人非圣贤，孰能无过
Rén fēi shèngxián, shú néng wú guò
Men are not sages, how can they be free from fault.
To err is human.

Kageyama returned to the cottage first and set about making a fire in the brick lined pit set into the stone floor of the cottage.

He carried in already split logs from the woodpile outside and stacked them like a tent, pushing dry leaves and small sticks from the kindling bucket beneath them. Then, using his own tinder and flint, he lit them.

Kageyama watched as the flames slowly caught, curling around the leaves and branches and logs like an indecisive salamander. Flickering red light fell across the bare walls of the small cottage. Heat followed the light, warming the small room.

As he sat and watched the small fire grow he thought again to how this had all come to be.

Kageyama had known the moment Ao walked into the courtyard that morning where she had been the night before.

Zhangyu's scent still lingered, on her skin, in her hair.

This will lead to trouble, Kageyama thought.

Sure enough, not five minutes later he found himself lifting a napkin to Sanli's bleeding lip.

"She's not a woman, she's a monster and I want her gone!" Kageyama snarled, then turned to Sanli. "San, let me see."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kageyama watched Ao carefully. Watched as she forced herself to anger, to avoid all other emotions.

"You want me gone? Then I will leave!" The woman clenched her fists at her sides. "I told the prince, I would only stay as long as our goals aligned. And he doesn't even know what it is he wants anymore."

After Ao stormed off, Kageyama let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He turned back to Sanli, who had sunk into a chair.

"You should not provoke her Sanli. You knew your words would lead to an outcome like this."

"I don't care," said Sanli, crossing his arms like a stubborn child.

Zakhar chuckled. "What's amusing?" snapped Sanli.

"It's just grand to finally see you jealous," the golden haired man replied.

"Oh shut up, Zakhar. We all know you're the most jealous one here," Sanli spat back.

Zakhar frowned, and then turned and left for his room as well.

"Don't be hateful, Sanli." Kageyama brushed a leaf from his chair before sinking down into it. "Are you sure it is fine if she leaves? After all the time you spent looking for her?"

"You should be glad, shouldn't you? You wanted her gone," said Sanli, running a finger over his already swollen lip.

"I do want her gone. But I worry about you."

"Don't," said Sanli. "I will be fine."

But Sanli wasn't fine.

Over the next couple days Sanli sunk into patterns of behavior that Kageyama had not seen since Sanli was a much younger man.

Since his mother died.

Not sleeping, eating too little and drinking too much. Refusing to leave his rooms or see anyone, Kageyama included. Kageyama felt as though they had regressed ten years, or more, and Sanli was a young, angry youth again.

The third day after Ao had left, when Kageyama came upon Sanli with a wine bottle in his hand as he lounged on his deck, the kitsune finally addressed the prince's behavior.

"Isn't it a little early to drink?" Kageyama asked, frowning.

"It's never too early to drink," Sanli replied tartly.

"It's still before noon," Kageyama pointed out.

"I'm a grown man, Sho Sensei. I don't have to endure your lectures anymore." Sanli took a slovenly swig from the bottle.

"You are not acting like a grown man," Sho muttered to himself. He squatted beside Sanli. "I heard the servants talking. The girl... Ao... only went as far as Ermi's courtyard. Why don't you go talk to her? Ask for her forgiveness?"

Kageyama could not believe he was encouraging Sanli to reconcile with that woman, but anything was better than Sanli's current behavior. Even having Ao at Wo You Nai again.

"Why do I have to ask for her forgiveness?" said Sanli, reaching for another bottle, having drained the first.

Kageyama grunted and stood. "Fine. Drink your life away. Stupid boy."

Sanli continued to confine himself to his room, ordering his meals there, though Kageyama knew from the near untouched trays the servants carried out that the prince was not eating them.

Finally after a week Kageyama readied to go in and drag Sanli out himself when the little runner boy appeared in the courtyard, his green sleeves flying around him like wings.

