Neverwinter Forest wake up!

for @Luli specifically but other huakids welcome

 

路里， She hummed in a sing-song note to the girl, as they sat together in a little den safe from the rain, 你认识什么新人了？ At some point the girl would have to be acquainted with her father, if she had not done so already. If the future looked the way the empress dreamed it might, Mal would begin to play a bigger role in her children's lives- and she wanted them to be prepared for this.

sorry for delay, I am failure   :(

"没错妈妈," the koi answered obediently, though her smile was a timid one. She had not been nearly as adventurous as her siblings, perhaps as her mother wished, but it was so difficult for her to integrate. Instead, Luli chose to mingle with her nearest and let the foresters come to her.

She shifted, pressed her dappled flank to the empress' raven forelimb, and gazed up lovingly into sea glass eyes that matched her own. "一个女孩莉莉," she elaborated, "妈浩明不太喜欢他."

NOOO ur good ok <3 also @Haoming @Xiaoqing yall can still join if u want : ) 

The little girl smiled gently and affirmed she had, which made Huā beat her tail against the ground gently a couple times; approval. A girl- Lili, which was a name Huā was amused by, sounding so similar to Luli. Likely her sister too. So many of the children here were Mal's- Luli's half siblings- didn't she have a right to know that? Huā thought, with some interior bitterness, that it ought to be Mal's job to tell her- it was his fault, after all, for sticking it to so many girls in the first place. But the empress knew it was immature to avoid the responsibility she had to share that information- she didn't want accidental two-headed club-footed grandchildren. Not to mention the next words only made her more sure; Mal, whom Haoming did not like. She did not want any of them to have a bad relationship with their father. 

Mm, 那个Mal是一个很重要的人。他是一个'Leader'. 皇帝，我一样。他-他也是很重要跟我。我们是非常好朋友。 That was one way to describe it. She allowed a calm moment for any questions from the girl, though internally she panicked, unsure how she would find the guts to climb that hill and tell her openly that he was her dad.

Mal. He'd been warm toward her - curious to learn more about who she was, maybe. Luli recalled how he'd known her name despite her not recalling having met him prior to Yuèlóng's arrival to his forest. She and her siblings had been so little when he'd visited them on the island and his relationship with their mother remained very much a mystery; the cubs could not be blamed for their ignorance of the situation.

She listened quietly as Huā elaborated on who the mottled wolf was: a leader, important, and very much a friend. Luli immediately took note of that sliver of hesitation in the Empress' voice and, concerned, her brow furrowed and her rosy ears twitched backward.

"你认为," she blinked, feeling her anxiety bubbe to life in her breast as she considered her words, "他也想成为我的朋友?"

omg I suck im so sorry for the wait ugh

 

Luli listened patiently, and the siren noticed her daughter's brow bunch up in some thought. When the koi spoke, Huā's face blossomed into a warm smile. 当然！因为他很友好，和你很珍贵的。 Huā would lean out and plant a little kiss to her daughter's forehead if allowed, before pulling away again. 你觉得你想成为他的朋友吗？和你的家人成为朋友很好。 Of course Luli had said too- which might've implied she wanted to be his friend first, but Huā felt it was right to check. Inserting family there was the first of her dangerous plays, but she had to make progress towards letting the cat out of the bag somehow. If she assumed blood family, great- Huā could pull at that thread. If she assumed a less literal sense of family then Huā knew she would have to leap another hurdle in this conversation (though no matter what, there were complicated things to be explained.)

Luli smiled, bashful, for her cheeks glowed crimson beneath the ivory fur of her smooth cheeks. She turned her face downward, awkward, and found no words to respond to her.

Huā carried on, however, and the koi blinked up suddenly with sea glass eyes wide in wonder. Family? How was it that could Mal be family, if he lived elsewhere? If she already had one in her mother, her brother and sisters? Yuèlóng had been the only family that Luli had ever known, so confusion shone in the vibrant hues of her gaze.

"家庭?" Luli asked, unable to fit the puzzle pieces in her mind together so that she could see the picture clearly. 

Oh damn, you're gonna make me say it. Huā grinned at her daughter, hoping her nervousness was well-obscured (it wasn't particularly; Luli could probably see it in her mother's eyes if she looked closely.) 家人。'爸爸'，这是一个字你今天以前没需要。爸爸住离Yuèlóng不近，所以我们没可以常常去他。可是他常常在这里。 She explained, and paused, quiet for a moment. 你懂吗？

Luli, too caught up in her quiet wonderings of uncertain the meaning behind the word "father", did not see anxiety creep it's way into her mother's features. The koi frowned in thought as she looked away for a time, trying to understand, and finally she lifted her seaglass gaze to seek Huā's dark face in question.

"父亲与母亲有什么不同?" LulI asked, confusion clear in the bright blue-green of her irises as she pressed: "为什么现在需要一个?"

Luli looked to be perplexed. Huā watched her, awaiting any questions, and relaxing slightly when they were not as hard to answer as she might've imagined. 一个'爸爸'是一个男孩。小青一样。妈妈是一个女孩，一样我，你，和你的姐姐。 Luli was old enough to tell them apart by scent, she hoped- she did not want to explain further. She was not raised in a place where people spoke openly about such things, and so it would be awkward for her to do so. 和你现在需要一个爸爸因为你认识Mal了，和你应该知道他对你是什么。

Boy, girl. Father, mother. Xiaoqing, Luli.

Equal, but different. She had always known Xiao to hold a different title to her, as he was a brother and mot a sister like Haoming and Nüwu. The koi had never questioned it, hadn't really thought about it until now, but it made sense to her as she considered it.

For her whole life, Huā had been everything to her. While there had been babysitters, it was the dark-faced Empress who'd always been her main provider: of milk, of warmth, of love. What she couldn't understand was how she suddenly had need of a father after all that time, when surely she would've required more from him as a tiny, defenceless infant.

Still, Luli was not one to question her mother's word. Dutiful, the ruby dipped her muzzle in agreement to what she had to say, quiet acceptance in her soft expression.

And so Luli fell quiet. Huā assumed that her words were absorbed by the little strawberry, and batted her tail gently against the earth, giving the girl's forehead another affectionate lap before curling around her to invite them into a cuddle-rest. And if her daughter had any more questions come to mind, the young mother would be glad to try her best to answer. 

wrapping? feel free to reply again or just archive here <3

Huā seemed to have no more to offer, and Luli wished to pry no further. She simply blinked up at her mother as she looked down at her, a delicate little smile tugging at her lips as she allowed their matching seaglass eyes to meet briefly. It was then that the Empress reached for her, planted a well-aimed kiss over her russet brow, and Luli allowed herself to be enveloped in her warmth.