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She had planned to go see how her gift was shaping up today, once she had a chance to slip out undetected. She had told the man he could take what time he needed – she hadn't said that she wouldn't come oversee the process for herself, after all. Strength was equal parts antsy and curious about the process.
But today seemed to be a bad day for Takeru, and so he had asked her a favor she would have been hard-pressed to refuse him. The murals had been finished right before that day where Riro shoved, and had started the process that could no longer be stopped. Takeru had planned to go deliver them and talk to Xun today, but it had been easy to tell that his horns were still giving him neck pains. So he had asked her to at least get the former done, and so that was what Strength had set up to do instead. The two murals had been rolled up into cardboard tubes to protect them – she knew from having seen her mate work of them that they were very thin, fragile paper – and she carried those two long rolls under one arm as she went down the hallway and knocked on Ti Lung's door.
It was Lindita who got the door for the goddess, and she led her to where her lord was. Currently Xun Jiang was busying himself with very, very important matters – babysitting. It was honestly as much to help the dragons in the sanctums than to his own well-being. Negotiations with the alliance and the horde were going better than they first expected them to go, but it did not mean that the dragon king was not sometimes driven to wanting to bash his head against the nearest wall. So this was some downtime for the dragons of Northrend, and stress relief for him.
He had been teasing one of the younger whelps into trying to fly, much like he had once done for Rei's children, when he noticed Strength coming toward him. He had not seen much of either her or her brother ever since they had returned from Azeroth, but then again it was not like he had been around much, either. “Good morning.” He greeted her.
”Hey there.” She smirked as she saw the pack of brightly colored whelps. “So which one of yours decided to multiply this time ?” First there had been Rei, and it had been a little hard to ignore the fact that Sunil had followed suit, given how Xun Jiang had ousted the fact for them all. It had certainly been necessary, given how much of a mess Dragonblight had turned out to be.
Strength's question earned her a low, amused chuckle. “No one, at least not as far as I know.” And it would have been a little hard for them not to know, to be honest. “These are the eggs that we found in Northrend. I steal a few of the whelps every now and then to help them out.” The little red was still trying to jump to get his bit of fish, and he was still wriggling it right out of the little one's reach. With just a little bit of effort, he could get it.
”You are so mean to them. You should be ashamed of yourself, you overgrown reptile.” Oh, she knew perfectly what he was doing, and Strength could even guess why he was doing it, but that certainly did not stop her from poking fun at the dragon king. She crouched down when some of the whelps approached her, as if wondering just what strange thing she actually was. They were honestly kind of cute, to be honest.
”Speak for yourself.” He snorted. Taejhin must have one hell of a ride with her as the closest motherly figure he'd had for a long, long time. Strength took no prisoners and Xun Jiang did not expect it was any different for her family.
“I assume you didn't come only to fawn over some whelps I may or may not have been in possession of ?” At least that was certainly what it looked like, given what she was carrying.
And that question had Strength snorting in amusement. “You wound me, truly.” The her lips pulled up into an amused smile. “But I have to admit that you are right. I did not simply decide to come bother you simply because I could.” Now that was an idea...
But for now, she had something to do. “These are the murals Riro were paining for you. He finished them a few days ago, but...” She figured the only real way to break it was the obvious way. “But then they changed. Takeru's having some troubles, but he said he would come see you once he feels a little better. He wanted you to have these as soon as possible, though, so he asked me to give them to you.”
Well, that was not the news he expected, and the dragon king was a bit conflicted. On one hand, he would miss Riro, but then he knew exactly where the man was now. He was also rejoiced, and a bit relieved at the same time. From what he had learned of his own experiences and the others', they seemed much more likely to fail when still confined to their gems in some way, so this was a good sign, and hopefully a sign that history would not repeat itself again. Dealing with not knowing where they were had been hard, but Xun Jiang was not certain if he could stand to lose Takeru or Shen, now that they both were so close to him.
“I see.” He finally said. “The first few days are a bit rough, but he will get used to it.” He didn't even question if Takeru had grown body parts or not. It was obvious to him at he had, otherwise his brother would be standing here with Strength, of this he was certain. “I hope he is behaving, though.” It was his turn to grin.
