What they stood upon now was nothing more the piles of rubble that had seemed once to be a temple. The territory of the nanman's was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The jungles where humid, muggy, and over all miserable to those dressed in normal attire. Which the very thought gave her some comfort that Zhuge Liang would be having to repeatedly fan himself to have a remote bit of comfort in this tropical waste land. Kneeling she glanced down towards what appeared to be remains of some ancient civilization before the Nanmans. From what she gathered they lived in wooden huts that was aided and supported by various other materials that could hardly be considered stable. Oddly enough they were built with slight stilts too.
There was no sign of anyone at the moment though. Not the enemy army, not any bases, only quiet towns and the main camp in the corner of her vision. Scouting duty had been given to her, yet she was forced to keep the guard with her at all times just in case she tried to make some get away in the middle of the jungle. Honestly did they think her so dumb to do so? No...they labeling her as extremely desperate to get back home, which in truth she was...wasn't she?
Sighing heavily she rose back up front her kneeling position. Glancing up at the sky she noticed the constant darkening that occurred in the cloud pattern. It had been sunny the entire time they been sitting tight, but suddenly everything was darkening. Thunder rumbled over head, making everyone in the unfamiliar territory a little uneasy.
"General..." She looked over her shoulder to Wei Yan who stood with his back to her, keeping a look out for any possible attempts to corner the two of them on the mini- hill. "We're done here..."
"Find..?"
"Not much." Qilin sighed glancing back at him, "I think theres some underground passages in those remaining ruins that we could go through. But from here I can't tell if we'd be walking straight into a trap or not."
" I see..." The masked man mused slightly over her words before moving to look over at the setting himself. "hmm.."
"What?"
"We'll move...to there.." His eyes shifted from the view down to her, expecting some sort of answer or retort from the girl. Pretty thing was too damn troublesome, openly arguing her opinion, how had she survived in the world of men for so long he wondered. However Qilin simply rose nodding her head in a agreement, as a crack of thunder echoed over head. "Storm..."
"Yes...I have a feeling this might cause some hindering in the mission.."
"..Lets move.."
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"Isn't the view lovely!?" Xiao Qiao squealed excitedly looking over the banks of the river from their boat that sailed from border to border with little trouble. The high spirits of the girl for some reason had returned miraculously after a few evenings of being on the boat and sleeping under the stars. "No wonder Lord Zhou Yu and Sun Ce loved sailing so much! Right sis?"
"I suppose so.." The elder Qiao responded looking towards her sister with a small smile on her face. Sitting on one of the rails, her hands grasped tightly to keep herself on, despite the rapids were practically non-existent with Gan Ning's sailing techniques. He did deserve credit for proving to be quite the sailor, or well pirate.
"Sis can I ask you something?"
"Anything..." Da cooed comfortingly, giving her sister a sense that really it was fine. Often Xiao would dismiss herself as silly
"...Sis, did...you ...ever think..." Her eyes lowered to the ground quietly in contemplation, but her sister had figured out what the younger Qiao had meant. Sighing an arm slipped about her sister to pull her into an embrace. Resting her chin upon her sister's head, she grasped her hand giving it a loving squeeze.
"Did I ever think that in our marriages to the sworn brothers of Wu, that maybe we were simply a status pawn?" Finishing her sister's question for her, Da could only wonder how long these thoughts had been contained with in her younger sister. Since they got married the two talked less, too worried of pleasing these husbands they had. "I did...and in a way I think sometimes their distance to us was a way for them to protect us from getting hurt. Our father wanted us to marry them, and the boys did agree. Yet it would be odd for a ruler not to have a wife and heir, whether he wanted it or not. Love doesn't have anything to do with arranged marriages. Never have and never will Xiao."
The younger of the two averted her eyes down to rippling water under their boat. Was it the truth? Finally she looked up at her sister tear filled eyes, seeming almost angry. "Then why!? Why do we even get told those stupid stories about finding our prince charmings if they won't ever come! Why do we even hope to if we can't even marry for love.."
"Sis..." Da's eyes softened immensely realizing maybe stating her opinion had been a mistake. "..I'm sorry..."
"There a problem ladies?" A smooth voice chimed in sounding fairly concerned. Ling Tong, the more level headed of the two men on board, took a seat on one of the barrel's near the pair of sisters trying to figure out what exactly had set the younger one to the point of tears. "That pirate didn't upset you did he?"
