This story is a work of fiction and not meant to disprove or refute any known Historical facts. Research has been done but only limited to Imperial Hierarchy, military positions, customs, architecture and many others from several Ancient Chinese dynasties solely for literary reference only. The author is not an expert in Chinese History (credits go to her Asian History books and the useful information obtained from the Internet).

This story may contain sensitive themes; most notably, violence. If you don't like violence, then please do not continue.

For those who are reading this story despite the warning, thank you and I hope you enjoy.

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originally

By: Midnight_Carousel

Love is truly indefinable.

It seems at first that it is just like any other emotion but my first notion about it is utterly wrong.

Love is beyond what is superficial.

Love is beyond what is deep.

No, it is never measurable, so it is utterly frivolous to scale its height as a thief does to an extremely high wall where the treasures are kept

And, also, it is very absurd how the romantics compare its depth as that of the deep blue sea.

No, love is never that.

Love can never be that

Love is simply infinite, boundless.

Love is beyond everything and it transcends all thoughts, emotions

....and even morality.

I cannot exactly remember where the harmonious sound of the nightingale' s song is located, how it has subdued the deepest emotional and physical pain that I feel nor how the soft cast of the moonlight illuminates the darkness of the night.

All I want to remember is the poignant tenderness swelling inside my heart as I am being snuggled once again in the warmth of her doting arms and watch the way her long ebony hair protectively cascades down my face after my painful, weary odyssey.

In this very moment, all I want to do is to stare in the depths of her loving almond eyes, and to see forever from my beloved's beautiful face.

"You must stop with this childish antic of pretending to be ninja warrior just to join violent brawl. It is unladylike and look at what it has done to your pretty face," Princess Li Lei Shuang admonished her younger friend while rubbing a balm gently on the latter's bruised cheeks.

"Ouch, Lei Shuang!" Yan Mei Ling exclaimed. Just what did Li Lei Shuang put on her face - a chunk of burning coal? "Go easy on whatever you are putting on my face; it's supposed to make me feel better not terrible!"

Li Lei Shuang let out a gentle laugh as she continued putting the balm on Yan Mei Ling's cheeks. The latter, however, never stopped complaining about its stinging effect on her cheeks.

Despite the obvious differences between the girls, the two had become remarkably close friends.

Li Lei Shuang was a gentle and thoughtful soft-spoken girl with impeccable manners that she attributed from being the Emperor's daughter.

Yan Mei Ling, on the other hand, was her royal cousin's opposite. She had the tendency to do outrageous things and she was utterly stubborn. If you forbid her from doing something, the more that she would be tempted to do it no matter the consequences. She detested people who underestimated her and, she would do everything and anything to disprove those who doubted her abilities. With her daredevil attitude, it was not surprising that she had put herself in harm's clutches several times but despite it she was innately kind-hearted and well loved by those who were close to her.

While Mei Ling continued with her rants, an old maidservant came in with the tea set. She curtsied to the two girls before laying down the porcelain pitcher and cups on the low table. She discreetly gave the younger girl a look of distaste. Once done, she bid her farewell and exited the princess' receiving room.

Yan Mei Ling did not pass on the opportunity to make a silly face at the back of the retreating old maidservant to whom she considered her nemesis in the palace. Disappointed at the former's actions, Li Lei Shuang gave her a frown of disapproval.

"Please stop getting yourself in trouble, Yan Mei Ling. I am worried that something worse might happen than what has happened to your cheeks right now."

Yan Mei Ling snorted childishly to express her displeasure at what Li Lei Shuang said. Did she not repeatedly tell her best friend that it was her greatest goal to be the best warrior Chixian Shenzhou ever had? Besides, she loved and found joy in what she was doing. As her best friend, she should be the most supportive person in her every endeavor.

"You know what - you sound like a teacher! How many times have I told you that nothing worse than a bruise will ever happen to me? Well, many times! You need to remember that this is the worst thing that ever happens to me since joining the tournaments!" She pointed to the biggest and most painful bruise on her cheeks.

"Yes, but I can never forget that one time when you came to me with a dislocated arm," Li Lei Shuang reminded gently as she placed the ointment on the table. She took the pitcher and poured some hot tea into the porcelain cup. When the cup was full, she carefully served it to Yan Mei Ling.

"You don't have to make me remember that! It happened when I was still an inexperienced warrior," she said while receiving the tea offered by Li Lei Shuang. "You should have seen me fight- look how I put down the big, fat man on his back with my adept and stealth skills."

Yan Mei Ling mindlessly drank the tea and, suddenly, spit the contents from her mouth. What the heck?

"Oh, I'm sorry I have forgotten to remind you that the tea is still hot." Lei Shuang said. Her cheeks reddened deeply, feeling extremely guilty for her failure to warn her best friend about the tea's temperature.

Yan Mei Ling gritted her teeth, not because she was angry, but to suppress the surge of blood from invading her cheeks. How embarrassing - no wonder her best friends fretted over her joining tournaments because she could not even take the heat.

"It is my fault! I know that I should not have put my guard down whenever that old witch serves us tea!" She said with irritation referring to Li Lei Shuang's former wet nurse, now one of the latter's maidservants.

