‘Lord Houyi!’ Sister cried as she approached us.

Lord Houyi softly placed me on the palm of his remaining hand, and gave me over to her.

She nodded her thanks as she took me into her arms.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked him brightly, unable to suppress her surprise. ‘I thought Lord Yangjian had taken over delivering the shipment?’

Lord Houyi’s slender brows arched for a brief second, and he turned over to the other god.

‘It has been a while, Yangjian’, he smiled amiably.

The war god smirked. ‘It certainly has.’

Standing before one another, there was a great contrast between the two gods. One was a god of the arts and humanities, the other of war and calamity. And yet, there was something kindred among them, perhaps something uniquely shared between those extraordinary individuals who had become the very paragons within their respective paths.

Lord Houyi entered his hands into his large sleeves in a half-bow. ‘I have not heard of this new arrangement the Lady Goddess speaks of.’

Lord Yangjian wove his arms together as well, the black metal upon them clanging lightly in collision. ‘Well,’ he said with unmoved confidence, ‘it is possible the order hasn’t arrived at your office yet—you know how it is with bureaucracy.’

Lord Houyi smiled. ‘Then am I to understand that Yutu will be part of the shipment I am receiving?’

The wild idea sent shivers through my body. That I would be sent away from the Lunar Palace—to Lord Houyi.

‘Is that why Xiaotianquan was collecting her in such a manner?’ he continued.

Lord Yangjian grimaced. ‘...They were merely playing.’

Lord Houyi sighed exasperatedly. ‘...My point is exactly that you have to play more gently.’ He shook his head.

‘What? You mean I can’t be gentle?’

At which point, I felt compelled to speak up: ‘Lord Houyi was far gentler!’

‘Yu’er!’ Sister cautioned me for speaking out of turn, and I knew that my chores had increased for the day.

Anyhow, my corroboration had made the point clear to both the war god and his black dog. Xiaotian whimpered apologetically and cupped his ears and tail.

Lord Yangjian eyed him with a note of annoyance, and suddenly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

—The gigantic dog was in the air, the same way I had been earlier.

‘Anyone can do that’ huffed the indignant war god.

Xiaotian whined, unused to being lifted off the ground at his weight and size.

Lord Houyi could only sigh and shake his head again.

I outright giggled at the scene before me, while my sister shushed me for it. But I knew that she was holding herself back as well.

‘Anyway,’ she turned around to her two guests, ‘since you’re both here, why don’t you have some tea and cakes before you go?’

She let me down. ‘Go put on the kettle, Yu’er.’

I hurried to put some distance between me and the slobbering mutt while he couldn’t chase after me.

Lord Houyi put on a relaxed smile at the offer. ‘I would like that’, he said, turning to the other god. ‘It would be nostalgic now, wouldn’t it?’

‘...It would certainly be like the old days’, the god mused and untensed himself, lowering his animal companion. ‘Just remember to spike my cup.’

Sister and Lord Houyi shook their heads.

Before long, we had set up a table in the middle of the garden. I was walking on top of it, filling everybody’s cups with herbal tea.

‘For you’, Lord Houyi said as he produced a greenish gourd from within his large sleeve, and poured the contents into Lord Yangjian’s cup. ‘Some spirits I made with my idle time within the Lower Realm.’

The war god grinned and looked over to my sister. ‘I was looking forward to drinking some lunar spirits, however’—

Lord Houyi set the gourd on the table with a loud clatter. ‘I’m sure feeding the medicinal alcohols of the Lunar Palace to random drunkards would amount to mere vandalism.’

Lord Yangjian glowered, but said nothing further.

I had finished filling the cups, and sat down into my sister’s lap. The seating arrangement was so that we would be opposite to Xiaotianquan on the other side of the circle, with either of the two gods on each side of us.

As host, Sister was the one to first pick up her cup. ‘The only one missing is affable Shaoyang’, she said with a touch of melancholy, looking around at her two guests.

Lord Houyi smiled. ‘The life of our party.’

