ofxing:
Brother.
It was…. odd to think of the young girl sitting beside him as his sister. Ling had never had siblings, after all; not in the real sense of the word. Sure, in all technicality he actually had nineteen sisters and twenty-three brothers, but their sibling relations didn’t exactly go very far beyond the fact that they all happened to share the same royal blood. If anything, the blood that should have brought them together instead brought fifty clans into a horrific skirmish for power, and the siblings he had met over the years had never come to him with the most benevolent intentions.
( he still had a scar across his stomach from one such visit, and he knew for a fact that there were other brothers and sisters no longer alive today by the actions of his own hand )
But this, though……
They weren’t exactly the Elrics, but…. if he had to pick a favourite sibling, Mei would no doubt be just that.
He lifted a hand, and this time instead of moving it to rest against the nape of his neck he chose to bring his knuckles down on top of the girl’s head in a mostly affectionate display of awkward brotherly affection.
A family, huh? Yeah, he wouldn’t mind having one of those, too.
“Then it’s settled. When we return to Xing, we will stop first in your clan’s territory, and I shall acquaint myself with whatever council leads it.”
Her hands instinctively went to where he had affectionately knocked her head with his fist and feigned a dramatic pout, suppressing a smile.
Yes, this felt right.
Siblings.
Her brother.
It felt so surreal (though, in all honesty, this whole experience up until this moment felt surreal. If she hadn’t actually experienced it, she would have thought she was dreaming).
Bringing her knees up closer to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, the girl focused again on the surrounding desert. It felt like only yesterday when she had traversed these same sandy dunes; dragging her feet to a land she had only heard about from the idle chatter of the elders in her clan. Her salvation - the solution (or so she had thought).
Instead of the airy, mystical city she had imagined, she had come face-to-face to a place on the brink of war. Only to then be in the middle of said war. Her “solution” did not come as easy as she had first thought and the girl witnessed things nightmares would be afraid of! Still... she had made so many friends, experienced so much, made memories she would forever hold dear and even...
[she looked at the older boy beside her and smiled]
She was going home with a brother - her brother.
The mention of bringing Ling to her clan’s council, however, brought her mood down (along with repressed memories). She did not leave on the “greatest” of terms with the elders (let alone her mother)...
Frowning slightly, the girl replied with a steady and sombre voice:
“That would be my mother... She may not be very [she paused, mulling it over] happy to see us”.
Or you in particular.
But she would not dare tell him that! At least... not yet.
Her mother did not take kindly to any of the Emperor’s other children - or the Emperor, to be exact - and became quite sour and bitter at anything to do with him and his affairs. Imagine her reaction to her (who again, did not leave the best way now that she thinks about it - but what other choice did she have??) returning home with her brother (the twelfth prince - oh boy) who would soon be Emperor???
She’s going to skin them both!!
