Spinning in chairs is one of Bear's favorite things to do. She loves it.
One of Sweet's favorite things to do is watch Bear spin around in chairs; he also likes to join her in spinning sometimes.
Bear and Sweet are best friends. Sweet will push Bear's chair around faster and faster until she is sprawled on the floor giggling and afterwards Sweet will sit down on a cushion by the table and Bear will make some tea. Bear always spills tea on her kimono.
Sweet will draw creatures of the night and strange things he has seen when out and about.
Bear doesn't get out a lot, so she loves seeing all the drawings Sweet has made.
Bear likes to draw too, but there isn't very much in her mountain temple to draw, so she draws things that come from her mind, or illustrates famous stories like the one about Ts'ing and Wang-Chou.
Bear is very jealous of Sweet's brush painting set and loves to watch him as he inks out the view from the top of the mountain. Bear paints beautiful scenes from stories for Sweet and gives them to him so that he may sell them if he needs money for an inn when traveling, and in turn Sweet paints beautiful things and gives the pictures to Bear.
Bear gets very lonely when Sweet is away and looks out over the land, keeping track of how far he should be, always knowing he will return. Sweet visits once every 3 months.
One day, he did not come on his annual visit but Bear shook her head and simply said "he must be late, I'll put on some tea and wait for him to come."
Bear waited three days and three nights before she sighed and stood up from where she sat by the doorway.
Bear picked up the tea pot and emptied it and started a fresh pot. She made Chai tea, and sang to the fumes as they danced out the window and into the breeze.
Bear sang sad, lovely tunes to the tea as she poured in a bit of milk and stirred it with a spoonful of honey.
Sweet was out amongst a caravan, he was dying slowly after being attacked by evil thieves. He breathed in a trembling breath and smelled the heavenly Chai and thought of his love, Bear. She was the only one who knew just how he liked his tea.
And so slowly Sweet died with the beautiful songs filling his head.
His peaceful soul floated up to the mountain temple and breathed the fumes of the tea, and that night, after drinking her tea and heading to bed she dreamt of him, he told her all about the evil thieves who had killed him, and how he died thinking of her. Sweet confessed his love for her and she told him that she felt the same for him.
Bear awoke the next morning and washed her tea pot which she had left out the night before. She slipped on her satin slippers and stepped out of the temple into the courtyard, she had a small bundle in her hand and a box strapped to her back. Her hair was up in a large bun and bells hung from her hair and ears and kimono, she jingled softly as she walked and stepped for the first time off the temple grounds.
Bear walked day and night for 2 days before reaching the first village and she made a cup of Chai before bed and dreamt of Sweet again, this time she asked him questions and set off once again in the morning.
Finally after traveling for two weeks she came to where the thieves had been waiting, they captured her and spoke of evil things they could do to her.
But she protested saying,
"Wait, I am a master tea server and am very good at making sweet, strong teas."
The men were thirsty and decided to let her make her tea. Bear opened her bundle and pulled out her beautiful teapot and slipped the box of herds and tea mix off her back.
Bear mixed the tea and boiled some water over the fire; she poured the hot water into the pot and stirred the tea with her honey-spoon.
Bear secretly stirred in the venom of a scorpion and poured out a cup for all the vile men, but they demanded she pour a cup for herself as well, for making such a delicious smelling tea.
Bear grabbed her cup and smiled warmly at the memory of many a cup of tea with her love, Sweet. She drank the whole cup and went to bed before the men and they all died in their sleep.
Sweet and Bear's souls rejoiced in their reuniting and held eachother close, and slowly drifted down back to the earth, their souls each entering an item, Bear the teapot and Sweet the teacup.