"For most people, it is early but for you this is insane, I've not seen you up this early since you played the infamous prank that got you sent to Kulun for years" Zhe Yan said, walking into the fox cave and towards Bai Qian
"Only an old phoenix such as yourself will bring up matters so old. Did you bring the wine?" She replied
Zhe Yan held out his hand showing the jars he held but made no move to hand it over to her "You should still have enough of this wine from the last batch you took, why do you need more?"
"They're not for me, I'm taking them to Shifu. Part of the welcome pack from Qing Qiu"
"Oh" Zhe Yan said, walking into the room, leaving her to follow him into the cave
"Yes, I remembered Shifu always had this particular wine while I was studying there"
Zhe Yan hid a smile behind his sleeve, Mo Yuan only requested the wine because she liked them, he hadn't felt the need to tell the other man Bai Qian would drink anything that had alcohol. It had been obvious even then that his sworn brother was in love with the daughter of another of their sword brothers. Not that he was in a position to judge, swap daughter for son and you'd have his exact situation. However, he was lucky, the object of his affection was not as dense as his sister and returned his affections. Bai Qian on the other hand simply saw a caring teacher & mentor in the man that was desperately in love with her. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"So that's the reason you've woken the entire fox clan this early? To welcome your old master?" He replied as he draped himself on a chair, stretching into a comfortable lounge
"Yes, I'd like to avoid the crowd as much as possible. And I can get back early enough to make up for the sleep I'm missing." Bai Qian replied, still standing. She looked up as footsteps rang out from the door "Mian Mian, do you have all the items I requested from the mushroom market?"
"Yes Gugu, Mi Gu has them along with the luminous pearl. He says all that is missing is the wine from high god Zhe Yan"
"Thank you, I'll be out with that in a few minutes and we can leave" Bai Qian replied and the other lady left the cave. "So, high god Zhe Yan, do you want to be part of the official Qing Qiu delegation to welcome back high god Mo Yuan. It probably would be more respectful to have a delegation of more than one member of the main family but by the time Mother, Father or any of my brothers get back, it would be disrespectful to just be going for the first time" She finished.
"I'm not a member of the main family" He replied flippantly
Bai Qian rolled her eyes dramatically "Formalities and even that is because you don't have the balls to ask Mother for fourth brother's hand in marriage"
"Xiao wu!"
"You really think she doesn't know? You two have been together romantically longer than I've been alive"
"Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Fine, I'll go by myself. I am after all, the queen of Qing Qiu"
"I'm going to take a nap here to make up for getting up so early. Say hello to Ye Hua" He said with a smirk. He'd really love to be there when Bai Qian met the twins together, but his presence would detract from the experience which didn't mean he wasn't stoke whatever embers he could. Mo Yuan would tell him what happened or more likely, Ye Hua would tell Bai Zhen who would tell him.
"Huh?"
"Get going already or all this will be in vain"
With a dramatic flail of her sleeves she swiped the jars of wine from Zhe Yan and started towards the door in one move.
Accompanied by Mi Gu and Mian Mian, she arrived at Kulun mountains just as the gates were being opened by a few young men. She was bad with faces but she noted the spark of recognition on their faces which told her they were Mo Yuan's disciples as she was not socially active enough for anyone else to recognize her, apart from the dragon prince who had been given them instructions.
"Bai Qian of Qing Qiu greets Crown Prince Ye Hua of the nine heavens" She said with a bow which the rest of her entourage copied.
"Ye Hua greets Bai Qian" He said returning the bow and intentionally leaving out their titles not that she would notice. He'd learnt in the last few years that subtle never worked with her, she was not intentionally wicked or coy like many thought, she just never understood when people were trying to get her attention.
"Never thought I'd ever ask this question but are we too early? Qing Qiu would like to pay homage to high god Mo Yuan and welcome him back to this plane of existence" She said
"Da ge is eating breakfast and would be ready in a few minutes. It's been a while since Bai Qian was in the mountains of Kulun, would you walk with me? Your entourage can coordinate with the disciples and I'll get you to Mo Yuan when he's done with breakfast"
Bai Qian nodded at him then smiled at Mi Gu & Mian Mian knowing they could handle whatever needed to be done better without her, she was useless about such things. She walked towards Ye Hua and they walked into the building before turning towards the back mountains. She remembered the back of the mountain was her favorite part; it had been the place where she could escape the structure of her discipleship. She let out a small giggle and Ye Hua turned to her with a small smile and an arched eyebrow.
"This is my favorite part of the mountains" She said, her excitement shining in her face and smile.
Ye Hua felt like he was staring at the sun, she looked radiant. He'd known she was beautiful; he wasn't blind and even if he was, as the rumor went - even a blind man knew Bai Qian was the most beautiful woman in existence. But seeing such a genuine and unbridled smile on her face made him realize that she was much more beautiful than she had been given credit for. He felt his throat dry out and had to exert an overwhelming amount of self control to move his gaze from her face. Finding his voice took more effort so he simply nodded with a small smile of his own.
