The Union of Nobility (drakendottir)

"Ha ha ha! I suppose it was, very well then my dear I will try again" he said with a laugh as he escorted her through the Cao family home. As he did he thought for a moment and then looked back at Railja. "Whenever I go about my business in the City wether I am dressed in my robes or my armor I can hear people talking, my ears are as well trained as my body. I always hear people mention my rank in the army or my family's wealth and nobility. I really would prefer a wife who did not love me for the rank and wealth."

Looking into her eyes as they walked Cao Cao then asked, "What I want to know is an honost opinion about what you truely see when you look at me, regaurdless of my family and rank in the army? What do you see me as a man is what I am asking?"

"That's actually a difficult one, General." Railja smiled, but the smile was broken by a frown as she started to think. "To be honest, all I know about you is what is being told in the streets and what my brother and your mother told me. Which is basically... you are a man of honour, a strong leader and a man many others depend on, and you have dedicated your entire life to satisfy the needs of your family. From the first moment on I found these reports... insufficent. And to be even more honest, although I trust my brother, I won't solely rely on his words. Frankly, I don't see a lot in you right now, as all I can do is rely on the intonations of others. I have not yet had the chance to look properly, and I think that in this area, we are equals. I don't know you yet, despite all the tales, and you don't know me."
They entered the mansion and slowly advanced through the corridors. "I don't think it is a good idea to form an opinion on what others tell. I will give you an answer to your question, but not before I have not had time to find it."

She bowed her head, deep in thought, and then looked up again. "It's my turn, I believe. You said that your bird dome is your sanctuary, the one place where you don't feel the pressure of your rank, your family, your honour. I just wondered... what if you were not born a Cao? What if you were born some commoner, like hundreds of other people? Would you still wish for this life, I mean, is it what you would have chosen for yourself, or do you sometimes have the feeling someone else put a burden on your shoulders, and you never had a choice but to bear it?"

Cao Cao listened to Railja and admittedly her answer was not what he expected. He was used to women who only cared for his wealth and his power. Normally they threw themselves to him just for a chance at his family and it's earnings, and as such was not used to a woman who saw him as a normal man for a change and it was a refreshing feeling. As he looked at Railja as they walked, he listened to her question and took a moment to think about it.

"Would I want to live the life of a noble and wish for the wealth I have now.....I don't believe so. All I woud want is to provide the best I could for my family and loved ones, as well as my nation. I would probably serve the in the military to best serve my nation, and as such I don't know if I would be a general as I am now or as powerful a Fire Bender. Yet I do not really need the wealth I have now to support my family" he said.

As he opened a door and escorted Railja in he asked, "Now as it is my turn, tell me what you enjoy to do in your free time? I doubt you spend all the time wearing expensive dresses and having lush dinners at noble estates.....no offense Railja?"

His answer came as a surprise. He really enjoyed being in the army, but his priorities were clearly not what she had expected. A warm feeling grew in her belly as she realized he had put his family before anything else, not his wealth, not his honour, like most men would have done. He was not only a noble person, he was a good man.
She, too, had to think about his question - should she give him the socially accepted answer, or rather the truth? She decided to tell him the truth. She had not behaved socially acceptable during this whole encounter, and although he probably knew she could, this was not a time for polite vagueness.

"I enjoy music a lot, and I practice my waterbending..." Here, she hesitated a bit, but then decided just to let it open how far she was advanced. She neither wanted to lie to him nor make him lie to her family later on. "I also enjoyed horsebackriding, but I fell off once and my family is... worried. They worry a lot about me, some of it might be valid, at other times it feels... restricting. My mother had me instructed in all sorts of needleworks, especially stitching, and although it is mainly indoors, I find it soothing at times. I also read a lot, mainly books and scrolls about old legends, forgotten songs and the latter. But most of all I enjoy spending time with my brothers, when they come by eventually, especially with Rozan." Railja bit her lip, as she realized he had probably heard about Rozan and his bad reputation - spending time with lower class, inproper behaviour, getting drunk in the lower town, and even worse. But Rozan was her brother, her hero, and she would not have him slandered. She knew he could be trouble, but she also knew why he did it. It was his one way of trying to live his own life, stand out of the rights he had gotten with his birth, feel alife. In a way, she did the same thing when she rebelled via secretly waterbending at night.

She smiled, deep in thought for a moment, and then faced him again. "It's my turn again, and I'd like to give the question right back: What do you do in your spare time, except sparring and visiting your birds?"

Leading Railja towards the dining hall, Cao Cao thought for a moment and even scratched at his beard. As he did he came to a few conclusions and nodded to Railja as he said, "Well I do like spending time with my men to get to know them. I don't just mean sparring and training with them; rather I also have my meals with them in thier baracks at times. I speak with them to learn thier likes and dislikes, I invite them to events such as this. It ultimately allows me to form bonds wit htme that will make me a more effective and skilled leader on the front lines" he said as he held a door open.

Walking with her, he smiled abit and said, "If you promise not to laugh I will tell you a little secret. I have a love of poetry and read poems and literature form time to time. To better indulge myself, I will write my own poems that I keep hidden in my room. It's a small vice of mine that I know seems to end the tough, war loving General image most have of me, but I enjoy it and look for inspiration from time to time."

As the two rounded a corner to a large banquet hall, Cao Cao hesitated a moment and took a deep breath. "Looks like we only have time for one quesiton each, so I will ask one that I have wanted to ask for some time. You are a beautiful and talented woman Railja, any man would be happy to have you as thier wife. As such I must ask if you would honor me, that if we are to make this work, I must know if you can come to care for me as a man and not as a Noble or a General?" he asked as he turned and looked into her eyes.

