Chapter 30 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

Summoning Edict in the Midst of War Season

News of the edict summoning Tinh Yen to the capital reached Thanh Phong's ears through military intelligence before she could inform him herself. He arrived at the military hospital right after the afternoon training session, his face carrying a complex expression that Tinh Yen had never seen before - both happy and as if he was trying to suppress something heavier.

"I heard that the Imperial Hospital has officially summoned her back to the capital." He said, as the two sat next to a familiar stone near the stream, the place that had witnessed countless conversations over the past months.

"Yes." Tinh Yen replied, showing him the sealed scroll. "But there's still time until the end of spring next year. I'll still be here for a while longer."

Thanh Phong took the scroll, read it through, then returned it to her, his eyes looking far away towards the misty mountains in the afternoon. "This is what you deserve, I'm truly happy for you. But..."

"But what?" Tinh Yen asked softly, even though in her heart she had vaguely guessed what he was going to say.

"But I can't help but think about the day she really leaves this place." He said, his voice low. "Long Mon Pass is the place I belong to, the place I must guard for the rest of my life, according to my father's orders and the responsibility of a future Tran Bac Hau. As for Yen Phung, Thai Y Vien, that is a completely different world, a world I can only visit but cannot stay for a long time."

Tinh Yen remained silent, clearly feeling the weight of every word he said. She had thought about this before, but hearing Thanh Phong admit it himself, the feeling was completely different - like a cold stone suddenly falling to the bottom of her heart.

"I don't know what the future holds." She spoke honestly. "But I know, if I refuse this opportunity just because I'm afraid of the distance, I will betray what my master and grandmother taught me - that a physician must go where he can learn the most, save the most people, no matter how remote and challenging that place is."

"I didn't mean to stop her." Thanh Phong quickly said, holding her hand, a rare and more direct gesture than ever before. "I just... I'm just afraid that, once you enter the world of the Royal Hospital, of the mandarins and court rituals, you will realize that the distance between us is farther than what I can overcome."

Tinh Yen looked down at the hand holding hers tightly, feeling the familiar warmth even though the weather was cold. "Dude," she said, her voice small but determined, "no matter how different our worlds are, I have never thought of letting that distance decide for my heart. But I also don't want to make promises that I am not sure I can keep, in the middle of a chaotic time where even tomorrow no one is sure."

Thanh Phong nodded slowly, seeming to accept that honesty more than any empty promise. "So let's just let things happen naturally, the way they've always happened." He said, smiling slightly, although there was still something incomplete in that smile. "I just hope, whether you are in Yen Phung or anywhere, you will not forget what happened at this Long Mon pass."

"I will never forget." Tinh Yen replied, squeezing his hand.

That night, after Thanh Phong left, Tinh Yen returned to her own tent but could not sleep. She sat up, lit a small oil lamp, took out her personal medical record book to review it - a habit she had kept since the first days following her master, recording each difficult case, each lesson learned after each successful or failed treatment. Flipping through each page, she realized that the notebook was now three times thicker than the day she first arrived at Long Mon Pass, each page was a piece of indelible memory.

Nhuoc Lan stopped by the next morning, bringing with her some hot sticky rice cakes she had just bought from the trading group that stopped by the barracks. "You look like you couldn't sleep last night." She said, sat down next to Tinh Yen, and gave her a cake. "What about Mr. Thanh Phong?"

"Not necessarily." Tinh Yen replied, accepted the cake but did not eat it immediately. "It's just that I keep thinking about what lies ahead. So many things have changed in such a short time — from being an anonymous apprentice, to now having an official card, and also having an edict to return to the capital. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm not ready for all that."

"No one is really ready for the big turning points in life." Nhuoc Lan said, her voice suddenly becoming deeper than usual. "I still remember the first day I stepped into this military hospital, I was as nervous as you are now. But I grew up not because I felt ready, but because I dared to step forward even though I wasn't ready."

Tinh Yen smiled slightly, nodded, feeling a little lighter thanks to those simple words of encouragement. "Thank you, Nhuoc Lan. If it weren't for you in the first days, I probably wouldn't have survived the three-month trial."

"Don't be so polite, we are colleagues who work hard together." Nhuoc Lan smiled and lightly punched her shoulder. "Besides, you're still here until the end of spring. Don't rush to feel sorry for the separation right now. There's still plenty of time to work hard together."

The two laughed, temporarily putting aside their heavy thoughts to enjoy a rare moment of peace amid these turbulent days. That morning passed in the warm atmosphere of friendship, a small but solid fulcrum amid the great changes that awaited Tinh Yen ahead.

A few days later, before winter officially ended to make way for the first spring breezes, Tinh Yen spent an afternoon visiting Lieu Nguyen's grave, bringing with her a bouquet of wildflowers picked from the mountainside and an incense stick made by herself from fragrant herbs.

"Master," she said, kneeling in front of the grave that was now covered with a layer of green grass, "I am about to be summoned to Yen Phung, where you were once the royal physician. I will bring with you your tokens, the Hundred Herbs True Sutra, and what you have taught me about saving people without discrimination. I don't know what I will find there, but I promise, I will not back down from the truth, no matter how painful that truth is."

The afternoon wind blew gently across the mountain top, shaking the dry branches left over from winter, bringing with it a strange feeling of serenity, as if somewhere, the deceased teacher was silently nodding in approval of her decision.

On the way back to the barracks, Tinh Yen stopped at the top of a low hill, looking down at the panoramic view of Long Mon Pass stretching out below - rows of tents close together, solid city walls, flags fluttering in the wind, where she had spent nearly a year and a half since the first day she set foot in, from a wandering orphan girl to an official medical student carrying a bronze card and a summons to return to the capital.

She thought of the past - the red Coconut Creek, the days of wandering with her master, the night of meeting Thanh Phong on the battlefield, Lieu Nguyen's death in the middle of a military camp epidemic, the days of proving herself from cleaning a stack of bloody cutlery until being recognized as an official medical doctor. Each journey left her with a scar, but also gave her an unforgettable lesson.

Up ahead, the road to Yen Phung still has a whole spring to go before it really begins, but Tinh Yen knows, from the moment that sealed scroll was placed in her hands, the door to a new chapter in her life has officially opened - a chapter that not only challenges her skills, but can also be a chapter that will lead her closer to the truth about her grandmother's death, about her master's past, and about a conspiracy that still lurks somewhere between the walls. The lavish palace of the capital.

She stood there for a long time, until the sunset began to dye the western sky orange, thin clouds drifting across the mountain top carrying the first warmth of the coming spring. In the distance, the trumpet signaling change of shift rang out regularly from the barracks, a familiar sound that had become a part of her rhythm of life for nearly a year and a half, and perhaps, would follow her for another season before giving way to completely different sounds of the capital.

She left the top of the hill when it was dark and walked slowly back to the barracks, carrying an extraordinary calmness in her heart, the kind of calm that can only come after a person had fully accepted both the hopes and fears of the path he or she had chosen. Behind her, the Long Mon pass still stood there, as resilient as it had stood through many seasons of battle, and ahead, a new journey was quietly waiting, bringing both the answers she craved and the dangers she could not yet predict.