"How dare you to touch her, she is mine." Lian Song heard Dijun’s voice and felt a little pity for the group of boys, if he was at court this morning maybe none of these would happened, but he has something to attend to and when he was back to heavens the court was already dismissed; and when he saw Siming wandering around himself with a sad face he takes it as his duty to ask for his sad face, after all the lord of the stars wasn’t someone to show much feelings.
Siming bowed to him and respond: it was a sad morning your highness, sad indeed, a little fox offended some of heaven’s people and they asked for her to be punished by pushing of the Zhu Xian Terrace, she was unconscious and injured but no one pay attention to that, it’s such a pity to lose a little fox like her, she has soft red furs and a mark on her forehead, she is really beautiful....
Siming's voice become lower and lower with every word that he said but still Lian Song heard them all and stared in shock, he saw Feng Jiu in her fox form lots of the times and knew when she goes out she always merge her tails to one, he knew only one fox with a birthmark on her forehead too; "oh heaven, if anything happen to her the fox clan will destroy heaven"; he thought but then shivered when remembered someone scarier than foxes, if Dong Hua hear of these he will destroy all realms not just the heaven, Lian Song saw how he shown interest in fox princess: Siming we are doomed.
Lian Song finally managed to say and vanished, having Taichen Palace in mind, he rushed in and informed Dijun, then followed the angry god and watched everything with his own eyes, if they came a second late or if the protection around Feng Jiu wasn’t alerted.... he couldn’t even imagine.
“Lian Song” he heard Dong Hua’s voice and dragged out of his thoughts, he bowed and accepted the unsaid order: I will take care of them your majesty.
No one wants to see an angry Dong Hua and today they were reminded of the reason.
Dong Hua returned to his palace with an unconscious Feng Jiu in his arms, he put her softly on his bed and examined her.
She was fine, it seems her own magic backfired on her, but what made her to release such an amount of magic? He needs to know, but first Feng Jiu should be attended, he checks more deeply and frowned as he sensed a little similarity of his own magic in her, how can she has that? Maybe because he protected her father before and his protection once alerted for Bai Yi his daughter got some of Dong Hua's spirit.
He will reconcile it later he decided, put his hand on her chest and locked 90 percent of her powers, she has so much power, that wasn’t safe for her; he bounded them, so if she want her powers back she has to improve and release them by herself.
When he was sure that she was fine he left her there and walked to her study room, Liang Song was already there, with Siming and Zhong Lin; He sat and watched them in silence, giving them the time they needed to shatter in their own places.
“Dijun it was my ignorance, I didn’t recognize her highness in the court” Siming offered and knelt down.
Dong Hua looked at Siming then to Lian Song, who knelt as same and explained: “I was distracted and wasn’t in the court, it was my lake of ability”
Dong Hua gazed at them and Siming take it as he has to give explanation, he told Feng Jiu injured some guys and they captured her in return and asked for her to be punish, Lian Song come between his words and said Feng Jiu would never hurt anyone unless they were trying to do something to her, his words only make Dong Hua’s gaze colder.
“call for Bai Zhe, Bai Yi and Zhe Yan” Dong Hua said but on second thought she added Bai Qian and Bai Zhen before waving his hand to excuse them and walking back to Feng Jiu.
Her magic backfired at her, some guys tried to harm her, then they tried to kill her. He felt anger more than he ever felt. He sat beside Feng Jiu, who was still asleep, he checked her and found her energy more regular. Like she could sense him she turned her head to him and breathed deeply, he smiled and gathered her in his arms, soothing her fur: “little fox your family will burn heaven's court in a few minutes but look at you how peaceful you look.” He murmured and put her down again, he could feel the entrance of Bai’s at his palace door. “be a good girl and sleep” he whispered to her ear when she made some noises and left the room.
“Dijun” he heard Zhe Yan, Bai Zhe and his children and suddenly it occurred to him that at the end Bai Zhe was right, a big family which supports each other, can be a good kind of power. He accepted their greeting and nodded back, offered them to sit and looked at Lian Song to share the events.
