Ping crept out of bed, moving quietly past his snoring guardian. It was three weeks since he had staring training on a morning with Shang. They weren't even focussing on just archery. Shang seemed determined to increase Ping's strength as well as his skill.
"How are you at swimming?" the man's calm voice questioned softly as Ping emerged.
"I can swim." The young man replied honestly. "But I get tired pretty fast."
"Good. We can work on your stamina, but I wanted to check you could swim."
"Is that what we're doing today?" Ping asked, coming to stand beside the larger man as he scraped his hair back up into a knot on his head.
"With everyone else. I'm going to send Chi-Fu off with those who can't swim. He was bragging a few days ago about how amazing he is at that. He can teach others.
"Oh, that will keep him quiet I'm sure." Ping laughed brightly, imaging the displeasure Chi-Fu would express at doing something helpful for a change. His breath caught in his chest as Shang smirked at him.
"We're jogging this morning. Come on."
The two men began with stretching, gently warming their muscles up with deep breaths and confident movements.
Jogging with Shang was night and day in comparison with jogging on his own. The two could only be compared in light of how different they were. For all he enjoyed the silence of jogging alone, the silence of jogging beside someone was calming in a way he hadn't expected. The company inspired him to move that bit faster, continue that bit further; it took his mind off the burning of his lungs and the discomfort of his feet. While once Ping had staggered out of bed with the dawn, now he with an eager smile on his face.
Shang never spoke as he moved, but this Ping found a relief. He didn't want to talk to the man while panting like a dog who had been playing in the sun. He wasn't sure if the Captain was doing it intentionally or not, but the man never made Ping self-conscious. He matched his pace to Ping's, slowing if the other man did without comment. He was calm when they jogged together, relaxed, as though moving without Chi-Fu as his shadow took a weight from him.
The only downside was in Ping's dreams, where the man was beginning to feature more frequently. He didn't often dream of the man in a sexual way, but their content was still intimate, thoughts of embraces and slow kisses, the feel of strong arms protecting him from the scorn of the world. He felt safe in his dreams, but he had found that waking up to begin the day with the captain of their company also gave him sanctuary from his anxieties and tribulations with regards to the other men.
He was still struggling with them. Ling was still resentful for showing him up in training the other week when he had knocked the man out. Yao still growled at him and Ping had been unwilling to try and fix whatever problem he had to work out a friendship. Chien-Po often spoke with him in the evenings, before going to sit with his friends, and Ping tended to sit with Lei and Jian, the older men keeping an eye on the boy once they realised he was just a bit clumsy and didn't piss people off purposefully.
Ping's eyes swept the horizon as he loped through the countryside, his breathing matched the pounding of his feet, deep and steady. Jogging was easier now he was disciplined in how he went about it, and he found the experience rewarding each and every time.
"The first thing we are doing today is catching fish." Captain Li stated as they stood in ankle deep water. They had not yet separated the swimmers and the non-swimmers yet, and there were 3 men who looked decidedly nervous.
"Then why are we in the water and not on the sides with nets and rods?" grumbled Yao softly.
"Good question, Yao." As ever, Shang's sharp ears had caught the muttered complaints. "We are catching the fish with our hands. Would you like to come up and demonstrate?"
Like a chastised boy, Yao crossed his arms and glared down at the flowing river.
"The easiest way is to look for the shadows of the fish and observe which rocks it is the hide under. You then feel along the edges of the rock to try and capture one with your hands. However, I don't want us catching fish like this. I want you to get the fish as the swim past you. It will take concentration and accuracy. It will take speed to grab the passing fish and dexterity to hold onto it."
Ping frowned, shifting where he stood and trying to discreetly scrape the small pebbles out from under his feet to make stand more comfortable. He hoped no one was noticing the muddy clouds that were billowing out from his feet in the water.
Soon, they all moved off to stand in their own spot, away from others to try and avoid scaring the fish with too much movement. Naturally, Yao followed Ping, the smirk on his face hinting at the trouble he planned to cause.
Mushu slipped out and into the water, his loud sigh at the relief of cool water on the hot day caused Yao's head to turn, and Ping resisted glaring in his guardian's direction.
