The next morning, dawn crept over the Underworld's perpetual twilight as Rui, Shen, and Kee Kee approached the Pavilion of Shadow Judgment.
"Are you absolutely certain about this?" Shen asked for what felt like the hundredth time.
Rui kept her eyes forward.
"We spent all night planning this, Shen. I'm not turning back now."
"Planning is generous," Kee Kee muttered from her shoulder.
"More like you two arguing while I offered brilliant suggestions that were cruelly ignored."
"Come on, if anyone knows how to slip between realms undetected, it's Madam Meng," Rui said.
"She deals with the Celestials more than anyone."
The door swung open before they could knock.
Madam Meng stood in the entrance, her lilac hair coiled elegantly around golden pins, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of them.
"My, my," she said, her gaze sliding from Rui to Shen with undisguised interest.
"Back so soon, Princess? And with another handsome companion, no less?
