Author's Note For This Chapter: Do you recall my introduction before the first chapter of this story about my created characters? Well, you've already met Ice, but the rest of those characters (all of them aren't mine; my mother and my sister created characters on the Dynasty Warriors' game as well) are being introduced in this chapter, and there are quite a few.
I don't own Dynasty Warriors, period. Now, on with Chapter 8!
Destined
Chapter 8
The sun was shining high in the sky that day. Ice stood outside soaking up its warming rays.
"It's so beautiful out today." she commented out loud. "Not a cloud in the sky."
A gentle breeze blew to even out the heat of the day, making it all the more enjoyable.
"What shall I do today?" she pondered.
"How about hanging with us for a while?" a voice said to the right of her.
Ice looked to see Pyra coming toward her, a warm smile on her face. Following her was Flame, Solace, and Angelle.
"Hey, guys." Ice greeted, hugging each of them.
"Hi, glad we caught you before you decided to venture off again." Pyra laughed.
"Yeah, well today I was actually planning to wonder around the palace grounds a bit. I'm sure there's some part of it I've never seen before." Ice replied.
"I doubt that." Flame said. "You've been everywhere within these walls."
"Or have I?" Ice said in a mock mysterious tone prompting laughter from all the women.
"So Ice, are you gonna tell us about where you've gone outside the palace walls?" Solace asked.
Ice suddenly felt nervous. "Well, it's probably not that interesting a subject to just sit and talk about." she said, laughing a little.
"Oh come on, I bet it is." Solace said.
"Yeah, we'd love to listen." Angelle agreed.
"I don't know…" Ice started.
"Come on, sis, please?" Solace begged.
Ice sighed heavily. What will they say if I tell them that I've been to the other kingdoms? she thought warily. What will they say if I tell them that I met a guy in Jian Ye that I'm beginning to like? On top of that what will they do?
"Ice?" Pyra called to her cousin, yanking Ice out of her thoughts.
"Okay, I'll tell you everything." Ice said without thinking.
Angelle and Solace cheered while Pyra and Flame smiled.
"However, what I tell you, no one else can know." Ice said.
"Okay, where are we gonna sit?" Solace asked.
"In the blue garden." Ice replied. "But before you go, see if you can find the others."
"You mean Mist and Justice' and…" Angelle asked.
"Yes." Ice said.
"Okay, we'll meet you in the garden." Solace said as she and Angelle bounced off to find their sisters and cousins. Ice smiled weakly after them, and then sighed again.
"Ice, what is it?" Pyra asked as the three of them began their trek towards the blue garden.
"Nothing." Ice said quietly.
"Come on now, Ice, we know when something's bothering you." Flame said. "You can tell us."
Ice fiddled with her fingers. "I guess it's just that I don't know how you will react to what I'm gonna tell you is all." she said. "I don't know how you'll respond to the places I've been and the things I've done while I've been 'adventuring'."
Pyra and Flame looked at each other, and then back at Ice. "You can confide in us, dear cousin." Flame said.
"Yeah, your adventures are safe with us." Pyra added reassuringly.
Ice smiled up at the twins. "Thanks." she said, breathing easier now.
"You're welcome." the two said in unison.
Da and Xiao were sitting at one of the many tables in the dining hall eating breakfast when Shang Xiang stormed in. She marched to their table and sat down, arms crossed over her chest and a frown decorating her face, which was red out of anger. Da and Xiao looked at each other before glancing back at Shang Xiang, both almost too afraid to speak.
"Um, S-Shang Xiang, a-are you, um, okay?" Xiao asked.
"No I am not." Shang Xiang muttered angrily. "He is such a jerk."
"I'm sorry, who's such a jerk?" Da asked.
"Gan Ning." Shang Xiang answered. "I go to ask him one question and he snaps at me! One question! How rude is that!"
"I take it your interrogation didn't go well?" Ling Tong asked, suddenly appearing at the table. He sat down next to Da so that he was sitting directly across from the princess.
