Legend of Fei

9. The Sea Turtle Ate The Intruder.

Between detaining someone at Penglai to getting Haigui's habit of stealing food from the second master's haul, Xie Yun was quite pre-occupied from end-to-end each day. It was over a week when he finally saw his hard work pay off in terms of Haigui going out to hunt for his own food instead of hounding the second master's boat. For scaring the creature, he'd have Haigui face A'Fei and to let him be happy, he'd let the second master near the sea turtle.

It was finally time to take the creature towards the deep sea but they had a prisoner detained, so, someone had to stay behind. The prison was nothing but a comfortable room with one doorway fitted with a fine mesh to stop him from escaping and two disciples to guard at all times. According to A'Fei, everyone treated him way too well to be able to get any information out of him, Xie Yun agreed but knew that none had the heart to do what it takes to get the information they wanted. At least not at PengLai

It had caused one too many arguments between the couple and that is what was going on right now, a few hours before they were to set off for the open sea.

"Might as well, let him go if we are not going to get anything out of him. At his rate, he is living a better life here than he might have been under the White Tiger."

"A'Fei." Xie Yun felt tired and resigned. The little time they did have with one another over this week was spent in discussing about the detained man.

"Okay. I will stop suggesting things to do with him. You tell me, what should we do with him?"

Xie Yun was silent. What could they do? For one, the man won't say anything important, for two, the masters didn't have the heart to go too far with things and three, the masters would never allow something harsh to happen to him. So what next? They could either keep him for life. The master could probably afford that seeing that they were immortal or they could let him go back to his master.

"You are right." he spoke softly, placing a tentative arm around her shoulder, ready to jump if she hit him, instead she sagged into his side. It had been a week since they had been close, not even intimate, just plain close.

"Did you get a chance to meet the man yourself?" All traces of anger were lost now. Xie Yun couldn't help but smile bigger. It seemed that A'Fei too was missing this as much he was, the simple closeness. Her anger wasn't at the situation. It was at him. She would never admit to it but he knew. He didn't have time for her.

"I am sorry. I have been busy." he wasn't apologizing for not seeing the man but for not seeing his wife. He had been too exhausted. He wasn't used to using his internal energy every day. His body was not trained for it but with Haigui, he had to do this. 

"It's okay. You should train though." She got it what he said and he got what she meant but it wasn't necessarily happening. Both of them knew it. They let the matter rest.

After a long time of comfortable silence, A'Fei announced, "I am going to warm up," and Xie Yun followed up with, "I am going to write. I feel like composing again."

A'Fei smiled and turned around, curiosity written all over. Xie Yun felt his heart swell. He had always known that his wife wasn't the one for literature but she always had such genuine interest in whatever he had to write or say.

He stopped her, "I will tell you after I am done."

The rest of there time passed quickly as A'Fei practiced in the sand and Xie Yun looked over at her, his heart filled with inspiration, "just like old times!" 

As the masters prepared to set sail, Xie Yun quickly made his way to the temporary living arrangement for the White Tiger disciple. The thin line mesh that hung at the door would have served him dead had he not known about it already. He stood outside and peered into the room carefully to see the man hiding in plain sight. His experience with the White Tiger in the early days of his title-ship as 4th Mountain God was serving him now. He had never mentioned that experience to anyone, not even his masters, not the king or his sworn brother and not to A'Fei.