天下大势，分久必合，合久必分 (tiānxià dàshì, fēnjiǔbìhé, hé jiǔ bì fēn) - The general trend of the world is that if we divide for a long time, we will unite; if we unite for a long time, we will divide.

----------------------------------------

Night in the Demon Realm was full of unfamiliar sounds. Zéyì lay awake in the darkness, staring at the ceiling of the room she was sharing with Gong Lau Yan. Something let out a hissing cry in the far distance. Another something called plaintively and repetitively.

She could feel Gong Lau Yan turn around and around beside her. She tried slowing and deepening her breathing to encourage the loong to settle, but soon Gong Lau Yan sat up and swung her legs out of the bed, scratching at her dry skin.

Motionless, Zéyì watched as Gong Lau Yan stood, still scratching her forearms. Then her neck. She rubbed her face repeatedly, apparently staring into the darkness.

"Gong Dze?"

The loong jumped. "Ah, sorry, Zéyì. Did I wake you?"

"I was already awake. What about you?"

"Oh..." Gong Lau Yan yawned widely. "Nothing. I'll go back to bed. Sleep well."

She climbed back into the bed, lay down, and closed her eyes.

"Lau Yan? Are you itchy?"

"Hm?" Gong Lau Yan yawned again. "No. Why?"

"You were scratching yourself. Is your skin dry?"

"Oh. Yeah. A bit."

"Can I see?"

"It's too dark, Zéyì. Let's just go to sleep." She yawned again. The yawns seemed... forced.

Still, Zéyì closed her eyes too.

She had counted two hundred breaths before Gong Lau Yan rose again. This time, she walked all the way to the doorway of the room and stood there, absently rubbing her arms and face.

"Gong Lau Yan."

"Zéyì..." The loong cast a nervous glance over her shoulder. "Have you ever been to the region of Ye?"

"In the far north-east of Shisuan? No. Why do you ask, Lau Yan?"

"Would you like to go there?"

"One day."

"Let's go."

"What, now?"

"Or we could go south. Little Gaam – The Jade Exorcist was born in one of the southern countries. Ôrâk, I think. I went there once. I had some really tasty glutinous rice balls with ginger syrup and coconut milk."

"Lau Yan..."

"You'd love it, Zéyì." She scratched at her arm again, yawned again.

It seemed to Zéyì that Gong Lau Yan was crackling with energy, ready to explode like a tree struck by lightning. It didn't seem to be the result of some outside influence; Zéyì cast around to check, but there was no one nearby, and no sign of anything other than the usual low-level demonic energy that characterised this realm.

Gong Lau Yan said, "I'm going, Zéyì. Come with me."

“Gong Dze,” said Zéyì, cautiously, “what's going on? You're making me worried.”

“It's nothing, really. I just suddenly feel like going for an adventure.”

“We have an adventure, though. We're going to Vurdzcahar to see my junior sibling.”

The loong said nothing, simply turned in the doorway, framed by the light of the demon moon, and held her hand out to Zéyì.

The hand was shaking.

It seemed to Zéyì that if she did not grab hold of that hand right this moment, Gong Lau Yan would fly away like a kite with a broken string.

Maybe she would never see her again.

Zéyì hurriedly threw on her outer robe and shoes. If she delayed, Gong Lau Yan might just vanish. "Okay, I'll come with you. Let's go."

As soon as she reached out her hand, Gong Lau Yan pulled Zéyì into her arms and rushed out into the night.

The Demon Realm was far more lively at night than the Mortal Realm was. The heat of the day, and the demons' superior night vision, meant a society that functioned in darker, cooler times was simply more practical.

Zéyì found that they had been in a room high up on a huge mountain. As they rushed down staircases built into the mountainside, the rooms changed from sleeping quarters to administrative offices, then food and market stall. Spaces for stalls were carved into the mountainside, mostly stocked with unknown meats and fried insects on skewers. Ghost lights floated freely, lighting the night in pale green and blue and white. A few demons hooted and laughed as Gong Lau Yan sped down the mountain that formed the backbone of this demon settlement.

Zéyì's head turned this way and that, trying to see everything at one.

They reached the foot of the mountain, but Gong Lau Yan ran without pausing, away from the demon settlement, and then, through the portal, into the barren expanse of Tsaam Lam, and then up, up...