Concentration, accuracy, speed and dexterity. With these in mind, Ping blocked out the distraction around him and focussed on the water, eyes flitting about for the shadowy hint of a fish.
He saw something darker than the sandy coloured pebbles of the river bed and his hand shot out. Concentration and speed where there. So was accuracy, he grinned to acknowledge as his hand touch something softer than the hard rocks below his feet. Dexerity came into play as he grasped the fish and pulled, keeping a tight grip on the wet surface.
Beside him, Yao yelped.
Beside him, Yao's body disappeared under the water as the man's foot emerged in Ping's grasp. He dropped it gracelessly, and sloshed quickly through the river to deeper water. Maybe Yao wouldn't know who to blame.
Mushu popped up beside him, 3 wriggling fish in his possession.
"Here you go, Princess." He said quietly. The nickname had come back when Ping had started spending time with Shang, much to the dragon's disapproval. However, the young man still didn't mind it. He'd been called worse by both people in his town and in the army camp.
"Just one." Ping didn't want to cheat, but Yao had just righted himself and was turning to glare and the slight man. When Mushu disappeared, Ping looked up to see Chien-Po smile at him before crouching down to try and collect a fish of his own. Off to his side, Shang was giving Ping a proud look.
Ping grasped the fish in both hands, uncomfortable as he held the evidence of his deception. He hated lying, and now Shang would think he had caught this on his own.
His hope that Yao would be unaware was shattered as the bruiser stepped up his tactics. They were now using staves in their martial arts and two weeks later there had yet to be a time that Yao or Ling had not tripped him up. And the marks he gained from landing time and again on his arse had nothing on those he got while sparring Yao, who always managed to partner him.
Still, their pranks had nothing on his own stupidity. That was a fact he mused on as the medic held a cool, damp cloth to his chest and another one to the side of his face.
"Next time, you let it fall." Growled Shang as he sat beside the young man.
"It wasn't like I meant to!" Argued Ping, unhappy to be seen as such a fool.
"I'm afraid I have to agree with the captain here." The medic piped up, a fixed smile on his face. "Next time your cannon falls over, you let it fall."
Ping kept quiet. Ling might have knocked the stand out from under his cannon, but Ping was the one foolish enough to grab it. There had been no one in front of the firing line. No one would have been injured if he had just let it go.
Their disapproval had nothing on Mushu's though. The dragon had simply said "We'll talk later." He had then headed off to the tent as Shang had come running over to check on his young student.
"Right. Let me apply this salve."
"I'll do it." Said Shang. "If that's all then a few other men were injured by their own stupidity."
There was silence in the tent as the medic gathered his supplies and slipped out. Once the flap had returned to its position, Ping looked up at his Captain.
"I'm sorry." He said softly, eyes tracking the movements of the large hand as it came to rub the slave in.
"I know. I don't meant to be angry."
"What, you're just worried?" Ping asked sarcastically, repeating a phrase his sister often uttered.
"Exactly. It's shout or cry and I don't remember the last time I cried so…"
"Really?" Ping sighed as the cool paste was rubbed in with small circles down to his jawline. It lifted the pain quickly and a sleepiness began to take over him. "How bizarre."
"Hey, are you meant to sleep in here? Come on, back to your own tent."
"The medic might have more instruction for me." Objected Ping, though he pressed closer when Shang's arms came up around him.
"I'll collect it for you."
"Right." Ping's eyes dipped as he relaxed, free of pain with exhaustion setting in.
"Should you be so tired? Is the paste that good?" Shang sounded concerned, but it barely penetrated the comfortable bubble that encased the young man.
"He gave me something to chew first. I think it's meant to do this." Was it? Ping couldn't really remember. He fell asleep in the tight embrace of his captain long before the man picked him up, carrying Ping back to his own tent, still located on the edge of camp.
While Ping was utterly unaware of the events that took place after he dozed off, his dragon hid out of sight, watching carefully as Li handled his ward. He wasn't glaring, but there was a curious expression on his face as he watched Li tug the boy's boots off and cover him with a blanket.