Just wanted to pop in here and extend another big thank you for reading this, and a huge thank you for my reviewers! It's always reassuring to know that this fandom isn't completely dead. :)
A warm, orange hue tinted the sky by the time Kia Min made her way back to Wayfarer Wei's house with a sleeping Little Qing in her arms. The soldier had requested that Kia Min help with the initial preparations for Yao Hong's funeral, and to help spread the word of the truth of the man's intentions with the slavers.
"If he didn't do it this way," the soldier explained, "the customer would have enslaved the entire town in one fell swoop. At least this way, we were given a chance at freedom." He paused, and then he smiled. "By the way, tell Wayfarer Wei that he can trade with more than just Two Rivers now. The customer didn't want us sharing our plight with enough towns and villages to cause a ruckus, but that doesn't matter anymore."
On her way out of the teahouse, the rescued villagers thanked Kia Min graciously, and a couple tugged at her sleeve asking her to please save their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. She only smiled and promised to do what she could, but the empty promise was enough to let her pass without any incidents or further words. What could she do? She knew nothing about flyers much less how to fly one, and she had no idea where the Lotus Assassins took the slaves and what they did with them once there.
Then Kia Min began to wonder about other villages who shared the same plight as Hehua. Were there many of them? Did Emperor Sun Hai allow this, or was this being done behind his back? Why was it happening in the first place? And surely, there must be more than just herself stopping it from happening!
Master Li always talked about Wu's destiny. Kia Min began to wonder if maybe slavery had something to do with it. She grinned as she made her way towards the edge of town. Yes, Kia Min was not the only one, and even if Wu wasn't rectifying these wrongs directly she must be taking care of the bigger problem. Master Li would have trained her for no less.
Kia Min glanced at the sleeping child in her arms. Yes, all of this was worth fighting for, and saving this one town must be helping the senior student achieve her destiny. But she wasn't done yet, and Kia Min knew that she needed her father's help in One Stone to nudge Hehua back on the right track.
As she neared Wei's home, she saw a frantic shuffle of shadows from the windows. Kia Min nudged Little Qing awake, and the little girl rubbed her eyes sleepily as the wooden door to Wei's house flew open.
"You're home," Kia Min whispered as she set the girl down. Little Qing gave Kia Min a puzzled look, and then she turned towards the house, where her father and brother stood in shock in the doorway and her mother had fallen to her knees in tears.
Little Qing's face brightened. "Mama! Baba! Tu Bo!" she shrieked as she raced into her mother's arms. Mother and daughter embraced, and son joined in, while the father approached Kia Min with awed tears in his eyes.
"I... I don't know what to say!" said Wei. "How... how on earth...? How is this possible? What did you do?"
Kia Min said quietly, "I killed Yao Hong, and the man he was selling your people to. You're all safe now. You never have to worry about anybody taking your children away from you again."
"Oh," Wei breathed, and he dropped his face into his hands. "Oh! You... you're a godsend. I knew as much when you saved me from the bandits but I never dreamed that you could do this much for us! For all of us, for all of Hehua. How can I... how can any of us ever repay you?"
Kia Min smiled. "The only thing I ask," she said, "is that you give me a ride to One Stone first thing in the morning."
After spending a night on a bed (which Kia Min hastily declined, but Xiang would have none of it) and a hearty dinner and breakfast where Kia Min indulged the story to the family, Kia Min and Wei climbed into his wagon and headed to the northeast for One Stone. Wei had moved to unload his cart the night before so that he could get her to One Stone faster, but Kia Min told him not to bother. She assured him she was in no rush, and it would be too much of an inconvenience for him.
It wasn't until they had stopped to camp for the night did she tell him, "My father is a merchant, and one of the wealthiest in One Stone. He can help you get on track to doing business in our town, and in the surrounding villages."
Wei nearly dropped the bun Xiang had packed for them. "What? But you've already done so much..."
"I wouldn't feel right," she said, "leaving Hehua in the state it's in right now. If it makes you feel any better, consider this a favor you're doing for me, so I can be more at ease." She paused. "And please, don't thank me."
That, of course, did not stop Wayfarer Wei from doing exactly that the rest of the way to One Stone.
The town had not changed since Kia Min left for Two Rivers five years ago. In the surrounding fields, the farmers planted and picked in the water-filled rice paddies while children ran about with kites in their hands. In the town itself, the men and women either called for people to please shop from them or they bustled between booths to gather the wares they needed while the boys wrestled in the streets and the girls played with their dolls.
Only during the turning of the New Year did Two Rivers ever come close to this kind of excitement, and most of the energy was churned by the students who were aching to do something other than train everyday. Kia Min smiled as she remembered Wen lamenting that Two Rivers still came nowhere near the Imperial City on a quiet day, and she imagined him saying the same thing here.
"Oh, my," Wei murmured as Kia Min led him to her father's home. Nobody turned to stare at this newcomer, though some curiously pointed at Kia Min. They were the mothers and fathers of her childhood friends. She wondered what they were up to now.
She motioned for Wei to stop the wagon in front of the two-story stone and brick building the Kia family called home. Before she could call for someone to either watch over Wei's goods or let her into the gated yard to the back of the house, her brother came bursting out of the house.
