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The Three Letters And Six Etiquettes: or, Marriage Unites Two Houses

Summary:

The Wedding of the Century!

Chapter 1: The First Etiquette: Proposing Marriage

Summary:

Wu proposes marriage; his intended has no parents.

Notes:

This story was originally posted as A Secluded Unveiling: The Imperial Hunting Lodge in the Tales of Republic City: Part Two collection.

Chapter Text

"So you can find it?"

"I can read a map, Wu."

"Well, I certainly can't!"

"That's why I'm the one driving. And before you ask, yes, I remembered the lunch. And the blanket. And the umbrellas in case it rains."

Wu beamed at Qi from the passenger's seat. "It's like an adventure!"

Qi shifted gears and smiled. "If you say so."

"Anything could be out there!"

"I thought you said it was a house." Qi passed another car and turned northeast on the road that would lead them out of Republic City.

"Well, I might remind you that I call our house a house and whenever I do it you roll your eyes at me."

Qi took Qi's eyes off the road to deliberately roll them at Wu before looking back at the road again, smirking a little. "Is that your idea of a suit you can go exploring in?"

Wu looked down at his suit. "What? It's brown, isn't it? I thought it might get dirty. Brown doesn't show dirt, right? Qi Hou-Ting! You stop laughing at me this very instant!"

They drove for nearly two and a half hours, Qi pulling over twice to consult the map they'd brought, once backtracking in reverse for ten minutes to turn a different way. They finally bumped their slow way down a rutted dirt road that eventually led to a tall stone wall, still in fairly good condition. It was split in the middle with an iron gate, centered with the sigil of the Earth Monarchy, blanketed in rust. "This must be it," Qi said, hopping out of the car to study the gate. "It's locked, though." 

Wu came to stand there as well. "Gracious. I never even thought about it. I don't think anyone's been out here since my great-great-grandfather's day. I didn't even know anything about it until I went through those old deeds in my office. I realized I had no clear idea of what I owned and what I didn't beyond the obvious."

"Imperial Hunting Lodge, hmm?" Qi frowned at the lock. "I can either try to break it or we could climb over the wall."

Wu's eyes widened as he looked up at the wall. "Well, goodness, I can't attempt that thing! You could, but certainly not me. Well, just break it, I suppose. We can always get someone out here to fix it later."

"Hang on." Qi tossed the newsboy cap Qi was wearing back into the car before grabbing at the wall, boots scrabbling until they found toeholds in the rocks. Qi scaled up the wall and then dropped to the other side, hitting the ground with a thud and a roll.

"Oh, Qi! Are you all right?" Wu peered anxiously through the metal bars. Qi waved at him, and frowning, reached inside a niche in the rock, straining a bit with the effort. With a horrible screeching noise the gate began to open. "Oh, you are so clever! Here, I can get through now." Wu walked into the property and dusted himself off a bit.

"How far does the driveway go?" Qi shaded Qi's eyes with a hand and peered into the forested gloom. "I don't see any sign of the house. Are you sure it's still here?"

"I'm not sure about any of this. The only reason I knew it was the Imperial Hunting Lodge at all is because I remember something Kuei had written in his journals about it. I think it was completely abandoned when Kuei's father was assassinated and that was over a hundred years ago." He trotted after Qi as Qi started to walk down the weed-choked drive. "I don't believe this was even meant for cars, was it?"

Qi's head shook. "No, this is all cobblestone, meant for ostrich horses and carriages. There weren't any cars in your grandfather's time, never mind any earlier than that. Here, hang on a tick." Qi jogged back and returned with the picnic basket in hand. "Don't know how long we'll be here, may as well bring the food. This is pretty wild out here. Watch for snakes." Qi started back down the drive.

"Surely you are jesting! Qi! Qi! Oh, Qi, I can't abide snakes! Qi!" Wu hurriedly followed along after.

It took a good twenty minutes of walking before they finally spotted the house through the trees, the driveway opening into an expansive courtyard. It was a large place; not quite as capacious as the mansion in Republic City, but big enough to still be imposing. The single-storied edifice was built of stone with the traditional curved wooden roof; covered with moss and rotting leaves but seemingly intact. The grand front door to the lodge was overgrown, the iron bands around the wood as rusty as the gates had been. "Hmmm," Qi said, inspecting it. "Let's see if there's another entrance a little easier to access. It looks okay from here, but who knows about the roof." They walked around the house, passing a large stone stable and what looked like the remains of the servants' quarters, walking until they came to a door on the side, clear of vines for the most part. Qi put down the basket and wrestled with it for a few moments before it opened, the wooden door swollen and warped with years worth of water damage. "Well, the wood's not in such good shape, but I guess that's to be expected. Mind yourself, now."