They soared through the air, Zéyì jumping onto Gong Lau Yan's back as the woman became a dragon. Her heart thundered. She had no idea where they were going. Evidently Gong Lau Yan didn't either; she certainly wasn't headed south.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

She didn't know how long they were in the air. At some point, she had fallen asleep, and woke to Gong Lau Yan landing on the top of a high cliff. They seemed to be somewhere in Huang., and it was still dark. Zéyì slid down, blearily trying to make out her surroundings. Gong Lau Yan coiled at the edge of the cliff. Her sides heaved and her head drooped.

“Gong Dze?”

“I'm alright, Zéyì, just tired.” She shifted, her green-bronze scales rippling in the moonlight.

Zéyì leaned against her, afraid to move away. The long tail curled gently around her.

“A Yì, are you crying?”

She was. She hadn't noticed. “I'm scared, Gong Dze.”

“Let's go somewhere. Far away from everything. And rest.”

“No! Gong Dze, you...” She seized the loong's massive head between her hands and stared directly into her eyes. “You can't keep doing this! I love you, but every time, you just run!”

"You know me. I don't like being tied down to one place." The huge, scaled body shivered.

“You ran away at the auction, and you... you ran away when you first left me at Chun, didn't you? And I, gods, just threw the kingdom at Cousin Cheng like it was a toy and followed you.

“My mother? We've just handed her over to your aunt without any attempt at deciding what else to do with her. Your sister's remains? Have you even thought about them since you retrieved them? Where are they? Sitting in a room somewhere in your aunt's palace, waiting for you to make a decision?”

Zéyì shook the loong's head fiercely. “Lau Yan! You're brave and smart and capable! Why are you running all the time? I'm right here with you. You're not alone!”

“For how long?” Gong Lau Yan said.

“Not even the gods can answer that,” Zéyì said.

Gong Lau Yan replied, “Even my Dze-dze, the most amazing person I knew, died. In the Great Demon War, every day, people died. And I... I'm still here. And I might be here a thousand years from now.”

“And you might not,” Zéyì whispered. “And I might be here, and I might not. We don't know, Lau Yan. But running will only make that day come faster. You can't outrun this.”

Gong Lau Yan was in human form now. She held Zéyì's two hands that cupped her face. The wild look in her eyes from before had finally died.

“Zéyì. Zéyì,” she whispered.

“I'm here. Stay with me, Gong Dze. I want to be where you are. I'll go with you to the ends of the earth, but there are things we must do.”

Gong Lau Yan pulled her into her arms again, and dropped down onto the grassy cliff top. She lay on her back, looking up at the sky, Zéyì's head resting on her shoulder. The stars in the clear sky above reflected in her eyes, as if the Heavenly River now flowed within them.

Zéyì listened to the echo of the loong's heartbeat begin to slow. Gong Lau Yan lifted a lock of Zéyì's long dark hair to her lips and closed her eyes.

“A Yì.”

“Yes.”

“Sometimes I just need to run. I think I'll tear my skin off if I don't.”

“You can run. But you have to come back. Like you did for me, in the end.”

“I hate myself for how much I resisted coming back.”

“But you did it.”

“I had to. I had to find you.” She gritted her teeth, her eyes glittering. “... I know what I have to do. So why is it so hard?”

“Gong Dze, we're in Huang right now, aren't we?”

“Yes.”

“We ended up coming north after all.”

“So we did.”

“We just have to go a bit further north.”

“You're right.”

“Why did you come here?”

“No reason.”

“Lau Yan... Did you hear that?”

Of course she had. Gong Lau Yan could probably hear a moth land on the moon. She was already on her feet and alert before Zéyì had finished speaking. Her grey-brown eyes calmly surveyed the grasslands behind them, and it wasn't long before around two dozen figures came creeping out of the tall stems.

“Dàjiěs, you shouldn't be alone out here.”

The woman who spoke had a skinny, wrinkled neck like a tortoise, and skin that was papery from days in the elements. Two large single-edged blades, dao, sat at her right hip.

“Why is that, auntie?” Gong Lau Yan asked pleasantly, with a small grin.

“You must not be from around here,” the woman said. She brushed limp dark hair out of her eyes. “That suits us. Your valuables, we'll take them.”

