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The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1757764" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>“I’m just saying, Madame,” Nayu kept his respectful tone. The elderly woman could be stubborn sometimes... a trait that occasionally is good in an expert trader. “That a lower price would let you sell this much sooner. Think... fixing your roof might cost... what? Three gold?” Cixi gave a slight cough, before her intended huff. She always huffed just before she gave in.</p><p></p><p><em>I almost have her,</em> Nayu thought, before his planned persuasion was interrupted.</p><p></p><p>“Ma’am?” a light and airy voice called, causing Madame Cixi to look behind him. Nayu thought he recognized the voice... and groaned.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Madame, sir!” Felonca gave both the young man and the old crone a proper bow. A quick glance told her that the young man wasn’t too happy at her interruption. “I couldn’t help but see that...” </p><p></p><p>Felonca’s eyes hurriedly danced across the lady’s wares. <em>Something to talk about so I can shift the conversation to these darn sticks!</em></p><p></p><p>“...you have a rose here!” Felonca scooped up the red flower. Her nose picked up the sensitive wavering in the flower’s aroma. <em>Excellent lead in!</em> “How much is it?”</p><p></p><p>“Ah!” the old woman gave a buck-toothed smile, her hands shakily removing the rose from Felonca’s hands. “You must have the heart of some young man, if you are looking at this rose! It only costs one hundred gold pieces,” she said slightly lower, her aged eyes flashing momentarily to the young man in front of her. Felonca caught a slight grin on his face, directed at the old crone.</p><p></p><p>“Hmm... well, I am afraid I have very little cash on me,” Felonca said half-truthfully. <em>One must only count the coins one has on one’s person... not the sack of silver on my horse outside of town!</em> “Do you take in-kind items, though?”</p><p></p><p>“What?” the old woman’s face became a sea of wrinkles as she frowned in confusion.</p><p></p><p>“She wants to know if you will barter, Madame Cixi,” the young man said. The old crone’s eyes then lit up in recognition, and she nodded her head slowly.</p><p></p><p>“Well... I have these,” Felonca gave a cursory glance to the crowd, and saw no unusual partings that would indicate soldiers, or an angry prefect. Quickly, the three sticks covered in writing were on the table.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“What... are these?” Nayu said, slightly in wonder. <em>These are books used by scholars! They... they’re worth a fortune to a student of Master Kong-shi!</em> “Where did you get them?” The young woman’s blue eyes flashed momentarily with a bit of mischief, but before she could respond to his question, Madame Cixi interrupted.</p><p></p><p>“These are tomes of knowledge. I cannot read them... but chances are the prefect would love to have them, and he would have the money to give you a fair payment,” the old woman said slowly, slightly in wonder. “Why do you not go to him, and sell them? I can hold the rose for...”</p><p></p><p>“No!” the girl said a little too quickly. It was then that Nayu noticed her eyes... bright blue eyes with black hair was uncommon, but what caught his attention were her pupils... instead of being round, like a human’s, they were vertical slits.</p><p></p><p><em>She’s a hengeyokai...</em> he thought as she stammered on quickly.</p><p></p><p>“Um... no. He wouldn’t appreciate <em>these tomes,</em>” she hissed to Madame Cixi. Nayu’s eyes went a little wide, as he realized what she was implying.</p><p></p><p><em>First you try to robbing Master Wu and fail... so you go and rob the PREFECT?</em> His first estimation of the erstwhile thief as a mere amateur was starting to vanish... things were not settling right for him.</p><p></p><p>“Ah...” Cixi said slowly. “Perhaps young Nayu here can help you find a safer scholar who would like these!” She gave the same bucktoothed grin, her eyes delivering the elbow to Nayu’s side.</p><p></p><p>"I... um," Nayu stammered, surprised.</p><p></p><p>"May I ask... why is this rose so expensive?" the woman continued. As he stood confused, Nayu couldn't detect any reproach in her voice... it was little more than a simple question.</p><p></p><p>"Because my roof has a hole," Madame Cixi coughed in reply. To Nayu's complete surprise, he saw the woman's deep blue eyes fall from heights of impishness to pity... perhaps even sorrow. She reached inside her cloak, and pulled out some fourteen golden taels.