Falcon's Flight

Eleven

They travelled for a few days, sleeping underneath clear and starry skies. There wasn't too much conversation over those days and Fen was still reeling from what he had told her.

On the fourth night, Fen stared up at the stars through the cover of some trees.
"So..." she started. She took a deep breath and she could feel him tense slightly next to her, as if he was concerned about what she was going to say. "You're not human."

There was a moment of silence.

"No."

"You're... you're what? Half demon?" she said.
"Yes," he said. Shan Yu turned his head to look at her instead of the stars. "My mother, she was a demon."
Fen turned to look at him instead of the stars. "So your father was human?"
"Yes, he was human," he said. He sounded... vulnerable. This was something emotional for him, Fen could feel it and hear it in his voice. It no longer had the sharp edge when he spoke.

"Were they good people?" she asked. She could hear him taking a deep breath.
"Yes. My father was a good leader, my mother taught me how to see through the eyes of Hayabusa." As if on command, which it might have been, Hayabusa shrieked and landed on Shan Yu's shoulder. Fen reached out and gently stroked the soft feathers. "I befriended him as a fledgling, he's been with me since."

She smiled. "That's kind of an adorable thing to imagine," Fen said, laughing a little. The image of the baby Hayabusa perching on a young Shan Yu's hand was in her head. "But I can't really imagine what you would have looked like as a child."
"It is probably better if you don't," he said, sighing.
"Why?" she asked.

She received no answer.

"You don't have your doll anymore." Fen knew he was trying to change the topic but she didn't mind. He had noticed her doll was missing.
"No," she said, shaking her head a little. "I don't."
"Did you lose it?"
She shook her head again. "No. I gave it to Lian for her child. I don't really need it anymore. I doubt I'll have a child to give it to. I would have only lost it again anyway and yeah... I guess I figured it was time to move on."

"Move on?"
"From China. For hoping my life would go back to normal," she said. "This is the new normal and while I don't like you for what you caused, I think you're different now. And so am I. And I'm trying to make it so it's not a bad thing, I suppose."
"I am different, I have never lost so many valued people," he said. "You're right, we are both different now. But you do not have to tell their families that they are dead."

Fen stared at him. She hadn't realised that was something he had to do. Of course all of the Hun soldiers had families. They probably had wives and children and other family too. She supposed the only good thing about them killing almost the entire village was that only she was to live with the grief, not all of the families.

"Is that where we're going?"
"Yes, it is."
Fen nodded. "I think I need to sleep. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."