Lord Yangjian was less enthusiastic. ‘No use talking about him’, he summarily downed the alcoholic cup. ‘That mega-egomaniac’s been keeping himself busy in the Solar Realm.’

The topic interested both the other god and goddess greatly.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything of Shaoyang’, Lord Houyi admitted. ‘Tell me, how has he been faring?’

Sister nodded. ‘I’m always receiving light from his domain, but I haven’t had direct contact with him either.’

But Lord Yangjian simply waved away their curiosity. ‘All I know is that he’s been too busy to talk with anybody.’

With that, they withdrew their inquiries.

As the gods took to their conversations, Xiaotian and I were busy partaking of the cakes on the table.

I nibbled quietly as Xiaotian’s full set of nightmarish teeth flashed each time he gobbled down a piece of cake.

It was hard to keep myself from wondering what if it had been me instead of those cakes inside his hungry maw.

I tried to act strong, and limited my shivering to my feet hidden below the table surface.

After a moment, Xiaotian had eaten his fill, and he turned his wolfy-mutt eyes upon me.

‘...Want to go play, Yu’er?’

My insides screamed.

I looked up pleadingly at my sister, eyes on the verge of tears.

She spared a second to look between me and the dog.

‘Yu’er,’ she said kindly, ‘Xiaotian just wants to play with you because he likes you.’

That answer didn’t help me at all, and I protested: ‘Why does he even like me!?’

Lord Yangjian chuckled. ‘It’s probably because your master has trained you so well!’

My long ears perked up. ‘Train me how?’

The god grinned. ‘You have… grace’, he said with some consideration. ‘The radiance of your aura is similar to hers.’ He then smiled in my sister’s direction.

‘That’s not all’, Lord Houyi joined in, smiling at me fondly. ‘Yu’er is also a very bright-minded child.’

His comment gave me a tingling sensation, and I unconsciously fiddled with my ears. I could feel Sister smiling on top of me, as she pulled me closer in her warm embrace.

Lord Houyi suddenly stood up then. ‘I am terribly sorry to have to excuse myself, but I have some business to attend to.’

The thought of his departure filled both me and Sister with regret, as she said, ‘Can you not spare another moment?’

But the Lord shook his head. ‘I am afraid not.’ He then went over to the war god still downing the raw alcohol, no longer bothering to dilute it with tea, without a single care in the world. He laid a hand upon his armored shoulders. ‘And I believe Lord Yangjian has his business in escorting me back to the Lower Realm.’

Lord Yangjian scowled at him. ‘I am only escorting your shipment!’

‘So you say, so you say.’

The two gods received a little box from my sister.

‘This contains all the rice cakes’, she explained.

‘You made lunar essence into rice cakes?’ asked Lord Yangjian incredulously as he clutched his great spear.

Lord Houyi only smiled. ‘You didn’t have to.’

‘I am only making good use of my mortar.’

‘Let me be the one to open the portal’, Lord Houyi said as Lord Yangjian was about to slice the air with his weapon. ‘I am more familiar with the coordinates.’

The war god stayed his hand, nodded, and withdrew his weapon.

Lord Houyi stepped up before him, and produced a wooden fan from under his sleeve.

He struck the air with a swift motion, and a swirling vortex ripped open in the middle of the Lunar Whiteness.

Lord Yangjian stared at it with little impression. ‘You didn’t use enough force’, he said grumpily. ‘It will take us longer to reach our destination like this.’

Lord Houyi patted him on the shoulder. ‘You’ll have to excuse my not being a war god—besides, just think of it as some little chance to catch up.’

The two gods eyed one another humourlessly.

‘Xiaotian!’ the war god shouted, and the great mutt whined to finally have to leave my side. The slobbering mess.

The three of them entered into the magical rip. And with a final bow from Lord Houyi, the portal closed, and vanished from our sights.

I could feel my sister’s arms closing more tightly around me.

I didn’t need to look up at her expression to know that she was feeling lonelier now that he was gone.

...I was feeling the same.

It was...colder.