The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 34 - Wishing

"Lan Zhan."

His voice was hazy and soft like the wind, but the dragon understood him. Golden eyes softened and the hand on his arm slowly travelled up, stroking his cheek. Even such a tiny touch did wonders for the fox and he nuzzled against the fingers that held him.

"Mn. I am here."

*********************

The sun was exceptionally warm today.

It shone brightly on the sky and shined its golden light onto every treetop. Onto every ripple of the water in the lake Wei Ying found himself in, making it reflect the blue sky above.

The water itself was warm and relaxing. A true summer in its highest peak. The fox would need to be careful to not stay in the pure sunlight for too long, or his shijie would need to care for his reddened and burned skin like she did so often before.

His tails and ears were safely tugged away, allowing his body to float lazily in the slow shifting of the waves. Up and down, to left and right in relaxing motions.

Wei Ying took a deep breath of the clean air that smelled like the lake water and the soft fragrance of the lotuses swimming around him. It had been such a surprisingly relaxing day. Jiang Cheng was less grumpy than the other days and even Madam Yu had let them keep their peace.

Within the warm temperatures of the day, Wei Ying's mind was too fuzzy to think about anything else, but he didn't care at the same time. He simply let himself drift, let himself swim with the waves and just let himself be.

Time was no concept right there, drifting. It was not something he thought about in particular, as his time would be long. A way and an adventure by itself. Being a fox spirit had its perks and he loved showing that to everyone.

His strength, his genius, his talents.

However, in the serenity he found himself in right then and there, there was only one more person that could give him peace above all.

"A-Xian!"

It was a soft and calm call for him and instantly his lips widened into a true and happy grin. Next, his eyes opened and gazed into the almost cloudless sky, before he turned his head into the direction the voice was coming from.

There, bathed in the perfect golden light was his sister, Jiang Yanli. Beautiful as always, the soft smile she had just for him in place on her face. Within the colours of the Yunmeng Jiang, she was a blinding beauty of a woman, at least to him.

Her posture was just as elegant as ever, her hands together in a proper way. He loved when they tugged the robes on his body when they were open more than closed. Or how they fed the lotus root and pork rip soup to him, in the moments he flashed his best puppy eyes.

"A-Xian, come here!"

"But Shijie! Would you not rather take a swim too? The sun is bright and the water is warm, perfect for joining me on this fine day!", the fox cooed with glee. His elder sister rarely denied him anything and he would love to share this moment with her.

The light chuckle he heard from her was just as perfect, but he knew that he was totally lost when she wanted something from him.

"Oh A-Xian. Sadly, I can't come in with you right now. Rather I want to show you something, if you will let me."

He could absolutely never deny her something.

With a skilful movement, he rolled himself over in the water and dove down. Without his fur that could get weighted down by the water, he was one of the fastest and best swimmers in the Jiang clan. It was more than easy to get to the pier with incredible speed and the fox heaved himself up onto the wood, bright smile in place.