Snow

[shinsayaken]

Rasa stared at the meager flame for a while. It wouldn't last long without more wood. He watched his lord strip before the lady, and smirked. Oh? It's like that is it? But then again, he wouldn't have expected anything else from him either. It's only improper if one feels shame, and where is shame in staying alive? Rasa followed suit and removed his armor after carefully unwinding his weapon from his arm and coiling it on the ground next to him. The gloves were the last thing he took off, as without them it would be painful to touch his weapon anywhere but a few key spots. He wasn't concerned about the lady's lack of defense. If she was an enemy Yen Wang would either say something or handle it himself, though she would probably be dead already if he had wanted.

Folding his hands and adjusting his posture he began breathing in a technique he had learned long ago in some remote place he didn't know the name of. It was a good technique for calming oneself, and incidentally warming the body from cold. He counted his heartbeats in the back of his mind. When he reached thirty, he turned his gaze to his lord. "So? What is it?" That was right when Ly'rea came in bearing wood for the fire.

[Yen Wang (Burai)]

Yen Wang stared at the woman and then at her weapons. “Why leave yourself unguarded around two strangers, was she just trusting?” His eyes strolled up at her face. Was she challenging his strength? Daring him to attack an unarmed person, or in this case a woman. His judgment would not discriminate; all those who ended up on trail would have to face his verdict. Watching her untie her belt was rather amusing.

He sneered at her, as the thought peered into his mind. “Such thoughts; must be remenats of weakness from him.” Yen Wang didn’t accept those thoughts and blamed them on Burai. His taint still lingered within him. Yen Wang eyes swayed over to Rasa. His sneer vanished and was replaced with a smile. As Rasa began to remove his armor. “There we go Rasa, follow my lead.” Once he finished undressing he addressed him. “What do you mean Rasa?”

[Sun Qing Liang]

As Gong rested against the wall of the cavern. She chilling wind was neutralized by the heat emitting from the flames. It wasn't the best fire made, but it was something to keep her body from freezing. She noticed that the boy across the way was disarming his armor just as this man was before. " Hmm... a student and his mentor......isn't that cute." She said aloud. A giggle creeped out of her lips as she looked at her precious weapons. She picked up her sword and ran her finger across the blade. As it got closer to the tip, Mi flinched as it cut through her flesh. Blood dripped from the wound as she used her other hand to catch the blood. She took her sword and dripped some blood on the edge of the blade. " No bloodshed today so this will have to do." She said to herself, but she knew her weapons understood. She got a thrill out of creeping people out. Especially when she "fed" her weapons. She held her bleeding finger over her other weapons, and let the blood drip onto them.

Shutting out everything going on outside of her mind she laid back against the wall again and looked at the blood on the weapons. She remembered that Liang was sick, and finally she remembered why she came up this mountain. She was looking for Hua Tua, a famous medic whom Mi thought was the perfect person to help identify Liang's illness and hopefully find a cure. She looked away from the two men as a tear rolled down her frigid cheeks. The thought of Liang dieing made her feel so useless and upset. It would mean that she had failed to keep her promise to ShangXiang, and keep Liang safe. She fought back the rest of the tears and whipped the one tear away.

[shinsayaken]

Ly'rea quietly placed the wood she had gathered on the fire and went to sit next to the woman. She returned the coat she had been given without a word. When no one seemed to notice her tears she barely spoke. "Are you alright?" She warmed her hands over the renewed fire for a moment. The past she had tried so hard to forget flashed before her eyes. "Turn around." She said as if lost in an echo. "I'll help relieve some of your burden."

-At the same time-

Rasa ignored the two women for the moment. There would be time to deal with them later. His immediate concern was the tiger. "What else could I mean? You follow me here without my knowledge? It's almost enough to think that maybe you've gotten bored. Surely if that is the case the women must be bored too. Wouldn't it be best to find some way to entertain all of us?" Rasa grinned at Yen Wang, his green eyes reflecting the firelight eerily while his hair looked the fire had been started on his head instead.

