Going East

Fu was busy with his homework when Jun Li returned from her training session and even though he wasn't easily distracted because he had inherited his mother's calm and attentive demeanour, he raised his head and looked at his guardian. He really, really liked Jun Li even though she wasn't half as awesome as his precious Victoria-sama. Jun Li was a great fighter, he would give her this, but she lacked the understanding for the inner agony of the people around her.
Maybe it is, he mused, because she had spent too many years on causing said inner agony.
He had no illusions about his guardian's past. He had watched her during her training many times and he had seen which distanced and cold expression her usually warm and kind face had whenever she worked on her skills. She was a training fanatic – just like Edward or Jade. Still, as much as Fu loved his aunt as much he feared her.

"Fu," she stated as she put down her bag with her training clothes. "How are you today?"

He shrugged before he smiled. "I just finished my homework," he announced. "Can I play outside now?"

"Sure," she said before she crossed to the couch where she fell asleep in less than a minute.

He watched her for a moment before he turned to leave. He had learned that sometimes, she needed a little bit time for herself to stay sane and he knew when he had to leave her alone. She was a good teacher for the cruel reality of life in Xing and the prince respected her for the sometimes harsh way she reminded him of the truth that waited for him at home. She was wonderful and he loved her like an older sister, a wise person who could teach him the ways of the world. And at the same time, he always understood why the people of Xing had feared her for such a long time. She could be scary when she was mad at someone – Cai would second this statement at anytime.

Jun Li opened her eyes moments after Fu had left and got up from the couch before she washed her face and her body. She took her white dress with the golden dragon on the back before she made her way to the graveyard of the Xingese Community in Central City. And there she stood – just like a white lily among weeds. She never shared her grief with the other Xingeses who came to mourn Lei Wu who had been the owner of the Golden Dragon and the fonder and leader of their community. They stood in neat lines and their silken clothes shimmered in the faint light. Most Xingeses in Amestris wore expensive clothes and Jun Li often wondered how they could pay for it. But as different as they all seemed to be, they wore the same colour. White. Sometimes, it was a beautiful colour, innocent and pure. At other days, it was the colour of sorrow, of loss.

When Jun Li looked close enough, she could make out the different clans the Xingeses in Amestris originally belonged to. It was easy for her because she had spent so many years at the Imperial Court where all the clans were assembled. And anyway, the different clans stood closer to each other than to a person from another clan – as if to avoid a contagious illness. Most of them held lilies in their hands. Lilies – as any flower – could be the symbol of love, devotion and beauty but this time, the lilies were white and they were a sign of respect, in the memory of the man who had died many months ago.

Jun Li heard soft footsteps behind her and she looked over her shoulder even though she knew who had had the nerve to follow her to this place. Lei had always been her shadow in times of loss and pain but unlike all the other times, he said nothing this time while he looked at his father's grave.

The silence around them was a heavy weight and it pulled her down, Jun Li decided. It was like a veil that couldn't be lifted and therefore continued to interfere with her vision. The air around her tasted of grief – bitter and unrelenting. She hated moments like this.

Her husband moved forward and left her alone with her darkness – just like she needed it to be because she had never been big on sharing her feelings with anyone but her sister, a long time ago. And while Lei kneeled down to pray, Jun Li stayed where she was, who she was. She watched the same way she had watched before she had come to Amestris, attentive yet distanced.

She was a former warrior of Xing. She fought for her homeland and found her strength in the loving and warm arms of her family. Even now after a loss that had taken so much from her, she was strong because she knew that failure had never been an option for her and she wouldn't make it one now.

After a moment of silent thoughtfulness, she stepped forward to take her place next to her husband.

"So, you decided?" Lei asked quietly while she folded her hands and kneeled down next to him.

"I decided," she said slowly while she inhaled the familiar scent of the lilies.

"You are going to accept the mission," he stated because to him, it had never been a question.

"Yes," she said softly while she closed her eyes. "This mission requests an agent who knows Xing like the back of his or her hand. Xing is the country where I've been born. I am taking the mission."

"I thought that you never wanted to return because the pain would kill you," he commented.

"Sometimes, you have to overcome your fears," she said wisely.

"…I would lie if I would say that I didn't expect this," Serena said slowly as she looked at the injured woman in the hospital bed in front of her. "And maybe, this is the best thing you can do right now."

"I don't want to seem like a coward, madam, but my cover is blown and the enemy knows my face. I lost any value I used to have as an agent," Stevens said from underneath the bandages around her face.

"So, what will you do now?" the blond head of security inquired. "As hard as it may sound: you know too many secrets of this state to leave the governmental organisations all together."

"I return to my roots," the woman said softly. "I will return to the military. I don't want to stop fighting for the state I believe in after all I went through."

"You are a very brave woman, Stevens," Nerissa said from behind her sister. "I respect this decision."

But then again, Nerissa had always been the one to accept while Serena had been the one to make everything far more difficult than it should be. Still, Nerissa loved her messed-up little sister and would find no rest before she had found the right one for Serena because even the woman who claimed to need no man to share the way with her needed someone to laugh with her. And Nerissa was – along with everyone else who knew Serena – sure that the right man for the Princess of Eternal Winter was Doctor Knox – junior, of course.

Cai had always been the calm and kind boy in their little group but sometime, he shared his older brother's impatience – and to wait twenty minutes in front of Laila's room when she had said 'give me five minutes to get ready' was something that could annoy him greatly because he hated to wait.

