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Shi Qingxuan shrieked as water sprayed over her. She jumped to her feet and—cursing her own terrible coordination—tripped backward, leaving her sprawling on the floor. How undignified! Before she added a concussion to her list of embarrassments He Xuan’s hand shot out cushioning the back of her head. It was so quick she almost believed it hadn’t happened, especially when she regained her bearings and looked to the side to see the aforementioned He Xuan cross-legged by the small pool, slurping his noodles as he had been before. Unperturbed.
“Xuan-xiong!”
“Mn.”
“Why’d you let me fall?!”
He took another bite and only after swallowing grumbled, “I stopped you from getting hurt, didn’t I?”
“Ya, which means you could have caught me in time!” Shi Qingxuan humphed, lifting up her arms to shake away the water that was now drenching her robes.
There was a stifled huff and Shi Qingxuan looked up again to see He Xuan chuckling softly into his soup. Like a punch to the heart, like she had swallowed the sun, warmth bloomed in her chest and flooded her senses. It spread a smile across her face and was such that it could have dried her clothes if it was capable of truly radiating to the outside. He Xuan came across as cold to most people but to her he was like a summer breeze, warming her to the bone, or a hurricane, challenging and exciting.
Only once she had remembered she was capable of human speech Shi Qingxuan sighed, but it was put on. “I guess I did overreact when the culprit is so cute.”
The so-called culprit that had left her drenched was He Xuan’s bonefish. She had convinced He Xuan to play with it a little and it had betrayed her! Forsaken her! Despite having intentionally splashed her it turned back around to peek up from the surface of the water and look at her. Somehow, without having any actual eyes to speak of it managed to stare at her beseechingly, like a begging puppy. In a higher-pitched voice Shi Qingxuan squeaked, “Oh, your cuteness is actually criminal.” (Though she was talking to the fish she winked at He Xuan and saw him scowl to hide his blush).
Picking herself back up off the floor she reached hesitantly over the pool. When it didn’t attack her again, she patted its head (skull?) softly. Despite moving in Shi Qingxuan had—so far—relatively little interaction with the bonefish. It was not intentional; she just didn’t spend much of her time in the manor in places other than the kitchen or the bedroom. Plus, when she did check on the bonefish from time to time, it was usually resting, gathering its strength and resentment to rebuild its form. But she had heard it splashing around more often so—after convincing He Xuan that he needed to show more of the love to his bonefish that he felt for it—she decided to spend some time with the little fish.
It was not a little fish anymore.
In fact, it was not the size of any normal fish she knew. It took up nearly the entire pond now. Its bony spine and dorsal fin supports would rub the sides of its confines if it twisted too much, and its large body was barely covered by the water. Shi Qingxuan noticed that the fish could only sink completely underneath if it hunkered against the bottom and tried to compress itself. There was no way the bonefish was at all comfortable there.
While giving the fish little scritches under the jaw Shi Qingxuan frowned. “Do you think it’s big enough to move to the ocean now?”
“No.” He Xuan grumbled.
She looked at He Xuan disbelievingly, head tilting to the side as she raised an eyebrow. He let out a breath and conceded, “Probably.”
It occurred to Shi Qingxuan then that he must have been afraid. Afraid that, should he let his fish back into the ocean where it could no longer be under his direct supervision all the time, it would be hurt. This time for good. “Nothing can happen to them, it’s your lair and they won’t be swimming off again, right?”
He nodded stiffly but she knew He Xuan wouldn’t admit to his fear. He never showed his weakness, even to Shi Qingxuan, if he could help it. She didn’t even know where his ashes were, but it was no matter to her. Regardless, she would trust him, she would want to comfort him. He Xuan would always be his own, but if he let her in just a little, she would make use of that space.
Shi Qingxuan shuffled over to He Xuan, scooting across the floor to kiss his jaw. When he looked to thaw out a little bit she threw an arm around him—accidentally sprinkling him with water from her sleeves at the same time but he didn’t react so she pretended like nothing happened. “I guess we could make the pool bigger too? That’s another option.”
“No. Let’s move it.” He Xuan stared forlornly at the empty bowl he had drained dry before pushing it to the side and slowly getting to his feet.
Shi Qingxuan grinned, “I’ll make you more noodles after.”
Transferring the bonefish proved more difficult than either of them had initially thought. See, it should have been an easy matter.
Step 1: Pick up the bonefish.
Step 2: Leave the manor.
Step 3: Go to the ocean.
Step 4: Place down the bonefish.
Step 5: Watch it swim around happily.
Job complete!
It did not go like that.
He Xuan glared at the fish. “Just stay still!”
The fish did not listen instead it squirmed back and forth, tail slapping out of control, as it flailed like its life depended on it. For the fourth time in a row, it flung itself out of He Xuan’s grasp and flopped back into the pond where it seemed to glare at him with the same amount of frustration his glowering conveyed.
Outside of the water, its skeletal form was just a tiny bit creepier. It had all the structure of a fish but every time she looked at it she couldn’t reconcile the fact that it didn’t have the flesh or scales that it should have. The rows of sharp teeth were especially unnerving too and did not help its case. Although, it wasn’t supposed to be cute. It was supposed to be fearsome.
“Maybe it just doesn’t like you.” Shi Qingxuan teased. She only meant it as a joke, of course, it liked He Xuan when it chose to serve him, but then she approached the edge of the pool and it wiggled back and forth eagerly. Gingerly, and terrified of slipping between the bones, she picked it up, trying to keep one arm wrapped around its underside and the other braced around its side so she could hold it still if it started flailing everwhere. Except, it didn’t struggle at all, it just sat there contentedly.
