A Tear Frozen in Time

Allegiences

The week flew by so quickly, that by the time the final day arrived, she was no clearer of mind than when she arrived back from Kunlun Mountain.  After her talk with Zhe Yan, she honestly thought that she had made up her mind and was only giving Guotin the final week of the trial in order to leave cleanly.  After all, this was something she lived by.  Once you start something, you finish it to the end, then cut ties cleanly which Li Jing and Xia Nu had learned the hard way.  As did Mo Yuan and in many ways Ye Hua.

Guotin had assured her that a permanent friendship would be gained for both of their tribes and with a war pending, friendships had never been more important especially for her people.  The Demons had always sided with the darklands in times of war, and knowing that when Qing Cang broke free, he would in the end choose the Ghosts over the Celestials, it was how the darklands worked.  They stuck together even when their differences seemed irreversable.

So gaining his friendship, placed Qing Qiu in a very favourable position, regardless of who she chose, only she was now so torn between both men, that she awoke on her final day near tears.  One of them would be heartbroken and one would rejoice, only she would be heartbroken either way because she had found a much deeper liking for Guotin.

The past week had been far more pleasurable than she thought it would be.  There were so many different facets to the man, that she had not really realized just how deeply she had fallen for him until the night before when he had led her back to his peach grove for their final dinner.

"I insist that you stay for breakfast.  We will then discuss what your future plans are then, but in the meantime, allow me this night to enjoy your company and your thoughts." he had said with that same soft knowing smile, only this time, she felt her stomach flip over itself at the sight of it.

No one but Mo Yuan had ever given her butterfy tummy, not even Ye Hua.  But as she had sat there holding his hand and looking back at that face which was wide open to her, she realized that her final decision was going to be the hardest one she would ever have to make.

"Very well, then tell me of your childhood." she had asked seeing as he knew all about hers yet he rarely spoke of his.

"What do you want to know?" he asked genuinely surprised, seeing as she had not asked about his childhood or even his family in all the time she had been there.  

"What were your parents like, your siblings.....?" she trailed off with a soft smile of her own and all ears.

"Well, its no secret that I am the oldest of three brothers and two sisters, however I am the last remaining among us having lost the rest to past wars." he began on a rather sad beginning.

"Growing up was not much different to how the children here grow up though I was educated privately within the Palace walls for a time before being sent to Kunlun Mountain to study under Mo Yuans father.   But like the other children, I had a happy childhood.  Both my parents were present for much of it, and unlike some leaders, they shunned all wars, preferring to keep to themselves.  It was the only way they could keep us all safe especially from the Celestials who wanted world rule over all tribes which my father absolutely refused. 

"Having me on Kunlun Mountain was strategy of course, Mo Yuans father took the oath of allegience seriously, and like you, I owed him a life debt even though my father saw it as a sharing of knowledge, after all, Tiandi learned much about my people and our way of life through me, so it wasn't as if I was taking everything while he gained nothing.  Only he wanted far more, he wanted my fathers allegience which he refused to give.  Having my allegience should have been enough, only father saw it as greed.  Greed for power and governance over everyone.  And eventually he not only removed me from Kunlun Mountain, he also turned his back on Tiandi.   And he did this by closing our realm down to all outsiders."