-1Vignette set in the Lotus Assassins Fortress immediately following the death of Master Gong and Zu's admittance that he was the Assassin sent to murder Master Li's family and that "Sun Li's daughter still lives" and what that means to Silk Fox.
As a child Sagacious Zu had always had a natural gift for stealth, something that was augmented by his time with the Assassins and its most recent use included a rather dramatic exit leaving Master Li's prize pupil with an explanation as to why his most tortured follower came to be so conflicted. Similarly the Heavenly Lily in her Silk Fox guise was left with even more unanswered questions. Her confusion, obvious even with her vale was not lost on her companion. Furious Ming interrupted the silence with a simple request "We both need to sit and think before we go any farther".
"We've already taken in so much knowledge about the Assassins" Ming began "and to have the knowledge come from one who saw their birth and the knowledge that imparts," Ming trailed off again not wanting to tarnish Lian's image of her father which in spite of what they had learned of the Golems still remained on a pedestal. After a few moments of trying to verbalize his thoughts he finally gave up and decided he did not want to miss a good chance to shut up. "it… it… I just don't know". Ming's assumption was correct as Lian enjoyed the companionable silence for a few moments before finally answering.
"I have a cousin" she admitted softly, "I was always told that my aunt had had a difficult pregnancy and that when the time of labor finally came it was too much for her and she died to give her child life. Yet it was all for naught as the infant girl was still born." Her voice began to rise, "Growing up with another princess, their could have been two Heavenly Lilies, Silk Fox could be at two places at once, it could have been so different, not so isolated," and now her voice rose and became angry "now my cousin and fellow royalty is doing who knows what at the ends of the Empire when she should be at my side!"
In the short time he had known her, Ming was well aware of Lian's famous temper and found plenty of explanation as to why she was angry. Growing up the one constant in the princess' life had been a sense of loneliness, all of her peers were beneath her and she was coddled without question, yet it was always so impersonal. She escaped into Silk Fox but then she was always just a shadow, a rumor, she never could reveal her true identity. In either form she ultimately was an expression of her talents rather than a real person. While it was not nearly on the same level as what Lian experienced Ming found his memories drifting back to the Two Rivers School and how just about every student that had recently arrived always saw him more as a master-in-the-making then as an individual with a unique personality. Like the princess he had not much cared for it and was relieved when his fellow students actually got to know him and realized that when the princess joined the party that his conversations with her were perhaps the first time that anyone wanted to know her as a person rather than as royalty or an enigma.
Giving the princess a few moments to vent steam Ming finally began "Before you joined the party, when were stuck in Tien's Landing we encountered a woman who Zu knew well and entrusted with a baby. I don't see who else this baby could be but your long lost cousin. Shortly after meeting this woman, Hui, left Tien's Landing but before she did she told us that she entrusted the child to Master Li. When, we get to the palace we can simply ask him who your cousin is and where she is and after we dispose of Death's Hand and settle the restless dead then you can finally find her and be reunited."
Ming watched as his suggestion brightened his companions face, no small feat considering their present location and the wheedling, manipulation and murder that accompanied it, not to the mention the evidence that made the chances of her father the Emperor being able to make a plausible explanation more and more slim. The smile Lian bore was the antithesis of the Fortress and seemed to Ming like a lifeline, a reminder that their were people out their in the Empire that did not possess the brutal and thoroughly Closed-Fist philosophy of the Assassins. He silently rose to his feet and Lian mimicked him after a moment. Once she was up he said the last words he would say before the corrupted golems tore the place apart "Now the evidence you seek lies in the inner chamber, let's do what we came for and get out of this hell".
Author Note: How was it? This was jus a vignette, the idea in of itself isn't enough to write a whole story around but it certainly raises an interesting point, Lian if she knew her cousin was alive would probably have a vested interest in finding and meeting this person and what a surprise when she founds out that it is Dawn Star, a person with which she has absolutely nothing in common with. A reconciliation fic where the two become friends is beyond my ability but I would love to read one. Anyway I hope you enjoyed my fic.