˗ˏˋ 📜 ˎˊ˗

Your feet touch the cold snow once more and your mind reels slightly after being suspended in the air for so long. Morax holds your waist for a second even after you both stand on solid ground—unsure whether you will keep your balance or not. The warm press of his body against yours separates and cold hair flows between you, immediately the shivers that have plagued you for days return, you hadn’t even noticed they had ceased during your proximity with him.

  The winds had settled, and snow fell gently to the ground—high rising peaks begin to show themselves in the distance, and though you had just barely seen enough to watch the massive serpent slither away between the mountains… you had no idea that the south of the Guili Assembly had such a massive reach of mountains, a range stretching as far as you could squint. 

  “W-what do we…” your words have barely left your chapped lips when Morax strides past you, you stutter a bit more as you see his back and quickly move your legs. The snow was shaken significantly and doesn’t reach up to your knees anymore—but you can hardly feel your feet anyway, the cold hums inside your bones and with every step that crunches the snow, a reverberating note of pain surges up your legs. 

  It’s awfully cold, even in the absence of wind. you can feel your nose hairs move with every breath and try to breathe with your mouth instead to stop the feeling. 

  Morax strides ahead, several thoughts swirl around in his head—he assumes you will keep up with him, he must investigate the site of the seal… rather, he should be making pursuit of the serpent and ensuring it will not cause harm. 

  Wracking his mind as he increases his pace, Morax doesn’t notice you lagging behind, breaths heaved as you try to trudge through the cold with aching limbs. There are countless tales of ancient gods and spirits beneath the land—of sealed gods and demons, being a serpent doesn’t narrow it down either, just as if it would have been many other type of spirit. 

  He makes it to the edge of the highest part of the flat mountain, where it sinks into the area where the seal had been placed atop a glassy ice… which has now broken away and given way for an all-encompassing abyss, a hole into the earth so dark one might there is no bottom. 

  Straightening slightly, as if perking up… Morax realises he doesn’t hear the crunch of snow behind him, not as closely as he expected at least. He turns to see that you’re a good distance away still, and a small tug pulls on his brows. He says your name and turns to walk back to you, momentarily putting his thoughts aside. 

  “Sorry… i-it’s just so cold,” you stutter slightly, though your clothes are okay for snow… they’re not exactly made for snowy mountain climbing. Your shoes are wet and practically freezing over again, and your nose feels like it’s about to crumble off your face at any moment. 

  Morax takes your hand, feeling the cold that practically emanates from it. He forgets the fragility of humanity often, even if he should be more accustomed to it by now. He must get you to warmth soon before you get sick—if he isn’t too late already. 

  You blink as you feel warm palms on your cheeks, the texture of Morax’s gloves are uncomfortable against your ice cold, sensitive skin… but as the warmth of his hands seep in and gently soothe your cold skin, you exhale in mild relief. If only he would pinch your nose and warm that too before it falls off. 

  He can assess the situation later… although Morax should do it now, he shifts his priorities—besides, he should ensure Moon Carver managed to protect the rest of the encampment with all the tremors that shook the mountains. “Come, I will take you back to the others. There will be fires and warmth there,” he assures, Morax’s hand finds your shoulder—but he stops before he can scoop you up as he intended. 

  You look over his shoulder and see a form crawling up from the now massive hole in the mountain, the slope has snow tossed everywhere and patches of grass poking out from underneath. 

  Mei Lan’s arms tremble as she manages to drag herself over the slope leading down into the maw of darkness behind her, she lowers and her torso finally touches the ground—splotches of red leaking from beneath her robes and into the white beneath her.

  A silence passes, you don’t dare move—you saw how fast she crossed the mountaintops—and Morax is still beside you, hand still resting on your shoulder. 

  The fallen god coughs slightly and hoists herself up to sit on the crunchy snow. “Y-you… this is your fault… I was focused—I held it well, it held for three hundred years,” Mei Lan didn’t raise her face to look towards you and Morax. The deep wound inflicted on her body bled freely, staining her clothes all the way down to her knees in a curtain of blood. “Four hundred years… gone, he’s free…” 

  Your eyes glance to Morax, his own gaze fixed on Mei Lan with a gaze sharp as steel. “You said nothing of a sealed calamity below the mountain,” his voice is even, a heavy tone that you haven’t heard expressed from his lips before. One guarded and distant. 

  “Why would I have to say anything?! These mountains have been mine for long!” she pounds her fist against the covered earth, with every exertion of her muscles, fresh blood pours from her torso. “Foolish humans climb the peaks in search of blessings and stir his conscious! They build and aggravate the earth above his tomb!”

  Your lips part and you want to say something, but nothing but the sound of your clattering teeth leaves you—if Morax weren’t practically holding you on your feet by your arm you would have fallen into the snow. 

  Morax’s head turns only slightly, but he doesn’t fully look at you. “Whose tomb have you been protecting?” 

  How would it be a tomb, if that massive thing slithered out of it? You nearly shudder (more) at the thought of it not only being a malevolent being, but also a ghost! 

  “He Shan,” she says the name with such vitriol you almost feel the burning heat of her hatred in your skin—it’s almost a relieving warmth, if you had fully felt it. “A bitter, violent creature that has had centuries to churn it deep in his soul.” You’re amazed she still seems so… full of energy considering how much blood coats her and the ground. Perhaps blood to gods is just decoration…? You wonder. 

  A low hum leaves Morax’s throat. He doesn’t recall the name—there are many gods that have risen and fallen within a handful of a hundred years that have names the winds of time have forgotten. Mei Lan has been atop this mountain range for a long time now, but the Guili Assembly is still relatively young, all things considered. Its borders have changed much in merely the last two centuries. 

  Steps approach from behind, boots crunching snow that diverts your attention from Mei Lan’s form and towards an approaching Moon Carver. “Lord Rex Lapis, what happened? This one did not anticipate such terrible shaking of the mountains below our feet!” 

  “Moon Carver, excellent timing,” Morax’s hand on your shoulder shifts to your back and he practically turns you around towards the adeptus. “Please take our friend to safety, I assume the others are well. I will finish asserting the situation here.”

  “Of course,” Moon Carver is quick to agree, despite his question going unanswered. He could practically feel your freezing skin beneath your winter robes as he approached the two of you and took your arm. 

  You would’ve loved to not be passed along like a child, but your feet feel frozen solid, you can’t promise yourself you won’t tumble and faceplant in the snow were you to attempt to walk all the way. “Ah, I’m sorry for the trouble—”

  He only shakes his head and you stop talking immediately… you feel like you’ve caused trouble, again, and lower your head slightly. First taking off and getting your feet swept from under you in Quiche, now rushing outside into the storm and letting a massive serpent loose…

  “Hey,” a finger flicks your ice cold cheek and you jump, head snapping up as an; “ow!??” leaves your lips. Moon Carver's expression is unimpressed. “Stop sulking, let’s go.”

