“Lily? I need to talk to you about a serious matter,” my father announced as he entered the outer room of my bedroom. “Tonight, your brothers and I are going to Eagle Hall and put an end to their immoral activities.”

“Will there be any danger?” I asked almost in a whisper as we both sat down at the table in the center of the room. “I am worried you won’t come back alive.”

“Whenever fighting occurs, there is a danger. Some of us may not come back alive but you will be taken care of by your brothers. I am giving you this letter just in case I do not survive. Everything you need to know is written here in great detail. Only open it if I die.”

The letter felt like a brick in my hand. I prayed silently I would not have to open it to discover the contents. Please allow all my brothers and father to return home safely.

 

“Don’t cry, Princess. Your father will return as will your brothers.” My dad wiped away my tears and patted my shoulder before leaving the room. “Please, come down quickly for breakfast. Everyone is waiting for you.” With that, he closed the doors.

 

After breakfast, I watched as everyone attending the feast practiced with their flags. I wondered but did not ask why practice with the flags if they were going unarmed. Gradually the junior flag bearers and my father left the courtyard and I am left with Tiger, Monkey, and Leopard. The three of them are spectacular and graceful. They wave the flags with little effort. Their flips and jumps over each other's flags are thrilling. Their moves are providing much-needed comfort that they will indeed come home alive.

“It's getting late and you need to get ready for the feast,” I remind them. “You will need to change clothes to be presentable.”

“Always the mother hen,” Monkey and Leopard joke as they exit the yard leaving Tiger and I face to face.

“Don’t worry,” Tiger assures me caressing my face with his hand. “I will protect your father tonight. We will all come back alive. I promise.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

 

Before they departed, I tied a cape around each brother’s neck and gave them reassuring smile. A smile that said I believe in you and I’ll wait for you here.

“Remember your promise,” I whispered to Tiger as I loosely tied his cape. We stared into each other's eyes intensely. Saying things we could not speak out loud. He nodded to acknowledge he understood.

“Only read the letter if I don’t survive,” my father reminded me as I tied his cape around his neck. He gently grabbed me by the shoulders and quickly kissed my forehead before departing.

 

I decided to pass the time by working on the flags for the brothers. As I waited anxiously for their return, I embroidered Tiger’s name in a gold thread on the black stripe of his brand new red flag. The new flag had to be perfect for the future chief of our clan.

A gentle knock on the door refocused my attention to the present and away from my work. Ping-Ping entered my room carrying a tray full of food that smelled delicious.

“Your father asked for your favorites to be cooked, Lily. Come and eat before the food gets cold,” she said as she set the food on the table with 2 sets of chopsticks and 2 bowls of rice.

“You start without me,” I replied. “My stomach is full of knots and I cannot possibly eat at a time like this. I’ll continue to work on Tiger’s flag. I’ll eat when I am finished.”

“Why did you begin with Tiger?”

“He’s the oldest and will one day be the chief.”

“Or is it because you love him? Your father might choose someone else to lead the clan after he dies. Have you considered this?”

“No, I haven’t, but I lack choice in who I marry. My father decides and I accept his decision as being what’s best for me.”

 

I never thought I would not marry Brother Cao. Before my mother died she told me Dad and Cao’s father decided that their only son and only daughter would be married and the families would remain tied together. My father was a righteous man and would never break a promise to his sworn brother. Would he? I always assumed the person I would marry would naturally become the chief of our clan when my father died or decided to retire. The rule in the martial arts world has always been the most senior student becomes the new chief.

 

“What if your father decided to name Leopard as the new chief instead?” Ping-Ping questioned me. I was so surprised by the question that I began to wonder if my father had other plans for my future.

 

“If Leopard would become the chief, would I become his wife?” I responded with a question of my own. “Do you know something I don’t know? Do you know what is written in the letter my father gave me this morning?” I quickly moved to the table where Ping-Ping was seated and sat directly across from her. My eyes were pleading with her to tell me everything she knew as I took her hands in mine.

“I promised your father I wouldn’t say anything so don’t ask me to break his trust,” she demanded. “Your father has concerns about the feast and the plan going awry.” She patted both my hands. “Eat! You will need your strength for this long worrisome night.”

 

We ate our dinner in silence. I formulated questions but respected Ping-Ping’s wishes by not asking them. I knew my father had been worried when he left by the expression on his face. However, I didn’t realize the depth of that worry. If he were willing to make changes about who inherited the leadership of the clan and possibly who would be my future husband, he was very suspicious and skeptical of how the evening would end.

 

The doors to my bedroom flew open with a thud sounding like a clap of thunder, scaring both Ping-Ping and I back to reality. Mr. Hu, our elderly money manager, stood in the doorway with a pained expression on his face. Instantly, a cold chill went up my spine and I realized someone didn’t come home alive. Mr. Hu had worked for my grandfather until he died. My uncle decided to hire a younger man to take over for Mr. Hu so my father asked him to come work for us as he was well respected and trusted.

 

The color drained from my face as I stood up on shaking legs and inquired in a whisper “Who died?” The tears began to roll down my face before the answer was revealed.

 

“There is no easy way to say this,” Mr. Hu said as he quickly moved to my side. “Your father was killed and no one knows who did it.”

 

My knees buckled as a heartbroken wail escaped my throat. How can this be? Cao was supposed to take care of my father and ensured his safe return. Dead! How? Who?

 

Mr. Hu and Ping-Ping tried to comfort me but I was inconsolable.