"No it didn't." Shang Xiang said.
"What interrogation—oh, you asked him, didn't you?" Da asked.
"Yes, I asked him." Shang Xiang said. "And then he went off."
"Well, what exactly did you expect to happen, Shang Xiang? The guy was sleeping for god sakes." Ling Tong said. "I would have reacted the same way if someone came up to my room and woke me up to ask me a question about something that's more or less none of their business."
"He still could have answered the question without biting my head off!" Shang Xiang snapped.
"And you could have avoided getting your head bitten off by waiting until he woke up." Ling Tong argued. "You would have easily bypassed all this trouble by doing that."
Shang Xiang opened her mouth to retort, but Da cut in. "Did he say what he was doing?" she asked.
"Yes, he said that they talked, that's about it." Shang Xiang replied, calming down.
"Okay, that's good to know. Now, let us eat breakfast and nourish our bodies for training." Da suggested.
Shang Xiang and Ling Tong looked at each other and nodded slightly, silently ending their mini-feud; Shang Xiang then got up to get some breakfast. Ling Tong glanced back at her before turning back to the Qiaos.
"Some day this is turning out to be." he mumbled.
"It's only morning, cousin." Da said. "I'm sure things will smooth themselves out as the day continues."
"Yeah, besides, we all know Shang Xiang can't stay mad at Gan Ning for very long." Xiao said cheerfully.
Ling Tong looked over at the younger Qiao, curiosity suddenly beginning to course through him.
"You think so?" he said, willing Xiao to keep talking; meanwhile Da gasped at the unwanted direction this conversation was taking. He can't know this. her mind screamed at her.
"I know so." Xiao started. "You see, Shang Xiang really thinks he's—…"
A hand clamped firmly over Xiao's mouth, cutting her off abruptly. Ling Tong looked up at Da.
"What'd you do that for?" he asked. "Thinks he's really what?"
"Nothing, she doesn't think anything." Da responded as coolly as she could.
"Oh, I beg to differ." Ling Tong said a hint of laughter in his voice. "Come on, tell me…"
"It's none of your business, and don't you go assuming anything and running your mouth about it, because if you do, I will tell Gan Ning that…that you called him a dumb brute." Da threatened.
Ling Tong laughed at the weak threat. "Okay, okay, fine, but know that I'm pretty sure about the second half of that sentence and might I say that I agree." Ling Tong said as he got up from the table.
Da frowned. "Keep your mouth shut." she warned.
"Fear not, precious cousin of mine." Ling Tong called back as he headed for the tables of food. "My lips are sealed."
Xiao, finally able to pry her sister's hand from her mouth, watched Ling Tong as he disappeared into the breakfast crowd. "He's so gonna tell." she said after a few seconds.
All of the women gathered in the blue garden and sat down in the grass around the base of big fountain at its center. Ice sat on the granite bench in front of everyone, running her hand gently through the sparkling blue water.
"Okay, Ice, spill. Tell us everything." Solace said excitedly.
Ice looked over the crowd of her sisters and cousins sitting around her feet. Luna, Solace, Spirit, Firestar, Justice', Mist, Angelle, Kya, and Ms. Chaos sat on the grass before her while Pyra and Flame sat on the bench, one on either side of her. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat.
"Where do I begin?" she asked rhetorically, letting a nervous laugh escape her. "I suppose I'll start from my first time outside the city."
The women shifted so that they would hear everything. Ice glanced at the twins sitting on either side of her. Both smiled back at her, their expressions saying, "It's okay. Go for it."
Ice smiled slightly and turned back to her listeners. "Okay, my first day outside of the palace walls was, well, nothing like I thought it would be. I mean, it was nice and all at first, but then something happened that I wouldn't have, or couldn't have seen coming…"
Ling Tong knows Shang Xiang's secret...Ice is about to tell it all at the risk of her kin's opinion of her travels...Oh, the humanity!! So, what'd ya think. All opinions welcome.
xLonely Soldierx
