…Round went the rolling snow, which grew rounder and rounder, and larger and larger, as it collected more snow within its gentle embrace.

I rolled the snow until it had grown close to my height, and thinned it then slightly upon the sides, to make sure it was not chubby and overweight. Once I had softened all of the lines and edges into cuddly curves, I looked around for a large, white flower in a nearby bush.

A relaxing fragrance wafted from the blossom as I plucked two of its long petals, and pinned the remaining flower onto my ear.

I planted the two petals into the smaller end of the snowthing, and threw my paws up into the air.

Voila!

But my satisfaction was short-lived.

‘...Yu’er’, a hot breath blew upon the back of my skull. ‘...Yu’er!’

‘...Yes, Xiaotian?’ I squeaked just before a monstrous muzzle dropped upon my little shaking head.

…Ever since Lord Yangjian had taken over the transport route between the Earth and the Lunar Palace, he and Xiaotianquan had visited us more and more often. Sometimes—or oftentimes, as it was becoming—Xiaotian would come over early, spending entire shifts or days with us before his master arrived to take care of their official business.

And he would spend his idle time doing what it was you see before you right now.

Terrorizing me.

‘Whatcha making there?’ he let out in a loud, resounding bark.

His slobbering tongue lolled obscenely, the very sight of it recalling horrific memories to my mind…

Needless to say, I wasn’t overjoyed at this new arrangement. But Sister had said that it was good practice for socializing with other people—even ones I’d rather not have to deal with. So now I had an overgrown predator wagging his tail and dogging me everywhere.

…Peace and quiet had become things of the past.

‘Can’t you see...?’ I said to him in a little voice.

Xiaotian cocked his head aside, and came before my little creation. He sniffed at it as though it was a product for consumption, then scratched his neck with strong kicks that seemed like they could send a person flying.

His every motion set off my internal alarm for flight.

Finally he said: ‘Is it two weeds growing out of a rock?’

But a tiny portion of me wanted my mallet.

‘It’s a snow rabbit…!’ I squeaked against my better instincts, and immediately regretted it.

Xiaotian’s eyeballs widened, as he looked over the snowy construct again.

‘...Where’s the tail?’ he said seriously. ‘Shouldn’t you put something there?’

‘I was trying to be minimalist...’ I whispered, but grudgingly took his suggestion and placed a snowball into the rear end of the creature.

Perfect snow rabbit, with ears and tail—

‘...And eyes?’

I turned round, blank pupils at Xiaotian, fantasizing that he was white dough at the mercy of my sweet Sixth-g. But in action, I simply balled a pair of snow pellets, and put them beneath the flower petals.

‘...Like this?’

The great mutt circled the snow in scrutiny again, visibly scrunching his muzzle, while I shivered to think how he might pervert my work with his inflated ego next.

He craned up his long, wolfish neck. ‘I don’t know, Yu’er, it only looks a bit like you—I mean, it doesn’t even look real.’

I stared at him dumbly. Did he expect me to sculpt the likeness of every strand of hair?!

‘...And the color’—

A line had been drawn within my soul, and my body involuntarily turned at him.

‘What’s wrong with the color?’ I cried in protest, looking up directly at his face.

He looked with surprise into my eyes, and suddenly turned away.

‘...Nothing’, he said awkwardly.

Nothing, he said.

Dissing my craftsmanship was nothing.

Dismissing my sense of artistry was nothing.

And implying that I was colour blind—was nothing!

All I could think of that was…

…How I longed for Lord Yangjian to come pick him up.

‘Why are you making a snow rabbit anyway?’

I swallowed down a sob. ‘...As a target…to practice… transformation magic on.’

Xiaotian nodded. Transformation was basic magic we were expected to have a general understanding of, and the risks of being unable to undo one’s transformation numbered among the first things we were taught.

I continued explaining after calming down a little more: ‘Sister began teaching it to me—after I complained that —my fortune telling training was getting nowhere’—

‘You can tell fortunes?!’ Xiaotian enthusiastically woofed, his towering bulk almost collapsing upon me.

Memories of failures cast a pall over my expression. ‘...Kind of.’

But before I could say anymore, Xiaotian had already surrounded me. ‘Can you do mine?’ he barked chipperly. ‘Tell my fortune!’

‘...I’m not very good yet’—

I tried to refuse him, but he just kept pleading and pleading, bouncing from left to right of me. ‘Just once is fine!—doesn’t have to be mine! I just want to see a fortune being told—Oh show me, show me, show!’

So I relented. ‘...All right’, I said. ‘Please, keep your distance and stay quiet, however… I need to concentrate.’

Xiaotian immediately nodded, and awkwardly tiptoed his huge body away. I was almost too wound up to appreciate the comedy in it.

When he had shrunken into a black spot on the snow canvas, he wagged his tail, and I flapped my ears.

