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====Lieutenant Hong Yu, the Crimson Lance (Level 2 General)====
 
====Lieutenant Hong Yu, the Crimson Lance (Level 2 General)====
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The leader of the Five Lances, Niu Pa's self-proclaimed bodyguards. A hot-blooded idealist, Hong Yu is a strong believer in honor and loyalty.
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The leader of the Five Lances, Niu Pa's self-proclaimed bodyguards. A hot-blooded idealist, Chi Qiang is a strong believer in honor and loyalty.
  
 
====Lieutenant Lan Yu, the Azure Lance (Level 2 General)====
 
====Lieutenant Lan Yu, the Azure Lance (Level 2 General)====
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'''Siblings:'''
 
'''Siblings:'''
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*Niu Min, Biggest Sister, Age 16
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*Niu Zhangnǚ, Biggest Sister, Age 16
 
** A tomboy who wishes she were born a man. Competitive with her big brother but has a girly interior.
 
** A tomboy who wishes she were born a man. Competitive with her big brother but has a girly interior.
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*Niu Jia, Bigger Sister #2, Age 13
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*Niu Cinǚ, Bigger Sister #2, Age 13
 
** Responsible and reserved, she secretly has a crush on her big brother.
 
** Responsible and reserved, she secretly has a crush on her big brother.
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*Niu Xin, Big Sister #3, Age 11
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*Niu Sannǚ, Big Sister #3, Age 11
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** A delinquent daughter who crushes on Jia and dotes on her little sisters. Resents Niu (mildly) for "abandoning them".
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** A delinquent daughter who nevertheless dotes on her little sisters. Jealous of Niu for "abandoning them".
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*Niu Lan, Twin Sister 1, Age 8
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*Niu Yufan, Twin Sister 1, Age 8
 
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister.
 
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister.
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*Niu Fan, Twin Sister 2, Age 8
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*Niu Yulan, Twin Sister 2, Age 8
 
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister.
 
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister.
  
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"Big Brother, it is good to meet you," Niu says, offering a toast. "Please advise your Second Brother in the way he should go."
 
"Big Brother, it is good to meet you," Niu says, offering a toast. "Please advise your Second Brother in the way he should go."
  
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===Morning Ride===
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===Five Lances Around The Fire===
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It's been days since they left Yuan Shao's palatial estate, but Niu still recalls the splendor of the Duke's palace in his dreams. Everything is gold, and everything is silk, and when he wakes, sometimes he imagines that he's still dressed in the fine robes he was provided as a guest.
 
  
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Duke Yuan had made Niu a gift of the set, saying that he should be "clothed in raiments befitting of his station". Niu spent half a day wondering what the man was saying before Lieutenant Qi, sensing the large man's distress, quietly whispered that it meant he should dress like a hero.  
+
The boy is barely fifteen, yet he's clothed in mail and carrying a spear, both of which seem too large for him. He squints in the twilight, trying to make out which of the cookfires burning in the distance he should be heading to. His lads had told him that Lord Niu's Five Lances (as they styled themselves) were waiting for him, but as he picks his way through the soldiers talking and laughing as they wait for their dinner to cook, he realises that he has very little idea what these Five Lances are supposed to look like.
  
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"But a hero wears armor," Niu said. "I wear armor. Lots of it!"
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''And I'm supposed to be working with them,'' he thinks.
  
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"Duke Yuan is a man of the courts, and believes the best armor is fine clothing, to improve others' impressions of you." He does not elaborate on the implied insult, that Yuan Shao considers Niu Pa unsophisticated and clumsy enough that he needs to be clothed and trained by his betters. He's not sure if Niu would mind anyway - the Ox General is keenly aware of his lack of intellect and gladly follows anyone with a better idea than himself. Granted, with his strength, he doesn't exactly need tactics... but it is possible to win most of the battles and still lose the war, so Qi Ma is eager to keep that from happening.
+
Suddenly, a voice interrupts his introspection.
  
