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It’s who you are: Prologue.With the last base slave’s neck snapped, the forest fell quiet. Xie Lian waited, straining his ears for any sounds from Fu Yao or Nan Feng—or, perhaps, an enemy—but there was nothing. The silence permeated the air as thickly as the stench of rotten flesh. Xie Lian sighed but continued to wait.Then, as if answering a summons, a new scent cut through the rot. It would have been a sweet, pleasant scent had it not mixed with the stench of death and evil to create something sticky and nauseating.The curtain to the sedan parted, and a hand appeared. Just as Xie Lian, it waited.Taking a deep breath, he took that hand.-/-/-Nan Feng and Fu Yao. Both smelling of beta but fighting like two alpha.“There,” the girl, Xiao Ying, said, and Xie Lian had to rip his gaze away from the mildly distressing show his disagreeable tagalongs were putting on. “Well, it’s not perfect, but…”Xie Lian reached upwards to feel his hair, his fingers meeting various knots and braids carefully woven into one another to keep his hair pinned to the top of his head. It didn’t feel as intricate as some of the styles he’d seen at weddings, but for a girl who’d never done it before, it was impressive.He smiled and said, “You’ve done very well, thank you.”“Ah… thank you,” she mumbled back, her face brightening despite her bashfulness.Her scent was as soft and indistinct as everyone else’s, not a single alpha or omega to be seen. Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or not.Nan Feng and Fu Yao finally quit their bickering to appraise Xie Lian for a moment. The latter commented, “If I were the ghost groom, I’d toss you back.”“Ah, well.” Xie Lian only smiled and draped the veil over his head. “I’ll be wearing this, at least. Doesn’t it make me at least a bit more tolerable?”“...your scent still isn’t right,” Nan Feng remarked.Fu Yao rolled his eyes. “That’s what the perfume is for, you dolt. Don’t you remember? Or is your head too empty to retain our conversations?”“You-!” Nan Feng looked about ready to burst forward to end Fu Yao’s life on the spot, but the other beta was entirely unperturbed by the murderous glare directed his way. He even inspected his nails, just to piss Nan Feng off.Xie Lian smiled uncomfortably. “Please don’t fight.” Unfortunately, his words carried little to no weight, and the two still fumed at one another. But, at the very least, they hadn’t started brawling. Xie Lian counted that as a win.It was a little comforting, in a way. Some things never change.Still, as he considered Nan Feng’s earlier words, Xie Lian pulled his wrist up to his face, taking in the scent that the fabric of his sleeve wafted. Unfortunately, that ‘junior’ official had a point. It had the sweetness of an omega’s scent, but there was a sharp manufactured bite underlying it that wouldn’t belong to any living person. As a beta, Xie Lian wouldn’t have to use scent blockers at least, but replacements would’ve been more convincing than the perfume.That is, if they actually made scent replacements for beta and alpha to disguise themselves as omega.Xie Lian was sure they must exist somewhere, but in all his eight hundred years, he had yet to happen across any. They were a rarity, much more so than the replacements that made one smell of earth or bark, an alpha’s scent. But the perfume would work from a distance, and once the ghost groom drew close, they’d have already fallen into the trap.Xie Lian stood and brushed himself off. “Well, are we ready for the procession?”-/-/-When the hand that helped him caught Xie Lian after he stumbled, he drew in a sharp breath.The ghost groom, or whatever stranger had deigned to take him on a bloody stroll in the dead of night through a haunted forest, smelled of maple and rain. It was cloyingly sweet and impossible to mistake.An omega.Well, that was a bit of a surprise.
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It’s who you are: Sweeping under the rug.Xie Lian had never known his own scent.This was to be expected, at least to some extent. He’d been on scent blockers for most of his life, and then once he’d come of age, scent replacements had been added to that. He’d remembered hating the bitter taste of the medicine stinging his tongue, but for the first time in his life, his mother hadn’t relented and given him something sweeter. She insisted he eat it, every day, whether he liked it or not. His father was even more insistent.That had been after his first and only heat. He didn’t remember enough of it to really comment on it, either.As an alpha, he smelled of bark, but compared to the natural scents of his father and Qi Rong, it was sorely lacking. It was indistinct, completely void of any layers or uniqueness to set it apart from every other alpha in existence. He always wondered if his natural scent as an omega would feel just as foreign, just as unsuited to him, or if it would smell of home the same way his mother’s scent did.He thought of abandoning the blockers and replacements, of striding out into the world as he was meant to be, of fighting harder against his father’s wishes. He thought of being able to like his own scent, to even know what it was. But his father’s words still rang in his ears, stilling those desires.
“Allow no one to know what you are, and I’ll allow you to study cultivation.”
That was the promise Xie Lian had agreed to, once he’d grown old enough to resent having to pretend and bold enough to voice his complaints.Everyone said omega were weak, that they were delicate, that they weren’t suited for the rigors of studying the scroll or sword. And yet, Xie Lian outshone all of his peers. There was nothing Xie Lian couldn’t do if he put his mind to it, and he was sure that, once he took his father’s crown, he’d make twice the king his father, an alpha, was.The very fact that Xie Lian was an omega proved that, in his eyes, they were no less capable than alpha or beta.Thus, he always thought his parents’ rules and concerns over it silly. If they dropped the farce, then the people of Xian Le would realize the error of their ways soon enough. Things would change. Xie Lian could changes things, he knew it. He was loved by his people, by the gods, by fate itself.Nothing was impossible for him.-/-/-Xie Lian entered the newly finished Pavilion of Xian Le, pausing when he heard shuffling from the next room over, which happened to be his bedroom.That was odd. As far as he knew, only he and select servants should be allowed in his pavilion. Feng Xin wouldn’t be arriving for about another week, so… who was it?Xie Lian’s hand found its way to the hilt of his sword, one of countless priceless artifacts he owned. He crept towards the door, then, threw it open.The sound of scraping metal as his sword left its sheath, coupled with the door being ripped open, was enough to startle anyone, let alone a poor servant just doing their job. Xie Lian felt a little bad as soon as he saw the servant and realized. The uniform of the Royal Holy Pavilion’s servants was distinct, and he should’ve known to check before resorting to aggression.Of course, his feelings shifted when he noticed that the man had one arm thrust behind his back, as if to hide something.Still, Xie Lian replaced the sword in its sheath, but he didn’t set the sword down, instead keeping it at his hip. “What’s your name? You look familiar.”“...my name is Mu Qing,” he answered, after a moment. “And we’ve never met… your highness.”Xie Lian stared at the man before him. His features were soft and fair, his hair tidy, and his clothes were well kept, if not a little worn. He was the perfect image of a pretty boy, and Xie Lian couldn’t help but think he’d had the same thought before.“Ah!” Xie Lian exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “I know, you were in the library earlier when the Head Priest was showing me around! But you ran off before I could properly greet you.”Mu Qing’s face turned red. “I was not!” Then, realizing he’d just raised his voice, he slapped a hand over his mouth and bowed his head. He mumbled, “My apologies, your highness.”The sudden demureness threw Xie Lian for a moment. Mu Qing was a servant; however, he clearly had a strong sense of pride, and he held himself high as he spoke to Xie Lian, the Crown Prince himself. He liked it. No, in fact, he was ecstatic. Servants, the common people, royalty, even the gods themselves—there was no real need for one to prostrate to the other. But now, with Mu Qing deflating and forcing on an air of submission, Xie Lian felt his excitement ebb away.For the first time since entering the room, Xie Lian inhaled deeply, and he made sure to keep his face neutral as his suspicions were confirmed. The air was sweet, like ripening pears. This servant was an omega.It was always because of that, wasn’t it? Why did it matter? Why must an omega bow him more so than anyone else?Still, Xie Lian smiled, and despite his discomfort, he continued, “What’s wrong? The library is great. You weren’t there to clean, were you?”It was a guess, a stab in the dark, but Mu Qing’s twisting expression only confirmed it. He didn’t reply, instead stooping lower.Servants weren’t supposed to touch the scrolls and manuscripts from the library. Those were for students, and the students were all nobles of the highest pedigree, in some form or fashion. Even if one were to ignore that, no one with the status of an omega was allowed to study, either. Mu Qing had two coincidences of birth working against him, and yet…“You can read, too?” Xie Lian pressed. “I’m impressed, even more so because you’ve managed to not get caught until now. I’m sure, knowing some of the priests here, they would’ve long kicked you out if they knew.”Even with Xie Lian’s ribbing, Mu Qing didn’t budge. His expression remained stony, his head still bowed.Sighing, Xie Lian switched gears and asked, “What is it that you’ve been hiding behind your back this whole time?”The color drained from Mu Qing’s face. “Nothing.”“Come on, now,” Xie Lian said, “I saw you hide it. I’m not mad. Just let me see what it is.”Looking as though he was resigning himself to death, Mu Qing steeled himself and brought his arm, the one he’d tucked behind himself, forward. In its hand was clasped a small jar, and Xie Lian knew without further inspection it was the replacements.“You’re not an alpha,” Mu Qing noted, the calm in his voice undoubtedly forced.This wasn’t good. At the very least, it wasn’t the blockers Mu Qing had stumbled across, which would have confirmed that Xie Lian was, indeed, an omega. With just the replacements discovered, there was still a possibility that he was a beta. His deal with his father hadn’t been broken so long as no one found out he was an omega. At least, in the word of the agreement if not the spirit.It wasn’t in Xie Lian’s nature to lie, which was part of the reason he hated hiding. No matter which way he turned, the only path that wasn’t paved with lies was the one where he told everyone what—who he was.Still, his concern with the situation was only with reducing the number of half-truths he’d need to tell to appease everyone involved. He couldn’t fully lie to his father as much as he couldn’t fully lie to this servant, so he simply smiled and said, “All royalty are alpha. This is common knowledge.”“That’s not necessarily the case,” Mu Qing said lowly. “Anyone can be born as an omega or a beta, regardless of who their ancestors are.”“No, they say that the gods control the status of one’s birth. If one is born a commoner, it is because of the deeds of his past life. The same is true of royalty; the greater the deeds, the greater the standing, and it’s said that the same applies to whether one is an alpha, a beta, or an omega,” Xie Lian recited, the words having been drilled into his memory since a young age. They were bitter on his tongue but integral to the point he was trying to make without truly saying anything. “If one of the royal family were to not be born as an alpha, then most would consider that to be a terrible omen.”Mu Qing’s face twisted, clearly wanting to argue, and Xie Lian silently applauded that. He must have seen something in Xie Lian’s face, however, because after a moment, he only sighed and bowed, holding out the replacements. “I understand what your highness is saying. Thank you for educating this servant.”