While Yuwen Yue was waiting for his wife to show up for archery practice, he passed the time by reflecting on how he'd come to be where he was today. The conclusion that he reached was that, while his own skills and personality had helped him to become one of the most influential people in all of Wei, another reason for his success was that the men around him were all total idiots.

For all of his adult life, he'd heard many men complain about how stressful and discordant their home lives were due to having to put up with all of the women that they'd married. Yuwen Yue could not for the life of him figure out why these supposedly intelligent men were shocked that marrying a bunch of women, setting them up in a hierarchy, and then playing favorites would result in tension and angst. No wonder they couldn't even run a functional government.

Of course, he'd also heard these men complain about how distasteful they found their pregnant wives due to weight gain, changing body shape, morning sickness, etc. In fact, most of his peers had boasted about how they would visit their other wives (or even brothels) at night until well after their pregnant wives had delivered. While he understood that the physical closeness that he and Xing'er had maintained during her pregnancy was outside the norm in their society, he found the gleeful yet casual disdain that his peers held for their expecting wives to be immensely off-putting.

As Yuwen Yue watched his Xing'er stride as confidently across the courtyard as it was possible for a heavily pregnant woman to do, he happily concluded that all of his peers were total morons and that he was, indeed, the luckiest of men. The sight of his wife carrying his sword's mate while being dressed in her ever-tightening Xiuli armor that was stretched over their unborn child filled him full of a riot of emotions that he only kept off of his face by virtue of a lifetime of training.

Sometimes he still expected to blink and open his eyes only to find himself at the bottom of that icy lake, having imagined the past couple of years in an instant of longing. Xing'er marrying him, guarding him, healing him, carrying his child, sharing his bed, his home, his life...He knew that as long as he lived, he'd never be interested in any woman other than the magnificent one striding towards him.

Equally satisfying was the knowledge that Xing'er knew it, too. While he and his wife had had their misunderstandings in the past, he was certain that, if nothing else, she was absolutely confident in his love for her and that she'd never have any doubts about the way he felt about her again. She rarely displayed jealousy anymore, content in the knowledge that her husband loved her more than life itself. Yes, jealousy was a thing of the past for them.

Wasn't it?

An image of his wife with her sword at Meng Feng's throat flitted through his mind. Yuwen Yue had to admit that if Xing'er were ever going to be jealous of anyone, it would likely be the beautiful ex-assassin who had, at least for a time, been somewhat close to what Yuwen Yue had originally wanted Xing'er to be: his sharpest blade.

Of course, they both knew that Meng Feng had married Yuan Song and had, somewhat ironically, taken the same position that Yuwen Yue had once accused Xing'er herself of preparing to take: Princess of Yanbei. She seemed happy with her life and had never given any sign that she'd ever wanted anything more from Yuwen Yue than friendship.

Of course, she'd quickly figured out that Xing'er had held my heart…

Yuwen Yue didn't think that his wife was seriously jealous of Meng Feng, but like any good spymaster, he was determined to figure out the answer to what could be considered a matter of national security. When Xing'er misunderstood his intentions, she tended to start wars and cause all sorts of havoc, so preventing misunderstandings from occurring in the first place was of prime importance for the good of the state.

Painful memories of the various times that Xing'er had left him assailed him, mocking his mental pretense of only being concerned with the safety of Wei. Some of his thoughts must have shown on his face, because his wife had a look of concern on hers as she walked up to him. Since he didn't want to talk about his own demons, he made the first move.

"Did you run into any trouble on your walk this morning?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Xing'er said, her face scowling but her eyes twinkling.

"Was it anything you couldn't handle?"

"Oh, I know exactly how I'll handle this trouble later."

"Really? Tell me about it."

"Well, as I was walking, two men walked right by me without even acknowledging that I was standing there. Wasn't that rude?"

"Maybe the men didn't want to interrupt your business. Did you look busy at the time?"

"I was...occupied."

"See? They were just being discrete."

"I could've been in big trouble."

"Maybe that's why they walked away so fast."

"What? Why?"

"Because they knew how much trouble you can cause and didn't want any part of it."

"If they knew how much trouble I could cause, I'd think they'd be worried about making me angry."

"Are you angry?"

"Of course. Ignoring the Da Fu Ren and a guest reflects badly on all of Green Hills."

"Nothing says 'hospitality' like holding a sword at a guest's throat."

"Well, she was holding a sword at my own throat at the time."

"I'm sure you did nothing to provoke that response."

"I was just being cautious. I take our security seriously, you know."

Yuwen Yue's eyes softened as he acknowledged the truth of that statement.

"I know there's nothing more important to you."

"It was all just a misunderstanding anyway. She's a friend, and she's here to see my husband."

Aha!

Yuwen Yue took his opening like any good spy would.

"Your husband? Doesn't that make you jealous?"

Xing'er looked at him quizzically.

"Should it make me jealous?"

"I don't know. Is your guest beautiful? Smart? Good-looking when dressed in black? Great with a sword and even better at causing trouble? Devoted to protecting her husband from harm?"

Xing'er mock-glared at him, but to his relief, Yuwen Yue detected nothing but impish good humor in his wife's bearing.