It was the door into the kitchens, a huge space, with old copper pots and pans still hanging from the ceiling and a large wooden worktable in the middle of the room. Qi whistled. "Look at that. LoLo would keel right over if he saw all of this." Qi ran a hand along the table and sneezed at the violent cloud of dust that followed. "Doesn't seem to be any water damage in here so I guess the roof is okay in the kitchen at least." Qi walked over to the enormous fireplace, big enough to fit the car they'd driven up in. "Don't want to think what's up this chimney, though. Well, let's go take a peek around. But you stay right behind me, okay? Last thing I need is for you to go through a hole in the floor or something." Qi left the basket on the table and took Wu's hand, pulling him along.

They wandered through the house, Qi making sure to keep a eye on Wu the entire time. It was filthy, but short of some readily apparent water damage in one of the bedrooms the roof seemed to be fairly solid. The furniture had been left uncovered and most of it that had fabric had been destroyed by mice over the years. The smell was pungent and both of them were sneezing and coughing with the dust they were raising just by walking around. Qi finally made use of their handkerchiefs, typing them around both of their mouths and noses. The grand room in the center of the lodge featured a collection of animal heads mounted on the walls, something at which Wu shuddered and Qi scowled. "Best just to burn those," Qi said, head shaking in disgust. "I never could understand the point of it." Qi's hands were fisted on Qi's hips. "One thing I'll give them, though, when they built this place they built it to last. It's a mess, but the building is still good, as far as I can tell. The windows seem to have held up for the most part and there doesn't seem to be any signs of any large animals getting in, never mind any people. I wonder how long its been since anyone has been here?" Qi kicked at a moldy armadillo-lion skin on the floor. "I guess you'd need to replace the roof. Well, I'd want to replace all of the wood, not just the roof. The doors and such are in pretty bad shape, they haven't really held up like the stone has." Qi sneezed again. "You want to go look at the stables? And then we can have our lunch outside. I don't want to eat in here, too much dust. Although Zhi would have a field day, plenty of specimens."

"I'm trying very hard not to think about all of the specimens, thank you very kindly," Wu said, following Qi out the kitchen door, towards the stables. Qi managed to get the door open and it was much of the same as the house, with the added addition of plenty of rotted hay and old leather tack falling to pieces. "It'd be a job to clean out, but if you had ostrich horses it'd be a good place for them. It'd be fairly easy to convert into a garage, too, if you wanted to skip the livestock all together." They wandered back outside, Qi grunting a bit while forcing the door shut again before turning around and tugging the handkerchief away, breathing in the fresh air. "Hey! There's a pump. I wonder if the water's still good?" Qi put down the picnic basket and shucked off Qi's leather jacket, rolling up Qi's sleeves and starting to prime the pump. Qi grinned at Wu. "Haven't used one of these in years. There's still plenty of places in the city that don't have running water. I never grew up with it, I can tell you that much."

Wu pulled the blanket out of the top of the picnic basket, laying it carefully over a grassy area next to the stables. He sat down gingerly, taking off his hat and fanning himself with it. Qi was pulling hard at the pump handle, still grinning, uttering soft exhalations at it with plenty of profanity sprinkled in. Wu found himself grinning back. Qi looked happy here, despite the smudge of rust across one hand and a bit of cobweb stuck in Qi's hair. Wu had always thought of Qi as part and parcel of the City; Mako was a city boy, certainly, and was never all that comfortable in the countryside. Wu knew he certainly wasn't. But there was something here, something in the quality of the clean air and the unfiltered sunshine, with the green of the forest that had been encroaching on the lodge for a hundred years that suited Qi. Maybe it was the quiet, the stillness only broken by birdsong and the whine of a grasshopper nearby. Qi had always been quiet; the damaged voice, of course, but also the silence Qi always carried on Qi's person. Even in photographs Qi had hidden depths, much like the land around them.