“You don’t need to thank me for a lesson like this,” Xie Lian said honestly. He deftly took the replacements back, resolving to hide them somewhere less noticeable. Knowing himself, he’d probably left them out in the open in his rush to see the rest of the Royal Holy Pavilion.But something slightly more interesting had caught his attention. The way Mu Qing held himself… though it was shrouded in meekness, there was something lurking underneath, almost like…Tucking the replacements out of sight, Xie Lian asked, “Are you skilled in martial arts?”“This lowly servant couldn’t hope to know such a thing.” As he spoke, Mu Qing straightened, but only slightly.Almost faster than the eye could see, Xie Lian struck, an open-handed strike aimed directly at Mu Qing’s torso. He didn’t put any spiritual power behind it, so if it landed, it wouldn’t do much damage. But as Xie Lian expected, it never did.In one fluid motion, Mu Qing side-stepped on impulse and smacked Xie Lian’s arm with his own palm to redirect the blow away from himself. He acted without thinking, but the execution was still nearly flawless. It was clear that those instincts had been honed to some degree, and Xie Lian could practically see the raw talent and potential in that one thoughtless movement. After all, it wasn’t easy to defend against any of Xie Lian’s strikes, let alone one a person wasn’t expecting.He pulled back, holding up his hands to show he meant no further harm. His eyes shone in direct contrast to Mu Qing’s own cloudy expression. “You can fight! And that was really good, too! You use a sword, correct? From your speed and reach, that’s what you’re most suited for. Please tell me you learned?”“I… ah…” Mu Qing stammered, at a loss for words. “What the fuck.”“I apologize for striking out at you so unexpectedly,” Xie Lian said, “but you should really be proud. Your skills are nothing to scoff at. You actually defended against my attack!”“I struck you,” Mu Qing noted, looking rather dumbfounded. “I struck royalty. You’re not mad?”Xie Lian shook his head. “I attacked first, so by all accounts, I was the aggressor. If anyone were to be at fault, it would be me. Are you mad?”“More confused than mad,” Mu Qing stated dryly. “What’s your reason for antagonizing me? Do you want me kicked out?”“No, not at all. In fact, I think you have talent, and I think I can guess why you’re here. If you’re a servant at the pavilion, you can sneak into the library and study. If you’re sweeping, no one’s going to question if you watch the students train. And if you stay up late to repeat those exercises… well, who would know? You want to study cultivation,” Xie Lian concluded, satisfied with his own reasoning.Mu Qing shook his head, annoyance slowly settling across his features. “Right. So, suppose this was true, what are you going to do about it? I’m not hurting anyone by studying. It might be a bad idea for you to expose me, too, if what you’re saying were to even be the case.“How so?” Xie Lian asked, raising an eyebrow.“Just as you might know something about me,” Mu Qing said, “I might know something about you. If you were to expose these speculations of yours, then what would stop me from telling everyone about the replacements I found?”It was an empty threat, and they both knew it. If I truly came down to a battle of who was more believable, no one would take the word of a servant over the crown prince’s, let alone the fact that one of them was thought to be an alpha. Mu Qing’s claim would sound like the desperate ravings of someone trying to drag another down with them.But, if that were to come about, it still wouldn’t be ideal. However uncredible the claim, however stark the falsehood, it would still plant a seed in people’s minds. And if that seed turned out to bear fruit by actually being true, well, then…...but …would everyone finding out really be all that bad?“You have a good argument,” Xie Lian conceded. “Good enough that any sensible person would definitely keep their mouth shut.”Mu Qing tried not to look relieved, but with the way his entire form subtly uncoiled and relaxed, it was plain to see. He adjusted his uniform, as if trying to preen some, though it seemed to be more of a nervous gesture than anything. “Well, I’m glad that, as two sensible people, we could come to an agreement.”“Of course,” Xie Lian said, smiling. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to change…”“I…” Mu Qing blinked, then, remembering his own station, bowed deeply. “Please excuse this lowly servant for his impertiance at taking up his highness’s time, your royal highness the crown prince.”A bit excessive there with the titles, Xie Lian thought, smiling uncomfortably. “You’re excused.”“Thank you, your highness.”With that, Mu Qing straighten, turned on his heel, and promptly left the room. He kept his gait forcefully slow, but as soon as he thought he was out of Xie Lian’s line of sight, he bolted in a rather unrefined manner.Xie Lian could already tell Mu Qing valued appearances; for him to run that like, Xie Lian must have truly given him the fright of a lifetime.“Sorry, Mu Qing,” Xie Lian said, his voice echoing in the empty room. “But I think I’m probably going to be giving you at least one more fright… I’m hardly a sensible person, after all.”-/-/-Mu Qing entered the room looking as though he’d caught death.Xie Lian supposed that wasn’t an unreasonable reaction. When they had last encountered one another, Mu Qing hadn’t shown his magnonomy an ounce of faith. He’d also done a number of things that were, traditionally speaking, inexcusable for both a servant and for an omega. In all likelihood, when he’d received an abrupt summons, he probably thought he was arriving to be dismissed from service. Or worse.Still, he had the threat of exposing Xie Lian’s non-alpha status steadying his hands and steeling his expression. A part of Xie Lian was a little bit glad.He smiled. “Hello, Mu Qing. How are you?”“I am fine,” Mu Qing managed. “This lowly servant thanks his highness for his consideration.” His speech had slipped into that formal pattern, but with the Head Priest standing directly to Xie Lian’s right, perhaps that was for the best.“His highness tells me that you have an interest in doing more than just sweeping at this Royal Holy Pavilion,” the Head Priest said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. His tone was sharp and displeased, but Xie Lian wouldn’t have summoned Mu Qing if he knew this venture would end in failure. Past the hard gaze was the softer, wearier look he shot Xie Lian, and from this alone, he knew he’d already won. It was the same way his father used to look at him when he was younger, when that hard king finally softened and gave in to the whiny, unreasonable demands of his son purely because of paternal affection.But Mu Qing didn’t know this. Another set of eyes trained itself on Xie Lian, this pair stinging with betrayal and anger.Truthfully, Xie Lian felt a little bad about breaking their unspoken agreement—a secret for a secret—but this was for an outcome he knew Mu Qing desperately wanted. His skill warranted it, too.“Don’t worry,” Xie Lian assured, “you’re not in trouble. In fact, the Head Priest has already agreed to let you study here.”“For a trial period,” the Head Priest amended. “It is quite… unorthodox, but his highness insists that your skill far outshines any of my current students, aside from his highness himself. If this turns out to be the case, his highness believes that you should be permitted to study.”“I… you’re going… to let me?” Mu Qing echoed, his jaw going slack as he spoke.“Yes,” Xie Lian answered jovially.And, at the same time, the Head Priest said, “Tentatively.”The two of them exchanged glances, one full of victory and the other defeat, before they focused by on Mu Qing, who seemed… somewhat nonfunctional at the moment.The Head Priest raised an eyebrow, as if to ask if Mu Qing had already forgotten his manners, and with just that one tiny gesture from a man who radiated the scent of aged bark, Mu Qing’s postured snapped straight as his expression schooled itself back to its normal impassiveness.Xie Lian smiled and stode forward, the Head Priest following on his heels without a word. Mu Qing looked confused, but with a gesture from Xie Lian, he could only follow them, equally quiet. He remained so until they arrived at one of the many courtyards used for training.Feng Xin, smelling strongly of pine as they drew near, straightened up at the sight of the Head Priest and the stranger. His brow pinched, no doubt wondering why someone in a servant’s uniform was in tow with two of the more notable people in the Royal Holy Pavilion, and his face contorted even more with the faint scent of pears that hung in the air. Mu Qing had a similar reaction to Feng Xin’s pine.Still, he nodded towards them and greeted, “Your highness. Head Priest. I hope the both of you have been well.”“Thanks, I’m glad to see you made it here alright,” Xie Lian said. He thought Feng Xin might be in somewhat of a bad mood, after having to hang back for a week to guard Qi Rong (his little cousin’s last bodyguard deserted his service, which no one really blamed him for). Then, for no apparent reason, Xie Lian didn’t greet Feng Xin in person upon his arrival, instead sending a servant to instruct him to wait in a random courtyard. And what was about to come next… well, Feng Xin probably wouldn’t like it, either.As his best friend, Xie Lian would definitely have to find a way to make it up to him later.“Of course,” Feng Xin replied. “The journey was no trouble at all, but…”“You’re wondering why I brought you out here?” Xie Lian guessed, grinning when Feng Xin nodded. “Feng Xin, meet Mu Qing.”Feng Xin raised an eyebrow, and Mu Qing stared back, equally unimpressed.“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mu Qing,” Feng Xin said, rather diplomatically.“...likewise,” Mu Qing responded, and Feng Xin’s brow twitched at the flat tone.Xie Lian smiled. “I’d like for the both of you to duel.”“What?!” they both exclaimed, mirrored looks of shock painting their features.“Exactly as I said.” Xie Lian nodded towards the Head Priest, who only sighed. “This is to prove a point, so if the both of you don’t mind, please duel one another fairly. I won’t force either of you, though. You’re free to refuse.”