I fiddled with the fresh elixirs on the table.
I was successful in separating the regular chi from the cores, leaving the demonic chi behind.
It was about mid-afternoon, and I was in our room at the inn, in a small seaside city on the eastern coast.
It’s been about a month since we’ve left the Ice Blades tribe, and Zhi’s confrontation against Xaoge.
It wasn’t much to write home about.
A little bigger on average, so I could fit all my alchemy equipment inside comfortably.
I slipped the cores back into my storage and left the elixirs alone with a sigh.
They’ll be useful for Zhi to cultivate.
The door to our room squeaked open and I heard a familiar voice call out.
“Ming, I’m back!”
Ah.
I flashed my alchemy pot back into storage and stood up, facing him.
Zhi slipped off his illusion ring and set some papers next to my elixirs on the table.
Tickets it looked like.
“Did you find a ship?”
He nodded.
“A ship heading to the eastern continent is leaving in two days, and I managed to secure us a berth on it.
Did you finish your alchemy?”
“Yeah, the elixirs are on the table.” I sat heavy on the bed.
Feeling the worry pressing down on me.
He flashed them into his ring and paused, looking at me.
“Ming, are you feeling okay?”
I nodded and turned away from him.
“I’m fine Zhi.”
He frowned and sat beside me on the bed.
“You don’t sound fine.
You’ve been off ever since we fought with Xaoge two months ago.
Come on, where’s your fighting spirit?”
“Zhi, I’m fine.
I don’t want to talk about it.”
He watched me for a moment before flopping back onto the bed.
I looked over at him to see him seriously staring at the ceiling.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Really?
I gave him a look that said I was done with him.
His lips turned up in a cheeky smile.
“Not so fun to be on the other side huh?
Ming, please talk to me.
I know something is eating at you.
You haven’t called me babygirl for a whole month.”
He wasn’t going to let this go.
I guess I have been avoiding this conversation for a while now.
I sighed and rubbed my face before flopping down beside him, facing towards him as he faced towards me.
“I know.
Sorry for worrying you.
But I’m just… scared.
Don’t say you’ll protect me.”
He shut his mouth.
Yeah, I somehow knew that was what he was going to say.
“I know you’ll protect me.
But it still scares me.
The thought that if Xaoge gets his hands on me he can do whatever he wants to me.
Hell, I was even brought to this world because of him!
That’s… all kinds of messed up.
I just… I’m sorry.
I guess I don’t have much faith in you huh?” I rolled onto my other side, away from him, just feeling shitty now.
I rubbed my arms, feeling… scared.
At just the prospect of Xaoge getting his hands on me.
I heard rustling and his hands wrapped around me, and he hugged me from the back.
His voice was soft and understanding.
“It’s okay Ming.
It is scary.
I don’t expect me promising to protect you to just slap a bandage on that.
It terrifies me too.
That he’ll rip you away from me and you’ll suffer at his hands.
That he’ll force you to marry him.
Or worse.
But just being scared doesn’t solve anything.
We have to use our fear as motivation.
To prepare ourselves, to keep that worst case scenario from happening.
We can’t just give into it.
Sure, all those things can happen.
But right now, we’re together.
I’m holding you, and everything is right with the world.
So don’t let your fear cloud the present and enjoy it while we’re able to.”
Wow.
I turned around to look at him, shuffling in his arms.
“That’s… actually amazing advice.
And beautiful.
How did you come up with that?”
“Hey!
I can be introspective and wise!
My name means wise!” And now he was back to play indignant.
I felt myself relaxing as we bantered.
“And the latter half means heroic, I know.
You’ve told me about twelve billion times.” Probably more.
He was very proud of the name his parents gave him.
Names were very important here, a symbol of the qualities a parent wanted a child to possess.
“Exactly!
That’s a Zhihao original!
Created from life experience.
I’ll pass it down to our kids someday.” He puffed up, proud of his insight.
Honestly, it wasn’t that deep.
I knew it before he said it.
But… him saying it did feel different.
Knowing I wasn’t alone in my fear, or this situation.
I couldn’t help but smile at him all proud and confident.
“Then I’ll have to tell them about that time you tried to use fire chi to dry yourself off after a bath.”
“You agreed to never speak of that again!” He squeezed me closer making me giggle as I squirmed in his arms.
“No, I didn’t!” I sang in a sing-song voice.
He got a mischievous look in his eye.
“Then I’ll just have to shut you up before you tell the story.”
“I’d like to see you tr—” He darted forward and kissed me suddenly.
Deeply.
Mmm.
Ah, dang it.
