"Sister Shen, huh?"
Huo Yue watched the heavy doors of the throne room creak shut behind Ziyan's retreating figure.
The cat-girl's footsteps were still light, but they no longer held that frantic, uneven cadence of a person fleeing from her own shadow.
Huo Yue stood alone for a moment in the settling dust of the hall, scratching the back of her head with a wry, self-deprecating smile.
'I forgot I haven't even told her my real name yet,' she realized.
The name "Shen Huo" was simply an alias she had used during her travels, a combination of her own last name 'Huo' and Haoran's last name 'Shen'.
She thought for a moment, her finger tapping against her chin, then she simply shrugged the thought away.
There would be plenty of opportunities for introductions once the girl had actually washed the dried salt of tears from her face.
Then, with a flick of her robes, Huo Yue turned and left the room, her presence flickering like a dying ember before she vanished into the corridors.
