AN: This is just a short thing I wrote a while ago. Not particularly romantic, but... I suppose if you squint really hard, you might find something. Takes place at some point before they left to find the philosophers stone. I suppose I should say now that most of the stuff I write's done for a 100 theme challenge, hence the numbers before the titles.


021 – Vacation

It was a calm spring evening in Xing. Ling was completely relaxed as he lay back in the long grass. The sun was setting, but the air was still comfortably warm, the faint breeze did little than rustle the leaves of nearby trees.
His pair of bodyguards was nowhere to be seen, naturally. The boy had tried to persuade Fu into letting him leave the palace without armed guards, but was mostly unsuccessful. There had been dangerous rumours in the city, and lately Ling was rarely allowed out without at least 4 guards. Everyone was alert; patrols had doubled around the palace, he had more frequent meetings with the chief of security and guards in the city were being unusually vigilant. Ling doubted that the chief had slept for a few days; he had caught him sleeping in his office earlier that day. Sheng never slept while he was working.

The peace of the evening was broken by the cracking of branches and a thud somewhere off to his left. A string of nearly silent but very colourful Xingese curses emanated from a bush. Ling twisted around to see Lan Fan readjusting her mask and plucking leaves from the folds of her uniform. He caught her eye and spoke.
"Lan Fan? ... Are you okay?" He picked himself off the ground and strolled over.
"Yes, I am sorry for disturbing you, young master," She responded. Ling raised an eyebrow and looked up at the tree.
"You fell about ten feet, are you sure you're not injured?" Lan Fan gave a curt nod, apologised again and made to climb the tree. Ling grabbed her arm.
"Lan Fan, you don't make mistakes like that. When was the last time you slept?" he tried to look her in the eye but she snatched her arm from his grasp and stared at her feet.
"I... three days ago. I'm sorry Young Master I-"
"Stop apologising," Ling cut her off. "It's my fault; your duties have doubled because of the guys after me. You need rest."
"It is my duty to protect you. I can't rest knowing you are in danger," she said, reciting the line as if it were from a script. Ling scowled and folded his arms over his chest.
"You can. I order you to."
"But master I-"
"NO! I'm not listening," he jammed his fingers in his ears and repeated himself over and over. Lan Fan tried to argue, but Ling's childish stubbornness won.

Fu sighed. The young master was impossible to reason with when he got like this. Still, he thought, the girl needed rest.