  Morax watches the two of you silently as the adeptus practically drags you with him, not being as gracious as the man you’re leaving behind by offering to carry you—as Moon Carver responds to your complaining, you shouldn’t have rushed out into the cold if you weren’t prepared to trek back on your own two feet. Maybe it’ll teach you a lesson (unlikely).

  A small sigh leaves Morax as he turns his attention back to Mei Lan, whatever hint of emotion or gentleness directed at your presence is now gone in its absence. “Tell me everything.”

–

Thankfully, no one below the sheltered cliffside was injured badly, a few people toppled over each other and someone fell against one of the braziers and burned their leg quite harshly—but all things considered… they were safe. 

  Discussions of new locations were already rumbling along the half-crowd, but you didn’t pay much attention to the chatter—Moon Carver had tossed his own robe over you after you sat down by a reignited brazier, you were shaking like a leaf. You hadn’t even realised how cold you were until the warmth of the fire blossomed over your ice-cold skin, the last of the adrenalin faded and you were left like a pile of shivering bones, you wondered if your nose was still attached. 

 “A large serpent?” Moon Carver touched his chin in thought, despite being stripped of his robe, he doesn’t seem very cold nor bothered. He doesn’t recall tales of massive serpents in this region… but he hasn’t spent much time here either. 

  The more you think back on it, the more you shiver—even as the flames from the brazier start to warm your wet, frozen clothes. Your eyes hurt as you rub them, exhaustion settling in as the adrenalin from the day wanes away. “It could encircle mountains, I’ve never heard of a serpent so large,” you say as you tuck your hand back into your robe.

  “Hm,” there seemed to be a lot of thoughts wrangling in his head, and you really want to close your eyes—thus as Moon Carver falls into a silent thought, you allow them to droop. There’s not much to lean against, but you can probably get a shut-eye like this, sitting on the ground with your knees tucked up to your chest.

  You didn’t get very far into your rest—or that’s what it felt like, as a hand touched your head. 

  Jolting up and almost knocking your forehead into his jaw, Morax leans back in surprise when you suddenly start at his touch. His eyes are slightly wide and eyebrows raised. “Ah, my apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you—I merely meant to make sure you had warmed up enough.”

  A bit embarrassed by your own reaction—you’re not sure why you keep jerking so harshly when surprised, every instance of being caught off guard seems to make your entire body tense up and lock for a brief second. “N-no, it’s alright. I’m sorry,” you lower your legs to sit cross-legged before him, where Morax has kneeled by you. “What happened?”

  Moon Carver stands in front of you by the brazier, arms folded as he watches the exchange silently. 

  Morax stands gracefully. “She gave me valuable information before departing, we will need to reestablish an outpost along the mountains—but as we will not be pushed back further, we can settle with more practicality.” It’s strange how pristine his robes are, considering the events of the day—there’s hardly more than a few dots of blood on him. 

  “Departed?” Moon Carver asks. 

  “Into the mountains, she has not left for the Dark Sea,” he clarifies. “It seems she used a rather flimsy seal that requires the user to uphold the prison mentally at all times—it makes the seal powerful, so long as the user’s will to contain is strong enough… the wound she sustained tore her attention and broke the seal.”

  They don’t seem very concerned that Mei Lan has simply retreated and not departed entirely, perhaps they came to some sort of agreement before they separated… you hope—in any case, if Moon Carver and Morax seem relaxed about it, you shouldn’t worry either. 

  “Where did it go?” your voice sounds, turning the attention of both adepti to you—momentarily you feel a bit embarrassed for distracting them from the conversation.

  But Morax doesn’t hesitate to answer your question, though it wasn’t much of an answer. “I lost track of the serpent’s energy after he disappeared beyond the mountains. I must search the land and assure that he has not begun wreaking havoc.”

  “This one doubts someone that has been sealed for so long has the strength to unleash terror so soon,” Moon Carver adds. 

  “You are likely right,” Morax agrees. “Yet I must ensure the Assembly’s safety. Allow us to find shelter for our people before I depart…” he pauses before turning, eyes moving between you and Moon Carver. “At sunrise, you must return to the capital and inform Guizhong of what has occurred. Both of you.”

  Moon Carver nods without resistance, and thought you feel you should resist… what is there for you to do here? You suppose you could help rebuild, but you’re hardly a skilled enough carpenter. You nod your head as well.

–

It was amazing to see—with a simple raise of his hand, Morax created a shelter of stone. It wasn’t the long winded labyrinth that you had stayed in before, the rooms were a bit uneven and not split properly to allow for barracks… but simply being able to raise a shelter for the amount of people that had come unscathed was impressive. 

  Quickly braziers were lit inside and large cloths used to seal off the entrances. It was rather dark, but it brought shelter from the cool breeze. You finally managed to lie down and get a shut-eye for a while, but hunger eventually woke you… taking away the little peace your slumber brought. 

  As you’re handed a bun that had been prepared some days ago in the routine emergency, your cool fingers warm on the soft dough, heated above the fires raised in one section of the shelter. As you find a place to sit down, you hear two Millelith behind you chattering between themselves as they eat their own buns. “He made it look so effortless, I wonder if lord Rex Lapis could build a castle in a day.”

  “Perhaps… his interior skills might do with some improvement,” he other grumbles, mouth half-full of food.

  “... well, it must be hard to design something on the inside while you’re outside?” the first hums after a brief pause. 

  Though the conversation occurring behind you is amusing, you start to tune them out once they begin to argue the “right way” to design a home, and the first Millelith pulls out at every stop to remind the other that he built his own house as therefor knows exactly how it should be done, despite the other Millelith reminding him that his wife took take of the decorating and he just built the tables and chairs. 

  You wipe your hands on your pant legs after finishing the last bite of your meal and stand up, you’ve already explored the shelter and there’s no crook you haven’t stuck your nose into in curiosity. The hall has been properly warmed and your fingers and nose don’t feel like they’re about to fall off either, which is a relief—you were definitely starting to suspect you might have frostbite. 

  After some searching, you find Moon Carver again. “Will we depart in the morning?”

  The sun has long sunken down below the mountaintops, dawn should be making its way any time now… though it has been quite the long day, perhaps Moon Carver is too tired to leave right now.

  “We leave at noon, rest as much as you can,” he replies without turning to face you. Curious, you try to peek at what he’s doing… only to see him trying to scrub soot out of his robe.

