Phainon is being approached by a pigeon with a letter! The lightweight tag on its ankle that showed the moon, it was no doubt Dan Heng's pigeon. What could he have possibly sent to Phainon?
My spicy ask contribution for today
now what a pleasant surprise this is! Phainon hasn't even been in the gardens alone for a half hour before receiving an unexpected visit from his beloved's pet bird! this method of communication has always been a favourite of his, given that there's just some things you couldn't say out loud, or have relayed through another person. the castle they lived in together was massive to the point it could make you dizzy if you didn't know where you were going, and sometimes Phainon and Dan Heng would find themselves on opposite sides of it, so this little bird was often a lifesaver when it came to delivering crucial information.
which is what Phainon assumes is attached to the little thing's leg. perhaps Dan Heng's discovered something imperative to their mission in hunting down the entity that gave his fathers those powers that eventually got him killed ( Phainon shuddered at the thought and tried to drive it from his mind quickly -- this was one of those secrets he wasn't ready to share with Phainon quite yet ), so consider his interest piqued.
Phainon wipes the wet dirt on his hands on his pants and crouches down. reaching out, he gently eases the note off of the animal's leg and offers it a light pat on it's head. naturally, it will wait there patiently for him to send a reply. then he sits down cross-legged and flips it open eagerly to see what's inside, but what he expects is the farthest thing from what he actually receives. it's three single letters; an acronym of some sort... something he doesn't recognize, and it leaves him more puzzled.
he doesn't understand what it means. 'DTF?' DTF... was Dan Heng in trouble? did something happen that made it impossible for him to communicate normally, causing him to resort to code language? already his heartbeat is picking up anxiously as he flips it over a few times in an attempt to check to make sure he hasn't missed anything, but the paper otherwise turns up completely blank, save for those single three letters.
they're going to haunt him now until he's cracked it. DTF... DTF... wait! wasn't his father's initials DF? Dan Feng? yes... yes that's right! but what about the 'T' in between it? did he have a middle name that Phainon wasn't aware of? did Vidyadhara even have those?? if so, he wasn't aware at all. or did that letter point to something more ominously linked to Dan Feng's name? had he discovered something pertaining to his father that was so horrifying he couldn't bear to write it all out, so he had to use this acronym instead?
Dan Feng... Dan T Feng.... Dan... Telephone Feng? no... Dan Trial Feng? maybe Dan Feng had set up a trial of some sort for Dan Heng? shit. Phainon almost never swore, but in this moment he felt an overwhelming urge to as his mind struggled to decipher the code in front of him, as if his very life depended on it. he probably sat there and agonized for well over a half hour before deciding that he wasn't going to be able to figure this one out on his own, so he'd better just get up and ask Dan Heng. which meant abandoning his assigned duties ( much to the anger of the preceptors shadowing the prince ), scooping the bird into his hands, and rushing into the castle to try and find him.
