Chapter Text
Like the rest of the Xianzhou fleet, the Loufu was a shining example of what thousands of years of technological advancements could achieve. A self-sustaining starship, traversing the cosmic seas on its mission to follow The Hunt. And yet, hidden behind the austerity of its eternal mission, the mundanity of the every day flourished. The different delves worked in tandem to create the perfect ecosystem and sustain the millions of long life species that called the starship home.
A day and night cycle measured in dual hours, seasons that were kept perfectly in line with the dates of the Star Calendar. Even the weather was preemptively scheduled with a wide enough margin of variability so as not to become predictable and stale, just so there was always something for the people to look forward to.
Sunny days. Cloudy days.
Even rainy ones.
Dan Heng knew from a scientific, biological perspective rain was a necessity for life. Without rain, The Luofu’s crops would not grow. Without rain, there would be no water to drink. The oceanic reservoir of Scalegorge Waterscape would not remain as it had for centuries, standing aside to witness each cycle of death and rebirth anew.
Rain was absolutely a necessity, he told himself, even if the sound of it pattering against the window panes brought with it dark memories of a cold cell within the depths of the Shackling Prison.
Biting back a grimace, Dan Heng put down his data pad and lifted himself from the bed, making a beeline for the window. He took hold of the curtains, the heavy material pulling taught in his hands as he began to pull them close.
Until something strange caught his eye.
Dan Heng paused as he stared out the window at the strange spectacle taking place in the courtyard of The Petrichor Inn. The rain was bucketing down, turning the rocky outcrops in the yard into steady little streams while the shrubs drooped under the weight of their waterlogged leaves. The sparrows that often gathered for spare seed had likely left to find cover long before, as had all the gardeners and attendants, leaving the space utterly deserted.
Except for one very wet, very stupid person.
Dan Heng’s breath fogged the glass as he leaned in closer. No, he wasn’t seeing things. That was definitely Stelle standing in the centre of the yard, her grey hair plastered to her face and neck as she stared up into the sky.
Dan Heng blinked, his eyes following her gaze upwards. The clouds knitted together in a gloomy, foreboding blanket that stretched out as far as he could see, not a speck of artificial sunlight breaking through. The rainstorm wasn’t going to break any time soon, and yet Stelle didn’t seem like she was inclined to escape the weather any time soon either.
His hand twitched, half tempted to close the curtains and forget whatever shenanigans Stelle was getting up to. He looked back at the quiet solitude of his bed, and he felt the weight of the last few days in the ache of his shoulder.
He looked back, and there she was, still standing there.
Like a wet rat.
With a withdrawn sigh, Dan Heng dropped the curtain and picked up the keycard for his room from the bedside table.
The rain was coming down harder than he realised, the sound loud of it hitting the roof tiles drowning out the slide of the screen door as he drew it open. Hovering beneath the eave, Dan Heng peered around the yard, yet could find no reason for why Stelle seemed to be suffering from some strange form of paralysis. She seemed oblivious to the world around her as she quite literally soaked in the rain, her chest rising and falling with deep, tranquil breaths.
With no answer forthcoming, Dan Heng called out in defeat. “What are you doing?”
“Dan Heng!” Stelle yelped in surprise. She spun on the spot, her heels digging into the sodden grass and sending her off kilter. For a moment, she wobbled, her arms spread wide as she steadied and saved herself from stacking it in an embarrassing tangle of limbs.
Dan Heng waited until she looked firmly planted on the ground once more, before he asked again, “What are you doing?”
“Dan Heng!” She repeated back as she broke into a beaming smile, “It’s raining!”
“I can see that.” His eyebrows rose.
“Come join me!”
“I’d rather not.” Dan Heng paused, tilting his head up to look at the curtain of water falling from the eaves. “Uh, Stelle… Why exactly are you just standing around in the rain?”
“I’ve never felt rain on my skin before,” Stelle answered him with quiet wonder, her tawny eyes cast skyward once more. “At least, I don’t think I have. I think I remember the feeling, but I sort of don’t at the same time. Does that make sense?”
He understood the sentiment intimately.
How many times had he woken in a cold sweat when dreams mixed with memories of a past life that belonged to him, but also didn’t? He’d spent so long running from the past in this body that felt wrong, yet it was the only thing that felt like him when his true form felt just as foreign too.
As far as he knew, all Stelle could remember was the sterile walls of Herta Space Station, and the frost bitten tundra of Jarilo VI. Until now, even her stay on The Luofu had been marked with deceptively mild weather to disguise the internal turmoil and crises within. He wondered, if maybe, just maybe, she sometimes felt the same way he did.
Remembering, without remembering .
“Yeah.” Dan Heng’s tongue felt heavy as he replied. “Yeah. It does.”
When he looked back, he found her gaze on him, something like understanding hiding in the shadows of her eyes. They hadn’t spoken about it yet. About who he was, about what it all meant. But her smile softened, and he wondered just who it was she saw when she looked at him now.
A Nameless?
A High Elder?
A friend? A stranger?
Or something else, something different?
Stelle looked utterly ridiculous as she stood there, her hand reached out towards him. Her coat had soaked through, a sodden weight on her shoulders that had long lost the battle in protecting her from the elements. The rest of her clothes had given up too, the white material of her shirt leaving little to the imagination as it clung to the curves of her body.
Dan Heng averted his eyes.
“Join me?” She asked again, and he barely heard her over the rain.
He looked down at the glossy surface of her glove, her fingers curled gently as she offered him her hand.
“Please?”
The rain was surprisingly warm as it hit his skin, bathing him in a gentle caress when he was bracing for piercing cold and the bite of knives. It shocked him more than the pain would, freezing in his lungs as his fingers curled around hers, grasping tight. Her fingers grip him back, giving him a squeeze and providing him the anchor he didn’t know he needed.
There they were, standing in the rain.
Like two wet rats.
“What are we doing?” Dan Heng asked over the downpour, for the third time.
This time, Stelle answered him with a grin.
“Standing in the rain, dummy.”
His chin dipped down, and his eyes fell shut.
And for the first time in a long time, he felt himself smile.
So they were.