The pump let out with a deep rattling groan and shuddered; a few seconds later some rather dirty looking water trickled out. "There it is!" said Qi, obviously excited. "The pipes are probably full of muck but once it rinses that out we can see what we can see." Qi kept pumping away, and Wu watched with interest as the water gained volume and, over the course of a few minutes, gradually started to clear. "Didn't LoLo pack us some cups?" Qi asked, nodding at the basket, and Wu fished around until he found one, standing up and bringing it to Qi. "Let's see." Qi filled it and cautiously took a sip and then a large swallow. "Oh, it's good! The water's still good. You never know, wells can dry up or go bad. You want to try?"

Wu took the cup and tasted it. The water was teeth-chatteringly icy, and very good indeed. "It's so cold!" he sputtered, and Qi laughed.

"It means the well is good and deep. I don't know if it would withstand putting actual plumbing in here, you'd have to bring in someone who knows how to do all of that. But at least there's water." They sat back down on the blanket and Wu started to take things out of the basket, laying them down neatly. "How much property does this place have anyhow?"

"Oh, according to the deed there's about twenty thousand acres of land. All of this forest area belongs to the property. That's why there aren't any villages or anything nearby. This area used to belong to the Earth Kingdom, of course. I'm not sure if the Fire Nation ever made it this far inland when they invaded and colonized the area. They claimed a lot of land they hadn't actually even taken, there was a whole to-do while my great-grandfather and Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang worked it all out. It's just barely in the United Republic's borders now, however."

Qi was staring at him. "That's...a lot of land. A lot of damn land. What's it all worth, anyhow?"

Wu shrugged. "I have no idea. You know you have to ask Mako about that kind of thing." Wu waved his arm. "It's mostly forest, although there is apparently a small lake somewhere around here that belongs to the property as well. They used to use it for hunting, remember, so it hasn't been really cleared for farming or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if people had built along the edges of it, though, seeing as it has been so long since anyone's been here to claim it. I suppose that's something you'd have to clear up with lawyers and such." He shrugged again. "I pay people to do that sort of thing for me."

Qi was quiet for a moment, fiddling with a pair of chopsticks. "What do you plan on doing with it?"

"Ah. Well, that's the thing. It's not really what I plan on doing with it. It's what you plan on doing with it." At Qi's baffled look, Wu smiled. "You see, I'm giving it to you."

Qi was silent for a long moment, staring into Wu's eyes. "Why are you doing that?"

"Don't you want it?"

Qi raised an eyebrow. "Don't answer my question with a question of your own. That slippery business of yours works on your husband, not me. Why are you trying to give me this property?"

"Trying, am I?" At Qi's look Wu threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. I'll tell it your way, then. So. I have consulted with my lawyers about how to officially make you a part of the Hou-Ting family. In Ba Sing Se it would be enough for me to give you the crest; we don't live in Ba Sing Se, however, so there is legal paperwork to be considered. There are three choices. The first one would be to have another Hou-Ting bring you into the family as my cousin or sibling. That one is clearly out since, insofar as I know, I am the only adult Hou-Ting left living. The second choice would be for me to officially adopt you as my child. Which is odd, considering our respective ages, but it wouldn't be the first time it had ever happened, of course. The sticky issue there is that...well, to be blunt, you'd become the Hou-Ting heir. You're not a bender and you are older than Zhi."

Qi took a deep breath and let it out. "I do not want to be your heir. Ever. That's for Zhi. Cut that one right on out."

"I had assumed that would be your answer, actually."

"Too right it would be. So what's the other choice?"

Wu dropped his eyes and started to fiddle with the basket, re-arranging the things on the blanket. Qi sighed again.

"It's for me to marry you, isn't it?" Wu's eyes flew up to meet Qi's, startled wide. Qi let out with a gritty little laugh. "I might not be the detective in the family but I'm not stupid, you know. I've read all of your books about these things. I'm right, aren't I?"

Wu's hands fluttered nervously. "It's not a necessity, of course. As members of the Hou-Ting family Mako and the children get an annual stipend and I've settled certain properties and such on them, it's what is done. You don't need to be legally connected for me to do the same. And as I said, in Ba Sing Se it's enough I've given you the crest, it's just Republic City, or the United Republic's laws I should say-"

"Now you're babbling," Qi said mildly, cutting him off. Qi snorted. "Well, this is all sort of royal, isn't it? No romance, just get down to business, sign the contracts. Hand over the land. Nothing personal, just the legalities."

