"Nightwind, please calm down." Lady Yang Xing tried fruitlessly to calm the terrified animal, stroking the horse's neck as she whinnied in pain. Around her, servants carried warm water, rags, and hay while she sat down next to the horse. Labor had always been difficult for poor Nightwind, and each time she gave birth, Xing prayed that the pain wasn't as bad as the last time. The animal continued to thrash around, driving many of the servants away from her powerful, kicking legs. Xing let out a sigh. It looked like she was going to be helping with the birth on her own again. She rolled up her sleeves as the tired animal began to push out the foal.

She couldn't see any of them through her tightly shut eyes. The sheets of her bed were twisted and tangled from her constant movement, her fists wound around them as she gave another howl of pain. She knew she shouldn't cry out, that it was a sign of weakness. She had heard the other women telling her that it was okay to cry and scream, but she would have none of it. She was a strong woman according to many, and she wanted to keep that reputation. She stifled another yell as the pain became worse. This was taking far too long and wasting far too much energy.

Then, as if she had called him, he was there.

He put one arm around her shoulders, constricting her movements. The other he used to wipe the hair and sweat off of her face, offering what little comfort he could. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Xing, please try to relax," he said in a calm voice. She let out a small laugh.

"You try it." She gasped as another wave of pain came. The battle wounds she had acquired, the beatings she had endured, even the mark on her back had never caused quite this much discomfort before. "He's already like you, strong willed and impatient." She could tell that he was grinning, even though she couldn't see it. "Your son had better be worth this."

"He's your son too, Xing." he said. "That right there makes it all worthwhile." Yang offered a small smile as her world was consumed with pain and the hardest work she had ever done began. She let a small scream escape as she began to push.

Xing could hear gasps as she pulled the rest of the foal out of its mother. The noise from Nightwind had stopped, along with her movements, allowing some of the braver servants to come into the stall and clean her up. She began to clean up the foal, who was trying to take in this new world around him. She grinned as he tried to stand on his scrawny legs, and she gently pushed him back down. His coat was already a beautiful shade of black, and it would get darker as he aged. She quickly checked him over for any visible problems, and finding none, get up to let the others finish taking care of him. After all, she had been sitting with that horse for several hours, and she deserved the break.

She lay her head back as the pain finally began to subside. Her breaths came in short, quick spurts as she tried to catch it. That had taken forever to do. She desperately wanted to just sleep at that point, but the cries of her son brought her head back up and tears to her eyes. She smiled uncontrollably as a midwife placed the wrapped bundle in her arms. The tiny face inside the blankets looked back at her with deep brown eyes, and she could already see a mass of brown hair on his head.

"He's a splitting image of you," she said, looking up at her husband. He, too, was grinning fro ear to ear. But there were no signs of tears. Officers of Lord Li Bei didn't cry for anything. Well, almost anything.

He laughed. "Except that he looks a tad bit younger than me," he said. His son turned his gaze from his mother to him. Gently, Xing lifted her child into the air so that his father could take him. He gently rocked him back and forth in his arms as the baby cooed softly. She smiled at her two men. He was going to be a great father to him. She could already tell.

"So, what are you going to name him?" Xing asked softly. Her husband didn't even give it a moment's thought.

"Ma Cheng," he said. She nodded. It was perfect.

Lady Yang leaned against a tree, letting the slight breeze blow in her face. It felt good to get out of the cramped stable. An odd thing to say, since it was her favorite place in the entire kingdom. But as she stood there in her bloodstained clothing and the sweat still dripping from her skin, all she wanted to do was get out of there. It would have been nice to have her husband's help. Ren was good, but it was not the same as having the God of Horses by your side.

She wondered what was taking him so long to return. He had gone to Cheng Du for a few days for some meeting with Lord Liu Bei. He was due to return home any day now, but it was impossible to tell exactly when it would happen. Not that it mattered a great deal; she just liked to know what was going on. Maybe it was because of the life she used to live. Control had meant survival back then. Xing smiled. It was hard to remember what her life had been like beforehand anymore. All thanks to her husband.

He would be disappointed to learn that he had missed the young foal's birth. She would give him the choice of naming it later. He liked that kind of stuff. But at that moment, all she could think about was a bath and a change of clothes before returning to the stables.

The sounds of hoof beats drew her attention to the main road behind her. A cloud of dust rose from the dirt as a group of men rode towards them. Xing, being the head figure when her husband was gone, went out to greet them. She didn't recognize them until the dust had settled, forcing herself to grin. They were back.

The leader jumped down off of his horse and walked over towards her. She could see him grinning as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. Laughing, she pulled his helmet off of his head, letting the tiger carved onto it fall into the dirt. The mass of dark brown hair whipped around as he leaned in and kissed her.

"I missed you," he said, still grinning.

"You liar," Xing said, gently pushing him.

He sighed. "You're right. I missed my son more. Where is he?"

"Oh, Ma Cheng could be anywhere," she said. "Did you want me to find him?"

He let out a laugh. "Xing, all I needed to find was you. I'm not worried about Ma Cheng."

She pretended to be shocked. "Ma Chao, you are the most insufferable man I have ever met."

"Am I?" he asked, and leaned in to give her another, more romantic kiss.

Finally, the journey that I started three years ago has finally finished. I want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, and stuck by me through this experience. I thought this story was lost after my computer crash. But some stories just need to be told, regardless of what happens along the way. And before I forget, a friend of mine would like to point out that this epilogue was the inspiration for the rest of story before it. She made me write it for a contest years ago and, well, the rest is here in front of you for your viewing pleasure.

I will admit, I'm not entirely happy with the end of this story. In the original version, Ma Chao was filled with anger after Yang Xing was taken from him by Cao Pi. There were at least two more chapters during that last bit where he really questioned their relationship and when through an emotional rollercoaster. Likewise, Xing started to fail in her resolve to a much more significant degree than is shown this time around. When I tried to write it, something was off. I can't explain what it was, but I couldn't make their attitudes and feelings fit well into the story. So I had to cut them out. It was either suffer with a lack of detail or suffer through confusing details. I chose the former.

I know, it seems weird to hear a writer say that they couldn't make something happen the way they wanted. The truth is that sometimes, when you become so engrossed in characters, they develop minds of their own. You can't force them to do things because it would be taking away from that personality they've developed.

In short, I apologize for the rather abrupt ending. It was my intention to create more drama. Because of this, the story has moved up on my list of those needing immediate rewrites. I will finish my light revision of The Tigress's Song first, then I will try and rework some of the details at the end of this story.

I hope that, regardless of how this story turned out, that you enjoyed the journey. I know I had a tremendous amount of fun with these characters. As always, good luck on your own writing journeys and may you find as much joy with them as I have with mine. And if you would like me to read and review a story of yours, feel free to drop me an email or PM and I will respond as soon as I can.

-Elyse/MaChaChao