  … the robe he tossed on you earlier this evening. You were leaning so close to the brazier you dirtied it—that robe looked older than you! And crafted so carefully it must be worth heaps of mora for the care alone!

  Immediately, you step next to him. “Gods—I’m sorry, I dirtied your robe after your kindness, allow me to clean it…”

  “It is no matter, one has nothing else to do with his hands,” Moon Carver tells you off easily, so easily that you feel like he just picked you up by the back of your robe and set you aside. 

  “Well… shouldn’t you rest as well? It can’t be good to travel without sleep,” you inquire hesitantly. The thought of Moon Carver dozing off while you’re a kilometre in the hair makes you shiver slightly.

  His movements halt for a moment before he continues. “Adepti do not require sleep.”

  … sure, you’ve heard that before. “But… it’s better, surely? It must give some energy.”

  You’re not entirely sure why you’re debating him on his own energy, but you want him to rest—have you ever seen an adeptus sleep? Or just close their eyes and lay out on the grass for a while? 

  You suppose you’ve been hallucinating a mini-Rex Lapis for a few months now, dozing around like a limp noodle. Maybe you’re going crazy. 

  … though, Moon Carver had been with you. “Moon Carver…”

  Hearing the uncertainty in your voice, he turns his head, but doesn’t fully look at you. “What?”

  “Can… lord Rex Lapis… turn into a small dragon? About the size of a forest snake?” you feel like you’re a toddler asking your grandmother if vishaps are real… again. 

  Moon Carver blinks at you for a moment, his expression rather confused both towards the contents of the question, as well as the rudeness of it. “One supposes he could, adepti choose their forms… why do you not ask him yourself?” The expression you made must have been amusing, because the corners of his lips quirk up. “This one is certain he would find it entertaining, at the least.”

  Entertaining… you had felt like a real weirdo in your first meetings, and then just as you feel that you’ve somewhat started to build up your reputation to at least seem like a relatively normal person—Moon Carver wants you to ask Rex Lapis himself if he indulges in naps as a pocket-sized dragon?

  Absolutely not. 

  “I’ll pass, thank you for the suggestion,” you say, and turn on your heels. What a dumb question, if Moon Carver mentions this to him, you’ll put peppers in his tea—you regret asking immediately.

–

  Soaring into the ice-cold air atop the Fengyuan Peaks, you clutch the Moon Carver’s mane as if it was the only thing between you and certain death… you’re sure he could catch you if you did slip and tumble off his back—but you’re not every excited to test that theory.

  Your eyes quickly dry as cool wind brushes against your face, you turn your head to the side to avoid facing forward and hopefully spare your eyeballs when your eyelids fly open. “Moon Carver! Look—do you see it?”

  The earth between rising mountains, usually filled with deep snow and dark ravines… have flattened, rounded under the weight of a god so large and heavy he broke the sides of cliffs and left behind markings of his movements. 

  “This one has observed our surroundings,” he confirms, but doesn’t move his head to look down.

  It makes your skin tingle, Morax had taken the two of you back far enough that you hadn’t been crushed when He Shan broke free—but seeing the marks he left behind somehow made him seem far larger than you had thought, even in the same vicinity. 

  The earth beneath is darker than you would have thought the land should be, even though the rocks and stone of the mountains even under the sun of day is dark… it feels as if the night sky is below you, streaks of white dragging into the black, creating an unnatural formation between the rising peaks of the mountain range.

  You turn your head into the adeptus’ fur as the scenery fades to high rising trees in place of stone… you don’t wish to see Quiche from above right now. 

  Though you felt a bit bad leaving the peaks of the mountain behind considering the recent events, it was very comforting to arrive back in the capital… the air was still warm, despite the colours of autumn, and the city was lively as always.

  As soon as you set foot inside the courtyard, both Ground Mender—features covered as always—and Ming Hui were waiting. You felt like you were about to be scolded like a child… 

  “You!” Ming Hui quickly approached you, poking you in the stomach repeatedly—it’s about as much ‘poking someone in the chest threateningly’ as she can get with such a short height. “I had to do every single one of your chores while you were gone! Without warning!”

  Ah… you hadn’t really thought of that. Though, you also hadn’t really been re-assigned chores by the time you left…? “I’m sorry,” you blurt out. “I’ll take your workload for a while.”

  “Uh-huh, and you’re going to stand in queue for that limited seasonal rice cake that’s been super popular—which I haven’t been able to get all week because of your chores,” she pokes you three more times before then jabbing her finger towards your nose. “Idiot!”

  You blink down at her for a few seconds, you haven’t seen her so expressive before—Ming Hui has been rather quiet and focused on her work since you met her… it’s a little amusing to see such a contrast to her (though she had been very patient and kind by your sickbed), but your guilty conscience of making her work twice as hard outweighs your amusement. “Of course, I’ll buy four—”

  “—five!”

  “Five,” you agree. “What is it anyway? Are people really queuing for it?”

  Ming Hui, finally lowering her hand—for a moment you thought she might just curl her fist and give you a nice knock on the belly. And she’s so strong that it might actually take you down. “Chestnut-paste filled youtiao,” she says and tugs on her clothes to straighten them.

  You’ve never tried that particular combination before… but since so many people are excited about it, it must be at least decent. “Okay, I’ll bring them to you for lunch tomorrow.”

  Ming Hui, who had been about to turn away and let Ground Mender’s turn begin to scold you in some form—you hope it’s not more poking—turns and squints at you. “Tomorrow? The queue is too long for you to make it back before lunchtime.”

  “Then I’ll start waiting before the stall opens,” you say with a little bit more conviction than you probably should for such a little thing… but it’s not so little, you feel. When she gives you a look of doubt, you feel a deep need to right it. That she shouldn’t doubt your ability to do such a simple thing. 

  She sets her hands on her hips. “So long as you don’t hurt yourself, I guess. Remember that you were in an infirmary bed not long ago.”

  She probably doesn’t realise it, but the reminder does make your chest—and arm—pinch a little at the thought. You’d rather not think about it more than you have to. “I’ll be fine.”

  It kind of feels like you’re the twelve year old between the two of you with this scolding and then voice of concern of your well-being and ability to so… such a simple thing and walk to the city and purchase some fried dough sticks. 

  “Hm, I believe you,” she finally gives in and sets her hands down again, the robe she’s wearing today seems far too large on her than it should be, the sleeves are tied back but they still droop below her elbows.

  As she finally takes her leave, you realise you’re left standing alone in the courtyard—not counting guards passing between buildings and attendants leaving out the gates behind you. Moon Carver and Ground Mender have gone as well, hadn’t you just been looking at Ground Mender a moment ago? 