Wu was quiet, staring at the wedding ring on his hand. "The King of the Earth Kingdom shouldn't wear a wedding ring. We're considered above such trinkets to denote our marital status. Our word is law; we can promote or demote a consort at any time. Well, in theory, anyhow. It's considered a huge insult to demote an actual consort and you'd risk a great deal of political upheaval if you did so. It was far easier to stash away the out of favor consort in the far reaches of the Palace and leave them there to rot in opulence, of course." Wu's smile was melancholy. "I wear this ring because Mako had it made for me and it's beautiful and I love it and I love him. I don't wear it because I feel an obligation to do so. That's not how I was raised. I bought Mako his ring because I wanted to please him and I wanted to embrace the customs of Republic City since this is my new home." Wu raised his eyes to Qi. "Everything I do here is based on someone else's customs, someone else's laws. My entire way of life is gone. Sometimes I feel like I've been erased. And worse, I'm the one who erased myself. It was my choice to give it all up, I know. It's my own fault. I still feel it was the right thing to do, but sometimes I long for my home, for everything that was familiar and right to me. Just because I don't talk about it doesn't mean I don't feel that way." 

"I'm sorry." Qi's voice was a whisper. 

Wu nodded in acknowledgement. "It is what it is. I'm not unhappy, you know. Well. Nothing I can't bear, anyhow." He smiled through sudden tears. "I try not to dwell on it. But Qi...I am so careful not to make decisions for you. I try very hard. You are not the same as Mako. Mako was never made to be alone, despite what I think he believed all along. Mako was desperate for a family, for stability, for a home. I was those things for him. I hope to always be those things to him. I have loved him since the moment I met him, although in the beginning it was a selfish boy's one-sided love. I took him for granted and never thought of his happiness. It worked out for us eventually, but I hope I learned my lesson there. The thing is, Qi..." Wu took a deep breath, "...I think you are desperate for a family as well. Home. Stability. I've tried so hard to make these things available for you without pushing you into them, manipulating you. Seducing you, as it were." Wu laughed a little. "I'm not sure how well I've succeeded. Mako's right, I am imperious. Well, that's just who I am. I don't know that it will ever change. I do my best. But I am excruciatingly aware that what I am doing right now is, in its own way, a trap of love."

"I don't feel trapped."

Wu fished in the basket for a clean napkin and dabbed at his eyes. "I do hope not. You are your own person, Qi. You deserve love and happiness on your own terms. We will always be your family. Always. It doesn't need to be legal under Republic City's laws, and it hasn't been, for that matter. Your relationship with the children isn't legal, but Zhi and Meili have only ever known you as another parent to them. Naoki is a little older, but I do believe she sees you as a mix between a parent and a older sibling, perhaps. But those relationships, you've built on your own." Wu smoothed the napkin across his lap and met Qi's eyes again. "Qi, you are not, as you say, stupid. I know you are aware of how my husband feels about you, even if he hasn't figured it all out for himself. Oh, why mince words? He wants you, of course, that's plain to anyone with eyes. Including your eyes, and now you're blushing! Well, you do like to be blunt, Qi, so I am just trying to communicate that way with you."

"Doing a bang up job with it," Qi said, hands spread across cheeks flushed with mortification. 

"I don't care, you know. I told Mako a few weeks ago...well. I told him a long story about the historical background of the various marriages of the royal family because I love that man, but if I spoke to him the way I am speaking to you right now he'd shout at me and then run off to set things on fire and utterly refuse to address the subject ever again. Never say I don't know my own husband."

That got a little laugh from Qi. "I won't argue with you there."

