Forbidden Tomboy 11 – The Little Sister [Vinh POV]

Vinh Phuong was of the Dai Viet.

The bloodline of the Vermillion Bird may have traced its foundation back to the lands north of the Yellow River, but she was no woman of the Mandate of Heaven – neither had her parents been people of it. For many generations, the family blessed by ash had staked their loyalty only to their newfound home and Vinh did not intend to change that.

In fact, it was high time that the Mandate of Heaven learned from their ‘lesser cousin’ that life was not a rigid series of protocols.

Vinh’s sandals followed every step with a little flop of the flexible sole. The sound echoed from the wide halls. Her orange eyes wandered over the massive pictures covering the walls. Stylistic depictions of various battles from the illustrious history of the Middle Empire. The glory of the Chinese people could not be denied – but their tendency to embellish themselves to this degree was igniting the fire in Vinh’s heart.

There was enough gold, silver and jade in the throne room to create an entirely new palace. The wooden railings were carved with such care that Vinh could only theorize the time and skill that had gone into it.

Vinh was no stranger to woodworking. She was the general of the robber army. Ransacking villages was not in her portfolio, but plundering Natural Barriers very much was. She and her men were always in motion, always scouting along the many great leylines of China, always waiting for the next barrier melding to throw them into a surprise battle. She had carved, joined, nailed and fit wooden structures many times in her relative short period of leadership.

All of that was alive. It required motion, skill and vitality. It required proximity to her people, the people that slew the threats to the realm born from magic and thought. For all of the glory the walls of the Forbidden City were steeped in, it was all created in the echoes of true steps taken.

‘May these undead walls be torn down and replaced with the laughter of jolly fellows,’ Vinh thought. Her actual greeting was only slightly more diplomatic. “I can only anticipate that your health is as good as the dragons I hunt, cousin.”

“Greater by a manifold, we assure you,” the Heavenly Jade Empress stated.

Lu Zhi stood at the top of the staircase that separated the middle levels of the throne room to the uppermost layer. Two steps, barely anything, yet it was also the distance between a nobleman of influence and someone with true power. The sovereign blocked Vinh’s further ascent with her very own body.

“I see you have found a way to make yourself taller than me,” Vinh stated.

“We reckon that your inflated sense of ego will allow you to float anyhow.” The Heavenly Jade Empress showed the robber general a smug smirk. It made Vinh wish to charge across the distance and skewer the embodiment of the Middle Empire’s sense of superiority. Alas, as loathsome as that superiority was, it was also not wrong.

Despite her seething rage at the unfairness of the situation, Vinh kept up her smile. Mirth in the face of overwhelming odds was all she could offer. It came easily to her. “I prefer to stand on my own two feet, thank you,” she stated cheerily. “Now, will I be granted the audience I asked for? Will we have privacy? Oh, don’t tell me, you’ve become as controlling as the ones that claim your position in mundanity?”

The smile on Lu Zhi’s face twisted into a dangerous grin. The amusement on her lips mixed with the annoyance in her jade eyes into an altogether terrifying expression. Vinh continued to grin at the Heavenly Jade Empress. Only when she was this riled up did the sovereign induce the slightest bit of genuine respect in the robber general.

“As per usual, you court ****, little sister,” the empress stated, then hid her angry smile behind the spread segments of a green fan. All that remained were her eyes and to them returned a disgusting political calculation. “Know your place and do not ascend these steps.”

After those words, Lu Zhi stepped away, passing the foreigner by as she went. Once she was out of sight, Vinh actually bothered to look at the Gamer.

He was an attractive westerner, she acknowledged that much. She felt like she had seen his face many times before while scrolling the internet – the generic ‘handsome European guy’ kind of display. She found it pleasingly exotic. It was rare she saw a round-eyed man like him in the flesh.

His attractiveness aside, what Vinh felt for the man was a total lack of care. She yawned, openly, when he approached. He was an ally to Lu Zhi, that made him her enemy, but there was too much distance between them to truly care about him.

“For being so insistent on getting an audience, you seem quite unenthused,” he greeted her.

The words gave Vinh pause. The content of the sentence was expected, the tone pleasing and even, but what really caught her attention was his fluid use of Vietnamese. “I did not expect you to speak my language,” she answered.

“Because you did not expect me to be able to?” the Gamer asked, a hint of delight in his tone.

“Because I thought you would be too loyal to the empress.”

“Ah…” Vinh’s answer sapped the delight from his voice. Was he offended that she thought he was a dog or disappointed because he did not get to surprise her? He made clear what it was a moment later. “Honestly speaking, I miss the days when people underestimated me. Nowadays I just get nods whenever I do something impressive.”

Vinh rolled her eyes. “Yes, you are so impressive,” she drawled and walked towards him. They met at the foot of the stairs that led up to the upper layer. Then, Vinh took another two steps, climbing the stairs only to turn on her heels halfway up. She dropped into a casual sit on the ancient wooden steps. “Want to keep gloating?”

“I’d like an answer to my question,” John Newman stated. “Why insist on this audience?”

“If you’re that much of a genius, you should be able to guess.”

“Once you reach a certain level of wisdom, you learn to appreciate certainty,” the Gamer answered. “It’s such a rare thing.”

“You sound like a pompous asshole,” Vinh pointed out.

He chuckled and leaned on the ancient armrest. “I get that sometimes – so, do you have an answer?”

“I just insisted on the audience because I knew it would piss her off.” Vinh put her cards on the table. She hadn’t been subtle about this to begin with, so why start now? “That the answer you expected?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, then tugged at the sleeve of his suit.

Vinh checked him out again, if only because she’d rather look at a man than all of the pomp and circus around them. The suit did nothing for her. It sat tight, that was pleasant enough, but he would have looked better with it off. Skin and loose pants, that was the proper combination of clothes for a warrior.

