Ranyin had been told to wait outside. She hadn't gone far, instead lingering close shifting between sitting, standing and pacing when sitting still became too difficult; which was about every thirty seconds. Hàorán was in there with Rìhé, and somewhere beyond where she was allowed to go, their babies were being born.

It was a private event...a family matter. She'd tried to follow but he insisted she couldn't come in. Don't care... she muttered, kicking a loose stone away, but of course she did. She didn't want to wait out here.

She'd only just found him, someone who wanted her around and who paid attention when she spoke and hadn't decided she was too much trouble. She didn't understand why she should have to share that now. Rihe already had him, and soon there would be puppies who would have him too. What did that leave for her?

The girl sighed, and the longer time ticked on the worse it became, Rihe already didn't seem to want her around. And Ranyin noticed every bit of that distance even if she didn't understand why it existed. Now there would be babies too. Tiny, helpless things that belonged to Haoran in a way Ranyin didn't — a way she never would

She wanted to go in, but she wanted Haoran to come out even more.

....what if he didn't want her anymore?

A noise from inside pulled her attention toward the entrance and she stared for a moment before lowering herself onto her belly, chin dropping heavily across her paws. She considered leaving before Haoran came back out. Then maybe he'd wonder where she'd gone and maybe he'd even come looking.

But what if he didn't?

Her ears flattened at the thought.

Ranyin tucked her nose beneath one paw, irritated by the realization of how badly she wanted this. Some greedy part of her wanted to fill every empty place her mother and absent father had left behind with him, until there was no room left for anyone else — not Rihe, not the puppies. No one.

She wanted to be the one he chose first, the one he came looking for, to pull him away from everything that had belonged to him before her and keep him somewhere she alone could be his whole heart. It wasn't fair. Somewhere beneath all that want, perhaps Ranyin even knew that it wasn't.

But she'd spent her whole short life with too little love and now that she'd finally found some, she didn't know how to share it.

---

backdated Sept 30th during Rihe's delivery

something was happening.

normally the daily bustle of tianlong was nothing worth paying particular attention to. she had learned the routine, and the only thing of note was when something new was added- more tutoring, most often. but when everyone made such a fuss- such that healers and empress alike were gone to attend- she found herself intrigued.

it was not a lengthy walk. she hardly needed to trace her mother's steps; they were sequestered near to where she and her siblings lived, and she did not need a careful ear to pick up the bustle. the voices were mostly familiar; the tenor concerned, though she could not make out the words.

hmm. her pace picked up faster.

near to the den, someone sat outside; a someone not much larger than her. as shuyan watched, she sunk to her belly and tucked her nose under a paw. amidst many introductions to golden kin, the young dragon had not seen her before- if she had been present in the sea of faces at the wedding, or their announcement, she did not recall.

but perhaps she knew more about what was going on. a near-reptilian prowl carried the girl closer, head canted to the side expectantly as she awaited an explanation.

Slowly her head lifted from her paws eyes narrowing as she watched the stranger creep closer. Ranyin didn't recognize her but that wasn't particularly unusual. Haoran had kept her mostly to himself since bringing her here, and she hadn't exactly gone looking for opportunities to meet anyone else.

And this one was looking at her strangely, What? Ranyin scowled sharply. She pushed herself upright glancing toward the den when another muffled sound came from within before looking back at the stranger. The girl's expectant stare wasn't difficult to figure out, she wanted to know what was happening. Rihe's having babies her mouth twisted around the words, And everyone gets to be in there except me, it wasn't entirely true, but at her age it certainly felt like it.

Ran studied the other girl closely, suspicion creeping into her expression. She didn't know who this girl was, where she'd come from, or why she seemed comfortable wandering around. Are you allowed in? There was something challenging about the question, though beneath it lived something much more fragile. If the answer was yes, then apparently this stranger was allowed somewhere Ranyin wasn't.

---

Shuyan

in the aftermath of the party- where there had been many children unfamiliar with the dragon, and so unfamiliar with herself- she had grown used to respect; the bowing of heads, the implicit reverence of imperial titles.

to be looked at with irritation was... new. she was not sure how to take it.

but rihe- this was a name she knew. another in a myriad of faces; a dragon, and so nobility of some sort. she glanced again to the den. she had not known there were to be more children, but the interest that had led her here disappeared at the thought. that was all it was? she was content enough with her own siblings.

if she had been invited, her mother would have summoned her, rather than leaving them all with their attendants. this was obvious.

she exhaled sharply through her nose. whatever went into the birthing of new life, shuyan could not imagine it to be particularly exciting.

there was something to the other girl's voice, an undercurrent that made her fur want to bristle even though she could not place it. the young dragon regarded her with glittering eyes and shrugged. "don't want to be," she said. "why do you?"

