Legend of Fei

10. A'Fei is Keeping Secrets From Xie Yun

A'Fei is not a morning person. She has never been but she always had the composure to not let others see that she was especially short on her non-existent patience in the early morning. So, it was a surprise when A'Fei woke up before Xie Yun and couldn't fall back asleep. 

She had something on her mind. She and Xie Yun had not been able to settle down and have a good talk about what is going on with White Tiger's obsession with herself. Whenever A'Fei saw Xie Yun, he looked concerned on the subject, wanting to talk to her but the opportunity never came. Up until the disciple hid on Penglai, she did not consider the problem big enough to warrant her attention but now it did.

"Come. Get some more sleep." A'Fei looked to see Xie Yun crouching down, eyes beady, still fighting sleep as he stood. She looked back to the retreating mound of Haigui, that had accompanied them for some time, against the dawn. She nodded, took Xie Yun's hand and let herself be led upstairs to the room.

She did not fall asleep even if Xie Yun immediately did. His soft snores spoke of how tired he must have been. He had been sleeping all day and all night. Her thoughts swirled around everything she knew of the men that called themselves as Mountain gods. Vermillion Master had been the only different one in the bunch and the White Tiger she didn't know about. Xie Yun did. Once they will be on land and settled, they'd have to have a long overdue chat.

Xie Yun turned, put an arm around her waist, pulled her close.

"Aaish." she glared at her sleeping husband who whispered, "Sleep."

Sleep she did in the warmth.

When she woke up, they were docked and Xie Yun was nowhere to be found. She made her way out.

"Lady Zhou." One of the attendants greeted her enthusiastically at the front.

"We reached back earlier than expected," she commented.

"That giant turtle helped us overnight." A'Fei only nodded once in response. She thought, there was no way Haigui could be kept a secret, no matter how hard they tried. The sea creature clearly wanted to do his own things and hiding wasn't one of them.

"Have you.." she was only beginning when she saw Xie yun skipping in between the dock crowd, a head above others, smiling joyfully, something swinging from his finger, near his ear. As he neared, something blocked his view.

"Chief Xu?" she refocused on the man before her, looking from Xie Yun to her. She looked at Xie Yun, smiling at them now.

Chief Xu bowed deeply, before addressing her while looking intently at Xie Yun, swinging the yellowish token in his finger, "I didn't realize The Decedent of the Southern Sabre was looking for the Yellow bat when someone told me that the token was seen in town." 

A'Fei did not reply, she had something she did want to inquire of the Peddler Gang but with Xie Yun so close, she did not. Why was Xie Yun looking for them? She was about to find out.

Xie Yun and Chief Xu nodded at one another. Xie Yun motioned her to follow him on the boat and Chief Xu followed them wordlessly. As soon as they entered the main room of the boat, that prickly feeling of being watched evaded her and she looked around the room, putting into action what she had learned from the masters.

"There." she whispered to Xie Yun who was already striding towards the stop but the man moved. Quickly, he was out and lost.

"What was that?"

"White Tiger lackey." Xie Yun smiled but A'Fei saw no humor in him as he answered Chief Xu's query.

"I heard that he is out of seclusion and... " the Chief's eyes shifted between Xie Yun and herself as he hesitated with his next words.