The day has finally come. Luan waves his stone over my legs one more time and says, “I think you can start walking-“


    “YES!” I try to jump out of my chair, but he firmly pushes me back into it.


    I cross my arms and glare at him. He continues, “But you have to take it slow. If you go too fast, you might reverse all the healing and end up back at square one.”


    “How slow?”


    “First the crutches for a short jaunt down the hall. Let’s see how you handle the pain.”


    I wave the maid over who just entered with the crutches, as if she was waiting on a cue. Luan would intentionally keep them out of my sight, so I don’t get “ideas,” or worse, give Zhen “ideas.” They can be terribly contagious.


    He keeps his arms out to catch me as I stand up for the first time since entering this world. It’s a bit sore, but nothing like Luan was warning me about. My legs are more stiff from disuse than anything.


    I make a show of using the crutches, but I don’t really need them. However, I know he’ll send me back to the chair if I don’t use them.


    Luan is with me every step of the way. If I fall and break anything, heaven only knows what Jun would do to him. I make it down the hall to Tai’s study at a steady pace.


    Tai watches us enter like we are a pair of clowns, who came for his own personal amusement. He gets up from his desk to get a better view.


    I tell Luan, “See I’m doing just fine.”


    “Lady Ellen, there is no need to rush this. We can take this nice and slow.” He tries to take my crutches, but I hold on to them tighter not wanting to give them up.


    Apparently, he won’t rip them from my hands, so I ask, “How long does this break need to be before you let me up again?”


    He sighs with aggravation, but I haven’t annoyed him to hair messing levels yet. I still have room to push him. He looks to Tai for support, but Tai is barely suppressing his laughter with a hand over his mouth.


    “We have plenty of time.”


    “Luan.” I want to walk, but I know I can’t out run him even if I was completely healed.


    “How about fifteen minutes?”


    He doesn’t sound certain about that. “I’m walking better than you expected, aren’t I?”


    “Ten minutes?”


    I smile victoriously, “I knew it.”


    Tai loses his battle to hold in his laughter and chuckles. Luan glares at him and Tai only laughs harder.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Word of my first steps spreads quickly through the manor, because within those ten minutes I manage to gain quiet the audience. First Zhen comes racing through the door as if worried he was going to miss it.


    Then Jun arrives with some nervous man in an official looking hat. Even Ming comes to watch.


    Tai announces, “Ten minutes.” At least someone is keeping Luan honest.


    I smile and stand up with the crutches. The crowd parts in front of me as Luan repeats, “Slowly, please take it slowly. There’s no need to rush.” While keeping his arms out. Everyone else falls silent to watch me take slow, but confident steps out the door.


    Luan clearly wants me to return to my room at this point, but I want to see how far I can go. So, I head off towards the sun room with all the flowers.


    Luan almost pulls the plug on my adventure, when I reach a set of three whole steps. “Lady Ellen, please there’s no need to push yourself.”


    “It’s just three steps Luan. What’s the worst that can happen?”


    Luan looks frantically between Jun and me hoping someone will see sense and stop my madness of attempting three whole steps. Jun keeps his face expressionless but doesn’t say anything to help Luan.


    So, I keep charging ahead and take the steps one at a time. Luan is in front of me freaking out the whole time; however, I make it down with out incident. Zhen cheers loudly when I reach the bottom causing the staff in attendance to golf clap a very polite applause.


    There are a few more steps on the way, but I make it without so much as a slip. My audience follows me the whole way there.


    I do feel a bit tired, probably because I have barely moved in a month. But I’m not going to give Luan the satisfaction of telling him that it feels good to sit. I prop my crutches against the table, but I don’t let the maids take them.


    Zhen sits down next to me, saying, “Great job Lady Ellen.”


    Jun sits down on my other side, dismissing the staff who were following him around. They scurry off like demons are nipping at their heels.


    Luan and Tai join us. Tai is still smirking at Luan, who all but collapses in his chair from his nerves. I guess Ming doesn’t want to be left out, so he sits too.


    They all look at Jun expectantly, so I stare at him too.


    Jun seems to be ignoring the rest of them for now and looks straight at me. With a small grin, he says, “Excellent job getting back on your feet.”


    “Thank you.”


    Zhen, unable to keep quiet a moment longer, says, “Soon you’ll be running all over the manor and then all over the town. That is if there’s any town left when Jun’s done with it.”


    Jun doesn’t dignify that with a response.


    The worry wart says, “Not everywhere just yet.”


    I cross my arms, “Any why not?”


    “You barely made it up that last set of six steps. Don’t you dare think about heading to the second floor by yourself.”


    “I made it up those just fine.” The swaying on the last step was just fatigue, really.


    Luan continues, “And that’s before we even discuss security.” Tai nods in agreement.


    Jun finally turns and looks at the rest of them. “She’s not a security threat. As long as it’s safe, she has my permission to enter anywhere and everywhere she pleases.”


    Luan runs both his hands through his hair. Judging by the fluff height, he is going to snap at someone soon. “You can’t be serious.”


    Zhen says, “He’s always serious. It’s one of his problems.”


    Needlessly hopping to Jun’s defense, Ming says, “Jun’s commitment and imperturbable temperament are what enables him to continue to lead us to victory.”


    “Yes, we know you idolize his glacier face.”


    Luan says, “But that’s not the point. And no offense to Lady Ellen, but we don’t know much about you. We don’t know you’re affiliations, your relations, your background-”


    “Enough, I already told you that she isn’t a security threat. What happened in that dungeon wiped her slate clean.”


    Looking about ready to boil over, he crosses his arms and says, “Regardless, she still isn’t ready for much physical activity, let alone anything as strenuous as running.”


    Risking his wrath, I say, “Which means what?”


    “Which means you are allowed to walk, at most, and I do mean, at most, half the day. But you can always take it slow and not rush and not fall down the stairs and overall not break more bones.”


    I resist rolling my eyes like a passive aggressive teenager.