'Darlings!' Erliyen's voice was gentle with a touch of worry underlying it.
Their silent communion was broken. Lily felt a jolt of surprise. Why would their parents call them over like that? She glanced at Rose.
"They think we're fighting," Rose mouthed, a flicker of amusement in her eyes.
Lily's surprise deepened, then dissolved into disbelief. "Fighting? That's impossible! We never fight!"
They couldn't help but giggle, the absurdity of the idea bubbling up. Rising, they hurried towards their parents, their laughter echoing lightly under the tree.
'Yes, mother?' Lily asked with her voice light.
'What happened?' Rose added, her confusion evident.
Tao Xin and Erliyen watched them approach, their faces clearing as they saw no sign of anger or distress on the girls' open, innocent countenances.
'Ah! Nothing, sweethearts! We just...you were so quiet, and not looking at each other so I thought something was wrong?' Erliyen explained, a sheepish smile on her face.
'Nothing is wrong, Ma,' Lily reassured them. 'We were just... thinking.'
Tao and Erliyen exchanged another look, one of astonishment this time. Thinking? They knew their daughters were bright, perhaps unusually so. They often joked about Siya having been reading since she was two, while Sayo was a natural athlete, faster and stronger than children twice her age. But to hear them say they were simply 'thinking' instead of playing felt...unprecedented. They didn't fully grasp the girls' need for private thought, the deliberate act of breaking their mental link by avoiding eye contact. Especially Rose, who found the shared thoughts more overwhelming sometimes, struggling to control the unintentional 'peeking' into Lily's mind. She valued that small, deliberate privacy.
Tao Xin, couldn't help but probe. He hadn't expected an answer at all, let alone a serious one, 'Thinking about what, little ones?'
Rose blurted it out. ' We were thinking about what we want to be! So that we can protect the ones we love.'
Tao and Erliyen looked at each other again, a mixture of pride and bewilderment on their faces. Protect?
Lily nudged Rose gently. "'Rose, you silly! Why are you so blunt!"'
""Why?"" Rose asked, genuinely confused.
""Watch the words you say,"" Lily scolded Rose.
""Ah! I'm sorry! I forgot!"" Rose clapped a hand over her mouth, remembering Lily's frequent reminders about being careful with their words in front of others. They sound more mature than they are.
Erliyen, however, frowned slightly at Lily's expression. She sometimes overheard hushed whispers among the household staff about the girls being 'odd' or 'too serious', always lost in their own world. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were more than just children. Despite Observing them, she couldn't sense any familiar spirits, no reincarnation of ancestors or known figures in their souls. Yet, their maturity, their strange understanding, sometimes made Erliyen wonder if someone had been reincarnated within them.
Lily looked at Rose, her brow furrowed slightly, a silent communication passing between them. Rose, sensing Lily's unspoken concern, quickly tried to steer the conversation back to lighter ground.
'Ma! I want to be a detective! Or a policeman!' Rose announced, her eyes sparkling with sudden enthusiasm.
""What!"" Lily's reaction was immediate, a burst of surprise that echoed everyone else's unspoken thoughts. That did surprise everyone. Rose launched into an explanation, her words tumbling out. She had always loved playing police and thief, she reminded Lily, recalling their elaborate games in the garden. The thrill of the chase, the idea of solving mysteries, of catching the 'bad guys' – it all appealed to her sense of justice and her restless energy.
Tao and Erliyen were momentarily speechless, trying to process this unexpected ambition from their three-year-old-to-be daughter. They waited, curious to hear their own reactions, to see where this surprising turn would lead. Then, Tao broke the silence, a wide grin spreading across his face. 'I knew it!' Seeing Tao smiling suddenly piqued everyone's curiosity, especially Erliyen's. He often teased that Rose took after Erliyen–restless, energetic, never sitting still for long. He'd even jokingly lamented that no one would want to marry her if Rose grew up to be a 'tomboy' like Erliyen.
Erliyen laughed, a rich, warm sound that cut through the surprise. 'Huh! Didn't you marry me!' she retorted playfully, nudging him.
'Well, you're not quite like her!' Tao defended himself, though his eyes twinkled with affection. 'She beats up the other boys she plays with! I saw her the other day, she took down that bully, young Master Qui, twice her size, with a single well-aimed kick.'
Erliyen chuckled, imagining it. Yes, Rose did have a certain...physical confidence. But a detective or a policeman?.
As the sun finally dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows, the parents felt a growing sense of wonder and a touch of unease. Their daughters were extraordinary, but what exactly were they preparing for? What dangers did they instinctively sense that required them to study both worlds, to seek out a 'surviving method'?
The peaceful, beautiful scene under the beech tree now held a subtle undercurrent of anticipation.
'They were wrong, that's why I beat them.' Rose didn't bother. Tao advised them that they mustn't bully humans, because that could cause them to lose their power if, by chance, the Humans are innocent. As Rose can read them, she knows who is or not.
'Don't worry about that. A boy who wants Sayo will not care about anything but her heart. You fell in love with a person's inner self, not the outer.' Erliyen said. This advice from her mother sank deep down in Lily's mind. Rose didn't bother so much like Lily in everything. They wanted to know what Lily wants to be.
In her past life, she couldn't do anything with painting. Her talent was not recognised. She believes that she didn't have that talent. She tried that in her previous life because it seemed that painters couldn't earn much through them. Later, the bitter truth she learned was that it was needed to have inner talents to be a true artist. To pour your heart into the canvas. As she thought she had nothing like that in her, she was a failure.