Lianghu shivered, draping the warm, fluffy towel around her body. Places on her body had been scrubbed that she didn't even know existed. Her once dark golden fur now brightly shined a light sunny color. The maid who had bathed her had left the room, leaving the tigress alone in the bathing room. She looked around, awed by the wealth displayed on the walls. Several paintings decorated them, showing off the beauty of the forest and nature. One particular picture stood out to Lianghu. It was of two tiger lovers, caressed in each other's arms. The woman's head was turn away, resting gently against her partner's chest, hiding her probable beauty. The male, however, had his head peering above the girl, his eyes downcast in love on her. Those eyes. They seemed so familiar. A beautiful blue color they were. Like an ocean on a sunny day, the light reflecting off the water.
"Here we are!" Li Ai's voice came from up behind Lianghu, causing the startled feline to jump in surprise.
Li Ai just smiled at her, not bothering to comment, "I brought a couple dresses from my room for you. I hope you don't mind if they're a little big, I'm unable to bring a tailor in right now considering the circumstances. This whole mess has probably been very vexatious for you."
Lianghu stared at her, did a princess just curse?! Her father would always forbid her to use foul language, claiming that her mother would disapprove of it. His voice still rang in her head, "Just because we are gypsies does NOT mean that we are foul creatures. Even we have standards."
The young girl opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. It took all the courage she could muster to speak out, "Um, well," the tigress cleared her throat, "I-I would be…..grateful if….you didn't use that type of language. Father always said that it was inappropriate for a girl…"
Li Ai stared at her like she was half crazed, "Excuse me?"
"I-I don't believe in cursing…"
For a moment, the royal tiger stood silent. Lianghu cringed, afraid that she had just crushed the only hope she had of escaping. Li Ai's face slowly curved upward, a smile adorning her beautiful face. To Lianghu's bewilderment, she started laughing!
"Lianghu," she chuckled, "Vexatious isn't a curse word. It's just a regular word, meaning something along the lines of a big pain in the neck. In other words, a description of my brother." She laid the two dresses across the bench, "Choose whichever one you like best. Come out when you're done changing so that I can see you!" With that, the princess left the shivering Lianghu alone.
Da waited outside for Li Ai to come back out of the women's bath. Bored, he tried to balance one of his concealed daggers on his finger. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Da sighed and quickly scooped it up. Li Ai had been in there a while, and the soldier was getting tired of waiting. He heard her laughter dance around in the air, causing the commander to smile. His heart picked up its pace quite a bit, but he made go back down. Li Ai. That beautiful, smiling tigress. His princess. She was always happy, picking on him and trying to get the serious tiger to smile along with her. Of course, he never did. His oath required of him to never slack off on protecting the royal family, and for Li Ai's sake, he would follow this vow, no matter what would happen. The palace guards were not allowed to marry, so whatever romantic feelings they had for someone were immediately cut off.
Li Ai quickly came out and began to walk down the hallway. Da quickly caught up with her, "Where are you going?"
The tigress's dress swirled around her legs with each stride she took. "I'm going to see my brother."
Da's eyes widen, "Uuh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, princess. He's in a foul mood at the current moment."
She rolled her eyes, "Da, how many times have I asked and COMMANDED you not to call me princess! That title sickens me." They arrived at Bai Jian's office. Li Ai quickly straighten her dress and turned to Da, "Do I look okay?"
Da's eyes quickly glanced over her, seeming a bit disinterested in it, "You fine. Go on in." Li Ai nodded and quickly opened the carved door, leaving Da alone in the hallway with his one thought, you always look beautiful, princess.
Bai Jian groaned as he heard the door to his office swing open, "What do you want, Li Ai?"
The tigress closed the door behind her, "You can tell who enters through the door just by the sound of their footsteps?"
The tiger rolled his eyes, "No, I'm pyshic. You just have the habit of walking into a person's private room without knocking."
Li Ai shrugged and trailed over to his desk, picking up one of the small writing brushes, "Lianghu needs some decent clothes."
Bai Jian narrowed his eyes, "And why would she need clothes? She is our prisoner, not an honored guest."
"Fine, go ahead and let the girl freeze to death. I'm sure that her father will come running to our alliance at the news of how his daughter was treated. She needs new clothes. And a decent room."
Bai Jian snorted, "If every prisoner was treated like the way you wanted, our province would be ruled by thieves and thugs."
The tigress clenched her fists, her face turning a shade of red, "She's just a girl! You have no heart, Bai Jian. Have you ever considered that the only way to be at peace with the gypsies is to marry that poor girl?!"
The leader's muscles tensed at the words, "Don't you even think about me marrying that barbarian. I would rather die."
Li Ai quietly set the brush back on the desk, "Lianghu still needs proper clothing. If the Rom Bora sees her in the condition she's in, he'll burn every village to the ground."
