Ruya Ilkin
Life
Early Life and Military Career
Home Life
Ruya's father continued his drinking, sometimes becoming physically abusive, and her mother, always exacting, became bitter and angry. She held Ruya and her siblings to high expectations and constantly criticized and belittled them. Ruya, being an independent and high-spirited child, particularly angered her. When Ruya was fourteen, she was sent to live with her brother Shikigur. He trained her to care for the horses he bred and traded. Ruya loved the work, but never felt like she fit in with Shikigur's family. One year later when she came of age, she ran away and joined the military. She was the only one of her siblings who pursued a military career.
Career in Garal's Military
One night a soldier approached her, bought her a drink, and told her he'd known her father during his time in the army. He told her she'd proved her loyalty to Baghatur but it would only take her down the same self-destructive path unless she also sought to prove her loyalty to the khan and to her peers. When he started to pay for drinks and was waved off by the barkeep, Ruya realized she was speaking with a visiting Jagutu-iin Darga from another division. She finished her drink; it was the last one she had during her training period.
Ruya stopped questioning orders and ignored those who made comments about her father's discharge. She focused on developing her horseback riding and combat skills and gained a reputation for her fearlessness and creativity in solving problems. As a result, she soon found acceptance among some of her peers. While the military was famed for its merciless war tactics, within its ranks its warriors built close bonds of loyalty. Ruya felt she had finally found a place she could thrive in. Gregarious and curious by nature, as she found acceptance she sought out the company of older soldiers of her rank to learn how to live off of the land, cross difficult terrain, and survive in a cavalry charge. In her training she received initial training in light cavalry archery but soon ended up in an arbatu of heavy cavalry.
After completing her training, Ruya was transferred to Yongshun to honor an old alliance between the two countries. She defended Yongshun's northern border from invaders and learned the importance of gathering information in a military conflict. Her natural curiosity led her to learn the Yongshun language, which allowed her to respond more quickly to a surprise attack. As a result, her arbatu of ten soldiers appointed her as their leader in keeping with Garal's tradition of promoting military leadership by the vote of warriors in the given unit. Some years later, Ruya met a Garalese soldier and spy, Tashi Gegeen. The two worked together closely during an attack against a prominent Yongshunese city to hold a critical part of the wall. Their success there earned them both accolades. By the time Ruya was transferred out of Yongshun, she was in charge of 100 warriors as a Jagutu-iin Darga, the highest rank her father achieved during the entirety of his military career. She immediately requested the transfer of her friend Tashi and utilized her as a 'military aide' while secretly overseeing Tashi's intelligence-gathering missions.
As a military leader Ruya thrived on the creative freedom granted her by her superiors. Unlike other countries' military traditions, Garal's military did not enforce rigid expectations for how orders were filled as long as the bigger picture was honored. Ruya developed a fearsome reputation at the Zhenhai border for the lightning attacks of her warriors and her own prowess with the sword. Like all Garalese, she held a particular dislike for Zhenhai and its perceived corruption of Bayanism. She engaged and defeated even Zhenic cultivators in single combat. While her father's military failures often earned Ruya slights in the company of high-ranking leaders from more powerful families, those who gave her unpleasant and difficult assignments seeking her failure were disappointed in her slew of successes. Ruya's warriors boasted that the khan assigned them his most impossible tasks.
The Ascension
As part of Garal's agreement to help Zou gain the empire, Ruya and her warriors were told to wipe out the Cold Wolf Sect, but leave some of its most powerful members alive, including the Zhang family. Ruya was not overly pleased with the orders; cultivators were difficult to fight, and she felt that Zou should be committing more of his own men to destroy a sect as powerful as the Cold Wolf Sect. Zou offered only a handful of cultivators led by Dai Ya of the White Sea Sect. As a result, Ruya approached the assignment determined to keep the cost of lives down.
Once she had gathered sufficient information, she sent several of her divisions to attack nearby towns and villages that depended on the Cold Wolf Sect for spiritual legislation and protection. These attacks drew out the cultivators and spread them across a wide area. From there, Ruya advanced on the sect itself. Members of the White Sea Sect opened the gates for her troops and joined the battle on their side.
