7. Peace Between Peoples
A bright light shined on her face. She moaned as she rolled over to turn away, but the light only became brighter. How could it be brighter? She just rolled over. Shouldn't it be darker on this side?
"Wake up, Xing Cai!"
The voice was so distorted in her mind that she couldn't tell whose it was. It rung in her head like and echo in a cave and it only made her head hurt even more. Ugh, why couldn't whoever it was just leave her alone?
"Come on Cai, now it's my turn to enjoy a practical joke."
She mumbled someone to the effect of 'leave me alone', but she wasn't sure. It could have been anything. Wait a minute! How'd she get back in her bed? The last thing she remembered from last night was when Ping took her waist to prevent her from falling, again. After that, she couldn't find anything in her mind. So, who was trying to wake her up?
She rolled over and opened her heavy eyelids. She barely believed who she saw once the blur cleared.
"Bao?"
He smiled.
"Yup, this time, it was me to get the three of you home. Although, I was tempted to just leave you in the hall. If you wouldn't have been able to walk, then I would have, but since you could…" He voice trailed off. "Now get dressed. You'll want to put on something more casual, you won't want your nice dress to get ruined."
He turned and let himself out, closing the door behind him. What did he mean when he said she might get her dress ruined if she didn't change? Since she wasn't really in a position to do otherwise, she got out of bed, holding onto anything she could find for support and made her way to her wooden trunk. She pulled her dress off and slipped on another. It was a blue-green color with short sleeves and a thin gold colored belt. She kicked her green one to the side and weaved over to her door. She pushed the door open, hoping Bao was gone, but he wasn't.
"Come on."
He grabbed her arm and led her down the hall. He was either leading her in circles, he may have been for all she knew, or her head was spinning. It was most likely her head since the halls of Luo castle really weren't that winding compared to others. Then she realized that she wasn't in Luo castle anymore, Bao had led her into the western woods.
"What are we doing here?"
Bao stopped and smiled.
"When I was drunk, I had to have one of mother's 'sobering potions'. Now you get to try it."
He held up a cup with a thick dark liquid inside it.
"You're not going to make me drink it in front of everyone?" She questioned.
He shook his head.
"Nope, not this time. This time I want to be the only one to see you. So I brought you out here so that it won't have to be cleaned up."
Alright, if anything, she did deserve this much. So she took the cup and raised it to her lips. Ugh, just the smell alone made her want to throw up. Regardless, she began drinking. Before she even swallowed half of it, she dropped it and fell to her knees.
Bao held his nose while he laughed as they met her dinner again.
x
They spent at least an hour in the woods, and by that time she was almost sober again. At the very least, her stomach was empty. She was starving, but wasn't sure it she'd be able to hold down a meal. Her ehad felt much clearer and it wasn't spinning any longer. Her vision was also considerably better.
When neither one of them could handle the smell any longer, they both decided to leave and go back to the castle.
"There, now we're even."
Xing Cai wasn't sure if she would that 'even'. She had embarrassed him in front of their lord, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but she wasn't going to point that out. Then she thought of what Bao had said by the fire and how he made her sound like a damsel in distress in front of all the Shu generals. Okay, they were even.
"I'm amazed that you'd held this grudge against me all these years." She told him.
Bao only laughed some more. Wasn't that supposed to be a girl thing? Guys just fought it out and were best friends again the next day if not sooner. Girls were the ones that were supposed to hate each other forever. Oh well, at least it was over now. They finally made peace between them, and Bao was the one to thank for that.
She made a mental promise to herself that she would never do anything to embarrass Bao again since he said he wouldn't embarrass her in front of the others this time. Next time, he probably would do it in front of the others. The last thing she wanted was for the other generals to think she was an out of control drinker like Zhang Fei was. Mostly, she made that promise because she wanted the newly found peace between her brother to survive in this world of chaos were there was no peace. She only wished that she could make this kind of peace with her father too.
When they got back to the castle, her head felt strangely clear. She felt much better. Her stomach was still queasy and she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold down breakfast, but her vision was clear and she wasn't stumbling anymore. She could probably pass for just being tired. However, she didn't want to do any training today. That would just lead to her embarrassing herself.
"Where's Ping and Shan?" She asked her brother.
