~TIEN LYN~

"Oh, how wonderful!" Tien Lyn exclaimed, forgetting all caution, as the strange-looking sailors rushed around preparing to cast off. "I feel like I could swim to Sutao! What magic is this, Yu?"

He let go of her hand and blinked: "Do you wish to keep it?"

She'd all but yelped 'Yes!' before Finch stepped in.

"Your friend generously shared out qi he sapped from the pirates." Finch did not sound like he disapproved, but his voice was still devoid of emotion.

Tien Lyn shook herself, trying to think clearly despite the ecstasy. "Will they die if we keep it?"

"Our eventual goal is to destroy them," Finch observed.

Why do they both want me to make this choice? No, not both. Just Yu. Finch wants me to understand that I am making a choice.

Yu chewed his lower lip while thinking, then answered with disarming honesty, "Some of them might linger."

Tien Lyn shivered. She had wanted them all dead, dreamed about it for days, but now that it was within her grasp, Yu's willingness to oblige gave her pause. It was not like him at all. He was a healer, not a cold-blooded leech.

Or was she mistaken? Yu seemed frail after sharing qi with her unborn son, and now he was more vibrant than ever. And the demons, they cultivated human qi to prolong their life.

Did someone die already because I've asked and he's obliged?

"No," she said, caught up in the storm of confusing feelings, "No, Yu, please, don't do it."

The strength drained out of her as quickly as it was given. Ancestors, she was exhausted and sore, but Yu... Yu looked destroyed.

She rounded on the man she felt was at the root of it all. "What have we done to him, Finch?! His nature is too gentle for this!"

"The demon-brood was always capable," Finch replied testily, "I merely demonstrated that he can defend himself and others. Tonight, he did what he had to. But since you prefer someone rougher to handle things, please excuse my absence while I set wards to thwart our pursuers."

Tien Lyn wanted to protest that she had not asked for anything... except of course she had. It hurt her more when Finch put her guess into words, called Yu a demon, than when he had rebuked her.

Yu took in a long breath, then slipped down the ladder to the underbelly of the ship. She thought it hurt her... It must have been worse for him. She'd almost took off after Yu, but guilt rooted her in place.

I have corrupted him, not Finch, I and the love he bears me.

"Since when do mages abhor ambiguity?" Shan Jiang muttered frowning up at Finch.

"Clarity is paramount to my craft," Finch replied and marched to the stern. Coiled lightning bolts zapped out of his hands, and floated away to settle into a pattern in the ship's wake, a deadly net to catch the ships and men.

"Farewell, Laughing Men," Jiang said, leaning against the side, to watch the receding shoreline in the weak morning light.

"This cove where Finch hid the 'Waverunner'... Mother Xho showed it to you, did not she?" Tien Lyn asked, nudging another puzzle piece into place.

Jiang nodded. "Yes, she did, Ancestors bless her. Ah, this was by far the longest and the most peaceful relationship I've ever had with a woman. I nearly regret leaving. But that accursed sun..."

Tien Lyn looked away, rather than watch the poet pluck off more dead skin out of his disgusting beard.

"Go talk to him," the poet said quietly, "or run away and never ask."

"Without a chaperone?" she murmured to herself, but he'd heard.

"Truly?!" he exclaimed making her look back at him.

She had never seen Jiang surprised before, but his face softened fast and he went on in his usual amused tone. "Should I summon your esteemed lady mother?"

"No." Tien Lyn looked around the 'Waverunner'. Its strange-looking, strangely-dressed crewmen moved about purposefully, calling to each other, pulling on ropes to move those odd triangular sails. They looked fully preoccupied with their tasks and the fear of pursuit. Finch continued weaving his magic web. They would neither know, nor care if she talked to Yu privately.

Despite it, she felt shy and resented it. She was a widow, and a mother, and after all that has happened, she wanted to be anything but shy.

I wish to talk to Yu, man or demon, and I shall!

She squared her shoulders, rose her head... only to crouch again to get into the hold without bruising her forehead.

The dark space, that smelled of wet wood and tar was so similar to the underbelly of the pirate's ship that for a frightening moment she felt like she was being abducted again.

We're going home! she reminded herself and took in a steadying breath. She could not very well try to help someone if she was on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

"Yu?" she called softly.

