They had separated on the sour reminder that Mingzhe could not be a part of anything.
Mela and Tayla were still a little confused about the dynamics of the Camelia and angry that they'd let something happen to their little brother, but relieved that Lord Ye and the others were clearly trying to do something about it. They'd heard nothing about any of this in the capital.
"Someone must be stopping what's happening here from getting out." Tayla mused.
"Or the king is keeping it quiet." Mela pointed out as they readied for bed. They'd been given apartments not far from Lord Ye and Princess Soliel, while the boy, Ran Orlo, had chosen to stay with his uncle.
"Why would he do that?" Tayla scrubbed her face. "He's protective of Princess Soliel, and keeping it quiet just makes it harder on her."
"Unless he doesn't like Lord Ye and is hoping this will get rid of him." Mela surmised, eyes narrowed as she threw herself onto one of the beds. "Princess Soliel's marriage was a surprise. King Jaques wasn't happy about it either."
"Yes, but she chose to remain married after he died." Tayla never argued; she just calmly pointed out a different view. "And they seem fond of one another."
Mela frowned. Lord Ye and Princess Soliel had seemed comfortable together. More so than she'd expected, given how they started, but they'd also been through quite a lot in a short time. Perhaps it wasn't surprising that they'd bonded. "If that's the case, then whoever is doing this might be targeting Princess Soliel." Tayla's brow furrowed in disbelief. "Or then they're not afraid of her."
"Which seems foolish." Tayla mused.
***
Ran Orlo looked around the room Kai Low had brought him to. It was the same as the first room.
Stone in all directions. It sent a chill through Ran Orlo, and he wrapped his cloak tighter around him as Kai Low opened a series of trunks to find more blankets.
"You can have the bed."
Ran Orlo eyed the canopied monstrosity in the other room, piled high with fluffy pillows and blankets. It was easy to imagine being smoothered while he was sleeping. "It looks like it will eat me in my sleep."
His uncle cracked a smile, relaxing a fraction for the first time since Ran had arrived. "It won't. But the chairs are comfortable too."
Ran stared at the bed. It didn't look like it had been slept in at all. "Where do you sleep?"
A flash of guilt crossed Kai Low's face. He glanced at a pile of blankets and pillows hidden in a corner. "Damn things too soft." He admitted.
Ran grinned. "Can I sleep on the floor too?"
Kai Low sighed and nodded. "You should try to get used to the bed at some point." He didn't mind Yuze's, but he wasn't going to tell his nephew that. "
Ran's nose scrunched, making him look years younger. "It's just an unnecessary luxury." No one in the tribes had beds. It would be far too much work to break them down and build them back up every time they moved. Not to mention how much space they took up. Thick blankets and animal furs worked just as well and took up far less space. The tribes frequently made fun of the traders and travellers who went through all the trouble to bring beds with them into the borderlands.
Fools, Ran thought. Extra weight that just dragged you down when you had to run. How many had died over something as stupid as a bed?
Kai Low set out a stack of pillows and another of blankets. "What did Beng Shan asked you to do here?"
Ran blinked. "Nothing?"
Kai Low glanced at him, brow furrowed.
"I mean, she asked me to give Lord Ye a message, and I did? She said I should stay for a while and see what the city is like." He couldn't help but grimace as he relayed her words.
To his surprise, Kai Low nodded in agreement. "She's not wrong." He saw the look on Ran's face and sighed. "The world is changing. This peace might last. You see more than just the prairie."
"Right…" Ran had been counting on his uncle to agree with him about the uselessness of the stone city. He'd never had a kind word for the place before. Why was he changing his mind now? "What have you been doing here?"
"Mostly crawling through dirt tunnels and yelling at people." A smirk tugged at Kai Low's lips.
Ran had no idea what he was talking about. "…Why?" He asked cautiously. His uncle was a warrior, but he wasn't the type to randomly yell. He infuriated the elders because they failed so often to spark Kai Low's ire in a way that made him look bad.
"There is much happening here. Were you listening when Lord Ye explained?"
Ran nodded, unwilling to admit he hadn't followed most of what had been said.
Kai Low rolled out his own blankets next to the bed he'd made for Ran and pointed. "Sit. We will discuss."
Relieved, Ran kicked off his boots and sat. His uncle knew him well enough to know he'd struggled, even if Ran was too proud to admit it.
***
Eirian had hauled all the books back to her room. Despite Chenzhou and Mingzhe trying to convince her to lock at least a few of them up. She'd gotten a crazed gleam in her eyes when they tried to take them from her.
"This might be a problem?" Chenzhou whispered as they watched her set them on the table and started organizing them with no care for how late it was. He gave Mingzhe a conspiratorial smile that the other man could barely match.
Mingzhe shook his head, trying to drum up the energy and attention Chenzhou deserved. "You'll never get them away from her now."
They watched Eirian carefully wipe dust off a cover.
"I don't think she's going to sleep tonight." Chenzhou sighed, weighing whether it was worth the fight to try to make her.
He wandered over to her after changing into his sleeping clothes, and Mingzhe watched fondly as Chenzhou tried to understand whatever Eirian was explaining from one of the books.
He was clearly lost, but she was too wrapped up in her subject to notice.
The sight of them made something twist painfully in Mingzhe's chest. They were so beautiful together. So warm and welcoming and strong. Things Mingzhe had not realized he wanted so desperately to be. Things he had not realized he was so desperately missing in his life until they had entered it.
He couldn't let Yang hurt them.
He wouldn't let Yang hurt them.
~ tbc