Xinye's view

Travelling was rough. It seemed like every time I travelled now; I was exceedingly uncomfortable. Each place we stopped for the night, I could not move out of the palanquin, to my shame. Xin had to lift me out and carry me to our room, where I got some relief. The trip took an agonising two weeks. It could have been shorter, except for me. Each day travel I could do was shorter as I had started blacking out from the pain.

The children, thankfully, enjoyed the trip. Each stop to them was like being explorers seeing something new and exciting. Yaun and Li Wei both take turns riding on the back of a horse with their father or Uncle Fergus. The first time they rode with their father, Ying was clucking like a mother hen about her fears for the children.

"It will be fine, Ying," I said to her, and with that, she stopped worrying so much.

Weici joined us at the town arranged and was shocked at how much I had deteriorated in the trip. According to Weici, I looked like a walking skeleton covered by skin and accused Xin of not looking after me.

"Weici, I will be fine once I have a stable bed again," I assured him, "Do not worry so much."

"I cannot help it; Bao would be beside himself, if he saw how you were now," Weici stated as if Xin was not worrying nor caring about me.

"He may not look it," I defended Xin, "But Xin is too; this is just as hard for Xin. If not harder as it worries him that I am like this. I probably should not have come."

"You have to if you want Xin to reunite with his mother," Weici said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know, it is important that they do reunite," I agreed, "I can only imagine the pain she is in with her son away from her when he is supposed to be looking after her."

"His mother doesn't deserve to be looked after with how she treats you," Weici muttered somewhat petulantly.

"That is ridiculous. If someone is old and frail, regardless of who they are, they should be looked after," I rebuked him. I knew my own son did not want to look after me as I ruined his life with my mistakes. I was a foolish human, and it grieved me that I had injured him in that way. "No-one is perfect, and that we expect each other to be is a mistake," I murmured before blacking out again.

I woke to being in a strange bed, and Xin was sitting beside me, stroking my hair.

"We are here finally," he said with a relieved smile, "At least we do not have to travel again for a while."

I went to get up and was held firmly down.

"There is no need for you to get up," he said with a worried smile, "Just relax and get strong again. Weici, Ying, and Suri are taking care of everything. I have the kids staying in the part of the house that is never used with everyone else. It is better this way for now. At least until I get to talk to mother."

"I understand," I said, "It was a lovely area, and not many people are brave enough to go there, so they should be safe."

"Should be?" Xin tilted his head.

"Well, if you do not get those screens fixed, they might scare themselves to death, or a wild animal might come in and make its home," I reminded him of the practical side needing attending.

"Oh, you're right. I will get Weici and Fergus onto it," he said.

"You can't get Weici to do it," I said, "You will blow his identity."

Xin said after a moment, "You are right, I was being careless. Sorry. Anyway, I have to go meet my mother now. Take care." and he kissed me goodbye as I drifted back to sleep.

Xin's view

I finally arrived back home, and although it no longer felt like my home, my home to me was the place we had just left to visit my Mama and family under this roof. I showed Weice, Sari, and Ying my room, and unsurprisingly it was already clean as if my mother was keeping it clean on the off chance I came home.

After seeing my room was fine, I hurried out and brought Xinye inside. I knew it would be a while before she woke again, going by the previous days, so I left and showed my family the ghost wing of the house to stay in. I figured it was better for them to stay there out of my family's way than anywhere else.

As for ghosts, I figured if there were any, Xinye must have chased them away as her favourite spot to be was in the garden there while I was at war for Taiji. When I returned, I waited for her to wake, and when she awoke, she suggested we repair the screens. It made sense to me, and I wondered why I had not thought of it myself.

I left Xinye to recover and went to face my mother. An experience I was both looking forward to and dreading at the same time.

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.