Chapter Text
"This is stupid." Rover groaned loudly, dragging out the word as if it hurt to say. They slumped deeper into the chair, rolling their eyes with all the theatrical disdain a seventeen-year-old could muster. Bare feet propped up rebelliously on the small, scuffed table in the kitchen of the Lufou, they kicked at the air lazily, half out of frustration, half out of spite.
Across the cramped galley, their father, Dan Heng, let out a slow, bone-deep sigh, the kind that only came from a long day, years of pressure, a child who had just hit that age.
He rested his elbows on the table, fingers steepled against his forehead, as though they might conjure a miracle answer from his mind.
This wasn't the conversation he wanted to have. Not tonight, not ever. Explaining over seven millennia of sacred tradition to a teenager who couldn't care less? That was a puzzle no amount of wisdom seemed to solve.
Rover, the only Vidyadhara born in over three thousand years, fixed their parents with a glare that could've cut glass. Their long, scaled tail twitched in irritation under the table, brushing against the bench. "I don't care how old the tradition is," they said, their voice sharp. "It's ancient, it's out of touch and it's stupid."
"It isn't stupid," Dan Heng said gently, though even he wasn't sure if he believed it.
"Oh, really?" Rover snapped. "Then why doesn't Wise have to do it? Or Belle? Or Bailu or Mem? They're way more Vidyadhara than I am!"
"Wise and Belle aren't of my blood," he said, each word heavy. "Bailu was adopted. And Mem was created, not born. You… you are different. You're the first natural-born Vidyadhara in over three thousand years. That matters."
Rover scoffed. "It shouldn't matter."
Dan Heng glanced at his husband, hoping for backup, but already dreading what was coming. "Caelus-"
"Oh, no, no, no. Don't drag me into this mess." Caelus stood quickly, hands raised in surrender, before planting them on his hips with a sigh. His silver hair was a little messier than usual, his expression was torn between sympathy and exasperation. "But for the record? I think the High Elders need to pull their ceremonial sticks out of their asses."
"Caelus!" Dan Heng hissed, scandalized.
"What?" Caelus shrugged with that infuriating, easy charm of his. "I'm just saying what everyone's thinking. This whole 'preserve the bloodline' thing is archaic. Rover should be choosing their own path."
Dan Heng huffed at the response, a quiet sigh escaping his mouth. "It's tradition-"
Caelus interrupted him. "But it's tradition. I know. And traditions are a stubborn beast. Hard to kill off." He sighed quietly, sitting beside the Vidyadhara. "And unfortunately, the last thing I want to do is piss off every single Vidyadhara in the world by not following it."
He sighed. "But I guess it isn't fair to burden only one child with an entire race's survival. But they did the same thing to us," Caelus sighed, rolling his shoulders back. "Aeons know we tried to fulfil their wishes. Over and over and over and-"
"Egh, I get it, Mom. Stop being gross." Rover stuck out their tongue.
"Ahem." The Vidyadhara flushed, his tail flickering in the air. He glared at his child.
"The point is… I don't like it either. I don't want to force this on you, but even I can't undo thousands of years of tradition overnight."