"Look, I get it, you are scared. You have been living in our home for the better part of a year. In disguise. As much as that still weirds me out. And believe me, I am still really weirded out by this. They want to see you," Mimi glares down at the older fox spirit who was still recovering from the sword wound that would have undoubtedly taken her life if not for Qiaolian.
"Mameki could erase this from your mind," Ying threatens, her green eyes staring at her tiredly, and Mimi is still quite taken aback by the strangeness of this particular sister.
"Yeah, you could, but there are too many witnesses," Mimi chirps, before resuming her endless pacing, her tails swishing about her in irritation.
"I'm. . . really sorry about . . . our brother," Mimi says after an awkward moment of tension-filled silence.
"You shouldn't be," Ying's voice is still crackly as if she still possessed a paper mouth.
The conversations Mimi and the parasol had had float between them awkwardly. This is still the creature that took care of Chen and Dumplin when she could not, who she had confided in.
"I wish it could have been me, that did it," Ying's eyes finally clear, meeting her eyes, "I saw him every day. I talked to him every day, and I knew his suffering like my own heart. I was selfish . . . I couldn't watch father bring him back again."
Mimi stops pacing and sits down on the bed, looking down at Ying, "Why didn't you just tell me who you are?"
"Mameki wanted to be Mameki," Ying shakes her head as if coming out of a fog, "I didn't want to be me. The cubs were terrified of both my twin and me. But they still needed care. My brother and I took turns being Mameki. When he died the first time . . . . I couldn't, I couldn't stop being Mameki."
Understanding, Mimi reaches out to take her hand, and wryly asks, "So why did you dangle me over an illusion of Nile crocodiles?"
Smiling distortedly like Mameki used to, Ying pets her still long hair, "I knew you wouldn't try to coerce me to leave as me. Faking my death, I was free to be Mameki. To share something pure with my twin."
"I'm not going to change you back. Neither is Qiaolian," Mimi says as Ying glares at her threateningly.
"The trouble is, we're selfish too. We want you in our lives as you," Mimi grips Ying's hand as she tries to pull away.
"Do you?" Ying's voice crackles ominously.
"Qiaolian is still pretty pissed right now, but I think it's more because she thought she couldn't save you," Mimi listens for a moment before yanking open the door to a falling fox spirit.
"Isn't that right?" Mimi asks, folding her arms, looking down at Qiaolian, who immediately barks at her in human form before turning to the bed.
"Yeah, what she said. Daiyu and I never gave up hope that you would somehow get to us. We would have welcomed you and our brother," Qiaolian sits in the spot that Mimi had previously been occupying.
"There is a spot open for you in the Feng clan if you still want it," Mimi nudges her sister Qiaolian, "but before you decide on anything, you should really talk to the cubs."
Qiaolian's golden tails fidget, and Mimi reaches over to smooth out the fur.
"Do they know?"
Looking back at Ying, Mimi said quietly, "I explained it to them. I think Chen suspected you."
"How?"
"The borders surrounding the Shen manor are highly warded. Unless the spirits are allowed in directly, then there is no way Mameki could have possibly gotten in," Qiaolian explains, "I have run into those things thousands of times."
"How long have you known?" Ying asks Mimi.
"I wasn't sure, to be honest. You were a pretty convincing parasol," Mimi mimes the way Mameki would stick his tongue out.
"I knew being who I am would have drawn more attention to their power. Caused it to grow faster," Ying looks down at her arms, not seeming to be used to the fact they weren't purple. I couldn't let them go through what I went through alone."
"And I think you and your brother did a good job in all things considering. What about your tails?"
Ying begins to cry, and Qiaolian pulls her into an embrace, "I knew father would be able to trace my power back to you. To the girls. So, I chopped them all off but one and faked my demise. I only had enough power to be Mameki. And now, I am just me."
"I love them so much. What if they don't like me?" Ying whimpers, clutching the blanket to her chest.
Sniffing the air, Mimi rises from the bed and opens the door to the infirmary where Dumplin and Chen had been standing with Lan Xichen, "Why don't you ask them yourself?"
Having been briefed already, Chen and Dumplin cautiously move into the room and study their eldest sisters.
Mimi wanders over to Lan Xichen, who lays his head on top of hers affectionately.
"You sacrificed your tails for us?" Dumplin asks.
Chen didn't waste any more time and threw herself at Ying, who kissed her head repeatedly, nuzzling her hair. Seeing Chen's reception, Dumplin quickly climbs on the bed and takes over her other side.
"Will you still let me draw on you?" Dumplin asks as Ying embraces her with a laugh.
"Don't be too rough with her ladies. She's still healing," Mimi says, looking over at Qiaolian.
"I'll keep an eye on things," Qiaolian grins, and Mimi allows the clan leader to drag her outside into the sunshine.
"You know, I never thought when I accepted your original invitation that Cloud Recesses would have been infiltrated by no less than five fox spirit," Lan Xichen takes her hand, hiding it within their long sleeves.
"You forget Daiyu," Mimi snickers at the bemused expression on the clan leader's face.
