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Lian · (This post was last modified: 3/22/2026, 5:56 PM by Lian.)

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There is more movement, as the princess' shoulders and tail draw inward into her celestial form to try to fold her disappointment and alarm into too-small a shape to be noticed. She is crane, dragon, lotus-on-still-waters, harmony incarnate. Gold-coin eyes are wide to watch the Empress' guard plunge into the water. Unless he was never taught to swim and did not have the instinct for it, the current posed no risk to him. The only worry she had was for the sheer unnecessary effort put forth! Lian pricked her ears intently at the water's surface nonetheless, considering the noble effort to...Yes, her suspicions are proven correct when his damp skull splits the waves and powerful paws haul a sturdy, muscle-clad frame from the river.

Little, water-logged, bright blue flowers unfurl from clenched jaws. The flowers are presented with courtesy on the stone under her slim, pale feet. He looks a little like a particularly large otter, fur made dark with the water that drips off the pointed, sodden tips. Magnanimously, Lian dips her crown to scoop the delicate buds into her teeth, then steps back so wèi jūn can shake the water off his coat without daring to mist her freshly cleaned, dried and styled pelt.

In the Tianlong as it is now, there is only her close family and her subjects. No high-ranking nobleman's sons or foreign envoys and princes come to their Dynasty's doorsteps these days, not yet. Even before being transported through worlds, though, Lian has never had to be particularly subtle about enjoying this: The lengths men will go to to curry a sliver of her royal favor is one of her small joys that is uncharacteristically reflective of her age and privilege.

Whether intended as gallant or simply pragmatic, the rescue of her décor is intended to curry Imperial favor as social currency. It is simply the way things are - Lian does not get to exist outside the political. He has done her a service and so she pays him with a warm smile, a sweetly spoken Thank you! That was very kind.

The princess places the florals by her feet again. She has given up on pinning them in her pelt on her own. Will her grandmother notice? Scold her? She must focus, smooths her expression from the pensive unfocused quality it had briefly taken on. If she can find Fen or perhaps her mother or even Yue, they can help. That is for later. Lian summons the still-water calm she has long mastered, returns her briefly scattered focus onto the soaked guard before her. This is for now.

We have not been formally introduced. You are our Empress' guard, yes? New to us, I think. Her interrogation lilts like poetry, unobtrusive despite a decisive effort to cut to the quick of what she wants to know, the measure of this man.

Welcome Back!

Greetings Stranger!

Verdant's Grace

princess of the tianlong