Threads of Destiny (OEX) 396 Recovery 4.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21188/...recovery-4
Yrsillar Wrote:"Am I doing a bad job, sister?" The question was quiet, barely audible over the sound of Ling Qi's bedroom door creaking open and the quiet wind blowing in through the partially open window where the moon's light shone down on the bed
"You're not, Hanyi,” Ling Qi reassured. “You've been a very good girl."
Hanyi looked back at her from where she stood by the bedside. She had a mortar and pestle in hand and was grinding the medicinal pills set there down to powder that could be mixed into water. "Then how come you're always miserable? Sis is a bad faker."
"I suppose I am," Ling Qi reflected. "It's nothing you've done, Hanyi. I know you—and everyone else—are trying very hard. I'm sorry if I seem ungrateful. I just need to keep moving. It feels painful, being stuck like this."
"I guess I'd be mopey, too, if I felt like I did with Mama at the end." Hanyi said, looking down. The pestle crunched through the broken up pill rhythmically, releasing the bitter but invigorating scent of the medicine.
"Trapped," Ling Qi murmured.
"Crushed. I like dancing, too. It's nice to feel so light."
"You're good at it. I like the one you’ve been practicing, the one with the fans. Biyu liked it, too."
"Big Sis would do that one really well." Hanyi set the pestle aside, squinting at the powder in the stone bowl. "Littlest sister isn't so bad, I guess. She's better at respecting her senior sister now."
Ling Qi smiled. Hanyi was weak to praise, and perhaps especially weak to the thoughtlessly honest praise of a child.
"Let's find a mountaintop and play again when you're better, ‘kay? Two proper ladies shouldn't spend all their time in this icky warmth."
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21188/...recovery-4