"Mmmm. I should say not. The thing is...I don't care. Republic City might be utterly scandalized but Ba Sing Se wouldn't bat an eye so long as the proper forms were followed. Per Ba Sing Se's customs you both belong to me, so it wouldn't even be worth speculating over. It'd be considered par for the course. Only if you were my concubine or consort, however. If that were the case there would simply be no scandal at all." Wu shrugged. "I have to say I've never understood all of the fuss Republic City makes over that sort of thing. If the nobility of Ba Sing Se were to get worked up and divorced every single time a husband or wife procured a new concubine then no one in the Upper Ring would be married at all!" Wu leaned in. "Lin's grandmother only kicked out her grandfather because he refused to give the women he was sleeping with official concubine status. That was considered low-class." Wu made a little mou of distaste. "Imagine! A concubine is an honored position, you know. It comes with rights and certain expectations of gifts of money or jewels or land, depending on the wealth of the noble involved. To not elevate your lover to the status of concubine is the scandal where I come from. It spoke very poorly of Lin's grandfather, really." Wu shrugged. "Well, I know it sounds odd to you, growing up where you have. But it's what I grew up with. The truth of it is that I don't care if you and Mako want to sleep with each other. But I couldn't possibly let it happen under my roof unless you were given a certain status. I just...I couldn't, Qi. It would be dishonorable to me as well as the House of Hou-Ting." Wu spread his hands out. "Can you understand that?"

Qi was quiet, thinking, before slowly nodding. "I think I understand. It'd be like giving someone a job but not paying them for it." 

Wu sat back. "Well, that's a bit oversimplified, but it's the general idea, yes." Wu sighed. "If we were in Ba Sing Se I'd proclaim you my concubine and all would be well. If you later wished to leave me for another then we'd dissolve the verbal contract, I would give you the expected gifts, and you'd move on to another. All very day-to-day. No one would blink an eye, even though I am royal. Republic City is another kettle of fish, however. You know that concubines are not necessarily respected here. People consider it an affair, a tawdry thing. I don't give a damn what people think of me, but I won't have you or Mako tarnished that way. If I made you my consort, however, it would be acceptable in both places. Republic City looks a bit askance at more than one spouse, but it isn't illegal and it's fairly common amongst the refugees and immigrants from Ba Sing Se, at least. There might be a bit of a scandal, but it would die down fairly quickly. And, most importantly, you'd be legally protected." Wu leaned forward to place his hand on Qi's, his face serious. "If you ever wanted to, I would release you from your contract. I give you my word as a Hou-Ting."

"It's not very romantic, is it?" Qi's eyes were full of tears.

"Qi. My darling. My love. If romance is what you want, then I promise you all of the romance in the world. Well, from me, anyhow, when Mako hears about this he will shout at me for months, you realize."

Qi laughed a little, despite the tears. "Could I have a big wedding?"

Wu laughed outright. "The very biggest wedding my extremely lavish fortune could manage. No limits at all. Whatever your rapacious little street rat heart desired."

"Dancing badgermoles?"

"Need you even ask?"

Qi dashed at the tears with the napkin Wu considerately handed over. "I have to think about it, okay?"

Wu nodded. "I don't want an answer today. I want you to consider it and give me the answer you want to give me, not the answer you think I want. We can discuss it more later, as well. This is not something I am doing on impulse, you realize."

Qi nodded back. "I know."

"And this is still yours. Regardless of whatever you decide. It's not a bribe and it's not a gift. It is a proper acknowledgement that you are a member of the Hou-Ting family. You may do with it whatever you please. Sell it, leave it alone, fix it up. It is up to you. I've already had the deed put into your name and filed by my lawyers."

"Okay."

"Okay indeed. Now. LoLo has packed us this lovely lunch and I think we should eat it. Or at least I should. I believe I smell dumplings."

"Wu?"

Wu was frowning at one of the packages. "Yes?"

"I haven't...um. I mean to say..." Qi was fumbling a bit, a very unusual circumstance. "I...um..." Qi's face was taking on color again. "It's just...I haven't..."

"Ah," said Wu, focusing on untying one of LoLo's nautical knots. "Are you trying to tell me that you haven't actually had sex with anyone? I had assumed that. You've always shied away from that sort of thing." He quickly brought his head up, his eyes wide. "My gracious, I do hope you realize that it is not a requirement! Qi, I most heartily apologize if I did not make that clear. Of course sex is not required. Under no circumstances. I would never dream of it. Never. I beg your pardon, it was carelessly done of me. I could put it in the marriage contract if that would ease your mind."

Qi's face was pressed into Qi's knees. "Please someone just kill me now and put me out of my misery."

"Obviously whatever agreement you came to with Mako would be between the two of you but I hope you know that Mako would certainly never put his oar in where it was not wanted, so to speak."

"Oh spirits," Qi mumbled, refusing to look up.

