortuitous indeed for him to have crossed paths with Palamedes before his qi deviation scare.
"Palamedes-xiansheng." He unfolds himself from the lotus position and rises to greet Palamedes with a courteous bow, and if he's smile grows a bit self-conscious at having his condition acknowledged so openly--he's getting used to that, such forward and blunt observations from others who, well, don't know any better--he simply allows it to be. "It is kind of xiansheng to ask after this humble one's well-being, but I will be fine. It is--" A brief pause as he tries to come up with a way to describe his illness that neither reveals too much of his vulnerability, nor too long-winded. Hmm. "--a matter of needing to recover my strength, after a trying ordeal. Nothing to worry about."
A bold-faced lie, but he says it very nicely, so you have to believe him.
And he quickly changes the subject! "This yinghua is beautiful," he tells him and gestures to the cherry blossom tree whose roots he had been sitting amongst moments ago. "They are common where this one is from, but seeing one here is--" a beat, "--unexpected. Does xiansheng know how it came to thrive in a place such as Trench?"
no subject
"Palamedes-xiansheng." He unfolds himself from the lotus position and rises to greet Palamedes with a courteous bow, and if he's smile grows a bit self-conscious at having his condition acknowledged so openly--he's getting used to that, such forward and blunt observations from others who, well, don't know any better--he simply allows it to be. "It is kind of xiansheng to ask after this humble one's well-being, but I will be fine. It is--" A brief pause as he tries to come up with a way to describe his illness that neither reveals too much of his vulnerability, nor too long-winded. Hmm. "--a matter of needing to recover my strength, after a trying ordeal. Nothing to worry about."
A bold-faced lie, but he says it very nicely, so you have to believe him.
And he quickly changes the subject! "This yinghua is beautiful," he tells him and gestures to the cherry blossom tree whose roots he had been sitting amongst moments ago. "They are common where this one is from, but seeing one here is--" a beat, "--unexpected. Does xiansheng know how it came to thrive in a place such as Trench?"