  Perhaps adepti have better stealth than you give them credit for.     -

  Your room feels even more bare than before, as you shut the door behind you and walk inside, allowing yourself to sink down on your bed—it’s far more comfortable than you’ve given it credit for in the past—before you kick off your shoes and toss your thick travel robe on the chair by your desk.

  Falling backward and feeling the mattress against your back, you stare at the ceiling for a good long time.

  The memory of the terrible, strangely fleshy sound of the massive serpent slithering between the mountains makes your muscles tense up briefly before relaxing… the thought of that terrible demon slithering on the outskirts of the Assembly makes you anxious—even more so when you know there’s little you can do. What could a small human like you do against a demon?

  You try your best to not think about Quiche, the more your brain tries to claw into your thoughts and drag them out of the little hole you put them in during the last few days, the more you resist and try to think of something else. 

  But the only other thing that comes to mind… is your empty hands. 

  Returning to your room without the weight of your cleansing tools in your hand feels as if you’ve left parts of yourself behind, the old and crooked shape of that old bell was so familiar against your palm that it had felt as if you were holding your own hand.

  You feel as if you’ve been stuck inside your head for weeks, perhaps even a few months—yet you don’t feel as if you’ve been thinking of very much at all. 

  Raising your left arm to the air, the bandages around your skin are loose and you can see peeks of skin between them. Your palm and fingers look healthy and fine, and there are no eyes watching from beneath the white cloth—but you don’t dare unravel the rest. It has been days, enough to see improvements, or the opposite. And you’d rather not know, so long as you can’t see the state of your skin and tissue, it can’t trap your mind. 

  Letting it fall back down and land on your stomach, you let out a small huff of discomfort as the impact reverberates through your arm and up your shoulder. Ow…

  Sitting up with a groan, you decide to leave your room—you’re tired, and should probably sleep… but now that you’re in a calmer place with enough space for your thoughts to gather, you’re a bit afraid of what that could lead to.

  The air has definitely gotten cooler as the sun sits down, it was comfortably warm when the sun was up… but it was definitely warmer than on the mountain despite the chill. You took a long good walk around the courtyard, it seems the last days of moving so much has really helped your muscles—though you’re sure any doctor or healer would have suggested you re-train your muscles normally, with slow and progressing exercises. 

  Looking to the skies once you’re between thick trees and bushes with yellowing leaves, you squint up at the moon… it’s brighter than usual today.

  Your nose stings, and you rub at it—but it doesn’t stop the filling of tears in your eyes. Damn it… you had come outside so that you wouldn't cry, and now look at you. The tears bubble in your eyes and blur your vision, you quickly wipe them away but as you lower your head—they seem to flow out. 

  That damned bell… why would you leave it in your room? You should’ve had it on you the entire time, even when there wasn’t really a reason to, you weren’t at home, you shouldn't just leave things lying around—who knows what could happen? Perhaps you should even have predicted the attack to happen. 

  “Take good care of it, jiao jiao,” the old, worn hands of your grandmother present the bell to you, even back then, it was old and rusted at the bottom. Her larger hand supports your open palms as the other lowers the bell into them. “Your great-grandmother was very talented, and she will be delighted to see you grow to be like her.”

  “It’s old…” you had said, small fingers rubbing the bottom of the bell and feeling the uneven metal scrape against your skin. “If I drop it, will it break?”

  Your grandmother smiles, and she sets her finger on the ornament atop the bell, where one would hold it to ring. “It’s a resilient thing, your great-grandmother was given it by her father, who received it from his mother. I’m sure someone has dropped it into a bowl of oil before.”

  “Who was cleansing bowls of oil?” your face pinches in confusion. Could spirits and demons even inhabit food? In all the books you’ve read, they go for people or weapons, sometimes even trees or rocks. 

  “Well, the family kitchen doesn’t have much storage space… perhaps you will find a better place to keep it,” her large, wrinkled hand pats your head, the warmth from it clear against your head as you give her a big smile. 

  You shake your head, as if the memory was a snowflake on your hair you’d like to toss off. Don’t think about it, the more you think about it, the more your mind recognises what used to be real and no longer is. 

  Running a hand down your face, and dragging any tears or snot that formed in the meantime into your palm, you blink a few times to gather yourself. You can probably have your tools replaced, perhaps you could even chip the bottom of a new bell to make it look like the old one. 

  Then, maybe then you’ll keep pretending it’s the same, that it’s fine and you didn’t lose them. 

  You don’t want to go back to your room… perhaps the youtiao stall is still open so late into the evening, or perhaps you’ll find something else to distract you on the way. You take a long breath, willing away the tightness in your chest and the ache of your clenched jaw, before turning and leaving the serene gardens.   

  The last thing you expected once you stepped past the gates to the palaces after avoiding conversation with either guard there, was the sound of bare feet tapping on the stone steps behind you—you don’t know of many people who walk around barefoot, so only one guess comes to mind. 

  Stopping and turning to look behind you, you see Guizhong hopping down the steps towards you at… concerning speeds. Her dress is longer than usual, going below her ankles so that you can’t see her feet, but her sleeves always sway far below her hands as usual. “My lady—” you extend a hand to steady her in case she stumbles on her dress, she’s taking more than two steps at a time.

  But thankfully, she stops easily as soon as she reaches you, and takes your extended hand. “There you are! I was preoccupied when you came back, I haven’t had a chance to speak with you properly… for so long! Too long, come!” 

  She seemed very energetic, did she get more energised under the moon? 

  She gave you little choice as she began tugging you down the steps behind her, and you quickly brought your mind back on pace to control your legs before YOU started tumbling down. Falling down this monstrous amount of steps would surely finally be the end of you. “O-okay, please slow down,” you pleaded as she began to hop down the steps two at a time once more. 

  “Slow? We’ll miss our window, no time to hang around!” she simply laughed at your concern. 

  Your mind felt like it was spinning, the emotions of the day being churned around in your head like laundry being washed in a basin. Just moments ago you had been fighting the tightness of your chest and hoping to find a distraction that could occupy your attention until you were too tired to think comprehensive thoughts. 

  “Window…?” you weren’t aware you had anything planned with her today… or ever, Guizhong is lovely—but she’s far too busy to be making friends with someone like you. 

  She doesn’t let go of your hand, grip surprisingly strong even if it’s holding you through her sleeve. “Once the moon sits at its highest, it creates a lovely sight along the river, I always visit it when it’s at its brightest—and since you’re here anyway, you’re coming with me!” 

  You suppose you have no choice, then. 

  Your legs complain as Guizhong picks up her running pace as soon as you leave the long steps behind, but you’ve been pushing through for so many days now that feeling that ache in your thighs is familiar enough to not stop you. 

