Together, we dashed outside into a clear morning, the sky a vivid aquamarine, the air glazed with warmth. I summoned a cloud, which we leapt upon, a rush of wind spiraling down to bear us along. Neither of us spoke, our breaths unsteady—the anxiety of the night only just beginning to subside as the shores of the Southern Sea glistened ahead.

Before entering the waters, I cloaked my father in invisibility, just as Liwei had done before. The guards at the palace entrance cast only a cursory glance our way, and we slipped into the Bright Pearl Palace without incident. Yet the farther we walked, the more his steps lagged.

“Father, are you all right?”

His lips lifted into a smile, as bright and fleeting as a shooting star. “It has been a long time since I felt this way.” He brushed a shaking palm over his hair. “How do I look?”

His question surprised me. I almost laughed aloud, suddenly as giddy as he was. “Don’t be nervous. Mother will be overjoyed.”

“I’m not nervous.” The slightest tremor shook his voice. “Does she know about me?”

“I didn’t tell her. I kept my word.”

His fingertips brushed his cheek, as though tracing the lines that had once creased their surface. “My face,” he said haltingly. “A foolish thing to worry about.”

I picked up a silver plate from a table, inlaid with coral along its rim. Wordlessly, I lifted it to him so he might see his reflection—a face more strong than handsome, the one my mother loved still. He stared at it for a long while, though I did not think him vain. There was no pride in his expression, just—wonder.

His eyes darted from the mirror to my face. “I see us, my daughter.”

My heart soared. Now that we were safe, it finally sank in: my father was home.

He rapped his knuckles against my mother’s door. As it swung open, she stood in the entrance, her gaze moving from me—to my father.