"Are you saying this year has been too boring for you, clan leader?" Mimi suggests, putting her free hand over her heart in shock.
"I haven't been the one living with a parasol for the last year," Lan Xichen retorts with a grin, too delighted at that discovery.
"Said parasol has been cooking for most of the cultivators at Cloud Recesses for the better part of the year," Mimi quips, watching the grin immediately drop from the clan leader's face as he contemplates this fully.
"And . . ." Mimi stops him, wanting to get a good look at his face as she reveals her next secret, "is the one that taught Dumplin how to paint and draw."
"You are teasing me," he says, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Nope, Ying taught Dumplin as a parasol," Mimi grins at him, delighted at the strange look that crosses his face.
"I may ask your sister for lessons," he says, and Mimi laughs, picturing the clan leader sitting at a desk with the parasol guiding his hand.
"I will put in a good word for you," Mimi gently squeezes his hand, "Where are we going?"
Still looking slightly dazed at this new discovery, Lan Xichen doesn't answer right away, but Mimi puts together that he is bringing her to his residence.
Mimi beats the clan leader to the door and opens it for him.
He leads her to the watercolor peony and presses the frame, "I wanted to show you something."
Smiling at the slight blush forming on the clan leader's face, she squeezes his hand in support as she follows him into the corridor to his studio. When they enter the studio, Mimi can't help but trace her fingers over the mural on the wall she had helped create. The tree trunk, and the leaves tremble under her touch. He had improved her technique, Mimi thought, easily imagining herself disappearing into this world.
"I wanted to show you this," Lan Xichen's voice interrupts her thoughts.
She turns and sees him offering her a covered canvas. His face is nearly red.
"How many gold pieces will this be?" Mimi teases as she takes off the covering, her laugh nearly catching in her throat as she sees the contents.
"It's. . . when I first realized that I wanted to share our time together."
Speechless, Mimi stares at the warrior in the painting. The woman is glowering at a nag with her hand firmly clasped around its heart. Green fire erupting from her hands. The contents were unexpectedly gory, but Mimi is delighted with the portrait.
"Is this how you see me?" Mimi asks quietly, beaming happily at the clan leader.
"Yes and no," he hands her a sketchbook.
Mimi gives him a look before opening the sketchbook to the first page. It is a charcoal sketch of Chen, Dumplin, and herself sitting in the bookstore in town. Dumplin is stretched out on the couch with her head in Mimi's lap as Mimi read to her from a large book. Chen is leaning against Mimi's legs as she read from her own book. However, the interesting thing about the image is the artist's viewpoint is from the street looking in.
"That day, in the rain. After I delivered your letter. You were watching us," Mimi felt her cheeks warm.
"I wanted to know what sort of person would be so audacious as to write her own letter of introduction," Lan Xichen looks over her shoulder at the image, "little did I know you had written both. You intrigued me. When you mentioned you were bringing your sisters, I had expected matronly individuals for chaperons. I never expected a woman raising two little girls."
"And how did you know it was us?" Mimi asks, studying the drawing.
"I asked around town. At every shop, they were singing your praises," Lan Xichen said, running his fingers through her hair.
"I didn't know you were looking," Mimi felt her heart warm.
Lan Xichen puts a hand on her cheek, "Believe me. I was watching."
Flipping to the next page, Mimi grins at the next family portrait. She is lying on her stomach in her fox form with her correct number of tails curled around herself and Dumplin, who is curled up by her side. Chen sat in a hunting crouch, moments before leaping at Mimi's face. Mimi flips to the next page and sees a rough sketch of her and Qiaolian in their fox forms. Mimi is surrounded by green foxfire, and Qiaolian is comically using her bow.
"These are really good," Mimi compliments. This man, this lovely man, had put so much love into these sketches.
"You do realize I am going to want to frame these, right?" Mimi rests her head on his shoulder.
Sensing this has caused him some strange turmoil, Mimi looks at his face, "I mean, we don't have to if you don't want to. But I think they are lovely."
"No, it's not that," he wraps his arms around her, resting his hands on his forehead ribbon braided into her hair.
"What is it then?" Mimi, now quite concerned, sets the sketchbook down and draws closer.
"You wish to display our . . . relationship so openly," he smiles tenderly, and Mimi doesn't understand . . . until she does.
"Guangyao?" she asks, hating how his eyes became sorrowful at the name.
She reaches up to cup his cheek, and like a cat, he fits his face into her palm.
"He lingers still, but it is also my mother and father," his fingers tighten in her hair, but Mimi doesn't care.
"We will never be your parents," Mimi lowers his head so that it lay on her chest. She could see his blushing ears.
"I . . . care about you. All you have to do is listen to my racing heart to know that I am concerned about you. That I . . ." Mimi doesn't want to spook him, "like you like this. This way. Am I helping?"
He raises his head and presses their foreheads together, "Yes. This is . . . this helps."
"I . . . didn't think we would live separately unless that is a personal preference of yours. I wasn't going to be presumptuous," Mimi feels her cheeks resembling tomatoes.
He smiles and finally pulls away, "I would rather you be presumptuous."