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All that is several days in the past, however, and as Niu rises, the only thing on his mind is how cold it is, and if Blacky was cold. Xiaobai's home is around his neck - the kitten enjoys basking in the Ox General's body heat - but Blacky is far too large to fit in a guesthouse's room and it won't do for Niu to sleep in a stable.
+
"Hey, kid," a man calls from off to the side. "You wouldn't happen to be the new lieutenant, would you?"
  
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However, those thoughts go out the window as soon as he hears a familiar whickering. Rouyuan lumbers toward Blacky's stall, just in time to see te stable door open, and a shape silhouetted in its frame. Honed instinct kicks in, and he evaluates the situation. Someone was approaching Blacky. Normally he wouldn't be worried, because Blacky is as stable as a mountain and as strong as a storm; a mere horse thief would be slaughtered before he could even lay a hand on the horse's hide. Yet, the horse seems to be receptive to the intruder's attentions.
+
The speaker is a tall, lithe man in dark clothing and a terribly impractical-looking black domino mask. The boy almost doesn't see him at first; he seems positioned in just the right way to blend into the shadows and the bark of  the tree he's leaning against. In comparison, the four others seated around the nearby fire stand out a lot more than he does. There's two similar-looking fellows with red and blue variations on the same uniform pattern, while a maternal-looking woman with a pink ribbon in her hair tends the stewpot suspended over the flams. Beside her, a gigantic fellow in a yellowish-orange robe slowly turns the chickens spitted by the fire so they don't get charred.
  
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Niu's not sure if his decision is driven by caution or jealousy, but he does adopt a fighting stance, shunning weapons and armor for his elephantine might and constitution provide a sword and hauberk in their own right.
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The boy's belly growls as he catches a whiff of the delicious scent rising off the pot (braised pork?), and the boy is suddenly aware that he hasn't had a good meal all day. He'd been meaning to eat with his buddies after this, but-
  
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"I am the Ox General, Niu Pa," he announces. "If you are a thief, begone immediately and you will not be pursued. Persist, and you will be rewarded in accordance to your wickedness!"
+
"My, you certainly sound hungry," Pink Ribbon smiles. "Won't you join us for dinner?"
  
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There is silence for a while, broken only by the wind rushing through the open stable door. Then, there is a laugh. A soft, tinkling laugh, one which makes all the strength flee his mighty body.
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"Lord Niu appreciates the value of a good meal, so we've got some left over for unexpected guests," Black Mask says.  
  
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"And what if I was not a thief, dear General?" Zhang Jia replies. She turns, and even in silhouette and wearing a coat, she cuts a fetching figure, one slim hand stroking Blacky's face. Niu doesn't know how to respond, but he tries anyway.
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The boy bites his lip. On the one hand, he should be more independent, but on the other, they ''were'' offering...  
  
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"I... ah... well... I... good morning, Lady Zhang? Have you eaten yet?"
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"I'm Shao Xia," he says as he sits down by the fire with them. Yellow Robe hands him a wooden bowl half-full with a rich soup. In the light of the flame, he can make out dumplings floating within.
  
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"Good morning, Colonel. No, I have not eaten; actually, I was thinking of a quick ride out in the country while the staff prepare breakfast."
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"Shao Xia... wait. Isn't that the lieutenant of 8th Company?" Red Plume asks. "We were looking for you, but you weren't in! Well, this saves us a lot of trouble. I'm Yu Hong."
  
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"But... but it's dark out, and while there haven't been any bandits sighted, it would be dangerous to go alone..."
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"Yu Lan," his palette-swapped twin says.
  
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"Oh, I am well aware of that fact. But I won't be going alone... will I?"
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"Tao Shou," replies Pink Ribbon.
  
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Even in the pre-dawn darkness, Niu can tell Zhang Jia is looking right at him. Looking at him, and waiting for an answer.
+
"Hei Zhao. And that's Huang Pao. He doesn't speak much."
  