"Lai," he shouted as he knocked once more. "Can you please hurry up?"

"Don't be like that!" she yelled back. "I can't find my necklace and without it, I refuse to go outside!"

The necklace had been a present from Nick to her birthday and while she forgot where she had put it every other day, it was also the necklace she always wore when she went out with Cai.

"You can forget this date anyway," Victoria said as she passed the Xingese boy. "You're far too late."

Sometimes, the black-haired boy suspected that she was slightly jealous because Owen was buried in work these days because so many things happened at the same time and it was difficult to decide who was responsible for which incident and therefore it had been weeks since Owen had taken Victoria out for dinner or a walk in the park while Cai and Laila had a date every second day.

"You're right," Cai admitted before he looked at her. "How are you doing anyway, Vicky?"

"Busy," she said while she put down the stack of books for a moment. "What about you?"

"I am working on a design for a new library because Ling wants to do something for the education."

"That sounds really great," she said before she waved and disappeared into the kitchen – probably to get some more lemons. Cai had the suspicion that she needed them to stay awake when she was doing her time-consuming studies. But this was the reason why she and Owen were such a great couple: both of them were terrible workaholics and they tried to avoid their time of rest as far as possible. Every once in a while, Laila, Nick, Elicia and Cai met up and wondered if the workaholic2 – their nickname for the duo of hard-working teenagers – would ever have the time to tie the knot. Nick always sighed at his sister's behaviour but frankly, it was how she would always be because she often said that if fate didn't favour someone, hard work was the only way out of the misery.

Laila often complained about her sister's terrible lack in interest for anything but her work, her family and her boyfriend because according to the blonde, there was a whole world Victoria had never attempted to conquer: the world of fashion. As an artist, Laila searched for beauty and while she was far from superficial, she still wanted the ones who were especially close to her to take part in the beauty around them – and a certain redhead had refused to do so for many years by now. Elicia had far more patience with them and swore that Victoria would be probably the first to walk down the aisle because in the end, she had always been the first in everything and it would be a surprise if it would be different this time. And Cai had decided that he would allow the red-haired guardian of the Hawkeye-legacy to marry first because Fu would never stop bothering him if he wouldn't let Victoria be the first to marry.

Finally, Laila appeared. Her hair was down and she wore a white hair band while her dress was pastel yellow. She was someone for soft colours, Cai had always seen this. "Hey," she said before she looked at the floor. "I am sorry for wasting so much time, Cai. I just couldn't find the necklace."

He chuckled before he wrapped one arm around her waist to hug her tightly. "No problem," he said. "It means that I don't have to explain Jun-Jun why I didn't take you to one of her restaurants, Lai."

She smiled. "Vicky was kind enough to let you in, right?" she asked.

"She seems pretty busy these days. I hardly see her in town. Usually, I always meet her at the coffee shop around eleven o'clock but I haven't seen her there in two weeks," he shrugged. "Anyway, let's take a walk in the park, alright? It's a beautiful evening today and the air is fresh."

"Sure," she said and grabbed his hand before they left the house.

For Jun Li, it meant a lot of work to prepare for this mission.

It meant to return to the black suit she had worn a long time ago. It meant to trade the brassieres she usually wore for chest bindings which she had always loathed. It meant to leave her kitchen and her restaurants to enter the battlefield one more time. As she stood in front of her mirror, she sighed deeply. She looked terrible young in her own eyes as she stood in her bedroom with her wide black pants and the stark white chest bindings. Her hair was bound to a Cretan braid and she slammed the heavy ring made of jade which had been a present from her old master against the palm at her hand before she added it to her hairstyle. She stared at her marred shoulders for a moment before she grabbed her black shirt and pulled it over her head. The dark grey dragons on both sides were nearly invisible but it didn't matter because she had a huge golden dragon on the back of her jacket because as a former bodyguard of the Dragon Emperor how many had called Jun Yao, she was a Dragon Warrior and the pattern reappeared on her shirts, on her dresses – and her mask. She carefully took the fragile item from the box where she had stored it for so many years while she had worked hard for the reputation of an honourable woman while in reality, she had always been a perfect killer. Maybe not as perfect as Jade but more than sufficient either way.

She remembered her conversation with Serena considering this mission and she knew why she had been chosen: she knew how Xing worked, she spoke the language and as one of the legendary Dragon Warriors, she had some kind of popularity and influence which could be useful. Jun Li knew that this wasn't the full truth. She had been chosen because she was quick with the weapons which were typical for the area and in case that she had to kill, no one would suspect the Amestris Fire Lion because it was a secret that Jun Li had applied for a position there. (The Eye of Xing which she had worked for before bemoaned, in fact, still the day she had left the country to become the owner of a restaurant because even though she had never accepted this herself, she had always been one of the best.)

Lei stopped behind his wife as he entered the room and kissed her cheek. "You are sure that you want this?" he asked carefully while he hugged her tightly.

"This is my chance to prove that I am more than just a name and a memory," she said. "I am not vain and you know this better than anyone else but if I don't want to be forgotten, I need this mission."

"I understand," he said because it was everything left to say. Their relationship had never been a loud one. They preferred silent signs of affection and gazes which told more than thousand words. It was what was left after all the years they had had to hide their love. They had became far too good in telling each other everything with a simple gesture. It had saved their lives many times that they had never needed words because a word was to be heard. To be heard meant to be killed.