The Long-Anticipated Chapter Three! (well, it's chapter three at least...)

Disclaimer: Ironically enough, I don't own Dynasty Warriors or anything associated with it. But if someone is offering to just up and give me the rights...

Chapter 3: Opportunity

The past fortnight had been fair for Ling Mei, except for her seeming failure at every task she was assigned. Her first venture as a servant was to prepare food. Ling could swear that all the various spices and other ingredients looked identical. To say the attempt was a disaster was an understatement.

So she was assigned to serve the evening meal. She single handedly ruined the outfits of five different people. It just honestly wasn't her day. Ling had expected the victims of her bad coordination to get angry or hit her. But a few of them even laughed it off, refusing to accept her apologies.

After a few more failures, she was summoned to the inner courtyard by Lord Sun Ce. She found him speaking with Zhou Yu, whom she had been introduced to earlier and who had also been a victim of her serving follies. Though slightly embarrassed, she nonetheless approached the two and bowed.

"You called, my lord?" She requested politely. The two men looked at each other, then smiled at her.

"Please forgo formalities..." Zhou Yu halted mid-sentence, as if he had forgotten her name. "Ling Mei." The strategist smiled, as if an apology for not recalling her name.

"Okay then, why am I here?" Ling Mei asked plainly. If the two asked her to treat them as equals, then that's what she'd do. She didn't like how comfortable it was for her to speak with people of their stature that way, however.

Wu's heir smiled again. "Well, with your failure at everything else," he began receiving a glare from Zhou Yu, "we thought maybe you were a warrior. So we're gonna test the idea." Ling's only response was to blink.

"Try these." Zhou Yu ordered, swiping two large rings off the ground and holding them out to Ling Mei. She looked from his face, to the weapons, then back again. Her expression looked blank, but she was reaching for a memory, something that seemed familiar about this scene.

"It's okay, they're dulled practice blades." Sun Ce reassured her, misinterpreting her hesitation. "They can cause quite a bruise though." He added, casting a sidelong glance at his best friend, who shrugged innocently, still holding the weapons. Ling stared hard at the weapons, but was unable to recall anything but emotions; fear, anger, loathing...but the last, the strongest one troubled her. Love.

"Don't expect much." Ling shrugged and took the rings, one in each hand. Their weight was familiar and comforting somehow.

"Try swinging 'em around a bit." Sun Ce chided. "Preferably over that way." He added, motioning towards the open yard around them. Ling stepped away from the two friends and began to slash with the weapons. Each swipe formed an X shape with the last. Then as if by instinct, she threw both rings in the same direction, causing them to circle around her and return obediently to her hands. Ling stared at the weapons, shocked. The two onlookers rushed to her.

"So you can use the chakrams..." Zhou Yu pondered.

"That's some swift maneuvering there. You've got the talent after all that..." Sun Ce mused.

"And this means what?" Ling asked plainly.

Sun Ce laughed. "It means that you'll be a lot more help to us on the battlefield than you were when you tried to cook."

So...why don't you mosey on over to the review thingy and tell me what you thought. And I'm sorry if this was boring and short. I needed a way to get Ling into the battles and such. And now I'd like to introduce a new feature: the Deep Thought of the Day. Today's Deep Thought:

If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. Not to mention the lack of atmosphere.

Please review!