[Yen Wang (Burai)]

"Hmm?" Yen Wang stared at rasa; he gave him an innocent look. "I was merely checking up on you; it isn't safe for my leading officer to go off into the wilderness, without telling his lord. I was worried," He didn't tell him all the reasons to why, but that was one of his biggest concerns.

He stared at the girl, and at the woman. "I should've stayed at the inn.." Yen Wang laid down next to the fire, propping up his head with his hand. "Its not my job to entertain, you are the monkey." He closed his eyes and smirked. Rasa was an odd delight to have around. Yen Wang wondered if that would ever change

[Sun Qing Liang]

Mi thought about getting out of this cave with these people, but she knew that its impossible for anyone to get to the city in this weather. She sighed heavily and thoughts arose in her mind that Liang could die soon. She opened her eyes and stared at the fire crackling. She needed to keep herself awake so that she could find this doctor when the weather settled down. She picked up her scythe and laid it down on her lap. She cringed when the cold steel touched her skin. She shivered for a few seconds then her body got used to the sensation. She swords were laying beside her, crossed like clashing steel.

Beside her she felt the young girl's presence. She held out her fur coat and Mi took it off of her hands with a smile. " Thank you...Ly'rea was it?" She asked. The small child was a quiet one, not like any other kid her age. Mi had a feeling that she had been through something life-altering. One one hand she felt sorry for her since she was so young, but on the other she couldn't bare to feel sorry when one of the people closest to her was dieing. The girl seemed a bit worried about her. She ignored the two men and looked at the girl. "It's just a friend of mine. She's a bit sick and once this storm ceases I'll be on my way to get her medicine." She said without giving any details. Adult matters were not for children to worry about. She noticed something was troubling the girl as well as she said something to herself or something Mi could not see. " You shouldn't worry about others when you have troubles of your own. Focus on your own well-being so you can help others more efficiently. " She advised.

She heard the men chatting among themselves and she heard the young boy mention entertain for the two girls. "Hmm... get mauled by bears and see how that treats us." She said under her breath. She wasn't one to judge, but she knew where that kid's mind was wondering too. Her mind wandered back to the small girl. Out of boredom she wondered what this child had been through. So many things could change a person such as what Liang had been through at such a young age. Bandits killed her parents and left her sister blaming her for their deaths. Somethings in life weren't fair....

[shinsayaken]

Rasa turned away, bored to tears. "Fine, if no one wishes to help entertain, then I'll just play by myself." He had been hoping at least Yen Wang would join him in a light spar for exercise, but as that was not the case he decided to at least entertain his mind if not his body. Carefully he picked up one edge of his weapon and used it to draw a square on the ground. Then he drew lines in the square until there were sixty four smaller squares. He then marked the first two rows and the last two rows with symbols and put his weapon down. "Ly'rea." He let her name hover around the cave. "You know I hate it when you do that. No one is going to force you to do those sorts of things anymore. You don't have to be a courtesan anymore." He then proceeded to mutter a serious of letters and numbers to himself.

Ly'rea paused. "I'm sorr..." but the apology was still the past coming back. She bit it off early, shook her head, and stretched. She smiled brightly. "I hope your friend gets better." She then looked towards the naked man across from her, blushed, and looked away. "Um.. Lord Wang?" Her face got redder as she decidedly looked straight down at her lap. "Is there... I mean must you... I don't mean any offense but..."

Rasa burst out laughing, completely forgetting where the mental pieces of his game went. "I think your nakedness intimidates her! Imagine that, the one who should be used to naked men shies away while the other one doesn't even notice!" He drew one arm across his forehead dramatically. "Oh the shame you must feel. The sight of such a fine specimen of a man causes only discomfort in children and adults seem not to see you. Perhaps you should storm the next city in the buff. No one would be able to look at you long enough to even realize they are being attacked! You'll have to avoid small children though, they might become so discomforted that they'd wet themselves. You wouldn't want a city covered in urine would you?" Rasa then clutched his sides and rolled around laughing at his own joke.

