"Don't you think you might be a little too obsessed, if you chase me across the entire continent and back?" - Lin Si, 14, when meeting an ancient for the millionth time.
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"I like the look in their eyes."
"Oh?"
"Yes, that look they make when facing their opponent, it's so…" enlivening. Riveting. The desire to attain such a look consumes me…but he couldn't say those things.
"I know what you mean," she heard him trail off, and added to not let the conversation die. "That look is something else."
"Well, not just the look tho, their movements, the way they can wield their blades, their weapons, their fists…it's all so…marvelous."
"Mmm." nodded Lin Si. Then she glanced up. "You know what's really marvelous though?"
"Yea?" He asked curiously.
"The way a person, without the ability to walk, to move himself anywhere alone, to even make a pot of tea without help, is able to smile everyday, and make the people around him better for it."
Li Junli suddenly stiffened. Wow. Why did he want to cry? What? Why did those words mean so much? Oh, did she realize he was jealous of the people on stage, that he wanted to lift a sword too? Did she say that she was jealous of him? Is that why? Was he something others wanted to be? No, he'd never thought of himself like that. No one would want to be him. But, she said just the right words, as if she did.
She turned to look back down. "Look at all the faces of those down there, none of them smiles, nor raises up the people around them as you, nor do they have as much joy in life as you do, which is why, it's so marvelous." She felt a little awkward now, giggling. Well, maybe he'd appreciate the compliment, she figured he'd not had very many in life. People spent so much time loving him with actions, sometimes, words felt excessive.
They descended into silence again, she didn't look up, but she noticed his hand raised to his face a couple times. Finally, she found a good moment to speak again.
"Your brother…what does he like?" A chance like this, shouldn't she take advantage of it? She was risking it all right now, afterall…if his brother found them now, he'd probably murder her, and not look back.
Li Junli thought for a moment. "Well, he likes sweet things…"
"Sweet things?" She thought of the rigid, cold, unfeeling bulk of a man, that man like sweet things? No way.
"Yes, candies, but he also really likes fruit, he likes spicy things, but he doesn't like the temperature of his dishes to be too hot, and he enjoys the woods the most, you see, he really likes birds, and his horse, cloudy, that's his horse's name, and he likes soft things too. Fluffy things."
This man had way too much gap moe for her…man, what a man. Well, at least she had a couple ideas now..
"And he likes quiet people the most."
Ah shoot, he's gonna hate me.
"His favorite time is the morning, and when he's nervous, two fingers on his left hand will flinch occasionally."
He grew melancholy.
"He hates reading, but he likes the smell of books."
Okay, so the ink part, or the paper part?
"And his favorite pastime, as you may know, is hunting. He might even go hunting tonight, after he recovers a little, since he was stressed out, and it relieves that stress. His furs that he catches are always the best quality."
Interesting. "Then, what kind of flowers does he like?"
Li Junli thought. Well, his brother didn't really like flowers that much, it was more madam Wang who loved them and planted them everywhere, and his brother merely tolerated them but it was true that.. "Chrisanthemums"
"?"
"I think he likes the smell of them." He couldn't think of another.
She nodded, "alright, thanks."
He patted her shoulder, bending down a little to whisper, "Don't worry, I'm completely on your side, anything you need me to do, I'll do it!"
She gave him a high five, "sounds good, partner, let's take this man by his neck, and never let him let go of me again!"
Li Junli grinned, she stood up to grin back.
"You tired now?" She asked.
He didn't want to admit it, but it was true, he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, no matter how excited he was. He nodded. "Will you help me go back?"
"Of course!" She agreed readily. "Top secret though! Let's make sure no one knows!"
As they went back, he fingered her robe. "Aren't you cold though?" She waved her new gourd in front of him,
"Nah, I got some heated wine again, I'm good."
They entered the residence, and he showed her the way to his room, she rolled him the whole way, sliding the door shut behind them, she lifted him up out of the chair, placing him onto the bed, then wiped down the remnants of dirt on his hands, feet and face. As for his dirt-filled outer robe…she had to take it off him, and hid it under the rest of his laundry in a corner.
She set the money down on the table, they'd made several bets, and now all the cash in there was solid gold, so it looked to be about the same as before as long as the sachet was closed.
By his instruction, she also pulled the covers over him, making sure to tuck him in thoroughly, noticing that it was still rather cold inside, without a furnace or hearth to heat it, and grabbed another blanket to place on top, tucking it in like it had originally been there.
As she finally drew away after straightening the top, she suddenly felt a light tap to her hand, she stopped her movements glancing down, there was no moon that night, but she'd lit a small candle nearby, and she could make out a large smile across his face. "Thank you." He whispered.
She smiled back, lifting her hand to push the long strands of hair away from his face. "Good night, little Li."
She didn't know his name, she'd never bothered to ask, but at this moment, it almost became enduring to not call him by it anyway, she lifted her hand, sniffing out the candle, and after stumbling over every single object in the room, closing the door behind her, left the residence.
Meanwhile, Li Junli's smile didn't disappear, even as he fell into a deep slumber. Little Li, if only she knew…she was so close
+++
Li Junlong found the cold wind was reviving him in a way, along with the steady tromp of his feet on the grass. After hearing his brother went to bed earlier than usual by Sun'er he figured he had recovered enough to go out a bit. Not really to catch anything, he supposed, grabbing just his bow and arrows, not even bothering with his sword. After all, the most there would be out at this time were owls, night birds and rodents, but he just needed to escape and think about what to do about that woman. Luckily, it seemed she had no malice toward them.. However, it would be dangerous if it did come to that point, and she suspiciously approached his brother ahead of time, as if she knew who he was. Judging by how few had seen his brother's face, it was very suspicious. As for whether they were simply a family proposing marriage, that was quickly thrown out the window. He'd had several marriage proposals over the last year, and after rejecting them disdainfully, they had thankfully stopped, but none of those women had the power that she had. She was too mysterious. Holding power on par with his, the current strongest in the world, besides perhaps the ancients, the Tattered Ghost, the White Hare or the Black Dragon Emperor that had died 3 years ago, it was too suspicious that no one knew of her, or that even Long Wen, a man who could see through most people, didn't find her to be anything more than a commoner. There was no way she was that simple. Was she really related to the infamous Lin alchemist family? The ones who made pills that could even raise the dead? Even he had struggled to get their pills for his brother, and when requesting audience, had been denied by the patriarch himself. But he couldn't rule it out, even if they weren't known to be able to practice martial arts at all. In fact, he'd thought he'd heard rumors they were cursed to not.