</p><p></p><p>"Miss, I cannot," Cixi rasped in protest as the woman placed the coins in her hands. The woman's reply was to merely close the old woman's hands around the coins.</p><p></p><p>"For your roof," she said simply, all impishness gone from her dark face. </p><p></p><p><em>So... a thief with a heart?</em> Nayu wondered as he saw the old woman give a deep bow of thanks, before he heard his name mentioned again.</p><p></p><p>"...he knows many of his father's contacts in Xianlung, he should be able to take you there," Cixi's voice bubbled with aged rasps. </p><p></p><p>"But Madame Cixi..." he began to protest, only to meet Cixi's eyes again. Their fierce grey gaze made him wilt.</p><p></p><p>"Thank you for helping me... and I hope you can use that money to fix your roof, wise one," the girl bowed again, before turning to him. "So," she put an arm around Nayu's shoulder and began to move him away from the stall, "When do we go to another city to sell these?"</p><p></p><p>“Um... Madame...”</p><p></p><p>“Felonca,” the girl bowed her head slightly. The movement gave Nayu another moment to look her over. Her robes parted for a bit, and for the first time he noticed what she was wearing underneath... a dark kimono, something definitely not worn by a local. </p><p></p><p><em>A matter of fact, the only people that wear clothes of that cut are warriors...</em> More questions arose in his head, even as he caught a momentary glimpse of two fans hanging from her belt.</p><p></p><p><em>A hengeyokai dressed in warrior’s garb who is bold enough to steal from the prefect himself?</em></p><p></p><p>“Nayu, pleased to make your acquaintance,” he said slowly, uneasily as he started moving away from Cixi. “I... yes... can take you to some of the other cities nearby, but first...”</p><p></p><p>The girl suddenly vanished into the crowd, as if she was nothing more than a shadow. For a second, Nayu wondered what had happened, till the crowd seemed to part about him, and he found himself facing three tall burly men clad in the armor of the prefect’s soldiers.</p><p></p><p>“May I...um... be of...service?” Nayu said slowly as he gulped. <em>They’re looking for her already... and they saw me next to her! They think I’m involved! Think! Think!</em></p><p></p><p>“Young man, we received word that you might know of a disturbance in the markets earlier today,” one of the guardsmen spoke. To Nayu’s relief, none of them had their hands anywhere near their swords.</p><p></p><p>“A...um... no?” Nayu spoke slowly, his mind feverishly constructing a story. “There was a slight tussle in front of Master Wu’s butchery, but that has long since been settled, good sirs.” <em>Now go away!</em></p><p></p><p>The lead soldier looked him over closely, before giving a grunt. Tweaking the young man’s hat, the soldiers marched off into the crowd. No sooner had they vanished than the young woman reappeared by Nayu’s side.</p><p></p><p>“Damn, that was a close one,” Felonca growled, pulling her cloak’s hood further over her face. </p><p></p><p><em>What the hell am I doing?</em> Nayu’s mind fumed, his heart still pounding. He spun towards Felonca.</p><p></p><p>“Who are you? What are you doing here? The prefect’s soldiers aren’t particularly kind,” he spat quietly, “The penalty for stealing is death, as is the penalty for harboring a fugitive, and I’m not about to risk life and limb over a complete stranger who for all I know could me a wanted outlaw or little more than a crazy psycho running amok for kicks!”</p><p></p><p>To his surprise, the young woman gave a slightly impish grin, and fished one of the two sticks from her pocket. The gold etches in the lettering shone softly in the sunlight as she waved it in front of him. </p><p></p><p>“Do you have any ideas how much these are worth? I sure don’t. We could split it someway.”</p><p></p><p><em>Three tomes... Prefect Sun-Ji in Xianlung would pay out of his nose for more tomes for his collection...</em> ran through Nayu’s mind, before he suddenly spun back around. “Do you have a horse?” he asked as the two marched through the markets.</p><p></p><p>“Quite a turnaround,” Felonca laughed. “I thought you said you wouldn’t risk your life for a stranger whose a thief!”</p><p></p><p>“I will risk it for trade!” Nayu rejoined. “Let’s hurry... I have a feeling prefect soldiers are now looking for you again, and filing a false report gets you five days in the stocks here!”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It was a few hours later when the two rode out of Red Lotus together. Felonca needed the time to fetch her horse, and Nayu needed to inform his parents he would be gone for two weeks... after all, it would do them no good to be ridden down by prefect soldiers sent to find them because a worried father had complained about a missing son.