Afternoon slipped away like water through fingers while I played with my sister and Serenemoon in the Lunar Forest. The sun sank west like a tired ember. The bright moon climbed, and night drifted down like silk.
After dinner, I fretted about where to sleep, worry buzzing like a trapped moth. Serenemoon used magic to “make” a house, broad as a barn among trees. Inside, furniture stood complete like a staged scene. Later I learned she’d shifted a vacant house from deep in the forest, not spun it from air.
"Serenemoon, did you learn magic just to be lazy?" my sister joked, words light as leaves. "Partly that," she replied, easy as wind.
She swept the whole place clean with a wave, dust melting like frost in the sun. Time and effort vanished like smoke.
Magic really is convenient, I thought, the ease gleaming like polished jade. From the way she uses it, it feels born for the lazy.
"Little Emperor, Littlesky, set your luggage, then let’s soak," Serenemoon called, voice bright as bells. "I found an open-air spring."
The house had only one bedroom, a lone nest like a sparrow’s. Thankfully, the bed was huge like a boat; three of us could sleep with space to spare.
In the room, I tucked our luggage into a wardrobe that smelled of wood, like pine in rain. I picked sleepwear and bath things, soft as clouds in hand.
"Let’s go soak!" My sister hugged her change of clothes, her mood bubbling like a spring.
"Soaking in the wide, lonely Lunar Forest..." My feelings tangled like vines. With Serenemoon, who knows what mischief she’ll pull from the moonlight.
"Little Emperor, don’t overthink. Let’s go," she said, stroking my head like a breeze over grass, then stepping out like a swan onto water. We followed close.
East of the house by a few hundred meters, we found the spring, a clear eye in the earth. A modest pond lay nearby like a polished mirror. Fireflies drifted everywhere like green lanterns in the dark.
The spring breathed white steam, cradling moonlight like silver poured on water. Fireflies wheeled around like wavering chartreuse stars. It was stunning, a picture painted by night.
"Are hot springs this pretty?!" My sister’s big eyes shone like wet agate. She cupped a few fireflies in her pale hands, cradling them like dawn in a bowl.
"Hot springs in the Lunar Forest are special, like rare wells hidden under stars," Serenemoon said, shedding clothes like falling petals and wrapping a white towel in one smooth move.
"The heat’s perfect, warm and cozy like bread from an oven. Little Emperor, Littlesky, come down." I remembered you should wash first like rinsing rice. Was it okay she slipped in?
"Serenemoon, you’re sneaky like a fox! I wanted to be first!" Littlesky stripped in a flash and jumped in with a splash like a playful carp.
"So comfy, like floating on clouds! Brother, get in!" She shook water off her face like a pup, then played with Serenemoon, laughter rising like bubbles.
We hadn’t rinsed, but fine—I hadn’t sweated today. I yielded with a sigh like a leaf falling, and slid in with a towel around me like mist.
Night in the Lunar Forest ran cool like shade, and the open spring wrapped me in warmth like a quilt. It was bliss, quiet as moss.
"This really is great," I murmured, the heat seeping in like liquid sunlight, mending the fatigue from sword practice. My body dropped heavy shackles and felt feather-light like a feather in breeze.
I’d heard springs ease weariness and wounds, but this felt unreal, like a remedy brewed by the moon and stars.
"Mm-hmm, Little Emperor’s skin is still so soft," Serenemoon cooed, and as I drifted she hugged me from behind like ivy climbing a wall, rubbing her cheek against mine.
"Serenemoon, don’t disturb my soaking, please." I was helpless—she clung even in the spring like a cat to sun-warmed stone.
"Yeah! Serenemoon, you brother-obsessed dummy!" Littlesky knew she couldn’t pull her off, so she hugged me too like a koala glued to a tree.
Silence settled; I was pinned, wrapped by sister and Serenemoon like a bundled reed raft. I couldn’t move an inch.
"Can’t help it. Little Emperor’s too cute; I have to hug him," Serenemoon sighed like wind through reeds. "Mm, I get it," Littlesky nodded, eyes bright as stars.
"Will you let me enjoy the spring or not?!" A soak should loosen the heart; somehow I felt more tired, like carrying laughter and water both.