Xiao Qiao had finally broken to the point where she was now crying. A girl who was married at age fourteen and now age nineteen had every reason to be upset about this. This age she was, without a doubt, considered an old maid because she wasn't married. Didn't help the realization of everything settling in was rather overwhelming for her to so readily accept without some pain. She tried to respond, but failed. Da Qiao looked up at Ling Tong a slight sigh escaping her lips. "Not really, she's just a little upset at the moment. Zhou Yu's death and the like," Which she couldn't deny both ladies had loved their husbands. They were handsome men, smart and unique. Love never often worked out so evenly. You didn't always get back equal pay for what you put into it.
"Oh...hey I'm sorry.." He apologized feeling rather embarrassed now for interrupting the two girls. "Lady Xiao, I know death is hard...I understand."
"No you don't!" The small girl hopped to her feet, tears streaming down her pink cheeks, "You think you understand but you don't! And I'm tired of hearing people say they do. You aren't me or my sister so how can you possibly relate to how I fell." Her nature however didn't allow her to stay angry incredibly long though. Crying in front of people...she felt utterly helpless...pushing past the nunchaku wielding warrior of Wu the princess made her way for her cabin and slamming the door shut.
"Crap.." Ling muttered running his hands through his hair.
"I'm sorry General Ling..." Da Qiao rose to her feet, "Its been hard on her, not just because of his death, but other things."
"Oh?"
"You have to understand. As unmarried young ladies we politically have no power over our fates, Sun Quan does. Despite what rules I have broken to get this far. But before then it was our father. He had us marry Sun Ce and Zhou Yu...when one realizes reality...it hits rather hard. My sister is suffering from the awakening I was hit with awhile back." A frown spread across the girl's lips, "Do excuse her behavior..."
"Then are you really here to help Qilin or yourself?" The general inquired looking down at her.
Da Qiao's eyes shifted to him then to the General at the helm, the pirate Gan Ning. Turning back to him the princess sadly smiled, "Maybe a little of both."
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Was she dead? No. Death was likely to be far more pleasant then this. Everything was blurry, and she could feel the mud slid down and off her body as she tried to get back up. Her ribs ached, likely bruised from the fall she had just taken. She? No he had fallen as well?
The storm had just kicked in when it occurred. Neither of them had realized they were being watch, which made her only curse herself more. Her skills were failing her, and in this terrain everything was so different. They had taken position on top of one of the ruins, scouting for paths that could be cut through. The sound of spears clanking alerted both of them, and down was the only way to go. Wei Yan had grabbed her and jumped down, yet he had tumbled away from her landing area.
What was this? A marsh?
Qilin went to take a breath but found herself gaging on the air she inhaled. Opening her eyes she noticed oddly the strange mist that seemed to float above the pools of what anyone would of mistaken for normal water besides the unusual mist. What was this stuff? Trying her best not to breath in she looked around the area locating the form of Wei Yan dragging himself up from the ground. His hand covering his mouth as he scanned the area quickly, until he saw her.
"Good...alive.." He moved towards his comrade and quickly yanking her up onto her feet quickly, "Find..cover...quick.."
He hunched over slightly inhaling more of the air as he spoke, both suffered from minor coughing fits, something that didn't happen to affect their enemy however.
Their surroundings were few and far between, but at the end of this giant poison pool, there sat an empty supply base. Unused, and partially rotted. Seemed these folk were not familiar with combat around this way too much or it would been put to use more. Then again Liu Bei may have been the one neglecting the army this direction, which happened when these cities were not at the border of Wei or Wu. "There.." Qilin managed to point moving to help support the beast of a man.
Wei Yan jerked back rather uncomfortably at Qilin's touch. Glancing over his shoulder to made a double check for enemies before bolting towards the abandoned base. They could slip in and make use of it as a place to hide. Still they had no way to signal to the others that things had gone haywire besides giving away their position. Besides they couldn't march in this rain, nor would the juggernauts be remotely useful now either. The air became clearer as the noxious gas was gone, leaving only the heavy humidity to breath into. It was better then nothing.
Reaching the safety with in the stone walls, Wei Yan moved to close the large doors behind them. Surely the loud clang gave away their positions, but no soldier was going to jump from that height to reach them. They'd have to go around and with rain it was hard to get through the tropical forests.
Qilin glanced down at her hand, noticing a red stain that hadn't been there before. Was she bleeding? No quite obviously she wasn't, but it seemed her partner right now was. "General..you're hurt.."
"..." He gave no response only slumped again the wall closest to him, sliding down attempting to gain some rest.
"General Wei," Qilin frowned approaching the masked man whom she numerous occasions noted to be a monster, but one she was obligated to help due to her imprisonment. Taking baby steps towards him, only thing she knew was that he was watching every step she took near him. Why was he watching? To make her uncomfortable, or paranoid that he might just kill her if she got too close to him? Honestly Qilin hadn't the answers for it, but she was likely to soon find out. "I do have some abilities in the medical area if you'll let me help you.."