During the battle, Ruya saw the Zhang children being attacked by some of her soldiers and intervened, reminding them of their orders. Ruya sustained severe wounds after being thrown into a building, which collapsed on top of her. She was passed over and believed dead by her soldiers. In the days following the battle she barely managed to survive.
After the Ascension
Survival
After the Zhangs were released by Emperor Zou, they returned to the ruins of their sect. Zhang Yin Da organized relief efforts for the survivors of the massacre. She saved Ruya's life, unaware of her identity at the time. Once she recovered, Ruya recognized her debt and assisted the small band of survivors in return; Yin Da was too busy bringing her husband Zhang Xiong back from the brink of death to care who Ruya was. Ruya developed a brisk working relationship with her and kept her from overextending in her attempts to restore Xiong's golden core. Even so, Yin Da collapsed after burning out a qi point crucial for healing and became dangerously ill herself. Ruya stepped into her role to keep the refugee camp running, despite considerable hostility from the young Zhang Huai Shi.
The camp stayed in near-constant crisis, however, between efforts to find food and supplies, the failing health of the Zhangs, and attacks from scavengers seeking out any remaining sect treasures. After one such attack, Yin Da moved the camp to her deceased brother Meng Hia's estate at Jiliang. They cleared out the bandits who had overrun the estate and village and settled in. Ruya continued to help the Zhangs and deepened her relationship with Yin Da and Xiong, who had heard she spared their children during the battle. The constant crisis of survival and their mutual losses strengthened their growing friendship.
Huai Shi, however, could not restrain his animosity toward Ruya. About a year and a half after the Ascension he attacked her. Ruya defeated him, but in the resulting fallout Xiong and Yin Da learned that Ruya had been under orders to spare the Zhang family during the coup. Ruya, unaware they hadn't known, took it upon herself to leave Jiliang.
Ruya returned to Garal and reported back to the military. She was escorted to the capital in secrecy and questioned as to where she had been for the last year and a half. She frankly shared the information against Tashi's insistence, sparking outrage. Many of the officials wished to secretly execute her and leave the public believing her a beloved fallen hero. Tashi applied considerable influence and arranged a quiet exile instead. Ruya made her farewells to her closest siblings: her brothers Shikigur and Temur. Shikigur, a horse trader, gave her an expensive stallion Yusheng to help establish herself in Zhenhai. Temur's wife Shria made Ruya promise to keep in contact and eventually moved the family to a small village in the Shungang Mountains so that Ruya could visit.
Retaliation and Reconciliation
Ruya found work in Longjiang, Zhenhai with a horse trader in the Garalese community there. The promised prosperity and religious tolerance Emperor Zou had promised Garal never came, and conditions for Garalese immigrants continued to worsen. Ruya became involved in an incident between a city official and a Garalese couple trying to protect their property and caused a stir. Huai Shi, now about eighteen and living with Wei Ang Jian nearby, tracked her down and again attempted to kill her in a duel. Ruya defeated him, but the continued attention and conflicts resulted in her losing her job.
"I hurt Chu Ji’s family. I can move forward with my life, but I can’t expect him to.” - Ruya Ilkin
Ang Jian informed the Zhangs of what had transpired during his next visit to Jiliang. Xiong did not take the news well. After a heated exchange with Huai Shi, he left to find Ruya and apologize for his son's behavior. He found Ruya eking out an existence in an isolated town and a grueling, laborious job. He insisted Ruya return to Jiliang and use the resources there to establish herself. It wasn't until Yin Da joined her husband that Ruya agreed. Her return widened the rift between Huai Shi and his parents and unsettled the younger two Zhang children, who were seven and five at the time of the coup. However, Ruya's friendship with Yin Da and Xiong became a deep bond that extended to Ang Jian and his new wife Wei Lian as the five together found a path toward healing from the events of the Ascension.
A Form of Peace
Ruya built a house on the outskirts of Jiliang and started a herd of horses with Yusheng, gradually expanding to Zhenic breeds. She became a close friend and mentor to Zhang Shu Qing, helping her during the first tumultuous years at the White Sea Sect. She taught Shu Qing meditation and gentleness by having her care for the horses in Ruya's stables.
