Bo Saixi lowered her head and looked at his fluffy crown, falling silent for a while.
Then she reached out and gently patted his back.
"Sleep," Bo Saixi said softly.
She did not sing. She had never known how to sing.
But she remembered that when she used to coax Jiang Lan to sleep, she would hum a tune she had heard from the Sea Maidens.
The tune had no lyrics, only long, gentle notes.
Bo Saixi hesitated, then began humming softly.
Her voice was very quiet, barely forming a tune. Just a few simple notes drifted through the silent bedchamber.
Doro rolled over in her sleep, buried her face against Jiang Lan's belly, and let out a muffled murmur.
Jiang Lan's breathing grew slower and deeper.
He nestled in Bo Saixi's arms. At some point, his little arms had wrapped around her waist, and his short legs were tucked up, his whole body curled into a ball.
The next morning.
Jiang Lan was woken by Doro stepping on him.
At some point, Doro had rolled out of his arms. Her little feet stomped on his face several times, her big purple eyes wide open, half an orange she had somehow dug up held in her mouth.
"Doro," Doro called.
Roughly translated, that meant, time to get up. I'm hungry.
Jiang Lan rubbed his eyes and rolled over groggily. He reached out beside him, only to find an empty stretch of bedsheet.
Bo Saixi had already left.
The bedding was neatly folded at the foot of the bed, the pillow had been put back in place, and the window was open a crack, letting in the salty, damp sea breeze.
Jiang Lan sat up and rubbed his messy hair. The hood of his Penguin Suit had slipped to one