The courtyard housed peach trees similar to Yuque's, their pale petals scattered across emerald grass like snowflakes. A steel sword leaned casually against the stone table - puzzling, as Fu Xuan never wielded blades.
The bedroom stood empty save for neatly folded garments and a violet cord by the window.
"Elder Sister?"
Splashing water echoed from the mist-shrouged hot spring. Pink hair wrapped in a towel, bare feet leaving dewy imprints on the grass, Fu Xuan froze upon meeting familiar eyes.
Anming had never seen her like this - not as an elder sister, but as a maiden. Her cheeks burned crimson as constellations of purple hexagrams materialized around her.
With lotus-step grace, Fu Xuan's palm sent Anming cratering into the courtyard wall - a perfect bas-relief of Cloud Knight valor for future generations to admire.
"Have you learned to peep on your elder sister now?!" Though stern, her tone held no real anger. She knew Anming too well.
"My mistake," Anming bowed penitently.
"Mistake?"
"Should've brought my sword. Might've withstood your strike."
"?"
Fu Xuan's flushed face undermined any intimidation, accentuating her tsundere charm. "Why come from Yuque?"
"I worried..."
"Predictable." Fu Xuan's gaze softened as she leaned against the window. "The Third Abundance War has begun. No retreat remains."
"Luofu's dispatched all available forces to Fanghu. But the journey's too long - we can't know the battlefield's status upon arrival."
"Even you can't foresee it?"
Fu Xuan paled as if drowning. She couldn't. She feared.
Destiny's single road stretched before her - Jingtian's agonized face flashing through memories.
Warm hands clasped hers. Anming's eyes shone like lighthouses in her darkness. "Don't fear, Xuan-jie."
"If fate lies ahead, we fight without regrets."
"I'll go to Fanghu. Stop the Abundance."
Having confirmed Fu Xuan's safety, Anming would embrace his first true war as Yuque's youngest Cloud Knight Captain.
Fu Xuan's heart constricted - the same suffocation she'd felt foreseeing Jingtian's death. "Don't..." Her protest died weakly. What right had she to stop him?
As a Cloud Knight, the battlefield was his destiny and honor.
"Xuan'er."
"Hmm?"
Warmth silenced her. Peach blossoms outside bloomed anew as spring arrived punctually, like Anming's constant presence.
Not just an elder sister. Something more.
Countless nights of soul-searching yielded the same answer:
Do you love her?
Yes.
Too much to imagine her with another.
Pinning Fu Xuan's petite frame against the wall, Anming kissed her deeply. Her resisting hands gradually embraced him.
Diviners see futures. Lies hold no meaning.
"Xuan'er, I love you."
When their lips parted, Fu Xuan stared dazedly, clutching Anming's lapel. When had he grown so tall? Her little junior existed only in memory now.
Feigned ignorance had been self-deception.
She'd foreseen this moment through divination yet did nothing - only waited.
Destiny had one road. Here, their fates intertwined like colliding meteors.
"Junior Brother... Anming." Fu Xuan pushed him away weakly, rose-quartz eyes glimmering. "I..."
Unspoken words choked by fear - visions of complex destinies where her love doomed him.
Anming ruffled her hair. Now, he stood taller. The boy who'd once looked up to his sister had become a man.
"Wait for me, Xuan-jie."
Grabbing Nightless, Anming left only a broad-backed silhouette.
Fu Xuan slid down the wall, biting her lip. Greater than fear of fate was regret for unsaid words.
"Anming!"
Stumbling into the courtyard, she shouted at the retreating figure:
"I'll wait for you—!"
The distant figure seemed to smile, waving before vanishing.
Fu Xuan clenched her fist. To cower before fate was true regret - regret for cowardice, for failing to protect.
What diviner would she be then?
Resolve reignited, Fu Xuan marched toward the Divination Commission's projection array. She'd monitor Fanghu's battle, conduct final calculations - for the Xianzhou, and for destiny she'd defy to keep Anming safe.