Xie Lian goes very still, a shiver passing up his spine.
The strangeness of it should blunt the blow, perhaps; this boy-turned-cat speaking casually, even cheerfully to this foreign queen, neither of them anything like anyone he's ever met. But—it feels like someone's dipped a hand into his chest and started speaking abstractly of what they found there, like uncovering little bits of stone amidst mud.
He realizes now that he's seen Galahad, marrying Claudius. They hadn't spoken; he'd have had nothing to say, then, except to compliment him on the lovely proceedings. But he recalls his serious face, now, his tangle of pale hair, and wonders at it. At the pure joy he'd seen, radiating from him. Neither there nor here is there any hint of regret about the bargain he'd made, nor even anger at its terms.
He takes a long breath, and lets it out. "Hanguang-jun is a generous teacher, to give you another path when yours was bound."
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The strangeness of it should blunt the blow, perhaps; this boy-turned-cat speaking casually, even cheerfully to this foreign queen, neither of them anything like anyone he's ever met. But—it feels like someone's dipped a hand into his chest and started speaking abstractly of what they found there, like uncovering little bits of stone amidst mud.
He realizes now that he's seen Galahad, marrying Claudius. They hadn't spoken; he'd have had nothing to say, then, except to compliment him on the lovely proceedings. But he recalls his serious face, now, his tangle of pale hair, and wonders at it. At the pure joy he'd seen, radiating from him. Neither there nor here is there any hint of regret about the bargain he'd made, nor even anger at its terms.
He takes a long breath, and lets it out. "Hanguang-jun is a generous teacher, to give you another path when yours was bound."