An owl called out overhead, but his head was already cooling the qi inside him, settling down faster than even during meditation, his eyes scanning the area around himself for anything that moved. He hadn't used any of their limited recovery pills. He didn't dare risk leaving his residence to buy more, much less ask a pill master over. Most pill masters were too prideful to trek over, and would send a servant. Who knew what the servant might do to the pill? As paranoid as was right for someone who'd suffered attempted assassinations since youth, he trusted nothing nor anyone.
Suddenly his eye caught something. It was larger that he thought. He considered, was it boar? No, it seemed too large for that, but the movements, they were so smooth, and agile, its coat blending perfectly in the dark underbrush. He immediately stopped, instincts trained over the years screamed at him that something was up.
He halted, listening around him, here and there, what he'd thought was just the brush of leaf against leaf, it was actually softer than that, it was something else…but it came from several directions. He gazed around him, but with how thick the underbrush was, and how little moon there was in the sky, the new moon just yesterday, it was hard to really make out anything in the pools of darkness between branches. His breath stilled, his body more vigilant than ever, each muscle taunt like a bated string. He wasn't far from the residence, what could have come so close to town? What could have such powerful energy, like that of a grandmaster?
+++
Lin Si quickly rejoined the festivities, placed an offhanded bet, without looking at the opponents, since it was 30 to 1 and strode over to stand beside Long Wen. "Yo, how's he doing?"
She asked, curiously.
Long Wen shrugged. "He's doing alright, not bad, not the best."
'Idk, he was pretty good to me." She took a swig, passing over the wine, he didn't refuse it. Nobody was coming in at the moment, afterall, it was approaching midnight, and they would close up the matches then.
Long Wen shrugged again, how could he explain he was used to her voice? And comparing it was like comparing a dad to a story teller. They were both good but one was just more…natural. Maybe she knew that though, so then there really wasn't a point. He took a swig of her wine, she always somehow got the best of the cheap stock, picking it out by scent from each bottle the seller opened. He went for small talk. "Notice how there are less villagers out tonight?'
She nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking it was strange, was it because there are so many martial artists?" Although, with how busy it was, you'd think the business would be worth it.
Long Wen shook his head, handing back the wine. "No, it's because of some incidents that happened last night."
"Last night? Here?" She was intrigued now.
He shook his head. "Not here, must have been too crowded here, but just south of here, a little between us and the village, no, a little more east of that, apparently a couple young men and women camped out for the night for fun. Attacked by wolves, three of them didn't make it."
Lin Si sighed. "That's awful."
"Yeah," Long Wen, having warmed up to her by now, taking her as one of his own, went from completely stoic and silent to talkative. "And today, a child out fetching water there, also ended up not returning, they tried to track him down, but other than some blood and clothing, nothing could be found, a lot of scratches and digging, thought to be the same pack. What is strange, the young people who returned have weird stories of glowing eyes, and a wolf, three times the size of a normal one, and that they only escaped because that wolf decided the others had killed enough. What kind of wolf were they seeing? Anyway, people were worried they would be attacked while heading up towards us, so didn't dare make the journey." He patted her shoulder. "Make sure to walk in a crowd when you return, don't stay out here tonight."
She nodded. "Thanks."
He suddenly thought of something. "Ah, if you can't find a place in town, I can hold you up for one night, just one tho." He'd broken the girl's heart earlier that day, it wouldn't be good to make her think he liked her, and encourage a destinationless love.
She smacked away his hand. "Keep your charity for yourself. Say, did Lu Wong win? I put a good bet on him…" She glanced over at the arena she had been ignoring.
"He lost already by the time you walked over here," Long Wen gave her a blank, disappointed stare.
"Ah," Lin Si commented slightly, before screaming at the top of her lungs. "D*mn you Lu Wong! I hope you rot in your grave before the new moon, I hope that every glass of wine you taste turns to p*ss in your mouth! I hope that everytime your mother thinks of you, tears of relief she isn't seeing such a disappointment fill her eyes! What a failure of a human life form, what a wasteful use of air, I bet even the trees regret producing food for you! What a sorry loss of human existence, making me lose 60 taels on your sorry *ss!"
She glanced back to grin happily at Long Wen, when she noticed him staring past her with a conflicted look, before turning away a little, distancing himself from her to arrange some documents.
She glanced to where he'd been looking, a young man, with an innocent face, not even 14, had lifted up his hand and started sobbing into his arm.
Ah, oops, he'd been standing just there.
After apologizing profusely, sending him off with some snacks and goodies, she finally went up to relieve the exhausted announcer's place, and finished off the last of the matches before long.
However, as she closed, cleaning up after the guests, despite Long Wen claiming she didn't need to, she suddenly thought of what the little Li brother had said earlier. Didn't he say his brother might go out hunting tonight? And wasn't it kind of dangerous with the strange wolves around? They hadn't particularly sounded like normal wolves. However, in the end, she shrugged it off. A man as strong as him, would he fear a couple wolves? Even with injuries, he should be okay.