The Fat Dong's Rule 5 - (Supernatural Asia, DongZhuo!SI)

Huaman wanted to hate her current situation. She truly wanted to. But she just couldn't for some reason.

Even with that stern lecture from her 'new teacher'/owner, followed by her mother's strong words of warning telling her to keep her head down, the fiery girl had initially planned to be as disruptive as possible. Sure, she had sworn a oath to not strike anyone, but that didn't mean she had to outright comply to any order.

Huaman still got coerced in the same room with that fat pig of a teacher. The man being as hideous as one could be but... also strong. The girl was young and far from experienced, but she could tell this 'Dong Zhuo' had the kind of authority that went beyond the mere political one.

And despite her best efforts to look away, his sharp voice dragged her stare back to the various pages of the book he was teaching her about. She mimicked his words in regard to mastering the letters, but also explaining the various connotations of some written words depending the context.

"It's a difficult subject. Not many youths are good at mastering it. I don't have high expectations for you to do it."

That lazy disregard infuriated her to the point of making it a point to prove him wrong. And while she had started just recently to put more effort in calligraphy and learning more of the alphabet, Huaman also had another reason to be allured by his lessons.

"And now that we are done with the lesson of today, how about-"

"Story," She interjected, as giddy as a little girl trapped in the world of a older braver girl. Her eyes shone brightly as there was something unique about the fat man's tales.

Huaman grew with tales of brave tribal warriors through her mother's narration, but the stories told by her 'teacher' were unique. Some were about China, but most went beyond its borders. Tales of land beyond the known one, mentioning of 'brief exchanges' with another empire far in the west that left behind some glimpses of their history.

Some were heroes of their own kind, but others were foes they grew to both resent and respect. Huaman was most intrigued by the one tale of Boudica. A brave heroine that was wronged too many times, and that became the truest symbol of combat for her people.

It was so easy for Huaman to think her mother as the closest representation, a fierce woman with a great fighting spirit.

Yet, there was some details that made Huaman unwilling to spare that story to her mother. The girl was keen to tell her parent many of those stories, but the one of Boudica was held hidden from her ears for many reasons.

One of which was about the daughters of the brave woman, raped and shamed - the scorn there was vindicated, but Huaman felt uneasy to consider herself a potential target of such treatment and she didn't want her mother to make that thought too.

Alas, a major detail that really unnerved Huaman was less about the character and more on her family: a tight and close family.

Huaman had grown mostly close to her mother. She was taught how to speak both her tribe's tongue and the one spoken by those in the northern land, which prepared her to these tense months, but also combat and how to handle hunting.

Her father was hardly around. He was 'proud of her', that's what her mother always told her. But Huaman never heard him say so. Her father was always 'busy'. War planning, dealing with lesser tribes' functionaries, and other matters that were always above her.

The thought floated about in her mind not just because of the story, but also due to the strangeness of her teacher around his family. Three cases in particular stood to her attention:

The first case was the clever and cunning man known as Li Ru, and the way he seemed to lower his guard solely towards his father. Dong Zhuo was always at ease around most people, which left Huaman confused on why he would be so 'trusting' of others. Li Ru also felt most intrigued by her situation, but he held back from ridiculing her, only wishing her a 'good day' everytime he visited.

The second case was one she half-expected. Lu Bu, the fierce monster that wrecked her father's troops, hardly visited Dong Zhuo, but the rare times he did the two behaved stiffly. Their talking was curt, careful, cautious and yet most respectful. Part of her thought both were tense out of a sense of distrust, but she also related their bond like the one she had seen of a man and his son in her mother's army failing to think the 'right words' to mention how happy they were of being around each other.

The third case was... an oddity. And the one that Huaman detested the most. Dong Bai was younger than Huaman by a few years. The two were vicious around one another, which was why her teacher saw for his granddaughter to focus on speaking with him and hardly interact with Huaman. The sheer amount of affection Dong Zhuo regaled to the white-haired 'prodigious girl' stunned the red-haired warrior girl into a confused mood.

Part of her wanted to not care but... the rest hated that bond. Not only was Dong Zhuo speaking to his granddaughter's interest in sword-fighting as nothing unimportant for a woman to entertain, but he was always pampering her with compliments.

The anger, the confusion, the anguish, and ultimately some distracted thinking over her 'homework' made her ask something out loud.

"Did my father care?"

If her mother had been around, Huaman would have been lectured and shamed for ever doubting that. But the place she said this was within the office of Dong Zhuo. The fat man paused mid-writing and gave her a look.

"What?"

"Is it... is it a right of a child to know if their parents care for them? To know if they are doing right by their mind?"

...