He did shut me up.
He backed away after a few minutes and smiled.
His hand came up and cupped my face, warm and rough.
“There you are Ming.
You’re better when you’re happy and bright, just like your name.”
My name did mean bright.
It could also mean intelligent, or clear.
“Zhi, why did you name me Ming anyway?”
He shrugged.
“It was the first name I thought of.
And you always seemed bright to me back then.
You learned language faster than I thought possible, you always smiled, even at the most pointless of things, and… you reminded me that life can be bright.
And happy.”
“Awwww.” I wrapped him up in my arms too, feeling light and happy.
My previous hanging feeling of dread was completely erased.
“I love you too Zhi.
My babygirl.”
“Sweetheart.”
Oof.
I let go of him and pouted, crossing my arms.
“But you are my babygirl.
That just now was the most babygirl thing I ever heard.”
“And you’re my sweetheart.
The absolute sweetest of hearts.” He dipped in and nuzzled my cheek with an impish grin.
I groaned.
“Okay, point made.
You know, I just thought of a problem with our plan to head to the eastern continent.”
“What kind of problem?”
“It’s going into fall.
I’ll be going into heat sometime in the next month.”
He paused his affection.
“The crossing takes one and a half months.
You’ll go into heat while we’re out at sea.
And you’ll be in heat when we land.”
“I mean, as long as we stock up on the ingredients I need tomorrow, it should be fine.
When I spend my heats with you, I can control myself better.”
He sighed, his breath tickling my face.
“I wish we could delay the crossing, but the fact is that Xaoge is looking for us.
Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’ll be fine.
Let’s go shopping tomorrow and get everything we need.
For tonight…” I shifted forward and kissed his neck.
“Let’s get a head start on that heat.”
“I’m very glad you’re feeling better Ming.” He shifted over me on the bed, and I giggled as he fumbled with my dress and kissed my neck.
He was right that I shouldn’t let my fear of the future affect my enjoyment of the present.
Just as much as he was right that I should prepare for it.
When we reached the Green Roots clan, I would pick up a sword and have Zhi teach me how to defend myself.
Mmm.
I loved being in heat.
Zhi was rumbling like a volcano on my chest, buried in my fur.
We just finished up a round and were enjoying the afterglow.
I could feel the bed gently sway under us as the boat rocked on the waves.
The sharp smell of pitch also permeated the room, along with the scents of both Zhi and I.
This room didn’t have any windows, so a small lantern next to the bed kept things visible.
As a plus, the warm glow of the little fire made for a very romantic atmosphere.
Zhi’s purring petered out, and he began to inch downward.
I snickered.
“You’re so needy when you’re in rut.”
“Oh, don’t even start with me.
Unless you don’t want me to have a taste before starting?” His eyes peeked out from underneath the roughspun blanket, almost vibrating in anticipation.
I grinned.
“Hey, I know I’m needy too.
I want to taste you too afterwards.”
He shuffled underneath the blanket with a grin.
I chirped as I felt him brush up my thighs,
We both jolted at a loud banging at the door.
“Oy!
We’re docked!
It’s time to get off my ship you loud bastards!
Go keep some poor innkeeper awake at night!”
Ack!
I felt blood rush to my face as I sat up and Zhi pulled the blanket forward making a hood around his head.
He looked utterly mortified, as the footsteps walked away, his fur all fluffed out in embarrassment.
Then I snorted.
And started giggling.
“Ming!
It’s not funny!
Gah, do think the whole crew heard us?” He covered his head with the blanket again, still embarrassed beyond belief, hiding under the covers.
And he tried to claim he wasn’t cute.
“Probably not.
We’re right under the captain’s quarters after all.” I looked up at the ceiling, where we heard the occasional footsteps from.
I thought he had just been a heavy walker, but apparently some of those were knocks for us to quiet down.
“Ugh, no more travelling while in heat.
I don’t even want to show my face out there right now.” Evidently, he didn’t want to show his face to me either, still hiding under the blanket.
Whoa!
Little unsteady.
I held out my arms to get my balance, sore and tired now that I wasn’t laying down anymore.
“Well, you heard the captain.
We have to get off his ship.
And find a cozy little inn where we can hang out for a week or two until my heat fades.” I reached for the nightstand drawer, and it squeaked as it opened, I had to really tug on it to get it open.
I took our storage rings out and slipped mine on.
My clothes appeared in a flash.
I went to where he was still hiding and tugged the blanket off of him.
He looked up at me, his fur all messy and adorable, a man in abject misery.
I held out his ring and after a heartbeat he took it, slipping it on.
