kougetsushi:
Yuezi recognised that voice, and she was relieved to know that someone familiar was around and found her. She looked up to see that it was indeed Gan Ning, but before her face could express her relief, she pouted and puffed her cheeks when he didn’t express any concern for her, but for the bells. “Hmph! If you want them so badly, then you’re going to have to get them yourself. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m sort of in a predicament here!” The tiger cub in Yuezi’s arms tongue its tongue out at Gan Ning in her defense.
Petty feelings aside, Yuezi informed him of what was going on. “This cub was down here when I fell.” She left out the detail about how she did not look where she was going because she was rambling to herself about his bells. “I think its been down here for a while, and I’m worried there are poachers trying to steal our tigers. I have to tell Lord Sun Quan.”
Her ankle was still in bad shape, but very, very carefully and slowly, Yuezi put one hand against the wall of dirt (while carrying the tiger cub in one arm) to balance herself against as she stood back up. She winced, tears almost forming from the corner of her eyes, but Yuezi held strong and did not show weakness to Gan Ning. “Look, I’ll return your bells to you, but I really need your help. First and foremost, I want to get this cub to safety. If you can get us out, you’ll have your bells. I promise.” Pirates liked making deals, didn’t they? Yuezi thought the wager was fair: a baby’s life for two bells. A single tear began to fall from her eyes, not because she was in desperate need of Gan Ning’s aid, but because the strain on her ankle was becoming too much, but Yuezi was more concerned for the cub’s well-being than her own at the moment.
“Please?”
Gan Ning let his arms drop from behind his head and he proceeded to walk back and forth slowly, his sights set on Yuezi. Honestly, she was trying to do too much at once, and he could tell that she, like the tiger cub she had been with, had gotten hurt upon falling into the pit. He was surprised that it looked like nothing had been broken or that neither she nor the tiger were impaled by anything being that this was intended to trap the poor cub and not a human girl. Sucking his teeth, Gan Ning crouched and held out both his arms toward Yuezi and the cub. “I’ll take ‘im and put him down on some solid ground.” The pirate gently took the cub from Yuezi, mindful of its injuries and set it down. The cub in turn limped just a ways away from the pitfall and then sat in a way that wouldn’t agitate its injuries, and Gan Ning angled himself so that his back wasn’t to the cub. Gan Ning knew that the cub even wanted to lash out, it would attack the prey whose back had been turned. Tagging along in Wu’s ranks over the time had taught Gan Ning a few things about tigers. “Alright,” Gan Ning proceeded to circle the pit, just so that the cub could keep its eye on the pirate and then he looked down toward Yuezi, “Now we get you out, and I get my bells.”
Without another word, Gan Ning easily lowered himself into the pit and once his feet felt solid ground, he hoisted Yuezi over one of his shoulders (mindful to keep his hands from landing or gripping anywhere near her backside--that was an issue he didn’t need to deal with) and then climbed his way out of the pit. Save for one or two slips, Gan Ning had gotten them both out of danger, and all that was left to do was to inform the right people about the trap poachers had laid. There could have been more, and it was best to discover them before Yuezi fell into another one.
Gan Ning set Yuezi down gently (he should have just dropped her, but it would also probably cause more damage and he really didn’t want to face the wrath of one Huang Gai), and as he heard the shuffling of the tiger cub and then watched as it limped in Yuezi’s direction, Gan Ning sighed.
“C’mon,” he said, and walked ahead until his back was to her. “Hop on, I’ll take you back. Once you’re settled, I’ll pick up your furry friend here and hope he doesn’t shred me. The town’s not too far from here.”