"In most cases, yes. Alas, most parents are also unprepared to express emotions regarding their children."

She should have stopped it there, she should have kept this private. She should have bottled it up, as usual, but... Huaman felt unable to stop.

"W-What if they don't say it? What if they are always busy and- and always have an excuse to... to avoid you?"

"Then there may be a reason for their unwillingness to speak. Still, I don't know your story, so-"

"I was father's only child. A girl," Huaman half-exploded, the tips of her hair sizzling as her fire affinity was showing for a moment. "Mother is a strong example that female warriors are strong but... but I-"

"You weren't the son he wanted," Dong Zhuo sharply guessed and she nodded. "And I suppose he never told you, rather he decided to leave you under the care of your mother and others rather than educating you personally."

"...Yes."

"And you raise this point... why?"

Huaman frowned. "Why do you treat Dong Bai so- so..."

"Nicely?"

She nodded, and the fat man hummed thoughtfully.

"It's not as simple as you may think, child. I have many sons, I have a way to put those I care to safety if needed. What about your father?"

"He never-"

"He never spoke to you, so you believe he truly didn't like you. But what if he did so out of love?"

That response left Huaman floored. Love? Why would love justify that isolation?

"I don't understand."

"Let me ask you this then - put yourself in his position. Being the leader of a tribe can be reasonably precarious, there is less of a law to fully cement your power and a constant need to prove your worth. Your mother becoming his wife allowed him to strengthen his position, but what happens when his capacity to produce a heir is questioned?" Dong Zhuo inquired calmly, yet he wasn't done talking just yet. "If your father had truly hated you, then he would have cast you aside, sold to a man to reinforce his own position. While also trying to get a proper son to be his heir. Training in war? Hunting? Do you think you would have had the chance to do any of that if he wanted you gone?"

The redhead found herself unable to muster a proper reply to all of that. Her mind took a while to process it all, and the result was perplexing. The fat man was not wrong- sure, her father had avoided her for so long, but he could have hurt her if he truly hated her. If he didn't want her, then Huaman wouldn't have been around.

But then...

"Why? Why would he still avoid me?"

Dong Zhuo's response was immediate and as sharp as the previous one. "I can only work with what we call 'assumptions'. I don't know the truth, but I can try to hand out what feels smart of a person like your father: I think your father avoided you so that you two wouldn't have a tight bond. The moment that something happened, either of you would have been able to survive each other's passing without feeling too hurt about it. Beyond pride, what's your reason to be upset for losing your father?"

This question drew out a particularly embarrassing aspect of Huaman's own view of that. The answer was 'nothing'. Huaman didn't have a legitimate reason, beyond familial pride, to care for the death of her father. Who was he? Who was the man that bore the title of 'her father'? All she knew was what her mother told her about him- but there were also soldiers that were caught badmouthing him in private.

She heard them, she remembered them, and then she understood one thing. She couldn't love him, but she couldn't hate him either.

"Nothing."

"I am glad you were honest, child. Now... how about we go for a walk by the gardens you and I?"

Huaman froze, looking at her homework. "I-I am not done-"

"If I was to let you study with a mind heavy with that thought, I would be a most disrespectful teacher. Close your book and keep walking beside me, we will continue this lesson tomorrow."

The redhead wanted to protest but... she felt a bit too drained to endure more calligraphy exercises. She stood up, waited for the fat man to lead her out of the office, and the two just walked. There were no words shared, no thought spoken, only her and him walking around.

Did Huaman find peace to her own thoughts? No. Those still kept nagging at her after that day, but she still felt a sense of ease as they wandered around, not a single plan in mind beyond merely walking and looking around.

The gardens were beautiful and... it made her forget the worst of those dark thoughts. The experience was deeper than anything she had ever experienced and... it made her unable to back away from those lessons.

She yearned for more tales, but also to slowly understand, in her own way, that her teacher was not truly that bad of a person. He still planned to 'kill others', but his reasoning from what she could pick up were understandable. His goal was one, and those individuals threatened that stability this 'Empire' was trying to uphold.

It was a matter of nature, and Huaman found herself seeing more on why her tribe had to fail and how lucky she had been with the fate of those others lacking that sort of mercy she was enjoying.

Alas, things were going relatively well, and then... she made a rather odd request after noticing the fat man struggling in exercises.

"Can you teach me about that too?" She asked with a rather innocent and yet giddy tone, being then chided by her teacher in being more clear on what she meant with 'that'.

Huaman wasn't sure what sort of misunderstanding that tiny summarization truly created, but she was still happy to get accepted as the fat man's training student.

AN

Huaman may be a few years off to get bedded, but she sure is far from prepared with innuendos. And she may have daddy issues.