Sari's view

I was flustered to hear my old mistress was downstairs trying to find me. I was thankful for the will the head butler had given me and told me what was in it so I could stay with my current mistress. We managed to escape without incident and travelled quickly for the next few days until we arrived at the manor Lady Xinye lived in with General Fang.

It was late in the evening when I arrived, I was exhausted by the day's travels, but I knew if I were feeling like this, Lady Xinye would be even more so. I struggled off the horse when my eyes met a man's. It looked like he had just come from a bath, and he was drying his hair with a towel, his hair dripping down onto his open chest. 

It was strange. Everything about me seemed to respond to him. Lady Xinye chuckled at us as we stood gaping at each other.

"Shen, this is Sari. Sari, this is Shen. Shen is our farm labourer. Sari is my new handmaid." Lady Xinye introduced us and I found myself blushing under his scrutiny.

Shen bowed to me then, unintentionally exposing the entire front of his chest. "Wow," I could not help but say, he was built fiiiine. He looked up and gave me a pearly white smile, 'double wow,' I thought to myself, 'how is it his teeth are so white?' I found out later when Ying cleaned all of our teeth. Apparently, Lady Xinye used to do it for everyone, but it became all too much, so now lady Ying has done it.

I tore my eyes away from the fine specimen of a man to see Lady Xinye looking around in confusion and worry, "Where is Yimo?"

"Gone," said Shen with a dead look in his eye, "She left not long after you were abducted, saying I was too dirty for her."

I looked back at the man in shock, 'too dirty?' I thought, 'Is she mad? Even if he had a bit more dirt on him, I would not turn that man down. He was too fiiiine looking.' I did not realise I had spoken, "Is she mad?" aloud, though. 

"No, she was not mad," he shrugged with a wry smile, "These things happen."

I nodded. It was true they did, but it still did not change my opinion of her. If she thought that way, she should have done something about it - like bathing with him. I blushed at that thought, for I imagined myself in the bath with him then.

"What are you thinking, beautiful lady?" he asked, seeing my blushes.

"Ah, nothing," and I turned to busy myself. Realising I did not know anything here, I stopped and looked at Lady Xinye, "Where am I to sleep, and where do I take your things to?"

"You can sleep with me at my place if you would like," the man offered, "There is a spare bed there." shooting down any strange ideas I had, "I am afraid though the place is not very clean, I do not have time to clean it."

I smiled, "thank you, I will take you up on your offer then. I can fix the cleanliness issue."

"Well then, Shen," Lady Xinye said, "I will let you show Sari around. It seems you both will get along just fine."

Shen was right; his place was dirty. So the first thing I did was get him to show me the cleaning stuff, and I cleaned. Shen helped, or instead; he tried to help. I chased him away before too long as he got under my feet, "Go get me dinner or something," I ordered him. He had a perfectly fine table and stools outside we could sit on to eat. I was not going to sleep in that dirty house without cleaning it, and I was faster doing it by myself.

I washed the ceilings, swept the walls, took the sheets off the beds, wiped the tables and window sills then mopped out the house. By then, Shen had returned with our meals.

"Wow," he complimented me, "I do not think it has been this clean since it was built."

"Thanks," I smiled tiredly at him, "Do you think you could get us clean sheets and take these to the washing after? I am a bit tired."

He nodded, "Anything for you, my princess."

"Charmer," I shot back, earning myself a grin.

We talked a fair bit after that as we ate, learning that we had similar histories. 

His relationship ended because he worked too much in the field and often would come home smelling of it. Some days he was too tired to bathe, which caused her to leave him. 

My relationship ended because I put my Lady's needs before my lovers. It was part of the reason I left Lady Hong's service, the other reason being she was abusive. I had hoped the new mistress would not be. I was right; she was not. Unfortunately, she was the one being abused.

The more we talked, the more I knew this man was for me, and strangely he must have felt the same, "Marry me," he said suddenly.

"Are you serious?" I asked, "we only met this afternoon."

"I do not care. I feel that we would be alright so long as we are together," he said, "Besides which, you are like me and yet are different in that you balance my weaknesses from what I have heard and seen."

Feeling foolish, I accepted, "Alright, so long as the General and Lady approve."

He smiled then as if he was happy I had accepted, "I will ask tomorrow. It is too late now; the General and his Lady are in bed already. I'll take these and the sheets and bring you back fresh ones as I need to sleep soon. I need to get up early."

"Thanks," I replied and got up to finish off the little bit of cleaning remaining before the sheets could be put on.

When he returned, we made the beds. 

"This is my bed," he said as we made the biggest bed in the room, he turned beetroot red then as he continued, "You are welcome to sleep with me if you get scared or just want to."

"Maybe later," I said, "It is a bit soon. I want to be married before I sleep with you. I hope you do not mind."

