The Rise of the Phoenixes: On Broken Wing

The Confrontation

When Feng Zhiwei woke up, it was to traces of dim light streaming into the hold from the deck opening. It was sunrise and time to set sail. She looked for Nanyi but found Ning Yi instead.

Feng Zhiwei bolted wide awake and tried to crawl backward away from Ning Yi.

Ning Yi was sitting on a crate wearing pirate clothing a few feet away. He never took his eyes off her. He watched her like a night owl watches little mice scurry on the ground at midnight.

She could only shake her head with her mouth open wishing this wasn't happening. He looked the same as he had last year. But his presence did not feel the same.

He represented a threat to her now. Before Ning Yi was a friend, an ally, and then her heart's beloved. Now he was a threat promising to lead her back to all that guaranteed her mental destruction.

"I can't." It was all she could say a first. Tears formed. He had found her. Now, what?

"Where is Nanyi?" she said in angst. They were alone.

"Nanyi did not help me find you, but he went without a fight. So, I forgive him for his involvement in my mother's death."

Feng Zhiwei remembered Ning Yi had multiple wives now. This gave her some courage that he might be less attached to her. It would be great if she did not need to fear him.

She decided to bow with full formality to smooth things over. She prostrated herself before the Tiansheng Emperor with the word, 'bixia."

He did not tell her to get up. One has to wait for the command. It did not come. Instead, Ning Yi got down on his knees before her.

He pulled her up without speaking. He took her face in his hands. It was like Ning Yi wanted to smush her face between his two hands. With her face held captive, Ning Yi touched his forehead to her forehead and released his breath.

They stayed that way for a full minute. He rolled his forehead against hers as if to absorb her into himself.

Feng Zhiwei did not know what to think. She had sense enough to know he still cared. She pulled away and bowed as if by way of apology. She needed space. He should not be this clingy still. He had moved on.

When she pulled away, Ning Yi turned his back to her as if to collect himself. His emotions were particularly strong at the moment. He had found her, but she feared him. This was new territory for them.

"Bixia, congratulations on your marriages," Feng Zhiwei wanted to remind him and herself.

"I could lie to you about my marriages. I could play the enchanted newlywed. It might gain your trust. You might stop being afraid of me. I won't do that to you. I will not lie to you, Feng Zhiwei," he said with his back still turned.

Ning Yi turned back around now. "You do have much to fear Feng Zhiwei. I only collected that gaggle of gossiping gooses for you. So, it is only right that you are now left to deal with them."

It was a straightforward reference to her leading the harem. It meant marriage. The legal marriage he once asked her to consider.

"I cannot marry you, "she said, "I promised my mother."

Ning Yi was losing patience but his words contradicted this fact, "I will give you time. I will protect you. I am the only one who can protect you."

"Can you?" Feng Zhiwei whispered thinking of her suicide attempt in irony.

Ning Yi heard her and made an angry gesture. He understood her ironic comment and did not like it.

Feng Zhiwei bowed in submission as was the custom when one ticks off powerful people.