part three!
"I want to go to Amestris."
"What?"
Lan Fan could already tell this conversation wasn't going to end well. She shifted slightly next to him, looking everywhere but his mother who had paused her writing to glance up at him. Ling, however, kept his eyes trained on the woman in front of him.
"I want to go to Amestris. I'll find the key to immortality and I'll bring it to him and then I'll become Emperor," he said and he sounded so sure, so confident she wouldn't ever have guessed he had actually spent an hour in front of the mirror practicing this speech. "I'll take Lan Fan and Fu with me, and I'll be fine. If that elixir is what he wants, I'll get it for my father."
The room was silent, but only for a moment. Ling's sister stood up, glaring.
"Are you insane? You can't cross a desert by yourself!"
"I won't be by myself," he said patiently and she jabbed a finger in Lan Fan's direction.
"She won't be any help at all!"
"Rika, sit down," he snapped, leaning forward to glare down his nose at her. The twelve year old growled and turned to her mother.
"Tell him! Tell him this is such a stupid idea; who cares if he becomes Emperor or not!"
"You may go." They all stilled. Only Lan Fan let out the breath she had been holding, lifting her hands from the floor to her lap. Ling did his best to fight the smile that was creeping on his face but it was no use; he grinned and clasped his mother's hands, bringing them to his lips.
"I will not disappoint you," he promised and Rika screeched. Instead of rolling his eyes like she expected, Ling pressed himself into his sister's side, bringing her to his chest. He stroked her long, black hair for a moment before kissing her forehead.
"I'll be fine; stop throwing a tantrum," he chided and she kept her arms by her sides, refusing to melt into the embrace. Lan Fan wanted to thank his mother, look up and smile and watch the expression on Ling's face but she kept her eyes trained to the floor. Here she was not an equal, she was a vassel.
"We're going now; I hope you both come to say goodbye tomorrow morning," he said and gestured for Lan Fan to stand up. She nodded stiffly and followed him out, ignoring the echo of his mother's soft whispers to the crying little girl next to her. Once they were outside, he whirled around and grabbed her shoulders.
"It worked!" She allowed herself a smile.
"You did well, my Lord. I would never have guessed how nervous you were," she said and he laughed sheepishly.
"You know me too well; my hands were shaking the whole time." They walked down the dirt path that would leave to Lan Fan's room, near the back of the large mansion that made up the Yao house.
"Do you think I'm making the right decision?"
"It's not my place to say, Young Lord." He stopped his tracks and she twisted around to look at him.
"Lan Fan," he whispered, rubbing his forehead. "It's just us. Please, tell me if I'm doing the right thing." She looked down, at the wall, anywhere but his face. Was he? They were traveling across the desert to an unknown country to find something they didn't even know existed. Finding immortality so that he could become Emperor and there, she could keep her promise of staying by his side.
"I think you're doing the right thing." Ling let out a sigh of relief and she didn't know why the answer had mattered so much to him. He'd do it anyway, without her permission (she feared he'd even do it without her company), so she was confused by the grin that rose on his face.
"Good, I think so too."