Part 2, Chapter 28

Following the army

Ch 28

Xun smiled at her camp. Her cousins had given her a small oilcloth tent which folded neatly around the bedroll they had also given her. She had set it up close to the army camp, but hidden in a little bowl of a valley that had been scooped out by a meandering stream. She had even managed to catch a fish, Yo’Bo had refused to let her leave until she could prove she knew how. She was grateful for the skill and her catch was now roasting over the fire. Overall Xun was quite proud of herself. 

A small, metallic dragonfly darted into the clearing and landed on her shoulder. It’s large, jewel eyes gazed at her as its head cocked back and forth. The underbrush rustled. 

“Xun?” Renping’s voice sounded querulous.

“I’m here,” Xun replied, moving forward and pushing some brambles aside.

“That thing,” Renping said, pointing to the dragonfly as she stumbled into the clearing, “Has no respect for people without wings. How are we supposed to keep up with it when it goes zipping around like that.”

“Sorry, Renping,” Xun said. She meant to say more, but Leng Zai tumbled out of the underbrush, his eyes sparkling.

“Xun!” He said enthusiastically, bounding over to her. 

Xun smiled up at him and he smiled back down at her. Xun felt a pressure around her heart that she hadn’t even been aware of ease.

“Was he much trouble,” Xun asked Renping.

“Yes,” Renping said. “How do you keep him from following every girl who flirts with him?”

Xun started to respond, but Leng Zai interrupted, “I’d rather be with Xun than other girls, so I don’t want to follow them when she’s around,” he said, his eyes still roaming hungrily over Xun’s face.

Xun blushed, and looked down shyly before her head snapped back up. “And when I’m not there?” 

He shrugged, “Then I don’t really have a preference.” As Xun started to splutter he added quickly, “but I don’t let any of them touch me! I remember what you told me at the festival.”

Xun sighed and patted his arm, “What am I going to do with you?” She asked, but no one had an answer.

As the fish cooked the three friends talked about the logistics of their situation. Renping warned Xun that her mother had been watching for her.

“She’s knows you probably followed us,” Renping told Xun, she reached into the bag she had been carrying. “She sent this along when she saw me trying to sneak out of camp.”

Xun opened the bag to find travel cakes and a small container of tea. She smiled, that settled breakfast. Her mother knew her best. 

“You could probably come and stay in the camp,” Leng Zai said, looking at the food. “If Madam Lai knows you’re here then just come stay with us.”

Xun shook her head. “If I go into camp Mother will feel obliged to scold me and send me home. She has to maintain discipline among the kitchen staff. She just wanted me to know that she knew I followed you.” Xun tucked the food away. “What we really need is to figure out a plan to get that pendant from the Emperor. Then I can sneak back home and Mother can pretend I never left.”

Renping stood suddenly in shock, “You need to do what now?”

“Oh, sit down,” Xun said tugging on Renping’s arm. “The Emperor has… an item… which belongs to Leng Zai. We need to get it back from him.”

“That’s insane,” Renping said, allowing herself to be pulled back to the ground. “You know that’s insane, right? Why would the Emperor have something that belongs to Leng Zai? Lang Zai, can’t you just let him have it? He is the Emperor.”

Leng Zai shook his head. “I can’t. It’s…”

“Complicated,” Xun said, finishing his sentence. “I’d explain it, but I’m not sure I even really understand.”

Renping crossed her arms over her chest, “Try. Or I am going to tell the first guard I see everything about you two.”

Xun looked at Leng Zai, who shrugged. Xun took a deep breath and began talking.

At the end of the story Renping looked first at Leng Zai, then at Xun. “Complicated,” she said slowly. “Is one word for it. So a mad witch told you to steal the Emperor’s pendant and smash it so Leng Zai can regain something unspecified that he lost.”

Leng Zai and Xun nodded.

“That’s not complicated. That’s, and I do hate to be repetitive, insane.”

Leng Zai gave her his bright, guileless smile, “You sound like Xiaomin. So will you help us?”

Renping scowled. “I do not sound like that uncultured, reckless, bird,” she looked at Xun, who was staring at her hopefully and shook her head, “I won’t tell on you, at least, but I’m not sure about helping.”

“That’s enough,” Xun said, taking her hand. “Sorry for dragging you into this.”

“Well, what are your ideas so far,” Renping asked.

Xun, Renping, and Leng Zai discussed strategy and then life in the Palace and then the conversation drifted to the past as Xun spoke of her mother and the twins. Leng Zai listened attentively, soaking up the stories until Xun felt a little uncomfortable with all the attention. 

“What about you, Renping, how did you come to the Palace?”

Renping’s smile faded a bit and she seemed to look uncertain in the firelight, although Xun found it hard to be sure. “Oh, it was so long ago and not very interesting. I’d rather hear about how you met Shun and Xiaomin.” 

Xun answered her happily and the conversation continued until the moon was well up in the sky. Finally silence gently covered the camp as the friends ran out of things to say. Renping and Leng Zai made their way back to the army while Xun curled up next to her fire and fell asleep.

Author's Note

2 chapters today because I mixed them up on my first attempt to post…