Late at night, back in the room. My sister and Serenemoon slept hard, spent by their splashing like waves after a storm. I was more tired than healed, my sigh thin as smoke.
"Well, I did have fun," I admitted, warmth lingering like embers in ash. I looked at them on either side and felt a sudden hollow like a missing stone.
In a bit over a month I’d leave the Central Continent. The thought tugged at me like a faint tide pulling the shore at dusk.
"Thinking now won’t help. Let things flow," I told myself, eyes on the bright round moon like a polished coin. A sigh slipped out like dew.
Time with them was short. My dream was to leave the Mizumi Clan and see the world, yet the dream tasted bittersweet like tea and smoke.
"Servant, you’re reluctant before you’ve even departed. In a month, will you give up?" Xinuo’s voice landed at my ear like a cool drop.
I jolted, heart thudding like a drum under skin. I turned, and Xinuo stood by the bed like moonlight in human shape.
"Uh, Xinuo, how did you know we were in the Lunar Forest?" I sat up, fiddling with my hair like a nervous bird preening.
"One sweep for the scent of Shattered Light, and I knew," she said, lifting the quilt and slipping in like a whisper of silk.
Since I left the Sword Domain, she’d slept in my bed too, saying master and Servant sharing a bed is normal, simple as nightfall. She wanted me to comb her hair at dawn.
At first I was rattled—sleeping beside a peerless beauty is like standing under a waterfall. I got used to it; we just slept. No more, no less.
Four people on one bed was a squeeze like packed driftwood, but the bed was big enough to float us all like a wide raft.
"Servant, don’t fret about later. Do well with the now," Xinuo said, her voice steady like a sheathed blade.
"But..." I opened my mouth and lost words like fish slipping the net, silence pooling like still water.
"It’s normal to feel reluctant about leaving the Mizumi Clan in a month," she said softly. "You haven’t traveled far since childhood, like a bird in one grove."
"You’re right, Xinuo. I do think that way sometimes," I said, the admission falling like gentle rain.
"Don’t worry yet. When the day comes, you may not be so torn," she said. "For now, rest. Tomorrow I’ll teach you to cultivate Sword Aura."
"Mm, okay," words light as steam rising. I set the future aside like a book on a shelf and let sleep rise like a tide.
Dawn came. Xinuo woke early, her snow-white hair tousled like frost-blown grass. "Servant, comb my hair," she said, handing me combs like ivory leaves.
I slipped past my sleeping sister like a shadow, sat by Xinuo, and combed gently like smoothing silk across water, strokes calm as moon paths.
Her hair felt softer than any silk, a rare grace in my hands like holding cloud. Combing it was pure fortune for me, sweet as honeyed tea.
Honestly, my favorite thing each morning was combing Xinuo’s hair—it was a small heaven like steam in winter on cold glass.
The room grew quiet, birdsong drifting in like silver threads through a curtain. I found a topic. "Xinuo, where did you go yesterday? Did you circle the Central Continent?"
"Almost. I met Mizumi Clan folk in several places," she said, words calm like stones in a streambed.
"Really? How are they doing?" Curiosity pricked me like a needle; I wondered about those ‘relatives’ who rarely visited the main house.
"They seem fine. Some live alone, some are couples with kids. Most look cheerful, like sun on fields after rain."
"Cheerful? Don’t the alone ones feel bored, with no one beside them?" The thought tugged at me like a loose thread on a sleeve.
"Most of the lone ones train as their daily rhythm, their strength solid like iron. The strongest has a foot in the Law Realm."
"I see. No wonder," I said, curiosity banked like a river behind a dam. I didn’t ask; what I should know, Xinuo would say.
We finished as I smoothed her snowy hair one last time like a final brushstroke on paper. Just then, my sister woke, rubbing her eyes like a kitten.
"Morning, brother... Eh? Xinuo Miss, when did you get here?!" She brightened, sleep peeling off her like mist in sun.
"Littlesky, what are you doing so early... Oh? Morning—Xinuo Miss, your journey ended? When did you come?" Serenemoon stirred, her voice lilting like a flute.
"Last night," Xinuo answered, two words clean as a bell. Then she looked at me. "Servant, go make breakfast."
"Mm, okay," I said, words light as steam. I slipped on my shoes, smiling like dawn. Inside, I was buzzing to train Sword Aura today.
...