“...I obey the commands of my crown prince,” Feng Xin said, as Xie Lian expected him to. Even if he was confused, even if he had no idea what Xie Lian was attempting to do, even if it wasn’t actually an order, Feng Xin’s loyalty and trust in Xie Lian would always trump everything else. Xie Lian couldn’t think of a single instance in his life where Feng Xin had let him down.Meanwhile, Xie Lian could practically see the cogs in Mu Qing’s mind turn as his brows knit together. Surely, he could see this for what it was. A test. One that would help convince the somewhat reluctant Head Priest of his worthiness for the sword. If he could win against a trained alpha like Feng Xin, then no one could deny that he deserved the privilege of studying.Slowly, Mu Qing said, “This lowly servant also obeys the commands of his highness.”With that, Xie Lian smiled and crossed the courtyard to select two swords of equal length from the stack of training weapons. They were community weapons, free for any student to borrow, and chipped from overuse and neglect. Neither of them could hope to compare to the priceless sword Xie Lian had strapped to his waist, but they would do for a friendly duel.Knowing Feng Xin’s skill enough to be sure he would catch it, Xie Lian tossed Feng Xin his sword, while he plainly offered Mu Qing his. The omega took it with a grim look.Feng Xin’s face seemed equally dismayed at the sword in his grip. Xie Lian knew better than anyone that Feng Xin’s strength lied with the bow, but he also knew that Feng Xin had been properly trained on the sword. Still, his friend didn’t question him and unsheathed the shabby training blade without a complaint. He shifted into a ready stance, blade held at attention behind his back.Mu Qing followed suit, but his movements were obviously more unsure and awkward. He seemed to be copying Feng Xin’s stance, which wasn’t surprising considering Xie Lian suspected he’d never been formally trained in the sword and had never sparred before. The nuances of a duel and stances would commonly be lost when not formally taught.Xie Lian moved to stand between them, and the Head Priest stepped back, a clear indication that Xie Lian would be officiating this duel. He raised a hand, and both parties tensed.When his hand fell, they sprang.Xie Lian watched with rapt interest as they collided, entirely opposite in styles and training, but oh so matched for one another. Feng Xin’s style reflected his personality, straightforward and honest. It favored an aggressive onslaught of attacks to drive his opponent back and keep them from countering, until they wore enough for their guard to slip and aquisit victory to Feng Xin. He rarely outright dodged, either, instead preferring to block or parry.Unfortunately, this rather honest style of Feng Xin’s had a glaring weakness, which is largely why he was more suited to the bow. There was certainly an advantage to aggression in battle, but if it was not tempered and controlled, it would often lead to unintentional openings on the part of the aggressor. When one attacked, they gave up the chance to counterattack, which is where one is more likely to catch their opponent off-guard and land a hit. With a bow, this wasn’t really a concern, as such an exchange of blows was entirely unnecessary with a long-ranged weapon.Mu Qing seemed to quickly realize this. He had trouble answering Feng Xin’s blows initially, but what he lacked in training, he made up for in raw talent and speed. He was able to dodge or side-step many of Feng Xin’s attacks, almost dancing in circles around the alpha, and it obviously threw the alpha to have to change directions so often, disrupting the rhythm of his attacks.He also relied heavily on feints, raining a series of quick, shallow thrusts not meant to reach. Feng Xin saw through them sometimes, and other times not, leading to many incidents where a quick and unexpected redirection of Mu Qing’s blade would almost graze Feng Xin and nearly end the match.But for as many times as Mu Qing almost landed a hit, Feng Xin matched him with powerful slashes that Mu Qing could just barely dodge. Even if the omega had spotted the glaring flaw in Feng Xin’s swordsmanship, his own unrefined and inexperienced swordplay was unable to fully exploit it, and Feng Xin’s training saved him from defeat time and time again.Mu Qing’s swordsmanship also had a glaring flaw that he’d yet to discover as well, Xie Lian noticed. He was panting heavily, having difficulty keeping up with the demand of answering Feng Xin’s aggressive onslaught, which was meant to tire out his opponent. Mu Qing only worsened his situation by dodging instead of blocking, and by throwing out too many useless and pointless feints, all movements of which required a lot of stamina that Mu Qing had yet to build. His movements grew sloppier as his breath grew more ragged.Meanwhile, Feng Xin had barely broken a sweat.It was only a matter of time. The blade was knocked from Mu Qing’s hand in one decisive swing, and the omega stared dully at the tip of the training blade now trained on his chest.The sound of Xie Lian clapping broke the tension. He smiled as he announced, “The victory is Feng Xin’s.”“You knew this would happen,” Mu Qing said, the barest hint of anger starting to creep into his voice. And there it was, again. Pride. Even if it was anger directed his way, Xie Lian was happy to see it return to the omega’s words.“Of course.” Xie Lian’s tone softened as he continued, “Feng Xin may be better with a bow, but he was still trained in swordsmanship. You’ve only practiced on your own, and you don’t have nearly as much experience in real battles. That Feng Xin would win… Well, it was inevitable, unless his luck turned out to be particularly bad today.”Mu Qing’s face twisted at Xie Lian’s words, and he almost looked ready to lash out. Feng Xin’s grip on his sword tightened.Realizing that the situation was turning sour quickly, Xie Lian hastily added, “But don’t look so glum! You did very well. For you to hold your own against Feng Xin with little training and experience, even if the sword isn’t his forte, is truly a remarkable feat. Were you both to duel on equal footing, then I believe the two of you would be evenly matched.”That only seemed to annoy the both of them further, but at least, Mu Qing’s anger seemed to have simmered away to mere irritation at being compared to Feng Xin. They exchanged glares with one another, neither pleased.Ah, well… that wasn’t ideal. Xie Lian hadn’t been thinking about that. They seemed to dislike each other upon first introduction, but Xie Lian thought it had been due to the circumstances of Mu Qing’s anxiety and Feng Xin having a bad week in general. He truly believed that an exchange of blows would bring respect and understanding between the two.Instead, it seemed that pitting them physically against one another and equating their potential might have only heightened the divide between the two. Xie Lian could only hope that this was a temporary state of affairs, as he did intend to bring Mu Qing into his service in the same capacity as Feng Xin, no matter what people would say about it. The two would be seeing a lot more of each other, so it’d be better if they got along.Xie Lian sighed and turned back to the Head Priest. “You’re satisfied, correct? This proves what I’ve told you about Mu Qing.”“Yes,” the Head Priest acquitted, stepping forward to join the small group. “With that display, anyone with a half decent eye would be unable to doubt Mu Qing’s skill. There will be… extra rules, but with high highness backing him, he will be allowed to study.”“Is that what this was about?” Feng Xin wondered, and Xie Lian gave him a quick nod and a smile, a quiet signal that he would catch him up later.“But I lost,” Mu Qing commented.Xie Lian shook his head. “Whether you won wasn’t important. The Head Priest needed to see your skill, just as I saw it back in my bedroom.”Feng Xin and the Head Priest both paled at that, and Mu Qing put his head in his hands. “Please, your highness, think about the implications behind your words before you speak.”“Your highness,” the Head Priest managed, “this cultivation path… it requires celibacy, you’re aware? To have an omega in your bedchambers is—”Face turning scarlet, Xie Lian interrupted him and quickly said, “Nothing happened!” Then, his sword sprung from its scabbard and danced in the air for a moment before returning to Xie Lian’s hip. “See? My cultivation is perfectly intact. Nothing happened between the two of use other than an exchange of words and my testing of his skills in combat.”Everyone looked somewhere between relieved and embarrassed. Surprisingly, the Head Priest was first to recover as he said, “Of course, Mu Qing, you will not be permitted in the general dormitory with the other students. Traditionally, beta and alpha are separated, as are men and women, but we have no dormitory for omega. We’ll have to…” The Head Priest trialed off, realizing that this particular point of accommodation hadn’t been given much thought.“If the Head Priest does not mind,” Mu Qing said, slipping back into a more formal tone, “then this… lowly, new student of his can sleep in the servants’ quarters still.” While they weren’t any omega students before Mu Qing, there were some omega servants, even if they were less common, so there were sleeping quarters already. Of course, it was much shabbier than what a student would receive, but Mu Qing likely didn’t care. He just seemed happy to be allowed to study at all.The Head Priest nodded, pleased with Mu Qing’s answer, even while Xie Lian frowned. “Very well, this Head Priest finds that proposal acceptable.”“It should be temporary,” Xie Lian said decisively, throwing an arm around Mu Qing. He tensed, as though unused to being touched, but the contact was purely innocent and friendly in nature. After a few moments, Mu Qing relaxed and trained his gaze on the ground at his feet. “If the Royal Holy Pavilion can build me an entire Pavilion of my own, then surely it can build one for omega students.”“Sure,” Mu Qing sighed, unconvinced. That there would be more omega students beyond him was a hard future to picture, and as it stood, it was already a small miracle that he himself had been permitted to study at all.Realizing this, Xie Lian frowned as he removed his arm from the omega’s shoulders. He wanted to speak, wanted to share his ideas on what kind of future he would paint, but the way Mu Qing shuffled and kept his gaze cast downwards, meek in spite of his pride and the joy the occasion should be bringing him, stilled Xie Lian’s tongue.He didn’t know why. If anything, this should have spurred him onwards. He’d broken the rules, and the outcome had still been favorable. But still…For the first time, a lump stuck itself in Xie Lian’s throat, and it stubbornly remained even as he and Feng Xin bid the Head Priest and Mu Qing farewell to go catch up with one another. For the first time, when they passed a sweet smelling servant in the hall, Xie Lian immediately noticed her floral scent as she bowed. Then, as she scurried away with terror in eyes, the sweetness turned sour.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s who you are: Homely maple and rain.Xie Lian climbed into the cart and sat back into the hay, content to relax as the old man and his ox brought him to wherever the winds willed. Something—a scent, to be exact—made him pause.He expected to smell hay, to smell the faint sandalwood of the scart driver, but he wasn’t expecting something sweet to hang in the air, as well. It smelled almost like rainfall and maple syrup, though not quite. It was difficult to place but familiar. Xie Lian could only think of one similar smell, one that brought to mind butterflies and pale, cold hand held in his own.Now that he was paying attention, he could also hear the faint, rhythmic sound of someone’s breath coming from the other side of the cart, the view of that person obstructed by the hay and Xie Lian’s own position.He peered around the side of the bale to spot the other hitchhiker, a young teenager clad almost entirely in red. Xie Lian took in his appearance, comparing every detail to that of the ‘ghost groom’ he’d met before. The boy wasn’t as elaborately dressed, with no adornments of silver to be seen anywhere on his person and clothing made out of a fairly common and sturdy fabric. He seemed younger, too, his jawline less defined and a shorter stature that would bring him closer to Xie Lian’s own height. His hair was even pulled sloppily to one side, messy and uncaring. He already fit the picture of a ruthless Devastation.Sighing, Xie Lian fell back into his claimed spot. He would let it be, for now. No use in worrying about things when there was no definite proof of a threat.Instead of paying the boy any more mind, he pulled out the scroll Ling Wen had given him to study, noting how the faint aroma of moss still clung to it. It only took a few minutes of muttering to himself before that teenager, no longer napping, suddenly jumped in with his own remarks on the scroll’s content.He was smart, that was for sure. He knew more about the three realm’s politics than Xie Lian could ever hope to keep up with, and his words were far plainer and cruder than what was written on the scroll. Eventually, while listening to him speak, Xie Lian set it aside entirely. It was nice, talking with him.His name was San Lang.Still, however pleasant the mood, sweetness still hung in the air and created a nagging unease in the back of Xie Lian’s mind. Finally, it grew impossible to ignore, and Xie Lian tred into tenuous, bordering on impolite territory to ask, “Where are your parents? Siblings? Isn’t it a bit…”
...dangerous for a young omega to be traveling alone?