Railja was startled about his bluntness. He knew what he wanted, that was for sure, and she had the strange feeling that he would know if she lied. Not that she intended to, but she knew that her mother and her brother would expect her to say aye now, and do it as convincingly as possible.

No, he did not want their answer. He wanted hers. He had started this game, and he had played along, and now it felt as if he had played it all along for this sole question. Railja turned away from him as she stepped into the room, letting her gaze wander off in thought. This was a tough one, a really tough one, since she did not know her feelings. There was a sick feeling in her stomach, and some swirling, too... but she still felt like a child in his presence. He was a wonderful man, a funny man even - a man who liked poetry, but had to keep it a secret. A secret he had just shared with her.

More importantly. He was a man who did not want her to decorate himself with her like he would with a new badge of honour. He obviously wanted he for herself. Or... did he?

"Before I answer this, General, I have a counterquestion. I know it is not what we agreed... but... you asked something very personal and I need to know something first."

She turned back to him abruptly, and walked towards him. Her eyes were fixed on his in this moment, as she tried to read his thoughts, to see if he was honest about this.

"Why would you like to marry me, honestly? You say you want a woman who cares about you. I could tell you anything right now, and likewise you could do to me, but I trust you are a man of honour, if I ever met one. So..." Nervously, she bit her lower lip, before stopping right before him, almost uncomfortably close, having to lay her head back to look into his eyes still, "... did you ask me all of these questions, and especially the last one, because you care about me, or because I am who I am - Railja Shang, the talented and rich woman a lot of men would willingly marry?"

Her eyes were so linked to his that she felt it like a physical connection. Surely, he would not lie to her... he would not be so cruel and play with her... but for all she knew, he thought she was just a child, a prize he wanted to win.

Cao Cao looked into Railja's eyes and took in a deep breath as he answered her question. "When I see you and myself, I do not see General Cao Cao or Railja Shang. What I see is simply a man and a woman who seek common goals and see each other in thier eyes. With respects to your family, your wealth and family name are the farthest thing from my mind. I could never be happy with a wife who only sought and believed such things. What I seek and would be honored to have as a wife is not Railja Shang, but rather Railja the woman under the make up, under the wealth. That is all I could ever want and that is all I could ever yearn for" he said as he slowly leaned close to Railja so thier faces were only a few inches apart.

"As I said earlier where we both commoners I would still find you a unique, intelligent, and beautiful woman who I would be honored to call my wife. Do you feel the sameway Railja?" he asked close enough to feel her measured breaths.

He was getting closer, leaning towards her. Something in her belly made a small jump, and then it felt like a myriad of butterflies had broken free, swirling around inside her, making her head light and letting her feel a little dizzy. She could even feel his breath on her skin, a warm, but nicely smelling stream of air... but he was so close...

Railja had never before been this close to a stranger, and almost never this close to a man she was related to. Sure, she hugged her brothers from time to time, especially Rozan, but although a hug was physically closer than this, this felt more private, tighter, more tense. And, on top of it all, it felt forbidden. This was surely not how a lady should behave, not even towards her fiance - and he was not yet fully her fiance.

Strangely, she was not afraid of him. "I have been brought up to know all the titles, General Cao, to know them and respect them. But I have never learnt to love them. Titles are just that, they are names, but they say nothing about the person underneath." Something inside her trusted him, trusted his honour, and so she stayed calm as he leaned towards her, and as she answered him, she even had the courage to lay one of her small, white hands on his chest, directly over his heart. "I think the only reason I might ever come to love anyone would be for themselves, and never for their titles. I can promise you that I will try to get to know you my entire life, and that I will care solely for the man I get to know, not the General. You seem like an extraordinary man to me, and not because of your titles. You presentation today showed me the man you have to be to the outside, but your mother gave us both the opportunity to see someone else - the people we are within. I was afraid to be wed to the General, a courageous, but strange man I had never met. But now that I talk to you, my anxiousness is fading. I will marry a great man whom I care about, who happens to be a General, and not a General everyone tells me is a great man."

While she spoke, all thoughts of right and wrong, of the good education she had had and the many, many rules of society had passed, the only thing left was the fast throbbing of her heart and the tense feeling because they were so close - not an uncomfortable tension, rather an exciting one - and the strange look of his eyes, so linked to hers, as if they were looking into each other's souls.

Cao Cao smiled at her answer and even tensed a bit at the feeling of her hand on his chest. In truth this was what he hoped to hear and for the words to reach his ears brought great joy. Reaching down, Cao Cao gently took Railja's hands into his own and cupping them he smiled at her and said, "Hearing those words have lifted my spirits greatly Railja, and I feel now I can put all my effort into unifying our families through our marriage." Cao Cao then leaned down and kissed Railja's hands, being sure to generate a little heat into his lips so as to create a calming warming sensation into her hands.

He then lifted his head and then smiled again, "If you would honor me Railja Shang I would be very happy to have you as my wife and to have you join the Cao family" he said with a kind smile.

The touch of his lips was surprisingly warm, but it still caused Railja to shudder slightly. Never before had a man, not even one of her brothers, kissed her other than on her forehead. But for the first time since she had met this man, she knew truly what she was supposed to say, and she knew it was what she wanted to say, too. For the first time in her life, chosing the path her family had directed her on was something she did happily. She would not be unhappy in her marriage like her sister Katena was, she would be happy. At least as happy as Goralia, probably happier.

After he had kissed her hands and proposed, she bowed her head in a flowing, respectful movement as she courtsied. "The honour, General Cao, would be all mine. I would gladly become your wife and join our families to one."

Then she heard footsteps outside the door, and gently pulled away from him, stepping back the one step an honourable girl was supposed to keep away from any honourable man. The rules of society had them again, but this time, they were no cage. They were mere guidelines on a path she had chosen for herself.