”Oh, he knows he has to, or I will kick his a**.” Strength matched the dragon king's grin. Of course she would. “He is behaving, though. We had to child proof his room and it pissed him off.” She laughed then, the sound light and amused. “Still better than him wrecking everything in sight, I assume. Don't worry, if he doesn't behave right, I will be happy to kick his a** for you.”
”Good.” Xun snorted. He did not doubt a word of what Strength was telling him. She would take care of Takeru as he recovered, even if she took care of his brother in her own way. Now that he was assured that his brother was well, however, he had to admit he was curious about what he had done for him. “I plan to have them set up in the bedroom, so it is probably best to keep them rolled up until we get them there.” They had to cross the waterfall, and the cardboard would keep them protected. He could have someone without claws put it up for him later. “Would you mind helping me get them there, then we can have a look ?”
Xun Jiang really had little in term of places he honestly did not share, so he thought little of inviting the goddess in his bedroom.
And thankfully enough, Nuhava thought little of it either. If the dragon king asked her to, then he most likely was fine with it. “I don't mind.” So he left him to lead the way back though the endless expanse of greenery, around the lake and across the vast area that made up Ti Lung's rooms. The rooms themselves seemed more like little houses, each with their own privacy and ecosystem to fit it's occupants. When they headed toward the waterfall, she understood why Ti Lung had asked what he had. A few drops of water were likely to damage the paintings as they passed it, and the cardboard rolls would keep that from happening.
They slipped behind the waterfall and came inside the room. It was rather lovely, she had to admit. It was less of a room and more like a cave, with the lake spliing though and lapping at the edges of the floor. “That's very lovely, I have to admit.”
”Yes, isn't it ?” The dragon was obviously proud of his work here. He gestured for Nuhava to pull out the paper and spread it out toward the back. There was no risk that the water could make it's way up there. “I will have Aysu put them up later, but I admit I am curious as to how they look like.”
”Hang on to your scales, you overgrown reptile.” She snorted, and Xun's amusement was obvious. He knew what she said right now was in jest. She pulled the murals out carefully, like Takeru had taught her, and laid them out. They were both quite gorgeous, and she had thoughtfully enjoyed watching Riro working on them. It had been relaxing for her, and it had been relaxing for him, too. She had seen just how much he had enjoyed doing this, and Nuhava certainly hoped Takeru would continue doing it, when he had the time.
And the dragon was in awe of what he actually saw. Those were really masterpieces... Each of them more gorgeous than he could ever have asked for. The first was an underwater scene with koi swimming freely, each one more colorful than the last. And the second was a sunset scene overlooking the sea, both of them painted carefully. “Oh...”
”They're lovely, aren’t they ?” Strength grinned. “He worked on the two of them whenever he could squeeze out some time to do so.” Which had become harder and harder as time passed, and as more additions to the household happened. “I really hopes he keeps at it.” She was honestly just as much in awe as the dragon king was. She had never really been too talented as far as anything artistic went, at least from what she remembered of either life, so that something so lovely could be created with paper and ink was something amazing, for her. That it was the man she loved so much who could do such magic was a nice little bonus, too.
”Yes, they most certainly are. I will have Aysu put them up for me later.” He was much too worried that his claws would piece the fragile paper. Thankfully he had someone who could deal with it easily. “Thank you for bringing them to me.”
”It's no problem.” Nuhava nodded. It was obvious that Xun Jiang loved them, and she would tell Takeru this much when she returned. The brothers would see each other soon enough, at least as soon as her mate could stand long enough to make it happen.
“That done, I should likely leave you to bother your whelps before they rampage all over the place.” She said, quite amused. They had simply left them out in the open with their snacks, but it didn't look like there was anything they could get into. And if Xun Jiang wasn't worried about it, then she saw no reason to truly be.
“I am sure Takeru will come see you as soon as he is able to do so. He has questions for you.” She would not ask them on her mate's behalf, as there were probably things he pondered that he had not voiced out loud to her. “Hopefully we will catch each other again soon.”
”I hope so as well.” He would have loved for her to stay for tea, but it seemed like Strength had other things to do. “Feel free to drop by whenever you would like. If I am not present, someone will know where I am.”
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