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Rìhé · 11/17/2025, 2:12 AM

This new place was a delight, Rihe decided. The wisteria around the island hung heavy and bright, their perfume sweet enough to cling to her skin. It reminded her of the flowers she’d picked as a girl—only these were better. Who needed oils or perfumes when an evening beneath them made one smell like spring incarnate?

She was already becoming fond of the shoreline, of the hush of water lapping against sand… but until tonight, she had avoided it after dusk. The moon shone too brightly over the waves, and it left her feeling too seen. Too alone.

Tonight, though, she remained restless and her husband— Well. He never cared if she came or went, so she went.

She followed the trail of petals without much plan, mind refusing to quiet, until the sound of others pulled her back into the present. Her steps slowed. Up ahead, Kexin’s voice drifted over the shore like mist. Rìhé spotted her first, prepared to walk past in silence—she had no desire for company—until she noticed the healer was not alone. Rìhé bristled before she could stop herself, pale eyes narrowing for a single heartbeat, before her practiced mask slipped back into place.

A stranger sat before them, ash-and-white fur catching the moonlight; his posture was all tension, sorrow wound tight in ways she knew all too well. He did not smell like Tianlong, nor like any newcomer she had met thus far, but beneath the rain-soaked ash and damp fur, was the undercurrent of wisteria. It seemed woven into him so naturally it could not have been recent.

No newcomer to the island, then.

"Your home?" she interrupts after he'd risen and bowed to the healer, her voice clear and unhurried, drifting across the sand like sharpened sea glass. He was alone—did he mean to say this entire island was his, and his alone?

She slowed her approach, positioning herself closer to Kexin than to the stranger, chin lifted just slightly. A tense, but polite smile curved at her lips. "Mm. I suppose that's news to me."

Unlike the healer, she did not think to ask if he needed anything.

Welcome Back!

Greetings Stranger!

Queen's Rest

the daybreak dragon