The fire had burned low by the time Cang stopped pretending he was going to sleep.
He sat at the cave entrance with the shadow sword across his knees and the System interface open in the blue-lit dark and listened to the cave behind him produce the sounds of nine women who had made a collective decision not to fully settle, in the same way that water makes a decision not to fully still when something is sitting in it.
Lianhua's silver eyes caught the moonlight twice when she checked on him from the interior passage.
Both times she said nothing. Both times she went back inside.
The second time she left a cup of warm tea at his elbow with the specific precision of a fox-kin woman performing care through logistics because direct expression was not available.
He drank it.
He opened the System properly.
[Medical System — Full Status Review:]