</p><p></p><p>At first their conversation drifted to Nayu’s background. He was the son of a merchant, with connections in all the surrounding cities, from Mukden to Xianlung. Felonca had to laugh slightly as he described with pride how his father trusted him to now undertake trading missions by himself.</p><p></p><p>However, as the sun was beginning to set on the first day of their travel south, the conversation shifted to something Felonca was not comfortable talking about.</p><p></p><p>“So... you know much about me. Who are <em>you</em>, Felonca? Why were you in Red Lotus, and what made you take up thievery?”</p><p></p><p>“Um,” she stammered slightly. <em>I’ve known him for a day... he might go to Master Hsiu, and I will be caught!</em> “There are things in my past I feel... uncomfortable... about discussing with anyone. No offense.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, I certainly feel <em>uncomfortable</em> riding south with my only companion being a thief I met only today,” he rejoined, causing Felonca’s face to heat slightly in fury. </p><p></p><p><em>I wouldn’t steal or hurt you! You helped me so much this day! I steal only to survive, and from asses like the prefect! Not decent people like you!</em> she wanted to snap. Instead, she gave a sigh.</p><p></p><p>“I... well... I come from a military family... hence my kimono and warfans,” she began slowly. She saw his eyes widen a bit when she mentioned her fans were not for decoration... that had caught him by surprise.</p><p></p><p>“I originally was training to be an officer in Hsiu-lan, to the north near the Desert Wall... but...” she started to speak, before a mental wall blocked her mind, as she remembered her time there... the sheer terror of it. “I... um... I couldn’t stay there, so I ran. And the penalty for running away from the Academy is virtually death, so stealing doesn’t bother me... ‘cause if I’m caught...”</p><p></p><p>“Oh,” Nayu said softly. “I... um...”</p><p></p><p>Silence covered the rest of the ride.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Another full day of riding passed by, with the two encountering little save fellow travelers going both north and south along this small trek. The wide fields of red lotus gave way to patchy and then thick woods, as the two rode out of the military district, and into the province of Langsha proper.</p><p></p><p>Some three days before Xianlung, however, a strange sight greeted their eyes on the road ahead. What appeared to be a little, simply but elegantly made of bamboo and oak, was lying on the side of the road, with three bodies clustered around it. To the front stood four ill clad, gaunt peasants, two women and two men, ill armed at best. In front of them stood one lone man, nude from the waist up, his body in a fighting stance...</p><p></p><p>-- EDIT... added a missing scene</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1757764, member: 15043"] “I’m just saying, Madame,” Nayu kept his respectful tone. The elderly woman could be stubborn sometimes... a trait that occasionally is good in an expert trader. “That a lower price would let you sell this much sooner. Think... fixing your roof might cost... what? Three gold?” Cixi gave a slight cough, before her intended huff. She always huffed just before she gave in. [i]I almost have her,[/i] Nayu thought, before his planned persuasion was interrupted. “Ma’am?” a light and airy voice called, causing Madame Cixi to look behind him. Nayu thought he recognized the voice... and groaned. “Madame, sir!” Felonca gave both the young man and the old crone a proper bow. A quick glance told her that the young man wasn’t too happy at her interruption. “I couldn’t help but see that...” Felonca’s eyes hurriedly danced across the lady’s wares. [i]Something to talk about so I can shift the conversation to these darn sticks![/i] “...you have a rose here!” Felonca scooped up the red flower. Her nose picked up the sensitive wavering in the flower’s aroma. [i]Excellent lead in![/i] “How much is it?” “Ah!” the old woman gave a buck-toothed smile, her hands shakily removing the rose from Felonca’s hands. “You must have the heart of some young man, if you are looking at this rose! It only costs one hundred gold pieces,” she said slightly lower, her aged eyes flashing momentarily to the young man in front of her. Felonca caught a slight grin on his face, directed at the old crone. “Hmm... well, I am afraid I have very little cash on me,” Felonca said half-truthfully. [i]One must only count the coins one has on one’s person... not the sack of silver on my horse outside of town![/i] “Do you take in-kind items, though?” “What?” the old woman’s face became a sea of wrinkles