Despite Jiliang's obscure location, it was not spared from attack by the increasing number of bandits and gangs roaming Zhenhai in the wake of the coup. After repelling attacks from increasingly bold bandits, and hearing news of other towns and friends of the Zhangs that had been less fortunate, she and the Zhangs started training locals, then friends and other contacts to defend themselves. They began outfitting others with the horses and weapons they needed, and brought the Weis into the scheme to help. The actions served a second purpose: a quiet insurance that if they were targeted by the emperor again, they would have support to fight back.
Impetus to War
Fifteen years after the Ascension, Huai Shi found and rescued Gao Zhong Hu, a close friend of his parents and of his mentor Ang Jian. He returned home with Zhong Hu and attempted to repair his ties to his family. Ruya recognized he was now old enough and trained enough to defeat her. She kept her distance and hoped that if Huai Shi chose to fight her once more he would at least do so away from his parents' home. Huai Shi retained a grudge but chose not to act on it, as Ruya took in his friend Bai Xue Ying, who was not welcome at the house because of his half-demon heritage.
Realizing her friends Xiong and Yin Da would inevitably introduce her to Gao Zhong Hu with little regard to the complexity of meeting someone from an enemy military, Ruya introduced herself to him before they could, offering him a jug of alcohol as a form of "military diplomacy" and expressing a desire to share their mutual friends in peace. She was surprised, however, when he approached her later on with a request to assist him in his training of Zhang Ke Yuan. Ruya agreed to teach Ke Yuan some anti-cavalry tactics and started by helping Ke Yuan through his fear of horses. She helped him during the battle against Azure Breeze and took over training entirely on days that Zhong Hu was not feeling up to the task.
Some months later, Du Rui Sheng arrived at the Zhang estate at Huai Shi's invitation. This set in motion the events of the Standoff at Jiliang. Ruya found Zhong Hu quietly leaving the Zhang home one evening after being seen by Liao Heng, a former imperial guard who turned traitor during the Ascension. Zhong Hu feared retaliation with Liao Heng would bring further reprisals against the Zhangs and wanted to leave quietly before his friends could protest. Ruya convinced him to accompany her on her annual trip to visit her brother Temur in Kashaat.
After hearing the news, Xiong brazenly forced his way into Ruya's house and demanded Zhong Hu's release. He kept up the charade of betrayal with Ruya but ignored Ruya's implied attempts to keep him from trying to get her out of her arrest because of the risks involved. In the days that followed he and Yin Da organized a rescue operation with Zhong Hu, Huai Shi, the Weis, and other allies. The rescuers disguised themselves as Garalese soldiers and attacked the Fans and their troops en route to Longjiang and freed Ruya, keeping her story about the purpose of the weapons intact.
Though grateful for her rescue, Ruya now found herself exiled from her home country of Garal and wanted for questioning in her adopted home of Zhenhai. Her friends' relentless attempts to spare her from what she considered the deserved consequences of her actions angered her. After a tense discussion with Ang Jian she agreed to take Zhong Hu and stay the winter with her brother Temur as previously planned, and decide what to do from there in the spring.
During the winter Ruya did her best to make Zhong Hu comfortable despite the prejudice he faced for being Zhenic. She arranged for him to give Tashi lessons on Zhenic and helped him find a room at the local inn when her brother and Shria refused to house him. Things improved after she and Zhong Hu rescued her nephew Yeke from a blizzard after he had stolen Ruya's sword Chonobatu.
"I dislike him less than the beginning of winter." - Tashi Gegeen
When spring arrived, however, they met with their friends and found the situation in Zhenhai had continued to worsen. Du Qian Men threatened to expose the weapons and training in exchange for the survival of his own family. Neither Ruya nor any of the Old Empire friends were willing to leave the others to deal with the consequences of the weapons distributing, and fleeing the country en masse was something Xiong and Huai Shi in particular would never do. The only alternative, brokered by Rui Sheng, was to join forces and overthrow their common enemy: Emperor Zou.
