The Last Honor

35. Back in Life

A few weeks later...

He was freezing, even though it wasn't cold. But the sight alone was enough to make him tremble. Xiang leaned against the door frame of his former children's room, his wings trembling. He would never be able to erase the memory of that time, but it was an inner relief for him that the one who had been the last to kill him was gone forever. Albeit with a bitter sadness that it had been his own family who had hated him so much. His finger feathers dug into the wood.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Liu's voice made him jump. "What are you doing here?" he hissed at her.
The peahen bowed her head in embarrassment. "I... I was just wondering where you are and I thought you were here..."
She ducked her head when Xiang looked at her so sternly. But then he sighed and turned away.
"Oh, by the way," Liu hurried to say, "thanks for the room."
Xiang paused for a moment. "Just don't get used to it," he remarked pointedly.
He braced himself against the wall and tried to limp forward with one leg. But then he accidentally stumbled and landed on the floor. Liu hurried over to him quickly. "Come here. I help you."
Gently, she pushed her wings under his armpits. She paused for a moment when Xiang winced at her touch. She swallowed, but she kept calm. "Don't worry. I'll help you up."
With a bit of effort, she managed to rest Xiang's wings on her shoulders. When their wings touched, the peahen paused for a moment. Somehow everything was different from the time in the cure residence.
"Did you fall asleep?" Xiang remarked sarcastically.
"Oh, no, of course not." Quickly, she got up so that they stood upright again. She felt his tension, which gradually subsided and together they left the room. As they went on their way, Liu always had to think about what would be the next day. And it scared her sometimes, but maybe there was hope for both of them after all. Only maybe. Or at least, she hoped so. She hoped so very much.

He felt free. He would never admit that he felt reborn after being treated by the doctor in Gongmen City. He had hoped to live without these medications for the rest of his life, but at least he didn't have to take them every day, but the old goat warned him to pay close attention to it.
The white peacock looked up at the crescent moon. He was happy to be back in his own town, Yin Yan City, where he was no longer exposed to the gaze of the kung fu masters. Here he could be among himself and live as he wanted. In the late evening hours, he had gone to a lonely corner of the courtyard and was playing with his shadow that the faint moon cast on the earth. The white peacock brandished his lance sword. It cut the air almost silently. He made turns like in a dance. It was a dance in which he could feel safe. He used to be afraid of getting hurt, but his movements were now so ingrained in his mind that he could perform any movement and balance in his sleep.
Suddenly, the harmony was broken by a noise. The white peacock reacted quickly, but he stopped immediately when the sword tip came to a halt just a few millimeters from Yin-Yu's beak tip.
"My goodness, you scared me," she breathed in disbelief.
Shen withdrew his sword. "Sorry. I thought..." He didn't finish the sentence, but he turned his lance sword in the wing.
Yin-Yu smiled. "You look great. The treatment seems to have done you good."
Shen refused to go into it and went back to his movement exercises.
"Why are you here?" Yin-Yu asked.
"I just wanted to be alone for a moment," Shen replied slowly.
"Oh, okay. Did I bother you with something?"
"No, I just wanted to move a little."
The peahen smiled. "I see."
Both threw teasing looks at each other. Shen didn't let her presence bother him and turned the sharp instrument again.
"Please teach me."
Shen paused and looked at Yin-Yu in surprise. The peahen stood rock solid in front of him and looked at him pleadingly. The white peacock frowned, wondering whether she had really meant it. Did she really want to learn his techniques? She had always shied away from taking weapons of war into her wings. She had put it off again and again and now she appeared out of the blue and asked for a lesson from him?
For a while, they looked at each other in silence, then he swung the sword briefly through the air, caught it again with his wings and pushed the tip of the sword in front of her face. Yin-Yu kept very still, but she wasn't afraid. She knew he wouldn't want to hurt her. Then Shen lowered the lance sword and handed it to her with both wings. Reluctantly, she took it from him.
"Be careful," he warned. "It's sharp."
Carefully, she grasped the long hilt of the sword. It was heavier than she'd thought, but it was easy to hold. She moved it gently, finally she dared to hold it with only one wing and slowly and carefully, she swung it back and forth, up and down.
A smile flickered over the corner of Shen's beak as he watched her. Somehow, he had wished for a woman who was just as much a fighter as he was, but she should stay the way she was.
Yin-Yu tried to make the lance sword revolve a little more forcefully. But then she tipped over. Shen caught her quickly. "You will learn to keep your balance," he whispered encouragingly.
Yin-Yu looked thoughtfully at the lance sword in her wings. "It looks so easy with you."
She turned to him and he looked at her warmly. "You will get used to it."
He put his wings on hers, still clutching the long hilt of the sword.
"Do you really trust me to do that?" she asked uncertainly.
He smiled. "I know it."
Their beaks came closer until they touched.

"I knew they would smooch again." Fantao twisted his beak.
Zedong could only agree with him when his father and mother kissed even more intensely. "Yes, yuck."
Jian, however, could only shake his head and stroke his new pipa.
"Sssshh!" His brothers hissed at him. "They can still hear us."
"Papa and mom look happy," Shenmi remarked. She didn't know what that beak pressing was supposed to do, but her parents seemed to be enjoying it.
"What are you doing here?" Xia asked, who was just passing by when she was looking for her little siblings.
"Mom and dad are making out again," Zedong commented.
Xia's beak stayed open for a moment when she saw her parents kissing in a lonely corner of the courtyard. They still clutched the lance sword.
"Off to bed with you, guys!" she ordered and pushed the little ones aside.
"Oh, now that it's getting interesting," Fantao complained.
"You still have time for that when you grow up," his older sister instructed.
Zedong turned to her. "Oh, and when did you snog someone?" He grinned while Xia stood there, puzzled.
"Uh... of course never one. So go to bed, guys!"
"Then it will be time before you get too old," Zedong teased and quickly ran away before his sister gave him another nudge.

Shen and Yin-Yu hadn't noticed anything from the secret observation. They were too busy caressing their beaks. The lance sword turned a little so that the moonlight was reflected. Shen responded to the light stimulus and immediately he looked at the light source. Yin-Yu looked at him in surprise because he had suddenly broken the kiss. Shen looked around tensely. The peahen caressed his wings soothingly. "Shen, it was just the moon."
"Maybe," Shen whispered suspiciously. "I just thought..."
Yin-Yu sighed. "I can't imagine that Xiang will do anything bad to us again."
She was shocked briefly at Shen's somber expression. Shen didn't want to spoil the evening and looked up at the moon, which shone like a sickle over the city.
Shen screwed up his eyes.
"What do you have?" Yin-Yu asked worriedly.
Shen shook his head. "Mm, it's nothing... it's just..."
The white peacock didn't know why, but sometimes when he looked up at the moon it felt like someone else was watching with him the moon, too. Shen immediately chased the thought away and made a different explanation. "It may sound childish, but sometimes this sickle shape reminds me of a curved white feather."
He smiled at her and Yin-Yu smiled with relief, too.
"I did that a lot, too," she remarked cheerfully. "The moon is the only thing that is neutral in the evening. He has no colors." She snuggled up against him. "He's white like you."
Shen smiled. "Or white like snow."
The peahen giggled at the remark and her beaks came closer again.