The tiger rubbed his face, irritated at the conversation, "…fine. Get her a couple dresses. To be honest, I really don't care at this point. But under NO circumstances is she to be given a room. I can't risk her breaking into the library at night and stealing important documents."
Li Ai broke out into a smile and hugged him tightly, "Thank you."
Bai Jian's face slightly curved as a smile barely shone through, "Your welcome. Now get out of here before I change my mind."
The tigress quickly let go of her brother, bowed, then exited the office. Bai Jian twirled the small brush in his fingers absentminded, trying to concoct a plan to rid the filthy gypsy from the palace. Another knock came on his door. Annoyed, he swung it open again.
"What is it, Lianghu?! I told you, GO!"
A small goat messenger stared up at him with wide eyes, quaking with fear, "U-um, your majesty," he quickly bowed, "A messenger from one of your generals." He handed him the scroll, which Bai Jian quickly took.
The tiger hastily unrolled it, "Thank you. Dismissed."
The messenger bowed once again then left.
Li Ai knocked on the door leading into the woman's bath, "Lianghu, are you ready? My brother said that I could get some clean clothing down at the market and-"
The door swung open. Lianghu quickly stepped out, leaving Li Ai's mouth gaping. Now, I know what you may be thinking here, that Lianghu probably looked dashingly gorgeous, the dress fitting her frame perfect, her face like an angel. However, this was not the case. The tigress stood in the doorway, looking as unpleased as the dress was. The color of pastel blue obviously was meant for someone besides her. Even the dress itself did not fit properly, too big in some places and then too snug in other.
Li Ai sighed, "Well, at least it's something for right now." She grabbed a cloak hanging on one of the many hooks in the wall, "Wear this for right now. As soon as we find a dress that you like, we'll burn this one. Now come on." With that, she grabbed the tigress's wrist and quickly led her out into the hallway. Da faithfully followed them at a distance out of the palace and onto the path leading down to the village. Lianghu trotted alongside Li Ai, trying to keep up her brisk pace.
"Beautiful jewelry for a beautiful young lady," cooed one of the merchants.
"Diamonds, they shine almost as bright as your eyes, Miss." Another vender called out.
Lianghu stared out at the several shops laden with fabrics, gold, spices, and jewelry from exotic places all over the world. She had never seen such riches! Li Ai appeared to be a bit bored with it all, leading the tigress down the streets and to their target destination. Huli's. He was one of the most famed dress designers in China, and Li Ai was definitely going to need his help with Lianghu.
They stopped in of a smaller two story building. The shop, like all the others, was squished up between other stores, but something was different about this one. Maybe it was because instead of the bright decorated signs hanging in front of all the shops, a simple wooden plank was nailed over the doorway. On it was "Shāmò Zhī Huā" painted in black Chinese symbols, meaning Desert Flower. Li Ai told Da to wait outside, saying that a man shouldn't be in a dress shop. He argued, claiming that Huli was a male also, and he owned the store!
Li Ai quickly spat back, "True, but he holds a needle, not a sword. Now unless you have plans to become a dressmaker, stay outside!"
Da fell silent, solemnly taking his post at the door.
Two brown eyes narrowed as they followed the three felines walked into the store. Two of them somehow got into a quarrel, causing the strong male to stand outside. A deep chuckle emitted from the owner of the eyes' throat.
"This is going perfectly. Jin, what is the status of the assasins inside?"
The young soldier quickly looked up from his game of majong with the others, "They're in place, sir. Just as they were over two hours ago."
"Patience. Good things come to those who wait."
"Master, with all due respect, my butt is going numb from being patient."
The older tiger rolled his eyes, ignoring the last comment and averted his eyes back to the shop, "And Bai Jian?"
"On his way. He thinks he received an urgent message from one of the generals ."
The leader's face split into a vile smile. It wouldn't be long now.
Lianghu stared in awe at the brilliant display of colors surrounding her. There were dresses of almost all shapes and sizes inside the small shop. A smaller fox walked over to them, pearly white teeth adorning his smile.
"Your Majesty, it's wonderful to see you!" He took one of Li Ai paws into his own tiny hands and kissed. "I see you've brought a friend, another client for me perhaps?"
Li Ai shook her head, "Not today, Huli. This is Lianghu, she's a friend of mine and in need of a few dresses, got any in mind?"
The small fox once again smiled as he looked over Lianghu. This would be fun.
Before Lianghu knew it, dresses were flying off the racks as one after another were draped in her arms. The pile started getting so high that she could barely see over the top of it.
Huli stopped for a minute and turned to her, "This should be enough to get you started. There's a changing room upstairs, so go on and try those. the ones that you don't like, just put them on the chair in the back. Come down when you find one you like!"
