One Tail at a Time

All for his Father

The next few days are spent in more meetings with Di Jun who is has taken it upon himself to visit me directly instead of the advisors who would normally mediate between Kunlun Mountain and the Celestial Heavens.  Leaving the moment the Demon Lord arrived did not do Xiaobai or myself any favours, because the gossip that immediately followed has me being deemed biased and therefore unfit to stand in her stead.  Those judges are still pushing their innocence and are demanding that Xiaobai stand trial without my input which I fully object to.

And it seems that Di Jun is the only one in agreement, so I do not allow myself  to lose anymore energy over the matter than I already have.   Though he is concerned about the Demon Lord who is pushing for compensation and redress for the humiliation his son has suffered which Di Jun knows is not the underlying reason.

We are in my study, the door is shut and a shield has been raised, which allows the both of us to relax and speak freely.  Only with me and in private is Di Jun willing to truly speak his mind, not that he doesn't but in public, his words are measured and his demeanor guarded.  So opening a couple of bottles of wine, I pour for the both of us before moving what is now a private chat between friends, to the low cushions where we can stretch out without a care.

"You know that man does nothing unless there is something in it for him." he says sipping slowly on my more concentrated wine.

"Do you think he is using his son?"

"I do.  I think his persistence in this matter has nothing to do with the boy though he is exactly what my scouts have described him to be." he says with a shrug of his shoulders....  "Highly intelligent, but weak and fully controlled by his father.  That boy will do anything he tells him to do and will not question it, even if he disagrees." Di Jun replies which I already know.

"Then what do you think he is up to, because the level of aggression he is showing does not fit the crime." I say even though I have an inkling, I want to hear it from Di Jun or at least know if I'm on the right track and if anyone would know, it is him.

 "You know as well as I do, that war is still a sore point for him, he will never let the loss of his brothers go no matter how many pass or how much leverage we give him." Di Jun says which is also what I am thinking.

"Then do you think he is using the boy to bring it back to the fore again?" I ask, because this is exactly what I am thinking.

"Possibly, but he knows he is walking a fine line.  He has no real alliances outside of the Demon Realms even if he is strong within his own lands." he says which I nod my head at in thought.

"The Foxes are also walking a thin line and I think it is possible that he might use his son along with Xiaobai to gain an alliance with Bai Zhi thus strengthening his position."

"You think he would go that far?" 

"I do." I reply as my last meeting with him comes back to me and the look in his eyes when Bai Qians name was mentioned.   "I think he also has his eyes on her who will be his foot in the door." I say and finally voicing my very real concerns.

"I don't know.  I think she is more inclined to want the son." he says having witnessed the way the girl and that boy had publicly hugged each other.

"That might be so, but there is a much greater benefit in marrying the father, he is after all the Demon Overlord and the ruler of the dark realms, he will not give her to Liwei because as you have stated correctly, he is weak and its more than likely that Bai Zhi would consider it." I say with conviction.