"Although I can only recommend him. He was my first and he was extremely considerate and very reassuring about the whole thing." Wu smiled fondly at the memory. "Also, he was quite a good sport about roleplaying a sandbender in the shower with me. Oh, and being a Triad boss. That was a lot of fun. It wasn't the last time, either. He does make a very convincing and thrillingly dastardly Triad Boss, you can believe me!"

"Stop," begged Qi. "Please."

Wu started to laugh. "Oh, I am sorry, Qi. I don't mean to embarrass you, I promise. If he were here Mako would probably dump cold water on my head. Never mind. Ah! There goes that knot. I can never seem to convince LoLo that we are not, as it happens, on board a ship and I do not know how to manage all of his twists and turns!"

"It's just..." Qi plucked at a blade of grass on the border of the blanket. "It wasn't...I told you before that I born to a whore, right?"

Wu put the basket down. "Yes. You did."

Qi shrugged, still staring down at the ground. "And she died when I was about two. I don't remember her. At all. But I lived there until I was nine. In the brothel, I mean." Qi quickly met Wu's eyes. "I wasn't for sale there, not at that place." Qi looked back down. "I had a little space in the attic and I worked, I did the embroidery and cleaned and such. I told you that."

"Yes."

"Well, it wasn't a good life or anything, but no one messed with me. I was just a skinny ugly little kid. Besides, like I said, that place didn't cater to the customers that wanted kids. Plus some of the other whores, they kept an eye out for me. So in that way, I was lucky. But the thing is..." Qi went quiet for a bit, still plucking at the grass. "It's just...the whores? They didn't want it. The sex I mean. It was a job. They got paid. They'd pretend they were enjoying it, of course, the customers like that kind of thing, or at least most of them do. They want the fantasy, I guess. But when they were done it was all business, back in the back room where they'd get cleaned up and ready for the next round. They'd make fun of the customers, talk about how boring and stupid they were, how bad they were at sex, that kind of thing. And it made an impression on me, I guess. That it was always this dirty boring thing, something you paid for. Something that was fake."

"Oh, Qi."

Qi shrugged. "Well, I know it isn't true. I mean, my head knows it. But it's hard to get past it sometimes. And even Wei...I mean, he's not paying any of those men he takes home, it's not like that. They want to be there and he wants them there. But he doesn't care about them. He just has his fun and out they go. He's never had a relationship or anything."

Wu scoffed. "Oh, I thought Mako was going to kill him when Zhi let it slip a couple of years back that he'd been visiting you over the garage. Mako thought he'd been carrying on with you, treating you like you were one of his disposable lovers. Nothing I could say would stop him, he drove over there and practically threw Wei out the window. It took a lot of convincing on Wei's part to make Mako understand that he'd never done anything like that with you and wouldn't do it, either."

"Wei never told me that! I'm not his type anyhow, Mako ought to know that."

Wu threw out a hand and rolled his eyes. "Mako's not known for thinking clearly when he gets angry, you know. I knew nothing of the sort had been going on, but you know how Mako is. He's very protective."

"Yeah, I know. But...anyhow. It's hard for me. Don't get me wrong. I know LoLo and Lin love each other. And you and Mako. I mean, I get it. I know it's not all like what I grew up with. I know it here," Qi slammed a finger to Qi's temple, "but my heart doesn't want to believe it, I guess."

"Well. Mako and I...we do certain things. Certain kind of role play. Mako has..." Wu was careful with his wording, "...certain needs which I can provide in my own way. It's not every time or anything. Believe me, we carry on in the normal way as well." Wu smiled.

"It's when you go to the Four Elements for the night, isn't it?" The blade of grass was well shredded by now.

"Yes. Only there. We keep it separate. It's...well. I wouldn't actually feel right talking about it without Mako's consent. But let me make it very clear to you that it is something between Mako and me. There would be absolutely no expectations for you that way. Or anyone else, for that matter. It's just between the two of us."

"Because I don't think I could do that. Not any of that...Four Elements kind of thing. Or even role play. I just..." Qi glanced up at Wu. "I'd feel like a whore. I'm sorry. But I would."

"You've no need to apologize to me, Qi," Wu said gently. "It's fine. I do mean that. I give you my word. And you should ask Mako yourself, of course, but I can promise you that he would feel the same."