In that moment Lian Song really preferred to jump of the Zhu Xian Terrace himself than to tell almost all the fox empire clan about their beloved daughter and how heavenly clan treated her but he has no other choice, the eyes of Dong Hua were on him, almost killing him just by his look, he gathered himself and tried to make the news as little as it could, which was impossible.
“where is my granddaughter now” was the first thing Bai Zhe said, they were all on their feet now, anxious to see their little one.
“she is fine, but she needs to sleep for at least two days, her own magic backfired on her, I had to limit most of her powers and she should learn how to control and release them by herself” Dong Hua assured them.
“let me check on her” Zhe Yan said.
“no need, she must have her peace for now” Dong Hua rejected him at once.
“but I need to see my daughter” Bai Yi insisted and Dong Hua nodded, finally giving up on her family request. They all followed Dong Hua to his private chambers and found Feng Jiu sleeping soundly in her fox form, she was hugged herself with her tails, her head on her paws and her chest moving in a regular pace, Bai Qian, whom almost raised the little girl herself, knew she is most comfortable when she is sleeping in this figure also she only does this when she is at ease.
“little one you see quite at home” Zhe Yan teased the sleeping fox after he checked her and suggested they all leave the little fox to be at ease and head to the court.
“but this morning she had only one tail” Siming said and suddenly found himself as the target of four angry foxes, one suspicion phoenix and the deadly cold eyes of the lord of realms.
“she merges them in one every time she goes around, she is too young to take care of herself if anyone knows and attends to harm her” at the end it was Bai Zhen who answered him and made others move out of the room.
Dong Hua gave the responsibility of escorting the Bai clan to the heaven court to Lian Song and said he will join them later. He watched them leave then entered his room again!
He leaned on his bed and brought Feng Jiu closer to himself: “little fox your old phoenix believes you look like you're at home”. There was satisfaction in his voice and devotion in his eyes as he watched the sleepy fox for a while, enjoying her presence and also giving the Bai’s the time they needed to show their teeth to Tian Jun, at the end he put her under a light sleep spell just to be sure she will not wake up and finds herself alone then walked out toward the main court.
“what is this disgrace toward Ching Chu that you are talking about” Dong Hua heard Tian Jun's words when he entered the court. The others saw his entrance and bowed in respect, he dismissed them and walked to his seat with no rush.
Siming, with a look of Dong Hua, took a step ahead and asked the heavenly lord to detail the situation: “your majesty, the truth is the young fox of today’s morning court is the youngest princess of Ching Chu.”
Tian Jun stared in silence, how can it be: “the fox had only one tail how can it be?” he asked and heard Bai Zhe Dijun snort in anger: since when my granddaughter need the permission of heavenly clan to change her appearance and play in her uncle's lands in her own kingdom?
“Bai Zhe Dijun you show so much reaction, that’s not what I meant, I just say how can we recognize her if she has just one tail?” Tian Jun answered and this time heard lots of angry voices.
“Dijun, when he was the lord of the heavens and earth, established a rule which make all royal courts to call for the concerned lord if the defendant is from other clans, in this case you should called Bai Zhen since the fox was captured in his lands and if you did that you would know her identity, but not even you ignored that you also give your verdict to push her down of the Zhu Xian Terrace when she was unconscious and couldn’t even defeat herself, what mean this way of your actions?” it was Zhe Yan who reminded the old rule of Dong Hua’s time, he wait for a moment to give Tian Jun enough time to breath in all the shame because Lian Song, with instruction of Dong Hua called all the member of head lords in an emergency meeting and they were all witness of these events.
After a few moment Zhe Yan continued: it’s thanks to Dijun’s protective shield that princess is alive, but she is injured because of those heavenly boys unknown actions, she is the princess of north lands of Ching Chu, future empress of Ching Chu’s kingdom, she was under queen Bai Qian’s protection and a citizen in king Bai Zhen’s land when this happened, so today’s court of heavenly lord heart her and offended lots of the lord lands.
