Lord Guang walked inside and cleared his throat. "My dear…"
His wife, Lady Nuo turned towards her husband. "Yes. What is it that bothers you?"
"It's one of the maids. You know, the one that ran off with our son?"
"Yeah, so?" She laid back further into her seat.
"She…Kind of…Sort of…Laid an egg. Shen knows nothing of it. She said that she ran here the moment she did. She's been warming it with a blanket and fire during cold nights…Can you talk to her? Woman to woman? She wants to have the chick... I can't seem to talk her out of it"
"Well, what do you want me to say?!"
"I'm out of options. I've tried all that I know, Nuo You know, if you'd raised our son better, he wouldn't have gone crazy and scared her off like that!"
"Don't you dare!"
"You were the one always spoiling him! I had to rule!"
"Hey, I was the original heir to the throne, not you!"
"Just…Please…I don't know what to do, Nuo. This not about us or Shen. Just think about the poor girl for a minute."
Nuo looked at her feet and sighed, dreaming of what a healthy and happy home-life would look like.
"Oh, alright…"

She met up with the maid and poured some tea. She breathed in and looked at the egg. "You're fired, obviously."
"I'm so sorry, my lady…It's just your son. He was so kind and gentlemanly and…"
"Let me guess…He said that you have the body of a peafowl, but the soul of a phoenix, right?" "Kind of?" Nuo looked down and sighed, running through her feathers.
"Do you really want this chick?"
"I-I think so? I've had a feel around…Gone to sooth-sayer. It's a little peahen…" She chuckled awkwardly. "If I can just get a job...It'll be OK…Right? Right?"
"Well, who's going to take care of the chick? Because he's not going to, whether he knows or not."
Fan Du started crying, wrapping the egg up slightly more.
"What is that crying? Come on…"
"I don't know what to do, my lady…" She sobbed out, rubbing her tears on her wing.
"Alright. We'll set up a job for you."
She put her wing down. "Really?"
The elder peahen nodded. "Yes. And…You'll give her up for adoption."
There was a gasp, then a silence. "No…"
"Look, you think you may want this, but you don't. Get that job and be the career woman you've always wanted to be. Eventually you will meet the right peacock, a good one with looks and intellect and create a family. But not like this. My son, I love him, but he's destroyed too many lives; I won't let him destroy another two, OK? Please, Fan…" She cusped their wings together and looked into her eyes. "Be careful with what you choose to be in life. I wasn't. Don't ruin the opportunities you have, you understand that? Don't be like me."
Fan nodded reluctantly, looking away from Nuo.

There was a cracking sound that woke the Lady and Fan up. "It's hatching!" Fan said with excitement. Lady Nuo just sighed and watched it, preparing her wings.

Nuo opened up her wings. "M-My chicky…Where is my chicky?"

Eventually, a soft cheep was heard. She collected the chick and washed her. "She made it out, Fan. You did well." Nuo pat Fan on the back.

Nuo ran to a box to collect her chick doll. She sighed as she grabbed and hugged it. Then, a maid came up and took her books. She ran after her and saw the maid toss it, along other things of hers into the fire. "No, no, no! That's mine! Don't! Why are you doing this to my stuff?" She started sobbing. Her father walked up to her.
"Oh, Nuo, calm down. Remember what we said about crying. Crying is stupid."
"But, father, they're burning my things! Tell them not to!"
"But darling, they have to. Your illness has infected all of your toys"

"The hard part is over now."
"Um…As the mother…Sh-Shouldn't I be doing that?"
"No, you'll grow attached." She dried the chick. "Off we go now" She wrapped her up in blankets and carried her out.
"No, no, no! Please don't!"

"It must all be destroyed for your own good."

She got up and started running after her. "No! You can't! You can't do this!" Lord Guang held her back and shook his head. "But not my…No!" She screamed.

"But not my chicky!" "Yes, especially your chicky. Whoop!" Nuos father took the doll out of her hands and tossed it in the fire. "See, doesn't that feel better?" "No! My chicky!"

"Please, please, I need to hold her! My lady!" Fan screamed and reached her wings out.

"No!"
"Come on now, Nuo. Be strong. You can't let those toys consume you. You want to be well, don't you?"
Nuo sobbed "Mhm"

Lady Nuo placed the chick in a bassinet, with blankets, pillows, and some food and water.
"Anywhere you can, Nuo…" She looked at a piece of paper with the address to an orphanage. After what seemed like an eternity, she found it. Pulling up the blankets and having one last look at her grand-daughter, she smiled. "You'll be good." She stroked the little ones' cheeks and placed the chick in front of the building disguised as a regular peahen.

Nuos father rubbed her back and smiled. "Good, sweetie. One day, you'll forget about this, and it'll all just be a pleasant memory."

She gave a long sigh, knocked on the door and ran off…