Pangu led the children to the top of a towering tree that reached the heavens.
On the tree grew a single fruit, glowing with a faint light.
"This is the World Tree," Pangu said. "Your sister, Yuzhen, is inside that fruit."
Shanjue and Qianhui both looked up at the same time.
"She's still an embryo. I am forming a new divine body for her." Pangu paused. "In two days, she will be ready—a seedling of divinity, descending into the world as an angel."
Shanjue stared at the fruit and said nothing.
Qianhui also said nothing.
Then, in unison, they whispered:
"Sister."
Their voices were soft, as if afraid to wake her.
Qianhui turned to Zhenshi and gently said, "Say 'Aunt.'"
Zhenshi looked at the fruit.
She didn't speak.
Qianhui waited a moment, then said again, "Zhenshi, say 'Aunt.'"
Still, Zhenshi said nothing.
She just kept gazing at that glowing fruit, at the person she had never met but had heard about so many times—her mother's sister.
Pangu didn't rush her.
Shanjue remained silent.
Qianhui didn't press further.
The wind rustled softly through the leaves of the World Tree.
After a long moment, Zhenshi asked quietly:
"Can she hear us?"
No one answered.