Wolf King And His Fox Consort

When Chu Yun next tried to open the box's iron lid it slid off easily, no longer fixed in place by the lock mechanism.

The inside of the box was no different than the outside, but its contents were surprising.

Chu Yun took out a jade hairpin he had never seen before. He was certain it wasn't one he'd ever seen his brother wear. The decorative end of it was sculpted like a plum blossom, a key note of Chu Hean's scent. 

This was a love token. It was very unlikely that something like this would be given in friendship, it was impossible to miss the implications.

He passed it on to Xiao Zai, who turned it around in his fingers and arrived at the same conclusion Chu Yun had. "You think Chu Hean had a lover?" He paused, thinking on the implications further. "From Su?"

The two things might not be related, but it seemed unlikely. What were the chances of Chu Hean hiding a love token in a watcher box that could only be open with a token from the royal family of Su, or those in their employ, but that had no relation to someone from Su? 

Chu Yun didn't think there was room in the world for so many coincidences. 

Was this why he rebelled? For love?

"How did he even meet someone from the royal family of Su at an academy for omegas in Xin?" Chu Yun questioned aloud, biting down on his urge to scream.

Chu Yun couldn't help thinking the jade hairpin took on some extra significance if it was a gift from a human. No beta would be able to feel Chu Hean's scent, it felt somehow more intimate that he'd have to tell this hypothetical human what he smelled like.

Relationships between humans and their kind weren't unheard of, but they seldom resulted in marriages -- if ever. Especially because human children were always beta. Chu Yun wasn't even certain if they could take on their species traits. For instance, would the child of a human and a fox always be a human? 

He had never stopped to consider these things. Most Su migrants that he knew of, married other humans. And even then, Hua Nanyi was the only human he spent any time in the company of. Xiao Ziyi seemed to like her, but Chu Yun had never considered what would happen after that -- for either of them.

It was funny in a way, that so much separated humans from them, but seeing them side-by-side on the streets it was impossible to tell.

The animal traits that differentiated them were kept hidden so often. Chu Yun wondered if it was only modesty, and a desire to embrace civilisation and leave behind their wild roots, that made it so -- or if perhaps it hearkened back to the times Su, Xin and Zui had been a single nation. 

A common courtesy long forgotten? A reminder of their similarities in order not to let the differences tear them apart? An imposition of the humans over them?

Chu Yun only realised he'd been lost in thought when he heard Xiao Zai gasp, eyes narrowed at whatever he was looking at.

He took a look over Xiao Zai's shoulder, hooking his chin on the crook of his neck. Between his slender fingers hung a worn piece of paper, that showed traces of being folded and unfolded many times over, as if someone kept taking it out to look at time and again.

"When the moon comes out

I think of how it pales compared to you

When the stars shine

I think of how your eyes blot them out

When the sun beats down on the land

I think of how its heat can't compare to yours

When winter turns to spring

I think of how it will pain me to part from you

When summer turns to autumn

I think of the kisses I'll lay upon you when I see you again."

The poem confirmed the romantic nature of Chu Hean's relationship to whoever had sent it to him.

But it confirmed something else too.

"'When summer turns to autumn'," Chu Yun read aloud. "That was when they met again, after being apart for some time, on the Autumn Equinox."

Xiao Zai nodded slowly. "Around the time we got married."

Could Chu Yun also write that off as a coincidence? 

How long had Chu Hean and this mysterious person been corresponding? Judging by how worn that little piece of paper looked, Chu Hean thought of them often. 

"Is there anything else in the box?" Chu Yun asked, folding the little square again and adding it to the hairpin inside the box.

Xiao Zai took out a little silk pouch and opened it. "Ash?" He turned to Chu Yun with a frown of confusion. "Does that mean anything to you in Xin?"

Chu Yun took the pouch from him and examined it. Not everything had been burned to ash, a few pieces of paper remained. "The remains of the letters he got. He burned them all but saved the ash."

He didn't know what to do with the knowledge that Chu Hean was such a romantic. There was some heft to the silk pouch. Just how many letters had Chu Hean burned? How long had this thing between him and the sender been going on?

Nothing else in the iron box was worthy of note. There was some musical notations that Chu Yun couldn't gleam anything from, and that maybe his brother kept for sentimental value as well.

"He's smart, he didn't leave behind anything outwardly incriminating," Chu Yun said, sliding the lid of the box in place.

"Except the box itself," Xiao Zai mused.

That's true. Chu Hean painstakingly burned all the letters he got, although it was obvious he attached some sentimental meaning to them. He kept the jade hairpin and the poem which were obviously gifts in there. He wouldn't just leave the box behind.

"He planned on going back to get it," Chu Yun said, looking into Xiao Zai's eyes. "Think about it. Where would he take it? Home? Where my parents would easily find it? With him when he came to Zui, and it would be just another thing to lug around that he could risk losing or having stolen?" 

Chu Yun sighed, running his thumb over Chu Hean's red bracelet he still wore on his wrist. "No, he left this box in the only place he thought it would remain safe. The one place it was safe all these years, until my parents found it. He was planning to go back."

Xiao Zai hummed to himself. "Perhaps he still is."

That made Chu Yun's eyes widen in realisation. "Of course! If the box was still there it was only because he hadn't been back to collect it."

Both his and Xiao Zai's expectant smiles fell at the same time, a split-second later.

"It takes some time for correspondence from Xin to reach us. There's no guarantee he hasn't been there in the meantime," Xiao Zai said.

Objectively, he was right. As far as they knew, Chu Hean might have been there and left already, after realising his box wasn't there.

It would be easier if they knew where he'd gone to, after disappearing during the hunt. Su was the obvious answer, but if he wanted to hide, and had the protection of the royal family to do so, it would be very hard for them to find him there.

The Academy remained their best chance. Even if he had already been there, maybe they could get something out of his classmates. Unlike Chu Yun's parents they knew what to ask now. Even if they tried to protect Chu Hean, they would still be able to find something useful.

"I still think we should go there," Chu Yun said, making up his mind. "We have nothing to lose."

Xiao Zai gave him a long look. "My father--"

"Your father can't do anything against us if we aren't here," Chu Yun reasoned. "Think about it, right now we only need things to fall in our favour. We need your sister to throw in her support with us, we already have Xiao Yuan's. That concubine of his is locked up in his house and not going anywhere. You saw how he was, he won't give her any quarter."

Xiao Zai still wasn't convinced.

"If we stay here we're just sitting ducks. He's desperate, he'll try anything at this point to get rid of me, and ruin your chances to reach the throne. Even if he sends people after us, we'll have at least a day's advance before anyone comes asking after us. The servants will just tell people we've left to visit my parents."

He could tell Xiao Zai's worry was not only related to what the King might do, but with Chu Yun's condition as well. 

"Besides, I think it's time we share the happy news with some people in Xin too." He smirked.. "There's something to be said about having family fight your battles for you."