I should have expected this

*finishes getting dragged head-first down 1.5K of words, while at work, for god’s sake, and lands in a disheveled heap*

Note to self: Lin Shu is fucking /relentless/ once he actually hopes for something. This should have been obvious, and yet.

Today’s teaser snippet:

Slowly, as days passed into weeks, he re-learned how to stand, how to hobble, at least, and sent Fei Liu out onto the mountain’s darkening green slopes to cut staffs for him to support himself on. Slowly, as the pines put out soft, new needles and the air warmed, things other than rice started to appear in his rice porridge. Slowly, as the white and pink lotuses bloomed in Langya’s wide, stone pools, his hands stopped shaking when he tried to hold up even the lightest book.

So very slowly. And for what, now?

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Aha!

*snatches at plot threads* Okay, so this story will need to really start with Nihuang and Gong Yu. Good to know. 

(This is going to be so many layered perspectives, oi.)

Today’s (second) snippet:

It wasn’t until the girl whispered, “I should go,” that she managed to regain a small grip on her composure, swallowing hard and wiping half-angry palms across her wet cheeks.

“Rest the night here, at least,” she offered, husky. “You’ve come a long way.” And then she looked down, really looked, and saw the wet tracks on the girl’s own cheeks, the trembling of her mouth, even when the girl’s teeth closed on her lower lip, obviously trying to conceal it. Softer, Nihuang asked, “Are you Gong Yu?”

The hint of trepidation in her eyes, when the girl glanced up answered the question, even before she nodded slowly. Nihuang took a deep breath and smiled down at her. “Stay a while, Younger Sister,” she said gently, laying a hand on Yu’s shoulder. “We can talk.”

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