Wondering how patronizing he must sound right now, Xie Lian didn’t finish the statement, but even without actually voicing it, his meaning was clear. Silence hung between them. For a moment, Xie Lian worried he’d offended the young man. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when San Lang burst into a bought of laughter.“I ran away from home,” he said decidedly, “but I can take care of myself just fine, omega and all.”Xie Lian smiled. “I’m sure.”Xie Lian hated lying. Half-truths, however, were something he’d grown far too accustomed to.From San Lang’s clothes and self-assured manner, he was likely the son of some noble family, if one were to fully believe what lay on the surface. Omega, especially ones of noble blood, were often kept barred from society, so various stories about particularly audacious ones running away to taste freedom had always been popular. They very rarely ended well, though, and were meant to serve as cautionary tales. Xie Lian much prefered the few that concluded pleasantly.“Ge ge doesn’t mind an omega tagging along for a bit, do you?”Making sure nothing happened to San Lang was his chief motivation behind accepting.But…The idea of not being alone was nice. Company, however temporary it may prove to become, was a welcome reprieve from the centuries of solitude that Xie Lian had come to know so well.Xie Lian smiled, and this time, he felt the smile reach beyond his expression. “Of course not, San Lang. You can tag along for however long you feel like.”-/-/-“Who is that?!”It was strange; Nan Feng and Fu Yao seemed to disagree on everything, often doing it just to spite one another, but when they saw (or smelled, who knew) the red clad teenager who’d been making himself at home in Xie Lian’s tiny Puji shrine, the two minor gods were perfectly in sync with one another. They both jumped back, two sets of hands going to their respective weapons.“This is San Lang,” Xie Lian announced, innocently, as if he couldn’t guess what they might be thinking.There were two possibilities, really. The first was that Xie Lian’s guest was honestly just a perfectly ordinary human teenager, who also happened to be an omega, with absolutely no ties to the supernatural. In that case, the fact that Xie Lian was sharing such a cramped space with an unmarked, underaged omega entirely unrelated to him by blood could prove quite the scandal.Although, heaven should’ve been aware that when it came to matters of physical pleasure, Xie Lian was still as water and entirely unmoveable, he supposed that wouldn’t stop rumors. If Nan Feng and Fu Yao decided to gossip, that is, which Xie Lian didn’t think very likely. Still, it wasn’t as though heaven held a very high opinion of him. He doubted many of them believed he was still a virgin after eight centuries of wandering the mortal realm. In their eyes, a scandalous affair with a human omega was just one more low he could sink to.But, that aside, Nang Feng and Fu Yao were more likely to be concerned with the second option, if their reactions of caution instead of disgust were anything to go by. They believed that something had disguised itself as a young, “helpless” omega to draw close to Xie Lian without drawing suspicion.Well, if that was the angle San Lang was playing, his damsel in distress act needed work. He was far too independent and free spirited to really create the classical image of an omega. He’d never once paid any of the villagers who smelled of bark any mind, even going so far as to completely ignore them when they asked for things until they lost interest. There were several occasions where Xie Lian worried he’d have to step in, and even as a beta, getting most alpha to listen to him always proved difficult. But something always made them lose interest before that happened.It always made Xie Lian feel a bit silly for wanting to step in. San Lang seemed to be able to fight his own battles just fine without him.But really, more than just refusing to put on a demure, submissive act, San Lang hadn’t once tried to garner sympathy from Xie Lian because of his status. He treated it as though it were nothing, just a fact about himself as inconsequential as the color of his eyes or the style of his boots. He didn’t seem to see it as something that dictated his standing in society. Or, rather, it seemed as though he didn’t give a flying fuck about society in general.Xie Lian rather liked that about him....He also may have enjoyed, far more than he should have, watching San Lang subtly retaliate to every probe Nang Feng and Fu Yao sent his way. His barely concealed taunts only seemed to egg the two minor gods on. No matter how frustrated they became, however, neither commented on San Lang’s status as an omega. Xie Lian waited for it to come, for it to shatter the merriment watching the three had garnered in him, for someone to grow angry enough to forget propriety and voice the insults they must be thinking, but it never came. Not even after the events of the pit.Perhaps… time did change some things for the better.-/-/-“Alright, then. So what would you like to eat, Hua Cheng?”Silence. Then soft, bemused laughter.“I still prefer ‘San Lang.’”Well, Xie Lian had had his suspicions form the beginning, but the events within the former country of Ban Yue only confirmed them.He spent several minutes poking the demon king, so to speak, by asking probing questions that had been on his mind since he’d first met the man in those bloody woods. Hua Cheng answered, for the most part, or he dodged the inquiries entirely with questions of his own. He still bore the appearance of a teenger clad in red, but after being discovered, Xie Lian noticed his scent subtly shift to match what he remembered from their first encounter.This wasn’t terribly surprising. Just as gods could shift sex and status on a whim with only a spell and some spiritual power, ghosts could perfectly create any physical form they desired. Of course they would be able to determine that form’s status, let alone the simple matter of its scent.They settled in for the night, back pressed to back on the single mat, just as they had every night before. They lay in silence, but every time Xie Lian closed his eyes, Hua Cheng’s sweet scent became all the more noticable. Had it grown stronger? It brought so many more questions to his mind, so many novelties to explore that Xie Lian had no idea which to ask first.“The stories about you never mention that you chose an omega’s body,” Xie Lian said, before he could think better of voicing what was probably an offensive observation. Shocked with himself, he quickly added, “I’m sorry, that was rude to say. Please ignore it.”Hua Cheng snickered, airy but rich in timber. “I don’t mind. Ge ge can ask me anything. Do you want an answer still?”“...if you don’t mind answering, I am a bit curious about it.”“First,” Hua Cheng started, “I didn’t choose. I just chose not to change after I died and it was possible to change. I was always an omega in life, and I didn’t see a reason to be any different in death. Others can think whatever they want; they don’t have anything to do with me. No matter what, they can’t touch me.”Right, Hua Cheng was overwhelmingly powerful. Saying that no one could possibly touch him wasn’t an empty promise. He was someone heaven and hell alike feared, and they would hardly be able to lecture him about what society might expect of him. He was a force of chaos, unique to himself, obeying no rules but his own. No matter what he smelled of, he was Devastation, and he was not easily trampled.“Second,” he continued, “it’s not in the stories because the gods are bitter they lost to an omega. They don’t actually consider me one. They think I just took that form just to embarrass them more. So while the stories exist, the gods decided to leave out my status.”Xie Lian hummed. That made sense. It wasn’t as though the humans who bore witness to the duels through dreams would have been able to tell and spread the information of Hua Cheng’s status, either; senses such as touch, taste, and smell were all sealed within dreams. Unless someone voiced it, they would have no way of knowing.“Ah… Yes, I can see heaven being like that,” Xie Lian admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “You fly in the face of tradition. I’m sure heaven’s never been fond of you for that.”He heard a snort. Then, the shuffling of fabric. It might be his imagination, but he thought Hua Cheng pressed closer to Xie Lian’s back. “I’ve never been fond of them, either… but if I don’t care about tradition, it’s because someone once told me to be proud of who I was. I want to honor that person, as much as possible.”“I’m sure you’ve made that person very proud, then,” Xie Lian said warmly. He meant every word.“I hope so.”They didn’t speak much after that, and Xie Lian found himself listening to the quiet sounds that accompanied the rise and fall of San Lang’s chest. It was to that soft rhythm that he drifted off.That night, he dreamed.For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t of blood soaked white cloth, nor was it of a silk noose. Not even the horrid picture of writhing, unnatural human faces made an appearance. Instead, he dreamed of red, of chaos, of silver butterflies. He dreamed of, tentatively, something he might call home only in the honest, hopeful subconscious of his dreams.He was disappointed when, the next day, he woke up cold and alone. The small mat was always warm with two people crammed on top of it, and Xie Lian had grown embarrassingly fond of waking up to the warmth of another person.Xie Lian readied himself for the day, trying not to let how barren and silent the shrine felt bother him too much. It was odd. The space was tiny, but for some reason, it felt too large for just him. Shaking his head, he bound his hair and pulled on his outer robes.Just as he was about done, bending forward to fix his boots, something cold slipped out from his neck and knocked into his hand. It startled Xie Lian, and on impulse, he tried to catch whatever object he might’ve dropped. But no, he quickly realized that nothing had fallen. The object in question was hanging from his neck.A ring on a necklace, Xie Lian thought as he pulled it off and held it delicately in his hands. A parting gift?Or perhaps a promise.
“Next time we meet, I’ll show you my true face.”
