***Rewritten
Ai Xin returned to her room and packed her things and inserted the seal inside her pocket. She was ready to go when someone knocked on her door. Opening the wooden door, a servant held out a pouch with food.
"Head Lien Hua sent me to give you this and wishes you a safe journey," the servant relayed. Then he left.
Ai Xin held the pouch but didn't open it. She remembered their encounter and Lien Hua's life.
A woman who one can look up to…
Flinging the strap over to her shoulder, Ai Xin closed the door of her room and left.
She was heading down the corridor to one side that leaded down to the stables. A cheery voice caught her attention,
"Ai Xin! Heard you're leaving on a mission eh?"
"Junyi!"
The Butterfly General walked down the stairs.
"You're leaving without saying goodbye eh? I wouldn't let that go!" Zhang He chirped, leaping down on the last steps.
"I also heard it's your birthday in a few days." He took something out from behind him. It's a wrapped up gift.
"Zhang He, you shouldn't bother yourself with such things!"
"It's not from me!" he protested. "But from someone else." He pushed the gift to her and winked. "Just take it."
Ai Xin took the gift from his hand, it's light and at the same time slightly heavy on one side. Zhang He nodded and said,
"Well, take care okay? Bring back some Wei glory! I shall be seeing you soon."
He patted her shoulder and went back up the stairs.
Ai Xin's confused with all the things happening. In her hand, she wondered who gave it… Then remembering that she still has something to do, she looked around for a horse. After finding a white mare, she slung her small baggage over the saddle and got on the horse.
Cracking the reins, the horse galloped out of the stables and then to the gates.
"So… have you done what I told you?"
"Why do you keep on hiding in the background for?"
There's movement, a hand held something delicately up.
"I have my reasons and a little gratitude to service." There's a shuffle of clothes and a soft gasp of air.
"Right now… Let's have a little fun."
The white mare galloped across the plain. It's fun to ride again. From time to time, she stopped on breaks and let the horse rest. Night fell and she made camp. When the sun started to rise for her second day of ride, and she can't find her horse anywhere. She noticed that the horse got scared because the branch the reins where tied to broke.
"Bai? (name of the horse which means "white")" she called. "Bai where are you?" She whistled for the horse to come but no one answered it. Taking her sword with her, she suspected that the horse ran to the forest. Checking that nothing valuable was left open, she went into the forest.
She heard a neighing sound. Rushing to find it the source, she actually found the white horse Bai rearing on its legs. Rushing to the side, she tried to reach for the reins.
"Whoa girl, settle down," she coaxed. One hand reached the reins.
The horse did not recognize its rider. Rearing to face Ai Xin, it kicked her hard on the chest that sent the girl to the ground.
"Tch," Ai Xin sat back up and tried to coax the horse down again. This time, she whistled a tune and reached for the reins. The horse calmed down and shook its mane. It didn't neigh anymore, but was very alert.
Ai Xin reached out a hand and stroke its mane, "What happened? What made you run away?"
Soft footsteps on the grass caught her attention. Turning around, there's no one.
"I see you are very sharp for such a young age," came a soft old voice. Ai Xin once more turned around and saw a man between two bamboo shoots. She looked more closely to see that this man has a violet tattoo on his left eye. Taoist robes and a broom kind of hat.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The old man cocked an eyebrow, "You need not to know my name, but I have come, sent by the gods to decide on your fate."
"Decide on my fate? What's that suppose to mean?" Ai Xin retorted. She backed away for the moment. "Look sir, I don't know what you are talking about, but it's been a pleasure meeting you." She was about to turn away with the horse reins on her hand.
"You recently saw in a dream standing on a thin sheet of ice and fell into the waters," the old man spoke.
Ai Xin froze. "How did you…?"
"Know that you dreamed of it? It's a power bested in me." From his pocket, he produced tarot cards. Out of the cards, he drew out one. He gave the card one soft push that it moves in the air to Ai Xin.
"Take this card, it'll help you or it'll harm you as it depends on your decision."
The moment Ai Xin took the card, a swirl of black smoke rose spirally and the old man disappeared.
That is sooo weird, she thought. Looking down at the card, she found no writings except for the design of a woman and a blue phoenix. Had she seen this before?
She pulled the horse back to the small camp. After fixing her stuff and saddling them, she got on the horse and rode again.
