Chapter Eleven

Ming Mei was swept over by the warm heat the second they left the mountains. Ming Mei looked back to see where she had just come from.

"Come on, let's walk up a little bit farther and then we can rest for the night" Shen said waiting for Ming Mei up ahead. Ming Mei sighed and walked towards Shen. She wondered what happened to her mother; she wanted to know where the 3 soldiers went; she wondered if her father was okay; but, most importantly, she wondered about Shen.

'There's something about him that isn't right, but I can't put my finger on it

Ming Mei thought.

Shen and Ming Mei walked for another couple hours before setting up camp. Neither one of them had a tent, so they had to sleep on the hard ground. Ming Mei watched as Shen went to go find some branches for the fire. 'He's really cute, I must say. My head says no, my heart says maybe, I'm confused' Ming Mei noted.

"This should be enough for the time being" Shen said dropping the branches in a pile. Ming Mei watched as he rub 2 of the many sticks together to make heat, which turned into a roaring fire.

"It's really warm over here, why do we need a fire?" Ming Mei asked

"Because, we're still near the mountains so it gets rather cold during the night" Shen replied laying down, looking up at the sky.

Neither Ming Mei nor Shen got much sleep that night. Not because the ground was so hard, but it was the fact that they talked majority of the time. They talked about random things, if a topic just popped into one's head, they would have a whole discussion about it.

"This is fun, I feel like I can tell you anything" Ming Mei said. Shen turned his head so he was facing Ming Mei. Her face glowed with the fire before her. 'Gosh she's beautiful' Shen thought "Right back at you". Ming Mei smiled and lowered herself onto the ground, and started to drift off into sleep. Shen watched her sleep for a few minutes before falling asleep himself.

When he woke up the next morning, he found that Ming Mei wasn't there. He turned his head left and right to see if he could see her, and then he did.

"I come bearing breakfast" Ming Mei smiled as she held out a pomegranate.

"Thanks" Shen smiled taking the pomegranate. "How'd you sleep?"

"I've had better days"

"What, you didn't like the ground?"

"No, the ground I can deal with. The bugs, a whole different story" Shen, chuckled at Ming Mei. 'I love that smile' Ming Mei thought.

'Geez, her smile is addicting' noted Shen 'I wonder if it's illegal to look that good'

The two teenagers finished off their pomegranates and got up to continue on with their adventure.

"Last night, you told me you felt like you could tell me anything. Why won't you tell me the real reason why you were walking through those Mountains?" Shen asked while walking

"::sigh:: It's a long story" Ming Mei replied

"Well, it's a long journey….wherever we're going. Civilization is no where near here"

"When I was just a baby, my father was taken away from me…" Ming Mei told the whole story with Shen listening intensively.

"Wow, so this journey is about finding your father" Shen said after Ming Mei finished

"Yea…and the thing is, I have no idea where I'm going"

"That's rough,"

"Now I have a question for you"

"Okay, shoot"

"What were you doing in the mountains?"

":: Silence::"

"Hello?" Ming Mei asked waving her hand in front of her face.

"I…that day was the day my mother died. She and I always went up to the mountains to have a little picnic in the snow. Odd I know, but mother loved the snow."

"What happened to her?"

"Let's just say she was in the wrong place at the wrong time"

"I'm sorry"

"It's okay. That was a long time ago."

"So…where are we?" Ming Mei asked after the longest silence ever.

"Mongol Territory"