"I am curious. I want to, but I don't know. I guess I'm scared. Not of sex. I mean, it's not like I don't know what goes on. Grow up where I did, you learn too early. It's not that part of it that scares me."

"Well, you know, sex and intimacy, they aren't the same thing. What Wei does? That's just physical. What you saw growing up as well, I imagine. But intimacy, it's not the same. And it can be frightening. Letting someone into your heart like that? Terrifying. I think we all feel like that, sometimes. I know I certainly did."

"You did?" Qi looked up.

Wu nodded. "Oh, of course. And it was difficult for us, being in two different cities the way we were. We missed each other, so very much, and we had to trust each other. That part was harder for Mako than me, I think. Trust has always been so difficult for him. He's always so afraid of losing those that he loves."

"I just think...what if I fuck it all up?"

Wu smiled and leaned forward. "Oh, Qi. We're all afraid of that. It's the risk you take, loving someone."

"Sometimes I think, I should just get it over with, just take someone home from a bar like Wei does, just be done with it. But it feels too much like...well. You know."

Wu nodded. "I know now. I'm glad you told me. It helps me understand."

"I feel really stupid, having this conversation," Qi mumbled, looking back down.

"Well, don't. I've never understood people's reluctance. Isn't it better just to soldier through and get it all out in the open so there are no misunderstandings later? It seems a simple enough solution to me."

Qi cracked a small grin. "You do realize you aren't like most people? Right? In so many ways."

Wu put a hand to his heart and fluttered his eyelashes. "I do like to celebrate my own uniqueness." 

That got a laugh out of Qi. "This is a weird conversation. In the middle of a forest next to a hidden house."

"That's your forest and your hidden house, might I add."

"You've got lots of property. Why this one?"

Wu smiled. "It was something you said when we were visiting Chun last year. Do you remember? You told me that sometimes you thought you'd like to just drive to the end of the world, just go where no one knows you. Well, I can't give you the end of the world, but I can at least give you this. Your own little hidden sanctuary, far away from everything, so you can be alone whenever you feel the need. All yours."

Qi stared at Wu, eyes filling with tears again.

"Come here," Wu said, and held his arms open. "I won't bite you. Or even try any hanky-panky, I promise. Just come here for a moment." He gestured with his open hands. Qi slid reluctantly over, sitting stiffly next to Wu on the blanket. Wu pulled Qi in the rest of the way and wrapped Qi up in his arms. "There. It's a hug. I know you are capable, I've seen you do it with the children."

"Children just want hugs. Adults usually want something more."

Wu smiled. "Well, right now I would just like a hug. That's all. And also some dumplings, but we'll get to that after the hug." Qi's arms slowly went around Wu, and Wu's smile widened. "So tell me. What would you like to do first? Here, I mean."

"Get someone out to check the roof, fix the doors. All of the wood most likely needs to be replaced at this point, if that roof is holding on it's by a thread. I'd check the masonry for holes or chinks in it. I'd want it to be weather-tight before the snow flies. It needs cleaning but I'd want to do that first."

Wu nodded. "Mmmm. Did I mention the part where as a Hou-Ting you'll be getting a considerable annual stipend?"

"You said Mako and the kids were."

"Naturally that means you as well." 

"What kind of stipend are we talking about?"

Wu quoted a number. Qi swore.

"Well, I really am quite wealthy, Qi. As I said, you'd have to ask Mako about the details. But in any case, I'm certain you could get someone out here to work on the place if you wanted to. I have no idea who does these sorts of things. Do you hire local? Bring someone in? Someone fixed our house before Mako and I moved in, I've forgotten who they were although I do remember the very imposing woman who smoked like a chimney and shouted a great deal whenever I'd visit. Mako would know who she was."

Qi was laughing. "Listen to you. You don't even know who worked on your own house. You're like an overgrown baby."

Wu pulled back in mock indignation. "How very rude of you! You may redeem yourself by serving me some dumplings. Isn't fresh air supposed to invigorate the appetite? I feel as if I could eat three of them!"

"If you eat three whole dumplings and LoLo hears about it he'll make you eat outside every single day."

"He would, wouldn't he?" Wu's face lit up and Qi's lips quirked in amusement.

"Three whole dumplings it is. What if I added some pickled cabbage and a duck egg to the bowl?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not that hungry!"

"Pour the tea, then." Qi handed over the thermos and pulled out the bowls with a smile.