After the fight Fu invited Black Fox to drink, specifying he's paying this time.
What? Even a beggar has some dignity...maybe not much...and he's looking to become a xia, now! Besides, he'd just won it betting!
The only important part was that Black Fox accepted...and then their roles got reversed again. Fu got drunk talking about the late never-married-bride of the Wolf. He'd not talked much with her, but he remembered her being cute and kind.
"This Su Yan...can't she get killed? I mean, not by you or Xiaomei, Black Fox...but she can be, right? The deal your father struck, it only covers her nor being pursued in court!"
"Not really. We won't take actions against her, at all. She's an influential noble, her death would be a shock, and Heavens know there were plenty of shocks! We don't want to test the state!"
"But it ain't fair", Fu concluded, and got drunk.
Later, he came to his senses while Black Fox was carrying him, and was outraged.
"You're carrying me?!? I've failed at my duties! Didn't protect your father's bride...and now you're carrying me, instead of me watching over you! Despite the fact that you've drunk even more than me, so if anyone attacks us, you might inadvertently kill him!"
"Shh...it wasn't your job to keep her, and neither are you responsible for me!"
"How come I'm not responsible? Of course I am", Fu wept, and resigned himself to his fate.
One failure, no consequences, obviously Heavens were kind! And he was
going to be the smart guy and learn from his own mistake while it wasn't
too heave, preventing a heavier one in the future!
It's an oath of Never Get Drunk, Prevent Surprises While People Are
Drinking. Whether it has any mechanical impact remains to be seen.
The next day the Emperor was announced to have returned. As the
statement said, the Minister Pei had misinterpreted the Emperor's
prolonged absence during his Mission To Recover The Goodwill Of Heavens,
and assumed the worst. The guilty parties had been punished, justice
was restored!
In the whole rigmarole, the return of the Emperor's Half-Brother remained almost unnoticed - although nobody can really distinguish them...
"Hopefully his future bride would be able to. If not, how would she know
she's not their bride?!?", Fu joked, crassly. The humour went
unappreciated.
The next day? The next day he was already in training camp...which is in
a village right next to the compound - actually a small castle - where
the bride-to-never-be was kidnapped from.
It soon turned out that being of noble blood was not really helpful unless one can shut his mouth, train hard, and not complain. All abilities that Fu excelled at!
Forced marches? Striking poles? Sparring? He felt at home. Gimmemore!
Other people were dropping, however...or being chased off. They were told in no uncertain terms that of the 30 of them, maybe 6 would graduate!
The agents of the Ministry of Magic Affairs pass a hard, hard training!
Fu was given some choice (and advised by the trainers, but their advise coincided with what he was thinking anyway), and started improving his Ascending Dragon Fist, focusing on heavy, heavy strikes. He already has the ability to withstand damage, now it was time to learn how to deal more of it!
I'm not sure whether it was Fu or a trainer that said it, but "the sooner your opponent drops, the less damage you sustain! That's why the ability to drop people fast is part of humaneness, you are minimizing the suffering in the world. And given that this is protecting your own health, which was given to you with the Chi of your parents, it's also a form of filial piety!"
...probably not Fu, with such reasoning.
On the evenings, however, he was still drinking with Black Fox, who is "monitoring his advancement". On one of these days, he asked whether he can send a magical kite to his bride to be.
Black fox advised against it, but recommended that he writes a message to his father-in-law-to-be...even though the Magistrate of Middle City has no idea he is to be a xia's father-in-law. The way of familial ties is complicated and mysterious!
Fu the Falcate Spear agreed, and sent a magical kite expressing his best wishes and regrets for not being introduced. "However, I had to leave for my training at the Ministry of Magic Affairs! I am hoping sincerely that I could be introduced after it concludes!"
As a note, magic kites are expensive, so it's a way to flaunt means, as well as influence - and Fu's name is getting more and more famous. Also, it's a transparent hint that he is getting an important position...because if he survives it, he is going to get one!
However, he also insisted on sending a kite to the bride-to-be. (The kites can be returned, once, so you're basically paying 2 gold pieces for two SMS that take 1 hour each direction. Instant communication is at a premium in our wuxia/xianxia! I can't even guess what the price for Internet access would be!)
Well, Fu paid nothing, Black Fox gifted him both kites, although he expressed amazement that Fu is still bothering with that girl.
"How could I not?"
"I thought you'd have tired of her", Black Fox shrugged.
"Maybe, but if I did just leave, wouldn't it mean I've lied just to get to her body? If that's what she wanted as well, of course that would be fine. But I had to at least ask her whether she wants something more. And since she wanted it, how could I say I've changed my mind after receiving what I'd wanted?"
It's not a logic that Black Fox is fond of. He does exactly that!
"Well, it's different with you, you're the Emperor's uncle!", Fu shrugged. "That means it's alright".
Meaning, an emperor's uncle might do much worse and couldn't be
punished. Just sleeping with semi-random girls that want it doesn't even
register!
At the end of the week, they got practical training. Fu, however, got paired with...Black Fox!
No, nobody'd pulled any strings at all...
However, this was one of the few times when their mission ended up in disgrace. They were trying to follow the lead of the mercenaries who'd kidnapped the late bride-to-never-be, two women and a man, some of them from Jin country!
But they only managed to follow them from Su Yan's palace to an inn, then to a hired palanquin...which stopped in the forest.
Then we did ask in the nearest inns. In the second closest, we found their traces: they'd been there for a day and a half, or two days and a half. Then they'd left.
No traces were found in the nearest inns. The local animals didn't know more than that, either.
OOC, they'd left with a giant heron, but they walked a day and a half to get there. If Hoi had summoned the bird to this inn, he'd have been followed: local animals would know a giant heron was nearby!
However, the bird was on the other side of the capital and they didn't call it. The GM was really surprised when I reminded her of this.
"Good thing for him Hoi is so paranoid, I guess?"
"Well, he couldn't call it, so he didn't!"
"They had a whistle that can do it!"
"Oh...I'd just forgotten about it, and so did Hoi!"
