Upon arrival at the small hotel room, they found that it was just as bad as Shizuka had suggested over text. A pungent herbal smell filled the entire room, nearly making Vanna gag as they walked through the door. Quynh analyzed the situation with great disappointment, and stomped over to the man who had gotten himself and the others into such an inconvenience.
Liu Bai was sitting in the corner of the room cross-legged, his eyes closed and his palms facing upward with his fingers shaped in 'o's. It was like looking at a stock-photo of some cultivator meditating. Despite the raging dragon approaching him, the White Tiger didn't so much as flinch.
Shizuka was seated in a lounge chair, with Liu Bai's confiscated pipe and bag of the strange drug in her hands. She let out an amused scoff when she saw Quynh walk up to him, and said, "He's not just meditating this time. He is unconscious, and he is out cold. It'll be lucky if he wakes up at all before tomorrow. Check his meridians, you'll see what I mean."
Quynh sighed and placed his index and middle fingers against the inside of Liu Bai's wrist, and closed his eyes. There was silence and stillness for a few long moments, and then he retracted his hand.
"How much did he even take?" Quynh hissed in frustration. "He probably ingested way more than a serving."
"Knowing him, he tried to do enough to poison an entire village – let alone one person," Shizuka replied.
The dragon stood from his place beside Liu Bai and crossed his arms. "At the very least, it doesn't seem as though he has permanently damaged anything. Whatever this shit is, it's very dangerous."
Vanna had been listening quietly to their discussion, but something possessed her when she looked at Liu Bai in such a state. Although he was technically asleep, cold beads of sweat were trickling down his face and neck, and his fluffy white eyebrows continuously twitched with discomfort. It looked as though he were struggling with internal pain, and it made Vanna's heart ache.
She couldn't help but walk over to him and sit down on her knees.
"Vanna, what are you doing?" Quynh demanded, but Vanna didn't respond. Instead, she leaned forward and placed a kiss on Liu Bai's forehead.
A gentle warmth, and faint golden glow, resonated from the place where her lips touched his skin. Liu Bai's body absorbed the energy, and almost instantly the tension started to dissipate. The pained expression that had been on his face just moments prior, was washed away.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Shizuka asked curiously.
Quynh's expression hardened, but he didn't say anything. With his jaw clenched, he observed the changes in Liu Bai's demeanor, and carefully analyzed Vanna's strange power.
Although she had pulled her lips away, Vanna decided to stroke his ears a few more times before leaving. Much to her surprise, Liu Bai leaned into her touch, seemingly enjoying having his soft, white tiger ears massaged. Vanna couldn't help but giggle softly.
"I don't really know what I even did," Vanna replied to Shizuka honestly. "I didn't learn it anywhere. I just felt the urge to give him a kiss on the forehead, so I did. It felt like he needed one."
Shizuka hummed thoughtfully. "Instincts, perhaps? How interesting."
Vanna shrugged. "Maybe so."
"I hope we're able to find her artifact soon," Quynh changed the subject. "Running into Zuma has really put me on edge. Something about the entire encounter felt off."
"It didn't look like she even knew or recognized that there is a new phoenix," Shizuka added, closing her eyes in thought. "Which makes me wonder what's going on with them. It didn't seem like she was only playing dumb, she's usually very up front and confrontational."
"She was alone, too," Vanna said in an attempt to add to the conversation. "Isn't that weird to do, if she were looking for something important?"
"Yeah, it leads me to believe it was something of a reconnaissance mission," Quynh said. "You're right, though, Shizuka – it's incredibly strange that she had no sort of reaction to Vanna's presence. As long as the White Qilin is with them, Azure Dragon's whole crew should have been alerted the moment her new vessel activated."
Shizuka shook her head, "He is far too loyal to keep secrets from them, which makes me wonder if something happened to him…"
"It's a shame that the Qilin can't sense each other," Quynh sighed. "It would be a lot easier to understand the enemy in situations like this."
Vanna gave Liu Bai a few more affectionate pats before standing up again. She looked between her two companions and asked, "The Qilin can't sense one another? I thought that sensing the other beasts is the big, important thing that they do."
Shizuka shrugged. "Only the gods know. I would guess that it's because they didn't want the Qilin to work against each other, but I have no proof to back it up."
Vanna simply gave an "ahh" of understanding and remained quiet. She knew that if she were to bring up the fact that the beasts should work together again, Quynh would get upset… and, to top that off, it wasn't even the Crimson Dragon's fault. For some reason, one way or another, the Azure Dragon has had his heart set on killing her past incarnations.
The girl longed to understand, but knew that more knowledge wouldn't come without first understanding the information she had already been given.
"You said that Liu Bai probably won't wake up until tomorrow, right?" Vanna asked.
Shizuka nodded gravely, "Yeah. He's really outdone himself this time…"
"In that case, can I go out and explore some more? I've never been somewhere like this before, and there's still so much I didn't get to see," Vanna couldn't help but smile with excitement. "I haven't even gotten to go to the ocean yet."
Shizuka gave a sideways glance in Quynh's direction, which he immediately turned away from. The qilin rolled her eyes, "I think you should definitely go sight-seeing before we have to leave."
Quynh opened his mouth to protest, then glanced at Liu Bai again. If he didn't go with Vanna, then his alternative would be sitting around with his idiot, unconscious, ill-behaved friend. The dragon heaved an obnoxiously loud groan to make sure his displeasure was known.
"Fine. You can go, but I have to come with you," he hissed. "It's too dangerous for you to go by yourself."