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"...I'd like nothing more than to escort you, Lady Zhang," Niu says. As the words hit the breeze, a tension he didn't know he had slowly seeps out of him.
+
The black-masked man indicates the silent giant, who nods benignly to Shao Xia in between mouthfuls of chicken leg. Shao Xia looks slowly around at them, taking in their features. "I've heard of you," he replies at last. "You're Lord Niu's direct subordinates, right?"
  
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"And I would gladly accept a bodyguard of the General of Iron Might," she replies. "Come with me, then. The sun will be up soon."
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"That's right," Hong grins. "Though we're better known as the Five Lances -"
  
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--
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"We're not," Lan snaps. Hong makes a face and continues.
  
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This is an unusual situation for Niu Pa, the General of Iron Might, who typically stands at the head of his forces and fearlessly leads them into the thick of the battle so that they might emerge triumphant. He's following behind Zhang Jia, a willowy young woman in surprisingly sensible riding clothes - this must be the outfit her mother doesn't let her wear normally -  listening to the sound of gentle hoofbeats in the freshly fallen snow, drowned out by the sound of Ziyan humming a tune to herself.
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"So yeah, we're the Five Lances; sworn to a bond of brotherhood, and service to the General of Iron Might!"
  
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''She's pretty,'' he thinks. ''But I've seen prettier. She has a nice voice, but others can sing better. She can ride, but I know women who ride - and better than me too.
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Lan rolls his eyes, but doesn't say anything. At least, not to Hong. He turns to Shao Xia instead.  
  
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So why am I thinking about her so much?''
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"You ''do'' know why you're here, right?" the Blue Lance says to him.
  
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"Colonel," she calls out in a sing-song voice. "We're here."
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The teenager freezes. He doesn't, actually.
  
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"Here? Um... where's here?" He barely needs to touch the reins before Blacky's halted himself.  
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"...er, no?" he ventures, looking over the rim of his bowl like a hunted animal.
  
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"We'll need to leave the horses behind for this," she says. "The path's too narrow for them. Butterfly will do fine by herself; how about... Blacky, was it?"
+
"Lan, stop being a prick," Hei says from his corner. "Kid, we heard the Ox General gained another follower, and that he was a commander, despite being pretty young. We wanted to see what kind of man you were. Get to know our future colleagues, that sort of thing."
  
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The horse in question neighs in assent, and against the white of the snow Niu can see the stallion flicking his head toward the dismounted Ziyan, as though to say "go on, big guy, I've got you covered."
+
Shao relaxes - somewhat. At least now he knows why he was summoned, but if he's to receive the judgement of his peers... well, you could hardly blame anyone for being a bit on edge, right? That said, the soup tastes good and the dumplings are firm and fresh, so that helps him relax a little.
  
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"Oh... ah, Blacky will be fine. Be good now, you hear?" the Ox General says as he lands on the ground with nary a sound. The wind picks up and he knows he should feel cold, but strangely, his face is hot and his skin is tingly.
+
"Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Hei continues. He sounds like a kindly uncle, even though he can't be more than ten years older than Shao himself. Tao smiles to him from the other side of the pot, and Shao sighs, before putting the bowl down.
  
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''Am I getting sick?'' he thinks, and then Zhang Jia speaks up again.
+
"Well, my name is Shao Xia, and, uh, I came from the village of Jixiang, just down by the river. Our village was small and when the bandits came after the war, we couldn't defend ourselves. Most of the men were killed and the women and children were carried off, including myself. They were planning to do horrible things to us, and they would have succeeded, if not for the General and his men. He freed us, but he couldn't take us back to our village, because the bandits had already burned it down."
  
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"Come on, this way!" she enthuses, and before he can reply, he feels a small hand (relative to his own monstrous paw) grabbing his and tugging him along. Niu allows himself to be led like a puppy, and snow crunches under his boots as they begin ascending a rocky trail that leads up the side of a hill.  
+
Shao lowers his face, but his expression doesn't change as he continues.
  
