Nanowrimo 2022 - Day 26 and 27 update (Patreon)

We're so close to the end, folks! Over the past two days I've added 2,869 words to my project, bringing my total to 48,053!

Jin Xia chuckled a little. “Ah, I was hoping we might chat like friends a little while longer, but I see that won’t be possible. Very well.” She made herself comfortable in a nearby chair covered in furs. She let her amber gold gaze settle on Li Lan, watching him squirm and fidget under the full weight of her attention. “I have reliable information that implies that your emperor means to assassinate you.”

Li Lan did not seem surprised by this news. Instead, he sighed in resignation, plucking the kettle from the fire just as it began to whistle. With slow, diligent movements he poured the steaming water into two teacups decorated with the image of black turtles upon a shoreline. As he passed one over to Jin Xia, he finally spoke. “I feared it was only a matter of time before the ire of my emperor turned against me. But, tell me, what use is this information to you. And why did you expect me to give you in exchange for it?”

Jin Xia held up the cup to Wukong, who took a brief sip of it. After a brief moment of letting it sit in his mouth, he spat the liquid into the nearby chamber pot.

“It’s safe, princess.”

“Thank you,” Jin Xia murmured. She took a sip of the tea, mulling over the subtle fruity taste of it. “I know you’ve asked me questions General Li Lan, but I’m afraid I must ask a question of my own in response: were you simply going to let the emperor kill you?”

Li Lan stiffened at the accusatory question. “Would it matter much if I did?”

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t matter much to me specifically,” Jin Xia admitted breezily. “What would it matter to me if another northern general with a heart bigger than is practical dies at the hand of his paranoid emperor? But…” She paused to take another sip of tea. “I think it would matter very much if you rolled over and let him kill you.”

Li Lan stopped with his teacup halfway to his lips, surprised by her words. He lowered his cup, red-brown eyes watching her carefully. “Why?”

“I have heard you are invincible on the battlefield,” Jin Xia said, meeting Li Lan’s gaze evenly. “No spear, sword, or arrow can pierce your skin. Such talk gives hope to your people. And if it’s true, then doubly so. To allow yourself to die simply to appease a selfish man who does not think past his own immediate, egocentric paranoia… Well.” Jin Xia took another sip of tea. “Simply put, I think it’s a terrible waste of your gift.”

Li Lan considered her words, finally taking his first sip of tea. Jin Xia found she quite liked the general. He was patient, deliberate in his words and his movements. He was polite, and clearly didn’t think very highly of himself. ‘Someone like me’. The words made Jin Xia want to roll her eyes and scoff. The man did not see his worth.

Though, perhaps that made this all the better.

“Say I didn’t just sit back and allow the emperor to poison my tea,” Li Lan posed. “What would you have me do instead?”

“It’s quite simple really,” Jin Xia assured him with a sly smile. “Simply give him exactly what he’s been expecting: a coup.”

Li Lan choked on his tea, coughing, and sputtering as his wide eyes stared at her. “You cannot be serious!”

“Oh, but I am,” Jin Xia insisted. “The way I see it, if the man cannot learn how to properly use and appreciate the resources at his disposal, and instead prefers to throw temper tantrums like a child, then he does not deserve his station. And just like any child, if he cannot learn to play properly then he shall have his toys taken away from him.”

“And you would put me on the throne?” Li Lan asked, adjusting his glasses that had been knocked a little askew during his outburst. “I may lead my men in battle, your highness, but I have no talent for statecraft.”

She shook her head, her smile growing incrementally larger. “Of course not. I would not burden you with such a thing, General. No, given everything, it would be best if the north joined the south and west under my wing.”

Li Lan’s eyes narrowed. “You essentially want me to help a foreign power take the throne from my own people.”

“I feel that’s a bit oversimplified,” Jin Xia argued mildly. “Your people are suffering, and instead of focusing on that your emperor keeps killing his best generals simply because they’re more popular than him. And who can blame them for being so? The citizens do not see their king! They see the soldiers and the generals who command them fighting against the raiders who take what little they have. What good does it do to leave that man on his throne.”

“How can I be sure you’d be any better?”

An excellent question, but Jin Xia’s painted-on smile didn’t faulter. “You can’t. But is it better to go with an unknown that might turn out well, or to stick with something you know will fail?”