The old crone never really warmed up to her because she always thought that she was a bad influence on Li Lei Shuang. In retribution, Yan Mei Ling devised several ways to pull mischievous pranks on the witch. Well, the old hen had had her time today but then victory was her twin, and the old woman would someday have her day of reckoning.

"I'm really sorry about everything but you should not say such things against Chunhua, Yan Mei Ling," Lei Shuang told the younger girl as she stood to retrieve a cloth from her cabinet. She knelt in front of Yan Mei Ling and started to wipe her best friend's mouth, but the latter hurriedly moved away and angrily wiped herself with the end of her silk sleeves instead.

Lei Shuang gently shook her head in disappointment at Yan Mei Ling's unladylike manner. "You must stop acting as if you're still a child but be a noble lady that you are, Yan Mei Ling."

Yan Mei Ling rolled her eyes in disgust. "Act like a noble lady that I am? And how does a noble lady act like-do those gentle, tedious and extremely ladylike manners a princess like you is trained to do and have always done? Cut that silly talk, Li Lei Shuang; while those things may have suited a princess like you but stop thinking of the day that I will ever emulate you. We are different and I will become the greatest warrior in Chixian Shenzhou!"

Yan Mei Ling's caustic and unfeeling remarks about Li Lei Shuang's ladylike manners deeply smeared the latter's heart but she decided to keep what she felt to herself.

Yan Mei Ling ascended to go to the balcony of Li Shuang's room, woefully ignorant of her best friend's hurt feelings, to stare and revel on the different trees and plants of the Imperial palace that could be seen outside.

"Li Lei Shuang!" she enthusiastically called her best friend from the balcony. "The flowers are in bloom today - quickly, come, look!"

Li Lei Shuang immediately stood at Yan Mei Ling's excited voice and smiled upon seeing the magnificent landscape. Their eyes feasted on the beautiful and colorful hues of the flowers, and then followed the shape of the upward sweeping arches of the grand pavilion as if those arches would lead them to the heaven.

A moment later, their stares descended to the silver glimmer of the huge pond's greenish grey water where the lotuses twirled like tiny parasols.

As if indulging their eyes even more, the praying bamboos and humble willows swayed rendering the big garden an enchanted air. Thoroughly mesmerized, the birds began to sing harmoniously as if to serenade them.

"The nature's deities bestowed greatness in today's spring season, Yan Mei Ling."

"Yes, even the plants in our garden and the village are in bloom."

Li Lei Shuang smiled with affection at Yan Mei Ling and started to gently caress the latter's soft cheeks with her fingers.

Something came to Yan Mei Ling that she stood petrified at what might have been considered her best friend's normal action. In panic, she warily put some distance between them. What was happening to her? What was this strange thing that was budding in her heart's core?

"Did my touch hurt you, Mei Ling?"

This was sublime folly.

Yan Mei Ling remained motionless and silent because she was still trying to discern what exactly Li Lei Shuang's touch had provoked within her.

This was insanity.

She slowly stared into Li Lei Shuang's face and, for the first time in her fifteen years of being a silly child, she was in awe of her best friend's beauty. She had always thought that Lei Shuang was beautiful but to look at her now in an entirely different light was something surprising to her.

It was such a jolting experience for her to notice that the simple mint green silk robe gown with floral patterns Li Lei Shuang wore elevated her best friend's beauty to that of incomparable; it seemed hysterical for her to notice that the morning light made Li Lei Shuang's dark liquid eyes shone like the precious gems from the other oriental countries brought by the Empire's trading junks; and it was an abject horror for her to feel the need to touch Li Lei Shuang's braided long black hair with her fingers, freeing it from its bondage like a shimmering black waterfall.

Li Lei Shuang seemed unreal, ethereal - utterly captivating. No flowery words could be remotely adequate to describe the realness of her beauty - she was amazingly awe-inspiring. But all that she was feeling right now did not sit well within her.

This can't be!

"Did I hurt you, Mei Ling?" Li Lei Shuang asked again, her voice laced with worry. She was alarmed because her best friend had stayed silent for so long. It seemed unusual.

"No, you did not," Yan Mei Ling stammered - her eyes confused, her expression uncertain. "Nothing hurts, Li Lei Shuang," she managed to emphasize her last phrase despite the havoc within her heart. She wanted to get away from here; she wanted to get as far as possible from Li Lei Shuang.

What sickness had came into her?

What kind of lunacy had addled her mind?

Li Lei Shuang smiled in relief and hugged Mei Ling. "For a moment, I was under the impression that your silence meant that you were angry because I'd done something to hurt you."

Mei Ling trembled nervously and cautiously removed herself from Li Lei Shuang's embrace. "No, you did not, and I could never be angry with you, Li Lei Shuang - you are my best friend!" She took a deep breath to pacify the clamorous beat of her heart. "I become silent because I just remember that I have to go to the mountain today. Master Tang Jiao Quon will teach me a new skill. Yes! He will teach me a new skill!"

Li Lei Shuang simply nodded her head. She disapproved of Yan Mei Ling learning violent skills, but she did not voice what was inside her mind because her best friend would never listen to her.

For many years, she had tried talked her best friend out of training martial arts, but all her words had simply fallen into deaf ears. Yan Mei Ling was person with unbreakable conviction; once she made up her mind, there was nothing that one could do to change it.

"Be careful and stay safe, Yan Mei Ling," Those were the words that she could only say.

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