I produced the white shells from a small pocket my sister had woven into my fur, and made my posture comfortable upon the pure white snow.

‘Here I go again…’

I began attuning my spirit.

It was strange…but I could somehow feel that this attempt was better than all others before it. Energy coursed into me from the outside air, and my body rang and sang with its vibrations.

…I could hear music speaking unto me.

…It was magical.

At the height of the crescendo, my body moved upon instinct, and I cast the shells onto the ground before me.

They collided against the ground, bounced up, and collided against one another, adding colourful percussion to the mysterious music.

Voiceless words flowed into me, and took over my own voice.

‘...Snow…will…….melt!’

With one difficultly uttered last word, all the energy drained from me, and I collapsed to the snow.

Xiaotian hurried to my side.

I could barely hear what he was saying, but I understood that he was worried, and gave him my reassurances. It was not the first time a fortune telling attempt had exhausted me. Before long, I was able to move and hear things normally again, at which Xiaotian was very relieved, and I smiled at him. Lord Yangjian probably would have made curry out of him to give to my sister if anything had happened to me.

After my health was no longer a concern, I set about decoding the message I had received.

I turned over to Xiaotian, ‘What’s melt again?’

His eyes brightened to be relied upon, and he puffed out his chest: ‘Melt is one of the things that happen to enemies when we strike them with powerful attack magic! The other options are to evaporate, explode, or collapse!’

I turned pale at his answer, realizing I shouldn’t have expected any better from a war dog. Anyhow, the words he used did ring a bell or two from my lessons, and I remembered Sister teaching me that snow can melt.

I looked around me.

But snow on the Lunar Palace never melts.

As I turned the cryptic clue over and over, I became increasingly frustrated that my best fortune telling attempt yet had yielded something I couldn’t even understand.

‘...What did you ask when you were telling that fortune?’ Xiaotian squatted down beside me.

‘Nothing!’ I said in pitched frustration. ‘I kept it open so a message would come forth more easily!’

Xiaotian looked at me intently. It wasn’t hard for him to tell I was feeling down with this result, and I didn’t spare the thought to hide it from him.

‘...Hey,’ he began suddenly, ‘hey, Yu’er!’

‘What!’ I snapped, forgetting to be afraid of him.

‘How about you do some transformation magic next?’

‘What?!’ I cried. I was concentrating on something important, and he treated me like a street performer!

‘Please!’ he continued in the spoiltest voice. ‘I want to see just how good you are!’ Then he pounced upon me. ‘Come one, Yu’er!’

‘...Just once, okay?’ I sighed underneath the layer of drool he had lathered all over me, and crawled out before the snow rabbit again.

Xiaotian pressed himself close to the snow in anticipation, wagging his furry tail.

‘Whatcha going to transform it into?’ he asked.

‘...You can see for yourself.’ I was too exhausted to care for his reaction.

I channeled my magic into the snow rabbit, and it began to shine. Its outlines became blurrier, as it began to morph.

Transformation magic was useful in a great diversity of ways, but the main reason magical beasts needed to learn it was utility—to assume a humanoid appearance for practical, logistical purposes. Some of us were too large, like Xiaotian, others too small like me, and some didn’t even have appendages to support intelligent activities. When we needed to make up for these flaws—we turned into humans.

And to do that, we need to have a good enough understanding of the human form—by observing it.

The shining shape solidified into the form of a beautiful woman in a white dress, with long raven hair and skin that radiated with magic.

The very sight of her form soothed my troubled spirits.

I realized it was strange that Xiaotian had not said anything, and turned around. I was not bothered to receive a positive reaction from him, but it still felt odd to receive none at all.

When I had turned around, Xiaotian was there, speechless and gaping.

Behind him was Lord Yangjian.

The war god had a solemn, thoughtful expression as he inspected the magical form I had projected, the look within his three eyes becoming more and more intent.

I was frightened that I had unknowingly incurred his wrath somehow.

He approached me slowly, and crouched down to my level, reaching with his hand.

But when I cowered, and prepared myself to be taken by the ears...

‘Good job!’ he said, and patted my head.

I looked up in amazement, and saw within his face, perhaps the gentlest smile I had ever received from him.

…For a moment, I thought that he was dashing.

The shock dispelled my magic, and the shining figure crumbled back into snow.

Both war god and dog let out a sound of regret when this happened. But Lord Yangjian quickly shook it off, and turned to the white radiance who was coming out to greet him.

The shining Goddess of White herself.

‘Heng’e!’

‘...You are incorrigible, Lord Yangjian.’

The gods occupied themselves with their business, leaving me with nothing but the remnant sensations of what had happened.

...Of a warm hand upon me.

...Of gentleness that I had not yet seen from a particular person.

As Xiaotian crawled to my side whining, already regretting that it was his time to go, I occupied my mind with the question…

…What if it had been Lord Houyi?