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"So tell me," Niu says as they're clambering up some rocks. "What's so special about this place?"
+
"But you know, the General is amazing. When he heard our homes were burned down, he ordered a company of engineers and soldiers to come help us rebuild. He even exempted us from the tax because we had nothing to give. And that's when I realised something; the General had given our lives back to us. Could I do anything less than return it to his keeping? I wasn't the only one either; a few of the older kids and myself wanted to go into the General's service, and as we travelled toward Xi He, we met more and more boys and girls, most of them orphans from the war, who had nowhere else to go and nobody to turn to. Some of them we sent to Jixiang village, but more of them decided to join us, and so when we reached Xi He and presented ourself to Captain Zhang, we were about a hundred strong, young but eager, and ready to serve."
  
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"That... is a secret~" Zhang Jia replies. "You'll find out when you get the-argh!"
+
"Captain Sun, Captain Zhang and even General Niu didn't want to take us on at first, because we were "too young". But... well, most of us had nowhere to go. And they were all looking up to me. So I asked him to take us on and in the end, he accepted us into his service. And... that's how I - how we got here, I guess."
  
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Instantly, Niu is on his guard, and one hand slams into the sandstone like a piton while the other shoots down to grab Ziyan, who's sliding down the trail. She yelps in pain, but clings tightly to Niu's arm and chokes back her agony as she pulls herself up his muscled limb.
+
Hong laughs from the side.
  
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"Lady Zhang! Are you all right?!"
+
"Marvelous! Truly a proud display of hot-blooded youth. Comrade Shao, I am pleased to call you my brother!"
  
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"I... I'm fine, Colonel. Thank you. My foot slipped, but I twisted it on the way down, so..."
+
His actual brother grimaces, but he's been nodding at Shao's words since he started, and there is no malice directed at the younger man on his face. Hong pays him no heed, and carries on.
  
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Her voice trails off, but Niu doesn't have to look at her face to tell that she's in no state to climb.
+
"I suppose it's only fair that we share our side of the tale as well."
  
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"It's no good. I guess we'll just have to-"
+
Hong leans forward, the excitement on his face highlighted the flickering of the cookfire.
  
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"Lady Zhang, if you wish to go back, I will gladly bear you down," Niu replies. "But... I think that if you wanted to show me this place, it must be a very special one; and if you'll allow me, I can take you up. Compared to the walls of Bei Ye and Ping Yuan, this hill is nothing."
+
"My brother Lan and I were originally from the General's village. We were there when he asked to go along with the recruiters, but we didn't follow because our parents were sick and they needed us to help tend the fields. But we heard the stories; and what stories they were! How he cowed an army of five thousand at the river, and swept aside the Yellow Turbans with a freshly uprooted tree. How a dozen poisoned knives struck him in the night before the siege of Ping Yuan, and how he pulled them all out and threw them back at the defenders before tearing the walls down with his bare hands."
  
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"That is... very kind of you, Colonel," she says softly. "Then, if you would help me..."
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Lan clucks in disapproval as Hong laughs at the bewildered expression of Shao's face. "Don't mock him, Hong. My brother exaggerates, though not by much; it is true that Lord Niu was instrumental in breaching the gates of Ping Yuan and he was the one who not only subdued Captain Sun when he was a bandit, but persuaded him to serve loyally and render service to the throne by drawing the defenders from Ye Ford. Without him, the San Jie could not have taken Bei Ye with a tenth of the number of the defenders."
  
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"Certainly," he says, lifting her up by one arm until she's positioned over his back. Zhang Jia doesn't need further prompting to drop down onto him, locking her arms around his shoulders the way he saw soldiers on the river clinging to driftwood. He can feel her warm breath against his ear and the side of his neck, smell the perfume she uses, hear her slightly labored breathing and the sound of the fabric of her clothes brushing against his as she adjusts herself so she can hang on as best as she can.
+
"So anyway," Hong continues. "When he returned, saying that he was going to move his family to Xi He and build a manor house for them there... we thought that this time, now that we had the chance, we should go along with him, right? Sometimes..."
  