"Both are awake now. Shan's with Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang is somewhere around here. They're probably planning something. Ping's training with Ma Chao."
"Really? He's not on a hangover?" She asked, surprised.
"You can tell he's a bit tipsy, but I doubt he drank as much as you did."
"Did you sober the other two up also?"
"Yup." He answered with a smile on his face.
Bao turned to go to the training courtyard. Cai went to go and wash up. If she wasn't used to the smell already, she would know just how bad it was, but since she didn't, she decided to wash just in case. She washed and changed into her usual attire, a short dress with knee high boots. Then she pulled her hair away from her face and tied it in a bun, but a few stray hairs fell around her face, she left them. After looking in her mirror, she was certain that no one would know about the pub last night unless they saw her there. So she decided that she would go down to the training courtyard to watch Guan Ping and Ma Chao.
When she got there, she found there were a lot more people there than Ping, Bao and Ma Chao. Zhao Yun was there with fifty foot soldiers. She could tell they were fresh by the way they moved. Their feet shuffled and their arms were weak. Their faces shown confusion as Zhao Yun demonstrated lunges with his spear.
She didn't like training greenies, so she went over to where she saw Ma Chao. He was standing by one of the tables at the edge of the courtyard getting a drink.
"Master Ma Chao." She greeted.
"Ah, Lady Zhang." He replied. "You're just on time. Master Guan Ping, Zhang Bao and I were going to do some training. At least until Zhao Yun is done with his latest group. Then we're going to go to the stables and train some of the new horses. Would you like to join us?"
"Sure, but I'm not much of a horse person. So I'll just watch for that part."
He shrugged.
"We didn't suspect to get to the horses till after lunch anyway. Going by the rate of how slow those soldiers are working, it'll be midday before Zhao Yun has got them sparing halfway decent, and he's still got his lesson with young Lord Liu Shan today too." He told her.
She was surprised that Liu Shan was still trying to learn how to fight. She remembered how poorly he did during their childhood lessons. So she was impressed that he hadn't given up.
"Then where's Guan Ping and Zhang Bao?" She eventually asked.
"They went to get some wood shades for us to use as weapons. Why don't generals train with real weapons?" He asked.
"Lord Liu Bei doesn't think that training is worth getting hurt for. He prefers us to use wood so that the worst you can get is a few bruises." She explained.
He nodded, but didn't look too impressed.
"It would be better if we fought with real weapons once in a while so that we don't get too used to fighting with worthless pieces of wood."
"I agree. I said that Liu Bei prefers us to use wood, not that he orders us to, but still, I'd rather us to use wood for now. At least until I get used to your fighting style. I've never fought with someone that comes from as far north as you do. I imagine that your fighting is different from our own."
He nodded. A small smile curved his lips.
It wasn't long after that that Ping and Bao returned. They both carried two shades since they grabbed one for Zhao Yun, but for now, she would use it. She knew that Bao wouldn't spar against her. They spared often and the often result was her victory and his loss. So he was either going to fight with Ma Chao or Guan Ping. She was certain that she was going to be paired with Ma Chao. After Shan's little display of distrust yesterday, she was sure that Bao would pair himself with Ping. She felt bad for Ma Chao that she and Zhao Yun seemed to be the only ones to trust him, but to her amazement, Bao turned to Ma Chao instead of Guan Ping.
"Come, I want to see how I compare to the warrior from Liang"
Ma Chao smiled.
"Then I challenge you!"
The two men ran off to the center of the courtyard, just next to where Zhao Yun was still trying to train the new soldiers. They began swinging their shades and kicking their legs in a fast moving spar. She didn't think that Ma Chao could move that fast, but he seemed to be enjoying himself more than anything else. Bao too, was smiling. The greenies that Zhao Yun was training watch in amazement. Zhao Yun had to fight to keep their attention and it was a downhill struggle.
"It's good to see Ma Chao's finally making friends and settling in to Shu." She told Guan Ping.
He seemed to be making the same kind of peace she found with her brother, but with the peoples of Shu. She was happy for him.
"I knew that he would, he just needed some time." Ping replied.
"Well after Shan's little… test, I was worried for him."