as she frowned in confusion. “She wants to know if you will barter, Madame Cixi,” the young man said. The old crone’s eyes then lit up in recognition, and she nodded her head slowly. “Well... I have these,” Felonca gave a cursory glance to the crowd, and saw no unusual partings that would indicate soldiers, or an angry prefect. Quickly, the three sticks covered in writing were on the table. “What... are these?” Nayu said, slightly in wonder. [i]These are books used by scholars! They... they’re worth a fortune to a student of Master Kong-shi![/i] “Where did you get them?” The young woman’s blue eyes flashed momentarily with a bit of mischief, but before she could respond to his question, Madame Cixi interrupted. “These are tomes of knowledge. I cannot read them... but chances are the prefect would love to have them, and he would have the money to give you a fair payment,” the old woman said slowly, slightly in wonder. “Why do you not go to him, and sell them? I can hold the rose for...” “No!” the girl said a little too quickly. It was then that Nayu noticed her eyes... bright blue eyes with black hair was uncommon, but what caught his attention were her pupils... instead of being round, like a human’s, they were vertical slits. [i]She’s a hengeyokai...[/i] he thought as she stammered on quickly. “Um... no. He wouldn’t appreciate [i]these tomes,[/i]” she hissed to Madame Cixi. Nayu’s eyes went a little wide, as he realized what she was implying. [i]First you try to robbing Master Wu and fail... so you go and rob the PREFECT?[/i] His first estimation of the erstwhile thief as a mere amateur was starting to vanish... things were not settling right for him. “Ah...” Cixi said slowly. “Perhaps young Nayu here can help you find a safer scholar who would like these!” She gave the same bucktoothed grin, her eyes delivering the elbow to Nayu’s side. "I... um," Nayu stammered, surprised. "May I ask... why is this rose so expensive?" the woman continued. As he stood confused, Nayu couldn't detect any reproach in her voice... it was little more than a simple question. "Because my roof has a hole," Madame Cixi coughed in reply. To Nayu's complete surprise, he saw the woman's deep blue eyes fall from heights of impishness to pity... perhaps even sorrow. She reached inside her cloak, and pulled out some fourteen golden taels. "Miss, I cannot," Cixi rasped in protest as the woman placed the coins in her hands. The woman's reply was to merely close the old woman's hands around the coins. "For your roof," she said simply, all impishness gone from her dark face. [i]So... a thief with a heart?[/i] Nayu wondered as he saw the old woman give a deep bow of thanks, before he heard his name mentioned again. "...he knows many of his father's contacts in Xianlung, he should be able to take you there," Cixi's voice bubbled with aged rasps. "But Madame Cixi..." he began to protest, only to meet Cixi's eyes again. Their fierce grey gaze made him wilt. "Thank you for helping me... and I hope you can use that money to fix your roof, wise one," the girl bowed again, before turning to him. "So," she put an arm around Nayu's shoulder and began to move him away from the stall, "When do we go to another city to sell these?" “Um... Madame...” “Felonca,” the girl bowed her head slightly. The movement gave Nayu another moment to look her over. Her robes parted for a bit, and for the first time he noticed what she was wearing underneath... a dark kimono, something definitely not worn by a local. [i]A matter of fact, the only people that wear clothes of that cut are warriors...[/i] More questions arose in his head, even as he caught a momentary glimpse of two fans hanging from her belt. [i]A hengeyokai dressed in warrior’s garb who is bold enough to steal from the prefect himself?[/i] “Nayu, pleased to make your acquaintance,” he said slowly, uneasily as he started moving away from Cixi. “I... yes... can take you to some of the other cities nearby, but first...” The girl suddenly vanished into the crowd, as if she was nothing more than a shadow. For a second, Nayu wondered what had happened, till the crowd seemed to part about him, and he found himself facing three tall burly men clad in the armor of the prefect’s soldiers. “May I...um... be of...service?” Nayu said slowly as he gulped. [i]They’re looking for her already... and they saw me next to her! They think I’m involved! Think! Think![/i] “Young man, we received word that you might know of a disturbance in the markets earlier today,” one of the guardsmen spoke. To Nayu’s relief, none of them had their hands anywhere near their swords. “A...um... no?” Nayu spoke slowly, his mind feverishly constructing a story. “There was a slight tussle in front of Master Wu’s butchery, but that has long since been settled, good sirs.” [i]Now go away![/i] The lead soldier looked him over closely, before giving a grunt. Tweaking the young man’s hat, the soldiers marched off into the crowd. No sooner had they vanished than the young woman reappeared by Nayu’s side. “Damn, that was a close one,” Felonca growled, pulling her cloak’s hood further over her face. [i]What the hell am I doing?