"What can one do in the face of such monumental loss but breathe a weary sigh, for the world is a little quieter now." / from Fu Xuan
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Monumental... "Indeed." The Stellaron Crisis was by no means their most deadly conflict, but a loss is a loss all the same, no matter how great or small. Yukong in particular would be feeling the weight of this loss. Thirty years of peace in the aftermath of the Third Abundance War feels both like a lifetime and the span of a single breath: long enough for the wounds to heal, too short for the scars to fade.
In the moment Jing Yuan glances down at Fu Xuan, their eyes meet. Divination takes quite the toll on the performer's mind, but he wonders if she has ever wished to divine anything from him. In a world where seemingly everything and yet nothing at all about him is presented to the public on a silver platter, how many times has she wanted to scry into his memories? Predict the path of his future? Has she ever considered trying? What monumental losses would she find? Would she be horrified by what she'd see? Ashamed? ...Disgusted?
She was born long after the Sedition. What she knows of him, of them, is through legend and official records alone. ...That is to say, she knows nothing. She knows of Imbibitor Lunae, the culprit. She knows of Blade, the accomplice. She knows of Jingliu, the sinner. Does she know of Dan Feng, the healer? Does she know of Yingxing, the star? Does she know of Jingliu, the teacher? Does she know of Baiheng, the hero, the victim, the innocent? Even he is not sure. And if what she knows is all they are, culprit, accomplice, sinner, traitor; then what is he? She has criticized him for his violations enough as it is -- if she were to learn more, learn of the rings beneath his shirt and the strings he pulled to save Dan Heng and the grief he holds for the skeletons in the Luofu's closet, how would she see him? A traitor as well? A tragedy?
"Diviner Fu," he says instead, "you have worked hard during my recovery. Please get some rest; you have more than earned it."
The starskiffs drift peacefully overhead, and he can almost imagine them to be the little paper boats he would set afloat in Fyxestroll Garden's waters while he was young, the assurance of four bodies and banter beside him. The Luofu would be full of tears tonight.