Drowned Rats

Hua Yan gasped air into her lungs, then choked desperately as water rushed in instead of oxygen. Forcefully expelling the water, she opened her eyes, blinking as she realized she was lying on the shore of the Yin Hu lake. She breathed in precious air as she tried to take inventory of her body's condition.

The wound on her side stung fiercely, and she could feel trickles of blood running down her skin where the wound had reopened from her fall. Her ankle ached, letting her know that she had most likely sprained it, and her shoulder had been dislocated from the impact. Even her nose and sinuses were aching from where water had rushed up them, and her airways were completely raw from having water in them. In other words, she was in bad shape.

Groaning, Hua Yan forced herself to sit up, turning her head to look for Huli. The Fox was lying a few paces away, his signature fox mask nowhere to be seen and his eyes shut. She stared at him, not missing the chance to memorize his face, and raised her uninjured arm to touch her own. Hua Yan's mask was also missing, which was not ideal, but it would not have done much good now anyway since Huli had already seen her scarlet hair and eyes.

She took a deep breath, then jerked her arm sideways, not allowing even a moan past her lips as her shoulder slid back into its socket. Taking care of the bleeding wound in her side came next, but there was nothing she could use as bandages since her clothes were now soaking wet and muddy, so she could only press a few of the acupoints around the wound and temporarily stop the bleeding that way.

Crawling toward Huli and wincing at the pain of her injuries, she placed her fingers on the pulse in his neck, confirming that he was alive. She leaned over, putting her ear to his chest, and ascertained that though his breathing was a little weak, his lungs were clear of water. Frowning, Hua Yan glanced at his body.

There did not appear to be any wounds on him other than the one on his arm, but there was a lump on his head that indicated a possible concussion. However, a concussion was nothing for Hua Yan's medical skills. She poked the acupoint that would wake him up several times, wishing she had a needle or even just a sharp splinter so it would work better.

Huli groaned, his eyelids fluttering, then coughed, his airways sounding just as raw as Hua Yan's. His eyes finally focused on her face, and he stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before raising a hand to rub the bump on his head. Hua Yan smirked. "Looks like we lived, though I have no idea how we didn't drown since we both were unconscious from the impact."

Huli slowly propped himself up on his elbow, rasping, "Yes, we lived. And no, I was not unconscious on impact. I was the one that dragged your carcass to shore before I passed out, darling. You're really heavy."

Hua Yan whacked him on the head, avoiding the spot where he had been hit already, and Huli glared at her. "What was that for?!"

"If it was another lady, she'd have slapped you. You should never say that a woman is heavy unless you want her to take revenge. I'm not really offended since I know it's all muscle, but ladies who don't exercise would think you were calling them fat."

Huli grunted. "If you weren't offended, why did you hit me?"

Hua Yan used one hand to wring out her hair, then slowly climbed to her feet with many winces and grimaces. "Because since it seems we'll be stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, I don't want to be collateral damage when you offend some other lady by saying she's heavy or something."

The Fox shoved himself to a standing position as well, his face still twisted in a scowl. "What do you mean, we're stuck with each other?"

Hua Yan gave him a disbelieving and incredulous look. "You're more stupid than I thought. Obviously we're stuck together because I'm probably the only one alive who can cure the qi-sealing poison, but I don't have enough manpower to get all the ingredients by myself. Thus, we are stuck together."

Huli shook his head like a wet dog, his long black hair scattering water droplets everywhere, then staggered as he held a hand to the lump on his brow. "I'm not stupid, but my thoughts seem to be moving a bit slower than usual because of this blasted concussion. So what you're saying is, you really can cure this poison? I thought that no one had discovered a cure for it."

Hua Yan began to limp away from the lake, holding a hand to her side. "Other doctors would not be able to cure the qi-sealing poison, but I'm Ye Meigui. This poison is nothing to me," she said, slightly arrogantly.

Huli puffed out a laugh. "Fine, fine, I believe you, darling. But before we cure the poison, we ought to find someplace to treat your wounds. You look like you're going to keel over any minute."

Hua Yan glared at him. "I've been in far worse situations in the past, Fox, and I've lived through them perfectly fine." She rubbed her forehead as she thought carefully. "The important matter is, it's going to be a bit difficult to get all the ingredients to cure us before the poison kills us in seven days. Though the primary effect of the poison is to seal the target's qi, it also enters the meridians and begins to destroy them from the inside. I can fix burst meridians, but on the seventh day, the poison will destroy the life-death meridian on the heart, and we'll both die. It seems we'll have to take a risk and head for one of my contacts in Hongse."

Huli looked at her askance. "You can fix burst meridians? That's impossible! Burst meridians always means that a martial artist will never be able to practice their martial arts and cultivate again!"

She sniffed derisively. "For someone as dumb as you, maybe."

He growled something uncomplimentary under his breath, but Hua Yan chose to ignore it, instead pulling one of her sheathed jian swords free of her belt and using it as a cane. It was a miracle the swords hadn't been lost beneath the waters of the lake when they fell.

Huli caught up to her quickly, still cradling his head. "Who is this contact of yours, anyway? Are you sure we can trust them?"

Hua Yan frowned, thinking. "I'm not absolutely positive, but she should be trustworthy. I've known her for many years, and she's, well...a bit eccentric. I don't think the emperor would be able to convince her to work for him."

Huli looked a little worried. "How eccentric is she for you to be saying that? The emperor can convince almost anyone to work for him, as evidenced by Gao Tai and your subordinates."

Hua Yan smirked. "You'll see. In any case, now that my identity has been exposed to you, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Hua Yan."

Huli's gaze wandered over her hair and eyes again, and his hand finally dropped away from his head. He seemed to have dropped all pretenses and was no longer using his flirty fake persona, but he tilted his head and smiled at her, traces of it surfacing on his face. "Yes, I had almost forgotten about that. Are you really from...that clan?"

Hua Yan sighed, unsurprised that he had ignored her introduction and chosen to focus on the part of her words she wished had remained hidden. Looking away and taking a few moments to gather her thoughts, she pursed her lips. "I...don't know. I don't have any memories from before I was four years old. I don't know if they were erased, or if I simply can't remember them because I was too young. All I know is that I have the red hair and eyes that are exclusive to the clan. But I can't even investigate because my cultivation isn't high enough to go there yet."

Huli nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I see. I had noticed your gift, back in the forest, but I was still surprised. No one has seen a member of that clan down here in thousands of years."

Hua Yan let out a low curse as her ankle nearly gave out when she stepped on a slick patch of mud, and was glad for the excuse to stop talking about her mysterious past. She jabbed him with her elbow, eliciting an "oof" sound from him. "You still haven't introduced yourself, even though I told you my name. I don't really trust you, and I know you don't trust me, so it's better to have dirt on each other so we're more comfortable."

The Fox sighed, tugging at a strand of his hair as he walked next to her. "Fine. You can call me Daiyu, darling."

Hua Yan glanced at his hair, which shimmered like jade even while wet, and laughed a little. "It seems we were both named after our hair. Your name means black jade, while mine has to do with fire."

"Mmm," he hummed noncommittally, looking away. Hua Yan cocked an eyebrow, but knew she wouldn't get an answer even if she prodded more, so she turned her attention back to walking.

"I noticed you also have a gift, like I do. What clan do you descend from to be born with such a blessing?"

Daiyu smiled mysteriously. "I'm afraid that will have to remain a secret, darling. The price for that information is a little higher than you can afford."

Hua Yan shook her head at the return of his flirting and his refusal to answer her question and fell into a grumpy silence. The two of them struggled onward, shivering a little in their wet clothes, making their way northeast toward Hongse.