[Yen Wang (Burai)]

Yen Wang yawned out of boredom, his yawn was followed by a violent chill that drifted up and down his spine. “Curse this damned weather.” He moved closer to the flames. He watched rasa play in the dirt; he made boxes. Yen Wang’s eyes scrolled up at Rasa’s face. “What an odd boy…” Suddenly he hear the little girl say his name. She seemed rather embarrassed, Yen Wang looked down at his body and then at her, and then to the other woman.

Suddenly Rasa burst out laughing, he began to toss mild insult at him. The more he went on, the angrier Yen Wang felt, “Tch… Perhaps, or maybe I won’t take a city and just take Ly’rea, since she knows how to appreciates a deity’s body. She'd make a fine wife.” He looked over at rasa and laughed . She is embarrassed seeing you like that, you have a ways to go before you become a man.” Yen Wang rolled over, “Ly’rea since you honor me with your innocence. I shall put on my clothes as they dry."

[Sun Qing Liang]

Mi looked at the young child as she smiled and tried to up her mood, but sadly it didn't work. Every second that passed Liang was getting worse and worse until her body couldn't take the pain anymore. She saw her hand shaking as the mere image of Liang dieing strove to take over her mind. She was ordered to take care of her, and yet she was wasting time in this cave with people she didn't know. She was failing to do her job which didn't help her mood either. " Liang..." She said aloud not caring if anyone had heard or cared about that name.

Mi looked towards the man who mentioned the little girl as a wife. " Being hit on by your elders huh? You poor child..." She whispered to Ly'rea then looked back at the "deity" and remembering Liang describe a man perfectly identical in appearance and ego to this man. "How could she even be nice to you let alone think about you and feel happy...." She said while a glimpse of Liang telling her that appeared in her mind. "If you'd like compliments I'm a good liar." She said before acknowledging the memory.

It was when Liang was first becoming ill and Mi wanted to comfort her some way. Liang went on about the day she met him, but she was surprised when she used the word "love" for the first time in years. Liang was laying down in bed because ShangXiang had told her it might be from lack of sleep, which Liang thought was not affiliated with coughing up blood, but she did what she was told. Liang placed her hand on her heart and knew it wouldn't take much more of this pain. "Kids these days fall in love too easily..." Mi had said to Liang and they laughed together. " Maybe this is something I need to feel before I leave this world Mi. Something real would be nice also..." Liang had said before coughing up more blood. Mi knew she wouldn't last long and that's when she set out to find something to help Liang. She had left Liang to rest.

Mi came back to reality and sighed deeply while tears ran down her face. She knew she could already be too late to save her. Mi took a book out of the coat pocket and opened it to the first page which read "Liang's Hymns and Scriptures". She flipped through the pages and found a poem Liang wrote which was dated back to the day Liang came back from Han Zhong. She studied the poem and knew exactly who it was for...

[shinsayaken]

Rasa stopped laughing when he got a good look at the expression worn by the two women. Something pulled at him, and made it hard to breathe. He didn't know what he could do for either of them but he felt an overwhelming desire to give them space. Strapping on his armor the lad stood up and walked out of the cave murmuring something about patrolling for enemies. His red hair stood out like a beacon for a moment until that too disappeared behind the ever falling curtain of snow.

Unlike Rasa, Ly'rea had some idea of what to do to help the other woman. Carefully she sat down behind the older woman and took out a brush. Starting to hum a soft melody the younger girl lightly grabbed the older's hair.

[Yen Wang (Burai)]

Yen Wang tilted his head back. He watched Rasa as he gathered himself and left the cave. Yen Wang swept his bangs out of his fave and smiled. Maybe Rasa would watch his tongue for now on. Yen Wang found his beautiful something that wasn't meant to be joked about. He took it upon himself to teach Rasa a valuable lesson.

Yen Wang moved back to his original position. He watched Ly'rea take out a brush and moved closer to the woman. Yen Wang closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He tried his best not to throw up. Perhaps this is what Rasa was trying to avoid. He rolled over again and opened his eyes; He stared deeply into the flame. "I miss my bed and silk sheets."