"Why, what's going on!?" Feng Teng demanded as he flew out of his seat.
"The servant who I assigned to help our guest rushed to inform me that she saw our guest's shoulder as the princess was removing her armor and outer robes. She had been injured and the bandages were stained." the duke's sister panicked, not used to seeing battle wounds.
Xiao Nai wasted no time and rushed to where the guests were being housed. When he saw a servant he demanded to know where the new guest was roomed. The servant barely pointed before the white prince streaked past him in a flash of white silks. Without even knocking Xiao Nai bursted through the door looking around the room like some sort of mad man before locking his sight onto a femininely dressed Weiwei with her hair cascading down her back crouching in front of a vanity with a long deadly looking hair pin poised and ready to attack in one of her fists. If the man in white was in his right mind he would have realized the danger his life was in with a certain goddess of war but his eyes were completely focused on the bandages peeking out from her dudou and silky outer robe. If his mind was anywhere but in its current state of worry he might have basked in the lovely image the creature in front of him made. But as focused as he was he did not come to his senses until he felt the sharp pin pressed to the artery on his neck not enough to draw blood but it would just take a fraction of pressure to do so.
"What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Both Feng Teng and Yu Banshan heard the irate general hiss as they entered the room. When they saw their prince with his hand on the robe of the scantily clad female general and her pressing a sharp instrument into their prince's neck they attempted to defuse the situation.
"Forgive us your highness but we were just informed you were injured." Duke Feng tried to reason with the extremely hostile female. It would only take a small flick of her wrist for death. By the looks of it this woman would have no qualms about killing a man and from what he was guessing it was only the prince's status that kept him alive for the time being.
"And that gives you the reason to break into an unmarried woman's room unannounced and manhandle her?" Weiwei hotly countered. Her knuckles turning white as her grip on the hair pin tightened.
"No, no.." both men raised their arms in a surrendering manner. They didn't want to do any sudden movements; they both knew that she could kill the prince much faster than they could move to prevent it. This was a delicate situation and their only hope was to calm the warrior down.
"May I see?" The white prince asked in all earnest. He watched the war of emotions cycle through on the beautiful woman's face before he felt the sharp object removed from his throat and heard it clatter on the floor below them.
"There's nothing much to see. It's already been cauterized." Weiwei tiredly sighed. "It just needs time to heal on its own."
Xiao Nai ignored her reply and with the greatest care he removed the robe from the woman's pale shoulder and carefully unwound the fresh bandages making sure that when it got to the wound to very gently peel the bandage away from her so the protective scab would not tear off the injury with it. When the last of the bandages finally fell away Xiao Nai carefully prodded the angry looking crackled black crust that milky puss was leaking out of the fissures covering the injury. It had appeared that the weight of the general's pauldron caused multiple blisters to burst earlier. Which was most likely the cause of the stained bandages that the servant saw. He could smell the scent of honey and chamomile blossoms that were recently used to coat the injury. Telling him that she had handled burns like this in the past. "What happened here?" He whispered.
"I was shot while escaping. I needed to have full use of my arms so I ordered for it to be cauterized before I lead my warriors here. Stitches would have torn and made it worse." Weiwei whispered, caught off guard by the sensation of the feathery-light touch from the white prince's fingers dancing around on her skin. It was like the tiny embers from a light sparkler dancing across her flesh. It made her heart pound and her skin crawl. She didn't understand what was going on with her body's reaction to him.
"Does it hurt?" Xiao Nai whispered with great tenderness.
"It's nothing I cannot handle. I have suffered from injuries much worse in the past." Weiwei stumbled through what she was saying, entranced by the look in his eyes and the touch of his hand. Judging by the look in his eyes he had to have felt something as well. Both kept on gazing into each other's eyes as the white prince placed his palm over the burn and a comforting heat emanating from where their skin touched.
Xiao Nai removed his hand and straightened the collar of her robe with the utmost care. "That should take care of the pain." he gave her a small smile before stepping back giving the lady her space.
Weiwei looked gobsmacked for a few moments before she touched her shoulder and noticed that the skin was now smooth to the touch. "Thank you."
