Chapter 8: Malia Cheng: Inescapable Fate
If there was something of a kinship Malia and Theon shared, it was the fact that their mothers was a complicated factor of their pasts. But even at that Malia had been luckier than most, the woman had raised her as best as she could substituting for her father when he was completely incapable of being a little bit more sweet with his only daughter. It was her mother she would miss the most, because her father had 11 sons, each more talented than the other and yet he only had a single daughter and it was her own mother who reigned supreme amongst the other wives and concubines.
There was a lot to be said about the cunning and ruthlessness of her mother, the woman was the kindest person she knew, but once upon a time her father 19 sons and not eleven, and he had six daughters not one. Malia loved her parents, growing up in this world has taught her that kindness was only a resource you could afford to give your family and more specifically the womb you came out from or the child that came out from you.
Malia sniffed as she made her way into her mother's flower garden, the pollen in the air tickled her nose as the scents made her stomach turn. She could never really get behind the idea of flowers, they smelt worse than they were hyped up for, and even with Qi and resistances they gave allergies. It was stupid, but here her mother found peace, her she found understanding waving her long sword in an elaborate dance as flame and steel made a conflagration of light. flames of green and yellow dancing well with the beat of her practice in tune with the breath of her own qi.
Malia watched as her mother swiftly turned, pivoted on her heels and then took elaborate steps on the balls of her feet. Moving her shoulder blades and arms and stretching forth the sword in multiple directions as the flames took on the shape of a flock of firebirds. Their illusory form beautiful but the heat terrible as they scorched a wild swath of her mother's garden black. A ravaging so deep that even the earth itself was baked to death, turning to glass in some parts and molten lava in the other.
The dance changed stance and all of a sudden the sword was pointed in her direction as the flock rushed forwards, their cries combined to mimic that of a creature hundreds of times their size. The change was sudden and even with all of her strength she could do nothing but stand and watch like a deer in headlights as death came rushing for her. There wasn't even a second to think as the speed of the attack was not something she was even able to follow with her level of strength.
And then before it got to her they spread in two, fanning out like wings as they scorched the earth besides her, and then vanished into thin air while she struggled to catch her breath. Malia shook as she looked up at her mother, not at all surprised to see she had on a blindfold, and even worse was the fact that she had weighted chains attached to her wrists and ankles. From the look of things it seems her father was punishing her again.
"Darling you know better than to come interrupt me during practice, did you really miss me that much?" Dolores Cheng asked as she removed her blindfold to reveal blazing yellow eyes, the eyes of a bird, and not just any sort of bird, a predator. Malia shook her head as ran forwards and sank into her mother's arms, the stress of the entire day finally crashing down on her, especially with the monumental undertaking that now lay before her and the fact that she would have to deal with the person she hated the most for gods know how long.
"Come on now, Theon isn't that bad, I heard he's grown quite handsome in the last few years and exquisitely diabolical too. Shame about his sect though, I lost all my spies as a result, I also heard he's packing, so I don't see why you're so upset-"
"Mother!" Malia chastised as her eyes began to turn Red. The older woman let out a hearty chuckle as she led her only offspring to a bench under the shade of a chrysanthemum tree. She fussed over Malia a bit, then gave her a kiss on the forehead. And then her demeanor changed.
"Your father is ambitious, one of the things that makes me like him." Malia paid careful attention to the word she had used, her mom had said like, rather than love. And this was something that resonated deep into her as her real feelings about it was quite unknown. Her mother saw love as the enemy, it clouded her judgment, held her back and made her weak. It was something she has never given to anyone but her, and that itself was a longshot cause Malia has lost counts of the times her mother had said I Like you daughter to her, rather than the normal I love you.
"And I know how eager you are to please him child, but please don't be foolish. It is one thing for your father to be emperor of a continent, it is another if the person's that's emperor is your own husband. You're not a child anymore and you're older than your betrothed by a few years so you ought to be smarter than the machinations and greed of men. Unlike me who got married into an established force, you have the chance to build yours up from the bottom, and you want to do so and hand it over to your father who values his sons more than he values you."
"But mother that's not true-"
" It's true and you know it! Stop lying to yourself I never raised such foolishness in you!" her mother cut her off, an annoyed look in her eyes as Malia looked down at her well manicured nails.
"you cannot live in the shadow of others much less a father who could never show you the love you deserve because you lack a dick between your legs. Instead I expect you to do this for yourself, who says it has to be an emperor, what's wrong if it's an empress. You must be ambitious child or you will never be able to bring Theon to heel. The upstart from the Raging Ocean sect is weak and spineless and a bloody romantic, he'll be dead before he gets to a 100 years old. Theon would make you stronger, his blackness will force you to adapt and grow, he is weak and incapable of cultivation. A tool that would serve you in more ways than one, don't you understand daughter, it won't be the sect master of the four winds sect, but rather a sect mistress!
A title that you will never be able to hold in this misogynistic hellhole of a sect. But you can and should blaze your own path, wind and fire coming together to make something new. In time even this sect will belong to you, but in order for that to happen you must stop living for other people, it's time to start living, scheming, lying, cheating and killing for yourself. Use your head daughter!"
A huge part of her disagreed with everything her mother had just said, there was no way in hell her father could be like that, sure he was quite distant but he cared, he always has. But then again the truth no matter how bitter was always obvious to see, and Malia was never one of those people who were incapable of seeing the truth, no matter how ugly or bitter it might be, the truth would always be the truth. She shuddered as she took deep breaths, not at all sure if she should give her mother the answer she wanted to hear, the answer that in her hearts of hearts she knew to be true, to be real.
Or would it be better to stay her current course, she was finally getting the acknowledgement from her father that she has searched and gone after for so long. Doing anything else did not mean just disobeying him, it meant that should the time come, she'll either be killed as an obstacle in his path or she would have to remove him as an obstacle in hers. It was crazy and so not fair, it was not a decision she felt she was ready to make, and it was obvious her mother knew this, but yet she still decided to place her daughter in on in the spot.
" There's no time for indecisions, it will only get you killed, so you must be firm, there's no gain without consequence, you must be ready to pay it come what may, or this world will swallow you. So you must choose to either become your own woman, or remain your father's daughter. And I know you're not stupid, you know exactly what the future holds for you depending on which choice you pick, but I will say one Thing to you Malia, there's no safe path in front of you, anything can go wrong, but it's about time you start living for yourself! And if you should fail, then let it be on your own terms. That's the best advice any parent can give their child in this bloody gods forsaken era we now live in. Now go get ready daughter… you will be married soon."
Malia left her mother's side with her head filled to the brim with too many thoughts than she has ever had in her entire life. The one thing that neither one of her parents had said or considered, was the fact that all of these things they expect her to achieve, she has to do it tethered to the bed of a young man she absolutely abhors. Someone she knew without a shadow of a doubt, was or perhaps had the potential to be a worse monster than any one of her parents.
So yes it's easy to say that she should go take charge, because Theon is weak with not a single drop of power to his name, but she knew, she knew the real truth, and that the reality was that she was being sent straight into the waiting jaws of a hungry lion, a ravenous wind that once he's done, will leave nothing but pieces of herself behind… a true monster.
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