Next time. There would be a next time.Xie Lian smiled and clasped the ring tightly as, thinking of no better place to keep it, he placed the chain back around his neck.“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s who you are: Heart burned Red.He was tired.He hadn’t been alive for long, but as was the tendency of all children, he felt he knew enough about the world. He knew it was cold, cruel. He knew it didn’t forgive easily, didn’t show mercy often. He knew it hated him, and that was fine. He hated it, too.But most of all, he hated his blood red eye, swollen and blackened and useless in his socket, that caused himself and others so much pain. He hated the feel of hands, the feel of fists, both equally painful and scalding in their own ways. He hated his parents, both for bringing him into this world and for abandoning him to it.He wanted revenge against the very world itself. Anything, however small or large, would do. If he could make the world feel even a fraction of the pain that he felt, that was enough.So when he heard about a parade that would determine the country’s fortune, a dark and twisted idea planted itself in his head.With those thoughts and that anger bottled inside that tiny body, a child barely ten years of age threw himself from a watchtower.But he didn’t die.A flash of white, a brilliant mask knocked to one side, and he was caught—saved—by a figure that could only be described as unearthly. Clad in pure white, it was that dancing crown prince who played the role of the heavenly official descending to fight evil. His golden mask was gone, replaced by a far brighter smile.Smiling at him.For the child, it was a first. Both having been saved, and having someone look warmly his way.The crown prince continued the performance, fighting the demon all while the child was tucked safely in his arms. The prince spoke softly, his voice so unlike all the other adults the child was familiar with. He said things like, “Don’t be scared,” and, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”The prince’s touch was careful, gentle. It didn’t burn him, so despite the fact that he was in the middle of the very parade he had wanted to ruin, he relaxed, trusting that crown prince. He smelled nice. Sort of like an alpha, but… softer, almost, more comforting, but that had to be the child’s imagination. Royalty were alpha. That was common knowledge.He buried his face in the prince’s robes, letting the noise fade away as the prince fought as though he was a dancer. His movements were graceful and quick, even with the tiny bundle in his arms. Not once did he jostle the child enough to make his bruises ache.It was… different, to be treated with care. Almost like he was a person.He tuned back into his surroundings when he noticed the prince’s dance had slowed and halted, but what he heard made him wish he hadn’t started listening.“...you don’t know where that dirty brat’s been or who’s used it for-”“He’s a child!”The prince’s voice, the same clear and melodious one that shushed and comforted him earlier, was filled with disgust and anger. The child almost tensed, but for once, it wasn’t directed his way. He peered up at the other person who had spoken, an older teenager in plain cultivation robes. He was obviously someone unimportant, and now that the prince had snapped at him, he shrank away and tried to disappear into the crowd of his fellow cultivators.“Oh, hello!” that voice chimed again. It was back to its soft, bright tone. The child glanced up at him, at that brilliant smile, and quickly trained his eyes back down on the ground.To be smiled at, to be treated gently, all by someone so radiant… it was as though a god had descended.The child felt he didn’t deserve to look.The prince didn’t try to speak to him again. He seemed to grow disinterested now that the child wasn’t paying him any attention, but when the prince tried to hand him off, to the demon no less, the child clung to his sleeves and refused to let go.The crown prince laughed. “Come on, I have things to do. Mu Qing won’t let anything happen to you. He’s very strong, and he’s an omega, too. See? You have nothing to fear.”Reluctantly, the child loosened his grip, and he was ushered over to the disgruntled looking demon. At the very least, the smell of ripening pears was much less threatening than the overpowering scent of bark that wafted from most of the cultivators.Even as the demon led him away, he peered back, trying to catch one last glimpse of heaven.-/-/-The day that the news of the Crown Prince of Xian Le, Xie Lian, ascending to godhood reached the child’s ears, not even the aching in his empty stomach or of the bruises marring his waxen skin could dampen his smile.It only vindicated the way he’d felt when he first saw that white figure descend when he’d caught the child and saved his life. He hadn’t wanted to be saved, but even so, in that moment and from then on, he couldn’t find it in him to resent the prince, not even a little bit.He remembered the way, a week after he’d tried to kill himself, the prince had rescued him a second time. He’d gone so far as to treat his wounds, to throw his arms around him, to tell him that nothing was his fault. Aside from his mother, it was the first time the child had been hugged, and it was a feeling he yearned to experience again.Still, even if it meant isolating himself and only being touched by hands that burned him, he didn’t regret running away from the prince. Had he stayed, he might have dirtied the only pure, unstained thing he thought existed in the world. His misfortune was deep, so deep that he wasn’t sure even the prince could do anything about it other than be dragged down into the mud as well.The child could live in the mud. So long as he could watch the prince soar from afar, he didn’t mind.What filled his dreams were always memories. Some, he intentionally forgot. Others, he clung to. The best ones were always the ones that involved a golden mask, a figure in white, an innocent embrace, a rundown temple, a broken statue, a small white flower, and the words he would never forget.
“Be proud of who you are.”
“If you truly have nothing else, then at least for now, why don’t you live for my sake?”
They were ingrained in his soul, and someday, he hoped they would burn stronger in his mind than any of the countless vile words that had been spat at him.-/-/-When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find a warm fire cracking to his side and a blanket laid over him.He wasn’t really a child anymore. He’d grown by leaps and bounds, both from hitting puberty and from his newfound will to survive. Now, he was tall for an omega his age, and the alpha he ran into on a regular basis now looked at his growing height and muscle with some trepidation.It was a small victory, but a good one, nonetheless. He wasn’t a helpless child anymore. He could fight back, at least to some extent.At least, so long as a heat didn’t hit him.He felt the lingering effects of it—the headache, the nausea, the exhaustion, the fog clouding his mind, the need for something he couldn’t name—it was all achingly familiar. This was only his third heat, but he already hated them more than life itself.He sat up, swaying as the blanket slipped from his form. He glanced down, relieved to find himself still fully dressed and free of any additional injuries.“I would lay back down, boy.”He jolted back, raising his arms and baring his teeth at whoever had spoken before he even got the chance to take in their appearance.The person snorted. “You’re not impressing anyone with that. Just rest. You’re already through the worst of it.”The voice wasn’t soft, not by a long shot, but it held none of the bite that he was so used to hearing, either. It was also clearly feminine. The scent permeating the air was… indistinct, but with a tinge of sweetness. If it weren’t for the underlying scent of mountain blossoms, he would’ve thought she was a beta.Beta and omega weren’t necessarily safe. They could still grow angry with him and lash out, or drive him off if he tried to sleep near their houses, but they didn’t pose the same threat that alpha did. They very seldom were willing to cross lines that most alpha didn’t think twice about trampling.So instead of lying back down, he huddled up against the tree and watched the woman.She was… surprising, to say the least. Women weren’t standardly as restricted as omega, but it was a near thing. Only alpha women were the exception. She obviously wasn’t an alpha, and yet she wore fine clothes that he recognized as cultivation robes, though he couldn’t place what school or sect they belonged to.He thought she might be some sort of healer, until he saw the sword laying on the ground next to her.His face twisted. “You’re not… an omega, are you?”“I am,” she corrected. “Have you never encountered an omega on blockers? I suppose I would smell strange to you, then.”Blockers? She really did have money, then. They were always expensive, so much so that he could try and beg for twice the time he’d been alive and only scrape together enough money for a single dose. That is, if anyone would’ve been willing to give him money in the first place. From his experience, they weren’t.“You’re a cultivator, though.”She raised an eyebrow at him. “And what’s wrong with an omega being a cultivator? Or is it the fact that I’m a woman that bothers you?”“I thought they didn’t let omegas cultivate,” he said, slowly. He frowned as he said it, wondering if he’d somehow been mistaken. But the idea of an omega being allowed such an honor as to study cultivation was such a strange concept that he really did have a hard time believing it.Though, he remembered the demon who served the prince, and how later, he wore the same cultivation robes as the alpha that served alongside him, both positioned as equals. At the very least, there was one person in the world who wouldn’t mind allowing an omega to study.“The large schools don’t,” she said, bitterness and annoyance coloring her tone. “Do I look like I belong to a large sect, though? They’re entirely ineffective, and their politics are infantile. I have no desire wasting any more of my time with them.”He blinked. A rogue cultivator, he’d heard them called. That made sense.The woman shook her head and continued, “But really, when I found you in the woods, I’d assumed you’d be some doe-eyed kid who’d run away from home. I couldn’t have been more mistaken. You’re smart, and you’re careful. What the hell were you doing letting yourself go into heat out in the open like that? Surely, you know how dangerous that was. You should’ve found somewhere safe as soon as you felt it coming on, and watch the timing from now on. You can predict them, to some extent.”“There’s no point,” he grumbled, wishing he could fade into the bark at his back and disappear. “Nowhere’s safe. There are always people no matter what.”“And people are always the enemy?” she asked.He paused, again thinking of white. “Not always.”“Find a haven, then.” She picked up a stick to poke the fire. A log fell, and he watched as the fire reared back anew. “There are plenty of omega who group together in cities for protection. Sometimes, one of them will even have an alpha mate that protects the rest, too.”His face twisted at the idea of leaving his fate in the hands of an alpha. Even mated ones didn’t necessarily have to be loyal to their omega, though it was true that few alpha would bother a marked omega. If the alpha marked every omega in the group, then maybe it’d be effective, but the idea of letting himself be marked brought bile to his mouth.Besides, he’d already been turned away by the only decent seeming omega havens he knew of.Almost unconsciously, his fingers went to his face, still half hidden in bandages. To his surprise, though, they felt clean and new. It seemed like she’d changed them for him as he slept, but instead of the gratitude he should have felt, he shot her a wary glare.If he was unconscious, his eyes would have been closed. She may have seen his scars, but so long as she didn’t peer under his lids, she wouldn’t have seen. That she was treating him so well… she must not have seen.Tugging the blanket closer around his shoulders, he sighed and relaxed against the trunk to his back again.She seemed to pick up on his hesitance at her previous idea, and she had the propriety not to ask. “You could also move away from the city,” she suggested instead. “If people are a threat to you, then you could live far away from them. It might be harder in some ways, but easier in others.”
“If you truly have nothing else, then at least for now, why don’t you live for my sake?”
