"Oh, cover your eyes, senior sisters," she called airily over her shoulder. She angled her sword toward the tree line. "We are landing briefly."
"WE ARE NOT COVERING OUR EYES," Meiren announced to the sky, with absolute finality.
The pine forest was dense and cool below the canopy. Shafts of afternoon light came down in bright columns between the dark trunks, catching the motes of dust and pollen drifting in the still air.
Suyin's boots touched the soft earth first.
Wei Jiushan landed behind her, stumbling slightly off his sword because he was watching her instead of his footing, and catching himself on a low branch with the smooth recovery of a man pretending that had not happened.
She walked until she found a broad pine trunk, its bark rough and reddish-brown, its roots rising from the earth in thick arches. She stopped there and turned around.
Wei Jiushan stood a few feet from her, hands at his sides, ears still pink.
