he remembers the day when their lives changed for the worst. whenever the air grew heavy with the weight of humidity and anticipation of rain, hanshou recalled the day the bonding ceremony was initiated.
his father had accompanied him where his mother was supposed to be, murmuring a quiet prayer. he'd had a dream that morning, one he refused to voice aloud to hanshou. everything is okay, he'd whispered to hanshou as they left the courtyard adjoining their residence to the cheng household where they had been summoned.
but he'd seen the expression his mother wore as she made breakfast that morning. the firmness of her embrace before she let him go.
hanshou didn't know if it was the worry or anticipation that made him feel jittery that morning. since he could remember, his parents had taught him the ways of the xun lineage. what it meant to be a familiar. how to be a good familiar. how to bring honor to the cheng-xun alliance by performing his duties well.
after his form had manifested at the mere age of four, it didn't take long for him to understand that it was the color of his coat that influenced the intensity of his teachings. where his cousins and relatives all dawned colors that shimmered like sunlight, hanshou's animal form had revealed itself in a coat of midnight. his treatment had always been different because of this one difference. the only thing shared was the looks between the cheng and xun households, each watchful gaze on him holding an unbearable pressure of expectation. of what, hanshou had yet to discover.
it was that morning that would peel back the first layer of the unknown.
the second youngest of the cheng household had finally manifested her abilities. ronglian.
she was four years younger than him. though she was still quite young, the cheng family's known history of early manifesters marked this as another success meeting the expected timeline.
but there was something different about the ceremony hanshou had been summoned to. he'd witnessed a few under the cheng household and they had all been open and public affairs of celebration. this one had been quiet. as if, hidden.
hanshou would come to find out that his father and madam cheng had shared similar dreams. enough to shake
he would also come to find out that ronglian was the witch he would be bonded to. not because it was true. but because the alliance demanded it be so. against his will. against ronglian's. they were tied to each other through a blood ritual to manufacture the bond that was expected. it was this ritual, that would allow them to present ronglian and hanshou as bonded witch and familiar to the public.
that once again, the cheng and xun households had produced another powerful bond pair.
it would only be on ronglian's twenty-fourth birthday that hanshou would truly understand the sharp weight that everyone watched him with.