It was true, the woman’s idea wasn’t a bad one. But if he moved, he would be far away from his god’s city, from the broken statue he’d bring in flowers for, and something about that felt like a betrayal.He didn’t mind being in the mud. He really, really didn’t. He didn’t.“Not an option, huh?” the woman sighed, sounding wearier and older than her youthful appearance should have allowed. “Well, it’s none of my business, boy. And if you’re that set on staying in a place so obviously dangerous for you, my suggestion is to find an alpha who isn’t a total piece of shit to mark you. That would ease at least some of your troubles. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but those are your options.”His scowl deepened at her words. He knew his options were limited; they always were for omegas, and with his eye and his luck, those few options had become all the more narrow. Her words were biting, but for once, they were spoken with his well being in mind.Not that he would listen.He refused to look her way as he said, “You’re not marked.”“Do I look like I need an alpha to protect me?” she snorted.And suddenly, another option sprung into his head. He sat up abruptly, causing his head to swim and his vision to darken momentarily. The woman blinked, the only indication of her surprise at his sudden movement.“Careful,” she warned, “you’re still pretty weak.”“Teach me.”She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”“Teach me,” he repeated. He tried to pull himself up, refusing to let himself sway. “You can use that sword, right? Teach me to use one, too. Then, I won’t need an alpha, either.”“I’m not taking students,” she said, and his heart sunk. “Besides, just being able to use a sword won’t guarantee your safety, especially not if you don’t have a safe place to go into heat or can’t afford blockers.”His brows pinched together. “Anyone can die anytime. I don’t want to be helpless when I do.”“Most children your age don’t even consider the circumstances of their deaths, and yet you’re already preparing for your own.” Her voice was soft again, and her eyes sad. She was pitying him.He wanted to spit it back in her face.“I’ve… I’ve already tried to die,” he admitted, “but someone… I told someone that I wanted to kill everyone in the world and then myself, and he told me that if I had nothing else to live for, I should live for his sake. My luck is bad. Everyone hates me. I don’t have a single ally in the world, and I’d accepted that I was going to die until he saved me and spoke to me. I’m sure he wants me to fight. Even if I am going to die, if I die fighting, then that, in itself, might be the only victory life will ever let me have.”His voice felt hoarse as he paused. It felt… strange, to open up to another person. It felt wrong, like he was opening his chest up with a knife and letting her watch as his heart pumped his blood from his body. And it’d been such a long time since he’d spoken so much, he almost expected her to interrupt and scold him for it, but when he glanced over to the woman, her eyes shone. It was either with more pity or admiration; he couldn’t tell, but he hoped it was the latter.She made no indication she wanted to speak, so he found himself continuing as if some sort of dam had broken in his heart. “That’s why I won’t let anyone mark me, either. I don’t want it. Someone tried, once, and I thought about just letting it happen. But, I… I wound up clawing his eye out before he could.”He glanced over to her, expecting her to display shock or disgust, but her expression remained the same. To his surprise, when she finally spoke, she only said, “Good for you.”“You’re…” He frowned. “You’re not going to tell me that I should’ve just let it happen?”“You want to fight, no? You don’t want to be marked. You’ve decided that your pride, your free will, is worth more than your own life,” she said. “You’re not wrong. Freedom is a wonderful thing, and it’s cruel to have it taken simply because of the circumstances of one’s birth. What I said before… it’s the path of least resistance, but your life is your own, and your values are your own. If you want to fight, just be smart and be wary to pick your battles. Some aren’t worth fighting. This world is rotten, and your single life won’t be able to change it.”She sighed, then continued, “Even so, you should try to live as things should be, as the world should be. In a world that wasn’t rotten, you shouldn’t do or consent to anything you don’t want. If someone tries to take something from you, then fighting for it isn’t wrong. You weren’t wrong. I only wish the world would bend into something a little less appalling, for your sake and everyone else’s.”She seemed to be finished speaking, but he didn’t really have anything to say to that.“May I at least know your name, little warrior?”He raised an eyebrow. It was the first time she’d referred to him as anything other than “boy.” The “little” portion of the address was still patronizing, but he had to admit, he didn’t mind being called a warrior.“I don’t have a name,” he answered plainly.She snorted. “Alright, then, Wu Ming. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”It took him a moment, but he almost burst out into a fit of laughter when he realized. “Wu Ming,” when written a particular way, meant “no name.”“That’s a horrible joke,” he said.She rolled her eyes, but a smile graced her lips. “You’re smiling, though, aren’t you? If you don’t have a name, then anything will do, really. If you think of something better, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll continue to think of you as ‘no name,’ little warrior. My name, for your information, is Baoshan Sanren.”“That’s long.”“Shut it, Wu Ming. Go to sleep. You still need rest.”He snorted, and with another sidelong glance her way, he curled up on the ground with the blanket pulled tightly around him. He closed his eyes, evened out his breath, and waited. Even after several incense sticks’ time, Baoshan Sanren hadn’t made a move towards him once. She only stood twice, and that was only to stoke the fire.Somewhat reassured, he finally let exhaustion overtake him.-/-/-He woke to a stick smacking his face.He practically fell backwards over himself, not because it actually hurt, but because he had no idea why a stick was being thrown at him.He blinked, his eye darting around before he caught sight of Baoshan Sanren.Obviously, she had found time to sleep during the night, and from the position of the sun, he’d been asleep for far too long. The fire was only a pile of charred wood in the middle of the clearing now, and Baoshan Sanren seemed to have gained an extra bag. He only remembered her having one, but now two were propped up against a tree to her back. Though, it was entirely possible that he’d just missed it in the dark.She raised an eyebrow at him, a stick similar to the one that’d so rudely awakened him lightly rested over her shoulder. “Well, Wu Ming? You said you wanted to learn swordsmanship, didn’t you? You should be over your heat by now. I don’t have a lot of time to spare, so if you want to learn, you’ll have to take what you get.”His eye widened, and eagerly, he grabbed his own stick and pulled himself up into what he thought might be a good battle stance. She moaned immediately upon taking in his form.“Not so far apart,” she scolded, tapping him on the shoulder with her own stick. Surprisingly, that tap, even though it didn’t hurt, was enough to send him backpedaling. “See? Keep your feet closer together, or you’ll get knocked back if a butterfly hits you.”He adjusted his stance according to her words, but it seemed that for everything he fixed, she had a thousand more complaints. She spent almost an hour showing him how to stand, how to swing, and how to block. Then, she had him copy her own movements, then he would run through and repeat them on his own. No matter what he did, she always barked something for him to fix, and he soaked up every last word that came from her mouth.After several hours, she held her stick aloft and said, “Now, we’ll try some sparring, just so you can start to get the feeling for it. Come at me, little warrior.”He did, coming in at first with a broad swing, which she knocked back with little to no effort. He only tried that once or twice more before giving up and trying a more subtle tactic, coming in with one attack and then quickly changing to another one.She still easily saw through it, but after knocking him back, she laughed. “A feint? So soon? I’m impressed, Wu Ming. Perhaps you do have some talent for this. Come on, then. Are you going to stand there with your mouth open like a carp, or are we going to continue?”With those words of encouragement, he charged.-/-/-Never once did they refer to one another as ‘master’ and ‘student.’ That would imply something permanent, that they wouldn’t part once the end of the promised two weeks arrived.Baoshan Sanren was impressed, to be honest. Wu Ming, however much of a helpless kid he might seem, had a fierceness and bite to him that could only be found in those unfortunate enough to grow up without a home or parents and survive it.His scent may be sweet, but he was more thorn than flower.She thought about amending her statement, about taking him in and calling him her student. It hadn’t been long since she’d been a student herself, so she wasn’t sure how good of a master she could be. She could think of no one else willing to teach an omega, though.Still, the aura of evil and misfortune that clung to him, suffocated him, always chased those thoughts away. Wu Ming was wholly unaware of the evil he attracted, and that was, perhaps, the only thing that had saved him from it.There were many cultivators within the city, so as much there was great evil that a great number of people were able to produce, the cultivators were able to drive just as much away. Even so, minor malevolent ghosts still clung to him like the grime coating his skin, and he probably attracted every such being just by drawing near to it. They weren’t powerful enough to directly cause him harm, but they were awful for his already poor luck. Even giving him talismans and exorcising them while he wasn’t paying attention couldn’t fully drive them away, new ones popping up with every ghost Baoshan Sanren drove away.She was afraid that, if he learned cultivation and ever came in contact with truly dangerous ghosts, it would only hasten his demise.So she stayed silent, the offer that would save him only to damn him dying on her tongue every time she thought of speaking it.-/-/-At the end of the two weeks, he bowed his head—the first time he had ever willingly done so—and said, “Thank you for teaching me.”“Don’t bother,” Baoshan Sanren sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to be thanked for so little.”He straightened. “Okay.”A smile split her face, and for a moment, he almost thought it seemed fond. They stood in silence for another moment, neither being particularly good with people, and even less so with partings.“I have a few things for you,” Baoshan Sanren announced.He blinked at the sudden statement. Things? For him? She’d already spent so much time teaching him more about how to defend himself than he’d ever hoped to learn, and she still wanted to give him things?“I can’t repay you,” he said, watching dubiously as she turned away and rummaged through her bag.“You’re a child. You shouldn’t have to repay adults,” she shot back.He crossed his arms and frowned. (It was not a pout.) “I’m not a child.”She only snorted as she returned with a small bundle of various items in her arms. Without any ceremony, she dropped it into his arms. He wasn’t quite expecting it to be so heavy, and he stumbled a moment when its weight threw off his balance.“You can open it, if you want,” she said.He glanced at her before kneeling with the bundled placed securely in his lap. Slowly, he unraveled the cloth binding everything together, and when he saw what was unveiled, his breath stopped.There were evil warding talismans, a few days worth of food, two small pouches, and a short sword with a worn hilt and dented pommel. Flaws and all, once he saw it, he could only focus on it and it alone. He set the rest of the items aside, stood, and drew the blade. It was far different from the stick he’d grown used to, but grasping it sent of surge of confidence through him.With this, he’d have a change, however small.“I won’t tell you not to kill or rob with that,” Baoshan Sanren said dryly, “but just know that if I catch you using it for evil, I will turn you in without a second thought.”He blinked, then, remembering he was with company, he sheathed the sword. There was already a too large belt attached to it, so he looped it over his shoulder to rest against his back. “Thank you.”“Don’t mention it.” She shook her head before gesturing to the other things she’d gifted him, still sitting to one side. “There are other things you should take a look at before I leave. You know what to do with the food and talismans, but check in the pouches.”Doing as instructed, he knelt to retrieve them. He opened one and was surprised to find money. Not much, but it was definitely enough to keep him fed some time, assuming no one stole it. The sword would help with that, though.“I assume you know what to do with that?”He nodded. Of course he knew what to do with money. Who wouldn’t?“Good,” she said. “Now, open the other one.”Carefully, he set the pouch of money back to one side before opening the remaining pouch. In it was something much less familiar: a small tin, it looked like.“Those are blockers,” she explained when he shot her a confused look. At the statement, his eye widened. “Use them wisely. I can’t give you all that I have, but that’s enough for about a month. When you think you might need them, take enough paste out to cover the tip of your finger and swallow it.”Suddenly, he was so overcome he felt possessed. Later, if asked about what he did next, he would claim he really was possessed. He threw himself at Baoshan Sanren, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in cloth that smelled of mountain blossoms.She froze, as unused to physical contact as he was. Even after her tenseness faded, she didn’t return the hug, only patting his head instead.“Be careful,” she cautioned. “These gifts might make you more of a target. Use them quickly or hide them, if you can.”He nodded, pulling back and trying not to look too embarrassed with himself. He wasn’t a child, so why was he acting like one after someone showed him the slightest bit of kindness? “I’ll be careful.”Satisfied, she gave him a curt nod of her own. Not seeming to know what else to say, she gathered her own things and started on the path, away from the city, away from people. He watched her leave with a pang of… something. Longing, maybe. If he were to actually have a parent, a real one, then… he thought… he’d probably want someone like Baoshan Sanren.He thought about what might happen if he chased after her, if he asked to become her student, if he asked if he could stay with her. He’d be protected.But… it would only be a matter of time before she grew disgusted with him, or before his misfortune sullied her the same way it had sullied everyone else. Truly, being alone was for the best.He turned away from her retreating figure and started in the opposite direction, towards the city and the people he hated so much. As long as his prince was there, physically or in spirit, then no matter how vile the people or dirty the streets, it would still be his home.That thought alone, at least, made his fate feel less damning.