Tian Jun couldn’t believe what was happening, Dijun’s protection and almost all of Bai's lords, just because of a fox, when he saw her he simply wanted to show he has enough power to protect his people in front of Ching Chu but who could think that would come to this. He was speechless, he looked at Dijun but found his eyes fixated on Zhe Yan, after a long silence from Tian Jun and annoyed angry stare of Bais third prince asked permission to talk and Tian Jun granted it, anything would be better than this silence he thought.
Lian Song bowed and apologized for the sake of the heaven's royal clan, then said since the princess is not here maybe they should wait for her to join them before they continue with this meeting in another time. Dong Hua nodded in agreement and dismissed the court for now, ensuring Bai Clan that they will attend to this matter when the princess is fine enough to join them.
Tian Jun would like to ask Dijun for help, even if he know Dijun is protecting the girl, but he was already in the middle of the room, telling the Bai’s that it's better if they not move Bai Feng Jiu for now: I will bring her myself when she be awake, but for now let her be at ease.
Bai Qian wanted to reject but Zhe Yan confirmed Dong Hua’s concern so the Bais bowed in respect and left the room, then Dong Hua called Lian Song and said the boys are prisoned in some room of his palace: “take good care of them.” He said and left as well.
----
Feng Jiu slept for two full days and when she finally woke up she found herself in a strange bed in a strange room! Everything she could see was white, with a little golden here and there, the smell of sandalwood environed her, she breathes more deeply and tried to stand up to look better but found herself unable of moving, she tried harder and failed again, the failed attempt reminded her of when she was pushing of that hole, unable of saving herself and her body in so much pain, she recalled that and suddenly start crying and sobbing, still trying to free herself.
When she didn't wake up Dong Hua joined her in bed but he kept a respectful distance between them; after a few hours she shifted to her human form in her sleep and tried to kick him several times, at the end he embraced her tightly to stop her from kicking. later when she woke up and tried to move he thought she is trying to kick him again so he tightened his arms around her but then he heard her cry and sensed her desperate try to breath, hastily he loosened his arms a little and patted her on her back, creating cycling comforting move by his hand: shhhh little fox, I’m here, breath, just breath.
She heard the voice whispering in her ear and tried to do as she was told: let me go, please...
She managed to say those words and heard the voice whispering again: you are safe little fox, I came in time and got you, you remember right?
Dong Hua understood she must be thinking she is still in that position when she was pushing to her death and tried to reassure her and it's appears that his words and his calm voice gave her some peace; she remembered, she was being pushed by those mean boys but then she flew in the air and landed in someone's arms, she remembered the sandalwood smell and the words that told he is there for her and so she is safe. She remembered and somehow felt safe. She could sense the same sandalwood smell and buried her face to the source of it, her hands fisted each side of her face and felt the arms around her tightened.
When she finally stopped crying she looked up and saw Dong Hua’s worried eyes staring at her. Dong Hua wiped away her tears and smiled: you are awake now.
Feng Jiu nodded her head then said: you came for me Dijun.
“I will always come for you, little fox” Dong Hua answered and helped her head on his chest again.
Feng Jiu breathed deeply but suddenly she remembered something else too: but you left me before, and you never come back, what if you leave again?
“that was wrong of me” Dong Hua confessed after a moment of hesitation, today when he heard she is in danger he felt such a fear he never felt before, he can’t believe this emotion of himself but they are with him, inside of him; and when he saw her injured and heard her cry he felt the need to burn down that place but then she was in his arms and he felt relieved, so it was his mistake to left Ching Chu back then and not attending there again.
“you won’t leave me again?” he heard her voice and looked at her face, her teary sparkling eyes staring in his eyes demanding for obligation, at that moment she was just a little girl, a spoiled and most loved one and somehow he want to keep her that way, never changing her innocent eyes: “I won’t little fox” he answered and tightened his arms around her once more.