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“I assure you, Princess, this is all very normal,” the physician told her, polishing his glasses. “The elder two princes’ wives endured the same thing, as did the queen. This is nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“But are you–”
“Princess,” the physician’s tone was slightly too sharp for Ao Lie’s liking. At the warning growl, he cleared his throat and tried a softer tone. “I am quite sure. Now, is there anything else troubling you this morning? Are your feet bothering you again today?”
Mengying, six months pregnant with her and Lie’s firstborn, shook her head. “No, I’m feeling better now. Nothing else is wrong that I can think of.”
Besides, it didn’t matter if her feet hurt or not. Lie would probably barely let her walk once his brothers came to visit.
Speaking of Lie, the dragon, sensing that this visit was finally finished, leaned down slightly to help Mengying to her feet. She let him pick her up, having learned months ago that it was best to not tense up in alarm or try to say she could get up herself.
At least this morning he was letting her walk for a bit instead of moving to carry her right away.
“Lie, you didn’t need to growl at him,” Mengying whispered as they walked down the hallway towards the gardens.
“I didn’t like how he spoke to you.” Ao Lie’s voice, normally softer and so kind, had dropped a few octaves and sounded more like a growl. She could still hear his human voice underneath it, but right now he sounded more like his dragon form than human.
It wasn’t the only thing that was different about him. For the past several months, his pupils had been reptilian slits no matter what his mood was, he kept his tail and claws out (unless his hands were on her shoulders, then they reverted to human nails) and he stayed closer to her than ever. The last part wasn’t so bad, Mengying quite liked the extra closeness and affection, especially when he seemed overcome with something and started purring and nuzzling at her.
Her mother-in-law, and now the physician, had assured her this was normal for dragons.
“Dragons are fiercely protective of their children,” the queen had told her.
(A brief pause, and then the older woman had amended, “Of their babies.”
Mengying thought back to what Lie had told her of his father, and said nothing.)
“If you were a dragon, you’d likely be acting the same way… I understand it’s strange to you, my dear, but I promise you, it’s perfectly normal.”
And then the queen had laughed behind her sleeve. “If I were you, I’d enjoy the extra affection, dear.”
Mengying was jarred out of her thoughts when Lie purred and rested the side of his head against hers. His tail wrapped around her legs as carefully as he could, so as not to make her trip,and his hand squeezed her shoulder as he kept her close.
Mengying laughed, leaning on him. Well. She’d certainly enjoy the affection.
If this was a normal thing for dragons, it would surely be fine.
This was not fine.
And Mengying had sensed it coming, like when two cats unexpectedly ran into each other.
Everything had started okay. More than okay, even!
Sun Wukong had invited them all to his mountain for a few days, saying they all could use a break, and it’d be nice to see everyone again.
He was even waiting for everyone, down on the beach!
Mengying and Ao Lie had been the last to arrive. Lie had shifted back to human form once Mengying was standing securely on the sand, and Wukong looked away from where he was cooing over Little Lotus.
He smiled, rushing over to them.
“Lie! Mengying!” he shouted, eyes shining.
The atmosphere just changed.
Lie tensed up. Mengying heard the rumble of magic and the low growl in his chest.
Sun Wukong stopped a few feet away from them. For a second, he looked startled, hurt and confusion in his eyes.
Then just as quickly, he grinned and lowered himself with his arms spread out, looking like a man trying to guard a snack table or something.
“Ohhhh, I see how it is,” he chuckled. “You must’ve been going stir-crazy, huh, Lie?”
At her side, Lie was so tense he was trembling minutely. “This is the first we’ve left the palace in months,” he rumbled.
Mengying looked between the two, concerned and confused. What did that have to do with the way he was acting?
Wukong only grinned wider, rolling his shoulders. “H’okay,” he said with a quiet laugh.
And then he took one step closer to them.
Mengying shrieked as something blew past her, ruffling her hair and her dress. Immediately after, she heard a hard THUD.
And then the air was filled with the sounds of monkey screeching and reptilian roars.
“Lie!” Mengying cried in alarm, seeing the two men clawing furiously at each other. Fur flew about, and a few dragon scales glinted in the light as they were dislodged from flesh. Wukong only laughed, as Lie wasn’t trying to claw his eyes out, and fought back just as hard.
When she thought she saw a flash of gold after a well-placed swipe - it could have been her imagination but she was too shocked to look closer - she tried to run forward. “Stop it–!” she began to plead.
“Mengying,” a gentle, deep voice spoke up at her left. She jumped again, and looked up. She hadn’t even noticed Wujing coming up to her, but there he was, a large hand on her back. “You’d better come over where we are. They’ll be at this for a bit.”
“Bu-but!” Mengying stammered. Even as Wujing led her to where Bajie and Sanzang were (and she did notice neither of them looked shocked by this sudden turn of events), she couldn’t help glancing back. “But they’re going to kill each other!”
“Unlikely,” Bajie snorted. “Wukong’s probably the only one of us Lie can’t kill right now.”
“Wha–”
“He explained it to us earlier, my dear,” Sanzang interrupted kindly, motioning for her to sit. “It’ll be better if Lie gets all of that pent-up energy out. And… yes, regretfully, this is probably the safest way…”
“Why, Master, are you condoning violence?”
“It’s not violence, it’s just… a very enthusiastic wrestling match. It’s a perfectly legitimate game.”
Bajie snickered, but noticed Mengying still glancing back to the very much still ongoing fight to the death behind her. With a faint sigh, he reached into his sling and held out Little Lotus. “Wanna hold her?” he asked. “For the practice?”
Mengying had been holding Little Lotus for only another minute when Lie and Wukong finally rejoined the group. Their clothes were torn and tattered, Wukong’s fur was sticking up in every direction, Lie looked like he’d been in a windstorm, and both of them were sporting numerous scratches that were already healing.
But both of them looked happy, as if nothing had happened at all.
With a loud sigh of relief, Lie flopped down next to Mengying while Wukong settled on her other side. “I feel better,” Lie said simply.
“That’s good,” Wukong cheerfully answered back. “That was fun!”
“You two, there’s got to be a better way to do that,” Sanzang tsk’d and shook his head.
“It’s just a wrestling match~ Just a perfectly legitimate sport to unleash all that stress and tension,” Wukong sang as Lie took another few calming breaths.
Mengying shifted to hold Little Lotus in one arm so she could run her fingers through his hair. Lie purred faintly, and Mengying smiled. He did seem a lot more relaxed now, actually…
“Welp, now that that’s settled… So, have you felt any kicking yet?” Wukong asked excitedly, tail wagging. “Because I wanna be the first uncle to feel!”