Doing so many funerals in a row had to be draining. "Well, now you have a reason to enjoy those new concubines of yours. Do your best to make them feel treasured." I said. "Speaking of that, should I spoil you while you are here?" he asked as he reached out for me. I looked at him and said "Not really. I'm fine on my own. Save that for the new girls." He looked displeased. "Why!? Am I not a good partner?" he asked indignantly. I thought it was too funny and barely kept in my laughter. Wang Jing got annoyed quickly. "I already told you that I have all those different forms. I actually like my male forms the best." I told him. He looked a bit nervous. "You don't mean that you want to hold me as a man, right?" he asked as he leaned back. I chuckled at him fully. I could not hold back anymore. "No. You are not someone that I want to hold. I think of you like a younger brother. That is all." I said. He only seemed to calm down after teasing him for a bit. Once that was over we got over the hang ups and I left the palace. There were a few assassins and I killed them easily. Things were good.
Even with the administrative shuffle, things still needed to get done and diplomacy had to be taken care of. We received a letter from a neighboring kingdom to the North of our borders. They were over the mountains. They were interested in an alliance sealed with a marriage between Wang Jing and their princess. The large country to our Southwest was clamoring for war. They apparently had specious claims on the territories we had on the outskirts. I really did not care what they did when it came to diplomacy. I thought that it would be more fun having to roll with the decisions they made. His courtiers were circling him. They wanted to push him to do whatever it was that they wanted. In the end, it was up to him to decide. When push came to shove, Wang Jing was not going to marry the princess and he got war declared on him by the country to the Southwest. There was no way a 14 year old boy with no military training whatsoever could enter the battlefield. It would be more of a massive liability than anything else. I told him that I would handle it for him. My male form could do it.
Feeling confident, he readily agreed and said that he would tell others that I wanted to go to a far off monastery to pray for the royal family after the horrors I had seen. At the moment, no one had any idea what my role was with the royal family. I had given Wang Jing 2 sons, but that did not mean much. I could leave and it would probably make all the other noble concubines happier as they could jockey for the prime position in the harem. Because of the contract, I was always only a drop of blood away from him in a moment of need. I arranged for Analim to come with me. I could not leave him alone. His health was probably tied to being close to me. I was the only one who could relate to him and keep him calm. He was give in loose male outfit so he could blend in with his androgynous appearance. He was not going to fight if I could help it, but the companionship would be nice. In my male form, we were given a carriage and taken to the theater of war. It took us several weeks to get there, but it was a very interesting experience. We found the local frontier garrison and saw the men.
I could tell there were a lot of young men seeking glory on the battlefield and veterans that would rather be with their wives than in the fray. We decided to wander around and see what needed to be done. There was a group of soldiers in the barracks at any given time. There were peasants in the town that were already in war mode. The townsfolk were very wary when it came to us. We were able to get a room in the most dodgy part of the town. As I explored the town people were not too keen to speak with me because of my hair. It was not a natural color and people were concerned. When the first battle I could witness occurred, I watched it from a distance. The town got its ass kicked. Several of the garrison died on the battlefield. When the enemy tried to kill those still on the ground injured after the battle, I intervened. I shot off my arrows at them and made them back off. Once they left, I went down and healed them. I led them back to town and we were under occupation from the enemy country. It was very clear to me that this town was not able to repel the force of the invaders.
