A Crown for a Tail

Mischief in the The Peach Tree Woods

Now that an agreement of sorts had been reached, Ye Hua moved into the Fox Den as an honored guest, something her father and Zhe Yan had to remind her repeatedly, though they were surprised when he moved in without any clothing or necessities or even a hint of his star lord, that Zhe Yan began to suspect The Celestial Palace were not aware of his whereabouts.

As it had been 3 days already and having spent much of that time, getting to know Qing Qiu, its lands and its people as well as Bai Qian and her family, they hadn't really paid much attention to his lack of staff which they all knew was Celestial Protocol in that The Crown Prince had to have a guard in attendance at all times, regardless of where he was and who he was with.

Initially he had wondered whether he should make inquiries, however, seeing as the young couple seemed to be getting along quite well, and without incident, he let it go.  They were after all old enough to make their own decision, and as they were both consenting to this arrangement, there just didn't seem to be any point in fixing what wasn't broken.

And it was far from broken, both Ye Hua and Bai Qian were in fact getting along rather well, and though her initial mischief had eased off due to her parents also being in attendance, she did manage to keep him laughing, which was as rare as her lack of alcohol, she had not had a single drop since the night they came to an agreement.  Though by the fourth day it was beginning to show, and deciding that it was pointless remaining sober when it just wasn't in her nature, having been raised on wine, she decided to take Ye Hua for a day out at The Peach Tree Grove.  

Happy to be seeing the Peach Tree Grove in the daytime, having seen so little of it the evening he had first laid eyes on her, Ye Hua quickly put together a picnic lunch though he had to remove the loquats that Bai Qian insisted on adding.  "Qian Qian, you need more nourishment and eating only loquats is not healthy or nourishing." he told her firmly having yet to see her eat anything else since his arrival, then waiting for Bai Qian to move out of hearing range, he quietly gave Mi Gu an order to throw them all out after they had left.

"Zhe Yan, we don't need a chaperone." Bai Qian yelled over her shoulder as they prepared to leave, knowing the busy body wouldn't be able to contain himself in joining them, gaining an eye roll in return, but no sooner had they left, than both Bai Zhen and Zhe Yan left in their wake. 

 It wasn't that they thought they might get up to no good, but Ye Hua was the Crown Prince and knowing Xiao Wu, they could not allow her mischief to get out of hand, especially knowing that she would not be able to leave the wine alone.  And though they would keep a safe distance to allow the young couple their privacy, Bai Zhen kept tabs on her energy.  When it came to mischief, Bai Qians energy would always flare out about her seconds before she hit, something Ye Hua would not yet be aware of.

And it didn't take long for the mischief to hit.   Having sat under a continuous rain of peach blossoms beside one of the many rock pools that littered the Grove, they had sat for a while to talk about their childhood, their individual family members which Bai Qian found interesting and what they both wanted to achieve in the near future.

"If you and the War God are Twin brothers, then why were you raised in the Celestial Palace?" she asked genuinely curious.  Because surely his brother would have known who he was much earlier and claimed him back.  

"Though I am his brother by blood, it is my mother Lady Le Xu who birthed me, therefore I am her son.  Without a physical womb, I would have remained in Lotus form forever." he explained.

Nodding that she understood, she pointed at the peach blossoms that surrounded them.  "So being a flower baby, does that mean you are naturally inclined towards other blooms?" she suddenly asked.  It was a question he had never been asked before, and being an unusual one, he had no idea what she meant by it let alone how to answer it.