The dinner with the duke and his wife had been wonderful. Perhaps too wonderful. He was kinder than Rumi had thought he would be, and seemed genuinely interested in helping her on her new path. His wife seemed kind, and beautiful, and Rumi was inspired (and a bit jealous) by that. The intention to train her had been brought up again, and she tried to not think too much about the offer. The direct offer. Was there something more beyond that offer? The duke said that he was a friend of Tie Shi's, and thus wanted to be a friend of her's. Rumi wasn't sure if she could claim Tie Shi as a friend, when they had only spoken once.
Still. She remembered that conversation only too well. Recited it in her mind. With a chuckle, she assumed she probably remembered it a bit inaccurately. Time could play that trick, especially when she actually felt like she fancied someone.
Slowly, she walked alone, intent on being alone for the night. She had hoped, no, more like expected this evening to come to a completely different solution. Instead, she was left with disappointment. The breeze was almost still now, the few thin trees around her still. A few birds were making rustling sounds as they settled in for the night. If she listened harder, she could here the far off sounds of talk, laughter, and banter.
"If only I had arrived early. Would that have made a difference? Could I have seen him, before he left?" The last thing she had seen of him was him leaving her yesterday, with the pledge of a test. "Would he always be leaving?" It didn't bode well with her, not really. The two days paralleled themselves too much. Her stomach twisted in knots, just thinking about the memory of him leaving.
"Oh, you silly girl. There wasn't anything there anyway." She tried to talk some sense in herself, as she continued to walk up a path. Alone was best, even if it made her mentally beat herself up more. This is how she was certain her memories were twisting things. She had been surprised to see him, surprised that he talked to her so calmly, and she didn't even realize that he was a captain. She would have offered him more respect if she had known that, but then perhaps...it wouldn't have turned out the way it had, either.
She arrived where she had wanted to go; a small perch that overlooked a pathway leading out of the North. It was quiet, empty. He had been gone for hours already, perhaps even outside of the borders that the Tianxian Empire claimed. "The Pridelands..." She had heard a bit about it, since the current emperor was originally born there. It seemed like a bit of a dull place to live, but there had to be plenty of life there. He was from there too, if the duke was correct. That meant he was returning to family, to something that he was familiar with. Would he return at all? Or worse....with someone tagging along?
The brown lioness sighed, looking down at the darkness below. The moon illuminated only a bit of the pathway, and she feared that she'd be spending a lot of her free time here. "I almost wish I could have gone with them." He took a decent crew with him, and Nyneve was going to be a bit lonely without Huo Wuya around to admire. So she wasn't alone in her misery. "I'm sure its a long journey, but an interesting one. The Duke made it sound like he wished he could go....perhaps if he goes one day, I can too."
Rumi let the words fade off towards the darkness, letting their weight sink into her mind. If she wanted to be worth something as a guard, as a soldier, she was going to have to prove herself. Tie Shi couldn't hear her from here, but she knew that she couldn't just sit and wait for him to return. She had a life to live, and as much as she hoped he would be here to oversee it, she had a career to mold. With the duke's help, she was determined to be a soldier before he returned. Just imagining the look on his face, her standing proudly as a soldier instead of a huntress waiting for a test...that would be her sweet revenge for him leaving before their promised meeting. Emperor be damned!
"s**t," she cursed under her breath, glad that thought didn't escape to her voice. The last thing she needed was to be cursing the emperor! Clearly he had plans that Rumi couldn't imagine, and Tie Shi was going to gain so much attention for his achievements. Probably from some noble ladies in other houses as well. She laughed, wondering how he'd handle that. He seemed so...happy to talk to her, once they had gotten past the awkward introductions. Her memory was probably twisting it again, but he had seemed genuinely interested in her curiosity in the military arm of the North, and excited for their sparring test.
"He'll be gone for months. You can get up to soldier in months, no problem." She wouldn't hear from him, certainly not. There wasn't a way to. But she could train, impress him with his return, and hopefully that might impress the duke as well. Then she would call him out on his absence at the sparring grounds, and challenge him. Rumi snorted, just imagining the look on his face if she won. She'd have to win! Maybe he'd grow soft, only training green recruits. That would throw him off his game.
"Here I am, imagining so many things that haven't even come true, or may not even come true. Rumi, what has happened to you? Did you really let the flash of a handsome male's smile capture you like this?" she sighed, standing up from her spot to challenge to empty pass below her. "Tomorrow is when the training begins. I pledge I won't return to this spot until you've return, you silly boy that makes my stomach twist. I'll be the soldier I'm certain you'd want me to be. Only then will I decide which step shall be taken when I can see you eye to eye again."
It was a lot of big talk, but Rumi knew that she could hold herself to it. She'd report for training first thing in the morning, and heaven help any poor soul who was to oppose her on the sparring field. She had a fire lit inside her, the same type of fire that drove her to boar hunting. This was a challenge she was determined to win.
(1,126 words)