A Trial by Halves

Distance

Allowing them a few moments to enjoy their embrace, Zhe Yan and Mo Yuan quickly set about checking Ye Huas vital signs and overall health.  Thanks in very large part to Mo Yuans cultivation, he would definitely survive his resurrection, but he would need to cultivate more energy for himself eventually .  What Mo Yuan had given him was enough to get by and even cloud jump but with the bell tolling, he knew they would now have to face the world and a mountain of questions, so forcing her off him, Zhe Yan then assisted him to sit up.

"His eyes were still shimmering as they remained on her face and for a moment more, he merely sat staring at her while Zhe Yan took to questioning him.

"How are you feeling Ye Hua?  Any discomfort?"

Shaking his head, he finally drew his eyes towards him with the faintest of smiles edged in a frown.

"How long have I been gone?" he asked and quickly moving to ask the only question on his mind knowing it had been some time.  

The sight of her face had brought back the last of his memories along with the overwhelming love and desire he had always had for her.  Whether she was Su Su, Si Yin or now this woman who he was yet to really know, he loved every part of her.  But she had aged a little and being a Nine Tailed Fox that did not age as quickly as the rest, he knew it had been far longer than a few hundred years.  Still, those eyes were what had always drawn him to her, eyes that held all manner of emotions, including a little fear.  They were so soft at that moment, that for a while longer, he could see Su Su there, which surprised him, because he had thought that Su Su was not an active part of her disposition, especially going by what he had heard of her.

Queen Bai Qian was fiesty, temperamental and unforgiving, much like Si Yin who was also brash, rough and outspoken.  So his heart was definitely swelling at the the sight of Su Su in those eyes.  And as he waited for his answer, his eyes then swept away from her face to the dress, one he had always loved her in and why he had purchased it for it.  It was simple yet elegant and on her, she looked beautiful.  

"Twenty five thousand years.  Its not an overly long time, but long enough for this little miss and your son who also worked just as hard to bring you back." Zhe Yan replied and becoming a little teary eyed himself, though seeing Er Li sitting there beside his uncle and looking overwhelmed and in tears himself, he couldn't hlep but force Ye Huas attention off her and onto the boy.

"Twenty five thou......" Ye Hua almost got out as his eyes finally moved away from her and onto the boy who sitting partially hidden behind his mother.

Er Li had been quietly revelling in his mothers joy.  She was the only person in his world that he loved without question and the only one he would have gladly given his life up for if she had asked him to.  And for centuries he had watched her battle the long lonely years stoically and always with a smile, expecially for him.  But that cloudiness behind her soft gaze had finally lifted and rather than force himself in between them which is what he wanted to do, he instead sat back to revel in her happiness while also furtively eyeing his father with mounting interest.

Now that his eyes were open, that likeness to his uncle he had seen the first time he saw his fathers face, was never more evident than it was then.  With tears glistening in his eyes and a look of tender love for his mother being the only emotion he could see, he immediately noticed the similarities between the two men.  His uncles eyes were just as soft and always looked to be on the verge of tears, that was how he saw them and his fathers eyes were no different.  It was one thing to look alike, but the they were both highly expressive men who could in a heartbeat allow that emotion to the fore regardless of who was there.

Only the moment his eyes landed on him, then Er Li saw something else in those soft brown eyes that took his breath away.  There was a slight tint of black at the edges that slowly began to swirl.  He had noticed this in his uncles eyes that day he had arrived to find his uncle sitting next to his fathers body and looking a little lost.