Tien Shin's Journey - A Change in the Wind

The morning after Tien Shin was given some “free time”, Liu Bei had woken up early and was still feeling rather tired and anxious. He had spent yesterday trying to apologize to the Han officials and generals due to the Heavenly Sword’s outburst and insults towards Dong Zhuo. Even if he honestly felt that the fat warlord deserved the humiliating barbs that the boy had hurled at him, he couldn’t openly speak of his honest feelings.

He was a leader now. Responsible for many volunteers who looked up to him and chose to follow him regardless of their lack of training or skill in combat. They saw something in the humble and idealistic man that drew others towards him. Even the same unruly scamp that now gave him trouble had chosen to follow him based on that ideal alone. But if didn’t find a way to control that fiery temper of his, he’d become an even greater problem in the future.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei entered Liu Bei’s tent and greeted him.

“Good morning, brother.” The both of them spoke in unison.

“Good morning, you two.” Liu Bei looked behind his sworn brothers and sighed heavily. He had to ask. “Do we know if Tien Shin is still enjoying himself?”

“Actually,” Zhang Fei smirked and pointed behind him towards the entrance of the tent, “He was here at sunrise! I saw him practicing with his swords in the training arena. Even sparred with a few imperial soldiers.”

“Wha-what!? Tien Shin was up before any of us?” Liu Bei’s surprise was evident when the two brothers nodded in response.

“Truth be told, I wasn’t too sure if the one I saw was the boy, but sure enough. Tien Shin was actually training in earnest! Like he was a different person.” Guan Yu stroked his long beard and nodded slowly in approval.

Dressing up in a hurry, Liu Bei rushed to the training arena where the entire volunteer army was watching as Tien Shin performed his dance-like sword fighting techniques with complete focus and control. The eyes of the kind lord grew wide as he observed, the unruly child of the day before looking like a perfectly schooled student of the martial arts. Even the boy’s expression was serious and devoid of arrogance. Every thrust and swing of his twin blades was met with a sudden gust of wind following. His acrobatic leaps and tumbles were accompanied by whirlwinds that made him faster. Many officials observed as well, taking a measure of the young man’s talents and scheming amongst themselves if maybe they could scout the young swordsman.

Now joined by his two sworn brothers, Liu Bei approached his volunteer army who greeted him in their usual fashion. When the young lad saw them, he stopped his movements mid way and leapt in the air in acrobatic fashion landing safely in front of his leader.

“Good morning, Boss!” The boy smiled and remained standing at attention.

“Good morning… Tien Shin?” Liu Bei was still perplexed at the sudden transformation that the boy had overnight.

“Yes. I’m Tien Shin, Boss. Morning to you too, Pops & Uncle!” He grinned and bowed his head.

“I really wished you’d stop calling me ‘Pops’, you little rascal.” Guan Yu huffed loudly which made the volunteer army laugh along with the boy and the other two brothers.

“Haha! Well look at you, Little Brother! Seems that night in town helped set your head straight, eh?” As usual, Zhang Fei slapped the boy on the shoulder which made the young man grimace in pain. “Did you get all lovey-dovey with a tavern wench? Eh?” The muscled man grinned and chuckled.

“S-Shut up, Uncle! I’m not old enough for that sort of thing… yet.” Tien Shin blushed and huffed, feeling offended. This only made the others laugh again.

After a good laugh, Liu Bei placed his hand over the boy’s shoulder and smiled.

“It’s good to see you training hard and so early in the morning as well. It’s… actually quite surprising that you’ve been so proactive.”

“Yeah, well…” Tien Shin looked sideways, looking a bit uncomfortable being called out like that. “I just thought I needed to do something different. You know?”

“We won’t question your reasons, Tien Shin.” Guan Yu nodded again with approval. “I’m just glad to see you taking your training more seriously. What do you say? Would you like to spar with me to get the others ready?” Guan Yu stepped up to the training arena wielding his halberd with expert ease.

“Sure thing, Pops!” Tien Shin was about to run into the arena but stopped on his tracks… as if he had forgotten something. “Do you mind if I spar with Pops, Boss?”

Everyone was suddenly left saying: “What!?” Tien Shin never asked anyone for permission to do what he wanted, not even Liu Bei.

“Erm… s-sure! Go ahead, enjoy yourself!” Liu Bei felt awkward giving his permission like he was a father. Especially when the boy grinned, leapt in the air again in acrobatic fashion and landed in the center of the arena.

“Lord Guan Yu is going to spar with the Smiling Dragon!”

“Tien Shin versus Guan Yu!?”

“We gotta watch this!”

The volunteers that followed Liu Bei all turned their attention towards the two combatants ready to begin their spar.

“Hey! Little Brother! Let’s make a wager,” Zhang Fei bellowed out, “If you win, I’ll buy you a drink tonight! But if you lose, you’ll have to buy me one!”

“Sorry, Uncle! I can’t do that!” Tien Shin yelled out as he took his stance before the towering Guan Yu.

“Huh!? Waddya mean you can’t do that!?” Zhang Fei’s voice was suddenly drowned out as Guan Yu and Tien Shin began their assault against each other. The cheers and awed voices of the onlookers were booming within the volunteer’s camp.

The surprised Liu Bei kept watching as his powerful brother clashed against the Heavenly Sword of Freedom with renewed vigor. It seems that the boy’s improved discipline had a very positive effect on Guan Yu.

The fact that he also refused to play along with Zhang Fei’s wager was also surprising. Those two were the army’s troublemakers by default, and both of them had caused more than a few headaches for him in the past.

But what made Liu Bei perplexed beyond words was the way Tien Shin had looked at him when he asked permission to spar with Guan Yu.

He was waiting for Liu Bei to give him permission and followed his command.

“Tien Shin changed completely from one day to the other. What happened since he left that made him become another person entirely?” Liu Bei pondered as the clashing of steel against steel was reverberating in the air. “I’m not sure if this will last. Tien Shin has always been impetuous and reckless. But if he can remain like this for a good while, then we may be able to do some good while helping the coalition. And if the Heavenly Sword of Freedom is willing to work alongside us, then we’ll be able to save the land and protect the Emperor’s will.”

Liu Bei would ask the boy later what happened the night before. He didn’t like to dig into other people’s business, but Tien Shin was not like other people. If he wasn’t careful, his incredible talents may go to waste or be used for the wrong reasons and under the wrong kind of leadership. He watched how the Han officials were looking at his brothers and the boy. No doubt they would one day try to entice them with promises of wealth and luxury.

He knew for a fact that his sworn brothers would never betray him. But Tien Shin was still a boy… If he could find any person in the realm that could control him, he would pay anything that person asked for.

But where could that person be?