Shi Qingxuan burst out laughing. “See! What did I say?”
“I bet it’s just your female form.” He Xuan said dourly.
“Why would it?—” But Shi Qingxuan had just barely managed to get the words out when she saw that He Xuan had switched forms.
Shi Qingxuan stared and felt the blush creep up her neck until her cheeks were burning. He Xuan’s robes were too tight for her in her female form, accentuating all of her curves, but she didn’t seem to notice, just held her arms out expectantly. Giggling, Shi Qingxuan started to hand over the fish, but it flapped its tail in protest.
Another bought of laughter had Shi Qingxuan doubling over and struggling not to drop the bonefish, which was surprisingly heavy. Her cheeks and stomach were beginning to hurt. “Nope! It’s just me!” When she finally got her laughter under control she said, “Come on fishy, your other m— your dad,” He Xuan had switched back, arms crossed as he scowled, “just wants to hold you.”
“I don’t.”
Shi Qingxuan smiled at He Xuan. “Okay.” She looked back down at the fish where it rested against her chest. “Should I be running? Is it going to drown, er, suffocate?”
He Xuan stared at her and if she didn’t know better would look like it was his turn to fight off rising laughter. “No, it doesn’t need to breathe. It’s not alive.”
“Right.” How had she forgotten that? She was literally staring at a pile of bones.
They stepped out of the manor and Shi Qingxuan knew immediately that it was a perfect day to do this. The sun was shining (as much as it could in He Xuan’s lair), the wind was warm, the salty-water breeze was refreshing. Kicking off her shoes, and mindful of the ghost in her arms, she ran to the shore, loving the feeling of dashing barefoot across the sand. She turned to grin at He Xuan who walked after her leisurely.
Shi Qingxuan jumped up and down, “Hurry up Xuan-xiong.”
He didn’t. They were both smiling.
The closer they got to the water the more visibly excited the bonefish became… as excited as a skeleton fish could look anyways. Now that they were a mere few steps from it the fish wriggled back and forth eagerly.
If she were to drop it now it would literally be a fish out of water, it would probably struggle for a while to get deep enough to truly swim off. There was only one problem. Shi Qingxuan still did not know how to swim herself.
She looked at He Xuan, smiling sheepishly, and held the fish out. “Want to try again?”
Truthfully, however, she had another reason for trying to get He Xuan to be the one to release his bonefish into the ocean once more. It was that, namely, the bonefish was his. She had recognized the fear he held of losing his bonefish permanently if anything were to happen to it again, so maybe if he was the one to do it he would realize it was as safe as it had always been.
He Xuan frowned slightly, like he knew what she was thinking, but he didn’t protest. This time, thankfully, the fish remained still and allowed He Xuan to hold it. Almost like it had been joking before, but now understood what He Xuan was feeling too.
She pretended to pout, “So it wasn’t me or my female form, it’s just moody.”
He Xuan shook his head. “Qingxuan…”
“Ya?” She beamed at him.
He just shook his head again and said nothing.
“Awww, how kind of you Xuan-xiong. I love you too.”
He shook his head and then looked down at his fish. “Time to get you back to being the guardian of the lair.”
Shi Qingxuan felt that warmth spring up in her once more, like she would never know sadness or hurt or loneliness again, like nothing would ever be wrong, could ever be wrong, again.
It was a nice feeling, one Shi Qingxuan wanted to chase down and hug and hold tight. But then came the even better realization. She didn’t have to. It would remain with her as long as He Xuan was in her life.
As she had been lost in thought He Xuan had walked deep into the water until everything beneath his shoulders was submerged.
“Ready?” Shi Qingxuan called.
He Xuan nodded. “Ready.”
His bonefish leaped up and broke the waves with a crash. There was the sound of bones creaking and Shi Qingxuan laughed with delight.
Though she stood a little way away she could see its bony spine jutting out of the surface of the water as it swam. Its large body appeared nearly serpentine from the way it glided through the water, though its large and round shape belied that. It swam in a circle a few times before diving. It plunged downwards and through the murky deep Shi Qingxuan could see no more.
“Are you going to swim after it?” Shi Qingxuan asked, wading a few steps in when He Xuan stared and made no move at all.
He Xuan shook his head slowly and then began to make his way over to Shi Qingxuan. “No need, it’s not going anywhere.” When he reached her side, he kissed her softly and they stood there for a moment, foreheads touching. She wondered if he was gathering some sort of mental strength from her presence. She couldn’t be sure, but she hoped so.
Splash!
They whipped around. The bonefish that had been, moments ago, at most the size of her torso had expanded exponentially to the size of a small house.
Before Shi Qingxuan’s eyes, the bonefish splintered. If she hadn’t seen this once before she would have fainted from fright but instead, her eyes lit up with joy. The one fish broke into multiple smaller ones; they swam around excitedly, jumping over each other playfully. “He Xuan! Look! Look! Are you seeing this!”
She shook He Xuan by the sleeves back and forth and back and forth until he smiled. “Look now!”
The fish had begun to assemble in a line and bite each other’s tails, bones rattling, until they weren't just a line of fish but a dragon rearing its head up to the sky and roaring loud enough to make the earth tremble.
Shi Qingxuan grinned, overcome by awe at its massive, majestic, form, no matter how many times she had seen it. He Xuan hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer as the dragon coiled up and turned to look at him.
She expected it to swim away, take advantage of the new space and the new form to truly explore and stretch out once more, but instead it slowly extended its tail over to their feet and lowered its head.
“I think it wants to take us for a ride.” Shi Qingxuan said with a grin.
He Xuan’s smile was small but there, “then let’s climb on.”