Oh dear, I see how long I didn't upload something here. Sorry for that. But I also needed some time for this chapter, and maybe I'm still not satisfied with that, but I couldn't protract that any longer and made a final point today. -_- Just in case, if I should ever change something in this chapter, I will write it to you.

In the meantime, I also took the time to think about sequels after that story. This week I choose the titles, but I will make it public after the last chapter. Until then, enjoy the last few chapters of that story. And I hope you didn't get tired to read it. If yes, sorry for my delay.

30. Flurry of Snow

The turmoil gradually subsided. All soldiers who were bribed by Xiang were taken away. The blue peacock was still a bit dazed so that it offered almost no resistance. But Wang was sure that he would make a fuss very soon again. Po joked a few words with the king, but kept looking at Shen and Yin-Yu, who were still in each other's wings. But after a while, they loosened their embrace and drifted apart a little. Xia and Sheng were still standing nearby, but they weren't sure whether they should say something or not.

Finally, Po went over to the two siblings and gave them a soft punch.

"Uh, maybe it would be a good idea to leave them alone for a moment", he whispered at the two adult children.

The panda didn't give them a chance to say against it, he pulled them away to the building. King Wang caught a sign of him and the ox called back all men from the place.

It became quieter, until the white lord and the lady stood alone. Yin-Yu was staring at the floor the whole time, while Shen was looking at her from the side from time to time. Only now, they seemed to realize what had happened over the days.

The lord rubbed his wings. He had embraced her after so long time again. And it felt like an illusion, which wanted to fade away. Again he looked at her. She felt his glance. The effect of the embrace before didn't comfort her anymore. Instead, she was afraid that a new punishment would follow.

The tension around them grew higher. The silence made it all worse. Every one of them wanted to speak, but were feared to cause a controversy. And nobody wanted to experience it again. Even Shen hated that ugly feeling of disharmony in his view of life.

The white lord became more nervous and stroke over his wings, and felt something strange in his feathers. He grabbed for it and the white, with the red and black markings, feather from Yin-Yu came out.

"It's not over yet," Soothsayer had said.

Shen took a very deep breath. "I think, we should talk."

He winced. The peahen hugged herself and ducked her head, and still didn't look at him. Was she afraid of a new rebuke?

"Shouldn't we stand more in near?" Xia asked and looked at her parents with worried eyes.

She stood with the others somewhere in the castle, but looked out through the windows.

But Po patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be okay. And if something should happen, I'm always ready."

Gently, he pushed her aside. But then he craned his neck and thought: "What are they talking about?"

He caught his breath. Shen made a few steps closer to her. Then the peacock lifted his wings.

Yin-Yu started to tremble when the wings touched her shoulders from behind.

"What have I done?" she asked with tensed voice.

With dropped face, she stood there like frozen. Shen moved his finger feathers a little. He fought shy of saying the reason, but he couldn't bury it any longer inside his soul. He couldn't see her like this any longer.

"Listen…," he started. "It wasn't because of you… but I just thought, it was from you…"

Po stood on his tiptoes and tried to hear a word. He had come sneaking up so close, but not close enough to hear a clear word. Shen spoke so quietly, that it was impossible for the nosy panda to understand what he was saying. He pressed himself against the stone wall and watched their reactions.

Shen continued speaking.

Suddenly, Yin-Yu winced. She turned around to him and stared at the white lord. Then she lowered her face and covered it with her wings. The lady walked away a few steps and showed the impression of being humiliated.

"How could she?!" she cried and gasped for air. "I have a bad family!"

The lord watched how her shoulders quivered.

"Well, I can't really be proud about myself, too," he said and didn't want to think about what if he had cut her face in the hidden tunnels. The rage about the faked letter had made him so blind that he had almost killed her.

The peahen started to whimper

"I can understand if you don't want to see me anymore," she cried. "I've always brought you bad luck."

It looked like she was going to run away, but Shen grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Bad luck?" he asked in surprise and seriously. "How can you say that?" He held her tight. "Do you not know me anymore?"

She silenced before she moved her trembling beak lips. "What am I worth to you?"

He narrowed his eyes. Xiang had manipulated her much worse than he thought. Gently, but firmly he turned her around so that she stood in front of him to look at her face. His finger feathers tight on her shoulders. After he was sure that she wouldn't try to escape, he reached into his feathers and took out the white feather, which Xia had given to him.

"Do you recognize it?" he asked.

She lifted her lowered eyes and looked at the white older feather in his wing.

Gradually, memories came back. She remembered when she found that feather. It was in the morning after the night where she found it on the floor while they were busy to put on their clothes again. Maybe he had lost it while their night of love. She had picked it up and had shown it to him. The lord had smiled. "You can keep it."

