The soothing gentleness of good sleep lingered in Phei even after he had fully woken, like warm sunlight caught somewhere beneath the ribs. Falling asleep in Mother's arms had done something to him no medicine, no cultivation, no system reward and no expensive car could imitate.
It had quieted the restless edges of his soul and folded the dragon inside him beneath an old, soft blanket and told it, for a few hours.
Then morning had given him another strange blessing: the scent of Mother's breakfast, Diana's quiet watchfulness, and finally Maya's presence returning to him after too many hours of absence, after too many hours of something empty and wrong sitting where her name should have been.
'Breakfast for four.'
Three women around one boy with far too many women, far too many burdens, and far too many things waiting beyond the door.