She glided past him to the lotus pond and splashed herself with some water while he stood behind watching her and falling more in love. He'd had some glimpses of her unbridled nature and though he'd been attracted by her strength, beauty and willingness to stand for what is right; it was this nature that had stolen his heart.
"Ye Hua, come!" She motioned, grabbing his wrist as soon as he was close enough then pushing it into the pond where inquisitive koi fishes nibbled on it. It was a strange filling but seeing how happy she was about it made him smile even wider.
"You have a beautiful smile, you should use it more often" Bai Qian said, straightening and moving towards the flower fields that were some distance below the pond.
Like you're one to talk with the smile I just saw Ye Hua thought to himself then reassessed, it was probably better no one saw that smile, there'd likely be a war if more than one person saw it and he would be leading the charge to fight any and every person that was unfortunate enough to think they wanted to fight for her
"Thank you. It makes me happy that you think so" He replied when he finally caught up to her on the edge of the flower field. She nodded.
Ye Hua watched her silently as she looked deep in contemplation "What is it? Is there something wrong with the field?" he asked
"I really want to lie in the field, maybe even roll in it but I don't want to soil my robes" She said then sighed "Let's go back"
Ye Hua took off his outermost robe and held it out to her, she stared at him briefly before shaking her head to reject his offer.
"It's black, it won't show any stains" He said
"You've clearly never rolled in a field of flowers before." She replied. "But that's not the point, I can't inconvenience you like this"
"I'm offering aren't I? Also I have a lot of clothes here so I can simply change into another" which was what he was planning to do, if she wore his robe, he was never washing that and he was going to treat the robe like a treasure.
She took off her outermost robe and allowed Ye Hua put his robe on her. When she handed her discarded robe to him, she dived into the field laughing loudly. Ye Hua knew this moment would always be embedded in his mind and no matter what the future brings, he would take the moment with him forever.
A few minutes later, she was out of the field holding tightly to his hands and she thanked him profusely and returned his robe. Ye Hua could only nod, he was too overwhelmed to speak but he walked with her back to the main hall where Mo Yuan was sitting before excusing himself to go replace the robe now covered in pollen and petals.
Bai Qian walked into the hall and bowed in greeting "Bai Qian of Qing Qiu greets the god of war, high god Mo Yuan"
"Seventeen, please stand. It is so good to see you again" Mo Yuan replied with a smile as the memory of the last time he'd seen her flashed in his mind. He wondered if she knew she was part of the reason he'd fought so hard to return. He doubted it though, the woman did not understand subtle at all so there was no way she would have clued into his feelings for her. He wondered if she was married, he hadn't had a chance to ask Ye Hua plus he was certain his twin would guess his feelings if he brought it up which would make it awkward if she was. He'd ask Zhe Yan, the phoenix was practically his brother and her family and he'd likely guessed Mo Yuan's feelings before the man himself.
"Bai Qian is very happy Shifu conquered death" Bai Qian said with a smile as she took her seat
Could it be she felt the same way? He wondered, but asked "You are?"
"Mmn, my shifu is the only one who has ever conquered death, there is no contest as to who is the greatest anymore. Not that there was before but now everyone can agree" She said as she poured some tea for herself
Mo Yuan took a sip of his tea to avoid shaking his head at her. She'd always been good at saying and doing the incredulous
"Seventeen, how has life been? Have you been good? Has life been good to you?" He asked
"Of course shifu. You know my parents decided to take up traveling and leave me with the responsibilities of ruling the kingdom, so I had to become responsible for my parents to live irresponsibly. I'm still thinking about how to get them back for that ...." She continued talking while Mo Yuan listened in silence, content to fill the room they sat in with her voice and nothing else. Hearing her speak alone was worth coming back to the world for, he would happily spend the rest of his life listening to her and watching her. It had always amused him that she could have an entire conversation by herself and not feel awkward about it. He was also happy to see she had not lost her ability to not take herself seriously even though she'd been a ruling monarch for the second largest territory for so long.
Too soon, they were interrupted by a disciple announcing the arrival of the entourage from the nine heavens. He had no love lost for Ye Hua's adopted family and their interruption was testing his commitment to tolerate them for his di di's sake.
"That's my cue to leave." She started "I'll try to come visit again before you start your seclusion. The old phoenix will come when he can and ...oh, I almost forget. He said to say 'hi' to Ye Hua but I forgot to tell him when I saw him, would you mind telling him? Don't want Zhe Yan to say I didn't deliver his message" She finished then bowed in greeting.
Mo Yuan nodded as multiple thoughts filled his head; why didn't Di di come in with her if she'd met him on her way in and why was the canny phoenix sending messages to Ye Hua? He watched her walk out of the room behind the disciple who had come in and smiled to himself. At least he was back and could do something about his feelings.
A/N: a nice long chapter to thank you for your patience. I promise to do better and I'm committing to a schedule of at least one chapter per week going forward. Also please comment, vote and share if you like the chapter/story and comment any questions, dislikes, thoughts etc. I'm still figuring out the story so I'll take inspiration in any form.