“So, I suppose we just kill time now until you think you have taken me from Lu Zhi for long enough?” the Gamer asked his next question.

Absent-mindedly, Vinh checked one of the bands that kept her ash-grey hair in low twin tails. “Something like that… What do you even do for fun? I hear you’re a sex addict?”

“I prefer to think of myself as a sex enthusiast. I can stop when I want to.”

Vinh snorted amusedly. “That’s what all the addicts say.”

“Well, can’t say you’re wrong on that. I do spend plenty of time during my day in one orgy or another. Sex is pretty great.”

“Sex is indeed pretty great,” Vinh agreed. She doubted she had a quarter of the experience the Gamer had. She did not crave to get to that record either. She had had two unstable relationships so far and few sexual engagements beyond them. Horny, drunken escapades, that she was neither ashamed of nor eager to repeat.

“Beyond that, I have a bunch of hobbies… mostly reading and gaming, admittedly.”

“Boring,” Vinh grunted.

The Gamer shrugged. It bothered her a tad. It felt like he was just existing next to her, untouched by what she was saying. Looking up at him was looking at an uncaring deity, looking back at her not because she was worth his time but because she was just there at that moment. It was the gaze of the truly powerful. She hated it.

“Someone ought to take people like you down a peg,” she growled.

The sudden statement made John blink in confusion. It was a human expression, she liked that. His response, she hated. “Probably,” he said, diplomatically.

“By heaven and earth, are you a man or a robot?” Vinh kicked his lower leg. It had been meant to be enough to at least make him tumble a bit. His leg barely moved. Her foot hurt.

“A man,” he answered, amused. “I just have no investment in you and you just admitted that we’re doing this so you can enjoy annoying someone that I do have investment in.” His mild smile assumed a mildly sadistic note. “Maybe I’m playing my part to rile you up?”

“Hah!” Vinh tilted back and crossed her arms. “It’s working.”

“We can have a talk on a matter that interests me, if you want to coax the human out of me.” The Gamer sat down on the steps next to her. “Not sure if you’re interested in discussing the future with me though. I doubt we’ll have much to do with each other.”

“Isn’t that what makes it worthwhile?” Vinh asked. “We don’t have a stake in each other’s stuff.”

“I do have a stake in the Middle Empire,” John stated simply. “I have a fruitful relationship with Lu Zhi and I aim to maintain it.”

“Are you fucking her?” Vinh asked, jokingly.

“Yes.”

The robber general snorted so intensely that she began to cough. She tilted forwards, trying her best to get the cramps in her stomach under control. Laughter and surprised exclamations competed to rise to the surface first. Pain and breathlessness were the result. “Seriously?!”

John smirked, again with that sadistic undertone, and Vinh was starting to believe that a few more of the things she had heard about him were true. She had put stock in him being a powerful schemer and a prolific lover, all of that was self-evident by his deeds. Now she was also believing that he had an egomaniac streak. The Gamer enjoyed being in charge of situations. She found that appealing. The world could use more fire and brimstone. Paper and pencils were the enemy of life.

“If I am, no one will ever believe you,” the Gamer stated plainly. “In any case, here’s my question to you-“

“No, hol’ up a sec,” Vinh interrupted. “We can’t just brush over what you just said.”

“And yet we will, because I’m the one that has all the power in this conversation.” John paused for a moment and stared at her, inviting her to try and contradict what he had said. Then his gaze turned altogether more serious. “What do you think you stand to gain from antagonizing her like that?”

“I’m just living truthfully,” Vinh answered with a shrug.

The Gamer tilted his head, then laughed. “You’re not lying. Fascinating. So you’re not doing this in order to execute some grand scheme?”

“Fuck no, I resent that.” Vinh glared at the walls around them. “I’m just so done with people that send messages lording over those that actually move the world. If I get cut down because I’m not playing the game of politics, then so be it. At least I’ll die with a heart beating in my chest.”

“Funnily enough, I think you and Lu could get along just fine.”

Vinh shrugged intensely. “I’m sure she can be a lovely person. I’ve heard of her annoying the bureaucrats a bunch of times, so I can respect that much. At the end of the day, however, she’s a dragon. She’ll burn anything besides her hoard.”

“And you would burn the world so it may rise from the ashes?”

“Like the phoenix I am meant to be,” Vinh stated and jumped to her feet. “Maybe history will remember me as some ankle biter or maybe our beloved ruler of heaven and earth will invoke the Cardinal Beasts. Either way, I will have lived and died as myself, with freedom on my lips and loyalty to my people singing in my steps.”

Vinh waved at the Gamer and began to walk away. The meeting had gone on long enough, she reckoned. He, however, had another question for her.

“What happens if you don’t get chosen by the phoenix?”

It was a question to which she only had one answer. “It will.”

“But what if it won’t?”

“It will.” Vinh half turned back to see the Gamer stare at her contemplatively. “Maybe I’m not as wise as you, John, but I know certainty:”

“That certainly makes you less wise than me,” he spoke with his own certainty. “There is value in simplicity and conviction. Since you are so full of both, let me put to you a question that I’ve been struggling with.” The Gamer gestured at the room around them. “Say that you win and you remove all obstacles from your path – all enemies shattered and all options open to you – what would you make out of this realm?”

“I would make it mine,” Vinh stated bluntly.

“What does that mean?” the Gamer asked, with a small amount of annoyance in his voice.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet. Why would I? Whatever answer you’re looking for is too rigid to be what I want.” She turned back to the exit again. “Tell my cousin that I’ll go dragon hunting.”

She left the Gamer sitting on the staircase.