Fresh Embers of Love

Chapter 82

Kun Ji, the last Phoenix, Princess of the Bird Tribe, and Wife of the Heavenly Emperor Fuzangloong, was sweet as honey to her Mother-in-law. She had brought her brothers with her to Linyuan Tower, offering to help remodel the tower to make the girls that would be coming to live here more comfortable.

Empress Dowager Kuanglu eyed her distrustfully, but didn't have cause to dismiss her outright. Kun Ji inspected the tower briefly, and then proposed a few ideas to the Empress Dowager.

"With so many girls, you are going to need a very large bathing chamber" Kun Ji pointed out. "But a pool that large can only go on the bottom floor. You don't want the main doors opening up to the bathing pool, so I propose we dig down, and build a subterranean level when we remodel, making the bathing chamber a basement."

The Empress Dowager nodded thoughtfully.

"I also noticed that these rooms are not all the same size. Do you have a ranking system figured out, so that we know which girls to put in the best rooms?" Kun Ji asked.

The Empress Dowager pursed her lips. "I wanted them all to start off with the same rank" she said.

"Then we are going to need to gut the entire Tower" Kun Ji told her, "so that we can make the rooms all the same size. This tower is five stories tall. If we save the bottom floor for common space, then we can equally divide the top four floors into eight equal rooms of a good size. Plus we will dig an extra subfloor for the bath. The girls should have enough room to be comfortable" Kun Ji theorized.

The Empress Dowager looked at her in amazement. "You would really be willing to help with this? I thought you would resist it."

"It's for the peace and safety of the Heavenly Realm, isn't it?" Kun Ji asked innocently.

The Empress Dowager nodded, dumbfounded.

"Then I will do what I can with my limited skills to help" Kun Ji offered.

"Don't be modest" the Empress Dowager admonished her. "You did a wonderful job remodeling Xuanji Palace! These girls will be lucky to have you design their living space!"

Kun Ji blushed and looked down. "Thank you for your confidence in me" Kun Ji replied humbly.

The Empress Dowager breathed a sigh of relief. "I will leave this in your capable hands, then. I have a meeting to get to in a few minutes, ask the Matchmaker Zhou for whatever you need. She will make sure that you get it."

Kun Ji bowed respectfully to her Mother-in-law, who departed the Tower, leaving Kun Ji alone with her brothers.

After the Empress was out of earshot, her brothers turned on her.

"What are you doing?" hissed Kama.

"I can't stop these marriages, I don't have the power. The Bird Tribe doesn't have the power" Kun Ji responded.

"That doesn't mean you have to help!" Kama argued. "It's humiliating!"

"I do not choose to be humiliated" Kun Ji replied coldly. "I will learn everything there is to know about these girls, for the purpose of decorating their rooms, of course" she said facetiously. "Everything they have will come from ME. They will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am the source from which all good things flow" she stated.

Kama nodded in surprise, agreeing. Itachi looked at her apprehensively. He shook his head and then turned back to the Tower.

"So much work!" he lamented. "EIGHT Concubines! Jeez, Fuzang! Save some girls for the rest of us!" he complained.

Kama rolled his eyes at him, and pulled out a piece of paper to start taking notes on dimensions.

"You know, Itachi, Fuzang does have sisters. They are still available" Kun Ji teased her brother.

"Yikes! After what happened to Tangyue and QingWa Sheng? No, thank you!" Itachi replied.

"Not Nuwa, then. What about his baby sisters?" Kun Ji asked playfully.

"Aren't they... babies?" Itachi asked sarcastically.

"They won't always be! Eventually they will grow up" Kun Ji pointed out.

"Well, what are they?" Itachi asked curiously, taking the bait.

"Guihua gave birth to a Yellow Dragonfruit. They call her Gua" Kun Ji told him.

"Dragonfruit? Hmmm, I've never tasted one of those" he mused.

"She's still a cactus plant right now, though. You have to wait for her to Awaken" Kun Ji pointed out.

"Cactus?" Itachi asked in alarm. "Pass! Hard Pass!"

Kama chuckled, smudging his writing, and then starting over.

"What about the other sister?" Itachi asked.

"Oh, she's a Quicksilver Spirit" Kun Ji replied. "Her name is Shui Yin."

"That sounds interesting. What can you tell me about her?" Itachi asked, headed over to clear some broken timbers from the floor of the long unused Tower.

"She's still pretty young" Kun Ji answered honestly. "Oh! But! She can turn herself into anything she wants!" Kun Ji told them.

"What do you mean by anything?" Itachi asked.

Kun Ji shrugged. "I mean anything." She replied. "Fuzangloong saw her yesterday, and she had turned herself into a little boy and back again, without any trouble at all. She has turned herself into all kinds of creatures and objects!"

Kama looked up from his paper, a stunned expression on his face. "Really?" he asked.

"Dibs!" Itachi called out loudly.

Kama turned an enraged expression on his brother. "You can't call 'dibs' on a person!" he scolded.

He looked back at Kun Ji. "I want to meet her, can you arrange it?"

"Oh! Really? That sounds like you are trying to call dibs!" Itachi complained.

Kama glared at him. "She is far too young for you" he stated.

"You and I are the SAME AGE!" Itachi exploded.

"You will lose interest in a few years, and find someone else" Kama told him. "I, on the other hand, can guarantee that I won't even look at any girls until she comes of age" he said.

"You haven't even met her!" Itachi pointed out.

"Kun Ji, can you make this happen?" Kama asked her.

"I can bring you to meet her, but in my current situation, I can't do much else" Kun Ji told him truthfully.

"Let's get to work on improving your situation!" Kama proposed, turning his attention back to the Tower.