Come To Bed

Suddenly, Wu Shan fixed her with a serious look. "Surely you're not bringing that little fellow with you up Frostsoul Peak tomorrow?"

"Um, well Qinghan is…" Zhe Huo was too embarrassed to admit that Qinghan clearly intended to do exactly that.

Averting his eyes, Wu Shan took back the initiative. "I'll watch over him for you, tomorrow. You should go up there on your own, and not with him holding you back."

Zhe Huo frowned at this. "Wu Shan, Qinghan doesn't—"

"Are you worried for him, or worried about me?" Wu Shan delivered this line with the impact of a lightning bolt.

Zhe Huo's mouth opened and shut uselessly a few times, until she finally just closed it and nodded. She had no choice but to agree to his terms.

However, when she returned to her room with his words still echoing in her head, the figure waiting just inside the door nearly killed her with fright.

It was Luo Qinghan, and perhaps because he'd only just woken up, those enormous eyes of his looked utterly disoriented and forlorn, like a wee creature who'd gotten lost in the woods.

"Qinghan, what… what are you doing here?" She clearly remembered him being fast asleep when she'd stepped out a moment ago.

The boy rubbed his eyes, looked at her, and without a word, he stepped forward and wrapped his tail around her legs, along with both arms. "Zhe Huo," he murmured, "I told you, I get scared when you leave me all alone."

This melted Zhe Huo's heart into a puddle. Patting his head gently, she cooed, "I thought it wouldn't be a problem if you were already asleep. Anyway, I didn't go off anywhere. I just went to discuss something with Wu Shan."

Qinghan's eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. "What were the two of you discussing?"

"Stuff concerning the ice demon…" Remembering the rest of that conversation all of a sudden, she peeled the boy off of her, entered the room, and closed the door behind them. "That reminds me: We have to talk about something. Tomorrow, when I go up Frostsoul Peak to perform my task, you'll have to be a good boy and stay with Wu Shan. He's promised to look after you for me. Do you understand?"

Arching his eyebrows, Qinghan looked up at her and said, "This was his idea?"

She couldn't even look him in the eye, now. She made a sound and nodded her head, then moved to the table nearby to pour herself a cup of tea.

Behind her, Qinghan kept silent for a while, the sly hint of a smile dancing upon the corner of his lips. At last, he replied, "Alright."

Zhe Huo almost couldn't believe her ears. She hadn't expected Qinghan to go along with it that easily. Relieved, she said, "Wu Shan is actually a really nice guy. Spend some more time with him, and you'll see."

"Is that right?" Qinghan murmured.

Zhe Huo nodded earnestly.

Qinghan cocked his head at her, but said nothing more on the topic. Taking her by the hand, he pulled her after him. "Come to bed, Zhe Huo."

After breakfast the next day, Zhe Huo said her farewells-for-now to Luo Qinghan and Wu Shan, and then started her hike up to Frostsoul Peak.

Supposedly, the mountain was right on the outskirts of the city, but there was a dramatic difference in climate as you ventured into the area. It was hard to believe if you'd never been there yourself before, and she'd almost forgotten about it in her haste to get ready that morning, until Qinghan caught her just before she went out the door, giving her a thick cloak and a cap. "Put this on," he told her, a bit curt of tone.

It had taken her a moment to understand his intention. She threw the cloak over her shoulders, staring at the young boy with awe, and he said, "Last night, while you were reading the plan, I also took a peek myself."

Overcome with surprise and thankfulness, Zhe Huo was at a complete loss for words.