"Actually, she is. Do you think I have anything to worry about?"

Yuwen Yue figured his game had continued long enough. He took a few steps closer to his wife until they were standing face to face and lowered his voice.

"Is she married to your husband? Carrying his child? The woman he's loved since he first met her years ago? The woman he'd risk anything to save?"

"No," Xing'er whispered, her eyes wide.

"Then she has nothing to worry about," Yuwen Yue said softly, gently cupping her chin. "Now or ever."

Tears glistened in Xing'er's eyes; she swiped at them impatiently.

"I know. While I've had good reason to doubt so many things in this world, your love for me is no longer one of them. I worry about so many things..."

Well, there's opening number two.

"I know you do," Yuwen Yue said, slowly removing his hand from her chin and placing it on top of the hand Xing'er was using to hold Can Hong Jian. "I can probably count the number of times that I've seen you without this since the icy lake on one hand."

Xing'er lost her battle with her tears and they rolled down her cheeks. She didn't even bother wiping them away this time.

"Most women would fear losing their men to other women, but I..."

"You fear losing me to an enemy," he finished gently. "Which is why you never go anywhere without your sword in your hand. It's why you train all the time, even when you're exhausted from your pregnancy. It's why you patrol every morning. It's why you sneak out to train with the Xiulis."

His wife raised her chin defiantly at that last point, but he continued on, knowing that this discussion was long overdue.

"You don't have to, Xing'er. Whatever comes, we'll face it together, just like we did at the icy lake. We're not at war anymore, so you don't have to live like we're under a constant threat, like an enemy army is going to invade tomorrow. You don't have to be afraid."

"What about you?" Xing'er said loudly, suddenly ripping Can Hong Jian out of Yuwen Yue's grasp and reminding him of a younger version of herself. "Do you think I don't know that you're afraid? That you get that lost look on your face like you have now when you think I'm not looking? That you're just as scared of losing me as I am of losing you?"

"I don't fear losing you to another man."

"I know. If I drink wine with Yue Qi or trade war stories with He Xiao, you're not going to assume that I'm in love with them. If I'm not where you expect me to be one morning, you're not going to assume that I've run off to become one of Xiao Ce's concubines or to take Meng Feng's place as Princess of Yanbei."

The anger suddenly seemed to leave Xing'er's body as quickly as it had come, leaving behind a tired shell. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and placed it on his arm.

"Tell me what you're afraid of," she said softly, looking up at him with that earnest, wide-eyed gaze that he'd never been able to say no to.

He gathered her close, feeling almost like he was back in Xiao Ce's palace with his happiness on the line, right after Xiao Ce had told him that Xing'er and he were supposed to meet but not to be together. Gently, he tucked her head under his chin.

"I'm afraid that one day, someone will ride up to Green Hills, tell you they need your help, and that you'll feel obligated to go with them even if you don't want to. I'm afraid that one day, you'll remember how big the world is, realize how small your world has become, and decide to set out on a new adventure without me. I'm afraid that one day, one of your multiple identities will catch up with you and that you'll once again tell me that you're not Xing'er."

Yuwen Yue felt his wife's tears turn to sobs as the conversation and her pregnancy pushed her over the edge. He held her as she wept for what he figured were all of the things that she'd never allowed herself to cry over before—and maybe some things for which she'd never completely run out of tears.

Xing'er stepped back out of his arms unexpectedly, reaching a hand up and laying it on his cheek the way that she had on the ice a couple of years ago. Her eyes burned with that same intensity that they had when she'd promised that she'd never leave him again.

"There is no person, no place, no thing that could ever make me leave you. For you, I will always be Xing'er no matter what other names I carry. When I told you I'd never let anything hurt you ever again, I meant that I would protect you from myself as well."

They stared into each others' eyes, neither one in any hurry to move. The baby chose that moment to kick, startling his wife and causing Yuwen Yue to lay his hand on her armor-clad stomach in awe.

"Do you really expect to be able to feel the baby through my armor?" Xing'er said, sniffling and obviously trying to regain control of her emotions.

"Of course I do," Yuwen Yue said, donning his mask once again. "It's your child."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I would expect any child of yours to have a healthy amount of strength and energy."

Xing'er looked at him skeptically. Yuwen Yue decided it was time to move things in a more satisfactory direction.

"Do you want to do a few drills? We still have some time before our midday meal. Unless you'd rather do something else."

"Actually," Xing'er said, deliberately turning her back on the practice area, "I'd rather take a nap."

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

"What?!"

"Can't I want to take a nap with my wife?"

"But it's the middle of the day!"

"What of it? I am Yuwen Yue, general of Wei, leader of the Eyes of God, owner of the Green Hills and the Red Hills Courtyards, and possessor of a portion of the Kung Fu of Ice. If I want to take a nap in the middle of the day, who's going to stop me? And you! You are Xing'er, wife of Yuwen Yue and the mother of his child, the general of the Xiuli legion, the wielder of Can Hong Jian, and the inheritor of the Kung Fu of Ice. Who's going to stop you?"

As one, they walked away from the practice field and into their home, both feeling lighter than they had in a long time.