17 years ago ... The next day after the night

"Master Shen?" Wolf boss asked when he saw the lord walking down the factory stairs. "Are you going to make the test with the new weapon today?"

But the lord shook his head. "Not today."

Wolf boss stared at him in surprise. "B-but you said, yesterday you wanted…"

"Yesterday was yesterday," Shen cut his word. "But today is today."

With big eye, the wolf watched how the peahen came down the stairs behind the lord. She wore another robe than yesterday. It was dark blue with white swatches. Her posture didn't show a shy like the first few days. Her eyes looked firm and maybe… happy.

Lord Shen took her wing and guided her until the end of the long stairway. After that, he wrapped his wings around her to make sure that the robe was close enough around her body.

Wolf boss had followed them and wasn't sure what he should say next. "Uhm… and what are your plans today?"

"It's so nice outside," the lord said. "We will make a little walk."

They two birds looked at each other. "Today is a special day."

She smiled at him. "Yes, a special day."

They rubbed their beaks together. It didn't seem to bother Shen that Wolf boss was looking at them. But then the wolf looked from one to another. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't understand," he muttered and left them alone.

When he was gone, Shen couldn't resist a smile. Then he led her to the next door.

The air smelled like clear whitewashed. It was like the world had taken a new breath of life. New snow covered the landscape of the mountains. Everything seemed to be clean, so perfect that it hurt to put a foot in the immaculate snow.

Shen placed himself next to her and waved his wing. "Let's go."

Together they walked down a snowed path which guided through the snow between some hills. The sun shined down from a cloudless blue sky. The snow glittered and the crunching sound under their feet was all what kept the world around them alive.

For a while they kept quiet. Shen felt to say something and tried a dialog.

"Well," he started. He tried to sound firm, but he felt like an unsure teen boy. "It was a… nice night."

She smiled and stroke over her robe. Shen bit his underlip. Last night it had been so natural, but now, after he was sober again, it was a little embarrassed for him. He tried to change the topic. She shouldn't think, that he only liked her because of her body. No, it was more than that. He wanted to talk about something neutral. Everything was serious for him. They were a couple now. But not any couple. He was someone with aristocratic blood. And they had agreed to live together as a married couple. Now he'd got a new responsibility. Not only about the plan to conquer China. Something other had conquered him.

He picked up some snow with his wings and stroked about it. She watched his movement of his wings.

She smiled. "The snow is white like you."

He smiled back. White, black and gray where the only colors what she could see.

Suddenly, a shadow covered his face.

A warrior in black and white will defeat me.

"Anything wrong?" she asked worried.

Shen shook his head wildly. "No, no. It was just a… Never mind."

He didn't want to ruin this day with that black-and-white prophecy. Not today. And what would that make a sense? He already destroyed that "warriors" of black and white. They will never cross his plans.

He pressed the snow together in his wing. "No, it's all just new for me."

She nodded. "For me, too."

He threw the snowball away. Together they watched how it disappeared somewhere in the snow.

"You can throw it very far," she said.

"It's just a matter of practice."

Again he picked up some snow and formed it into a ball.

"Look at this."

He threw it in the air very high, then at the same time he threw something after it and cut the ball in two.

Speechless, she watched how the two snowball parts fell from the sky.

"How have you done that?"

He lifted his wing and pulled a white feather out. But this feather was strange. It seemed to be very hard like a…

"Feather blades."

He reached for one of the knives which was white and formed like a feather and handed it to her. Carefully, she took and felt it with her finger feathers.

"Very sharp!" he warned. "I put them on this morning."

"How did you get this idea?" she asked.

"Well, feathers are formed like knives. Then I thought why no feather knives."

She stroked over the sharp edge. "Is there no danger that you cut yourself?"

"Not if I'm very careful," he took it back. "And I will be careful. My body is my own weapon."

While he spoke, he formed another snowball, threw it in the air and cut it with the feather knife, so that the cut snow flew over their heads.

"Do you think I could do that, too?" she asked after a few seconds of speechlessness.

He smiled at her. "I'm sure. I will teach you."

His glance wandered over the landscape. "For the conquest we will need every good warrior."

She realized how strong his eyelids tensed. Gently, she reached out her wing and rubbed with her wing the snow in his feathers away. His tension disappeared.

"Maybe we should talk about different things than this," she suggested.

Shen blinked. "Mm, yes. At least for today."

At that moment, she bent down and formed a snowball. First, Shen looked at her in surprise, as if he asked her what she expected from him.

She tried a friendly smile and started to laugh. "Forget your work. Today is a wonderful day."

