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For a long moment, Shēnléi didn’t move at all.

He watched her fold down into that bow — shaking, dirt-smudged, still half lost between what he could only assume worlds — and something in his chest gave the faintest, irritated twitch. Not because she bowed, but because she looked like she might collapse if the wind even breathed wrong in her direction.

Another lost soul stumbling into my path… the heavens really enjoy testing me.

His bronze eyes flickered, bright and cutting even through the swamp haze. He stepped forward, water curling around his ankles, his posture tall and deliberate.

That’s quite the introduction, he murmured, head tilting just enough to be elegant and a little patronizing at the same time. But you really don’t need to bow to me. I’m not your emperor. He stopped just close enough that she could feel the shift in the air, like heat rolling off a dragon’s scales.

Vargrheim, he echoed, tasting the word like it was from a storybook he vaguely remembered reading as a child. Wherever that place is… it’s not anywhere near here. His gaze softened. Only barely, but it was there.

You look like you’ve run yourself half to death, he said, voice lowering, gentle in a way that still carried command. Stand up. You’re trembling. He glanced over her shoulder at the swamp, the fog, and the unfamiliar air clinging to her like another layer of skin, then back down at her with a quiet, sharp exhale. Whatever… sickness your people suffer from, he continued, you won’t save them by wandering blindly through a place that isn’t your own.

A beat.

Then his tone shifted, still calm, but carrying that effortless confidence that could hold up the sky if he felt like it. I can help you figure out where you actually are. And maybe… how you ended up this far from home. A faint smirk touched his mouth. But only if you stop bowing to stones and talk to me like a person.

He nudged her chin lightly with the side of his paw, not unkindly, but just enough to lift her head to face him. Rise, Hua Bao. Tell me what happened to you before you fell into my swamp.

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