"I am fine!" Jingyi says immediately, leaning into Sizhui's touch, as brief as it was. Was he being too obvious? He had not meant to change literally overnight but he could not just unthink thoughts that he had had. "It was just one of those dreams where you wake up and everything seems sideways after, and I had to come find you to make sure..." He really did not know what he was making sure of. Petulantly, he adds, "It woke me up!"

At that, though, he finally rocks back on his heels to consider. What did he want? Now that he was confronted with his actual life, now that he was home, his experiences really did seem like a dream. He opened his mouth to complain a little more, because what he actually wanted was to tell Sizhui about every part of it. It had been so utterly bizarre and like nothing even he could ever have come up with on his own, and Sizhui would have thoughts about it, he was sure. "It was like I was somewhere else for months. Months!"