In her room Sun Shang Xiang sat on a mat sharpening her arrows. A handmaid walks over to her and starts brushing her hair. Xiang pushes the handmaid's hand aside and continues to sharpen her arrows. After a few minutes the handmaid begins brushing her hair again. This time Shang picks up an arrow and points at the handmaid.

"Leave me alone, I don't care about my hair being all pretty, can't you see I'm busy?" She sighs and continues working on her arrows. The handmaid shrugs, stands up and walks out of the room. Shang shakes her head and finishes the last arrow. She smiles at the work she did and puts the arrows in her quiver and places on a hook on the wall. As Shang turns to walk out her brother Sun Quan was standing in the door way. Shang was taken aback for a second and raised her eyebrows,

"Sun Quan, you surprised me, what are you doing here?" Sun Quan motions for her to follow him. He sits down in the living room and tells the handmaid to bring over wine. Shang Xiang carefully sits down across from her brother, curious on why her brother decided to come visit today. The handmaid pours Quan a cup of wine and he hands it to his sister. The handmaid pours a second cup of wine and Quan holds it up. Shang Xiang slowly raises her cup before drinking it. Quan placed his cup down and sighs.

"Shang Xiang… there is a war coming. Wei has become a huge threat and we need to stop him. To be able to conquer Wei and unify China under the kingdom of Wu we must join forces with those of Shu. Liu Bei has some formidable allies under his kingdom that can do us a lot of good against Wei. Zhuge Liang's intelligence with the strength of his sworn brothers would make us unbeatable." Shang Xiang raises her eyebrows and scratches her head in confusion.

"Does this mean you need my help!" Shang Xiang jumps up and grabs her arrow from the side table. She runs into her bedroom and grabs her quiver and runs back out. Quan is still sitting there with a displeased look on his face. Shang Xiang's big smile slowly fades to a concerned look. She places her bow and quiver down and sits again. "Or… not? Why exactly are you telling me this if it isn't to tell me that I can join the battle…?"

"We need something that will ensure that Shu will accept our alliance. We need you… to marry Liu Bei." Shang Xiang quickly stands up in shock. "This is the best way to make Liu Bei agree. Zhou Yu, Lu Xun and Zhuge Jun all agree that to make Liu Bei join us would be to ask him to marry you, we all agree that he will agree and our alliance will go through."

"Wait… why do I have to? There are so many other women that you could send off the Shu! Why should I have to do this? You don't respect me at all! I'm tough enough to be a warrior of Wu but all you think of me is a woman and nothing more. I'm not just a woman, I'm a Sun! I want to fight Wei for our father, I want him to be proud of me for defeating Wei and fighting under his flag. I am not marrying Liu Bei." Sun Quan tries to get a word in but Shang Xiang slams her bow on the table and storms out of the house.

"Ah father… there must be something to get her to change her mind. Send me a sign… something that will show us that our fight will not be in vain." Right as Quan finishes saying that he hears a commotion outside.

"My lord! My lord! I have important news!" A messenger is running towards Shang Xiang's house as Quan walks out. The messenger stops in front of him and pants. He bows to his lord and catches his breath. "Lord Quan, Zhuge Liang of Shu has arrived!"

"Ah! Thank you father! Bring Zhuge Liang to the guest quarters by the throne room and have him wait there for a half hour as I get things ready for an official meeting between Wu and Shu." The messenger bows and runs off to tell Zhuge Liang. Sun Quan smiles and nods to himself. "Father, with this meeting I am sure we will be able to bring Shu and Wu together and be able to defeat Wei once and for all. Bring us luck for this."