Thanks for reviewing, my three lovely people.
Okie-dokes, here's chapter two. I warn you now, it's not brilliant.
"Lady Sun Qiang?"
The girl lifted her tearstained face to look up into a pair of golden, sparkling eyes, and found herself feeling like a little girl again.
The little girl, half hidden behind her mother, gazed upwards, lost in the sparkling gold of those eyes. She tugged at her mother's sleeve.
"Mummy, who's that?" she whispered, her wide, innocent eyes still locked onto his.
"This is Lu Xun, angel, he's going to be Uncle Yu's student in a couple of years' time."
The beautiful boy inclined his head, smiling warmly at the awed young girl. "Pleased to meet you, Lady Sun Qiang."
Sun Qiang smiled shyly back, and whispered to her mother in wonder, "He called me Lady, Mummy."
Da Qiao smiled, more at Lu Xun than her daughter. "That's right, my angel, he did."
Qiang's little voice spoke, for the first time, to Lu Xun. "You have gold eyes," she said, matter-of-fact as only a very young child can be, but shyly, touched by admiration and awe.
"Lu Xun?"
The young man smiled and bowed. He straightened, and indicated the space on the bench beside Sun Qiang.
"May I?"
She nodded, hurriedly wiping the tears from her rosy cheeks.
He sat, and for a while there was quiet, no sound but the whisper of the wind through the peach blossom and the slow birdsong. Xun cleared his throat, looking at his hands, rested on his lap.
"My Lady, if I may be so intrusive, I understand how you feel, but maybe, instead of stopping, you should keep yourself busy." He smiled sadly. "I've noticed that seems to be the Sun family way of coping."
Qiang sighed, looking, not at him, but across the orchard. "No. I've… I've tried, but I can't focus on anything." She bowed her head. "You can't understand how I feel."
"I can."
She looked at him.
Lu Xun pursed his lips. "My, er… my father died when I was very young."
"…Oh. I… I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"I don't really talk about it much. Actually I think the only people who know are Lord Zhou Yu, Lord Lu Meng, and your grandmother, of course. And now you."
"How… how…?"
"In a fire."
Flames flickered and blazed around him, beautiful and untouchable. Not solid, not gas. Mysterious and alone.
He wasn't afraid.
Gentle smoke drifted around him, making his golden eyes water and sparkle in the firelight.
He knew he was going to die, but he was strangely calm. It didn't matter.
He took one last look at the room. The beautiful flames would be the last thing those shimmering gold eyes would see.
The dancing shadows darkened and the flames glowed…
… and then everything went black, and he felt himself being lifted from the stiflingly hot room and into the cool air.
"He died saving me. I was trapped in an upstairs room and he went back to get me, but…" he trailed off.
Qiang didn't know what to say. So instead, she took his hand and gazed out into the trees, listening for the voices of long ago.
Lu Xun looked at her, surprised at the intimate gesture. Obviously, she had inherited Sun Ce's easy, informal way with people, and something of her aunt's innocence. So he said nothing, and joined her in her contemplation.
---
Zhou Yu picked up the thick envelope and checked the seal. It was unbroken, and was… too new. This envelope shouldn't have had to be opened for a long time.
Steeling himself, he broke the scarlet seal.
---
"Qiang!"
Da Qiao walked to the old wooden bench, smiled politely at Lu Xun, and then addressed her daughter.
"Angel, they want us up at the castle for… for your father's will," she said, her voice breaking.
"Okay." Sun Qiang said quietly. Her mother's eyelashes were wet, and Qiang tried not to let on how much it hurt her to see her mother upset. Da had always been so strong, and little Qiang had always admired her for it.
She stood up and smiled sadly at Lu Xun "Bye."
Then she followed her mother up to the castle, wondering if life was ever going to be like it used to be.
---
Zhou Yu smiled at his niece, seeing in his mind's eye the little girl who had so often pestered him to play with her, but also Sun Ce, walking with him to hear his own father's will read out.
