Barrow Fields my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly

yunxu stares at her for a long moment before his mind catches up. then he flinches away and sets his lips back over his teeth. his sides heave with the weight of his breath, but in the aftermath everything clears. it's just him in the rain, and this smoky brown-black woman who doesn't at all smell of the sea. she isn't nearly large enough to be the one who jumped from the cliff.

part of him insists he keep moving, tugs at his limbs. aimi is waiting at the bay – and oh, she will not be pleased to see this. he holds back a wince. inland, huāzhēn. but no matter the nervous suspicion that rises at anyone not of his family approaching him, he remains where he stands.

"my sister waiting up the coast." his voice cracks, rubbed raw from salt and the echo of the long moments spent with a snarl on his lips. she might not be one of them, but she's just as much a foreigner as they are. "you not know me. why you want to help?"