His clothes appeared in a poof, and he swung out, hopping off the bed although it was still clear he didn’t want to.
Then he looked down and groaned.
“I look like I have the mother of all boners going on in my pants right now.
Can you give me my cloak?”
I snorted again.
“You do have the mother of all boners in your pants right now.
Here you horny bastard.”
I summoned his cloak from my ring and tossed it at him.
He caught it and it thwapped around him, him slipping it on and pulling his hood low.
“Don’t throw stones in glass houses.
I’m only horny because you’re horny.”
I brought out my cloak too, and my illusion ring, disguising myself.
“Well, I’m only horny because you slept with me and told my body I had found a mate.
So, ha!
It’s because of you.
Take that.”
He pointed at me, and his mouth hung open as he tried to come up with a comeback.
“Yeah, well, you… Gah!” His head went back, and his finger dropped.
Heh.
This round goes to me.
He looked back at me, now looking like a human, and done with me.
“Let’s just do our walk of shame and find an inn to settle in for the next week.”
I followed him into the bellows of the ship.
He kept his hood pulled low, and didn’t meet the eyes of anyone we came across.
We burst out onto deck, and I blinked at the sudden sunlight, and took a deep breath of fresh air.
Ahhhhh.
Yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve gone above deck.
The captain was directing the off-loading of some cargo, but he did give us some side-eye as we crossed the gangplank and took our first steps onto the eastern continent.
The air was humming with activity as we went through the docks, heading into the city.
I paused to look at the architecture every now and again as we wove between the crowds, nimbly navigating between the crates and travelers.
This architecture was still distinctly eastern, but with a more Japanese flavor to it than on the western continent.
Construction tended to favor wood and paper, with stone being used for defenses or luxurious buildings.
The clothing gave me the same vibes too, as I spotted a wealthy man in a brightly colored ho and hakama, directing workers.
Some kind of merchant?
They seemed to be moving bolts of silk into a warehouse…
Wait.
Could I get an honest to god kimono here?
The hand-painted silk, the ornate art, the long history!
I loved collecting the luxurious dresses, the ones with history behind them, that were worth a few treasures.
I already had a few extravagant hanfus, cheongsams, and qipaos, but kimonos were a whole other story.
“Here.
This place doesn’t look too bad.” Zhi snapped me out of my daydream about classy traditional kimonos with ornate designs.
I looked up at the building he had stopped at.
Ah.
The Salted Herring.
The sign was written in the eastern continent’s language, but right below the name was repeated in Common.
It looked like a cozy little inn.
Right.
First things first.
We needed to get a room and enjoy my heat together to the fullest.
We pushed inside and located the innkeeper, an old man with a large bush gray beard and a pipe.
He was behind the counter, pungent smoke spilling out of his carved pipe, the dining room not too busy.
“Hello sir, we’d like your finest room please.” Zhi summoned a gold and put it on the counter.
The old man leaned over and eyed the gold critically before looking closer at us.
He took note of our cloaks, and our rings, before he leaned back.
“Oh?
I’m afraid our finest room is taken, but you may have our second finest room here.”
“No problem.
Send some dinner up to us too please.” The old man slid the coin off the counter with a nod.
He opened up a drawer behind the counter, pulling out a key.
He casually tossed it towards Zhi, who easily caught it.
“Third room on the right.
Dinner’s served at seven.
Try not to have too much fun now.” He chortled at his joke, and I could feel Zhi’s cheeks nearly explode from the blood rush.
I caught his arm, starting to feel pretty impatient, and dragged him towards the stairs before he could try to over explain.
The rooms were quiet upstairs, something we’d have to fix.
Zhi sputtered as I kept pulling him along, stumbling on the wood floor.
Okay, third room on the right, third room, here!
I used the key to open the door, and Zhi didn’t need any prompting to follow me inside.
I shut the door firmly, as he groaned and sat down on the bed.
Privacy, finally.
I took my illusion ring off, followed by my clothes, and lastly my storage ring, tossing it onto the end table.
Alright, I was ready for sexy times to continue.
“Oh, Zhiiiii.” I sang and he looked up.
And his eyes widened.
“Oh wow.
You stripped fast.” He swallowed as he looked me up and down.
Heh.
No matter how embarrassed he felt about it in front of people, he never hesitated behind closed doors.
I sidled up to him, touching his shoulder.
“Pants off Zhi.
We can start with you.”
His illusion vanished, closely followed by his clothes as he vanished it all into his ring.
I dipped down, in between his legs.
Damn, I was a lucky woman.
This was going to be fun.