FAMILY BONDS

POV: Prince Liu Bian

LOCATION: The imperial courtyard

TIME: Mid morning till early afternoon

Upon the break of dawn, you stand beneat a large peach tree watching intently as the raising sun cast its shadow over the tree. The sweat clinging to your brows, the dull aching of your bones and the shaking of your hand begs you to rest but you deny that request with every once of your will power.

How can you rest when there is one more task to be done?

You ask yourself

You continue to wait for some time until you begin to feel a soft wind blowing from the south west. Knowing fully well what that wind will bring, you pick up your discarded sword and take a fighting stance. Sure enough as soon the wind hit the tree, ten enemies leaps down with their blades pointed at you. Without a second thought, you shut your eyes tight and cut them all in half with ten quick strikes.

Clap, Clap, Clap

You turn to see the one you summoned standing behind you.

"Impressive swordsmanship my prince." He says as he gestures to the pile of split leaves piled at your feet.

"I have never seen anyone take down their enemies without their eyes before."

You are a bit taken aback by his respectful tone but you quickly realize that if your cocky younger brother is being respectful, then he also knows that your father is close by. If that is the case.....

"I sent for you since the break of dawn little one." You say in a commanding tone

"why have you come late?"

"Forgive me my prince." He replies with a gentle bow

"I overslept and such I could not attend to your royal pleasure. May I ask why you sought my presence?"

You hand your sword over to him and signals him to follow you.

"The rumors about your martial weakness dear brother has grown too large for me to ignore it any longer." You cry out in a voice that was not loud but still loud enough to be heard from the palace.

"It is bringing shame to our family and that is something I can no longer tolerate."

If these words stung him, he did not show it.

"How then can I remove the shame from my family?" He asks in an earnest tone.

"How then can I get stronger?"

You frown slightly at his continuous humility because your instincts were screaming loudly that is a trap hidden somewhere in that attitude. Nevertheless, you slowly take him to a wide arrangement of tree stumps and with a fierce leap you balance yourself on it.

"Throw me a staff and get one for yourself." You order

"But my prince, should I not.....?"

You give him a glare that could melt mountains.

"Do you want to be able to fight for yourself?" You ask in a strong voice and he slowly nods

"Then grab a staff and get up here."

He grabs the staff and leaps onto the tree stumps but he trips and you lunge forward in time to stop him from falling off the stumps.

"First lesson you must learn is defense." You say.

"You must learn how to block and dodge any attack that comes your way. You must be sharp, you must be prepared and above all..."

You leap off the stump and give him a wicked flying kick that sends him flying straight into the ground.

"You must be alert." You complete

You take a subtle glance at where the emperor and his retinue were standing and smile in satisfaction at the subtle nod your mother gives you.

This is going to be a good day

You think to yourself

The fight (or beating) continues for quite some time until it becomes clear that your brother is not even trying.

"Are you even trying?" You cry out in frustration

"What is the use?" He groans

"We both know that I can not beat you."

"And is that what you will say to an enemy?" You counter in a voice filled with sacarsim

"I am sure that they will spare you out of the goodness of the heavens."

"I do not believe an enemy will catch me alone in these grounds my prince." He replies as he tries to stand

"I will always have a guard or two around me."

You glance back to the emperor and quickly notice that while his face is dark as thunder, your mother and the rest of his retinue were smiling brighter than the noon day sun.

"So you mean to say that you will let your guards do all your fighting for you?"

You try your best to look shocked but you were dancing within because you know just how big a fool he has made himself with that statement.

"We are imperial princes brother." He replies as he stands to his full height.

"People will look up to us as leaders and one thing I am certain of is that if a leader does his job well, then there will always be people who are willing to die on his behalf."

Unable to counter that statement, you glance towards the emperor only to see him leaving with a smile on his face while his retinue all had clouded faces.

You wait for a while to see if they will turn back but they did not.

This quickly makes your blood boil in anger as you come to realize that you have lost yet another opportunity to impress the emperor. Lacking an outlet for your emotions, you grip your staff tightly, leap off your the training stumps and deliver a furious strike at your brothers head... only to see your staff clutched in your brother's palm.

"I understand the desire to impress the emperor and please your mother my prince." He says gently

"But if you keep showing them your martial skills, then all you will be telling them is some thing that they already know. How are good are you as an administrator? How well do you work with others? Can you command men on the battle field? Can you keep your subordinates in line?

These are questions that need to be answered brother. These are things that father needs to see. If you can not offer him that then please I beg of you in the name of the heavens, do not summon me just so you can use me to show your martial strength because if you do I swear on the grave of our ancestors, I will not hold back. "

So saying he let go of your staff, dusted his clothes as best as he could and left.

A part of you wanted to disbelieve him but when you look at the fire in his eyes, the other part of you becomes certain that he was not joking.

After all if he could catch a full powered strike midair who is to say just how skillful he is?

You refuse to answer that question.

A long time later, for some reason you do not quite understand, you find yourself in the library reading the five classics of Confucius.

"You are not at the training ground my son?"

You do not need to turn to see who it is

"I realized that since I already have martial arts, I will need more than that if I am to be the emperor." You reply

Your reply is easy, casual maybe but as soon as you say it, it makes your mother face twists in a smile.

"You have finally decided to learn?" She asks with joy

You simply nod

"What changed your mind?"

"I don't know." You answer candidly

"I suppose I just wish to have more to offer my emperor."

And just like that her beautiful smile becomes a dark and frightening smile.

"And I trust your humiliation of that bastard had nothing to do with this?"

Your eyes narrow in response as your mind quickly comprehends what she was actually saying.

"Are accusing me of taking advice from a commoner?"

"Yes." She replies

"Am I right?"

Try as you may you could not formulate a response to that question.

She then walks close to you, bends down to your height, puts her dainty hand on your shoulder and says in a soft voice.

"My son while a true emperor should always listen to advice, that advice must come from his friends and not his enemies. That boy whom you sparred with today may bow to you and call you 'prince' but if you look closely in his eyes all you will see is his ambition to claim everything that should be yours. This ambition and your shared blood makes him your enemy and what does an emperor do to his enemies?"

"He wipes them out to their fourth generation." You reply as your throat suddenly becomes dry

"Exactly." She agrees

"Now I need you to promise me that no matter what you see him do and no matter what you hear him say, you will always remember that he is your enemy. Can you promise me that?"

"Yes mother." You reply strongly.

"And when the time comes, I promise you that I will wipe my enemy off from the face of the land."

This brought a bright smile to her face.

"Good." She adds as she heads for the door

"You should be ready Liu Bian because I believe your time may come a bit sooner than you expect."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

She turns back from the door with a terrifying smile.

"Let us just say your father will not be around for much longer."