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"We're here!" The young girl's bell-clear voice rang through the stone halls, accompanied by her father's bright peal of laughter.
"Nian Xiang," Chengling shook his head, patting his daughter on her shoulder. "Perhaps they're not even inside right now. You know they love the sunlight." But even as he said it, he knew that the men they had come to see were here. He could feel their presence as they stepped out of the shadows of a nearby hallway, and watched as his daughter nearly flung herself toward them.
"Master," Chengling greeted, turning to Zhou Zishu with a warm smile. He moved to stand beside Zishu, watching as Wen Kexing scooped up Nian Xiang in his arms. Chengling might have stopped his daughter's excited babble, but for the soft look on Kexing's face. Instead, he watched for a moment more, then looked back to where Zishu stared at Kexing and Nian Xiang. "She's been very excited for this year's visit," he noted quietly, watching the way his master's face changed, travelling the path it always did at mentions of Nian Xiang's excitement.
Zishu snorted softly, his eyes cutting toward Chengling before he nodded and moved to take the horse's reins from the young man. "Kexing has been just as excited," he muttered, guiding the horse into the small, warmed stable they kept for visitors before guiding Chengling back to the others.
"Of course I have." Kexing set Nian Xiang down. She hurried over to her father, hugging his leg before turning to Zishu and holding her arms open in a clear demand to be held. Kexing nudged his husband with one shoulder. "It will be nice to cook for someone who can appreciate my talents."
Chengling's eyes glittered a little more than normal, perhaps, as he smiled at the two. "I have missed your cooking, Uncle Wen," he admitted. Kexing looked back at Chengling with a soft smile as Nian Xiang's voice cut into the conversation yet again.
"When I grow up, I want starlight hair, too," she informed Zishu, leaning her head against his shoulder as they both watched Kexing.
"Oh, you do?" Zishu murmured, looking down at the small girl with a grin. She nodded vigorously enough to knock her forehead into his jaw, not even noticing when he winced.
"I'm going to have starlight hair and I'm going to master the Swift-Moving Steps, and Dad says I'll look like a little blizzard."
"Well," Kexing noted, moving to stand beside his husband so that he could take Nian Xiang's hand. "You'll be the prettiest Little Blizzard, won't you? I’ll have to have some pretty white robes made for you, so that you’re a proper blizzard.”
“No,” Nian Xiang countered firmly, squirming to get down from Zishu’s arms. When he released her, she spread her arms wide and spun a bit before bouncing. “I’m going to be a purple blizzard!” And then, unaware of the way her words froze the two immortals, she darted off to her room.