Her face was creased into a frown.

She did not look happy, Lon'qu thought.

"Lon'qu!" Her voice cut to his ears, a sharpened knife slicing through the air. No, she most certainly was not happy. He was closer now, and she beckoned for him to come inside.

Once he stepped through the threshold, she brusquely shut the door and planted her hand on her hip.

"Do you know who I ran into today?"

Lon'qu sighed. A scolding. These were typically few and far between, but once she got started, she could go on for hours. If he could figure out why she was angry, quickly, and apologize for it, he could save himself a lot of time and grief.

Too bad he had no idea what had set her off this time.

"Well?" she glared down disapprovingly at him, waiting expectantly for his answer. "Who did I run into today?"

The best course of action would be to feign ignorance, he decided. Though it wasn't exactly feigning as he still had absolutely no clue who she had run into. "I dunno," he mumbled, the words running together.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you do," she retorted. Clearly, she was convinced that he knew what was going on while in reality he didn't have the faintest idea of what she was trying to get at.

Lon'qu began to get exasperated. Though he knew it would be detrimental for him to annoy her, he couldn't help but respond sharply in kind. "I really don't know, so could you just tell me? Or we can stand here for hours while I try to guess."

She pressed her lips together so tightly that they turned one shade paler. "Fine. I ran into Shuo'li's men today."

He started with surprise. He hadn't expected that Ke'ri would be so quick in following up on her promise. "What did they say to you?" he asked.

"They told me that Shuo'li would buy a new house for us in Wufen, and not to worry about the cost or the location. The only instructions they gave me were to start packing up what little belongings we have." The crease between her brows deepened as she frowned, displeased.

"A house? In Wufen?" Although Lon'qu hadn't known what to expect, he was taken aback. "Why Wufen?"

"Don't ask me," she scowled. "Clearly you know much more about this than I do. Would you care to enlighten me?"

Lon'qu nodded, and told her the entire story. He didn't blame her for being so angry – after all, he had done all of this behind her back, without her approval. And he was not surprised when she objected to Shuo'li's charity, much in the same way as he had reviled the idea of receiving help from Ke'ri.

"Do you know how that would look?" she exclaimed incredulously. "First of all, I don't appreciate being anyone's charity case. I don't want to be pitied. And don't even tell me again that he was paying for our rent," she glared at Lon'qu, who had just been about to point out that very fact. "We didn't know about it, so there was nothing we could have done about it. And if we're going to be living near the center of Wufen again, we'll be the newest and easiest targets for gossip. And why is Shuo'li being so kind to us? Surely he must expect something in return. Perhaps your enlistment in the army, or maybe even –". Here she shuddered, imagining worse alternatives that only the mind of a concerned mother could conjure.

"Listen, mother," Lon'qu tried to keep his tone as neutral and calming as possible. "I don't know what Ke'ri told her father, but this is not what I had in mind. We have nearly enough money to afford a down payment for a new home, and all I was expecting was a little bit of financial support from Shuo'li. I know that you have no wish to be so indebted to their family, and neither do I. I was just in Linan, and I found a respectable house for us there. I will talk with Ke'ri tomorrow and straighten out this misunderstanding."

She shook her head. "Is there any way that we can completely avoid taking their charity? I cannot help but worry that Shuo'li has some ulterior motive. Though you may have met Ke'ri, from what I remember of her father seven years ago, he was not the most charitable or giving person."

"Perhaps he has changed. Why else would he pay for our running water without notifying us? If he expected retribution for his acts of kindness, wouldn't he strive to make himself known as our benefactor as soon as possible?"

"If he had notified us, he wouldn't have paid for our water for more than a single month," his mother replied with a steely glint in her eyes, gray as flint. "Go tell Ke'ri that we won't be needing any of her father's charity. We are managing perfectly fine on our own."

He could not completely conceal the look of incredulity that flitted across his face, though he masked it a few seconds later. "But what about you?" Lon'qu asked. "You wouldn't have to do other people's dirty laundry anymore, you wouldn't have to subsist on what barely even qualifies as food, you wouldn't have to sleep in this bed that's about to break down –" Here he suppressed the urge to kick the bedpost, since it would almost certainly collapse if he did.

"What about me?" she shot back. "I'll manage just fine, thank you."

Lon'qu mentally scolded himself. Of course that wouldn't work. Her pride was a higher priority than her own comfort. As much as he loathed it, he would have to change his method of attack.

"Then think about me, mother. I wouldn't have to fight in the arenas anymore." He didn't need to elaborate. He could see her thinking through the implications on her own – her only son wouldn't have to risk his life every day, he would be able to take on a normal apprenticeship and find a respectable profession, he would be able to live the rest of his life in relative happiness. He could see her beginning to give in, and here Lon'qu played his trump card.

"I'll talk to Ke'ri. We won't be staying in Wufen, and whatever money we borrow we will pay back the moment we earn it."

His mother bowed her head, beaten. "Fine, then. Go tomorrow, when the sun rises. It has gotten dark, and I would rather you not travel dangerous roads alone at night."

Lon'qu nodded, though as he turned away, a darkly humorous thought came to his mind, leaving a sour taste in his mouth. He murmured it to himself once he was sure that she was out of earshot. "Should I encounter anyone hostile, I feel that they would be the ones in danger, not I."

A/N: Still alive, I swear. School's gotten ridiculous and my laptop's been broken, but I got it fixed during spring break! /endexcuses