"Min!" he exclaimed as he embraced her. "You're back, you're back!"
"That was fast," Kia Min said with a laugh as she returned the hug.
"Oh, you already forgot, my dearest little sister? Rumors travel fast in One Stone. Hua Li came yelling in front of the house only a little while ago. Nothing gets past him."
She smirked. "I think rumors travel fast no matter what town you're in," she said. Kia Min waved towards Wei, who was climbing out of the wagon. "Anyway, this is Wayfarer Wei. He gave me a ride home, and he needs new business. Wei, this is my older brother, Kia Jun."
Wei brought his hands in front of his face and bowed. "P-pleasure to meet you," he said quietly. "I come from Hehua."
Jun tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hehua? That sounds a little familiar. Can't remember why, though. Have we done business with your town before?"
"I... couldn't say," said Wei. "I wasn't always a merchant, and we only traded with Two Rivers the past few years."
Before Kia Min could interject, her mother appeared at the door, her face lit up but her eyes betraying some lingering sadness. Did she really miss her that much, Kia Min wondered. Still, Kia Min smiled, and her mother greeted her with an astonished whisper, "You're already back."
Kia Min nodded. "Yes, I..." She took a deep breath. "... am."
This probably wasn't the best time to bring up what had happened to Two Rivers. She would tell her family later, after business with Wei was concluded.
"You should go see your father," her mother said, and she grabbed Kia Min's arm and ushered her into the house. "He'll want to see you."
Kia Min opened her mouth to protest, but the grip her mother had on her arm was firm and insistent; there was no point in fighting. She glanced back at Jun, who waved with a smile and a wink and a nod towards Wei. Kia Min sighed in relief and gave him a small smile in appreciation. She only worried that Wei would say more than he needed to without giving her a chance to say anything to her brother and mother, but though her family were successful merchants, they were fair and reasonable. Wei would be fine.
Still, as she made her way through the sun-filled house with everything in exactly the same place as she remembered them, she began to wonder and worry. Her father was a very exuberant and active man, and Jun aside, she expected him to be the first one at the door to greet her. But maybe he was really busy and couldn't spare the time to meet her. Not that that had ever stopped him before when her uncle, Jong, came to visit, but maybe that was all there was to it.
Kia Min first checked the office where her parents kept tabs on the exchanges and trades they made, to make sure that no urchin or sneaky thief had made away with anything. The rice paper shades were drawn, and the room was very, very still. She then wandered to the back, where the oxen were lazily munching on grass and dirt. Her father was not there, either.
The bedroom? He couldn't be there.
This was not a good sign.
Tentatively Kia Min climbed up the stairs towards her parents' bedroom, and she heard a rustle of papers on the other side of the rice paper door. She drew in a sharp breath, and slid the door open. Sure enough, her father, his hair gray and wrinkles swimming across his skin, sat in the bed with a pillow propped behind his back and covers beneath his legs.
Kia Min was dumbfounded but she couldn't find any words to ask the questions she wanted to ask. Her father, though, spared her the trouble, and he nearly immediately glanced up from the papers he held in his hands.
"Min!" he exclaimed with an astonished smile. "I see your mother's letter got to you before mine did."
Kia Min frowned. "Letter?"
"I really would rather you have stayed at Two Rivers to finish up your training," he continued. "There's no need to worry about an old man like me. But I'm not unhappy to see you, don't get me wrong. But why waste travel expenses? Your mother is fretting over nothing. The doctor said I still have at least a year..."
"Father," Kia Min forced in. "What are you--" And then she stopped. Doctor? Her father bedridden? Letters? "Oh," she murmured. "Oh. Father. I..." She sighed. "You know I would have come, whether or not you told me to. Master Li would have understood."
He shook his head. "Oh, Min, I knew you'd say that. You're just like your mother like that." He smiled warmly. "You even still wear your hair like she does. It's nice to know that some things never change."
Kia Min grinned meekly. "And some things change too much," she murmured.
A strong hand gripped her shoulder, and she heard Jun's boastful voice say, "Father, I hope you're not too tired for a business proposition. Min brought a man home who could really use our help."
Kia Min glanced over her shoulder and saw Wei behind Jun, giving her a small smile. He mouthed the words, "Thank you," and she knew that Jun had really taken care of things for her. Her mother had agreed, and there was no way her father could even possibly think to turn the man down now. She nodded once. Hehua would be fine, now.
Her father waved his hand towards Wei, and Jun bowed out and grabbed Kia Min's arm to lead her out of the room. "Better to let two accomplished businessmen handle this," he said as he closed the door behind him.
"Well, aren't you going to take Father's place someday?" said Kia Min as they made their way down the stairs.
Jun nodded. "Yes," he said slowly. At the bottom of the stairs, the two siblings stopped, and Jun sighed. "Wei told me what you did at Hehua. Seems like you got one-of-a-kind training in Two Rivers. Mother's very proud, and Father will be, too."
Kia Min narrowed her eyes. Jun wasn't doting upon her like he was prone to doing when he heard of her accomplishments. "But?"
Jun glanced out the window, bit his lip, and turned back to his sister. "I want to see just exactly how good you got the past few years. Tomorrow morning, we spar, just like old times."