Chapter 5

Over the next few weeks, Fan Xiang found himself escorting this young girl all the way into the mountain range of the bordering city of Qinhaufeng. He received repeated messages from clan members and spies, invitations to banquets from the five kingdoms, and various other inquires, but he had ignored them all choosing to travel with Liang Lai Jiao.

During their time together, he realized that she was a very smart child and learned quickly.

"Look at this, Xiang ge ge." She had started calling him that a few days after their travels began. At first, he felt a little resentment towards the girl for pushing such a familiar term on him, but slowly and without his knowing, that name seemed to be what he had always been called, and the only thing she could ever possibly call him again.

He turned towards her yawning as he stretched. They were camped outside the bordering forest of the city. He was lying against his bundle on the floor as he watched her play with his sword. She lifted it in an inside right position and stabbed it out in front of her. His lips curved up. She was clumsy, and the sword was too heavy for her. He found himself thinking about finding her a thinner sword that she could easily handle.

"Mmm, Xiang ge ge sees," he watched her for a little longer as she played around with his sword. He couldn't explain why, but for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like he had to be on guard at all. How many times had people used their own children to harm him or his family? It was only a few years ago when an infant was left covered in slow-acting poison to target him. He had been on guard since his earliest memories, but this girl, despite the evident sadness she kept buried, was as open as a book.

She stopped playing with the sword and moved towards Fan Xiang, kneeling beside him. He saw an earnest intensity in her eyes. He grew serious as well.

"Xiang ge ge, will you help me become stronger?"

"You want to become stronger?" He asked, already knowing where this was heading.

She nodded her head. "I want to learn how to use the sword and become stronger."

"You have someone you want to seek revenge on?" He asked, a tinge of unhappiness hidden in his heart. He wanted this girl to live a free life away from the darkness of her past.

"No," she said quietly.

He lifted himself up into a sitting position. "Then why?" he was even more disappointed now. Of course, she could only want to be stronger for revenge. He didn't like her trying to be sneaky towards him.

Liang Lai Jiao seemed to notice his displeasure. She looked up, glancing towards the sky. Her fingers brushed against the grass beneath her. "I wonder if Xiang ge ge knows how heavy hate is? My dad always told me hate is very heavy. I'm not very strong Xiang ge ge, I don't want to carry hate." She had a serious and quizzical expression, but there was also a tired sadness in the depths of her eyes. It shouldn't belong to such a young child.

"Then why would you want to become stronger? Why learn to use the sword?"

"Because I want to be able to protect. If there comes a time in the future that I can protect someone I love, then this life that was left to me, I can accept it." She bit her bottom lip. It trembled slightly, making his heart clench. He understood the guilt she must be feeling from being left alive when everyone else died.

He thought over her words. She was so quiet about the deaths of her family. Never mentioning it to him at all. At night she would often cry out in her sleep, sometimes calling out names of family members. Other times just whimpering. He knew that the depth of her pain was overwhelming, but somehow every morning, she would push it deep down, and it would be as if it didn't exist until she slept again.

He'd gotten into the habit of sleeping close enough to her to soothe her brows or pat her back to comfort her back to sleep. Of course, she would never know he did that, and he would never tell. She was still a child, but even so, it wasn't exactly proper for male and female to be so close.

Her words soothed his worries. He would have taught her either way. He'd grown attached enough to her to be willing to help her learn to reach her goal, but he had secretly hoped that she would never ask because the thought of her with hate-filled eyes made him sad.

"I will teach you," he asserted. "but you can never call me master, you can only call me Xiang ge ge understand?" He wasn't willing to give up on the nickname, having grown used to hearing her call him that way, and his presence in her life could never be known. He had already sent away all of his guards except one. He was already protecting her, even if she didn't know it.

She looked at him with wide serious eyes and agreed without question.

"Come on, let's keep going."

"Xiang ge ge?"

"Hmmm?" He asked as they continued their journey.

"Today is my birthday. I'm eight now," she said, these words quietly, filled with emotion. She seemed to be saying, I've grown older, but they have not.

"Your still too young for me; be quiet," he teased. Though he joked with her, he couldn't help but glance back in her direction. "Here I was thinking this whole time that you were just five or six." He shook his head with fake discontent.

"Do I really look that young?" She asked innocently. He worried his brows. This girl was a danger to herself just by the way she talked. He couldn't help but want to hide her away for her own protection.

"You look like you're three, but because you talk so well, I added a couple of years," his lips were drawn in a smile, but she couldn't see it because he was walking ahead of her.

"My father always told me that I looked young too."

"Mmmm, Xiang ge ge will get you a gift later. So be good."

She looked at him with a brilliant smile, though he didn't get the chance to see because he didn't want to turn to look at her anymore.

After several more hours of walking, the two of them had traversed into the lower regions of the mountains. Here it was much colder than the plains below, but it was also lush and filled with trees and coverings. A man appeared in front of the two after a while, and Fan Xiang stopped. The man bowed before him and greeted him "as young master."

"Has it been prepared?"

"Exactly as you asked."

Fan Xiang nodded his head, and the three continued up the mountain, the new member leading the way. Liang Lai Jiao wasn't sure what they were talking about, but she had never been a person who needed to know everything all the time. She silently followed the two men until they reached a small cabin hidden in the depths of the forest. It was very small, just big enough for a few people to sleep comfortably with a low slanted roof and a wooden porch.