❝ i have had to watch hundreds die, there were so many i could not save. i could not let him become one of them. ❞ he finally spoke again in response to her question, still avoiding her scathing gaze for the moment though his head quickly snaps up at the mention of her duty and what he feared most.

they were going to kill him. 

locked up within the shackling prison there is little yinyue can do to protest her actions towards the other. his hands were rendered immobile by restraints, a dragonhorn pilory locked uncomfortably around his restricted tail in order to put a temper on his power. and even with all of that there is a panic that fills him so greatly that it causes him to pull on his already painfully tight restraints.

before yinyue was taken into custody by the cloud knights yingxing hadn't awoken yet, he'd shown positive vitals but there was no knowing if he'd awoken and if that was the case, what state he was in mentally. if yinyue could just get to him and then get off the luofu they could be free. he'd kept the other hidden while he recovered from the process of receiving immortality but there was no promising that every place among the luofu that yinyue had ever touched hadn't been ransacked in attempts to find more evidence of his crimes.

❝ jingliu, please. ❞ his voice breaks, panicked eyes searching her face for any semblance of pity, anything he could latch onto at the moment. anything to buy yingxing time. 

𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 . yet , there is something that stirs within her when she hears the break in yinyue's voice . compassion was something to be understood as general of the xianzhou luofu ; to take on such a responsibility to meant to give herself up entirely for the safety and preservation of the hexafleet . to allow the high elder to move past this crime unscathed would go against years of what she had accomplished on the luofu and her own beliefs . it's why she had kept such relationships at arms length . if only yinyue had learned to do the same ...

❛               yinyue . ❜ she says his name as if to heed him pause , but there's a quiet reservation of compassion laced within . the small of her moves closer to him and past the barrier line of safety . the high elder of the vidyadhara should not be here . yet , for his treasonous actions she understands why . ❛ i cannot let you go to him . buy if you should like to know ... yingxing is awake . ❜ there's a sadness in her eyes , a solemn expression pained with a quiet understanding . hair was blackened , eyes red . mara ran through his veins like wildfire and turned his soul black . does she leave those details out to lessen the guilt he already feels ? ❛ he is a danger to himself and the xianzhou luofu and he must be dealt with . you have given me no choice in this , ❜ jingliu says with repose . she's accepting of what must be done despite not having the heart to . it's what separated her from everyone else . in truth , it was quite lonely at the top .