Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors…(sigh)
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The next morning Da fluttered her eyes open as she sighed contentment against the comfortable bed that had to be twice the size of her.
Last night had gone well though they had laughed at Xiao every time she took a mouthful saying thank you to it and since they had never seen a knife, fork or spoon, they had looked at soup confused before drinking it and eating with their hands which was un heard of for royalty but overall they hadn't been formally introduced to anyone yet apart from Ce, Yu and Shang Xiang. She was nervous about meeting them, they all looked so intimidating, it made her feel somewhat easier knowing that she couldn't speak to them.
She stepped outside her room straightening out any creases in her new dress. They had gave them both dresses after hearing they had nothing else to wear, where they got the dresses from she didn't know, Shang Xiang didn't look like the typical dress wearing type and any dresses she had would probably have been to big for them anyway. Shang Xiang was bigger boned than they were and more normal height while they were petite in size and height.
She still had her small starfish behind her ears as she went into Xiao's room. She looked around not seeing Xiao anywhere but a messy bed.
She looked outside seeing no one. She wriggled her toes against the carpet bringing a smile to her face as she walked down the corridor before coming to the worst invention - stairs.
She had a determined face, no one was around to hurry her so she could take her time. She started taking one step at a time without falling over. It was all going well until she heard someone walking down the stairs and she quickened not wanting to look stupid until slipping, her eyes clenched shut before feeling a warm pair of arms catch her.
She slowly opened them looking up to see Sun Ce smiling cheerfully at her. A deep blush soon spread across her cheeks on her blank face.
"Sorry, here" he said as he helped her up
She gave him a polite smile before looking to the next step nervously not wanting to embarrass herself again.
He waited for her seeing her face, he smiled at it.
"Need any help?" he asked
She nodded shyly and embarrassed.
He smiled before picking her up.
"Your sister woke up early, she went off somewhere" he told her
She nodded slightly.
"Are you hungry?" he asked
She nodded again.
"I'll show you there if you want" he cried but she could do nothing but nod
Xiao skipped through the garden edge too scared to go further out encase she got lost, which she did easily, she used to get lost through all the seating clams.
She skipped up to the large fountain enjoying the feel of the wet grass against her feet, she sighed at how they could wear shoes though right now she was freezing cold. There was a slight cold wind blowing making her shiver, it was never cold in Atlantica she just wasn't used to their weather.
She looked at the fountain seeing a butterfly perched on the top. She tilted her head to the side never seeing one before.
She watched as it fluttered its wings before starting to fly away, Xiao gasped lightly unable to fight the urge of going after it.
"Wait for me!" she called before starting to run after it stumbling slightly against the wetness of the grass and the fact that she wasn't used to running
She managed to follow the butterfly to a tree, she looked up seeing it disappear behind the branches and leaves.
She pouted at it as she put her hands on her hips.
"Mister Flying Thing! Come back!" she called with a natural childish tone in her voice
She huffed slightly trying to jump to the closest branch which was too far away to reach.
She looked around trying to find something to help her reach up the tree as she saw a set of legs. She crept round the tree seeing Zhou Yu with a book in his lap. From his face she could tell he must have been deep into it for he didn't acknowledge anything going on around him and had a looked of deep concentration engraved onto his features.
The thought that he wanted to be alone never occurred to her as she skipped up to him and set herself down next to him.
"Hi!" she greeted cheerfully
It was a few seconds later when he looked up to her cheerfully.
"Hi!" she chirped
He closed his book as he put a polite smile on his face "Forgive me, I didn't notice you there"
She shook her head "No. Whatcha reading?"
Yu looked down at the book before shaking his head "Nothing interesting"
"You looked pretty into it, let me see" she cried as she took the book off of his lap "It has pictures!" she chirped happily
He watched as she squinted her eyes and twisted the book different ways to try and decipher it.
"It is complicated" he cried
She nodded with an embarrassed blush on her face.
The Atlantican language had evolved from hearing humans speak while the written words were nothing like theirs.
She put the book down as she looked at him "What's it for?"
"Strategy" he replied "I'm likely to be chief advisor"
She tilted her head to the side confused "What's that?"
"It's tactics for battle, you see the depiction shows where the solders should be designated while it explains below" he explained
She nodded blankly before holding the book back out to him.