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"You okay back there?" he asks.  
+
His voice trails off.
  
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"Mmhm," she nods, and electricity runs through his spine as he feels her chin against his shoulder.
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"Sometimes I think that if I'd just followed Rouyuan when he first left the village, life might have been different for us. So I decided that I was going to make a difference here and now, and go with him!"
  
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"All right," he says. "Hang on tight..."
+
"And of course, ''someone'' has to keep this blockhead out of trouble," Lan adds testily. Then he glances over to Tao, who's scooping soup for them, and his irritation fades. She picks up on his look, and smiles to Shao Xia.
  
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Perhaps the Ox General's hands are not hammers or axes, but with his strength, they might as well be. Iron-hard fingers sink into the hillside, gouging out solid bucket holds before mighty-thewed arms and legs propel him up against gravity, without any strain even with Zhang Jia hanging off his back. Indeed, he might be able to carry her horse as well on his journey up the side of the hill, but his strength is hardly so tested as he manages to reach the top in minutes, and as he scrambles to the top, Zhang Jia slides off his back, only to whimper in pain as she lands on her injured foot and sprawls onto the ground.
+
"I suppose it's my turn, then? Well... I was from a village myself, Fengtian Village. My husband was conscripted at the start of the war, to fight the Yellow Turbans. He said he'd be back by fall."
  
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"Lady Zhang!" he exclaims, going to her side.  
+
She smiles sadly.
  
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"I'm fine," she gasps, her hands going down to investigate her injured limb. She winces as she touches it. It's not broken, but it's pretty swollen. Niu will definitely need to carry her down again after this.  
+
"That didn't happen. Instead, the recruiters came for more men, and this time they took my two older boys with them. They were about the same age is Hong and Lan... and didn't come back either. And while I was praying that they'd come home, my baby daughter passed away from a fever. Finally, when the recruiters came to get more men from the village, I decided to volunteer. After all, the Yellow Turbans had taken the rest of my family; why not me as well? The army recruiters didn't want me at first, because I was a woman, but then I showed them I could fight, and they let me join up."
  
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"You're hurt," he says forlornly. It might not have been his doing, but she was still in his care, and he was supposed to keep her safe.
+
Tao starts handing out the bowls of soup, still with that forlorn expression on her face.  
  
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"And it wasn't your fault, Colonel," she says, squeezing his wrist. "But now is not the time. Look!"
+
"I lived for my family, and when it was gone, I thought I could find another one in the army. So I served for years, and through all of them I saw people of all sorts, from little babies to grizzled old men, take up arms and fight against each other. My comrades, mostly young men like you, were little more than desperate farmers, killed by other desperate farmers who happened to be standing on the other side. It seemed so... so pointless. This was what my husbands and sons had died for? But then one day, I met Lord Niu, and everything changed."
  
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She points to the distance, and Niu suddenly realises that the silhouette of her hand appears clearer than before. That's because the sky is...  
+
She looks Shao in the eye as she serves him another bowl of soup.  
  
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"...it's beautiful," he breathes, deflecting his gaze to avoid looking directly into the sun as it comes up. That brings his vision to rest on Zhang Jia, whose enraptured face is stunningly beautiful in the light of dawn, with the wind playing through her hair and cooling his burning face. Niu notices she's propping herself up on her elbows to watch the sunrise, and reaches his arm down to support her back. No words are exchanged, but he feels her lean in on his proffered appendage, and soon she's leaning against him. The feeling of her weight against his side is soothing; his heart soars and flutters like the flock of birds roused to wakeful flight by the morning and up here, alone with her, he wonders if this is the kind of moment the writers and artists want to capture with their books and paintings.  
+
"You must understand; nobody else I know is like the General. He is as fearsome as any beast in battle and he can break down castle gates by himself... but he is the kindest, gentlest soul I have ever met, and every fiber of his being is devoted to caring for the people and the the land. In him... I saw a hint of what might have led my family to go to certain death without fear, and I realised that here was something - ''someone'' - I could truly live for. So I follow Lord Niu, and it is my hope that when I finally meet my family again, I can say that I served him to my last breath."
  