The War of Eternal Day
"You have demonstrated your quality of character countless times to every one of us. If you need proof, look at Rong. He had every reason to see what you're afraid of being, and he hasn't. He wouldn't hide it if he did." - Ang Jian
In March of 2147, the Old Empire friends met with Du Qian Men and negotiated. Qian Men provided the name of Su Chao, a man he believed would be willing to put considerable money and manpower into an army in exchange for becoming the new emperor. The friends brought in Ang Jian, who had withheld himself as Qian Men was unaware of his participation in the weapons training and distribution. Once the group established this slim bridge of trust, they pooled their existing resources and hammered out a plan for war. Ang Jian would be the Unit Commander of the army, with Zhong Hu as his second in command. Ruya, however, initially refused to accept the rank of general. Ang Jian spoke with her privately and they discussed her fears of becoming the brutal military leader she had once been. Ruya also feared she would fail her friends and that Zhenic rebels would not accept her command. Ang Jian promised to never ask her to cross her lines of personal ethics.
Aware that the emperor's retribution on Jiliang would be swift and brutal once the rebellion started, one of the first tasks the group planned was the retaking of Jiliang and the horses and weapons at Ruya's home. Ang Jian agreed to keep his allegiance a secret and bring information from Zou's court for as long as he could. The Old Empire Rebels and most of the village of Jiliang gathered in the former capital of Yinguonan as their base of operations.
As one of the few rebels with military command experience, Ruya ran many critical operations during the course of the war. She often worked under Zhong Hu's direction. Ang Jian utilized Zhong Hu as an untarnished legend of the Old Empire and he acted as both military leader and the face of the swiftly spreading rebellion. Ruya labored with her two aides to write speeches in Zhenic for her division so that Zhong Hu would not have to address them as often as he did other branches of the army. The two of them traded advice and insights, growing closer throughout the course of the war.
"I did everything I could. I gave all I could. And did so little, even for those who lived. The only thing I can promise is that I will give everything I can again."
"That's all any of us can do." - Ruya and Zhong Hu
Inevitably, however, Ruya encountered difficulties in resuming command after sixteen years out of the military. Zhong Hu helped Ruya work through the emotions of having to confront a town with a Garalese garrison on loan; Ruya mitigated the loss of life as much as she could, but found the experience excruciating. Ruya also found that her tactics and ideas of discipline differed from those of her Zhenic friends, and struggled to communicate with her soldiers and keep discipline. Ruya appointed both a Garalese and a Zhenic aide and made sure that her orders were understandable by both. She discussed her fears with her friends, but made sure to put up an indomitable front towards the rest of the army. She pushed her soldiers through brutal training to ensure a baseline of understanding in training and discipline. After a series of unconventional but largely successful skirmishes based on the guerilla tactics employed by the Garalese military, she gained the trust and admiration of many of them. Many others, however - especially those who came from a military background - remained skeptical of her abilities and resentful of her position in command.
At a key moment in the battle, she led her own troops in a feigned retreat - a risky maneuver that could easily turn into a true rout if the timing was mishandled, and a signature tactic of the Garalese military. Once the emperor's troops believed they had the upper hand and were strung out along the mountain valley, Ruya led her cavalry around and charged back into them. Cai Yong was supposed to attack shortly after, but he did not, and Ruya's people gradually pulled back and threatened to break entirely against the continued onslaught of the emperor's men. Ruya ordered Huai Shi to find Cai Yong's men and do whatever was necessary to get them to attack. Huai Shi flew out to Cai Yong, killed him after he refused his orders, and led the troops into a charge that saved the remnant of the division from total slaughter. They retreated back to Yinguonan having never reached the villages in trouble. En route, Ruya executed Dong Zihao, the other officer in charge of the mutiny.
Marriage to Gao Zhong Hu
Though Tashi questioned Ruya about her feelings for Zhong Hu during their winter in Garal and Ruya confessed to an admiration for him, she never expected any return of those feelings. As they continued to work closely together during the war, however, their relationship deepened. Zhong Hu approached Ruya about an engagement. Ruya knew that Zhenics felt it their duty to honor their families first by prioritizing the continuance of their family lines and that Zhong Hu was no exception; he had mentioned before his intentions to search for any surviving family members. She suggested he pursue General Sun Ya, as she was young enough to give him children. Zhong Hu disagreed and said he felt he'd more than filled his duty through his part in the war. With her low estimation of herself and her deep respect of Zhong Hu's sense of honor, Ruya was unable to abide the thought that by marrying him she would cause a conflict of loyalties. She also disliked Zhong Hu's dismal view of their chances of surviving the war. They debated without swaying the other and agreed to talk more in time.
