Just before dawn, Bai Li gently woke the sleeping girl.
"Mei Meili, Mei Meili," he said quietly.
She half-opened her eyes. She was completely exhausted.
"Not yet Bail Li," she begged. "Let me sleep a little more."
"Search parties will be out. They'll arrive soon. Let me get you prepared?"
"Mmmhmm," she agreed, drifting back to sleep.
Bai Li sighed, shaking his head in fond exasperation.
He set about making sure she looked perfect, wiping clean the site of the bite, redoing the intricate ties and bows of her loosened top.
Now her hair, he thought. This was a bit beyond him. He tried running his fingers through it, but it had become knotted and there were leaves and dirt in it.
He scratched his head at the problem.
Bai Li fetched one of the branches he had brought into the cave for the fire. He whittled away until he had fashioned a rudimentary comb.
Happily, it served its purpose, dragging the rubble from her hair and leaving it straight and glossy. He took the hairpin from his own top knot and used it to pin Mei Meili's hair up in a bun. Then he carved himself a hairpin from the same wood and replaced the one from his top knot.
Finally, satisfied with his work, he pulled her veil from his sleeve and carefully hooked it over her ears.
He carried her over to a patch of moss near the cave entrance but not too far from the fire and moved away to sit alone outside the cave.
That was the best he could do for her, he reflected.
Her brothers would be mad with worry. Likely they would have been out all-night searching, so they could expect them soon.
He was on-target with his prediction. Just before first light he heard the distant sound of a dog barking and men's voices.
Tricky emerged first, then her Third and Fourth Brothers came crashing through the undergrowth on their horses, burning brands in hand to light the way.
Tricky sprinted up to his prone mistress where she lay sleeping, and licked her all over her face.
"Tricky!" she cried with delight, sitting up to hug him.
Her Third Brother leapt off his horse and ran to his sister. He picked her up and buried his face in her neck, leaving it there for long minutes. His shoulders shook gently.
"Gege, gege," Meili crooned into his hair. "Don't be sad. I'm okay."
She stroked his back softly.
Finally, he raised his head, wiping his eyes with his shoulder. He stared fiercely at her.
"Meimei, what happened? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine ge," she assured him. "Someone shot a nest onto me and Tufei and we were stung by murder hornets. I don't know where he is," her voice cracked with concern.
"Over here meimei," her Fourth Brother sang out.
She looked across to see that Fourth had Tufei tethered to his horse, and she smiled gratefully at him.
"It was excruciatingly painful, ge. I passed out for a while. Then it was intensely itchy, but I do feel a bit better now. Bai Li was there. He shot the man and looked after me all night."
Third placed her on her feet carefully, like she was made of china and might break with the slightest bump.
He and his Fourth Brother strode across to where Bai Li still stood just outside the cave's entrance. Both brothers dropped to their knees and kowtowed to the commander.
"Thank you for saving our sister, Commander Bai," said Third formally. "We are in your debt. We owe you a life."
"Nonsense Mei Renjun, Mei Renbing," said Bai Li. "Get up, both of you."
They rose to their feet.
"We're incredibly grateful Commander Bai," said Third seriously.
Bai Li drew him aside, speaking in serious hushed tones. Fourth Brother came over to Meili to sit with her.
"What are they talking about ge?" she said. "Why can't we all hear?"
"These are topics for men, meimei. Seeing as the Li family's implicated, they're serious topics."
She held her fourth brother's hand. Very glad to have her family around her again.
"Can you come with me to check on Tufei?" she asked him, not willing to let him go yet. She was still very shaken by her ordeal.
"Of course, meimei," he said fondly, brushing the hair from her face.
He lifted her up and carried her over to her horse.
As Meili gradually found her confidence again, Fourth left to join the other two men, while she and Tricky trotted about together making poultice's for Tufei's bites. He had two large welts on his hindquarters.
"They must be very itchy Tuufy," she said to him soothingly. "This will help them to feel better," she gently applied the mixture thickly across his wounds, blowing on them just like Bai Li had done for her.
She looked across at the man shyly. He was deep in conversation with her brothers. Cold-faced and serious as always, but she'd seen another side of him now and knew him to be gentle and kind.
She blushed when she remembered that he had removed her top. He felt her stare and looked across at her, taking in her red cheeks with a flash of understanding. He had wondered how long it would take her to feel this way about what had happened between them.
He raised his eyebrows slightly at her, his gaze deepening, and a predatory glint appeared in his stare.
Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, quickly turning from him.
He allowed himself the satisfaction of a small smirk before returning to the plans he and the two Mei brothers were settling.
"Come over here Miss Mei," he called, as the men finished their tense conversation.
"When we return to the camp," Bai Li spoke seriously to her, "stay as close to the truth as possible. There'll be less chance for slip-ups that way. You can speak of everything that happened, except that you and I were alone for hours."
She looked down quickly.
"The story is that your third and fourth brothers turned up just behind me. It was Mei Renjun that treated your wound, not me," he indicated Third Brother.
She blushed again, staring at her feet.
"Mei Meili, are you paying attention?" he asked. "This is important. It concerns your reputation."
"Yes, Commander Bai," she said formally, looking at him calmly. "It was my Third Brother who treated me, not you," she looked him in the eye.
"Good," he nodded in approval. "And your brothers were also here with you all night, until daybreak."
"Yes, we were never alone," she said coolly.
"Don't slip up," he warned her. "Not with anyone."
"Understood, Commander Bai."
Hmmph, he thought, back to that again, after what they'd just been through…
Meili suspected that the man was more concerned for his own reputation than hers. If the truth came out, he would definitely have to marry her.
She supposed that would be bad for both of them. For him, who would have to relegate his love to the status of a concubine, and for her who would be the unloved wife of a future general.
Thinking of it hurt more than she expected.
A man like this was not for her. She mustn't allow herself to feel anything for him beyond friendship. If he even had any interest in friendship with a girl like her.
Now that she thought on it, that was an impossibility also. The man was an army commander for goodness sake. The son and heir of General Bai. His friends were her tactician brothers and the second prince of the realm. What could he possibly share in common with her? A girl raised in the inner courtyards. Guqin? Dancing? Hah!
She'd better let go of that notion as soon as possible. Such a man of duty would be kind to her in honour of the Mei family. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden to him. She straightened her shoulders, steeling herself.
Bai Li watched the girl's thoughts flash across her face. What they were he had absolutely no idea, but he was sure they were both beyond him, and misguided.
Before they mounted their horses, Third Brother took his hairpin from his top knot and placed it in Meili's hair, handing Bai Li back his own hairpin and taking the freshly whittled one for himself.
"There," he said, "we're all set. Let's head back to the royal camp."