"Because the last meeting gave away so much?" Eirian snorted.
Chenzhou grimaced, but took the jab in good humor. They'd all thought Beng Shai was trustworthy, even principled, after that first meeting, and now they had two companies of dead soldiers to show for their judgment.
"I don't understand why he would strike now," Eirian continued, proping herself up on an elbow and looking down at them. "If I were planning to double-cross us, I would have waited to spring the trap. What's a few thousand right now, when I could wait and potentially walk a hundred thousand off a cliff? A few thousand, rock take them, doesn't even change our daily operations, let alone incite major change in leadership or withdrawal. He's smart enough to plan something like this, but so impulsive that he springs it so early, it's useless?"
"He could be," Chenzhou argued. "History is full of examples of skilled people undone by their emotions."
"It's also full of brilliant people who managed to completely pull the wool over everyone's eyes until it was too late."
"I wouldn't say it was full of those?" Chenzhou raised an eyebrow, watched the weakening candlelight flicker over her pale skin. "They stand out because there are so few of them."
"And how many that we don't know about? History isn't only what is recorded, it's also everything we don't know about it."
"But if we don't know it, how can you use it as an argument?"
"I can use anything as an argument." Eirian sniffed and ignored the indignation that entered both their expressions.
"Beng Shai may be a visionary, but he's still a tribesman." Mingzhe offered in a small voice. "There are limits to how much he can grow."
"Are there?" Eirian mused. "Limitations only exist because we recognize them. In a strange way, those who don't know there are limitations are better suited to surpass them than those who are aware."
Chenzhou and Mingzhe shared a thoughtful look.
"You have a point," Chenzhou admitted. "But it still feels strange."
"It could simply be the shock." Mingzhe offered, shifting towards the heat from Chenzhou's body. "This is not how we were expecting to start the season. I actually thought for a moment we wouldn't be fighting at all this year. I feel like a fool."
"If you are a fool for hoping that, than so am I." Chenzhou scoffed.
"I'm sure everyone is." Eirian added. "Except me. Because I never thought that."
They shared an exasperated look, aware that she was trying to lighten the mood. Eirian's ego was healthier than most but the more time they spent with her the more they'd come to realize, it was honest self-esteem based on her own hard work and in all fairness, she did seem to work harder than most. Though sometimes it seemed less like it was because she wanted to and more like she just couldn't help herself, too curious to not become involved.
"I wish I had your self-confidence." Chenzhou admitted outloud and then flushed, as he hadn't meant to.
Eirian looked surprised, but Mingzhe nodded in agreement. "I think my own confidence is quite high, but it still pales in comparison to yours."
"Well I find it strange that two men in positions like yours have so little." Her face twisted up in confusion. "In the capital men with a quarter of your wealth have ego's twice the size of your."
"The capital is hardly an healthy environment." Chenzhou yawned. "No where that values power over morality produces healthy minds."
It took him a second to realize what he'd said and he froze next to a wide-eyed Mingzhe.
Eirian's outrage sounded more real this time. "Oh, you think my mind is unhealthy?" She leaned and loomed over them, her eyes unnaturally bright in the growing darkness.
"I'm sure that's not what he meant." Mingzhe squeaked, pinned between the two of them.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way." Chenzhou tried to explain. "But you're definitely not like anyone else. In a good way!" He rushed to add while Mingzhe's eyes just got wider.
"Explain in a good way," Eirian demanded and Chenzhou started to sweat.
Mingzhe looked between them warily and tried to sink deeper into the mattress.
***
Finn glared between the papers spread across his lap.
They'd identified even more artifacts that had disappeared along with the necklace Emmy had seen. Of the seven, there were two more necklaces, three rings, and two blades that Finn couldn't remember the significant details of. He felt like an idiot for forgetting and had decided to to make detailed notes on every item in the vault going forward.
Which took a lot more time than he'd realized initially, even with Patrick and Emmy helping.
It was hard because Eirian was becoming more involved in running the Camelia and preparing for the coming war and she needed his assistance most days. Finn was getting good at taking notes and tracking multiple conversations at one time. He'd also been helping her research childrearing practices, since she was so nervous about raising Brendan. She hadn't said it out loud, but after watching her with the boy and with Chenzhou and Mingzhe and Brenden, he knew she felt behind. Chenzhou and Mingzhe, even Yuze seemed to have a natural ability with children. Eirian didn't.
She didn't treat Brendan like a kid when they interacted, she treated him like a tiny adult and they both seemed a little confused when they didn't understand one another.
It was hilarious.
Not that Finn had let him self laugh about it where she could see him.
He wasn't crazy.
But they were adorable together. They even shared enough familial resemblence that it was hard to remember Eirian was his sister and not his mother. He'd even heard Lord Ye and Lord Zhao talking about whether or not the resemble would remain that close when Brendan was grown.
It seemed like they both hoped so, but everyone was careful what they said about the relation where Eirian could hear. There'd been no further contact from her father, though Finn had overheard he was causing trouble for Eric.
Finn wasn't totally sure who his own family was backing in that fight, but Finn was siding with Eirian.
He knew that much. He was just really, really hoping it didn't come down to that.
And that he could find these missing artifacts before the tribes started using them against the Camelia.
~ tbc