[April 5] [Shendiao Xialu] Distance Makes a Mockery of Good Intentions

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Title: Distance Makes a Mockery of Good Intentions
Day/Theme: April 5 - Whispers
Series: Shendiao Xialu
Characters: Lin Chaoying, Wang Chongyang mentioned
Rating: G
Shendiao Xialu © Jin Yong, et al.


His letters rarely bored her - at worst, they baffled her, for she could not picture him spending hours merely to write reams of what she perceived as half-disguised apology. He knew she resented his going off to war, was not likely to change her opinion any time soon, so why this attempt to pacify her? There might be a message somewhere, coded with intelligence tempered with delicacy; she had not been able to decipher it, however, and refused to succumb to guesswork and speculation.

During other, more endearing times, his tales of strategies and heartbreaks over defeat took on an enchanting hue. They embroidered the silence of the tomb with the vivid image of the man she had loved so passionately when she was younger (and not necessarily more foolish). Were she a different person, she might have felt grateful that a man like that was fighting for their country. As it was, she admired him, and the courage underlining every word on the letters, for his sake alone.

They could have overtaken the world together. It was a pity he set his sights on other, loftier goals.