The next day Lian performed her duties quickly and angrily. Mumbling worries and regrets to herself. As she was sweeping the stone steps in the back of the house she heard the sound of a horse hoofs came through the front gate. She quickly dropped her broom and ran around to the front of the house. She got there in time to see a man in soldier's garb dismounting a horse. She knew who she was at once and smiled widely.

"Chen!" she yelled as she ran over to him. He noticed her and smiled back as she hugged him.

"Hey watch the armor Lian, I wouldn't want you to bang it up or anything," he said. She punched him playfully on the chin. The smile on her face turned into a worried expression.

"You're not supposed to be home for another month…"

"I know. They, they've called for me to join the army since I'm doing so well at the academy. They want me to look for Baba. They told all of us that we would be meeting in front of the Imperial Palace to receive orders tomorrow morning. It's only a mile from here so I came home to see you guys!"

"It is good to see you brother," Lian told him.

"Good to see you too, I kind of felt like only half myself when you're not around."

"Mother says twins are like that."

"How is Mother?"

"I haven't spoken to her since we found out, I wasn't at breakfast."

"Why not?"

"I wasn't hungry."

"At the academy they tell us it is better to grieve with food in your stomach then to just grieve."

"We have no reason in which to grieve Ling."

"You're right, of course."

"Now let's go tell Mother of your arrival, it will lighten her spirits."

That evening when everyone was talking Lian scrubbed the floor in the Armor Room. Here they kept the armor that belonged to her grandfather and her mother. Along with the sword of Shan Yu and the Emperor's crest, there was a cupboard for her Father's armor but it was bear with the exception of his father's helmet and sword perched on top of it. There was also a cupboard for Ling's armor, which had been placed there early in the day. Lian dropped the dirty cloth into a bucket of dirt water. She dried her hands on her pants and walked over to the cupboard holding her twin brother's armor. It was night so the room was lit by candlelight. Lian had developed an odd quirk, when she couldn't sleep she'd clean. She opened the cupboard and studied the armor in the flickering candlelight. She ran her hand over the finely woven breastplate. The armor would fit her easily, she knew, she had been the model for it as it was being made for her brother. They looked alike and were the same physical type, only she was a girl. She lifted the sword and held it in her hands and went through the paces. Both of her parents had taught her how it was to be a soldier. She was as good as any man. As she was placing the sword back a roll of paper tied with red string fell from somewhere on her brother's armor. She picked it up and read it. It was his order to the Imperial Palace. Lian gripped it in her hands and looked over at the cupboard holding the armor her mother had worn when she had saved China. Lian smiled as she rushed from the room.

An hour after everyone went to bed, Lian walked into her room and changed into her training gear. She cut, and wrapped her hair up in a bun and wiped the make-up her grandmother made her wear off. She was about to leave the room when she saw the moonshine glimmer off of something near her bed. She turned around and saw her father's pendant on the table by her bed. She walked over and picked it up. She lifted it around her neck and left the room.

She walked into the barn in full armor, it had been awhile since she had worn armor, and it felt odd but natural. She saddled her horse and mounted it.

"Let's go!" she said as the horse took off. Lian could feel the sword at her side bouncing with the animal's movements. The moon was beginning to vanish and the sun was rising, giving just enough light for her to see. She learned how to ride a horse going back and forth to the Imperial Palace and had ridden there many times since, so she knew the road well. She could get to the Imperial Palace in about fifteen minutes, she could get something to eat and still be early to get her instructions. She ran her story through her mind to make sure she got it right. Her name was Li Chen, son of General Li Shang, and had been ordered to come to the Imperial Palace. All she had to do was keep her chest hidden, her hair up, and answer to the name Chen. She could do that she knew she could. She'd be so good of a soldier she'd move up through the ranks and be put in the troops that would go to rescue her father. She would bring her father home. She swore that to her mother and family as she rode into the Imperial Palace.