As she raised her hand to move her hair aside, Zéyì saw that she wore a black armband with what appeared to be a worm embroidered on it. What an odd choice.

Gong Lau Yan grinned a little wider. The bandits saw her sharp teeth, and wavered.

“That armband you wear...”

“What of it?” The bandit woman's voice held a tinge of defiance. She drew one of her dao. “Dàjiě, it's because of people like you that we're like this. I won't ask again. Give us your valuables. Or will we have to sell you? The scarred woman won't be worth so much, but you're top quality goods.”

Zéyì gripped Gong Lau Yan's elbow wordlessly. The loong closed her eyes. “Over and over, the swallows return to the same nests, year after year. Nothing changes. Nothing... changes...”

“Grab them,” ordered the bandit woman. The troupe cautiously advanced on the two women.

“How many people have you robbed? How many have you sold? Killed?”

“Enough to survive,” the woman said calmly. “Judge us all you like, dàjiě. This is how people like us survive in the world.”

“I can knock a few out,” Zéyì murmured to Gong Lau Yan, “but it would be difficult to fight so many at once without harming them. What should we-”

Gong Lau Yan roared.

The shockwave knocked all of the bandits flat. Instantly, the grass around them began to coil about their limbs like snakes, and a distant peal of thunder could be heard on the horizon. A sudden wave of petrichor washed over them.

Green-brown scales appeared on Gong Lau Yan's face as her antlers sprouted through her hair. The prone bandits gaped at the site.

“... Queen. Dragon Queen, have you come to save us?”

“Have you come to take us home?”

“Take us home! Take us back to Dzue!”

Their words, which had begun in Xiang, dropped quickly away into the Dzue language. They clamoured and begged as Gong Lau Yan stood silently at the cliff edge.

Zéyì stepped forwards, until she was in front of the bandit leader. The captive woman struggled and glared at her. “Go away! Dragon Queen! Dr- Wait...” She peered as closely at Zéyì as she could. “You look... Are you...?”

“Will you answer Lady Gong's questions?” Zéyì asked softly, kneeling. “How many you have robbed, sold, killed?”

“Your Majesty, we had no choice!” the woman shrieked. “You know how we're treated! People from Dzue are looked at worse than dogs! We're worms! How else can we live?”

“Please answer, auntie.”

The woman's teeth were chattering. “I don't know! I don't remember! As many as we had to!”

A cold, high whisper of steel – Zéyì had picked up the dao that the woman had dropped. The blade sang as it dragged along the ground. “When we let you go, head south and east until you reach Dzue. Enter the pine forest. There's a portal there that will lead you to the Demon Realm.”

“So we truly did... with the demons...” The woman's face was a mask of betrayal.

“Believe what you will,” Zéyì said wearily. “However, if you would rather stay here, and I hear that you have returned to crime... I will not forgive you.”

“Forgive...” The woman laughed, tears forming in her eyes. “I called you 'Your Majesty', but what are you the ruler of? You've got your father's face, but no country.”

“I have Lady Gong. And soon we will have Dzue back too.” Zéyì narrowed her eyes against all of the uncertainties that bayed in her mind like wolves. “Perhaps I'm too late, but I haven't abandoned Dzue. So make your choice, auntie.”

The woman scoffed, her voice jaded as she said, “I was born and grew up in Huang. They call me a Gu-bitch, but I've never been further south than the border... I will stay here.”

“I see. Then...” She placed the tip of the dao against the little finger of the woman's left hand, and thrust downwards sharply.

“You have fought to survive, and in doing so, you have harmed innocent people. You were poorly treated, but that does not absolve you of your actions. I will take a finger from each of you. Next time, if we cross paths and you have returned to crime, I will take your heads.”

The bandits gritted their teeth and silently winced as the dao sliced off one finger after another. Some of the members of the group were teenagers. They whimpered as Zéyì bit the inside of her cheek and took their fingers too.

“Let them go, Lady Gong.”

It had begun to rain, thunder rolling steadily towards them. The grass loosened, and the bandits slowly stumbled away, looking back fearfully. The bandit leader stood still, waiting for her troupe to leave first with an impassive expression.

When they were all gone, her hollow eyes flickered over Zéyì, and the motionless figure of Gong Lau Yan.

“Have fun playing monarch,” she said flatly, and disappeared into the rainy night.