  Despite it being before midnight, the streets of the city have quieted—they’re never completely silent, with cats meowing loudly at the back of a meat-shop as they clean up after the day until the owner finally comes out with some leftovers to let them nibble on. Some streets are lined with taverns and bars that stay open well into the night for rowdy patrons, with bright lanterns lighting the entrance. Standing on such a street can even feel as if it were daytime with how bright and lively it is. 

  Other streets are dark and still, where people have retired to bed and closed their windows. Signs sit outside closed doors with opening times, and a crafts shop has a sheet laying over the clay pots left outside for the night. 

  Guizhong only slows once you finally pass a large building that looks like a rice-wine making business, at least if the smell is to be believed. “Here, through the little path,” she lets go of your hand and motions for you to follow her. 

  Her body is smaller than yours, so you have to lean a bit down where she doesn’t. It reminds you of the path you took upon visiting the city proper at first, except your face and head is thankfully safe from any cobwebs or insects upon exiting. 

  “We came very far for…” you start, a little annoyed that Guizhong just had you tun halfway across the capital in a few minutes, lungs burning and thighs twitching in discomfort. 

  But your words halt halfway once your eyes adjust to the clearing, it was rather dark at first sight, but now reveals itself to be a small garden of sorts. Vines climb up the back of buildings that face away from each other, the river that flows through the city widens significantly before narrowing again a few houses down from where you entered. 

  A few large trees stretch from three different gardens, and the orange and red leaves create a strangely warm hue from the cold light that illuminates the clearing from the moon. The leaves from the trees litter the ground, making it appear like a warm cushion instead of the hard ground that is surely beneath them. 

  Guizhong walks towards the riverside, where the ground rises above it. She tugs her dress up and lets her feet touch the cool water before looking back to you. “Come, sit with me.”

  Attention taken away from your pretty surroundings, you approach Guizhong and sit down cross legged beside her, not wanting to wet your shoes. “Did you bring me here spontaneously?”

  “Oh, yes. I just happened to spot you on my way out,” she kicks her feet against the flowing stream, small splashes sounding below. Across the river, two children and a dog come out from another little path between homes, they don’t pay either of you any mind as they run up along the river until you don’t see them anymore. 

  It’s… nice. Peaceful. “I see… I suppose I wasn’t on my way to do anything important,” you say, and truthfully, it was very optimistic of you to assume the youtiao stall was still open so late.   

  Guizhong leans back, sleeves resting on the leaf-covered ground. “I thought you’d be resting early, you’ve had quite the trip.”

  … you’d rather not talk about it, if you were to be honest. “As did I,” you simply say. You feel a tingle in your bones, you hadn’t considered the “returning home” of your plan. So desperate to figure out what happened in Quiche, you didn’t think of any consequences to yourself or others. “I will rest soon.”

  “Hm,” a small hum simply leaves the girl. Despite being a god, so many unimaginably long and difficult years older than any mortal in this city, including yourself. She looks so youthful, not a single mar on her porcelain skin. 

  She doesn’t say any more, not for a while. As the moon stretches to the top of the heavens, settling for what feel like mere moments as the light of it illuminates the small garden. The light reflects off the water in the river and creates a projection of waves on the underside of the leaves above your head. As if you were in the ocean itself, swimming along the stream. 

  The scene is undoubtedly beautiful, but you find your mind distracted, occupied with less beautiful things. You wish you could close it off, silence the workings of your mind and simply exist as the moments come and go in front of your eyes. 

  To act as a human living on limited time, and experience time as it exists in your body. Not the ever-slowing clocks of time in your mind, clinging onto past memories—

  You’re torn from your strange thoughts as something dark above you moves, and as you stare at the trees, seems to grow bigger—

   THUNK

  Your forehead throbs as you let out a sound of surprise, a dry, heavy-looking branch bounces off your head and onto the ground with a dull thud. 

  Guizhong looks at you with large eyes as she shuffles closer, sleeve raising to touch your head. “Are you okay? What a misfortune, we should make an offering to the river to ward it away,” she says with a half smile, rubbing her sleeve on your forehead as you squint your eyes. 

  “How is a small branch so heavy… I feel like I just got hit on the head with a staff,” you grumble, your head throbs with a headache that spreads down to your neck. Taking a nicely shaped brown leaf from next to you, you blow on it before uttering a phrase of offering and sending it off on top of the river.

  After it flowed a few metres away… it sank under the stream. 

  Guizhong gave you a sympathetic look. “Perhaps you should wear a red string for a few days…”

You were born with a mark on your back. Golden lines that never touch and form the shape of a diamond imprinted on your left shoulder blade. It was because of this mark you were never loved by your father or your half-sister. 

Abandoned to be a mere servant of the palace as a maid and nothing more. You’ve never once acted the part of your kingdom’s first born princess; in fact, they don’t even know you exist. Sometimes, it feels like the only good thing you got out of being unrecognized is the fact you were allowed to carry your mother’s maiden name and not the royal families. 

According to the rest of peoples in your kingdom, the first princess was still born and the mother mourned so deeply she took her own life. Thus the king remarried two years later and had a child with the late second-queen. 

Sometimes you wish you were accepted despite your ‘flaw’, yearning for familiar love. It never lingers because if you had been brought up any other way than this one, you wouldn’t be where you are now. You could have treated Li like a stranger you loathed. You don’t. You love this man whose face you have never seen. 

The way your soulmarks work is simple yet complicated. You both can meet in dreams just like this. The first time you both met was when you were 15 and to stay you were beyond spooked is an understatement. You actually woke yourself up by screaming in pure shock. He snickered at you the second time you met in a dream. 

Li is simply a shadowed figure to your eyes. You appear the same to him, a simple shadow in the shape of a human. Neither one of you will know what the other looks like until you see one another. It’s almost cruel, since you’ll probably be trapped inside this castle until you're old and grey and when you finally die, you’ll be lucky to be buried in the cemetery. You may never know what he looks like or ever get to meet him. It's tragic. 

That doesn’t mean you know nothing about your soulmate. You know plenty. 

For starters, his name isn’t actually Li, but that’s what he’s asked you to call him. He says he can’t say his name for reasons that are hard to explain. You understand though. He’s tall with long hair he usually ties low at the back of his head during the day. 

He isn’t a human, but a dragon (when he told you that, you begged to touch his ears since you’ve heard they’re pointed- he let you). However the horns you can make out the silhouette of that separate, branch off, and stretch above him you leave alone. 

He prefers drinking tea over liquor and he prefers it black- but he does fancy a particular wine that’s often made in his homeland. His kingdom has two names- one is pronounced in dragonic tongue and the other is much easier for humans to articulate. You still haven’t learned what is it though since he doesn’t often speak of home. 

