Su Lan

1302 years after The Long Night

Huichâng

They might have spent months inside the cave, just fucking, for all he could recall. Su Lan’s first thought, upon finally waking with a clear head for the first time in ages, was; ah, so… Yaeon’s behavior, all that sleeping, nesting… she was preparing to mate-

I am her mate.

Su Lan wasn’t just that, though. He had changed.

There was no fear, just uncertainty. Yaeon helped him through it all, as she always did, and Su Lan found that it was so much easier that he might have thought to adjust himself to becoming a naga.

He wasn’t entirely sure that’s what he was… because, as Yaeon had shown him, he could still shift back to human. That development had been… interesting, and messy to say the least.

He didn’t dislike his tail, though. His thoughts and instincts were so much simpler like that, and he was stronger. He also… liked the way Yaeon looked at him like that, with glazed-over eyes, parted lips, like she was staring at the object of all her desires.

Su Lan spent as much time in his new form, as he did in his human one, maybe even more. Yaeon clung to him every second of every day it seemed, and sometimes they’d just lay together in the sun on the beach, sleeping, or fucking, or just wrapping their tails around each other and not letting go. Su Lan felt as if he’d woken up in heaven. He wanted for nothing, and had absolutely everything he needed…

And then, something happened.

Su Lan didn’t know how he knew, but he knew before she did. It was a subtle change to her scent, something that he found he was very highly attuned to now, even more than Yaeon. She just smelled… sweeter. His entire being told him to protect her, to never let her out of his sight, to bare his teeth at creatures in the forest that got too close, and to not let her do something that he could take care of for her.

Su Lan watched as over those next few weeks, Yaeon’s stomach began to swell.

Sometimes, though he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, he laid his head gently on her belly and thought he could hear heartbeats…

A month later, it was certain.

In the days and weeks that passed, nature and instinct completely took over. Somehow, Su Lan sensed that Yaeon was getting ready to have their babies. It took only a month, and on the night that they were born, Su Lan was astounded once again by the amount of love Yaeon had for him… and for their children.

At first, he thought something was wrong. When the first one was born, painfully slowly and with more blood than he thought was possible, Su Lan held his breath at the sight of how small it was.

It looked just like a human baby, legs all folded up, fists curled tight, except when Yaeon gave it to him, it fit entirely in one of Su Lan’s hands.

It weighed nothing… and it didn’t breathe until Su Lan stroked his thumb lightly down the baby’s chest. The relief he felt, upon seeing the child open his mouth and fill its lungs with air-

Su Lan was crying and trying not to shake so much he dropped the baby, by the time the next one had already arrived.

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Yaeon had her tail tangled together with Su Lan’s the entire time, and he felt every contraction as her tail tightened around his. Before the sun was up, Su Lan was curled up by Yaeon’s side in the nest, huddling protectively around their five children, and doing everything they could to keep them warm.

The last two to be born… two little girls… Yaeon wiped Su Lan’s tears away when they woke the next morning to find that the two hadn’t survived.

The look in Yaeon’s eyes told him that this was to be expected, but Su Lan grieved for them nonetheless. He had watched them all be born, held them all, loved them all, and to him it didn’t matter if two had died, he was a father of five.

Anxious and desperate to keep the other three safe, Su Lan refused to leave, grappling with his own instincts to protect his children but also Yaeon at the same time, who wanted to go out of the cave already.

Yaeon saw how afraid he was, how the act of burying their children so young had shattered his heart, so she stayed with them for several more weeks, Su Lan and her using their spiritual reserves when food ran out, and caring for the babies until they were grown enough.

Every day they got a little bigger, and at first Su Lan was so obsessed with keeping them warm and sheltered, that he didn’t even realize that the children had already opened their eyes and were able to make shrill little shrieking and gurgling sounds.

The look on his face when Yaeon showed him how their scales were coming in on their legs, and then their fangs… Yaeon laughed so much, but Su Lan was astonished.

Yaeon had been able to speak with him, more or less, every now and then. It wasn’t so much that she spoke out loud, not beyond her chirps and whistles, but sometimes Su Lan would feel something that he knew wasn’t his own, and a single look from Yaeon told him that she was sharing her thoughts with him.

Instead of hearing her say, “The children are growing so fast…” Su Lan would suddenly feel that they were, and all the emotions that came with that thought. That was how Yaeon spoke to him. And, that was how she told him their children’s names.

Five weeks after their birth, all of them entering their first shed and barely sleeping through the night anymore, Yaeon chirps at Su Lan to get his attention, and then reaches for their firstborn. He easily resembles a one year old child, stronger and bigger than the others, and Su Lan thinks that with his black hair and golden eyes, he looks the most like Yaeon.

She holds him up and he struggles for a bit in her grasp until she chirps at him sharply and the baby goes limp. This is a power that Su Lan has not been able to master… the babies don’t listen to him, but they do fall asleep using his fingers as chew toys.

In Su Lan’s mind, he suddenly feels the high altitude and cold wind of standing on a large mountain. With sun on his skin, golden and powerful, at the highest of heights of the earth, he smiles a bit as he realizes that that’s the name Yaeon has chosen for their first son.

Zuìdi, meaning the sun overlooking the mountains.

Their second son is smaller. The few strands of hair he has are reddish and his eyes are green, like Su Lan’s. Yaeon thinks for a while, staring at the boy, who is always desperate to be close to her, always quiet and looking at her for what to do…

Su Lan suddenly imagines that the entire world is silent. He hears nothing, but sees everything. It’s lonely, but it feels as if he understands so much.

Yaeon names their second son; Lǜ Yī… the great listener.

Their daughter is next. With black hair and green eyes, Su Lan thinks that she is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, besides her mother.

She is the balance of both him and Yaeon. She is the first to shed her scales, the first to grow her fangs, and when, eventually the children begin to shift forms, chubby legs turning in the night into tails of varied shades, their daughter is the first to learn how.

The feelings Su Lan feels when Yaeon names her, evoke so much love within him, he begins to cry. Yaeon is imagining a song, and that their daughter’s life is the melody.

That’s her name… Mèizi, a melody.

Su Lan watches as his family grows every day and every day they change his life. The little one’s first venture out of the cave is frightening to say the least, but Yaeon is so full of joy, showing the children all the wonders of the world as Su Lan tags along, that he can’t possibly stay afraid.

Mèizi learns to use her tail to hang upside down from tree branches, and Su Lan helps her brothers as they attempt to do the same.

Yaeon holds Su Lan’s hand and presses their foreheads together during the night as they lay in the nest, the children asleep between them, waking every so often to readjust their tails.

Su Lan forgets everything, everything he’s ever known in his whole life, and replaces it all with the overwhelming joy that comes from every single day his family is in his life.