The white prince only nodded and bid her a hasty good night with the duke and the other man following in his wake uttering their apologies as they left. Weiwei clumsily sat back down at the vanity, unable to figure out what just happened. Taking time to turn around and inspect what she already knew in the bronze mirror. There before her eyes her shoulder was creamy and free of blemishes. Even small scars that she has had for years. It seems that the legendary Yixiao Naihe has been hiding his healing magic from the outside world. She smiled, touched by this simple gesture. Sighing for what had to be the hundredth time that evening, Weiwei walked over to the kang and laid down to go to sleep. Her thoughts focused on the handsome man in white.
When Xiao Nai left General Luwei's room he went straight to his own quarters ignoring both Feng Teng and Yu Banshan's demands to know what was going on. When he entered his room he went directly to his kang laid down on the kang, Xiao Nai played this evening's interactions with the warrior goddess in his head. The woman was truly magnificent. Everything he could want in a bride. However the logical part of his brain that he has always listened to told him to be wary of the beauty. This might just be a trap his mind warned. After all not much has ever been said about either the Great Bei's only child or the red general for that matter. He knew the warrior woman had both seals for the identities that she claimed but those could easily be stolen. What he did know is that she is a skilled warrior. You cannot fake those reflexes. He absentmindedly rubbed his throat. That hair ornament was a fraction away from piercing his jugular and she kept that pin steady at that point making minute adjustments for each movement he made and every breath he took. That kind of control was both disturbing and arousing.
Shaking his head, Xiao Nai sighed and turned his mind to more analytical plans. As the dawn came the white prince had multiple plans in place and he couldn't help smiling that mercurial smile that always sent his brothers in arms into shivers. By the time he was done getting ready for the day he was informed by a servant that Qiu Yonghou had returned during the early hours of the morning and requested a meeting with both the prince and the duke. Xiao Nai just sighed and decided to put his plan to meet the lovely warrior in red until later. He went off into the direction of Feng Teng's study. When he got there he noticed the other three men waiting for him. "So what was so urgent that it could not wait for breakfast to be served?" The white prince brought the other three men's attention to him.
A chorus of "Sire" rang through the room and Qiu Yonghou stepped forward looking as if he had not slept the past night and gave his report. "When we arrived at the campsite which was filled with at least five thousand troops I might add I sent my shadow gollums to get any gossip that it can pick up and bring back to me. The warriors do believe that the woman in red is both their general and the princess. But get this from piecing together the various discussions my gollums had overheard, the morning before the camp fled their normal campsite both the princess and general Luwei were sent a summons to the great Bei's camp. The general's decoy, a man He Yi Chen left with a few men accompanying him then nearly an hour later the princess and two maids, a pair of sisters Zhao Mo Sheng and Zhao Erxi left. That night only the princess returned with an arrow sticking out of her shoulder and covered in blood barking orders to move camp and that the Great Bei and his consort were murdered before collapsing. From there that man Kei Ouyang took over running the tribe splitting most of the warriors to come with them and everyone else somewhere else. Those warriors are very concerned over the welfare of their princess both physically and mentally. Highness, I think she really is who she says she is. I highly doubt that a whole encampment of warriors would collaborate on that big of a lie. Especially since they had no clue that the shadows were listening to them. There would be some discrepancies on her identity if it was faked. But the only discrepancies I found is the amount of boasting of her achievements."
Xiao Nai pondered on the report. From what Qiu Yonghou was saying it can be determined that both the woman in red and her dark shadow lived in that encampment for quite some time. The warriors knew both of their faces well. The report also verified how she was shot because the injury was not discovered until hours after Qiu Yonghou and the others left. A weakness that she was trying to hide from them. That along with the fact that she chose the perfect person to verify her identity, Feng Teng's future bride. A person who was very unlikely to cover for an imposter. "If that's the case then that would make things far more interesting." the man in white grinned a mercurial grin that his brother's in arms knew far too well and made the duke a little nervous. He was not used to being the one on the receiving side of grins like that he was normally the one to give them.
Neither Weiwei or her new acquaintance, Feng Yue saw neither hide nor hair of the males for the rest of the day or the day after. The two women bonded over their love of food, for their mutual acquaintance of Shanshan, and their hatred for having to do any kind of embroidery.
Author's Notes: A dudou is a bodice or undershirt worn to flatten breasts for medicinal reasons.
A Kang or bedstove is a raised heated platform used for working, entertaining and sleeping.
