The year passes and Huai Tian stays as a Dragon Apprentice.
The messengers sent from his father's envoy start to wan in numbers, their pleas grow less urgent in the transition into the winter months. Tian has long grown used to the frigid breeze that plagues the mountain but the Yong messengers have not. He can see it in their eyes the moment they give up on their master's latest wayward son. He doesn't give it much thought– at least they held out longer than his own si-ge.
Besides, the only thing waiting for him in that lonely manor is the empty congratulatory comments from his kin.
Yong Huai Gong on the other hand is sure to not be as easily pleased with his sudden reappearance.
Tian, however, is not scared of his father's retribution.
Monk 莞 [Guǎn] suggests otherwise.
"Perhaps, you do not return and stay as a full xiaolin monk?" Is the semi-formed question he asks after Dashi sends them off after training. The fully shaven man lays beside him in the grass, feet spread apart and staring at the clouds.
Unlike him, Guǎn fully embraces his role as the dragon of -
(the ink blots again and a sigh rings out before the spill recedes upon itself to form a story ongoing)
Bearing both dragon title and his new name, Guǎn is one of the first to be granted his element among his fellow apprentices. Surprisingly, he is not the first to fully master it but it goes enough to show that this is the only place Tian would be treated as an equal and not anything less.
Tian makes a humming noise as the sounds of Dashi training the other two apprentices echoes through the courtyard.
"Am I not enough as I am ?"
Is the reply he decides on but he knows the answer before Guǎn's smiling eyes has a chance to sharpen into something sagely.
With a kick, he launches himself up to his feet and helps the monk up. The two of them have barely even made it past their boyhood days yet here they are talking like two old men over a bottle of ricewine. A wicked grin stretches upon his handsome face, he relaxes into a fighting stance and Guǎn does the same.
Huai Tian is smart enough not to count his worth among the achievements of others after all.