She threw the snowball, but she didn't manage to throw it so far away like Shen had done.

The white lord smirked. "You still need a lot of practice."

Now he formed a snowball, too. But then… First, she winced, but when she heard him laughing, she didn't mind when he had thrown the snowball against her. And after a while, they made a little snowball fight. Then they ran over the snow country, twisted around that the snow flew and whirled around them. Finally, he threw himself over her and both rolled on the white floor. With panting, they came to a halt and looked at each other with some exhaustion.

While Shen was laying on her, he cleaned her face from the snow. He did it gently and carefully and started to remember last night. She wasn't a mystery for him anymore. After he had searched every part of her body in the night, it seemed he would know everything of her soul. After a while, they stood up again and a new catch-and-hide game started. They played like they never did in their childhood. It was more than a game between friends. It was more familiar, more intimate…

While she hid herself behind a snow hill, she leaned against the snow wall and took the chance to take some fresh air.

Suddenly, she froze. A shadow had appeared in the distance and flew at a low level over the snowed mountain area. The peahen ducked her head. Her heart beat faster. She knew that shape. In the next moment, the flying figure gave the impression of that he had discovered her. Other flying shadows followed him.

She winced when Shen appeared next to her.

"Found!" But then he realized her unsureness and stopped. "Anything wrong?"

"Uh… no, I…" Gently, she pushed him more behind the hill. "I… I just thought I had seen a… a flower somewhere there…"

She simulated as if she would look around the landscape, but in reality, she scanned the sky. The dark shapes were gone.

"Wait a second," she said and let the surprise lord standing there. "I'll be right back."

Quickly, she ran behind the next snow hill.

"Be careful," Shen cried behind her.

"Don't worry," she cried back.

Shortly after she was gone from his view, she ran as fast as she could around some snowed rocks, always looking at the sky. But nothing was there. Were they gone? She stopped and listened. But there was no sound, no one…

Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the air. She did her best not to scream. The big bird flew with her on a shadowed hidden plateau. Yin-Yu landed face down in the snow. Quickly, she got up and looked into an eagle face.

"Many moons and many suns we were on our way and now we found you," he said with satisfaction.

"How can you dare?!" she scolded at him. More eagles surrounded her.

The big bird smiled darkly. "Your parents are longing for you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, really?" She freed her clothes from the snow. "I never want to go back!"

The eagle seemed to be a little confused. He had never heard such objections from her.

"Pretty cheeky after just a few weeks free time in the open world." He grabbed her wing. "You come back now."

She pulled her wing free. "No! You know exactly why. My life in Jingang City is over! It doesn't exist anymore!"

The eagle narrowed his eyes. "Or is it because of that silly looking guy?"

She winced. "I don't know what are you talking about."

The eagle cracked his claws. "Maybe we should ask him."

His ugly smile didn't speak a good sign.

"He knows nothing about me!" she affirmed.

The boss eagle turned around. "Oh, really?"

"He lives in the mountains!" she said firmly. "Alone. He only gave me a roof for a while."

"In this case it will be no problem to turn home."

Two of the guard birds grabbed her wings. Her body tensed and she tried to come free.

"Why are you doing this to me!?" she cried.

"Your parents will be very angry with us," the bigger eagle explained. "They told us: Bring her back or leave forever. You have three guesses what I will choose now."

"No, I don't wanna go back!"

"Shut up! Time of departure."

With that, one of the big eagles took her in his claws and flew away with the struggling girl.

She looked around, but there was no chance for her to take a last look at him. Tears filled her eyes. The landscape blurred around her.

Farewell, my love.

She wished to scream. But he would hear that. He shouldn't hear her. He shouldn't come.

"First, I thought something bad had happened to you," Shen said after Yin-Yu had told his version. "Until I've got the ... letter."

The peahen sighed. "I should have never been kidnapped. I destroyed everything!"

She held her beak to avoid crying out loudly.

Shen came a little closer. "You may have destroyed a lot, but not everything."

She lowered her head more. "So you also admit that it's my fault."

The peacock's eyes narrowed. "If so, it was your mother's fault. She deceived both of us."

Yin-Yu lowered her cramped wings. "I hate her so much."

"Why didn't you call me?" he asked. "I would have been there for you."

She looked at him with a steady glance. "And what if my parents came with an entire army? No, you weren't ready yet. My life has been ruined. I didn't want to ruin yours, too. I thought I could end my previous life. I never wanted to hear the name which I was given the day I was born. Incidentally, I never revealed any of your plans. Never."

Shen silenced for a moment. "I remember like it was yesterday when you lay on the floor in front of me."

