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He’s handsome enough, was the first thing Li Changge thought upon seeing her husband-to-be. It was something of a relief, silly though it was. Good looks did not make a good character, she knew that all too well. He had a cold sort of face, but that too, did not necessarily mean anything.
He was introduced as Ashina Sun, the adopted son of the Great Khan, which made it a fitting match, given that she herself was the adopted daughter of the Emperor. Had he been on the field, during the cuju match? What would he say if he knew she had been the orchestrator of his team’s defeat?
Ashina Sun was looking her over as carefully as she was him. Was he trying to take her measure? He’d find nothing useful, if so. She was not her true self in court, let alone a formal reception of foreign dignitaries of a hostile people.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ her uncle, the Emperor, had said time and time again. ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.’
It was sweet of him to say so, but Changge knew better. Her mother had given her life for the Tang; how could she do anything less? She would marry this Ashina Sun, this proud and handsome man, so different than what she had expected of an Ashina man, and in doing so, preserve the peace of her people. Not a bad thing to give her life for.
When they did get to speak, Ashina Sun had a series of polite nothings to say. It wasn’t a good sign. But then, none of it was a good sign, per se, other than the potential for peace. She did not expect much to change, and her expectations proved true. Every time the spoke, dressed in all their finery and with plentiful chaperones, they neither of them had much to say. It was altogether dull.
Changge kept on thinking that right up until she ran into him - quite literally - on the street one day.
“You—“ she started. It was certainly her fiancee, dressed not as an Ashina Teqin or a Prince, but as an ordinary man living in the Tang capital.
He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was him.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, dragging her into a side alley.
“I could ask you the same question,” Changge said sharply.
Ashina Sun scowled at her, taking in her clothes - not too different from his - and didn’t ask.
He didn’t ask — she saw the question in his eyes, and he turned away and didn’t ask! Who did that!
The irritation made her sharp. “Well?”
“I wanted to see the city,” Ashina Sun returned neutrally. His face had closed off again, retreating back to the smooth blankness he defaulted to.
“We would have been glad to arrange a tour for you,” Changge said pointedly.
“A grand parade is not the way to see the truth of the city,” Ashina Sun said. “Nor it’s people.”
“And why would such things concern you?”
“My wife will be of Tang,” and there was something of a challenge in his eyes. “Shouldn’t I know her ways?”
Changge doubted that was the truth, but she could no more avoid that challenge than she could avoid breathing. “Your wife is a lucky woman, to have such a considerate husband. Surely she will be as thoughtful as you, and learn the ways of your people in the same way.” She wanted him to be angry again, wanted to see the flash of his eyes. She couldn’t say why, but now she had seen underneath his blank facade, she felt he should never again look at her through it. He should always feel something when he looked at her, and she should always know it.
“I would be very lucky to have such a wife,” he said, which she took as permission to sneak out of his tent as she did the palace.
There was a commotion on the main street, drawing the attention of some guards. Changge turned her face away from them. This close to the palace, they’d recognize her, and she wasn’t ready to go back just yet. When she turned back, Ashina Sun had put himself between her and the street. She could see past him just fine, but she’d be difficult to spot. It was thoughtful, and helpful, and he still had not asked what she was doing.
And he wouldn’t, Changge realized. Not again. He had only asked before because he was startled. If he asked again, she would as well, and he didn’t want that. In fact, she’d bet that if she told him she was running away, he wouldn’t try to stop her. Maybe he’d even help her.
“I got bored,” Changge said. It was even true. People kept simpering at her, and she hadn’t been able to go anywhere or do anything without someone fluttering.
“Bored,” Ashina Sun repeated flatly.
Changge lifted her chin. It was the truth, whether or not he believed her. “Bored.”
Ashina Sun took a step closer. She didn’t move. “Is that all?”
Changge stared him down. “Yes.”
He looked at her intently, searching her face. What he found there must have satisfied him, because he leaned back and looked away. “Good.”
He won’t force me, Changge thought, but his pride would have been hurt anyway.
“Peace between our people is the important thing,” she said softly, catching his eyes again. They were dark with emotion, and when he said, “yes,” she was not surprised that he agreed. He was not hungry for battle, her husband to be, though much had been made of his skill in that area.
“Whatever else I do,” Changge said, “I will fight to preserve that peace above all else.”
Ashina Sun nodded. “Call me a’Sun,” he said, an offer she had not expected.
“Changge,” she returned. Never let it be said there was a challenge she did not rise to meet.
“Well then, a’Sun,” Changge said. “Shall I show you the city?”