The presence in his mind, the heavenly force, the thing that called itself "the hand that shapes," stirred. Not a word. Not a message. Just a feeling. A resonance. As though the name meant something. As though the being it belonged to was connected, somehow, to the force that had chosen him.
He shook his head. The feeling faded.
Xu Ran, beside him, clapped his hand on Lau's shoulder.
"Elder brother," he said. His voice was confident. Reassuring. "Don't think about it. No one can be as strong as you. You're chosen by heaven. What's some immortal compared to that?"
Lau looked at him. At the young man's earnest face. At the confidence in his eyes. At the faith, blind and absolute, of a younger brother in his elder brother.
He laughed. A small, tired laugh.
"Indeed," he said. "Indeed."
The ship was called the Heaven's Mantle.