"That's too smart for me" she cried "You have to do that a lot?"
He nodded "It takes up a lot of my time"
She nodded not understanding "What do you do for fun then?"
"I like to hone my skills" he replied
"What? So all you do is work?" she asked incredulously
"I find enjoyment in it" he replied truthfully "I want to be ready when I'm called upon"
She shook her head refusing to accept it "Doesn't mean you can't have any fun!"
He smiled at her "What would you advise me to do then?"
"Umm…" she mumbled as she tapped her chin in thought "Well, I don't think you could do any of the stuff I do where I live, we'll have to find something else, come on"
She hopped up as she thought of what he would find fun.
"I know!" she cried as she clasped her hands together "Why don't you take off your shoes?"
"My shoes?" he asked as a crease appeared on his eyebrows
She nodded eagerly "Yup! I like to feel the ground in between my toes!"
"You find that fun?" he asked with a smile
She nodded "Uh-huh! Don't you like the feel of the ground beneath your feet? Or looking up at the sky especially at night with those bright lights and the moon, it shines real bright at night!"
He smiled at her refreshing child like qualities.
"That's sounds nice…" he cried
She nodded in agreement with a wide cheerful smile.
"I know" she chirped "Take off your shoes!"
"Alright" he agreed as he slipped them off and stood on the grass with her "It's chilly…and wet" he pointed out
Xiao had to nod in agreement "Yeah, I know…but don't you like the feel of it in between your toes"
He smiled at her "You must find enjoyment in a lot of things"
Xiao nodded "Yeah! Mamma says you should never take anything for granted - even the simplest things like walking in sand or wet grass"
Xiao smiled as she looked around looking for something else to occupy them now. She knew that she had a short attention span especially on land but only because it was more exciting up on the land than in Atlantica especially without Da but they were seldom apart so they had little to do together at Atlantica.
"What now?" asked Xiao
"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" he suggested wanting to know more about her
"Hmm…." she started as she tapped her chin with her finger thinking of where to start "Well, I like anything…I love talking and food, I really love food! Especially dimsum and chocolate, I'm always hungry. I like pretty things like flowers and that flying thing that got away" she explained as she pouted at the end before looking at him with a bright smile "What do you do around here? And you can't say reading!"
"Alright," he started as he thought about it "But I do have a lot of responsibilities"
"Okay, okay" she interrupted as she motioned it off "I want to know!"
He had to smile at her, she was endearing to say the least.
"I study-" he started with a light tone
"No!" she interrupted with a childish stern voice "This is why I'm going to help you! You're going to learn to have fun!" she chirped while he look at her starting to get a little anxious
Meanwhile Ce was showing Da around the castle after waiting while she ate. He had showed her what a fork was much to her embarrassment and the fact that she couldn't defend herself when she ate with her fingers though he was perfectly nice to her but she found herself cringing inwardly.
She had to admit he liked to talk but sometimes when he was trying to explain something she didn't understand he would try to explain it without speaking and using his hands which she had found rather funny which made him smile luckily he wasn't embarrassed easily or offended.
She followed him to one of the castle parlours which overlooked another of the castle's gardens.
She watched as he looked around at anything but her with a natural imperturbable nature about him as he tried to think of something to say to her that didn't involve her talking back to him.
"You like it here?" he asked finally
She nodded with a smile.
"Ah…" he started as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "So, you don't like shoes? Huh?"
She shook her head slightly, embarrassed as a light blush covered her cheeks.
He stroked his goatee at the thought "Never met anyone who didn't wear shoes before, I've never thought about not wearing em' though, unless you never wore shoes before, have you?"
She shook her head as she listened to him intently.
A crease appeared on his eyebrows "Right, how'd that happen?"
She did nothing for a moment trying to think of something thinking of nothing to mime to him for why she had never worn shoes when they were a necessity for the humans.
He nodded understanding before he stroked his goatee trying to think of a way to speak to her.
"Right…" he started
Truthfully he thought of this as a challenge, but a good challenge.
He wanted to get to know her from the moment he saw her in the woods but was unsure how to when all she could reply with was a nod or shake of her head.
"Have you always not been able to speak?" he asked after seconds of silence
Da nodded with a polite smile.
