Bi De stood in his place on the front of the sleigh, his dapper red hat trailing behind him. The wind coursed over his wings as they sped through the tunnel of evergreen boughs laden with the heavy snowfall from the wintery night. Below him, Brother Chun Ke and Sister Pi Pa carried the sleigh to its destination. Chun Ke wore his magnificent deer horn, to show respect to the original qilin who had pulled the great sage San Ta’s sleigh, while Pi Pa’s red-painted nose was a beacon in the mists, a light that cut through the darkness.