Ranyin just stared at the other girl, the answer felt so obvious that she wasn't sure how to give it. Her eyes flickering back toward the den and ears drawing forward at the muffled sounds before flattening again. Because Haoran's in there, she answered, thinking that should explain everything.

Her claws picked absently at the dirt between them, she didn't care about watching puppies be born. Truthfully, she wasn't even sure she wanted to see them at all. It was Haoran she wanted, and there was something particularly irritating about this stranger seeming so indifferent when Ran couldn't stop thinking about him being in there with everyone else.

Haoran — he brought me here. I belong with him, there was a stubbornness to her words. Those puppies don't even know him, they haven't done anything to deserve him not that she had known him terribly long, but longer than them. As if affection were something that had to be earned, and being there first meant she had some greater claim to him.

Ranyin looked the girl over again, increasingly curious despite herself. She carried herself strangely, Who are you, anyway? she asked, head canting slightly. She hadn't offered her own name, apparently seeing no problem with that.

---

Shuyan

haoran's name too she recognized. more nobility, was he not? but while it failed to stir any particular reaction in her, the other girl's frustration was plain.

yue was there too, after all, overseeing the process. but these were not shenlei's children, she surmised? they were haoran's. she wished for her father, then? "fathers are busy," she informed the other. mothers were too, but yué managed to find time for them. perhaps she was new to this.

she was not blind to her own half-sisters- but this did not bother her in the way it clearly bothered the stranger. had they sat before the den like this when she and her siblings were being born? shuyan had barely seen them as it was. they had what were called responsibilities. she would, someday soon.

she didn't know enough about him to care whether or not they deserved him, but it seemed irrelevant. parents were parents. things happened, and the sleeping dragon. had found no way to make any great impact on what they were. if everyone understood this like she did, there would be much less fuss.

"téng shuyan." a slow blink. "you are tsang?"

Fathers are busy Ranyin's face scrunched, maybe that was true for the girl. She knew what it looked like when a father was so busy that he wasn't there at all, and she didn't much care for the reminder. Haoran isn't my father, she corrected, though there was something defensive in the way she said it.

Her ears rose when the other girl finally gave her name. Téng Shuyan meant nothing to her, she had been kept far enough from Tianlong's wider affairs that imperial names and titles carried little weight when there was no face attached to them. But the question that followed did; Tsang. For the briefest moment, she hesitated. There was something tempting about simply saying yes. Haoran was a Tsang and she lived with him. Being one too would make everything simpler, and she liked the idea of calling him...dad. She'd never had a dad before.

But instead, her gaze dropped toward her paws. No, she admitted. Hua Ranyin, the name felt like evidence of something she didn't want explained. Her eyes wandered back toward the den before she added quietly and stubbornly, Haoran brought me here, though....I'm staying with him, she reaffirmed this, unsure if it was more for Shuyan or for herself.

---

Shuyan

the other girl's face scrunched. shuyan's followed. she understood the concept of wishing for your father to be around. but if he wasn't even her father- why did she care? he was hardly that interesting. "then why wait for him?"

as téng meant nothing to her, hua meant nothing to the young dragon. though if she thought on it- which she did- she remembered the name distantly, perhaps another in the endless parade of faces. she had not paid enough attention to know who bore it.

this probably meant it did not matter. the maze of who claimed who, and why, and blood and title- those were things she was still young enough not to have learned, and so empty words to her.

she had pursued the mystery thus far, though, and supposed she might see it to its conclusion. this all seemed to have a great deal of meaning to ranyin; it was not out of the question that it might be important. "who are your parents?"

Ranyin's ears flattened, what was with all the questions? She had already explained that Haoran brought her here, that she belonged with him yet this girl kept poking at things Ran would rather leave alone. Her claws dug into the dirt, irritation building with every passing moment. Because I want to, she snapped finally that should have been obvious enough to end the conversation.

But then came another question and this one made something unpleasant twist in her stomach. Her parents; Ran's expression soured further and for a moment she simply stared at Shuyan, suddenly wondering why she couldn't mind her own business. My mother's gone, she didn't want me and I don't know who my father is. Happy? the words came out sharp her little lips curling back just enough to expose her teeth. They didn't want me, so Haoran took me. Is that enough, or do you want to know something else?

She turned her head away abruptly the anger was easier than the embarrassment creeping beneath it. She hated having to explain herself, hated that this stranger had parents who were apparently still around while Ran had been left with neither.

He's the only one that cares about me... she muttered after a moment, quiet with her pinned ears. She didn't know how far that care went or didn't, truly, but he had noticed her and even though she was not his responsibility, he was the only one who did not abandon her.

His small act of kindness, of pity maybe to Ranyin had been everything. Where love had always been something withheld or taken away, that single kindness had become something enormous, something she clung to with desperation.

---

Shuyan