 

“Shhh, Princess,” Ping-Ping whispered as she cradled me in her arms and my hair. I could feel her salty tears falling on my head as she wept silently. Her falling tears confirmed the suspicions I have had for years. Ping-Ping was in love with my father and now he was gone.

 

“Take me to my father, Mr. Hu,” I asked after the shock had subsided slightly. “I need to see him. He shouldn’t be alone.”

 

Mr. Hu and Ping-Ping guided me down to the back room where my father laid growing colder with each passing minute. His vibrant color faded and a small metal tip protruded from a small hole in his stomach. The sight of my deceased father brought me crumbling to my knees and the tears began to fall again.

Two large hands caressed my shoulders and drew me to my feet turning me to face him.

“You were supposed to protect him!” I spat in anger as I pounded on his broad chest. “You promised to bring him home alive and unharmed. You promised me!” My anger dissipated as quickly as it had come as Cao Feng drew me into his arms.

 

“I’m sorry,” he began. “I tried to stay close to your dad but he was fighting Mi while I was fighting with 2 Eagles. The Rambler gave us little spears to fight with and one had a mechanism that shoots the tip out. That’s what killed your father but from whose spear it came we do not know. All the spears had tips on them when we examined them. It’s a mystery.”

 

“Princess, go back to your room and rest,” Mr. Hu began. “Ping-Ping will bring some hot tea to help you sleep. There is much to do in the next several days. There are many decisions to make as we plan for this sad occasion.”

 

As Cao swept me off my feet I yelled, “Put me down! I won’t leave.” I was weakly punching him and kicking as he carried me all the way to my room. I was still angry that he had broken his promise to me.

 

With the breaking of the new day came the funeral preparations for my father. Everyone was dressed in their white funeral clothes we were never expecting to wear so soon. White banners were being hung and death notices were being sent out. A coffin large enough to accommodate his flag was ordered and his burial spot next to my mother was cleared. I roamed around the house aimlessly in a daze and making very few decisions. I allowed Brother Cao, being nominated the new chief by his brothers the previous evening, to make the major decisions for me.

 

As we sat down to our midday meal I became aware of two empty spaces at the table. I sat in my normal spot on the bench next to where dad usually sat to my left and Cao was on my right. However, Brother Luo was not directly across from me making his usual silly faces.  His absence created enlarged the whole my father’s death created in or shrinking family.

 

“Where is Leopard?” I questioned my two brothers with darting eyes.

 

“Didn’t Tiger tell you last night?” Monkey responded. “Eagle Hall put in a charge against us because of Mi and several Eagles dying. The marshals came to arrest someone. We couldn’t let Tiger go as he was just elected chief.”

 

“Brother Luo decided to take the fall,” Tiger continued the explanation in a matter-of-fact tone I knew not to question. “We paid the officials to allow Luo to escape. He is going to stay hidden away for about a year or until the case dies down. When he gets settled he will write us a letter to let us know his whereabouts so we can send him money.”

 

Letter! Oh Goodness! I had forgotten the letter my father told me to open only if he had not come back alive. I now had to read these pages I was hoping I would never have to lay eyes on. What could possibly be in that letter? What instructions were so important that he left for me and not for my brothers?

 

After the meal, I excused myself to my room and asked Ping-Ping to join me when she had the chance. I took the letter out of the dresser drawer and waited for what seemed like a lifetime for Ping-Ping to join me. I handed her the letter with shaking hands knowing I would be unable to read and comprehend what was written. Ping-Ping took a deep breath and began to read:

 

Princess,

Your brothers have made solemn vows to take care of you after I die. The story your mother told you is true. You were promised in marriage to Cao Feng many years ago. The wedding is planned for your 20th birthday and all arrangements have been made. Ping-Ping has all the details of who is performing the ceremony, when and where it will take place, who is invited and the food to be prepared.

Please, make sure I am buried next to your mother in the grove of peach trees.  Along with my flag, place the cape you embroidered for me for my birthday.

After the funeral there should be 3 months of mourning.

Your loving father

 

On the day of the funeral, the sun was shining brightly and the promise of a bright future was hanging in the air. The 4 junior brothers carried my father a half a mile to his final resting place next to my mother in our favorite peach grove. We would have family picnics in the same spot when I was just a little girl. Now they will spend all eternity together there and I will visit whenever I can. The spot was peaceful with chirping birds serenading us with a sorrowful song befitting of the occasion. The once happy place had become a place of sorrow even though the sun shone brightly through the leaves of the fruit laden trees.

 

The service seemed to go on for hours as both the Taoist priest and Buddhist monk performed their rituals in unison. We knelt and burned paper money for my father to use on his journey to the afterlife. We left his favorite fruits of oranges and peaches with sweet meats as an offering.  

 

“Time to return home and meet your guests, Lily,” Monkey encouraged me to leave the graves of my parents.

 

“I’m not ready yet,” I whispered between sobs. “I can’t leave them.”

 

“The three of you go and greet the guests,” Tiger commanded. “I’ll stay until she is ready.”

 

“But you are the new Chief. It is your duty to go and greet everyone,” Mr. Hu implored Tiger to let Monkey stay by my side.

 

Tiger explained “I promised her father I would take care of her. As her future husband, I should be by her side at this time. The guest can wait as Princess is more important.”

 

Monkey, Mr. Hu and Ping-Ping left us to mourn together in the grove. Neither of us spoke. There was an unspoken promise between us in that moment. The promise to be there for each other no matter the circumstances. Although the death of my father fractured our family, it strengthened the bonds of love Tiger and I shared. Forever we would be united as one.