"Lord Kageyama! Regent Xiangli has returned! And he has a western princess with him! A Dahu! The White Queen's daughter!"

Kageyama thought of Ao's words. She had said it would be Baihu's daughter who came. It seemed she had spoken the truth.

This only made the kitsune more determined. He strode through the corridors of Wo You Nai to Sanli's door and rapped upon it. "Sanli, open up! I'm tired of your nonsense—"

The door opened, and Sanli stood there. There were dark bags under his eyes, from drink or lack of sleep, or both, but he was dressed presentably, in his black uniform, the golden stag brooch shining on his chest.

"What?" Sanli asked innocently.  "Did you need something Sho Sensei? You better get dressed so we can go greet our honored guest."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kageyama was sitting at the low table drinking tea he had made in a pot over the fire pit when Ao returned, a loose robe round her frame, a cotton towel in her hands as she dried her hair.

"I hope you are not here to tell me I must stay longer, Lord Kageyama. Does the prince mean to make me a nun, by trapping me here?" Ao said, sitting opposite him.

Kageyama grunted in reply.

Ao wrapped her wet hair in the cotton towel and then reached for the pot of tea, but did not pour herself a cup. Instead she wrapped her hands around the porcelain as if to absorb its warmth.

"What is this?" she asked, pointing to the parchment Kageyama had laid face down on the old table while waiting.

Kageyama studied Ao's unmarked face again, now that she was closer to him. There was truly no trace of the injuries. The Golden Emperor's seals were remarkable.

He rubbed his chest, where the seal he had received from Lu all those years ago was inked. It would lengthen his life and keep him from sickness, and would help him heal faster, but nowhere near the speed or completeness that Ao's five seals achieved.

Kageyama still had scars. Many, many scars.

"Your essay, for my class," Kageyama replied to Ao's question, nodding his chin at the paper. "Go on, turn it over."

"Hah, a perfect score no doub- what is this!?" Ao said, staring aghast at the circles of orange-red ink all over the first page as she lifted the paper to the firelight. And the next page. And the next.

"We'll, it's not a perfect score. It's not even a passing score," Kageyama said. Ao's cheeks were flushed from the hot springs, and they flushed further as she looked down at her paper.

"What? Why didn't I pass?" her voice rose in anger, built from frustration. "I used up three whole pages writing about Red... Red... whatever it was he was called." Behind her the fire crackled in the firepit.

"THAT is why you didn't pass," said Kageyama, gritting his teeth. "Because you didn't even know who it was you were writing about—"

"I know who! Some stupid ancient Wa poet. You droned on about him the whole season, how could I not know who he—"

"Red Brush was a WOMAN!" Kageyama slammed his teacup onto the rough wooden table, causing the other items on the table top to rattle. 

"Oh," said Ao, suitably abashed.

"I can tell how well you listened to my droning, if you don't even know that," said Kageyama. "But that's not why I'm here."

He took an envelope from the front of his jacket and pushed it across the table toward her.

"It's from Sanli."

She looked at him suspiciously. "And will I find nothing but ash within?"

Kageyama remembered the last time he had given her an envelope from the prince. He grinned wryly. "Sanli put a seal on it this time. It's unchanged from when he wrote it."

Ao traced the black zih inked across the thick paper of the envelope. She hesitated. Then she tore the envelope open.

She held the letter up to the fire, so as to see it better. With the light behind the paper, Kageyama could see Sanli's neat, looping letters, in reverse.

Inadvertently Kageyama found himself switching the words rightways and reading them.

Lady Four Strings,

I hope this letter finds you healed. First let me say how sorry I am for my words to you. They were spoken in anger, and do not reflect my true thoughts.

My brother has asked me to travel to Changsha Fortress, our northernmost outpost. I have already made arrangements for you to accompany Sho Sensei, Zakhar, and me. I think it would be in your best interest if you left the area with us, and quickly, as after what happened with the tigress, certain members of my family have become particularly interested in your whereabouts.