He can’t stand seafood. 

Apparently he’s actually over 500 hundred years old- and when he first got his mark that matched yours- it was on the day you spooked yourself awake for the first time at 15 years old. It’s been many years since then. 

You’ve traced his face with your fingers before, hoping to get a mental feel for how he appears. His features are defined and he feels handsome, but unfortunately for you- you still couldn’t create a whole image of him in your head. You don’t know if it’s arrogance, but he also claims that others say he is pleasing to look at. You choose to believe him. 

Li loves the smell of flowers. Where he lives in the kingdom of dragons- with that dragonic name you have quite the struggle pronouncing since the language is tough on the tongue- there’s a special flower that grows spontaneously on cliffsides. The plant that blooms in three, purple stalks is called violetgrass and while every flower has its own uniqueness and beauty, he tends to favor the blue bell blooms that hang downwards. 

He was kind and patient with you. Li often speaks freely and listens attentively. Despite claiming to have a short temper some days, he’s never once lost it. He claims your presence has a calming effect on him, and should the day ever come when he raises his voice towards you, you are free to put him in his place. You can’t imagine either happening. 

While you are soulmates, Li has also taken time before to explain that additionally on his end, you are considered his dragonic mate despite remaining human. He speaks of you as if you hold his very soul in your palms and it always makes you warm. 

“You’re a bit late to fall asleep tonight,” he points out. Taking your hand in his, he helps ease you onto the ground and let your legs dangle over the edge of the cliffside. He joins you once you’ve settled, never letting himself become comfortable first.

a/n pt.2: if the whole soulmate thing doesn't make sense, i swear to god i'll try and explain it later when the m.draft is finished hngghhh. it makes sense in my heaD OKAy

“When thinking about the uses of your vision, the possibilities are vast— confined only to the capabilities of the element and your own personal imagination. For example, plenty of Hydro users have implemented healing abilities into their vision usage, due to hydro’s innate ability to heal. But there are plenty of those who use hydro solely as an offensive element as well. 

On a similar note, Pyro is an element that is primarily used for offensive purposes, but there are plenty of those who choose to mold the element to suit supportive, defensive, or even healing purposes, despite its obvious affinity for destruction.” 

You twiddle with a pebble on the ground, unable to meet his eyes but soaking in his words all the same. 

“Geo has a natural affinity for defense usage, right? Due to its resilience against the other elements.” 

Zhongli makes an affirmative sound, which makes you look up at him from your spot on the ground. His smile is warm, making your cheeks flush and your eyes dart to the side. 

“Correct, very well said.” His praise made you even more flustered, and you ducked your head, playing with an invisible loose threat on your pants. 

“We are fortunate that you received a Geo vision, as I am very well acquainted with the element, and can help you answer any questions or concerns you may have.” There was a tone of amusement in his voice that you didn’t really understand, perhaps an inside joke? You knew he was a geo user, you’d seen his vision dangling from that decorative chain on his coat. 

It looked a little different than yours, but that was perhaps because it was older? You didn’t really pay close attention to visions before now, so you really had no idea. 

“What kind of role were you thinking you’d like to take on with your new power? Have you perhaps considered a weapon?” he asked. 

You really hadn’t thought about any of this. After Zhongli had given you the customary Liyue Vision holder, you’d simply tucked it in your pocket, not really wanting to advertise that you now had one. 

“What kind of weapon do you use?” You looked at his shoes, then glanced up to his eyes for a moment. 

He simply stepped back, and summoned a beautiful Polearm, almost pulling it from thin air. 

“Woah— will I be able to do that now?” You exclaimed, sitting up a bit straighter. 

He chuckled, a warm and deep thing that made your heart flutter with the desire to hear more of it. 

“Of course, would you like to try?” He asked, handing you the spear. 

You eyed the polearm warily. It looked to be worth more than your entire shop could make in a year, and incredibly dangerous. 

“Are you sure?” You said, standing up. 

Zhongli nodded, placing the polearm delicately in your waiting palms. It felt heavy, a little too imbalanced on the bladed side. You gripped it tightly, feeling a bit awkward. 

“How do I…?”

He smiled, placing a hand over his mouth as if to cover how wide it stretched, but you could still see it in the crinkle of his eyes. Did he find how you look holding such a massive weapon amusing? Well, you probably did look pretty silly. He cleared his throat before he continued. 

“Simply will it away, and it will listen. When you wish to bring it back, call it forth, and it shall come.” 

You quirked your brow, finding that explanation to be a bit too far fetched. You thrust your hand to the side, scrunching your face and concentrating very hard. 

“And… go away!” You said. The polearm disappeared from your grip, vaporizing into a little show of sparkles. Your eyes blew wide, and you looked around to see if it was some kind of trick. With no polearm in sight, you gaped at Zhongli, grinning wide at how simple it actually was. 

With his arms crossed, he nodded expectantly at you, and you took that as your instruction to bring it back. 

You shot your hand out beside you once more, closing your eyes and squeaking out a “Come back!” And suddenly its weight materialized into your palm once more, making you lean a bit at the sudden heft. 

“Holy Archons!” You cried out. “That's so cool!”  

Zhongli tilted his head, clearly quite entertained by your amazement, but you’d grown comfortable enough around him that you didn't really feel like he was picking on you anymore. 

“That is just one of many things you are capable of. Would you like to learn more?” 

You nodded enthusiastically, so in awe of this new world brought to you by such a tiny little orb. 

———————————————

After deliberating for some time about your choice of weaponry, (you chose the polearm, solely because Zhongli seemed to have a plethora of them, and offered to lend you a much smaller, less ornamental one) Zhongli started to go into detail about the uses of your vision.

”Obviously the possibilities are nearly endless, as I said before— but to better conserve your strength, it is best to choose two signature styles of use that you can practice and hone into something of an artform.

Your vision's power comes from within you, so if you blast it all away at once with a showy and overpowered move, you’re left with virtually no strength to continue on, which will leave most people in a rather precarious position.

This is why, in battle, most wielders will choose two signature moves, an elemental skill, and an elemental burst.”

Zhongli moved to stand further away from you, more towards the lake in the center of Mt. Aocang. You’d been a little worried about traveling up here, but he’d assured you that the Adepti of Jueyun Karst would not bother the two of you, and you had no reason to argue otherwise, so you followed dutifully. 

“An elemental skill—“ He crosses his arms, and a giant pillar of rock that radiates geo energy comes shooting out of the ground, nearly causing you to stumble back. “Is a move that should consume a minimal amount of your energy for maximum potential. You want to hone it to its best usage, and perfect it to benefit you in any situation.”

