Falcon's Flight

Thirteen

The new clothes were a lot more comfortable. Odsar had given her some privacy while she had changed but when she returned, she watched her with the same careful eye she had been watching her with since Fen had started to follow her.

“You seem worried,” she said bluntly. Fen froze, did she seem worried? She figured she probably looked like a nervous mess, she was surrounded by the people she had been told was the enemy. “You worry about Shan Yu, don’t you?”
Hesitantly, Fen nodded. “I guess do, yes.”

Odsar smiled at her and Fen wasn’t sure how to react. “He just needs time to grieve, like we all do. We’ve all lost people.”
Fen nodded, thinking of her mother and father and the rest of the village. “I know,” she said.
“He had known some of those people for all of their lives, some of them were older. His Elite men, they were more than just his best soldiers, they were his friends and his family,” she said.

“I know, I’ve lost my family too. My entire village died and yet he decided I could live. I just miss them too, I haven’t really had much time to miss them. We were too busy trying to escape from China with our lives.” Fen looked down at her hands. She really hadn’t had time to try to mourn her family and friends, she hadn’t really tried to make time for them.
“You have time now,” said Odsar. Fen looked up at her. “Despite our differences, we have all lost people. I lost my husband. We have more in common than some people would have us believe.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” asked Fen. it felt a little strange being so welcomed. She was expecting to be shunned more. Yet, so far, Odsar had been relatively warm and had given her new clothes and the others didn’t seem to care so much. Though, Fen realised that they were probably more concerned with their grief and mourning.

“Shan Yu likes you, you have somehow earned his and Hayabusa’s respect,” she said with a small shrug. “And you have done nothing to disrespect me or my family or my friends. I have no reason to hate you unless you were the Chinese soldier that resulted in all of those men dying.”
“I’m not,” said Fen, shaking her head.
“Then I have no problem with you.”

Fen smiled at Odsar. She had nothing to fear from the Hun woman. “Thank you,” said Fen, “for the clothes.”
“It’s no problem,” she said, smiling back as she gave Fen a nod. “I’m guessing you’ll want to go and find Shan Yu?”
Fen nodded. “Yes, I would.”
“I’ll take you to him, he could probably do with some company.”