Dilemma

Lan has her dagger against the man's neck. Close enough, for should there be any movement, blood would be drawn. "Don't make a sound. Who do you work for?" She whispers.

No response. The man is silent, heavily breathing by the movement of his chest. "I said who are you? Who do you work for?!" Lan asks more aggressively, eyes sharp, maddened at the thought that this man might harm her family. But still, no response.

Frustrated, she begins to search his body with her free hand for clues of whom and where this man originates from. Lan lets a sigh of relief realizing this man isn't Emperor Yuan's; His clothing is entirely different from the Xia Kingdom...' the Chun's Kingdom.'

Lan continues to search the man while he lays on the brink of unconsciousness. Finally, Lan realizes the reason for his actions: he has a deep sword wound on the side of his stomach. Blood was already oozing out of the man.

Lan moves to the front, and sees the man's state: face pale, dripping sweat, and face scrunched up indicating his pain. He then muffles words that Lan cannot comprehend.

'Should I save him?' Lan learned the basic emergency aid from books and is confident it could save him. But she doesn't know his origins, and the fact that he's injured makes him more suspicious. But then, he's also not a man Emperor Yuan hired...Lan went into a dilemma.

'If they are not targeting you, they are not your enemy,' was her uncle's words to her during one of their training sessions. Her dilemma was quickly resolved as Lan began to tear off the last existing sleeve she has.

She pulls off the man's outer robe, then shirt, leaving his top clotheless. 'Ay, Grandfather would kill me if he was here.'

Lan lays him down and pushes him to his side so she has better access to tend the wound. Taking the ripped sleeve, she holds it against the wound to slow the blood flow.

'I need to gather herbs..' Lan begins to lightly slap the man's face, "Hey, hey." He groans. "I need you to hold onto this. It'll slow the flow of the blood for the time being. I'll go grab some herbs to make medicine," she moves his hand to the fabric, "Don't let go. You'll die." The man, still half-conscious, nod and held onto the wound. He flinches at the pressure while Lan leaves.

Lan comes back with comfrey plants and aloe vera. She uses her hands to crush the plant and mixes it with the aloe vera she carved. Taking off the now blood-soaked fabric, she could see the wound was deep. Lan takes a deep breath and applies the mixture to the cut, taking off her makeshift veil to cover it. Using her dagger, Lan then cuts part of the man's robe to wrap his whole waist.

Done with the deed, Lan relaxes. She stares at the man she saved; Whilst tending she didn't get a closer look at him, shocked, Lan realizes he's only a teen..fifteen?

Fatigue hits Lan and she slumps against the tree she was originally on. She'd wake up from time to time to wipe his sweat and make sure the wound didn't get infected.

Before the sun fully reaches its peak, Lan wakes up. But to her surprise, the man was nowhere to be seen. He disappeared. "If he's well enough to walk he's well enough to leave!" Lan talks to herself, a little upset he left without even saying thank you for saving his life!

Over it, Lan refocuses her attention. It's the fourth day of training and Lan continues to map the forest. Her mission was to find the vacation home in five days, but Lan did that on day two. Why didn't she go home? She wanted to tease her uncle and come home with a full and detailed map of this unexplored forest. Lan smirks, imagining what Uncle Jing's reaction would be.

Back at the Wei vacation home, in his room, Wei Jing sneezes. "That brat."

Lan continues to explore the forest, mapping as she goes. She hunts for more food and makes new sleeves out of leaves to shield her from the cold at night. 'Aish, to think I wasted both sleeves on that ungrateful boy.'

By day five, Lan had mapped a good portion of the forest. Satisfied with her work, she makes her journey back to the house which would take the whole day. Lan calculated much. Getting back to the house at night would keep First Uncle on edge during the day. Lan giggles. 'Uncle would have it from Grandfather if I don't make it back.' Lan cheerfully continues her walk.

As night fall, the moon rises. Shining bright down at her path, Lan looks up and admires it. 'I wonder how Liling is doing..' She places a hand over her left chest to feel the ornaments. The ornament became another treasure to Lan like her dagger; She intends to cherish it.

However, as Lan heads closer and closer to the house, the light source was no longer from the moon. "No..no..." This scene is all too vivid to Lan, all too familiar.

The new lights are coming from flames.