TGS - Chapter 15
Chapter 15: The Night of the Downpour
Alyuin leaned against Lotus's arm, her body relaxed and somewhat languid, but her eyes were still sharp and clear as she looked at Motis.
"If you intend to persuade me to give up, there's no need to say anything more."
The throne, symbol of the highest authority in the mortal realm, was the goal she had striven for over the past three years and would strive for for many years to come. It was the oath she had sworn before Lotus.
...An oath she would allow no one to deny.
Motis said, "No, quite the opposite. I fully support you."
The young princess reminded him, "No more doubts? When I said I wanted to return to Akhet, that wasn't your attitude."
"It is no longer necessary." Motis shook his head. "If you had only ambition but lacked ability, we would do no more than defend your safety with our lives. But if you possess both, we will defend the path you walk with our lives as well."
He knelt on one knee again, paying his respects with solemnity. He then nodded to Lotus, who had been listening quietly, before turning and leaving the way he had come.
Alyuin watched Motis's retreating figure, a look of surprise on her face.
Lotus was happy for her as well. To receive the affirmation and loyalty of her father's old retainer must have been a joyous occasion for the young princess.
The next second, Alyuin muttered, "To think he can speak so formally. How strange."
Lotus was speechless.
She apologized internally. She shouldn't have thought the young princess was one to be easily moved.
The two walked back to their room. Before drawing the curtains, the young princess looked up at the sky.
The air was still and muggy as dusk approached. The sky, which had been clear with only a few wisps of clouds the day before, was now covered by a heavy blanket of clouds that seemed low enough to press down upon the earth.
Alyuin glanced down at her filthy clothes and said casually, "There's going to be a downpour tonight. I'll bathe—"
She froze before she could finish the sentence.
Lotus's back was to her. Perhaps because of her divine nature, she found herself growing fonder of water and moisture, so she replied casually, "Yes, it seems the air will be cooler and damper tomorrow."
As she spoke, she turned her head and caught the young princess's hesitant expression. Understanding, she said, "I'll go get some food. You can take a bath first."
"You don't have to go," Alyuin said quietly.
"It's no trouble. Besides, I haven't eaten mortal food in a long time," Lotus said with a straight face.
It wasn't a lie. She truly hadn't eaten ordinary food in three years, as there had been no need. While in the statue, she would get cravings from the holy sacraments, but after manifesting a human form, she felt no appetite at all.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to eat a little now and then.
When Lotus returned to the small courtyard carrying a tray, she found that the mud-and-dust-covered Alyuin had transformed back into a clean and tidy young princess. Her black hair was soaking wet, dripping water onto the floor.
The moment she saw the figs on the tray, the young princess's eyes lit up. "I knew you'd bring something I like."
"You want one?"
"Yes!"
A smile played on Lotus's lips. "Then dry your hair first."
Alyuin: "...Oh."
The young princess had a bad habit after bathing: she would sit at her desk and read without drying her hair. By the time she finished her book, she would climb into bed with her black hair still half-damp.
Every time she did this, Lotus, in her spirit form, had felt the urge to grab a towel, throw it over Alyuin's little head, and give it a vigorous rub.
Watching the young princess dry her long hair, Lotus felt a sense of satisfaction and handed her a fig as a reward.
Alyuin, accustomed to letting her hair air-dry, found this very strange. She accepted the fig like a schoolchild receiving a little red flower from a scribe and couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "Teacher is a bully."
Lotus's expression remained serene, and she simply smiled without a word.
No, how could the merciful Goddess of the Yilu River bully anyone? This is called divine guidance.
However.
"With no one else around, must you still call me Teacher?"
Alyuin peeled her fig, her head lowered. "You are my teacher. If you would prefer I call you—" She quickly switched to a solemn, declamatory tone, "the great Goddess Lotus, incarnation of the Yilu River, I would be more than happy to address you as such."
Lotus: "...There's no need. Teacher is just fine."
After dinner, a problem presented itself.
Lotus's gaze fell upon the only bed in the room, her expression conflicted.
Logically, she should have gone elsewhere—returned to her spirit form, perhaps, and roamed about under the cover of night. In any case, she shouldn't have stayed in the young princess's room.
Neither the incarnation of the Goddess Lotus nor a temple scribe was a role that permitted her to sleep in the same room as Alyuin.
But the young princess lowered her lashes and asked, "Are you leaving?"
The moment Lotus saw that expression, like a kitten being shooed from its owner's bed back to its basket, she knew she wouldn't be able to leave.
The young princess continued, "I'd like to ask you to stay. It's so late, it wouldn't be convenient for you to go out. It's alright, the bed is very wide."
She added, "The Queen, my mother, never slept beside me."
Lotus had never been able to resist the young princess's displays of vulnerability.
She recalled a psychology book she had read long ago: children who lacked maternal love in their youth often grew up feeling insecure. Considering the young princess's experiences... though she didn't show it, there must be a vulnerable place in her heart.
A moment later, the two of them were lying on the indeed very wide bed, a soft white pillow placed between them.
Lotus was relaxed, but Alyuin was more formal than usual. Her hands were pressed to her sides and her legs were held straight, her posture so perfect it might have been measured with a ruler.
"Good night, young princess."
"Good night... Teacher."
It had been a long time since Lotus had slept.
A spirit form had no need for sleep, but a manifested body did. Gods did not dream, so she sank into a dreamless slumber until the middle of the night, when a sudden downpour shattered the quiet.
The rain came suddenly and fell hard. The sound of the drops hitting the ground was like the ceaseless shattering of jade and clatter of tiles, punctuated by the low rumble of thunder.
Lotus awoke naturally and turned her head. At some point, the young princess had rolled over the pillow that served as a dividing line and was now sleeping soundly beside her arm.
Alyuin must have been engrossed in reading scrolls in her dreams, as she showed no sign of having been woken by the storm.
Lotus watched her quietly for a moment, then sighed silently. She raised her free hand to stroke the young princess's hair before closing her eyes and falling back asleep.
Alyuin's eyes remained peacefully closed, but her thick, curled lashes trembled slightly.
She recalled the fleeting warmth of the touch on her head, and a sweetness like that of a fig blossomed in her heart.
Lotus is wonderful.
Indeed, the black-haired incarnation walking the mortal realm was far more approachable than the divine being in her dreams. It was as if the goddess, who had always seemed emotionally distant and merely indulgent, had transformed into a gentle yet dignified older sister.
Perhaps the comparison wasn't entirely accurate. Alyuin had no sisters; she didn't know what an older sister was supposed to be like.
But surely, none could be as wonderful as Lotus.
The young princess thought with great satisfaction, finally allowing herself to sink back into her dreams, unwilling to waste a single second that could be spent absorbing knowledge.
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