"..." A growl escaped his lips in slight detest of having to accept such help, "Fine..."
"...Remove your armor..."
"What..." If she could see his full expression, judging by the slightly gaping mouth of his, he was rather stunned by that command. Of course that was not an order he heard ever from a woman's mouth besides his mother when he was younger. Narrowing his strange colored eyes at her suspiciously he waited for her to move, but she didn't. Damn it she was serious wasn't she? Using one arm he managed to shrug off the armor he wore, after leaning forward away from the wall. Tossing it to the ground, but realizing he had lost something far more precious.
Wind was brushing across his face, and he knocked his own mask off accidentally exposing himself in front of a young woman of all things. Snarling he quickly lifted his hand to cover what she had just scene before muttering a command, "Hand...it...to...me.."
Qilin was rendered speechless. That was the face of the beast? At one point in time there seemed to be a flawless face there, and by looks handsome. Yet across the bridge of his nose was a deep scar. Across his left eye an awkward x was formed, with one line longer then the other. The whites of that eye blood shot from permanent damage that had been inflicted. He covered them with a mask why though? Glancing to the side she noted the fallen mask, and reaching over she took hold of it before looking up at him again. "Thats why you hide your face? The scars aren't that disfiguring.." Did he think himself some hideous monster.
"Woman..." Wei Yan snarled trying to reach forward and grasp it but only leaning back to relieve himself the pain he had caused. "...please...give...it here.."
He seemed desperate, and Qilin had not he heart to deny him that wish. The mask was placed back in her grasp, and Wei Yan moved quickly to put it back over his face. Only getting questioned again, "Why?"
Yan didn't respond however, he only looked away as she began tending his wounds. The supplies had come from a small belt pouch that carried very basic things in place of where a sword would normally be held. Bandages, parts of meat buns, and a small dash of alcohol. Which was the first thing she pulled out, and applied to the wound. The reaction was him flinching, which was better then most starting soldiers who would yelp at the method. It was a good way to sterilize a wound though. He must of gotten hit by an arrow and removed it before he had gotten up.
Her hands were soft, not fit for someone who was a said warrior. That must of explained why she used a flute to fight though instead of a sword. Strangely enough though the pain was subsiding a little, and the bandages were applied sufficiently enough to keep it well concealed and safe from the air. They were both drenched, and there was only one corner that would keep then dry. They wouldn't be moving for a bit, and he knew that...
"Come.." He eyed her before motioning towards the more concealed portion where the ground remained still relatively dry. He did pity her, honestly he did. The elegant woman had come from Wei, been reduced to a warrior of Wu, then captured by Shu. Now clothed in native outfit, mud melting from her form as the rain came in...he wondered what she must of looked like before she came here. In no way was he denoting from her attractiveness, but war had a way of changing and aging someone. While she looked young, she seemed softened in an odd way and accepting of anything that came her direction. Was she always like that? Knowing who her original general might of been? Probably not.
Falling onto the dry grass the Lt.General sighed happily. Maybe she'd be given a chance to warm up a little bit as even in the jungle soggy cloths got cold rather quick. She paid no heed to the fact she was fairly close to Wei Yan, she just wanted to lay down right now. The situation looked helpless and she hadn't the answer this time around. They'd have to wait out the storm.
"...You...know...why?" His eyes shifted to the girl suddenly, bringing back the issue of the mask once more. Which instantly peaked the girl's curiosity, rolling over onto her back she looked at him. In turn he gave the response, "...to bury...a past...one...not...want...to...remember.."
Ah, that explained it. Was he angry with his own image? Those scars from time long before this? Her head was racing as she looked up at him. She'd have to be patient for now. Yan had gone off and just revealed the secret of his mask. Little choice now after she had seen what his face looked like. "I see..." The girl said simply honoring to leave it at that.
"Rest...I...keep...watch..." Yan's eyes shifting to the door.
Xiao Qilin wanted to protest. Yet the strength to do so wasn't there any longer. Travel and scouting did take it toll. Even the strongest warriors had to know when to set camp and take rest.
Authors Notes: Nah I'm not dead I promise. Its called a job my dear friends. The most horrible thing that any child or teenager could ever be subjected to. I work at Starbucks in a Dillons. Having your soul own'd by two corperate companies is a very bad thing. Don't do it...just don't. So not worth it. Anyways sorry for the delay and the mutilation of my soul that occurred. Only a few weeks then I quit. Not being nice about the two weeks thing either. When people spend time to pull you aside and insult you for not smiling enough and having 'no personality' which isn't true. Kinda ruins any respect. Here you go and i'm hoping to have it up sooner next time
Question: How do you think the WeiYan/OC pairing is coming along and my portrayal of the beast?