There was no response.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "Yu, I won't let words turn me against you. Faeries' or mages', it doesn't matter."

"They are not wrong, Tien Lyn," Yu replied. Her eyes did not adjust yet, so he was no more than a voice in the dark. "My Father has never made a secret of it, so I've always known. I think I was the only one who believed it."

She turned around slowly, trying to find him and to face him. "Tell me?"

"He spent his life in search of thrills. Wrestling, riding unbroken horses, dancing with molten metal. If it were dangerous, he had to do it. For other performers, it was a craft, but for him, it was the only thing he'd ever wanted. He probably impressed the demon by showing excitement at the sight of her, rather than fear of death."

She could see him now, a shape braced against the movements of the ship, chin propped on his knees. "I don't remember how and why the demon left us. But Father missed her, and seemed disappointed that I did not turn out to be a harbinger of his doom. He forbade me to heal him. 'Let the fools beg you,' he said, 'but don't take away my fate from me.'"

A madman, she thought bitterly, Yu grew up with a madman.

But he sounded so wistful that she bit back the angry shout, and asked a solicitous question instead: "What was your father's name?"

"Kai."

"You loved him," she guessed.

"I did," Yu confirmed quietly, his hands clasping one another over his ankles. "Around him, I was able to ignore the craving. But after he died, I fell apart. I had to heal, and can you imagine what might happen when a vagrant chases strangers down the streets to offer relief for their ailments?"

"I've never thought of it, but, yes, it would look suspicious. Dangerous even," she lowered herself next to him.

"It got worse. I ran afoul of the faeries. I lied that they'd raised me and taught me," he chuckled without merriment. "So stupid. But I'd say anything to feel euphoric for an hour or two."

He turned his head towards her. Tien Lyn found his shoulder and the moment she touched it, he covered her palm with his. "I know you're hurt, Tien Lyn. Are you afraid to ask me now? Because of my bloodline?"

She willed her hand to stay put. "No. It's nothing, and I don't want you to drive yourself to madness over it."

"Tien Lyn, don't you understand? You're like Father—" Yu started hotly.

"Only if he did not let you heal because it was destroying your mind!" she argued with a matching passion.

"Please, listen!" he pleaded, and they both let the silence close over them.

"You're like Father," he started again his voice dropping lower with every word till it was no more than a whisper, "because when I am with you, I can ignore the craving. I can tell days from one another. I wish for normal human things."

She wanted to kiss him, she realized.

Where this desire came from, and why it would be so easy, she did not know. It had taken weeks for Ho's body to feel as familiar as her own, but Yu's fingers stroking hers right now did not feel like an intrusion. She had taken Yu's first kiss in stride as well, as if she'd always expected for it to land on her lips.

But she was more than a girl sitting in the dark, she was the daughter of the Lord and Lady Chen, widow of Chong Ho and mother of Chong Xi. She gently slipped her hand away from Yu's shoulder, made a fist and pressed it just under her chest, to the very core of her being. "Then I shall find a way to protect you."

Just like I'll find a way to avenge my husband's death. Just like I'll find a way to secure Xi's inheritance.

Those were all worthy tasks, and her heart lifted with the new sense of purpose. She was doing the right thing.

Yu looked down at his fingertips for a long moment, then he repeated her gesture. "And I shall protect you."

Her heart fell because she knew she'd missed something as precious as it was wrong.

He healed the nagging burn on her arm without asking, and she watched the blissful smile touch his lips. For once, his head rolled back, so she could see his eyes even in the dimness of the cargo hold. She even pushed his hair back for all the good it did, for it stubbornly fell right back into place.

A shrill, ear-splitting whistle drowned out not only Yu's soft breathing, but also every creaking, flapping and hissing sound made by the ship and the sea, and even Captain Zyed's commanding voice.

As the 'Waverunner' lurched forward, something heavy hit her side, then she got hit again on the starboard, upsetting the balance, and robbing her of speed. The alarm whistled on and on, as Yu and she stumbled around the hold, trying to get to the ladder.

There, they collided with wide-eyed Jiang, climbing down in haste. "Demons! Stay down! Let Finch —"

Mercifully, the whistling had stopped. Yu kept climbing, and Tien Lyn followed him.