"No, all the more reason for me to ask tomorrow then," he replied.

"Well then, Goodnight Shen," I said and hurried off the the bed allocated to me.

"Goodnight, Sari," Shen said softly, his voice caressing my name. 

We were married three weeks later.

Xinye's view

We had been home several weeks before all the boys came home. Even Bryce came. I was both pleased and astonished that they had come. 

I went to Bryce first and hugged him, "Bryce, welcome home," I said, earning myself a grunt, before moving onto Maelgwyn, "Good to see you again, Maelgwyn; I hope you get to visit a bit more often," Maelgwyn had a funny look on his face as if he wanted to say something.

"Me too, Mum," He replied, "Can we talk later?" 

I nodded and hugged Fergus too. When I got to Boa and Wei, I was unsure whether to embrace or give them a handshake, so I must have stood there looking confused. Both of them solved my problem and hugged me, saying, "Good to have you back, Lady Xinye."

Wei had been coming on and off since Boa had been here, never staying more than a few days as he felt uncomfortable around us, even though we did our best to make him feel welcome. Boa would seem happier the few days he stayed. It was not that Boa was unhappy; he was happily content here; he just seemed more satisfied.

When we finished greeting each other, Bryce said, "Can I meet my brother and sister?"

I looked at him, surprised, "Sure, I did not know you wanted to know them."

"I do," he said gruffly with a smile.

"Ying has them at the moment, and she has taken them mushrooming with Yuxuan," I explained, "They should be back soon."

"Who is Yuxuan?" Maelgwyn asked suspiciously.

"The nursemaid's father," I said, "He came to live with us after she tried stealing our child, along with her mother, Ruoxi and Granny." 

"I see," Maelgwyn mused, and seeing Sari, he asked, "How come Sari is here? I thought she was Prince Dudo's consorts, primary maid."

"She is mine according to his will," I replied, "Which reminds me, you need to read it... The buildings are finished, so you have a place to stay here, Bryce and Maelgwyn. You no longer have to sleep in the main hall. Boa and Wei, I hope you do not mind, but we moved you to our old room. We decided to take the new main room after all."

"I had hoped you would take the new suite, Lady Xinye," Boa said, "You do not have to face the memories there."

I smiled as Boa clearly understood my reasons for changing my mind. Before the abduction, I had not planned on moving into the new buildings as I was perfectly happy in the room I had spent with Xin in, but a single lousy memory overshadowed all those good memories. I was being a chicken, I know, but I believed it was better this way.

Maelgwyn and I went for a walk that evening, and we walked down to the alligator spot I had met and rescued Dudo.

"This is where I met Dudo," I said to Maelgwyn, sitting on the wheelie walker I had made.

"About that," Maelgwyn said, "I was surprised and furious to hear Dudo had done that to you. He did not seem the type."

"You know, Dudo?" my astonishment showed in my voice.

"Yes, he was the Prince who got me the job working with the Palace when I first got here. He even offered his daughter for me to marry," Maelgwyn smiled ironically, "I turned him down. She was beautiful, but I am not meant to be here at this time, so I can't bring myself to marry and have kids, you know?"

"I understand, but God gave me two children," I said to him, "They must be meant to be."

"My beliefs are not for everyone who came back, but I am pretty sure you will not have kids from Fergus either, but he is not as strong-willed as I. I hope Ying understands that if she marries Fergus, he does not plan on having children."

"Ah," I said and fell silent. Maelgwyn would not have told me if he had not discussed this with Fergus, and I was pretty sure that was something that he (Fergus) would have talked about with Maelgwyn in the time they were at the capital with Taiji and Dudo's servants.

"What happened to the servants and guards?" I asked him.

"They were returned to the palace," Maelgwyn said, "The only men complicit in your abduction were the three who had gone with Dudo. Those men were executed. Emperor Taiji will be coming here with Harjol later. Xin needs to give an account of his actions as he was ordered to arrest Dudo, not kill him."

I was silent at that. I knew it could not be helped as Dudo attacked Xin while he was in battle mode. It was something I could not get my head around.

"Maelgwyn," I said.

"Hmm?"

"Prince Dudo left me and you that palace and its servants," I told him of Dudo's will, "Do you mind looking after it from now on? I do not want to go there ever again."

"What? Not even for the hot springs in winter?" Maelgwyn said, telling me of something I did not know.

"I did not know that," I said, "But even so, no, I do not want to return. Just do me one favour - burn that room."

"Which room?"

"The courtesan room," I said, "Did the cat come back with you?"

"No, but I will return to the palace and see if he is there," he promised me, "If he is, do you want me to bring him back?"

"Yes, please," I nodded, "Anyway, we better get back before it gets too dark.

A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. Please let me know if you see any errors, as this is unedited.