Memories Beneath the Haze

The morning after that, Lu Qinyi sat across from him at the table, a dish Lin Jiao had sampled set out in front of Fei Li. Zhao Mei and Yang Xun were waiting at the door for Lu Qinyi to finish up so they could head to work together. After a while, Lu Qinyi finally broke their silent stalemate. "General Fei, are you really going to continue to insist on this?" He asked, annoyance and weariness tinging his tone. Fei Li stared at him, unfeeling. Lu Qinyi let his head fall onto the table, letting out a slow exhale. He was utterly defeated. "It seems I've truly met my match with you. I really did spoil you too much and now you've turned around to use me!" He whined, remaining with his forehead pressed on the table for a few moments.

"I warned you." Zhao Mei said with satisfaction, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed.

"I know, I know. It's too late now. General Fei will just have to accompany us while we do the reviews." He muttered, the expressions of the two behind him darkening.

"General Lu, you can't do that!" Yang Xun exclaimed. "I know you don't want to leave him but to bring him with you..."

"General Lu, you want to bring an enemy general with you while you review your own army? That's absurd, even for your standards."

"Pah. What is he going to learn, how we organize our records for provisions? How we keep track of the soldier's training progress and deal with schedule delays? Or maybe he can take notes on the ways we handle the soldier's home letters and packages? That will truly help him win the war. We have already reviewed the most critical aspects. What are you two making such a fuss for?" He replied, his tone laced with both annoyance and sarcasm. The other two fell silent at that. They were even less inclined to argue further with him when he stood up as it seemed he was in a bad mood, annoyance written all over his expression. He walked out the door with Zhao Mei and Yang Xun looking at each other before following after, not sparing Fei Li another look. Fei Li didn't seem to quite understand what had just happened, staring after them.

Lu Qinyi poked his head back in the door to ask. "Are you coming or not?" Although he looked annoyed, he still didn't use a harsh voice with Fei Li. So Fei Li stood up, trailing after him.

He glanced about, on high alert as they left the courtyard, passing through hallways and by many guards who saluted respectfully as they walked by. Finally they entered a large hall. The double doors to one side were wide open, revealing a training yard filled with soldiers in uniforms of black and blue.

Seeing them in the distance, Fei Li felt memories tossing restlessly, just below the surface of his mind. His headache seemed to increase tenfold, so much so that he had to stop and clutch at his head. He heard a loud ringing in his ears, beyond which he seemed to hear the muffled sounds of metal against metal. Every time he blinked, he could have sworn he could see patches of red against his closed eyelids. For a moment, it even seemed as if he could smell blood. "General Fei!" Someone was calling him. "General Fei, are you okay?" He felt a warmth gently press on his shoulder and those overwhelming memories slipped back into the haze.

He met Lu Qinyi's worried gaze, blinking a few times. "Your head must be hurting." He said, turning to wave over a nearby guard. "Have the servants prepare General Fei's medicine and some food."

Fei Li felt dizzy as he clutched at his head, feeling like the pain was going to suffocate him. He might have fallen over if it weren't for that steady arm that held him by his shoulders. He tightly shut his eyes, keeping his hand pressed to his head. Lu Qinyi's voice seemed to echo by him, seeming nearby one moment and far the next. "Have the next group ready their documents for me to look over. I'll catch up once General Fei is feeling better."

After a few moments of dizzying pain, he slowly opened his eyes. Lu Qinyi still had one arm at his shoulders, the other taking a bowl of medicine from a guard, taking a sip before holding it up to Fei Li's lips. "Drink," he prompted gently. Fei Li parted his lips, letting Lu Qinyi tip the bowl for him with care. Lu Qinyi must have been practiced as he held the bowl with a steady hand and poured the liquid in manageable sips. He felt the pain slowly ebb away, back to a manageable dull ache. Lu Qinyi only moved his arm away upon seeing Fei Li's complexion seemed better and his hand had lowered from his head. He took the egg roll wrapped in paper that the guard still held, taking a small bite before pushing it into Fei Li's hand. "You seem better. Eat while you walk then, we have work to do." He said lightly, his annoyed edge from earlier seeming to have worn away, already starting to walk off. Fei Li followed behind obediently, nibbling at his egg roll, leaving behind the utterly shocked and confused guard who stared after them with wide eyes.

Fei Li followed Lu Qinyi as he went through his review, moving back and forth throughout the building to look over documents, check procedures were followed, and discuss processes with various people, from those who oversaw them to those fulfilling them and even the ones on the receiving end. He watched the people around him with a cautious gaze, remaining a distance from them but never too far from Lu Qinyi. Lu Qinyi would occasionally pause from his busy work to grab food off a plate to hand it to him or pass him a cup of tea, after it had been sampled of course. A few times he would just look up to glance at him for a moment, as if merely checking he still seemed fine before continuing on with his work. Although being around other people made Fei Li uneasy, he still felt this was better than the loneliness of his silent room. He got some looks from people but with their general right there, not explaining but also not commenting on his presence, they too said nothing about it. And although Zhao Mei and Yang Xun would shoot him glances, it seems they couldn't say much about it either.

