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Lian · 11/9/2025, 7:09 PM

It had been months since anything had rattled them badly enough for Shenlei and Lian to seek this much contact. His voice was a reassuring rumble that reverberated in her own chest, her cheek pressed into fur she'd not inherited a single shade from. But he was still her father, evidenced by the fact that platitudes that might appear empty from another's mouth only helped to fit the shattered pieces of the reborn lotus back together, seamless as if the journey through worlds had never even happened. Here, she was safe without question.

A slightly teary chuckle filled the air as she spoke. The world just takes a while to catch up with her, but was she not the one catching up to him? How long had he been here, alone, his family's fate unknown, the divine mandate to care for his people out of his grasp? Her ears pinned into her fur with half-mortification, half-amusement as he continued. Well-! I could not have chosen where I woke up! She retorted, feigning more indignance than she felt.

The mention of Mei seemed to sober Shenlei, and his assurances did not bolster the princess' own dour demeanor as they walked. She will. She agreed nonetheless, and this she believed. Her mother was nothing if not determined to hold onto that which was hers. Mei would return to them if there was a path through which to do so, but there was no telling how long they would be without Heaven's Heart.

Shenlei did not walk swiftly, but his longer limbs and long strides made Lian shuffle her paws with haste to keep up, and keep herself within his periphery. Her golden gaze had not missed the way he kept glancing back at her, and it was no great task to simply do what she could to put his mind at ease. Her growing suspicions were confirmed, then, as Shenlei finally answered her question. Weeks. Weeks!

Her expression folded like the furls of a petal, a opened bloom of sympathetic grief. Oh, Baba...I'm so sorry. Her head shook slightly. It hasn't been any time at all for me - I think we must've shared a meal earlier in the day, I went to bed, I woke up here. She offered him the grace to at least not linger too long on the matter - for there was the more pressing one of the mud drying in her fur. Lian stepped forward into the pool she'd been led to, the cool water making her ears flick and a grimace cross her features before she eagerly set about the task of washing her fur. The pause was brief in their conversation, only for Shenlei to turn the topic away from his time here in this new world and back on to Lian.

She shot him a not-entirely-convinced look over her shoulder, as if to say You can joke, but I didn't forget about that terribly tragic thing you just said. Lian lifted her chin primly, ignoring the water droplets that dripped off her chin. I don't lecture the court. I advise them, so they might make more wise decisions. Despite her efforts at a serious face, a smirk tugged at one edge of the princess' mouth. It broadened into a proper smile as Shenlei expressed his gratitude. It's as you say, Father. The sun will never set on the Tianlong - we only have to wait for the clouds to part.

Welcome Back!

Greetings Stranger!

Silent Streams

princess of the tianlong