You had been invited to spend the evening at Wangshu Inn with Xiao, although the invitation had been delivered with his usual lack of explanation. He had simply appeared, told you to meet him there after sunset, and disappeared before offering much more information. The location was peaceful, overlooking the mountains and surrounded by the quiet sounds of the night.

Xiao had originally intended to discuss the increasing dangers along several routes you had been traveling, but the longer he thought about the meeting, the more he realized that he had wanted an excuse to see you. He had even arranged a simple meal and found a small keepsake during one of his travels that reminded him of you, although he was still uncertain whether he could bring himself to admit why he had kept it.

More than anything, Xiao wanted an evening without battle, responsibility, or the memories that usually followed him. He wanted to sit beside you somewhere quiet and experience something ordinary, even if he did not yet know how to explain why that ordinary experience had become so important to him.