[M] News of the Attempt on Guanyu's Life

[Tolvo]

1 AD, 22nd June

On the road from Archaon there was great morale among the soldiers. They seemed very lively. The Ryudeshi had left behind the Deathborne forces for now but when they neared Dral they'd regroup with one another. Soldiers marched on foot while officers and commanders sat atop horses. General Shi rode atop her chestnut horse near the middle of the army. Her eyes were scanning the woods around them. She'd heard stories of Elves and was perhaps being a bit paranoid. Things looked clear on the ground as scouts were thoroughly checking the woods. Up above the clouds were dark like a storm was coming. But for the time being it didn't hit them. There was no rumbling in the distance or flashing lights.

Beside the general was His Fatal Grace, Jianyu. They had been riding slowly the way together enjoying conversations when they propped up. Before another started they were preemptively interrupted by a messenger riding on horseback. When they arrived they looked tired, like they'd been riding for a day straight. When they arrived they called out to Shi, she immediately waved her hand for the soldiers on foot to part ways and allow the man through. When he got close he handed a piece of paper to Shi and her eyes went wide reading it. Then she spoke to Jianyu. "Follow me, I don't want the soldiers hearing this." She pulled away from the army to get closer to the tree line away from the earshot of others. Shi also yelled up to the sky. "Dragon Eyes this is important! Come down here immediately!" From up above a man descended seated on a cloud in a meditative seated stance. His eyes were yellow with slits like a serpent. With a shaved head and his typical wrap the others watched Dragon Eyes Wuulong approach Shi.

[Minkasha]

The lady’s company after the face of many conflicts and dead was enjoyable. He was often quiet, but brought to her attention to subtle details of the world they past. This was unexplored by himself, but through the terrain he looked for clues of Rydueshi’s likeness. He watched Shi’s eyes with fascination from time to time, her critical nature amusing and drawing to His Fatal Grace.

The Elves were enigmatic until he saw the slew of their corpses lay waste by the Deathbrone. Jianyu need not know who they were, he saw the totality of their mortality no different than the human’s. Yet he loathed in many ways the dawn of the new peoples in Rydueshi’s history.

Jianyu only watched while Shi read what had been handed and followed with enough ease to practice discretion. He looked up to Wuulong briefly, approving of the man’s devotion to the Dragon Gods.

“What does word say?” The Greatest of Nan asked of Lady Shi.

[Tolvo]

Shi spoke in a hushed voice. "It says there was an attempt on Guanyu's life. The waterbringers divined a message from Hexin and sent this to me right away. Guanyu was stabbed through the lung and nearly died, even now he may still. He's barely holding on. Apparently Jianyu you were there somehow, though the message isn't very clear on that." Wuulong lowered himself to their level and grunted. "It does not surprise me, Guanyu was being sloppy." Shi crumpled up the paper in her hand. "This is a travesty, I should return to Hexin. But I can't. I can't leave this army, they need me." Dragon Eyes grunted yet again. "You couldn't do anything for him anyway. You are a monkey not a tiger nor a dragon, or even a peacock." His eyes looked to Jianyu. "I am curious how you were there Jianyu. Is this related to the blessing you gave me as well? Did you do the same for the Emperor?"

[Minkasha]

“Yes.” His Fatal Grace answered through grit teeth to Wuulong, staring at Lady’ Shi’s frustrated face. Travesty was a gentle breeze to the insult done to their empire. His own prejudices already told him who orchestrated it, but wisdom forced his mind to speculation of other options – if only in criticism of he himself being played for a fool if assumption was empty of truth. His pale hands gripped the reins and he shot out a sharp breath of insult. “My protection lingers for only a critical time. He now lays on bed exposed without my intervention” He warned them both. In his anger the beautiful white plumage spilling down the side of his saddle swayed several times. The glossy white and red stood out vibrantly.

[Tolvo]

Shi unfurled the paper in her hand and read it again. "It says the Western Empire is believed to be involved. That gold coins were found on the vassal that attacked the Emperor." Her eyes narrowed as she read that part over again. "What kind of assassin carries the gold on them? That is suspicious. As well it says that the others got away." Dragon Eyes Wuulong yet again grunted and raised his chest. "Incompetence. There's no excuse for letting assassins get away. No excuse. If the dragon guard were there it would have been handled." Shi held the bridge of her nose with two fingers and closed her eyes. "Wuulong, you're not helping." He shrugged. "You know I'm right though. We've always needed to move the princes to Longtan where they could be watched over by dragon sages and ascendants, and to where they can hear the divination of the dragons."