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It’s who you are: The mark on the moon.Xie Lian let his mind drift to the monotonous motions of sweeping the ground free of the browning leaves that had started to accumulate outside of his Puji shrine. It was growing dark, so the striking golds and russets of the trees were fading along with the light. Still, the crisp night air crept in, more than enough of a reminder of autumn.He paused at the sound of rustling fabric and clinking metal. Someone was sneaking out of the shrine behind him.“Ban Yue,” he greeted warmly, turning around and smiling at her as she froze in her tracks. She looked better, at least for a dead person. She was definitely still too weak from the events in the country of Banyue, though. “You should go back inside. Running around while you’re still recovering is dangerous.”She hung her head. “I know.”It was… a bit odd to see her so sullen. She’d always been shy and quiet, but as demure as she seemed, she also used to have an obstinate streak that refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. She’d never been gloomy. Now, it seems that spark of rebellion had been all but stamped out of her. She questioned everything she did, counted each step, and spent more time looking over her back than watching where she was going.Of course, Xie Lian could hardly blame her. Everything that happened in Banyue… Well, if she wasn’t shaken and changed by that, Xie Lian might doubt her sanity. She was older, now, too—a far cry from the child who’d followed on his heels and called him ‘General Hua.’It also didn’t help matters that she was no longer among the living. As a ghost, she was only here because of her lingering regrets. It’d take some time for those to dispel, if that was at all possible by now, given that she’d already grown into a Wrath.“Mn… maybe that pickle jar is too stifling to be in all the time,” he mused. Her head still lowered, Banyue peered up at him through the dark hair hanging over her face. “Should we go look at the stars some? Just like last time?”For just a moment, something spark in her eyes. She straightened and solemnly nodded. “If General Hua says it’s alright for me to be out, then…”He set the broom aside and then started off. All the while, he hummed and listened for the telltale pad of footfalls and clinking of jewelry behind him as Ban Yue followed.He found a nice hillside, not too far off from where they’d sat last time. There were few trees and even fewer clouds here, offering an unobstructed view of the night sky. When Xie Lian glanced to Ban Yue, she was staring up at them, but her dark eyes reflected nothing of the starry brilliance she was beholding. They always gave her away; no human’s eyes could look so dead.“It’s probably not my place, but…” He paused, wondering if he should really voice what he was thinking. “May I ask you a question?”She nodded. “I got you flattened. Ask me whatever you want.” She hung her head again, depression practically emanating from her.“It’s fine, it’s fine. You should just forget about that,” he laughed. No matter what, that had to come up at some point, didn’t it? “Why haven’t you tried to put a bit more spiritual energy into your physical form? Since you’re a Wrath, you should be able to make it a bit more convincing. Most humans wouldn’t question you if your form was less...”He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t particularly need to since his meaning was clear. If she were to pretend to be human, she could at least start trying to build a new life for herself. Maybe, she’d find enough satisfaction in that to forget her blood-drenched past and move on to her next life.Unfortunately, it was never that easy. She shook her head and said, “I’m dead. There’s no use playing pretend. Nothing will change.”“You can’t be sure. Don’t you think there might be more for the world to offer you? Who knows, you could always at least try?” he pressed. He hated seeing her like this. She’d always been shy, but for her to have grown up only to die and become so downtrodden… Well, he could understand, but that didn’t mean he wanted to sit by idly now that she was back in his care.She hummed softly, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. Almost absently, her fingers found their way to her neck, tracing waxen skin. “Maybe… there might be something, but…”Her current physical form wasn’t an exact replication of the body she’d had in life. She hadn’t desired to create anything that would pass for human for herself, but even still, all her memories were those of a human. Some part of her would always shape her form into something close. That was why, the less of ghost remembered of their life as a human, the less human they seemed.One striking feature of a human body that ghosts often didn’t possess was a scent, and Ban Yue was no exception. She was a rare breed of ghost that inhabited their own corpses, altering it to suit their newfound afterlife, but Ban Yue hadn’t bothered to alter her form much. She smelled of faint rot and death, the decay of her form halted only by the spiritual energy coursing through her.In life, Xie Lian had only ever known her as a young child, before her scent would have blossomed into something uniquely hers. Even so, he imagined that, given her personality, she would have smelled of plums or of river lilies. Right now, in addition to the scent of death clinging to her, she smelled like pickles, which… okay, yeah, that was Xie Lian’s fault for keeping her in a pickle jar for so long.“Do you want to be marked?” he asked.She blinked. Her hand fell away from her neck. “I… I was already marked.”Xie Lian felt dread pool in the pit of his stomach. Had he brought up a bad memory for her, then? It was true that Banyue was one of the more progressive countries of his memories when it came to its treatment of omega, but there were always vile people who’d commit atrocities no matter how nice their country at large was. He’d seen it too many times for him not to fear that one of those atrocities might have happened to Ban Yue, as well.Seeing his expression, she shook her head vigorously. “No, no, sorry. It’s not what you’re thinking, General Hua. The people of Banyue may have hated me in the end, but they gave me an honorable execution before stringing me up. And the mark was one… was one made out of love. I wanted it.”It was a sorry state of affairs when one had to assure another that their execution was ‘honorable’ and that nothing awful beyond the actual killing had happened.“I’m happy for you,” he said in earnest. “Love is a wonderful thing, so I’m glad you were able to find it. Are they still around, you think?”She nodded slowly. “...I know he is. Even after my death, I’ve seen him. We haven’t spoken much, but…”“Have I met him?”Ban Yue pursed her lips and refused to answer, which was enough to confirm his suspicions. She spoke as if her—er, partner?—was still of this world, which meant that he was either a ghost or a god at this point. She wouldn’t grow silent if he was a fellow ghost, and if their love had been genuine like she’d said, then there was no reason for her not to be at another ghost’s side. That only left one possibility: that he was a god, and because he was a god, naming him as her partner would place a black mark on his reputation.And, now that he knew it was a god they were talking about, there was only one that had visited the country of Banyue frequently in the past few centuries. Xie Lian hadn’t told her that he had been banished for his actions, so holding her silence wouldn’t serve Pei Su much. Still, it was an honorable sentiment, and one that Xie Lian didn’t particularly want to trample on.At least now, he understood a bit better what she meant when she said she had no future. It was almost unheard of for gods and ghosts to become couples, and for him to give up a bright future on a broad, paved path for her shaky and narrow one… she could hardly expect or ask that of him.For some reason, his thoughts strayed to the smell of maple, and he felt his mood dampen.He shook his head, and deciding to feign ignorance, he said, “Nevermind, nevermind. How about we talk about happy memories, then?”“Happy memories?” She pursed her lips, and then, something remarkable happened.She smiled.“Meeting Pei Su,” she started, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Meeting you. Playing with you and the other children. Meeting General Ke. Being named Priestess, despite my status.” She frowned. “I suppose… some of those memories are a bit tainted now, though.”Xie Lian hummed, his heart warm. He was glad that he’d been someone important to her, that he’d been able to make a difference, however small. He was even happier that she’d found others after he’d ‘died.’“Do they still make you happy?” he asked.She nodded. “Is that bad? That I can still find joy in them despite how it ended? Despite all the atrocities I committed in my lifetime? Do I have that right?”“Of course you do,” Xie Lian said, his voice soft. “I think… everyone has the right to try and be happy, no matter what they’ve done in the past. No matter what anyone says, whether you’re a ghost or a god, in the end, every single one of us was once human. And, in some ways, we’re all still very human. Humans grow and change. Who you were yesterday isn’t who you are today, and I believe that the you who is here today has the right to try and be happy.“And…”He paused, trying to find the right words. In truth, much of what he was saying sounded hollow to him, but he knew that was only because he’d been alive for far too long and had seen too much of the world. Ban Yue wasn’t young anymore, either, but her dull eyes shone in another way. The innocence of childhood hadn’t completely abandoned her, however dim it seemed. She still had hope, despite it all.“I don’t think what you did was wrong,” he said. “You tried to protect people, and even if it was wrong, you’ve already suffered enough for it. You don’t have to keep punishing yourself for it.”‘You’re a hypocrite,’ a voice told him, and he tried his best not to listen.Ban Yue turned to him and smiled again, the expression seeming stiff on her dead features. “Thank you, General Hua. You were always very kind. I’m glad to see that, at least, hasn’t changed.”“You give me too much credit,” he laughed.“No, I don’t think I do,” she insisted, frowning. “General Hua, what about you? Are you happy?”He blinked. Was he? He hadn’t thought about it in such a long time, and it was a question he actively avoided thinking about.But…When he thought of happiness, he thought of red and the smell of maple.“I think… It is what it is,” he finally said, which the biggest non-answer he could've given her. From the way her face soured, she wasn’t buying it, either.“General Hua,” she said, with a newfound intensity that almost started Xie Lian. Emboldened, she reached out and grabbed his hand, as if to drive home how serious she was. She almost never sought out physical contact with others, at least not that Xie Lian had seen.“You’ve done so much for me,” she continued, “so I want you to make me a promise.”Xie Lian, dumbfounded, could only nod dully. “I… I can try. What is it?”“Do something for yourself,” she said. “Please? Anything will do, so long as it’s something that you want. You always seem so sad, and you always run around and do things for others but never for yourself. Even now, what you were saying, it wasn’t anything that came from your own heart. You were saying what I needed to hear.“And while I’m glad you said it, I want to pay you back for everything you’ve done for me. This is the only thing I can think of. So, will you promise me that you’ll try and do something for yourself?”Xie Lian opened his mouth to speak, but he found his mind entirely blank.One thing he was sure of, however, was that Ban Yue was smarter than he’d given her credit for. Or, perhaps, she’d just been watching him too closely or hanging onto his words too dearly. It probably helped that she’d known him when she was a child, when he was unguarded against her, and she also knew him now that she was older, wiser, and almost as world-weary as he was.He could only shake his head and laugh. “Okay, okay. When I think of something I can do for myself, and only myself, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, I’ll do it.”“Good.” With that, she seemed to grow embarrassed by her display, and she dropped her grip on Xie Lian’s hand. “Thank you, General Hua, for listening to this humble one’s request.”“It’s okay,” he insisted. “You don’t need to use formalities with me, and I’m glad you were able to speak your mind.”Her expression softened, which was impressive on a body that was stiffened by death. “Thank you, General Hua.”But, now, the energy seemed to leave her, and her dull eyes grew even hazier.“You should probably go back to the jar,” he said. “You’re still weak. I’m not quite sure if you were ready for this much excitement…”She shook her head. “I’m glad… that we got to watch the stars again together like we used to with all the other children. You reminded me of good times, and that good times will come again.”“That’s good,” he replied with a smile.Already, though, he was pulling the jar out from his sleeve, and she frowned at it.“You had that with you the whole time?” she asked, almost petulant.He laughed. “Just in case, just in case. I didn’t know how much your body would be up for, so I thought to bring it in case it was needed.”“Okay… thank you, General Hua, for looking out for my health.”“You’re welcome,” he said warmly.With that, he opened the jar. Under normal circumstances, he’d have to expend spiritual energy he didn’t have right now in order to seal a ghost within a jar, especially a Wrath like Ban Yue. But, she was going willing, so no energy required.In the next moment, he closed the jar’s lid, and he was alone. If he spoke, he knew she might hear him, but he also knew that it was better for her consciousness to drift off and allow her rest. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life recovering in Xie Lian’s pickle jar, not when she had happiness to pursue.Smiling, he carefully settled the jar next to him and laid back on the grass. There were chores he could be doing, or he could sleep, or he could be looking for the ghost child, or any number of other things… but for now, he’d heed Ban Yue, at least a little bit, and do nothing but watch the stars in the sky.
