Gou Ren couldn’t help but smile when he saw Chun Ke and Pi Pa embrace, hugging each other tightly. He had been having a kind of shitty week, all told—his sleep had been troubled, and he had to get up a couple of times in the night to check on everyone just to make sure they were alright.
“They’re cute, are they not?” Xianghua asked, a small smile on her face.
He was lucky Xianghua was Xianghua—he woke her up whenever he woke up, but she never minded. She simply held his hand and checked on everyone with him, a silent shadow. Yun Ren had been fine ever since Nezan had popped back up, Bowu had slept soundly... but Pi Pa had squirmed and whimpered, reliving whatever had happened in her dreams.
Now, the bundled tension she had been holding onto was gone.
“They are,” Gou Ren replied, giving the two their space along with everyone else. After a moment longer the two separated and Chun Ke rose to his full height. He really was huge. And though he looked like a wild bandit, Chun Ke was still Chun Ke. His big smile and warm eyes would dispel any kind of fear his physique would generate. He felt like he always did. Warm, at peace, and happy.
Like Tigu and Bi De, he had a bit of a resemblance to Jin—his brow and his smile.
Pi Pa, on the other hand, looked the closest to Meihua, if he had to choose somebody they knew. Her features were more refined; noble almost, compared to everyone else bar Yin.
Chun Ke took them all in, his grin growing.
“Hello, Friends,” Chun Ke said, his voice a deep, warm rumble.
The dam broke. Chun Ke was impacted by Jin, Tigu, Wa Shi in his dragon form, Bi De, and Ri Zu all at once. The big man took it all without a single step back and he began to laugh, his voice booming off the hills.
Everyone else soon got their turn. Gou Ren leapt up and put Chun Ke in a headlock as best he could, ruffling the big guy’s mane of hair.
“How do you feel, brother?” Gou Ren asked, honestly happy for them. Pi Pa... well, Gou Ren had heard her discussing her fears about having children with Meimei and Xiulan. He was glad they no longer needed to worry.
“Life Good,” Chun Ke declared. His manner of speech was still simple and halting, using few words... but as always, the big guy managed to get to the heart of the matter.
Gou Ren chuckled. “I meant your body. Does it feel any different?”
“Like Wa Shi says, Chun Ke is Chun Ke.” The dragon positively preened at Chun Ke’s words. The man nodded, before reaching into the pocket of his borrowed pants and pulling out his bag of treats. It was big, and definitely made for him when he was a boar. “Persimmon?”
Gou Ren took the proffered treat and stepped aside, letting Yun Ren in to pound the massive man’s back. He turned to Pi Pa, who was watching on with a bright smile on her face, her cheeks pink with emotion.
“Hey, how are you doing?” he asked her quietly. Pi Pa’s eyes widened at the question, before her demeanor softened. She hesitated for a moment, before taking Gou Ren’s hand in both of hers and squeezing.
“I am doing very well, Young Sir...” she paused at his raised eyebrow. “Gou Ren, I am doing... well. Thank you.”
Gou Ren nodded. “I’ll get started on a bed for you guys—the cushions on the floor were fine for your other forms, but let me tell you, a mattress is a lot better. Gonna have to make the ceilings of your place real high, too...”
It was kind of a shame, though. He had gotten used to living with Chun Ke and Pi Pa—he would even say he enjoyed it. They were always considerate housemates, and lazing against Chun Ke after a hard day was really nice—as was having Pi Pa’s help in doing the laundry.
Pi Pa paused and looked a bit hurt. “Ah... you wish for us to move out?” she asked delicately.
Gou Ren blinked. “Well, I just assumed you would want your own place...?”
“Perhaps in the future?” Pi Pa asked. “We would need time to think about such a thing. And it seems a bit of a waste, with how far you went to accommodate us...”
Gou Ren was about to wave her off. Adding the extra parts to the door to make it easier for their Spirit Beast forms hadn't been a bother.
“Living with Gou Ren and Xianghua and Bowu is good,” Chun Ke stated, adding his thoughts.
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like,” Gou Ren replied with a smile... and was internally quite pleased.
They appreciated the things he had built. They liked him enough that they wanted to stick around with him.
Jin clapped Gou Ren on the back, smiled, and nodded. He guessed this was how Jin felt when they all first arrived.
“I think this calls for a picnic in the greenhouse,” Jin announced, pitching his voice to carry to everyone present.
They had been having a lot of little celebrations recently, Gou Ren noted... but he certainly wasn’t going to complain.
