A few hours ago Yin had been released from the infirmary as there was nothing wrong with her anymore ánd she was quite difficult to handle. All this time she locks herself up in her room, her mind venturing to crazy places to find out one thing...
He knows... he knows... he knows... How? How could he possibly know? I haven't been careful enough! He shouldn't know! If it comes out... I'm dead...
Yin is pacing up and down her room, thinking of every possible way he could have found out. Keeping calm was the most important thing right now, she's aware of that, but stress was building up miles high. Getting no-where with her pacing, she decides to 'depressurize' and to say she had quite interesting way of doing so is no understatement. Quietly, like a tiger sneaking to its prey, she exits her room without her maid knowing of it. That they report to the Emperor is no secret to her, but she doesn't blame them. If they didn’t comply to his wishes, they would be without a job, or even worse, they would be beheaded. Yin knows fear is what is used to keep them in check and she knows the lengths people would go to…
Stealing a maids outfit was the first thing on her 'depressurize'-list, to do so, she has to get to the maids quarters. With the stealth of a ninja Yin evades the guards, that were trained to notice every single invader or spy, with ease. Before she even reaches the maids quarters, the opportunity to steal one already occurs: the washing basin. The cacophony of sound is something she has to get used to; the inner palace was silent and as dead as the leaves of a tree in autumn, just as rotten as well, this was the complete opposite. Laundry maids were singing, quarreling or just talking very loud and Yin loved it. The biggest part of her life she had lived surrounded by fighting and clashing of weapons; until her mother thought it was best for her to star learning to act like a lady, Yin she didn't like it one bit. Her famed grandfather, Wei Liang, had cared for her most of her youth, that's where she learned strategy and warfare, until her mother decided to care for her. When she thinks back to it, it was just around the time her father was murdered in the war. It almost seemed to be a family trait: dying in battle. Some even believed it was a curse that ran through the veins of the Wei household.
Even though her grandfather lived in the same house as Yin, she never got to see him again because of her mother, she forbade her. Obeying her mother like a helpless fawn was one of her biggest regrets in life. Before she knew it, her grandfather, General of the West got called away into battle, his greatest, but his last. He died a death worthy of a general, impaled by the sword of his equal, the man he had grown up with and trained beside, his best friend.
When his body was returned to his family, he was buried in a mausoleum in the graveyard of the Imperial Palace. Yin bitterly wept for her grandfather, that was buried beside her recently passed father. This was the first time she got to lay eyes on the new, young Emperor. His pity-filled eyes found hers when she found out he was the Emperor. When he looked at her like that, the seed of hate was planted and rooted inside of her. HE was the man that had taken not only her father, but also her grandfather! Her tear-stained face scrunched up in anger and hot tears welled up, but they never flowed.
It was as if her mother had seen in her mind, because when Yin got up with her hands balled into fists, her hand was on her shoulder to stop her. Yin did not spare her mother, who was pregnant of her brother at that time, of her hate for her, for taking her away from her grandfather. She roughly shook her hand of her shoulder and threateningly made her way to the Emperor, who stared at her with wide eyes, surprised of her actions.
"You are quite like your grandfather, do you know that, Wei Yin?" he had asked her in a voice just a bit louder than a whisper when she was right in front of her. The late General of the West had been a dear friend and trustworthy advisor of him and it was not hard to see his granddaughter resembled him greatly. His words were the greatest compliment ever received in her entire life, but at the time it cut deeper in her heart than any dagger possibly could and hurt more than any wound could. The impact of his words was so big, she collapsed on the ground, shaking as the sobs racked her body. Yin looked up, staring him in the eye with her green orbs.
"If it weren't for your godforsaken war... He'd still be here, still be alive! He was my only..." sobs cutting her of mid-sentence.
He crouched down to her level and stretched his hand, patting her head.
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"A man is not dead while his name is still spoken, little Yin... He was my friend as well and you should know that and I honor him in his death. You should know he always spoke dearly of you and full of pride. You were his little warrior..." He indeed had spoken of her quite a lot, of her wisdom while still so young, her tactics, her strength. He also spoke about what to do when he would die in battle. Her grandfather had already predicted her to do something like this and he was right. These word the Emperor spoke weren’t all his, Wei Liang had instructed him to give her hope, to comfort her with the word of the wise Giang Daou, who had written many wise sayings. In their time together they often spoke of the death of a warrior… all that time he had been preparing her for his death while speaking of Giang Daou, the wisest warrior ever alive.
