**Sugar Foxes and Shattered Mirrors**
The sugar fox melted into cloying sweetness, its delicate features dissolving as droplets refroze in winter's breath. Fireworks tore through the silent sky, their fleeting glow painting Xue Rong's cheeks rose-gold. Pyrotechnic blooms—magnificent yet transient, life's brilliance condensed to ash. Moonlight lingered cold and detached, its pale eternity holding what fireworks could never grasp: permanence.
When Bai remarked, "Humans could survive alone on this desolate island of a world," Xue Rong shook her head fiercely. "Impossible. From birth, we need welcoming arms to *want* existence. Without that warmth, why struggle to breathe?"
Like winter-plum blossoms—soft yet unyielding—she stood amid howling winds. Her eyes mirrored Bai's own fragile hesitation. The world narrowed to her lucid gaze and parted lips, loneliness collapsing into gravitational pull.
*Is this how mortals drown?* The last thread of reason snapped.
As she leaned in, lips a hair's breadth from his, an arrow's shriek split the night—*thwack!*—embedding itself in a distant target. The sound yanked Bai's soul back to earth. He recoiled, icy clarity dousing his veins.
A ponytailed woman practiced archery downrange, posture amateurish yet relentless. Each shot pierced through carnival noise, through strangers' laughter, through Xue Rong's now-frozen smile—accusing arrows aimed at his corroded soul.
Xue Rong followed his gaze. Her hand slipped from his. "Men," she whispered, disappointment curdling to ice before tears could fall.
*She thinks me distracted by another's beauty,* Bai realized, clutching the "溟" seal till jade edges bit his palm. He let her go.
**Ephemera**
Moonlight silvered the lake where fireworks once blazed. Mortals lived mayfly lives—Xue Rong's vibrant purity, though momentarily soothing his ancient loneliness, would fade like morning dew. Three human years meant nothing to a being who'd watched dynasties crumble. Even if her warmth kindled fragile hope, what remained after her bloom withered? Deeper desolation.
A boatman approached the shore. "First time in Liuzhou, sir?" Bai stepped aboard without answer.