The Echo of the Moon (whispers in my ear)

Chapter One

Didi - younger brother, literally or affectionately
Gege - older brother, literally or affectionately
Xiansheng - mister or sir
Xiaojie - miss
Meimei - little sister
Jiejie - big sister
'A-' - friendly address, used as a prefix
'-er' - friendly address for someone younger than you, used as a suffix

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Everything was a swirl, melting and morphing into different shapes that seemed to resemble images. He whipped his head from side to side, trying to make out the different people and things that seemed to be appearing. "Didi, we'll be back soon." A voice was swirling around him and through the air, then it seemed to disappear as swiftly as dust in the breeze. "Keep the heir safe, okay?" He tried to cry out for something- anyone, anything- but his voice was swallowed up by the sound of the wind. Everything was crumbling, the sound of his comrade's bodies hitting the ground around him was deafing. His hands were shaking as he grabbed the handle of his sword, and then it all melted away again. "Where was the heir?" was all he could think, the void of the thought disappearing all too fast, as he barrelled forwards, and hit the ground running.

"Gege, wake up!"
His eyes almost immediately shot open at the sound of that voice, sitting up all too fast- and hitting his forehead on the boards above them. He could hear the giggling echo next to him, while he tried to rub his skin free of its soon to be bruise. The ground underneath them was cold and hardened. "Xiansheng, you knew what was going to happen, did you not?"
"Oh, don't worry, I did." The kid's face split into a wide, cheeky grin, before their small body shuffled across the dirt and through the small hole in the wall, taking in a large breath of the frigid air. Jianyu sighed quietly, brushing some of the dirt off of his pants and reassuring that his weapon was still attached at his side, before crawling out of the same space.

The run-down house that they had stayed in for the night being was practically falling apart at the edges. The floorboards had been the only thing still remotely intact, so Jianyu had found an entrance underneath them, and that was where they had slept. Liang seemed much too energetic for someone who had just slept for less than six hours on the ground, but then again, that was how he always was.
"Where are we going today?" Liang asked, quickly catching Jianyu's attention faster than a butterfly in a net. "Wherever you desire." He replied, and the heir giggled quietly. The snow had been falling for quite some time- their scenery changing to even more winter-like than before. They were somewhat far from the other villages in the area- slightly more towards the forest and the ragged cliffs that others preferred to avoid.It was what they had to do.
"You said we were going to the next village today, right? And then we could rest for a while?" Liang inquired, and Jianyu nodded slowly. "I did say that. If our surroundings change, I won't hesitate to go back on my word, Xiansheng."

"You've stayed the same all these years, you know that? It's predictable at this point."

Jianyu stayed quiet, and Liang just smiled up at him.

-

The sound of snow and ice crumbling underfoot echoed through the trees and the branches, though there was only one pair of feet doing the walking.
"Once we get to the next village, I'm buying you at least a pair of slippers, if not boots."

The heir laughed, barely shaking his own small body.

"Don't bother. You know I won't get to keep them for very long if anything in the forest decides they'd make a good home." He wasn't wrong. Any time Jianyu had bought shoes for him in the past, they were always either forgotten, stolen, or disappeared while the two of them were asleep, only to be found the next morning in shreds by a robins' nest.

"As you wish, Xiansheng."

Liang gently, but still firmly held onto Jianyu's shoulders, his body being supported on Jianyu's back- apparently to keep him from getting frostbite from the snow on the ground.
Jianyu's boots made large footprints through the ice and snow, the forest around them rather quiet, and peaceful as a whole. The breeze just barely moved Liang's hair around into more of a mess than it was before, and the passing of birds overhead made it almost feel safe here.