You regard the pillar with awe, feeling the geo energy sweeping a few feet outwards from where it protrudes from the ground. Taking a closer look, you run your hands along its surface, admiring the beautiful structure and the energy tingling beneath your fingertips. You think you see Zhongli shift a bit where he stands beside you, but when you turn to look, he is simply observing you with a neutral expression. 

“These will cause crystallize reactions to any element within their area of effect, creating micro shields for myself and any team members I may be traveling with. But because I have been honing this skill for a very long time, I have learned to alter it to better suit my needs.” 

Suddenly the tower of rock disappears, and Zhongli is encased in a swirling column of geo, glowing and pulsing around him. 

“Wow…” you say, stepping forward. “You’ve learned to create a shield without the use of a crystallize reaction?” 

“Not a difficult feat in itself, but the strength of the shield took me many years to hone.” He says, watching you with amused eyes. It truly seemed as though he found your hunger for knowledge and wonder at the world of visions very entertaining, and for once you didn’t feel ashamed to be expressing yourself so openly. 

“Can I… can I touch it?” You asked hesitantly. 

His eyes seemed to glimmer in the afternoon sunshine as he nodded, chuckling a bit. 

“You can take that polearm I gave you and test how it feels to strike at an opponent, if you’re so inclined.” 

Without really thinking, you circled him, running your fingertips along the wall of impenetrable energy surrounding him. 

You could feel the crackling geo resonating through your fingertips, meeting your own elemental energy in a tentative spark that shot shivers up your arms and down your spine. You’d never really focused on elemental energies before, but it was like now you could see it in everything, feel it course through your body like the blood in your veins. 

Even without interacting with any other vision users like this, you could instantly tell that Zhongli was incredibly powerful. The elemental energy surrounding him was almost blinding, and the crackle of his shield under your fingertips was like a gust of pure power being blown through your nervous system. 

“Is every person with a vision like this?” You murmured, knocking your knuckles against the shield and meeting pure resistance. 

“Like what?” You weren’t expecting him to answer you, you hadn’t even really realized you were speaking out loud. 

You stepped back, your face heating up. “Ah, I mean… your energy, it’s really— it’s really intense.” 

You looked up at him to watch him quirk a brow down at your words, which made you stammer and run your hands over your face in exasperation at yourself. 

“What I mean— I mean your Elemental energy. I’ve never… I’ve never really paid attention before, or maybe never saw it before I got my vision— but focusing on you now, it’s really… powerful.” You watched as the shield rotated around him in awe, the energy swirling and glowing in the sunlight. “It’s really beautiful.” 

The words left your mouth before you even thought to hold them back, and you felt the heat in your face travel up to your ears. 

“Beautiful?” Zhongli said, a hint of teasing in that smooth voice of his. 

You spluttered, and without thinking summoned your polearm, gripping the pole tightly in your hands, holding it in front of you defensively.

“That offer to whack it is still on the table, yes?” You stammered.

“Perhaps we should further discuss how you visualize the Elemental energy around us, yes? I’m very Intrigued about your—“ his tone really was teasing now, and you couldn’t handle another second of it or you’d explode. 

”AHBAHBAP—“ you blurted out, taking a step back to charge at him in your fluster. “Less talking, more whacking!” 

—————————————

Over the last few months, you seemed to be developing and adapting to new routines very quickly, whereas your life before Liyue felt so sedimentary, so stale and monotonous. 

Your new daily routines were busy, schedule packed and lively, forcing more social interaction on yourself than you’d had in years past. 

You would wake, make your way to the terrace to do your morning prayers, have tea with Madame Ping, wave good morning to Zhongli and Hu Tao as they opened up the funeral parlor before heading home to open the store. 

You weren’t sure about hiring some help with the shop, but Madame Ping had asked for a favor, so now one of her disciples, a little girl by the name of Yaoyao came by three times a week to help you tend to the greenhouse and greet customers. It was supposedly part of her training, though you weren’t really sure what she was training for. 

Her assistance did come in very handy though, and you weren’t complaining. the customers loved her, the plants loved her, and business was doing well enough that you could send her home with a decent little bag of mora at the end of the week, even though she would always try to refuse. It had taken you saying that you would be very upset to see her go unrewarded for all her hard work, and of course she didn’t want to do anything to make you sad. 

During those three day intervals, you would close up the storefront in the early evenings, entrusting the care of the greenhouse chores to little Yaoyao, even going as far as to get her a little key cut for the side entrance so she could lock up when she was finished. 

The reason? Zhongli had personally offered to train you more, help you hone your new power into usable skill. 

After his impromptu lesson in the mountains, you surely thought he would be done with you, only showing you the basics out of the goodness of his heart, so you didn’t make a fool of yourself or injure anyone around you. 

But no— he was taking three evenings out of his week to spar with you, and help you learn how to wield the power of geo. 

This week he chose Yaoguang Shoal as your location, most likely because last week you said it might be nice to train by the sea sometime. You hadn’t really thought he’d take much consideration into your words, seeing as he favored the more mountainous regions, but there you were anyway— the spray of salt and wind battering your skin as you laughed and kicked up sand under Zhongli’s watchful eye.  

After a few weeks of this, you were starting to gain a little more confidence, and you could tell that Zhongli was slowly increasing the pressure on you during sparring, each day his posture slightly more tense, his moves just a little faster than before. 

You parried his strike with a move you’d been trying to perfect since last week. You were successful, but you winced as an ache wracked through your elbow, sliding back and lowering your weapon to signal that you weren’t continuing. 

“Good!” Zhongli said as you parried the strike, but his gaze landed heavily on you as you rubbed your sore arm. “Though you’re still taking in too much force with your elbows and wrists, you’ll injure yourself if you keep that form.” 

You huffed, standing in position again, going through the motions of the move slowly like he taught you, but you could tell you were still screwing it up. 

Zhongli made his way closer as he watched your increasing frustration. He circled around you and watched you from behind for a moment. You weren’t exactly paying attention to him until you felt his presence extremely close— the heat radiating from him making the hairs on the back of your neck prickle.

”Here, my apologies, but may I touch you for a moment?” His voice rumbled behind you, making your cheeks flush. It was Zhongli— it was Zhongli. The question, no matter how suggestive your stupid brain wanted to perceive it, was nothing but innocent. It was Zhongli. It was innocent. 

“Yes.” You said, the word sounding a bit warbled in your fluster, but he leaned in anyways. 

“You're taking the force of each blow here—“ his hands reached around, touching your wrists gently where you held the spear in a loose defensive stance, diagonal in front of you. He moved his fingers slowly to cup his hands under your elbows, murmuring, “And here.” You could feel the warmth of his chest pressing against your back. 

