Sienna Johnson peeled a lotus seed and popped it into her mouth; the seed was sweet with a faint bitterness.
The core of the lotus seed was especially bitter. But that bitter embryo was the part of the lotus seed with the greatest medicinal value.
Sienna wasn't afraid of bitterness; in fact she rather liked that taste of slight astringency followed by sweetness.
She ate a few lotus seeds and set down the lotus pod in her hand.
She wandered slowly around the room; it felt both familiar and strange… A Pipa hanging on the wall caught Sienna's attention. She reached out, stroked it, and broke into a smile.
"Adrian Desmond, you actually didn't throw this away."
Sienna took the Pipa down from the wall, cradled it in her arms, tested the sound; it was still in tune. She plucked at it a few times and played "The Butterfly Lovers."