Afterwards, I understand if you do not wish to stay with me any longer. I will give you what you need to see you comfortably on your way. But know that I hope you choose to stay with us, wherever we go next.

I will see you soon.

Your Apologetic Prince,

Sanli

Ao read the letter, once, twice. Even after she had finished, Ao continued to stare down at the paper, as though not sure of what she had read.

"He... the little prince asked me to come with you to the north."

"Yes," said Kageyama.  "We'll be going to investigate disturbances along the northern border of the Green Kingdom. Sanli and Zakhar should arrive tomorrow, and we'll head north from here."

"I...he asked me to stay. Even after we return from the north."

"Yes," said Kageyama, watching Ao's face carefully. She looked confused.

"I don't think I need to tell you what he risks, asking you to stay with him. Especially after what happened with the tigress." Kageyama added.

"Is she still here?" Ao asked, jaw tight.

"No," said Kageyama, "she signed the treaty and left the next day."

Kageyama sipped his tea. It had surprised him, that tigress had left so soon, and without the prospective bridegroom she had come in search of.

It made him wonder about who Ao had been all the more.

Ao was frowning, as she looked at the wall of the dim lit room. "I suppose this is the part where you bribe me to leave. To refuse the prince."

Kageyama sighed. "I am not going to ask you to leave. I am going to ask you to stay."

Ao's looked at him suspiciously. The firelight flickered over her face. "If you think to trick me by assuming I will go contrary to your wishes, you will be disappointed."

Kageyama put his now empty cup down on the table. "I am not trying to trick you. Sanli... has had a good number of people in his life leave him, most of them women. Ming Lang, the little maid he and Zhangyu cared for. His mother."

Kageyama reached over, and added more water to the pot using the big black kettle sat on a towel beside their table. Outside, an owl hooted in the trees.

"I worry, what will become of him, if you leave too," the kitsune finished. "Much as I want you gone."

Ao thought carefully for a moment. "His mother. What do you mean she left? She is dead, I thought."

"She is... she took her own life. When Sanli was nine."

"Oh," said Ao, looking uneasy. Taking one's life was an action considered taboo in most mu'ren cultures. Perhaps because of a mu'ren's long lifespan. It was the greatest waste.

"It was Sanli who found her," Kageyama continued. "He did not sleep well for years afterwards. Still sometimes today."

Kageyama hesitated. Then he continued. "While she was alive, Sanli's mother often tried to... persuade Sanli's father, the last regent, to adopt Sanli into the family. I think you know what I mean by persuade."

"She lay with him."

"Yes. Now do you understand why Sanli got so upset by the idea of you... with Zhangyu... for mere information..."

"I lay with the second prince for pleasure, not for information," said Ao, matter-of-fact.

Kageyama held up his hands, wincing. "I do not need to know. I am just trying to show you how Sanli is thinking."

Ao looked indignant. "Hah, regardless, he had no right to get mad at me. To insult me. How many women has he had in his bed? And he assumes I will just stay chastely by his side?" Ao threw Sanli's letter to the ground beside her. "This feeble attempt at an apology makes me want to stay even less." She turned her body away to face the fire.

Kageyama frowned. He could not understand why the men around him were all drawn to this tempestuous, vengeful woman. Zakhar, Sanli, even Zhangyu. She was beautiful to be sure, but could they not see the pain she brought with her? Her rashness? Her selfishness?

Kageyama sighed. "I most certainly think that Sanli would be better off if you were to leave here and now. But, for a reason I can not fantom, he has decided to find purpose in you. I do not want to take that purpose away from him."

Ao said nothing for a long moment. Then she turned back toward him. "You care about the little prince very much."

"Yes."

"Enough that you are willing to change your thinking for him."

Kageyama did not respond. Ao looked away again, at the dark cottage wall, as though seeing something beside the molted, crumbling plaster.

Finally she looked back at Kageyama, sat across the table before her.

"I will sleep on it. In the morning I will tell you whether I will travel north with you all."

*~*~*~*~*~*