22 The Journey to the Capital

Nastasia was currently sitting at a table drinking a cup of tea still in a bit of disbelief. It had been one day since they set out on this journey, yet not once had she been able to feel it. When she had been guided into this carriage she had leap back out a number of times just to confirm the diminutive size of the outside to the great depth of the inside.

An entire room had been made to fit in the width and height of the carriage's cabin.

It had been a difficult thing to accept. Especially since she had the words to neither be able to voice her inquiries nor well receive the answers. This kind of thing, however, was impossible to exist as far as the sensibilities of universal knowledge went. Ah, but a good many things she had seen in the past two weeks had already gone well beyond what is thought to be possible.

Every time a thing like this cropped up -while it brought about awe- it made her insides churn. With each out of this world thing she experienced, Nastasia felt more and more that she had slipped into another world. It brought about an icy fear that once she was able to understand her situation and be able to get help from those around her, going home would become an impossible dream.

'Well, but,' she thought positively, 'if this is another world that I was able to come to, there should be a way to go back.'

Although it might be slow to find, she was determined to find it should this prove to be the case. Her fighting spirit awakened and thus after finishing her tea and snacks she immediately set the task of continuing her study of words to break the barrier that barred her from communication.

Li Yu Rong seemed all too happy to teach her after she showed her intent with both words and gestures that took him a moment to grasp. Although he insisted upon her being either in his lap or glued to his side while he taught, she was no longer bothered by the inmate contact as she had become accustomed to his need of close proximity.

If he wasn't patting her head, then he was touching her hair or petting her cheeks. As he never made any moves beyond these Nastasia treated them as his over-the-top ways of communicating as very little words could be used between them. His earlier move of kissing her had been set aside a hallucination due to lack of sleep on her part. So these moves that ordinarily would have been seen as flirting became an entirely different thing in her eyes.

The days of the journey passed leisurely. If Nastasia was not studying words with Li Yu Rong then she was either playing Irish -and sometimes Russian- folk songs which left her feeling melancholy after recalling her family or scribbling out detailed designs. After getting a few to be how she liked, she would take them to Paoxiao who had been making the entire trip at the front of the carriage with the driver.

To what felt was the side of the room was a window that could be slid open to the driver's seat. It kind of gave off the feeling an ancient time's equivalent limousine.

Nastasia would hand over the drawings to see if Paoxiao would be able to create any of the designs on the pages. Unfortunately, most things had been a no-go so far, as drawings could only speak so much without words to aid in their understanding. Though it was disappointing, it didn't dampen her spirits. After one not working she would try another and then another. Throughout the time spent on this venture she had only managed to get one of her designs across and though it was only one, she was happy all the same.

Now she sat, a few days later with her tea and snacks, fiddling with a square object in hand. It had taken quite the effort to get this toy designed. Though she had learned the words for the colors at the beginning of this journey, the idea of how it worked was difficult to get across. Because of this, and her stubborn want to see it through, she had learned many new words.

Li Yu Rong sat beside her, watching her turn the square object in interest. "What is this?" He asked.

Having finally learned this question, she was quite giddy at being able to answer. She smiled happily and said while holding out the object for him to see, "Rubik Cube." Then, after telling the name, she began to demonstrate how it worked. "Colors," she said with her limited words as she pointed to the colors on the wooden block comprised of smaller squares, "turn, match." She then, after a bit of fiddling, managed to match up a line of red colors.

Plucking the block from her hands, Li Yu Rong examined the object from all angles, giving a few testing turns here and there. After a few minutes of this, he paused and just looked at the Rubik Cube as though trying to see through it. Nastasia was about to ask for it back when he started to turn the thing rapidly this way and that causing her to gape in disbelief.

In under a minute, she was staring at a completely solved cube resting in her hand after he tossed it over. Even for her, who was quite good at solving puzzles, took a good two to three minutes her first try with the Rubik Cube.

Liking the amazed expression on her face Li Yu Rong patted her head before softly touching her cheek with a slight smile playing about his lips. Taking his hand away he stood up and walked over to a desk that suddenly and mysteriously appeared in the room two days ago, taking out a few sealed missives to unseal and read.

Nastasia paid no mind to his leaving as her attention was still riveted to the solved Rubik Cube resting in her hand. Ah, she went through all the effort to get across how this thing was made so that there was something else to amuse herself with and now it had all been wasted. After having witnessed Li Yu Rong's miraculous feat, she couldn't bring herself to mix the cube back up to solve it again.

Putting the disappointment aside with a sigh, she set the cube down as she retrieved the rice paper, brush, and inkstone given to her so that she would be able to practice her words.

Although she was wholeheartedly trying to practice, it difficult to stay focused, as her body was going stir crazy. For the past few days, they had been traveling to who knows where -she had been told but understood little yet to be able to grasp it- stopping only long enough for her to relieve herself. The towns and village were quickly passed through if they could not be outright avoided.