[Minkasha]

His Fatal Grace swept length of his hair from his lap and over his shoulder while he listened to Lady Shi and Dragon Eyes Wuulong exchange words. The Greatest of Nan looked up to the agent of the Dragons’ power.

“I do not deny this, perhaps we can send word to the Guanyu on the matter. For now, little is to be done” His long, articulate fingers pressed against his temple and twisted in such a way to release the stress. Jianyu could feel the fire of his own nature after weeks of constant fluctuation. These foreign affairs were unhealthy, to say the least.

Dragon Eyes Wuulong’s temperament reminded him of the man’s youth. He was in touch with the gods, but had not yet balanced the force of the higher powers with serenity. The Master of the Cycle humbly bowed at horse-riding waist to the Dragon Magician.

“Guanyu is young, it would be pleasant for the breeze of wisdom’s word to touch his ear but youth can lead to a lack of hearing. I may advise stronger words in the message”

[Tolvo]

Shi spoke up again. "That would only cause more complications to move the palace. What we need is a proper spymaster. That we do not have one is a shame. Even the Western Empire has one." Wuulong rubbed his chin in thought. "If the Western Emperor jumped off a cliff should Guanyu go over as well?" The general got even more frustrated. "Wuulong that's a parable for children. Listen, quit talking down to me I don't appreciate it, and I know you know what you're doing." The great dragon sage gave a signature grunt. "Fine, don't listen to me. And Jianyu, a problem is Guanyu only has two ears. The wind of wisdom is drowned out by the storm that is politics. He'll never listen when he can't even hear us."

[Minkasha]

His Fatal Grace breathed deeply and sighed, eyes closed – still doing best to tune out the discourse between Lady Shi and Dragon Eyes Wuulong. Need he remind both of them of the necessity of cooperation?

“Humility might be found from what plunged into his lung. By Smoke and Flame will he live and the Dragons watch over him. For now, Wuulong, I would like to speak to Shi privately if your input has been given” In this he gave the potent man a quiet storm of his own red eye stare. The old bird waited for the man to take a polite exit.

[Tolvo]

Wuulong didn't speak a word. He raised an eyebrow and merely floated upwards on his bit of aether. He ascended back to the clouds above and out of sight. There was a flash of lightning that arced through the skies from where he had been. A strange show of power that only caused the soldiers to hold their hands out expecting rain when none came. Shi smiled to Jianyu and petted the mane of her horse. "What is it you wish to speak of your Fatal Grace?"

[Minkasha]

His Fatal Grace didn’t pull his view away from the sky until Dragon Eyes Wuulong was gone. Behind him Shi spoke and he, with ease, turned his head to face the tactician. Her smile brought out a sense of levity through the stress. His expression gracefully came as he mirrored her with a smile of his own.

“You have a mind able to think thoughts Dragon Eyes Wuulong nor myself will be able to have. Your mind thinks many unconventional things that have helped our Empire and the Five Kingdoms. Tradition will always have heavy weight in Ryudeshi but Wuulong’s mortality blurs his understanding that tradition has nuances of change over the centuries. It is an inevitability that merely requires a strong hand to taper, not to deny.” Jianyu slowly eyed the woman he had seen grow and aged, knowing her from a far for decades. Nothing about her conventional, not even her appearance. But he wasn’t repulsed. Lady Shi was a remarkable historical figure – she simply did not know this yet.

“From this message my concern for your personal safety has grown Lady Shi. I have had personal interest in it for some time, for the sake of our empire but…” He reached tenderly to touch her forearm. A man who had killed so many and gripped the metal of his guan dao so harshly for so long now finally touched a woman softly. “More than pragmatic thoughts lead me to reflect on the subject. Within reason, I would ask your permission to be closer to you Lady. I want you to blossom to the end of your days with your influence in this world led to fruition. And in my life” At the conclusion of his admission he drew his hand away from her body as to not impose. He wished to court her, not dominate.

The times of the Deathborne and Elves have forced his thoughts to be of war and death, when has it been since he was last in love? Or even touched the subject of love? Many women faded through history without a clutch to his heart, yet he wanted to share in Shi’s mortality – while she was to be on this world. He had known for some time but resisted. The madness of worldwide turmoil had spurred in him an assertion in this matter he didn’t know he would have. He had stared at the Fire and to the Smoke that rose above and thought that his care for her would be distant thing as it had already for many years.

His red eyes looked into her gaze, wanting to perceive her thoughts and feelings. He sat upon his horse with a posture not disturbed by his vulnerability. He was regal, statuesque, and undeniably The Greatest of Nan.