Work Text:
It had been a rare slow day at the medical office. She hadn’t been summoned to the Moon Prince’s pavilion either so Maomao was back at her dorm room early. She intended to make full use of the first evening she had to herself in weeks.
Maomao picked up the medical treatise she had been saving for just such an evening and camped herself near the open window. A gentle breeze caressed her cheeks. Sighing contentedly, she breathed in deep and immersed herself in the text.
A sudden summer shower earlier in the evening had provided much needed relief from the oppressive heat of the day. The air was fragrant with the scent of damp earth. The crickets had come out and the evening was lively with their chorus.
A soft gust carried the heady fragrance of freshly bloomed jasmine to Maomao. She stretched and the book slowly slipped from her lap. She made no move to pick it up. The scent had evoked in her the memory of a certain celestial nymph.
A slow realisation dawned on Maomao, this was one of her very favourite scents in the entire world. Sweet and fresh and musky.. an image rose unbidden in her head. The face of the celestial nymph with eyes like shards of glittering obsidian above her as she desperately sucked in air, and every atom of air in her body was his breath.
She.. had not hated it. If anything, she had reciprocated with the same entirety of focus that she brought to everything she did. Maomao had never been one for half measures. She realised she had never really parsed her own feelings about that night. It was too much trouble, knowledge that would do her no good.
Maomao felt a sudden constriction in her chest. She shook her head as if to clear her mind of these thoughts. Her face felt flushed and hot to the touch. Maybe she had a fever coming on. Sudden changes in the weather often brought seasonal maladies with them. And unwanted thoughts. What else could it be, after all?