The day continued busily and by the time they finally returned to Fei Li's room, he was more than a little tired. He sat with a slightly slouched posture, yawning as Lu Qinyi tended his wounds. "Tiring isn't it? Maybe you'll think twice about tomorrow then, hm?" Lu Qinyi teased lightly, his fingers tightening the knot on his fresh bandages. Fei Li lazily tilted his head to the side, silently disagreeing. Lu Qinyi bid him good night and Fei Li laid down, pulling the covers over himself. He pulled the hairpin out, feeling his hair go loose. He ran his thumb along the smooth surface before placing it aside. He slept well that night after such a full day.

Morning came and Lu Qinyi stood by his bed, peering down at him.

"Are you going to be reasonable today?" Fei Li stared up at him before sitting up, moving to get off the bed. Lu Qinyi sighed before tossing a robe at him. "Dress properly this time then, and put your hair up." Fei Li only took a moment before he pulled on the robe, fastening it properly. He then picked up the jade hairpin, hesitating for a moment. He clumsily tried to put his hair up. He hadn't really used these before, he either tied his hair up with cloth or silk, or used a hair crown. Lu Qinyi had always been the one to put it in his hair when tending to his wounds.

Lu Qinyi watched him struggle unsuccessfully before letting out a breath of amusement or helplessness. He took the hairpin from Fei Li, adeptly hooking his hair around the hairpin and pushing it into place securely. Lu Qinyi then put a bowl of medicine in one of his hands and some sort of roll with a bite missing in the other. "Let's go then."

As they walked out of the room, they were met with the familiar faces of Zhao Mei and Yang Xun whose mouths both fell open upon seeing the jade hairpin holding up Fei Li's hair.

"General Lu, isn't that your hairpin?" Yang Xun had a complicated expression as he asked.

"General Lu, why is General Fei using your jade hairpin?" Zhao Mei wore a cold expression.

But the obnoxiously unbothered General Lu only shrugged, driving his subordinates further into anger as he lightly replied, "He seems to like it," before walking off. Fei Li followed behind him, hairpin glinting in the sunlight.

Today it seemed Lu Qinyi had to write up the conclusion of the review, using a desk in the army building for convenience. He would write for a while, then go to fetch something from one of the other rooms, return and write some more. Others would come in and report to him as he wrote. Ultimately, he was just as busy as the day before but Fei Li had more of a chance to sit down. Yet, every time Lu Qinyi stood up to go fetch something, Fei Li stood up too and followed him. After the third time, Lu Qinyi raised a hand to stop him. "I'll just be a moment. You don't need to follow." But his words fell on deaf ears and Fei Li got up again to follow him. After the seventh time Fei Li insisted on following him around like a puppy would, he began to think that this issue was about more than just poison testing food. Still, Fei Li sat to the side silently staring at nothing in particular when no one else was in the room, he didn't disturb his work even as he followed him about, so he couldn't really complain.

But he felt even more sure it wasn't about the food when Fei Li came to his room early the next day. Lu Qinyi had taken the review documents back to his room with him to continue writing, sitting at his desk to keep working first thing the next morning. Fei Li quietly entered, sitting down nearby to accompany him while he worked just as he had done the previous day.

Lu Qinyi raised an eyebrow as he looked at him. "I hadn't thought you'd be awake yet. I'll have the servants bring breakfast in," he said while pushing over his still warm cup of tea he had already sipped from. Fei Li took the tea, gently sipping at it while Lu Qinyi kept writing.

Even after breakfast, Fei Li didn't leave, simply staring at the fresh cup of tea held in his hands. 'Maybe he's bored?' Lu Qinyi thought to himself, getting up to walk over to his bookshelf. He had to do some searching to find a book that wasn't military related, throughout which Fei Li's gaze followed him. When he found one he held it out for Fei Li who took it, staring at it with a furrowed brow. "Surely a book is better than staring at a wall, right? If you don't like my taste in books, I can have someone bring in something different for you." But Fei Li opened the book, slowly flicking through the pages and so Lu Qinyi kept working. Fei Li spent the day reading in his room, although it seemed his headache hampered him as he had only read a few pages in that time. Lu Qinyi however finished all the documents, breathing a sigh of relief as he neatened the stack of papers.

Upon seeing this, Fei Li finally left the room. But he left for only a short while before returning with the medical supplies usually kept in his own room. These were laid on the table alongside the jade hairpin before Fei Li took his spot by Lu Qinyi, turning his back to him to provide easy access to his wounds. When Lu Qinyi finally got past the shock he started laughing. "General Fei, now I'm certain you're taking advantage of me." Yet he still pinned Fei Li's hair up and tended his wounds. Fei Li sipped at his tea, unbothered by Lu Qinyi's remark.