=================================
Soon enough, everyone was in the greenhouse. It never ceased to make Gou Ren grin when people complimented the design. Yushang, Han, Shao Heng, Fenxian, and Yingwen were especially enamoured with the place, but none of them knew if a glass house would be able to survive in the mountains. Ice storms and more limited sunlight were apparently issues, according to Yingwen.
It still felt a bit weird talking to Yingwen, now that they weren't enemies. They had spoken a bit, after Tigu had talked with them. He was just... a guy. All of them were. Yushang was a hoot and a half, Fenxian was boisterous, Han quiet but considerate, Shao Heng was the amused uncle of the group, and Yingwen? He was a bit stuffy and reserved, but he wasn’t a bad person from what Gou Ren could tell, and he had an interest in architecture himself.
“Good tidings on the Solstice!” everyone in the village, who were quick to follow the children outside at the sound of bells, shouted back as the sleigh slowed to a halt. There was a collective sigh of relief as they finally saw that everybody was fine... though people started muttering and pointing at the newcomers.
The strange people jumped off first. The big man was the fastest. He looked really scary... but also familiar, somehow. The other children huddled behind Xian as the man approached. He was so huge, with wild hair, scars. and...
Xian paused, staring intently at the bright, warm smile.
“Chun Ke?” he asked, astonished.
The giant of a man grinned.
“Hello, little brothers and sisters,” the big man boomed, his voice warm and happy and so Chun Ke.
All of a sudden, he wasn’t scary anymore.
“You’re human!” he exclaimed.
“Sometimes,” the boar replied. “Makes wife happy.”
“Wife—Miss Pi Pa?” Xian gasped, turning to the pink-haired lady with her painted red nose—it was what Miss Pi Pa did every year. She smiled brilliantly at him, and then at Chun Ke.
The others, emboldened, immediately surrounded the two. Chun Ke gladly let them.
“Does this mean no more sleigh rides?” one of the other children asked in a disappointed tone.
Chun Ke shook his head. With a pop, he was once more a boar.
“Chun Ke is Chun Ke,” he stated. “And sleigh rides are the best.”
His sage wisdom was met with a cheer.
Xian, however, as much as he wanted to immediately join the fun, had to say hi to Meimei and the others first.
He dashed back through the crowd, dodging around Hu Li and Ten Ren greeting Yun Ren, Gou Ren, Xianghua, and Big Bro Bowu, until he spotted Jin talking to Xian’s father.
“Gramps is holding down the fort and the site is cleaned up enough—” the rest was tuned out as Xian tackle-hugged his sister, who bore his weight with ease.
“Meimei!” he shouted, “Who are these people?!”
His sister laughed at his enthusiasm. “Well, you already know two of them. Those are Bi De and Ri Zu.”
“She looks so much like you!” Xian said, staring at Ri Zu in shock.
“She is Hong Ri Zu, you know?” his sister reminded him, a note of pride in her voice. It suddenly made sense to him when she put it like that. Tigu looked like Big Bro. And now that he thought about it, Bi De and Chun Ke looked kind of like him too. “The others? The big and distinguished young man right there is Spooks,” she said, pointing at the Thunderhoof. “And those are Yushang, Han, and Shao Heng,” she said, introducing side-tail girl as well as two guys that Xian had missed. The larger man looked a bit lost as curious people walked up to introduce themselves, while the older guy was leaning against a tree, looking on with a small smile.
“Did they help beat up the bad guys?” Xian asked. Meimei paused.
“They did,” Lanlan cut in. She had a small smile on her face as she got down on one knee before him. Her smile was warm. “We all helped. Everybody from this village helped too.”
“We did? What did we do?” Xian was confused. They had helped? How?
“Bowu told me how everyone was scared, and it was you who started to dance again, Xian,” Xiulan whispered.
“Yeah? Everybody was really scared, so I danced. We have to. We swore,” he said.
Xiulan nodded. “I know. And what you did made all the difference. Your dance made the sun notice. It made the earth sing—and that's why we won. So thank you, Xian, for being so brave.”
She pulled him into a hug and he felt heat blossom on his cheeks. She sounded so serious and... well, really really thankful.
Xian didn’t know exactly how his dancing had helped—but there was no way Lanlan was lying about this.
The warmth of Xiulan’s hug and the earnestness of her thanks stayed with him even after she let go.
Somehow, some way, his dance had helped and had brought back the sun. Just as all his ancestors before him had sworn.