Eirian started training Mingzhe in his magic that night. Worried about the coming fighting, he hadn't wanted to wait, and Chenzhou had agreed, wanting every possible advantage against the tribes.
So far, all he could really do was summon handfuls of water, but Eirian couldn't figure out where exactly the water was coming from, so she was sure there was more to what he could do.
For most of the lesson, he'd just done as she said, barely speaking, but towards the final hour, he'd finally started to speak up. Even asked two questions before Eirian's patience and his shyness decided they were done for the night.
She'd been as sweet as possible, to the point that she felt a little weird at being so desperately out of character, especially since Mingzhe didn't seem to notice at all. She'd dropped it as the lesson had gone on and given up on making any romantic progress. Mingzhe was either entirely inexperienced or utterly uninterested, and she'd decided for her own sanity not to try for more until she was sure which.
Besides, the few personal conversations they'd shared since the meeting over the atlas frequently center around Eirian and Chenzhou and their relationship. She couldn't quite tell what he was looking for there, but it could have been as innocent as a vassal lord concerned about his lord's wellbeing and stability.
Although sometimes she thought she caught a glimpse of something else. When his eyes would linger for a second too long, or his expression would soften for just a moment.
He did the same thing with her at times, and it was all so confusing that it gave her a headache if she dwelt on it too long.
With the tribes gathering and the mystery of the pendant hanging over them all, she couldn't really justify spending the extra time on something personal anyway, so she pushed it out of her mind for the time being.
She was still working her way through the last volumes of the Histories, but at least she'd finally reached the birth of the Ye's and their rule over the Camelia.
***
Chenzhou had brought work with him to bed, bent over papers at the small writing desk he kept in his bed chambers, but rarely used.
Normally, Chenzhou avoided bringing work into his room because his sleep was already terrible and not nearly enough to leave him rested. Work just made it even harder to sleep, and Healer Huang had warned him against it with such voracity that it had become the standard.
He was still bent over it when Anna finished preparing for bed, so she walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "You need to rest, my love."
Chenzhou nodded, patting her hand. "I'm almost finished."
Anna glanced at the candle burning in the corner, casting weak light across the desk. "You're going to strain your eyes. Why don't you come to bed and finish in the morning?"
Chenzhou shook his head. "There's more to do then. I'll be behind."
She frowned. She'd never had to ask him twice before. He was always so exhausted by the end of the day that he beat her to bed most nights, but ever since Eirian had healed him, they'd barely managed a full night together. He either came to bed late or rose so early he was gone by the time she awoke. "Can't you have someone else do it? Lord Rong, perhaps?"
Chenzhou sighed. "Yuze has his own work to do. This is my responsibility as the leader of the Camelia." He twisted around and kissed her hand. "Go to bed. I'll join you when I'm done."
Her lips pursed, and she squeezed his shoulders. "I wanted to go to bed with you."
"I'm sorry." And he did look it. "But I have to get through these. Things are happening that we need to be prepared for."
Anna removed her hands and crossed her arms, unable to keep the frustration at bay. "Things are always happening, Chenzhou. That is the nature of this estate. All I'm asking for is one night."
He turned, surprised at her tone. They'd fought so rarely, almost never, during the course of their relationship that he wasn't sure what to do. "It's, I have to do this, Anna. If I wait until tomorrow morning," he did a mental calculation of his schedule for the next day. "I'd have to be up before the sun to get everything done."
"That's in a few hours!" Frustrated, tears started to gather on her lashes. "You might as well not come to bed at all."
"I'm almost done; I'll be finished before the candle burns out." It was barely a thumb's thickness now, wouldn't burn for more than another hour.
"We've had so little time lately, why can't someone else do this?"
"Because I am Lord of the Camelia, Anna. No one else. That hasn't changed."
"You didn't have to do this before Eirian healed you."
Chenzhou's shoulders slumped at the reminder of his inability back then. "It wasn't that I didn't have to, it was that I couldn't. I was too ill; if I missed a few hours of sleep, I couldn't think. Much of this work is what was put off then."
"So why can't you put it off again?"
"Because it's dangerous!" It burst out of him almost against his will. Her lack of interest in his responsibility had never been an issue before, so why was it now? "Do you realize the situation I've put the Camelia in by being ill so long?" His eyes went a little wild and wide. "There is no one responsible for this situation but me, so I must be the one who fixes it. Eirian, Yuze, and Mingzhe, all the others, can only help. They can't do it for me."
"You were poisoned; that is not your fault," she argued weakly.
Chenzhou nearly sobbed. "The way I handled it was! There is no one who can answer for that but me."
~ tbc