"Ma Chao can overcome Shan's distrusting attitude. Besides, we should be thinking of Shan as being a little wise. He knows that we can't trust anyone who's willing to fight for us. That's how spies infiltrate their enemies." He pointed out to her.
"Yes, but Cao Cao killed his father, who else would he fight for? He would rather die than serve Wei, and Wu is way too far from his home. I doubt that he'd be willing to go that far to serve a family that only wants to seize the land for themselves. He wants to serve justice."
"Yes, you got into all that with Liu Shan, but I'm more of a simple man, Xing Cai. I don't need lessons on ideology. I serve Liu Bei because my father does. He has the only claim to the imperial throne and he fights for the people. So I fight for him."
Ping raised his shade to the ready position to signal that he wanted to start sparing. She tightened her grip on her own to tell him she was ready.
He swung the shade sideways at her. She blocked it, being careful to use the middle section of the shade, nowhere close to where her fingers were. Ping came back at her and tried to knock her shade out of her hand by bringing his upward, but she spun around so he would hit nothing but air.
They were a few paces apart now. If one thing was for sure, she wasn't going to let Ping beat her. She was going to win, or it was going to be a draw.
When they charged each other, they met with a loud clash of wood. No one had ever managed to break one of these shades before, but both of them shattered. Ping's was broke in half and hers was broke in three places. They stared at each other for a moment. Then they looked down at the pieces of what used to be their shades. When they looked up at each other again, they both started laughing.
"Well, we can either get some new ones or we can watch Ma Chao and your brother." Ping reasoned.
She glanced over where the two were sparing.
"Let's watch, I want to see how good Ma Chao really is."
They gathered what was left of their shades and walked down the halls to put them in the scrap wood pile which was usually used for kindling. They placed to wood at the edge of the pile and stood up straight again. She wiped her hands on her skirt to brush off the dust.
"Xing Cai!"
His voice sounded alarmed and worried. She was confused.
"What?"
"Your arm! Look at your arm!"
He pointed at her right arm. She looked down. There was a small finger sized sliver of wood sticking out of the front of her forearm just above her wrist. There was a two finger space between where the sliver entered her skin and came out the other side. It wasn't a particularly thick piece of wood, but that didn't seem to appease Ping. He grabbed her bad arm for some reason and held it close. Her flesh was stretched and crushed under his fingers. It sent a rush of pain to her knowledge, and she cringed. A noise escaped her lips. It was something between a sigh and gasp.
"We have to get you to Hua Tuo, my father's physician."
He let go of her wrist and grabbed her arm, right at her elbow instead. He took her back into the castle. They went through countless halls to one of the quieter wings of the castle. When they reached the door Ping clearly had in mind, he pounded on the door with the side of his fist.
"Tuo, are you there! It's an emergency!" He shouted.
That was it! She had enough of this. She pried his hand off of her.
"Ping, it's really not that bad."
He gave her a disapproving look, but before he could say anything, the physician's door opened. Hua Tuo was a small man and had a round waistline. His short hair was messy and his clothes were ruffled. His face told them both that he was baffled by their sudden appearance.
"Master Guan Ping, and Lady Zhang, what's wrong?"
"Her arm."
Ping grabbed it again and pulled it to the physician's view. He took a look at it.
"Doesn't look too bad."
She gave Ping an annoyed look that said; 'I told you so'.
"Come in, come in. I was just getting some more of my supplies out."
He opened the door and led them into his chambers. His chambers were more like an office. There were three adjoining rooms that she could see. The first one, the one they were in now, was the biggest. It had a few chairs set up around a few small tables. The room to the left was filled with book cases and cabinets. The room on the right was significantly smaller than the other two. All she could see of it was the foot of a bed sticking out. The narrow doorway hid the rest of it.
"Take a seat, Lady Zhang. Now, how exactly did this happen?"
She sat down on the chair that the physician indicated. He went off to the left room to get the supplies he thought he would need. Guan Ping took the chair next to her. She avoided looking at him. Hua Tuo returned with an armful of supplies he carried against his chest. He spread them out on the table and took a seat on the chair across the table from her.
"We were training, and the shades broke. I'm not really sure how it happened. I don't even know when it did. I didn't feel anything until Guan Ping pointed it out to me."
Hua Tuo nodded, but didn't seem to really understand.