−
They sit like this for a while, Niu's supporting arm now gathering her close to him. He flinches as she speaks, and there's a beatific smile on her face as she looks up to him.
+
Shao Xia doesn't know how to respond to this. He's quite glad when Hei finally speaks up.
  
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"So, how was it? Did you like it?"
+
"My story's hardly as noble as theirs. Well... truth to be told, I used to be a thief. I like to think that I didn't really hurt people doing what I did, because I always stole from the rich, but after a while they got wise to my tricks, and I realised that they were too difficult to rob. So I went for easier prey - merchants, then commoners, then farmers."
  
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"The sunrise? It was... nice, I guess," he mutters. "I'm sorry, I was looking at you, and..."
+
He hangs his head in shame.
  
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His voice trails off as he realises her cheeks have turned pink. Must be the cold... or was it?
+
"I used to think that I wasn't really harming people, I'd just take a handful of rice here and a couple of potatoes there, maybe help myself to an egg or two. But then one day, after pinching a couple of sweet potatoes, I saw the couple I robbed give up their meal to feed their son, and that was when it all came together for me, you know? I was a bad person, and I'd done this to them. So... I gave myself up to the constables. I knew the punishment for thievery would be severe, especially since the local governor was being harsh on theft, but I didn't care. I knew I deserved it. So to begin with, I was locked up in a cangue and made to stand in the middle of the street for a week without food. It was halfway during my third day when Lord Niu saw me. I don't think he'd ever seen someone in a cangue before, so he asked about my condition and seemed surprised when he heard the multitude of crimes that I'd confessed to. When he came to me again, I thought he was going to scorn me. Instead, he had me released... on the condition that I serve with him on the battlefield."
  
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"That won't do," she chides. "I brought you up here to watch the sun rise. You have to look at it too!"
+
Hei pauses to savor his dumplings. They were really very good.
  
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"Ah... I'm sorry, Lady Zhang-"
+
"At first I thought I'd just become spear fodder in a penal battalion. That was fine by me. But then I reaised that Lord Niu didn't believe in penal battalions, or that anyone was worth less or more than others. One time, during the campaign at Bei Ye, I got stuck pretty bad, and I thought I was done for. But he was nearby, and he got me out of harm's way, even though it meant slowing himself down and taking an extra hit or two. I asked him if I, a criminal, was really worth getting hurt for, and he replied that as far as he was concerned, I was his comrade, and all comrades were worth fighting for. And that's what made me believe."
  
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"That's my mother's name," she scolds, before her stern expression changes to an impish grin. "Call me Ziyan," she says softly.
+
The ex-thief smiles sadly; an expression curiously similar to Tao's. But then it lights up, and he looks to Shao with a chuckle.
  
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"Lady- sorry, Ziyan, my name is Rouyuan," he says, voice infused with quiet sincerity.  
+
"Before, I used to think that I was nothing but a thief. But after meeting Lord Niu, That changed too. Lord Niu believed in me. I guess... I've got to live up to his faith, right? And maybe in the process, I can become a good person someday..."
  
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"That's a cute name," she giggles. "Well then, Rouyuan. Next time, you'll have to pay proper attention!"
+
His voice trails off, but Shao Xia doesn't even have time to glance to Huang Pao before Hei speaks up again.
  
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"Yes, ma'am!" he replies.
+
"And, ah, Huang Pao doesn't have much of a story. Supposedly he only speaks to Lord Niu, and sometimes Captain Sun and his brother. But apart from that..."
  