At the end of his sentence, Yin roughly grabbed the front of his robes, pressed her head against his chest and wailed. The unusual action struck cord inside of him and he wrapped his strong arms around her, hugging her close to him. The guards could only watch in astonishment as the stiff and pragmatic Emperor comforted a heartbroken young girl. After their first encounter, they had met often when she was visiting her grandfather’s grave. Usually a guard would notify him of her presence and he would come see her. They would talk sometimes and sometimes they would stare at his grave in silence. Every now and then she would bring her younger brother and they would play near her father’s and grandfather’s grave, the Emperor would watch them with a caring eye whenever he had the time to do so. Gradually he saw her change, saw that she carried a great burden with her and she was nearly crouching under its weight. Yin came les and les, now often just sitting with her back supported by their graves and staring into nothingness. When another war broke out, she never came again.
When the Emperor first laid eyes on her after many years, she had changed in an unrecognizable way. Not only had she become a fully grown woman, but her personality was strong and steady. Wisdom and power radiated of her in waves, but also sadness. Her beautiful green eyes were empty and cold because of who knows what kind of trials she had to go through. For some reason he wanted to be there for her, he wanted to remember her of the happy times they had when she grew up, remember of all the memories that filled his mind. But he didn’t know whether he wanted to do that to fulfill Liang’s wish, or because he really liked… loved her.
As these memories of her youth replay inside Yin's head, an outfit was already in her hands. After changing in one of the many bays the palace possesses, she was now finally on her way to the last step of her 'depressurizing' plan: finding the training-grounds. The male’s clothing were much more comfortable, she knew to get these instead of the maid’s outfit.
With ease she finds them, she waits outside a bit, checking whether somebody was watching. No-one cared for the ‘maid’ in male clothing standing at the entrance, she probably waited for her lover to end his training. How wrong those passersby were.
Just before entering, she ties her hair in a ponytail men were common to wear and sneaks inside. Quite easily the finds the weapon racks. When checking out the great diversity in weapons, a curious soldier comes up to her.
"Excuse, sir, what do you think you're doing?"
Calmly she turns around and answers him with an incoherent mumbling. Then her eyes lock on a set of katana's just behind him and her attentions wavers. She steps behind him and carefully she unsheathes one of them partly, feeling the sharpness of edge with her thumb. A wonderful peace of craftsmanship, she gasps in awe, then completely unsheathes it.
The soldier stares awkwardly when he notices it was not a ‘sir’ he was talking to and his cheeks heat up.
"Miss?! Drop the sword right now! You could hurt yourself!" the soldier warns her with a low voice.
"Oh, sorry, I was just admiring this beautiful set of katana's... would you mind if I... you know, spar with them?" she asks him when she looks him in the eyes, which were a beautiful dark color.
The poor soldier was catching flies, his mouth was wide open at her request.
"Um... I don't really mind, miss... but... um, I don't think anyone would want to... spar with woman… in male clothing…"
"Well, if ya don't mind, why won't we spar together?" she asks him innocently and completely ignores the unspoken question in the last part of his sentence.
He thinks over her proposal for a bit. "Sure, miss... sorry what is your name?"
"Oh, call me... Yawen, just Yawen," and she smiles, happy with her small victory.
"But! What do I get in return?"
"Oh, hmm, let me think... What about a drinking partner?" she says smugly.
"I don't think you'll be a worthy partner, sorry Yawen."
"We'll see about that! First, let's fight, I've been aching for a good fight! What's your name by the way?"
"Chen, just Chen," he says, mimicking her answer.
"Well, just Chen, be prepared to get your ass kicked! Don't worry, when we're finished, I'll happily go drinking with you!" she cheerfully exclaims.
"You think you can win from a trained soldier? And might I ask, are you mad?"
Yin shrugs and grabs the two katana's while he grabs a pair of hookswords. On the training-grounds, they start circling around each other while soldiers and maids gather around them with curiosity.
Just before they start, Yin flips the blade in her left hand to face the other way and crouches slightly. Surprised oohs and aahs sound all around them when the unknown man takes position.
Then they launch at each other...