Immortal Mortals

Union.

Once his crew had gathered, Jie sat them all down to a shared breakfast that Ai had prepared for them all.  While they were eating, Jie pulled a large draft out of his gown and held it up for them to look at.  It was the layout for his home, which would have 3 rooms, a main den, kitchen and to the side a stable for the horses he wished to breed.

Nodding that they understood, and excited that they still had work that they would be paid for, Jie held up his hand.  Then calling Ai to his side, he informed them that she was joining the crew.  

Suddenly the beginning of their excitement died completely as they all looked towards her in shock.  No one said a word, but it was obvious to Ai, who was trying to keep her small smile on her face, that they were not happy with Jies decision.

"If you are unhappy with the decision, you are welcome to leave." he said firmly, pulling her closer to him, while she sadly lowered her head.  She did not mean to cause friction between Jie and his crew, and nor would she allow it.  Pulling away from him, prepared to retract her assistance, Jie merely pulled her even closer, as he continued to stare his crew down.

One by one, their eyes dropped.  In the end, wages were more important than a woman working alongside them.  Standing they all gave her a bow.  And that was that, she was accepted, then returning to their boisterous rowdy babble, they continued with breakfast, as Jie gave her the softest of looks. 

No sooner had breakfast finished than the preparation of the land began.  It was back breaking work, but with an extra pair of hands, albeit tiny ones, the land was stripped of its top layer and the foundation prepared.  

The preparation for the foundation was the hardest physical labor Ai had ever experienced in her life.  Breaking down the stone and gravel into a thin powder hurt every muscle in her body, and though everyone could see her body was unused to such painful torturous work, not once did she complain.  She merely put on a stoic grin, gritted her teeth and matched her male crew in every back breaking pound of the stone they struck, once done, instead of falling into a tired heap as they had done, she rose and went and prepared their lunch.

And as the days wore on, she slowly began to earn the respect of her crew members, who began to see her as just another one of the team, also including her in their ribald story telling and jokes, though only when Jie was out of hearing range and taming their words so as not to offend her or Jie if he was to learn of it.  But she did manage to make friends with them and they with her, each of them teaching her the different techniques which she quickly mastered so as not to slow them down.

Day after day, Ai returned to the construction site, and day after day, she continued to work just as hard as they did, until finally after 2 months of torturing her body,  Jie pulled her aside and insisted she leave.  The callouses on her hands had begun to break and seeing her torturing herself for his sake to the point of bleeding, made him very angry, though he was more angry at himself for not noticing sooner.

Initially he was impressed with her determination to work just as hard as they did in order to win his crew over, which he knew she was trying to do, but seeing her limping home from exhaustion, then to see physical wounds on her body, made him lose all reason.

Having forced her to the side to apply a balm to her hand and dress it in a clean bandage much to her embarrassment, he turned her to face him.  "Ai, you cannot continue when you are hurting yourself.  I will not allow it." he told her sharply before leading his horse to her side.

Seeing her stubborn look of refusal, he took her arm, and ordered her onto it's back.  "Get on, and go home.  I do not want to see you here again until the house is finished." he said with so much force, his eyes had narrowed to thin slits at her stubborn look.