He’s helping you visualize the faults in your form, nothing more. 

“Let the full strength of your arms catch the blows,” his index fingers tapped from the crook of the inside of your arm and dragged up for biceps to your shoulders. “Let it come here, and steady it—“ his hands suddenly left your shoulders and you nearly jumped as one hand placed firmly over your abdomen, the other pressing against your back in the same position. “Steady it here, in your core.” 

You felt your abdomen tighten on reflex, only half heartedly acknowledging the fact that his hands were so big that they nearly spanned the entirety of your stomach, from just below your breastband to what would most likely stretch past your navel if he spread his fingers wider. 

“Good, just like that.” He said as he felt your abdomen tense. 

He’s just helping you visualize the correct form, nothing more. Get your mind out of the gutter, you disgusting excuse for a human being. 

“You already carry your stance very well, your legs are always steady but you retain the fluidity to pivot and move without being too stiff, which is wonderful.”

His hands left you as he circled back in front of your gaze, and you found yourself missing their warmth for only a moment before you saw him ready his spear, taking an offensive stance. 

“We will do this as many times as you need to feel satisfied, so please do not push yourself. Breathe with the motions, focus on where the impact is going.” 

Your guts twisted up at his words, and if you could run into the ocean and disappear without looking like an idiot, you probably would. 

Shaking off your degenerate thoughts, you nodded, readying yourself as you prepared to try and use the advice he’d just so thoughtfully given you while you were off in celestia fantasizing about his hands. 

He moved, and so did you. He was kind enough to come at you with the same motions as before, so you could easily move with the same rhythm to focus on the parry itself. 

Both hands, firm grip. Watch the swing of the blade, brace— shoulders, biceps, core— push, follow through, and back!

You stepped back, eyes wide as you felt a pleasant ache in your muscles from being used, but no pain or stinging in your elbows or wrists. 

Zhongli smiled, twirling his pole arm around and readying himself once more. “Incredible, now again!” 

The next thirty minutes flew by in a flurry of clanging metal and heavy breaths, mostly your own. He certainly kept you on your toes, coming on the offensive before suddenly prompting you to attack, taking each of your clunky blows with practiced ease and barely a flutter of his lashes. 

It was during one of these switch ups, where you were on the offensive, when you worked up the nerve to ask a question that’d been eating at you for many weeks now. 

“Zhongli,” you said, striking at his pole arm and taking the reverb of his parry with a back step. “Why did you decide to train me?” 

“I’ve not formally trained someone in a very long time,” he said, gracefully side stepping a strike. “I rather enjoy it.”

”No,” you said, taking a cheap swipe at his feet, only to watch him anticipate the move in its entirety, jumping back and smiling at you like you’d just brought him a cup of tea. “Why did you decide to train me, of all people?” 

“I enjoy spending time with you.” He said simply, eyes glittering as you stumbled, stopping in your tracks before even attempting to strike again. 

You gaped at him, completely unbelieving. 

“What, is it so obscene to imagine I enjoy spending time with a dear friend?” 

“I didn’t t-think,” you sputtered, holding your spear in front of you. “I didn’t think that you…”

He gave you a teasing sort of frown, as if a little saddened by your words, and crossed his arms over his chest, letting his pole arm disappear in a little flutter of sparkles. 

“Come now, you think after sharing that many late night pots of tea with you, that I wouldn’t consider you a friend?” He clicked his tongue against his teeth, shaking his head. Reprimanding, teasing, in that poise way that he did, in that way that made you take it a little easier than if others were to do the same. “Should I be offended that you think so lowly of me?”

Your heart lurched, and you gasped out a quick “no, wait!’ As you let your spear disappear as well, running up to stand in front of him. 

“It’s.. it’s not anything that you did, it's just…” you look up at him, only meeting that gentle gaze that makes you feel so comfortable, it's so familiar, though you’ve spent so much time around him now that it shouldn’t seem odd, but his mere presence made you feel safe somehow, like you could tell him anything. 

You cringed, deciding to just come out and say it. 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I have a— I have a habit of not thinking very highly of myself.” You looked down at your feet, kicking up the sand glimmering in the evening sunset, turning the pale grains a brilliant shade of orange in its glory. 

”I think a part of me always believed I was unworthy of being someone important to you— of being your friend.” 

You felt a gentle pressure at your chin, and raised your head to see Zhongli’s hand outstretched, tilting your gaze up to meet his own. 

It reminded you of the first time you ever saw him, how the sunrise brightened the warm hues of his entire being, making his eyes blaze like pools of liquid gold. 

The pink and purpling sunset over the ocean had the same effect, and the molten amber bore down on you with the weight of something untold— his gaze was so heavy. 

You found yourself thinking once more that he looked like royalty, like a deity, blessing the ground where he stood. He radiated power, that much you knew by now. 

“If anything, I feel as though I am unworthy of being someone so important to you,” he says, and your heart nearly topples out of your chest and into your shaking hands. 

“I know I cannot erase everything that troubles you, but please, never doubt yourself when it comes to me. I do nothing that I do not wish to do, spend my days with no one I do not wish to spend them with.”

You felt pressure behind your eyes, his face starting to blur and warp in the beautiful colors illuminating him. 

“In my core, I am a very selfish man, one might even say rather spoiled, stubborn as stone. No one will ever have the ability to force me to do anything I do not wholeheartedly wish to do. That is how I spend my days. Not out of charity, or pity, or bribery. Simply because I want to.” 

You’re sure you’re nearly vibrating now, eyes welling up with unshed tears as you soak in his words. The heat from his fingers still holding your chin. 

“Even if you still doubt yourself, I shall never give you a reason to doubt me. Do you understand?” 

You nodded, blinking away the fat tears and cringing as they rolled down your face. He clicked his tongue again, making a cooing sort of sound that one might make when consoling a crying child. Despite the way it made your cheeks burn, it was comforting nonetheless.

His hand left your face, and your shoulders slumped as you cried, too overwhelmed to be embarrassed any further. 

“Now, may I hold such a dear friend to comfort her?” 

You nodded again, wrapping your arms around his waist as he pulled you close, holding you tightly to his chest. A whisper of his lips pressed against the top of your head as he hushed you, his warm hands running across your back in soothing motions as he murmured encouragement and soothing little nothings. 

He smelled like the mountains even still, like amber and tea and safety. His embrace was so familiar, so warm, it soothed your worried heart and allowed you to just breathe in relief. He never wavered, never moved to let go, just let you take comfort from him until you were ready to be without it. 

You didn’t think you’d ever be ready. 

——————————————————