Crimson Qi, Exiled Beautiful Lady Falls in Love with a Shy Demon

Epilogues: The Fenghuang

Tien Lyn did not even try to understand the symbols that Rustam scribbled on the tortoise shell that he heated in the flames until it cracked. She dabbed at her sweating forehead and watched Xi. He was completely absorbed in the movements of Rustam's sharpened stick along with the three other apprentices. Rustam looked completely at ease.

This is a formality. Ancestors, he knew it before he lit that fire!

The apprentices came to the same conclusion. Blackbird got up to his feet the moment his Master put the shell down. "Can we take him to the Birdhouse to find out his name right away?"

Kestrel gave the younger boy a disapproving look from the towering height of her sixteen springs. Tien Lyn smiled through a haze of building up tears.

"Tomorrow," Rustam said. "I need to speak to our visitor, and your chores are waiting."

Blackbird quickly dropped his eyes to conceal a mischievous spark that held a promise of self-aware dumplings or worse, but immediately jerked them opened. "There is something in the hall! Something is coming!"

Rustam dropped into the fighting stance only a split moment before Kestrel did. They can all hear the scraping sounds of talons on the wood now.

The mage relaxed. "At ease. I commend you for your vigilance, my keen-eared student."

The fenghuang, now almost as tall as her, click-clacked into the room pushing the bamboo curtains apart. She held her breath.

The sacred bird put its crowned head into Xi's lap and cooed in delight as he scratched its neck. The boy's face was just as delighted.

"Ancestors!" Blackbird's exclamation earned him another stern look from Kestrel.

"So be it," Rustam closed his eyes for a moment, focusing. "I take your name, Junior Apprentice Fenghuang."

Xi gasped and looked up from the magic bird to his new Master. Something obviously had happened to him, but Tien Lyn did not know what. She was afraid that she too would forget her son's name if he manifested as a mage, but at least that had not. She still thought of him as Xi.

"Mama?" her boy whimpered, and it rattled her as it always did.

She managed to force her trembling lips into a smile. "You will stay with Master Rustam for a while, child. I love you."

He tried to decide if he wanted to cry or not in the room full of strangers, and with the giant bird combing through his hair with its beak, but Rustam did not let him.

"Go and collect your sticks in the box to take to your new room," he said. "Then you will have to help Kestrel to check on the herbal beds Blackbird was weeding. There is a strange energy building up in the garden."

"Yes, Master," Kestrel and Xi -no, Fenghuang- spoke in unison. Kestrel ushered the boy out, leaving Tien Lyn and Rustam alone.

"The years will go fast," Rustam observed evenly.

"First Yu, now Xi! Father, I have nothing left again!" Tien Lyn whispered, neither consoled, nor convinced.

"Your child and your lover are both alive and well," Rustam pointed out, but she shook her head.

"My son will be the last in our family line. I have flaunted my duty."

"You can uplift it to the highest status," Rustam said. "Zha Yao appreciates the advantages of making you his Empress."

"How could he not! Mother reminds him daily," Tien Lyn snapped bitterly.

"Lady Chen Guang is formidable, and Zha Yao listens to her, but that's not all it is to it, Daughter."

Rustam took her to his map littered with the wax figurines. "Look! Wo Jia's aggression catalyzed two new Empires into being in the Northern after we've retreated. In the South every village declares for a new 'king' so often, I had to order more wax.

We need hope more than ever, and that's your province, Daughter. Your sojourn with Yu made your legend grow. The people worship you."

She swallowed a bitter chuckle. "I guess I should not have been so modest. I will tell Shan Jiang to sing about how I fornicated with a demon nightly in violation of decency and mourning rites."

A wry smile curved Rustam's lips. "I can live with the regrets of adopting a fool. But do not toss away gifts without examining them closely first."

"Those are her dreams, not mine. She should live them, not make me do it!" She swept the tiny wax figurines off the magic map including her own and Yu's into the silver bucket and handed it to her father. "I love her, and I love you too, Father. But this time it's a 'no', not a 'maybe'.

Where is Yu?"

Rustam sighed. "Waiting for you, if you wish to follow him into exile."

Tien Lyn sucked on her teeth, weighing the offer. "So be it. I suppose it was bound to end this way. The Evershining Empire might have tolerated us apart, found each of us a suitable role, but the notion of us together is anathema."

Rustam gave her more time to think, and the silence presided over them. She did not speak up. He finally gave up. "I have travel gear prepared in your room. A friend will take you to him during the street festivities tonight. You should be able to slip away with all the commotion."

"I have another friend? Who?" If it had not been not for leaving Xi behind, she would have been happy to hear it.

"You will know him when you see him," Rustam said cryptically. "Rest now, it might be the last peaceful moment you will know for a while."

She hugged him. "Thank you for letting me choose. Take care of your grandson until we can return."

"I will teach Fenghuang," Rustam promised, and paused, just for a heartbeat. "To the best of my ability."

Tien Lyn wiped away her tears, "Thank you, Father."