She was riding in peace when she heard a commotion up ahead.
"Please leave us alone," pleaded an old man's voice. "You can have our possessions, just leave me and my family alone."
A rusty voice laughed hard and there was a punch that followed.
Ai Xin got down from her horse and bade Bai to stay put. The horse snorted and shook her mane, but stayed in her place. Ai Xin smiled, "That's a good horse. I'll get you an apple there." She drew her blade and crept to the scene.
She hid behind a tree as near as possible. She saw three men wearing a light blue cloth as a mask. The two had the man's family, a wife and a young girl. She searched for the man and found him sprawled on the ground. The biggest, with his mask down, of the small band of robbers seemed to be the leader. She saw the big robber pick the old man again, preparing to punch.
The wife suddenly shouted, "Please, leave my husband alone!"
The big robber laughed, "Maybe you'd like to add your pretty daughter in our stash of goodies."
The wife wrapped her arms around her daughter, with a horrified look on both of their faces.
Ai Xin thought that if she didn't do anything, the family might get hurt more. It's a stupid thing to do, to take on three guys. If she has luck on her side, it might go well.
She picked up a big rock and threw it at the big robber. "Hey ugly! Pick a fight with someone your own size!"
The big robber dropped the man and looked to where the stone came from. He burst out laughing when he saw a woman, small in his terms, came out from behind a tree.
"Go home girlie, or you want a night with me?" his eyes sparkled with malice.
Ai Xin raised her blade, and said, "It's not right to rob other people of their belongings. It's more not right to hit a man who already surrendered everything."
One of the two other robbers spoke, "She look like those Wei ranks boss."
"Yeah, but ain't she like... that lady from the guild?"
The big robber yelled, "Shaddup both of you!" He turned his attention back at Ai Xin. "Like yer have some sort of position to boss us around missy."
Ai Xin drew her blade. It shone against the sun like diamonds. "How about I kick your butt instead?"
The big robber laughed. With his burly size, he didn't need to use weapons. He could already break things with his hands alone. He ran towards Ai Xin, ready for grappling. "Yer asked for it lil'missy!"
Ai Xin still didn't have much experience in sword fighting yet, but what she had in mind had to work somehow. She sidestepped the big opponent. With her height, she had the advantage on speed. The big robber noticed that the girl was just evading him.
"Hah, you don't have the heart to kill, and I thought you're a warrior," he taunted.
Ai Xin kept that remark out of her focus. She then found a weak spot in the big robber's armor. She contacted her blade on it, sending out frosty crystals through the big robber, freezing him on the spot. The ice crept from the open spot down to his feet and only until his head.
The big robber tried to move but yelled, "What did you do to me?"
Ai Xin grinned, "Thought you'd chill out in the snow."
'That's an awful joke Xin,' her conscience chimed.
She turned to the two remaining robbers. They cowered at the failure of their boss and ran off.
The big robber yelled, "You cowards! I'll kill you!" He couldn't even fidget underneath the ice.
Ai Xin ignored the further ramblings of the robber and went to help the man up. "Are you alright?"
The old man nodded, "Yes. Thank you very much Lady -?"
Ai Xin smiled, "Ai Xin."
The wife and daughter went up next to the old man. "Thank you very much Lady Ai. We are in your debt."
Ai Xin grinned sheepishly. "I'm just doing my job. You folks better go ahead before the ice thaws out."
The daughter, roughly around nine or ten, walked up to Ai Xin and smiled, "Someday, I wanna be like you!"
When the family left, Ai Xin walked back to her horse. She walked past the big robber who had stopped yelling curses. When he saw her pass by, he then yelled, "I'll get you Wei officer... You will regret going up against a Mist Rouge!"
Ai Xin got up on Bai's back and looked at the big robber, then left.
She saw the gates of Tianshui county.
A gate guard stopped her. "Who goes there?"
Ai Xin fished out the seal from her pocket. "I come from the main capital." Flashing the seal to the guard. The guard looked at her still suspiciously. The lady didn't look like she came from the Wei capital with the messy get up. "Got into a fight?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, get in."
Ai Xin led her horse in then stopped, "Wait, may I ask, where is the governor of the city?"
The gate guard pointed to the center.
"Thanks!"