[/i] Nayu’s mind fumed, his heart still pounding. He spun towards Felonca. “Who are you? What are you doing here? The prefect’s soldiers aren’t particularly kind,” he spat quietly, “The penalty for stealing is death, as is the penalty for harboring a fugitive, and I’m not about to risk life and limb over a complete stranger who for all I know could me a wanted outlaw or little more than a crazy psycho running amok for kicks!” To his surprise, the young woman gave a slightly impish grin, and fished one of the two sticks from her pocket. The gold etches in the lettering shone softly in the sunlight as she waved it in front of him. “Do you have any ideas how much these are worth? I sure don’t. We could split it someway.” [i]Three tomes... Prefect Sun-Ji in Xianlung would pay out of his nose for more tomes for his collection...[/i] ran through Nayu’s mind, before he suddenly spun back around. “Do you have a horse?” he asked as the two marched through the markets. “Quite a turnaround,” Felonca laughed. “I thought you said you wouldn’t risk your life for a stranger whose a thief!” “I will risk it for trade!” Nayu rejoined. “Let’s hurry... I have a feeling prefect soldiers are now looking for you again, and filing a false report gets you five days in the stocks here!” It was a few hours later when the two rode out of Red Lotus together. Felonca needed the time to fetch her horse, and Nayu needed to inform his parents he would be gone for two weeks... after all, it would do them no good to be ridden down by prefect soldiers sent to find them because a worried father had complained about a missing son. At first their conversation drifted to Nayu’s background. He was the son of a merchant, with connections in all the surrounding cities, from Mukden to Xianlung. Felonca had to laugh slightly as he described with pride how his father trusted him to now undertake trading missions by himself. However, as the sun was beginning to set on the first day of their travel south, the conversation shifted to something Felonca was not comfortable talking about. “So... you know much about me. Who are [i]you[/i], Felonca? Why were you in Red Lotus, and what made you take up thievery?” “Um,” she stammered slightly. [i]I’ve known him for a day... he might go to Master Hsiu, and I will be caught![/i] “There are things in my past I feel... uncomfortable... about discussing with anyone. No offense.” “Well, I certainly feel [i]uncomfortable[/i] riding south with my only companion being a thief I met only today,” he rejoined, causing Felonca’s face to heat slightly in fury. [i]I wouldn’t steal or hurt you! You helped me so much this day! I steal only to survive, and from asses like the prefect! Not decent people like you![/i] she wanted to snap. Instead, she gave a sigh. “I... well... I come from a military family... hence my kimono and warfans,” she began slowly. She saw his eyes widen a bit when she mentioned her fans were not for decoration... that had caught him by surprise. “I originally was training to be an officer in Hsiu-lan, to the north near the Desert Wall... but...” she started to speak, before a mental wall blocked her mind, as she remembered her time there... the sheer terror of it. “I... um... I couldn’t stay there, so I ran. And the penalty for running away from the Academy is virtually death, so stealing doesn’t bother me... ‘cause if I’m caught...” “Oh,” Nayu said softly. “I... um...” Silence covered the rest of the ride. Another full day of riding passed by, with the two encountering little save fellow travelers going both north and south along this small trek. The wide fields of red lotus gave way to patchy and then thick woods, as the two rode out of the military district, and into the province of Langsha proper. Some three days before Xianlung, however, a strange sight greeted their eyes on the road ahead. What appeared to be a little, simply but elegantly made of bamboo and oak, was lying on the side of the road, with three bodies clustered around it. To the front stood four ill clad, gaunt peasants, two women and two men, ill armed at best. In front of them stood one lone man, nude from the waist up, his body in a fighting stance... -- EDIT... added a missing scene [/QUOTE]
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