"Hi, Uncle Yu," She said softly.
He bent to hug her. "Hello, little one," he said, calling her by the pet name he had once used for her.
She hugged him back. "Where's Auntie Xiao?"
"Gathering up the terrors. And your cousins."
Qiang giggled quietly.
Zhou Yu smiled, relieved her hear her laugh. He took his seat at the head of the table, and Qiang and Da sat down near him.
Once Xiao had arrived with the remaining officers and her children, the reading began. Zhou Yu picked up the papers and silence fell over the table.
And as he read, Qiang didn't hear his voice, but Sun Ce's.
"Blossom, what d'you want me to leave you?"
"What do you mean, Daddy?"
"In my will, I mean."
"Oh, Daddy, don't talk like that. It scares me."
"C'mon, Blossom, it's okay. It's just Zhou Yu's making me write a will, and I have no idea what everyone actually wants from me."
"I don't think it would really matter, Daddy. If you did… pass away, I don't think anyone would care what you gave them, unless they were selfish, in which case you wouldn't give them anything anyway."
"… Okay, but what do you want?"
Qiang laughed and went to sit on her father's knee. "I don't know."
"Think about it. If I copped it, what would you want to hear in the will?"
"…I'd want… something that… something to help me through it. Something that almost… brought you back to life." A tear fell down her cheek.
Sun Ce brushed it away. "Don't cry, Blossom."
"Sorry. Daddy?"
"Yes, my little blossom flower?"
"Don't die. I don't know what mum and me would do without you."
The little conqueror held his daughter close. "Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you. Never, ever, yeah?"
Sun Qiang nodded tearfully.
"There we go. Now, show me a pretty little smile, hey?"
Qiang smiled, and a loving look graced Sun Ce's kind face. "Now, I'd best sort this thing out or I'll have your uncle on my back.
"'Kay. I love you, Daddy," Qiang said, getting up.
"Love you, too Blossom."
Ce watched his daughter leave the room, thinking about what she had said. Then he smiled and began to write.
'…and to my daughter, Sun Qiang, I leave…'
"…my love, and happy memories, and…" Zhou Yu frowned at the parchment. "He says to look behind your door. Does that make sense to you?"
It did.
---
Qiang walked into her room and to her dressing table. She moved it aside to reveal a tiny door, made of dark wood, in the wall. She took her jewellery box from the dressing table and opened it, removing a necklace. Hanging off it, as the pendant, was a small brass key. She slotted it into the keyhole in the little door and turned it.
The door swung open on creaky hinges.
Inside was…
… well, dust. She hadn't opened the secret cupboard in years. But… evidently someone else had.
At the back of the cupboard was a wooden box, with the simple design of a blossom flower painted on it. She took it out of the cubby-hole and gently unlatched it.
A twinkling, sleepy tune issued from the little box, and, rested inside, was a hairclip. A shell pink peach blossom flower.
She let the chiming music dance around her and fixed the flower in her long hair, her eyes brimming with tears. The song was a lullaby her mother and father had sung to her when she was small. A song about the sweet scent of the wind, and bells, and a cradle made of silver.
She absently fiddled with the music box as she listened to the soft song, and accidentally pulled out something that was slotted into the box. At first, she thought she'd broken it, but then she realised all she'd done was pull out a little drawer. She looked inside and found a scrap of paper. It had been written on, in Sun Ce's handwriting.
'Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'
She turned it over.
Thanks, Zhou Yu.
I really didn't spend enough time on this. It's not a whole lot longer than my little intro, and badly written. (And secretly, I have no more idea than you do of what's going to happen next.)
And, yes, I realise that music boxes weren't invented until the 1800s or whatever it was, but, for the purposes of this (painfully historically innacurate) work of fanfiction, they were invented in ancient China. (shifty eyes)
Nevertheless, R & R.