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===Homecoming===
+
Huang Pao puts a finger to his lips, pantomiming silence. There's a playful wink on his face.
−
The small village of Buluo is nestled in the mountains, amidst large fields walled off from the rest of the world by the ridges around them. Said fields have just been harvested, but the festival the villagers are hosting is not simply to celebrate bringing in the crops, but also to hail the return of sons once thought lost, but come back to rejoin their families. Indeed, the entire detail (with the exception of Lieutenant Qima and Gong Shan) he brought with him to his home is composed of the surviving veterans who were conscripted from the village to aid in the war effort; it is a testament to Niu's care and concern for his men that he managed to return with all but five of the two dozen men he left Buluo with.
 
−
 
 
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Gong Shan has followed his father to the countryside on occasion and is somewhat used to their rustic ways, but Qima's still somewhat stiff among the smiling, happy villagers. He's not used to the owner of the house personally coming out to welcome him and offer him local snacks, though a keen sense for politeness compels him to swiftly consume it and keep it down, regardless of how exotic it seems to him. But Qima and Gong Shan are left behind in the center of the village, while the Ox General returns home at last.
 
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"Big Brother!" Niu Jia breathes, touching her suddenly pink cheeks. "You came back..."
 
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"Almost didn't recognize him," Niu Min grins, trying to reach up to his shoulder and not quite succeeding; he must have put on a growth spurt during the war because now he's much taller than she remembers, and when he walks face first into a doorframe that used to be a good foot over his head, the house trembles and threatens to collapse.
 
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"Took him long enough," Niu Xin mutters. "Must have been fun killing and fighting and-"
 
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"Now, A-Xin, is that any way to talk to your brother?" Niu Nu chides as she smiles up to her big son. Instinctively, Niu drops to one knee, so his mother can reach her arms around his neck. His little sisters take the chance to climb up Niu's coat of plates and fasten themselves to his pauldrons.
 
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"Big bro, big bro, which of us is A-Fan?" the twins giggle. Of course Niu has no clue, given that he hasn't seen them in years, when they were still hanging on to Big Sister Xin's hands. Carefully, he reaches his hands up to lightly pat their heads with hands that are easily the size of their torsoes.
 
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"It doesn't matter, I'll dote on you both just the same," he smiles.
 
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"Awwww, that's not fair, you didn't answer us!" they reply in unison. Still, it seems to satisfy them, and they drop off his shoulder and run out the door. No doubt they'll be telling the stories of their gigantic brother to all the other kids in no time. Before that, however, they find the man Niu most wants to see; his father, Niu Lang,
 
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"A-Pa, my boy! Heavens, you've grown! Guess it makes sense though, you go out into the big open world, and you expand to fill it. And I saw one of your boys by the big fire just now; he was telling us that he was your assistant. Imagine that, a farmboy with a nobby young man as a squire! Come, tell us all about it... no, better yet - the headman's going to have a big feast. We can have storytime there!"
 
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Much like everything in Niu's life, when he feasts, he feasts - it's as though he's determined to make up for three years of missed dinners here - and when he's invited to tell his tales, he gives it his all. His fellow soldiers, all village natives at well, chip in to corroborate his accounts too; from his impressing and intimidation of the nasty sergeants at boot camp, to his staunch, unyielding strength and stamina that promoted him to an officer, Niu's glory is spread not by the man himself, but by the ones he carried along with him. Of course, it falls to him to narrate the great battles that established him as one of the San Jie; the taking of Huan Ford, the siege of Ping Yuan, the treacherous attack before and the great victory of Ping Yuan. The tale seems almost too unreal to believe, but the Ox General stands before them, and every man who came back with him swears upon their family altars that Niu Rouyuan speaks the truth.
 
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Loud cheering echoes up from the villagers, and soon the festivities begin in earnest, with dancing, singing, and the like. It's also the time for young lovers to separate from the pack and confess their affection to each other - and Ni finds a familiar face pulling him away...
 

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