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It’s who you are: Little warrior, little soldier.Xian Le’s war wasn’t Mobei-jun’s war, and yet he found himself there, helping, regardless. It was not out of pure charity, but rather that Xian Le had offered aide to Mobei-jun’s own country in its own war nearly a decade ago. He was here not out of compassion, but out of debt.He hadn’t wanted to come, honestly speaking. The matters of the home were complicated enough. If one add another country’s problems to the agenda, it would become unmanageable even for the most diligent of workers. That was why Mobei-jun prefered an isolationist policy.It didn’t help that he could already practically taste Xian Le’s downfall.But… neither could he truly ignore his debt, either, much as he wanted to. Even if it meant risking himself on a sinking ship, he was confident enough in his abilities. He’d ensure his own survival, and the men he’d brought were few in number. The future loss would not be great.“My King,” a moan, one that sounded entirely too childish to come from an adult. “How much longer will this last? It’s very hot.”“This country lies to the South. Of course it is hot,” Mobei-jun replied. He glanced back to the one who’d spoken, a person all too familiar to him.Shang Qinghua. A commoner, and a beta.His beta.Mating with him hadn’t quite caused the same stir that marrying him had. Male beta obviously weren’t the first choice to be taken into the royal harem as concubines, but neither was it unheard of. However, taking a male beta and elevating him to the status of official consort through marriage despite his inability to bare his male alpha offspring… Well, that certainly raised eyebrows.Of course, Mobei-jun had never particularly cared for politics of that nature. He’d told those who questioned him that they were free to find another country to call their own if they found their King’s choice in spouse so abhorrent. That silenced the dissenters.Shang Qinghua shifted on his feet, standing just behind Mobei-jun’s seat. He’d shed the winter coat he always wore, but he seemed to be sweating even in the thinner robes he wore underneath. Mobei-jun couldn’t blame him. Xian Le’s heat was a far cry from the snowy winterland of their country.“My King,” he continued, “forgive my impertinence, but… why are you doing this job yourself? This is hardly work fit for a King.”Mobei-jun raised an eyebrow. He had a point, but why was he only asking now that the two of them had been here for hours already?“Xian Le is short staffed. We will go where we are asked.”Not to mention he was fairly certain they hadn’t recognized him when they arrived, thinking he was simply a noble or a military official from their country and not its king. He hadn’t bothered correcting them. If they knew he was king, they would likely pull him into the strategy meetings he so despised.“Ah… alright.”A soldier stepped up to their table, giving them a quick nod of a bow, which only helped confirm Mobei-jun’s theory. It was a bow one might give to a low ranked noble, certainly not to a king, even if that king was from another country.Ah, well. At least he got to avoid strategy meetings. And bring Shang Qinghua, who certainly wouldn’t be permitted to come to anything deemed important, along with him.“Sirs,” the soldier started.Mobei-jun nodded. “You may speak.”“We have the next round of recruits ready for you. And… should I bring a second chair?”“Please do,” Mobei-jun said.“Ah… I’m fine, really. My legs don’t hurt at all.”Mobei-jun raised an eyebrow back at him.“...okay, a second chair would be nice.”“Understood,” the soldier replied. “I’ll have it brought immediately. In the meantime, do you want to see the new recruits now, or would you like to wait?”“Immediately,” Mobei-jun answered.The soldier nodded again before ducking out of the building to presumably pass on the orders. The building was small, the walls thin, so it wasn’t hard to follow the sound of the soldier's footsteps as he sprinted off. Soon, the door was opened again and two different soldiers filed in, one carrying a chair which was set down for Shang Qinghua. Despite the beta’s earlier bravado, he immediately slumped into it without a hint of decorum.The two soldiers lined up next to the door, perfectly positioned to stab the potential recruits in the back should they attempt to harm Xian Le’s “noble” guests. One pulled open the small building’s door, propping it open with a rock and allowing the recruits to file inside.The recruits of Xian Le were surprisingly aeclectic. It seems that the hatred of Yong An was no joke here. Alpha men were, of course, a large majority of the prospective soldiers, but there were a good number of beta men and alpha women joining the mixture. Mobei-jun looked each over with a critical eye, immediately rejecting the ones who looked half-starved or like they’d be blown over by a stiff wind. They’d be a waste of resources to train, given that they’d most likely die within the first five or so minutes of battle. The beta men, if they looked hardy enough, were passed along as easily as the alpha men. The alpha women, however, he had demonstrate their proficiency with weapons. Armoring them would prove more difficult than a man, so for them to be worth the investment to train and armor, they should have some skill or innate talent already. At least, that’s what Mobei-jun thought.He was not prepared when a young teenager—and an omega, no less, judging by his artificially faint scent—arrived in the building.It took two seconds of watching the rest of the recruits, at how they paid the young boy far too much attention, for Mobei-jun to say, “Go home.”“Why?” the boy demanded, face twisting. Already, half his face was obscured in bandages, and bruises marred his cheek and neck. Mobei-jun might’ve sent him home just for that, or just for the fact that he barely looked thirteen or fourteen. For an omega? The army had no barracks for them, and even putting him into the barracks with the beta was inviting trouble.“You know why,” Mobei-jun answered.“And what about my status says I can’t fight?”Mobei-jun’s gaze slid down to the blade strapped to the boy’s hip. It did appear to be properly fastened and maintained, from what he could tell, which did indicate some form of training, but… who would possibly be willing to train an omega in combat? It was practically unheard of, even in Mobei-jun’s own country, and he knew that Xian Le was supposed to be more rigid in its adherence to tradition. Omega here weren’t even allowed to cultivate healing arts like they were back home, the one exception being the crown prince’s own servant… for whatever reason.Mobei-jun found Xian Le confusing. He missed his own country’s consistency.“It is not a matter of whether you are capable,” Mobei-jun said. “It is a matter of you being… a distraction, and Xian Le’s army isn’t equipped to accommodate an omega soldier. What if you go into heat in the barracks? On the battlefield? You could pose a danger to not only yourself, but also to your fellow comrades.”“I have suppressants.”“And how much of a supply do you have? The army cannot provide you with any more than what you yourself can procure. Would you have enough to last the months and years it may take to win the war?”“I…” The boy’s face fell, which was enough of an answer for Mobei-jun.He waved a hand, and the two soldiers positioned by the door took a step forward. “Leave, before I have you removed.”The boy shot him one last dirty look, the fire in his eyes nothing like the meek and humble omega that Mobei-jun had grown up with. He wondered what kind of upbringing would yield an omega brave or suicidal enough to actually want to throw themselves onto the battlefield, where an alpha’s lust for blood ignites other baser desires.Then, as quickly as he’d come, the boy stalked out.“That was… odd,” Shang Qinghua observed. “Should you have turned him away like that? You could’ve always given him a safe position. I have a feeling he’s not going to give up that easily.”Mobei-jun shook his head. “Among soldiers with few outlets, there would be no safe position for him. It’s even common for armies to have problems with keeping alpha in check around the beta, and Xian Le doesn’t employ prostitutes for its soldiers to give them an alternative outlet.”“Ah… you have a good point, my King. Clever as always.”Mobei-jun leaned back in his chair, massassing his temple. He wanted to be done with this. Perhaps he’d dump it on Shang Qinghua… but no, his husband would most likely make a mess of even this simple of a task. He had no head for war or strategy; he was more of a loyal goon than anything. Besides, he’d complain about the work, and Mobei-jun thought that might be more annoying than just doing the work himself.So he waved in the next recruit, ready to slog through the rest.-/-/-It turned out, Mobei-jun might not have given Shang Qinghua enough credit, because the beta’s prediction turned out to be correct. Despite the fact that he turned the omega boy away, warned him of the dangers enlisting would present, rumors surfaced a few weeks later of a young omega who’d been permitted to enlist under another captain.Mobei-jun frowned at the news, but really, this was neither his country nor his war. If that was the omega’s decision, then so be it. Mobei-jun had warned him, had tried to drive him away to where it was safe. If he defied him, then it was no longer Mobei-jun’s problem.Shang Qinghua laughed, nuzzling into Mobei-jun’s neck. Their blankets lay discarded on the floor, Xian Le’s nights being too hot for the both of them to comfortably use them.“What is it?” Mobei-jun asked, raising an eyebrow at his beta.Shang Qinghua squeaked, then fidgeted for a moment. Mobei-jun waited until he finally said, “It’s just… you’ve been frowning ever since we heard the news. My King truly is kind, to be this worried about a stranger he met for only a few short minutes.”He was… kind? For this?“Nonsense,” Mobei-jun huffed, half tossing Shang Qinghua off of him as he turned over in their bed. “Go to sleep.”