"Maybe it was a mistake. I had spared you a lot of troubles."

Shen looked away for a few seconds before he looked at her face again. "But your daughter looked for me, and she found me. And now, we are standing here."

They looked at each other, but Yin-Yu showed more than unsureness. She turned around and walked some steps away. "But what does it mean?" she asked with hoarse, quiet voice.

She stopped when she saw some blood strains in the snow of Xiang after Shen had cut with his knife in his wing. The peacock realized her glance and looked down at it, too. Then he wiped with his foot over the bloody snow.

"You said you wanted to leave him, didn't you?" he asked.

She gasped for air. "I was angry."

"But you would if you could, wouldn't you?"

She didn't reply. Slowly, they walked side by side.

"Was he so cruel to you?" he asked carefully.

A bitter smile crossed the corners of her beak. "We slept in separate bedrooms. In the first few months, he came to me just to have his "fun" with me. I couldn't even choose my children's names. If Xia had never had the first letters and Sheng never had the last letter of his name, he would have thought of something else."

A few seconds of silence followed.

"So, you hate him?" Shen dared to ask.

She stopped, but her glance kept ahead. "Yes."

Shen rubbed over the sleeve of his robe. "Wang made you an offer. - Do you want to accept it?"

She looked at him quickly. "Why do you ask me that question?"

"I only want to know the answer."

She looked away. "How shall I explain it to you? I had no other option."

He circled around her. "Until now, right?"

"I don't know what I shall think!"

Shen stopped in front of her, while she looked down. Finally, Shen took something out of his robe and handed it to her. Yin-Yu lifted her head and stared at the rolled paper in his wing. Shen didn't explain and opened it a bit.

Her eyes grew wide. "Is that…?"

"Your letter? Yes."

He rolled it together again.

"You've got it…?"

"Since yesterday…. And I read it."

Suddenly, she turned away. Was she embarrassed?

"But that was so long time ago," she whined. "How should we know that everything could be like… in the past?"

The peacock put away the letter again and put together his wings very firmly.

"What do you associate with the color black?"

"Why?"

"Just answer my question. What do you feel about black?"

She thought about it. "Colorless. White is bright and light, but black is dark and without vision."

"That's how I felt the whole time. I was angry when I heard that you belonged to another man."

She lifted her eyes. "He never owned me. There was no single day, where I didn't think about you."

Shen raised his eyebrows. "All these 17 years through? 17 years are a long time. Every day?"

She nodded. But she didn't dare to ask him the same question. Instead, both looked somewhere else in the distance.

"Are you going to go back to Xiang's city?" he asked carefully.

"I never felt home there," she replied "It brings back so many… black memories."

Shen seemed to think about something. "In this case, you will need a place to stay, where you could feel more… in light. Where there's not so black."

A very gentle smile crossed her beak. "That would be nice. To have a place where you don't feel like in prison. Do you know a place?"

A very, very little smile placed his beak. "Maybe. And maybe for your children, too."

She looked at him from the site, while Shen continued: "Mm, and maybe your daughter needs a place to learn swimming. She will need that, for some situations."

Yin-Yu looked up. "I can't swim either."

"Then you both need to learn it. And your son is not a bad fighter. He will need a place to keep good."

"You mean our son… and our daughter."

Shen smirked. "I still have to get used to it."

"Could you imagine you could use to say it?"

"Well, I will need some time."

"How much time?"

He turned to her. "Maybe a very long time. Do you think you could give me that time?"

Her eyes grew bigger. "A very long time?"

"A very, very long time."

They looked at each other.

"Could you imagine?" he asked seriously.

"Yes."

He hesitated. "Sure?"

"If you ask me like that."

"Do you want it?"

Now they realized they were almost hugging. But maybe he didn't need to say it, she already had agreed with him absolutely.

At that moment, a little snowflake whirled around them. And more and more. It started to snow again.

Both birds looked up.

"Do you still love the snow?" he asked deep in thought.

"I still love it like…"

He seemed to guess that she wanted to say "you".

Slowly, he took her wings and kissed them. As if he had been waiting for so long for this moment. He reached out his feathered hand and wiped over her snowed head feathers. She did the same.

Suddenly, an icy wind blew around them. They embraced while they watched the snow.

"Snow is beautiful. Isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes."

Quickly, but gently, he wrapped his robe closer around her. She started to tremble, but she became warm on his body again.

"Hey!" a familiar panda voice called them. "You will catch a cold!"

Shen smiled. "Who cares?" He took her closer. "It's a pleasure for us."

Po became speechless. "Sometimes I really don't understand some people," and watched how the snowflakes whirled around the two birds.

To be continued…