Shangri-la
Chapter 21

Lotus was oddly nervous as she approached Iris, keeping her head down with her tail dragging along the ground. She knew that she should transform back into a human so they could talk, but that was precisely why she stayed in wolf form. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing again.

“Lotus?” Iris asked, and Lotus raised her head to meet Iris’s eyes. “What are you doing here?” Iris turned away.

Taking a step forward, Lotus stopped with one paw raised. Iris had been crying, and she didn’t seem to appreciate the interruption. Lotus wanted to turn around and go back to Oran, and passively wait the situation out.

“You didn’t have to follow me,” Iris sniffed. “I was thinking about going back anyway.”

Something made Lotus take another step forward. Comfort her, a familiar soft voice spoke in her mind. Show her how you feel. With her nails clicking on the asphalt, Lotus trotted up to Iris and nudged against her back. Turning around, Iris threw her arms around Lotus and buried her face in her fur.

Lotus wasn’t surprised that Lune had spoken in her own voice. What shocked her was the shadowy woman standing a few feet away: her own body in ghostly form.

Lune smiled at her with her own lips, but somehow seeming more loving and beautiful with the action. Lotus, Lune said, her voice filling Lotus’s head, I’m so glad that you can finally see me now. All this time I’ve been following you, waiting for you to sense me.

Lotus’s ears perked forward with curiosity, her nose brushing against Iris as she cried.

For your entire life you have been obsessed with Shangri-la, and you only learned the very basics to move yourself forward. But now that you are starting to care about something else, you are ready to learn more. Lune slowly walked forward and held out her hand. You know how to adopt my form, but you didn’t know that I take your body and protect it while you are a wolf. That is the nature of our bond.

Lotus felt tingles run through her legs and back, and the sensation was overwhelming. Unable to continue holding on, Lotus reluctantly let go of Lune’s form and slipped back into her human body, with her arms around Iris. Lune looked at her, then slowly walked past, moving in the direction of Shangri-la.

Iris looked up. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Lotus whispered back. “I think I understand how I’ve been hurting myself and others now.” Her skin still felt like there was a mild electric current racing around her, and she wondered if Iris could sense it as well.

Iris hugged Lotus tighter. “I forgive you. I really do.”

“Let her go!” a rough masculine voice yelled, and a dark shape crashed into the ground. Staggering upright, Alder glared at them with furious eyes. “Don’t touch my Lotus!”

 

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