A Tear Frozen in Time

Ice Queen

But one look at the face, and then at hers, which was caught between a smile and a grimace, soon had him realizing that he knew him

"Hey idiot.  Did you forget I was coming today?" the young man asked as Mo Yuan honed in on his energy, and it took only a few seconds for him to understand who he was.

"Si Ge!" she cried out as she was roughly pulled to her feet and dragged into his arms for a hug.  "I didn't forget, I brought my sword." she laughed as he pushed her back to look at her.

"You are looking well, this place seems to suit you." he smiled affectionately her.

"We don't have much time, Shifu will send Zi Lan to come looking for me soon." she replied as the sword he had seen her take from the armoury materialized.

"Then lets get moving, I have to help Zhe Yan with his wine and he doesn't know I'm here." he said as a flash of mischief Mo Yuan thought no one else but her could achieve,  flared through his eyes.

And in a second he was somersaulting over her head where his own sword materialized.  Then bringing it down towards her form which was just as quickly ducking out of the way, she barely got her sword raised to block the intial strike and what looked to be a form of weapons training which Mo Yuan was unaware that she was receiving from her brother.

He did not look to be much older than her, but the skills he had were impressive even by a War Gods standards and had he not been observing behind an invisibility barrier, he might have joined them.  But what had him very excited was the level of skill that she had.  In all the time that she'd been his Disciple, not once had she shown his what she was capable of. 

Though she did seem to enjoy weapons training,  he realized she had only ever shown him enough to pass her tests and nothing more and he wondered why.  If she had shown him that she was far more talented than she was letting on, then he would have moved her up a level or two, only she was barely managing to keep herself from failing.

Only the longer he watched as her battle with her brother, then he realized that the dancing he had just observed was in effect the same agile moves she was utilizing as they danced a sword dance over the tips of the flowers.    Every single dance move he had just watched her perform were  now being utlized in a much different way.  The same high kicks and twirls were in full display only this time she had sword in her hand, but what made the dance so beautiful was the battle itself as her brother matched every single strike and high kick with his own.

They continued their battle until eventually the bell for dinner rang out and Bai Zhen prepared himself to leave.

"Si Ge.  You promised to teach me some of the Fox Clans magic with this dance routine but its been hundreds of years, and I haven't even learned one." she groaned breathlessly as they both rested to catch their breaths.

And it was then that Mo Yuan was made aware of her training under her brother, training in Fox Clan battle and magical skills which he had no idea she was receiving.  Initally he was a little offended that the boy would dare to train his own Disciple on his own Mountain, but on reflection, he saw it as an advantage.  After all she would one day rule over Qing Qiu, and knowing their own battle strategies and magic was not something he could deny her.  In the end, he continued to observe her growth under her brothers strict training, while giving himself only what she needed to.

Now on a cloud and heading to Qing Qiu with Feng Jiu and Zhe Yan, he couldn't help but wonder just how much her skills had grown in his absence and the moment The Blue Mountain range of Qing Qiu came into view the excitement in his eyes flickered briefly before he quickly drew it back in.