"Now let's see what I can do for you."
He took her hand in his and examined it for a moment. He dug through his tools and pulled out a pinching one that was clearly meant for extraction. Just the sight of the tool made her nervous. The physician lowered it to the wood.
Cai's left hand found its way to Ping's thigh. She squeezed the flesh just above his knee tightly as Tuo pulled the wood out of her arm. After a short intake of breath, the pain went from sharp to dull and throbbing. Then she noticed her hand's violation of Ping's leg. She quickly removed it, but Ping grabbed it and squeezed it in his own. Their eyes met. In that moment, she didn't breathe. However, the moment was short lived. Tuo's rough handling of her arm brought her back to reality. He applied some kind of white cream to the wounds and covered it with bandages.
"I'd like you to come back here before you retire for the evening. So I can see how much it bleeds, but if the blood leaks through the bandages, you'll have to come back earlier." He warned.
"Thank you, Hua Tuo." She told him.
"No problem."
The three of them stood up. Tuo began to gather his things. She and Ping moved over to the door. They went through it and started down the halls side by side.
"This is all my fault." Ping stated.
She stopped in her tracks.
"What are you talking about?"
Ping stopped and turned around to face her.
"That sliver was from my shade, I'm sure of it. I shouldn't have wielded it so harshly. I'm sorry."
"Ping, it's impossible to know whose shade it was. They wouldn't have broken if I wasn't swinging mine just as hard. You don't have to feel guilty. I've had worse."
She looked down at her ankle, which was beginning to hurt again.
"Still." Ping whispered.
She put her unwounded hand on his shoulder and gave him a thoughtful look.
"Really Ping, it's not your fault. I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself either. No one else will."
He nodded, which made her smile. She lowered her hand back to her side. They went back to the courtyard to find Zhao Yun dismissing the soldiers for the day. Ma Chao and Zhang Bao were still going at it with their shades. Why those ones didn't break yet, she wasn't sure.
Zhao Yun went over to them.
"I'm starving, how about some lunch?" He asked.
She nodded.
"Sounds good, but do you think that Ma Chao and Bao will be done soon?" She asked since she was worried that they'd over exhaust themselves.
Zhao Yun turned to look.
"I'm not sure. They've been going at it for a while now. Neither one of them seems to be winning or losing. I'm sure they'll tire themselves before the duel is over."
"In that case, let's get some food." Ping decided.
The three of them went back into the castle and found their way to the dining room. The cooks had some food set out already and would leave it out until they figured everyone had eaten. So the three of them found some seats and began to serve themselves some food. She kept her wounded hand out of sight so no one would ask her about it. If someone asked her about it, she would have to tell the story of how she got it and that would only make Guan Ping feel worse.
The others in the dining room were Liu Bei and Shan, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang.
"There you are Cai, where's Bao?" Her father's raspy voice asked her.
She wasn't sure if Liu Bei or her father knew that she, Shan and Ping were out at the pub last night, but she wasn't going to tell them about it.
"He's training in the courtyard with Ma Chao."
"Really?" Liu Bei asked, in an interested sounding voice.
"Yes." Zhao Yun conformed. "They've been going at it for nearly half an hour now. Neither one of them seem willing to lose, but I'm confident that their appetite will force them to stop soon enough."
Xing Cai cringed as she watched Zhang Fei fill a goblet with wine. Already, really? Did he have to start his drinking this early in the day? She felt herself fading away from the conversation, but didn't do anything to stop it. It was like going into a dream.
Her dream was stopped by the laughing of Zhang Bao and Ma Chao. They came in side by side and sat down side by side as they began serving themselves some food. Everyone else was silenced, but neither Bao nor Ma Chao seemed to notice.
"By all means Ma Chao, tell us what has happened." Liu Bei told him.
"Well… we were sparing… and the shades just broke. They both broke in at least three places. It was the strangest thing I've ever had happen to me while training." He managed to say between laughs.
Bao's laughs stopped as he began eating. Ma Chao took a long drink from his goblet of water. Cai turned to face Ping and quietly whispered to him.
"See? It wasn't your fault. We've got a bunch of faulty shades."
Please keep the reviews coming! Xing Cai's and Guan Ping's romance is getting more and more serious. So things are really going to heat up now.