"What happened?" he asked interested
She shook her head as she shrugged with a half-hearted face.
"Will you ever be able to again?" he asked
She thought about it for a moment before nodding slightly.
"How?" asked Ce
Da slumped slightly as her face immediately became saddened.
'I find someone who loves me for me…like that's ever going to happen'
He watched as her face became distorted with sadness.
He motioned his question off "Never mind, it's not like a voice is everything"
'That's easy to say when you have one'
She looked up to him, slightly surprised. Was he trying to cheer her up?
She didn't think so since she had to think about it, she figured he just didn't want an uncomfortable situation with a sad girl.
"What if we get a feather and paper and you can just write things down?" he suggest as he started to get up
Her eyes widened with fear as she immediately grabbed his hand to stop him.
Although the spoken human and Atlantican language was practically the same, Atlantican had evolved from the mer-people listening to humans but the written language had no similarities at all and she could only write basic sentences from what Cuifen had taught them when they were young and even that was rough.
He stopped in mid movement looking at their hands before looking at her feeling a slight tingling feeling at the touch.
"Y-yeah?" he asked as he cleared his throat manly
She shook her head profoundly, not wanting to embarrass herself anymore. She didn't want to know what he thought of her. She hadn't made the best impression. She didn't like shoes, she couldn't say a word and talk to him, she couldn't go up or down stairs. She gave a silent sigh at her predicament.
"Guess not then" he replied as he sat back down
A few seconds later she looked at him, she bit her lip slightly, usually whenever she met people Xiao was with her and talked for the both of them, she thought because she had no voice she was boring but everyone loved Xiao, at parties she always had crowds of people around her laughing along with her but Da couldn't talk to anyone but those who came to compliment her on how she looked and the men who didn't mind having a silent wife as long as she was obedient though once her grandfather had heard them funnily enough she never saw the same man twice. She couldn't help but feel insecure without her voice which made the mission she and Xiao were on seem almost hopeless to her.
She pouted slightly at the thought of Xiao, she missed her now. She looked at Ce seeing him look back with a blank look on his face at her pout which she immediately got rid of.
He looked away as he cleared his throat.
"Uh, it's hot in here, want to go for a walk?" he asked
She nodded slightly before she stood up.
They walked outside as Da looked around at all the new sights before seeing Xiao with Zhou Yu in the distance.
She lightly tapped on Ce's shoulder making her look at him as she pointed in their direction.
He nodded understanding.
"You want to go back to your sister?" he asked as she nodded her reply
As soon as the two caught sight of them Xiao bounced up to Da with excitement written across her face.
"Hi!" she cried
"Where are your shoes?" asked Ce to Yu as he bunched his eyebrows together at the sight
Xiao giggled as she skipped to Yu looking at him as she replied for him.
"Zhou Yu felt the grass in between his toes and he really liked it, right?" she chirped
Yu nodded with an easy smile at the sight of her.
"Yes" he replied
"Right" replied Ce obviously amused making Xiao look at him displeased at the thought he was making fun of Yu
"You're mean for making Yu work so hard!" she cried childishly as she put her hands on her hips
Ce rubbed the back of his neck not knowing what to say to her.
Yu put his hands on her shoulders making her look back at him with her original smile.
"No ones makes me do things I don't want to" he assured
Xiao nodded understanding "I believe you, I'm sorry" she said to Yu rather than Ce not that Ce minded as Da looked at him with a worried stare relieved to find a good natured smile on it.
"Brother!" shouted Shang Xiang as she walked up to them "Father set up a room so he and everyone can meet them"
Ce nodded "Right, you stay with them"
Shang Xiang nodded a smile appearing on her face at the idea "Okay, it's nice after having only greasy men to talk to, but you should put some shoes on, just while you're meeting them, they're a mixed bunch"
Xiao sighed "Fine, fine"
Da had a smile on her face at the idea, hopefully they'd all be nice.
"I'll show you to your rooms so you can get some" offered Shang Xiang as she turned
Da smiled politely at Ce as she nodded her thanks before following the two inside.
Ce stepped up to Yu as he watched them go.
"You might want to clean that up" he cried as he motioned lazily to Yu's muddy feat not taking his eyes away from her walking figure
Yu looked down at his feat and nodded "I know… but she's something else…"
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