She only managed to get a peek through the window and did not see much. The curtains, though it didn't appear as if it should be such, were very difficult to move aside to get more than a two-finger width view of the outside. It was incredibly boring. Even with having her flute to play and both Paoxiao and Li Yu Rong as companions. Playing music for hours on end was tiring, so she usually stopped before too long.

Conversations went nowhere when one party could barely form a sentence. So when she sought Li Yu Rong for company outside of teaching her words, it generally ended with his treating her as a kept pet. As they could not converse properly he would, more often than not, have her lay beside him while petting her hair as he read a book. It made her feel like a lazy cat.

Seeking Paoxiao for company wasn't any better. Being that he was sitting beside the driver she had to stand beside the window, which was rather tiring. Even with the designs, she would show him, they would quite often lapse into long moments of silence for she could not speak well and thus they lacked usual meaningless words to fill the air between them.

Putting the brush down with a yawn, and taking note of the darkened sky, Nastasia decided to turn in for the night. Cleaning up her items that littered the table she crossed the length to the bed and laid down for sleep. The bed sank in as Li Yu Rong came to lay beside her.

She fell asleep to his gentle touch as he played with her hair. All the more, with her last bits of awareness before fully succumbing, Nastasia felt as if she were kept house pet.

----------------------

All though it was too dark for normal human eyes to see, even with the help of the moonlight, Hui Se Ying had no problems navigating his way across the road. Seeing that Paoxiao was nodding off beside him, and knowing that soon his master and the young lady would also be setting in for sleep, he kept his eyes peeled for a good place to park for the night.

Hui Se Ying's lips split into a wide grin.

At his back rushed up a heavy murderous intent, a knife coming around to dangerously press against his neck flesh. "Take the reins." The man that had suddenly appeared barked to Paoxiao. Stunned, Paoxiao complied and hurriedly took the reins under the fierce pressure of the other man's anger.

That done, the man spun Hui Se Ying around with his arm held firmly behind his back, pressing his face roughly into the wooden seat as the knife once again rested over his throat in the blink of an eye. Ordinarily, one would either be indignant at the treatment and fight back or be fearful and beg. Hui Se Ying, however, was laughing joyously.

"Well, hello, darling!" He said, deeply amused. "I didn't expect you to catch up this quickly." After all, they had left days before this worry wart would be able to do so. He thought they wouldn't be seeing each other until just before reaching the capital.

Digging a knee into his back, Lu Se Ying cried out. "Bastard, no joking around! What the hell did you teach him." The knife sat a little firmer, causing his throat to feel a little uncomfortable.

"Hahaha, you're such a mother hen, but don't worry, it wasn't anything bad."

Lu Se Ying snorted in disbelief. "I find that hard to believe of a man who thought it a brilliant idea to bring a six-year-old with him to a brothel."

"Hey," Hui Se Ying cried out, "I had been holding back for almost a year... a year! I didn't take him there specifically, we happened to be passing by. Ah, the ladies there were quite soft and supple like you wouldn't believe. You should really consider-ouch!" The knife bit into his flash. "Hey, gentle, okay!"

"Where should I be gentle with a ruffian like you? Now out with it!" He demanded as he once again pressed his knee roughly into Hui Se Ying's back.

"It's not like anything happened before you got there, everyone was too scared to go near him." He defended and then bit his tongue over his last remark. "Ah, well, I mean... I didn't tell him anything wrong. I was just trying to rile your goat. Got it? Only said to dote on her and such."

The knife fell away from his throat and he swiped a finger at the few drops of blood that had been left before the wound closed all the way. Righting his position, and scooting over, Hui Se Ying continued the conversation; neither of them paying Paoxiao that sat rigidly beside them any mind.

"Look, master's horror at finding out the side of myself that burned to love married women was amusing. I also admit that I would do things here and there to mess with him... he was so cute and innocent in his younger years, but I did watch master grow up. Being that he's serious about this girl and she ain't bad, of course, I'll be serious when he comes to confide in me."

"Master confided in you?"

"Mhmm."

Lu Se Ying finally sat down, crossing his arms over his chest, deep in thought. "It's true that she doesn't seem to be a bad person and she isn't afraid of being around master and doesn't seem to fear to look into his eye."

"Right," Hui Sei Ying agreed, "even we -who have been with master since he was a child- can't easily look him in the eye." Li Yu Rong's red eye, even when he wasn't upset, held something sinister in its depths. One could not look at it without feeling their soul freeze with terror.

"So," Hui Se Ying began after a bit of silence, "want to help me get her to realize her burning passions for master?"

"Don't," Lu Se Ying responded with a harsh glare, "let nature take its course. It's not good to force feelings."

Hui Se Ying hummed with a nod all the while cooking up many schemes in his head to help the young girl along. After all, he would rather his master be happy and have his good thing sooner rather than later.