The lanterns had barely faded from the night festival when a hush swept
through the palace garden. Ju Xian and Taotao stood stiffly as footsteps
approached — not hurried, but deliberate, as though each step weighed with
authority.
The guards parted, and a figure emerged dressed in deep imperial gold, his
presence silencing even the wind.
Emperor Zhao Wen.
He had grown older since the stories Ju Xian once heard as a girl. His face
was more defined, his gaze sharp with wisdom and power. The silken robe
he wore moved like liquid fire under the dawn light.
He studied them both. Ju Xian bowed instinctively, her heart pounding.
> "Li Xian," he said, voice low but commanding. "And you... Ren Xu. Or
rather, who you are now."
Taotao raised a brow but bowed nonetheless, not in mockery this time, but
solemnity.
> "We've come a long way to meet a bird," he said dryly.
The Emperor's eyes didn't flinch. "And the bird has waited longer than any
of us."
He stepped closer and surprised them both — he bowed slightly to Ju Xian.
> "You saved my crown once. Without you, without him—" he looked at
Taotao, "—this kingdom would be in a different shape."
Ju Xian's breath caught.
> "Then... may I take Sky home?"
The Emperor's jaw tightened. A long pause followed.
> "If it were my decision alone... yes. But Sky is not just your past. He has
become a living relic of the war, a symbol in the court. The ministers will not
allow his release—at least not yet."
Ju Xian looked away, pain shadowing her eyes. But she nodded. "Then I'll
wait again. As he did."
> "You have my word," Zhao Wen said, voice softening. "He will not be
caged forever."
The Emperor turned to leave, but paused at the edge of the path.
> "Tomorrow. I want to meet you both officially — not as ghosts of the past,
but as people of this world. You deserve that much."
Then he walked off, robes trailing like fading gold.
Ju Xian and Taotao remained, quiet beneath the blooming trees, Sky's cage
just out of reach.
> "He remembered us," she whispered.
> "That makes three," Taotao said. "Bird. Brother. Thief."
She smiled faintly. The waiting wasn't over. But the doors were no longer
closed.
And Sky, from his perch in the palace aviary, turned toward the garden, eyes
bright, as though sensing something had shifted.