Scherzo Parang

The two stared at each other, curious violet and weary green. Jin Lu opened her mouth, hoping to reassure the boy, but closed it when Long Yin's voice sounded next to her.

"Your companions are dead. Listen to Jin Lu," he nodded his chin in her direction, "or you will be joining them." Long Yin watched the boy closely to see if he understood.

Jin Lu glared at Long Yin, ready to scold him for scaring the child as soon as he woke up, but was interrupted again.

"I understand." The boy let out a long breath before closing his eyes again, falling back to sleep. Jin Lu rushed to grab his wrist to check his pulse, sighing heavily in relief at the steady beat. She whipped her head around to hiss at Long Yin, only to find that he had already disappeared from the doorway.

These people are going to give me whiplash!

Jin Lu fumed for a few moments before letting the boy's wrist go. Hopping out of the carriage, she stormed over to glare at Long Yin.

"What is your malfunction?! He's only a child," Jin Lu hissed, leaning down until their noses were almost touching.

The guards watched with wide eyes, backing up as inconspicuously as possible.

"Even children can kill," Long Yin replied evenly.

Jin Lu flinched back, looking imploringly at the people around her. All she got were stony looks and nodding heads. Her arms dropping to her sides in defeat. Long Yin patted the log next to him, telling her to sit. Jin Lu sat down with a heavy sigh.

"It's not right."

Long Yin looked at her thoughtfully.

"Right or not, it is the way of things. The powerful rule and the weak survive."

Jin Lu frowned hard, lines appearing on her smooth skin.

"People are strong to protect the weak, not to rule them," Jin Lu grumbled under her breath.

Long Yin looked at her for a few more moments before he turned to the fire.

Jin Lu thought of what it meant to be strong. There were different kinds of strengths, some internal and some garnered from others. In order to protect someone, you needed both. Jin Lu looked at the carriage where the youth she had rescued slept, contemplating.

At first, Jin Lu had thought of becoming strong enough to beat Long Yin into releasing her. After coming to understand him a bit, she wasn't as afraid of him as she had been. Jin Lu was surprised to find that she had come to think of Long Yin as a friend.

Pompous, arrogant, and rude, but… he's a good person at heart.

Jin Lu's thoughts went round and round in her head. Now, not only did she need to become stronger for her own sake, but for the ones she wanted to protect. The problem was that she wasn't sure how to do it. Finally, she locked on to two ways to become stronger that also worked with each other.

Cultivation and money.

If Jin Lu continued to raise her cultivation level, she could find jobs that matched. The higher her level, the more she would get paid and the more power she could accumulate. She could also sell bottles of elements, once she figured out how to make them.

"Time to sleep," Long Yin said, standing beside her.

Jin Lu had been so deep in thought that she had forgotten he was there. She jumped to her feet, almost stumbling into the fire. Long Yin grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his chest with a sigh. Jin Lu's apology turned into a gasp of surprise when she was lifted into his arms and carried a few steps to a pair of bedrolls. Long Yin set her down before walking around to her other side and laying down next to her.

"Sleep," Long Yin commanded again, pulling her into his arms.

Jin Lu let out a resigned sigh, grumbling under her breath as she made herself comfortable. She ignored how her heart settled at the feeling of Long Yin's arms around her. Her lips curled slightly at the brush of air against her neck from his breathing, letting the rhythm help her drift to sleep.