The tigress nodded, carefully making her way upstairs and into the changing room.
Bai Jian quickly walked down the busy streets. Several villagers bowed in respect as he passed them by, but the tiger ignored them. He didn't have time to waste, his father taught him that a leader should not only be punctual, but early also.
Gems and trinkets dazzled in the sunlight as the young leader passed through the market place. His clear, green eyes were set straight ahead.
A scream interrupted his train of thought, and Bai Jian turned his head just in time to see a snow leopard crashed through a shop window. There inside was his sister, a jagged dagger being held against her delicate neck. Huli was pinned up against the wall by another leopard. The tiger swiftly pulled out his long knife and ran into the shop.
Li Ai's round, energetic eyes held terror as the snow leopard made a small cut into her skin, drawing blood. A small trickle of red liquid made its way down her neck and onto her shoulder.
"Let her go." Bai Jian commanded.
The snow leopard chuckled, "Now why on earth would I do that?"
"Then perhaps I won't have you slaughtered."
"Hmmm….Here's a better deal. Take one step closer, and your sister dies. If you try to rescue her, she dies. You leave me alone, she lives. Understand?"
Bai Jian's eyes weren't jaded, he would do anything to protect his sister.
"I'm giving you one last chance. Let her go, or die."
"Hmm…I think I'll pass. You're such a-" But the snow leopard wasn't able to finish his sentence. The tip of a sword sliced into his back and protruded out from his belly. His eyes widened as the taste of iron and salt filled his mouth. A sickening groan of death was the only thing heard before he fell onto the floor, a pool of blood surrounding his face. Da quickly slid his sword out from the feline, wiping off the sticky liquid on the dead leopard's shirt. Li Ai's wide eyes showed a small amount of relief, but the rest was filled with horror from the sight in front of her.
Bai Jian was already up the stairs, frantically looking for Lianghu. If someone had killed her, the gypsies would extract merciless revenge from them.
"Lianghu?!" He cried out. No answer.
"Lianghu, answer me!" Still nothing. Bai Jian quickly scanned the perimeter of the room. He didn't see the young gypsy girl anywhere. They could be anywhere with her by now! Prob-a red liquid spilling out onto the ground stopped him midsentence. The small tigress laid in a corner, a dagger sticking up from one of her shoulders.
Bai Jian quickly knelt down beside her, ripping off the sleeve of her dress to see how deep the blade was forced in. A small groan of protest was emitted from Lianghu's mouth, but that was all she could do. The tiger sighed in relief when he saw that the wound would be minor. The knife was only in a few inches, not even touching the bone. The small tigress closed her eyes, not wanting to show pain in front of him. He sighed, a small part of his heart cracking for her. This was probably too much for her.
"Lianghu," he softly said, "You're going to be okay, but I need to take out the blade, or it will continue to damage the tissue and muscle. It might hurt a bit, understand?"
She nodded, her fists already clenched and prepared for the pain. By this time, Li Ai and Da had the other leopard tied up and thrown against the wall along with the dead body. They had reached the top of the stairs just in time to see Bai Jian yanked a knife out of Lianghu's shoulder.
Lianghu fists tightened around her legs as the blade slid out of her muscle, but to be honest, she was just relieved to be alive. Bai Jian ripped off the hem of her dress to bind the wound until they got to the doctor.
Li Ai's familiar voice broke the silence, "Da and I will take the two men to the prison ward, we can question them later. You, Bai Jian, can take Lianghu to a doctor. You're faster than us anyways."
Da's eyes widen, "Uh, Li Ai, that isn't a very good idea considering-"
A stomp on his foot was all he got in reply. Li Ai continued, "We'll meet together for dinner."
The leader sighed and rubbed his face, "….fine."
The two tigers bowed and left the room, leaving the king of the gypsy clan's daughter and the feared tiger leader alone.
Bai Jian scooped up Lianghu in his arms and quietly made his way out onto the busy streets. A few people stared at the strange sight of their leader carrying a girl in his arms. Not liking the attention he was getting, the tiger quickly turned into an alley. He was going to see Doctor Chen, one of the few men he actually trusted.
Lianghu's eyes fluttered open, big blue orbs staring up at him, "Where are we going?" she softly squeaked out.
"To see a doctor. Save your strength and don't talk. It won't do you any good to be half dead when we get there."
The tigress fell silent, and after another five minutes of walking, she was asleep. Bai Jian looked down at her. She was definitely beautiful with her soft lips and sparkling eyes that were once full of life. He remembered the way she smiled as she danced around the fire, her dress twirling this way and that. A few of the men trying to dance with her, but the playful tigress refused them all. She seemed so...happy. Almost as if being a gypsy was a good thing, but Bai Jian knew better. The laughter. The music. They were all thieves. And Bai Jian was never going to let a thief hurt him again.