The Last War

30. Flurry of Snow

The turmoil gradually subsided. All soldiers who were bribed by Xiang were taken away. The blue peacock was still a bit dazed so that it offered almost no resistance. But Wang was sure that he would make a fuss very soon again. Po joked a few words with the king, but kept looking at Shen and Yin-Yu, who were still in each other's wings. But after a while, they loosened their embrace and drifted apart a little. Xia and Sheng were still standing nearby, but they weren't sure whether they should say something or not.
Finally, Po went over to the two siblings and gave them a soft punch.
"Uh, maybe it would be a good idea to leave them alone for a moment", he whispered at the two adult children.
The panda didn't give them a chance to say against it, he pulled them away to the building. King Wang caught a sign of him and the ox called back all men from the place.
It became quieter, until the white lord and the lady stood alone. Yin-Yu was staring at the floor the whole time, while Shen was looking at her from the side from time to time. Only now, they seemed to realize what had happened over the days.
The lord rubbed his wings. He had embraced her after so long time again. And it felt like an illusion, which wanted to fade away. Again he looked at her. She felt his glance. The effect of the embrace before didn't comfort her anymore. Instead, she was afraid that a new punishment would follow.
The tension around them grew higher. The silence made it all worse. Every one of them wanted to speak, but were feared to cause a controversy. And nobody wanted to experience it again. Even Shen hated that ugly feeling of disharmony in his view of life.
The white lord became more nervous and stroke over his wings, and felt something strange in his feathers. He grabbed for it and the white, with the red and black markings, feather from Yin-Yu came out.
"It's not over yet," Soothsayer had said.
Shen took a very deep breath. "I think, we should talk."
He winced. The peahen hugged herself and ducked her head, and still didn't look at him. Was she afraid of a new rebuke?

"Shouldn't we stand more in near?" Xia asked and looked at her parents with worried eyes.
She stood with the others somewhere in the castle, but looked out through the windows.
But Po patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be okay. And if something should happen, I'm always ready."
Gently, he pushed her aside. But then he craned his neck and thought: "What are they talking about?"
He caught his breath. Shen made a few steps closer to her. Then the peacock lifted his wings.

Yin-Yu started to tremble when the wings touched her shoulders from behind.
"What have I done?" she asked with tensed voice.
With dropped face, she stood there like frozen. Shen moved his finger feathers a little. He fought shy of saying the reason, but he couldn't bury it any longer inside his soul. He couldn't see her like this any longer.
"Listen...," he started. "It wasn't because of you... but I just thought, it was from you..."

Po stood on his tiptoes and tried to hear a word. He had come sneaking up so close, but not close enough to hear a clear word. Shen spoke so quietly, that it was impossible for the nosy panda to understand what he was saying. He pressed himself against the stone wall and watched their reactions.
Shen continued speaking.
Suddenly, Yin-Yu winced. She turned around to him and stared at the white lord. Then she lowered her face and covered it with her wings. The lady walked away a few steps and showed the impression of being humiliated.
"How could she?!" she cried and gasped for air. "I have a bad family!"
The lord watched how her shoulders quivered.
"Well, I can't really be proud about myself, too," he said and didn't want to think about what if he had cut her face in the hidden tunnels. The rage about the faked letter had made him so blind that he had almost killed her.
The peahen started to whimper
"I can understand if you don't want to see me anymore," she cried. "I've always brought you bad luck."
It looked like she was going to run away, but Shen grabbed her by her shoulders.
"Bad luck?" he asked in surprise and seriously. "How can you say that?" He held her tight. "Do you not know me anymore?"
She silenced before she moved her trembling beak lips. "What am I worth to you?"
He narrowed his eyes. Xiang had manipulated her much worse than he thought. Gently, but firmly he turned her around so that she stood in front of him to look at her face. His finger feathers tight on her shoulders. After he was sure that she wouldn't try to escape, he reached into his feathers and took out the white feather, which Xia had given to him.
"Do you recognize it?" he asked.
She lifted her lowered eyes and looked at the white older feather in his wing.
Gradually, memories came back. She remembered when she found that feather. It was in the morning after the night where she found it on the floor while they were busy to put on their clothes again. Maybe he had lost it while their night of love. She had picked it up and had shown it to him. The lord had smiled. "You can keep it."