Ruya's next assignment culminated in the Assault of Broken Mountains and she returned with injuries and her division decimated by the mutiny. Zhong Hu and Ang Jian were also shocked to hear of the execution of Dong Zihao; Zhenic military tradition dictated that such discipline be administered with the direct oversight of superior officers, and many of Ruya's soldiers considered her actions unlawful. Ruya had followed Garalese military procedure and felt that to do otherwise would have weakened her authority with her soldiers. Eventually the friends managed to find a way to address the fallout together. Ruya formally handed off the disciplining of the remainder of the officers involved in the mutiny and Ang Jian and Zhong Hu addressed her men and endorsed her actions with Dong Zihao.
Having navigated the fraught aftermath of Ruya's return thus far, Ruya and Zhong Hu sat down to further discuss the option of an engagement. Both of them were shaken by the recent events and wanted to resolve the question before the war took another unexpected turn. Zhong Hu expressed his hope that they survived and that searching for surviving members of his family after the war could be his way of filling both his duties while choosing the few positive things left to him after his imprisonment. Ruya saw that his willingness to accommodate for his own well-being within a traditionally rigid expectation was not a dereliction of duty, and in his actions saw some hope for her own past choices. They agreed to marry before the end of the war.
Between tasks, Ruya and Zhong Hu collaborated with their friends to plan a wedding ceremony that blended both Zhenic and Garalese culture. Zhong Hu, who had had bad luck in previous engagements, discussed his worries with Xiong. A week before the wedding, Su Chao ordered Zhong Hu to terminate the engagement because of Ruya's background and the recent controversy over Dong Zihao's execution. Zhong Hu argued back to no effect. He and Ruya decided to marry in secret anyway.
"He needs to feel like he is in charge. You are a threat to his authority."
"I have no intentions of leading an empire. I am barely leading an army." - Ruya and Zhong Hu
Xiong and Yin Da helped the two finalize arrangements, but they decided against informing Ang Jian of the secret plans, as Ang Jian was not a good liar in social matters. Unfortunately, Ang Jian scheduled the final march for Longjiang the day after their marriage - hoping that it would help distract both of his friends. When he was invited to the private ceremony the evening before he apologized profusely. Su Chao was also in attendance, as Ang Jian convinced him at the last minute that granting permission for the marriage was a good decision; he attended under the impression that the event had been hastily organized because of his leniency.
Battle of the Red Tide
Ruya left with her division the next morning to pursue an unlikely path through the Shungan Mountains, using the information shared with them by the mountain villages. Zhong Hu and Ang Jian took the rest of the army around the mountains along a main road that led directly to the capital city.
With Ruya acting as scouts were Zhang Ke Yuan and Bai Xue Ying. They flew ahead on their swords to determine what had happened to the villages and which route was best to take. They found the villages decimated. In the ruins of a house they found a young girl, Cheng Li Shu, and rescued her using Xue Ying's demonic talents. Ruya met with Li Shu personally and began arrangements to find any surviving members of her family; the other occupants of her village had all fled to other locations. She left Li Shu a horse, Yan Huian, at an unaffected town along a main trade route. The parents of Luan Cho Ming, a cultivator assigned to Ruya, owned an inn there and agreed to take Li Shu until further arrangements could be made. Once they had resupplied, the army continued its grim traversal of the ruined string of villages.
Once they reached the southern end of the mountains, Ruya and her cultivators flew into the rebel army's main encampment outside of Longjiang. There they finalized their plans with Ang Jian, Zhong Hu, and the Zhang family. Xiong would take a small group into the capital on a mission to assassinate Emperor Zou, Zhong Hu and Ang Jian would attack the city, and Ruya and Ke Yuan would keep her division secreted away until the opportune moment to flank the emperor's forces. The friends and family held a quiet but hopeful dinner together before retiring for the night.
"I know what happens in the storm's thought. That is unchanged. We are always more likely to lose." She sighed. "If we succeed, but the war takes you... That one I know, too. I will stay with the Zhangs and care for Xiao Bi."
Zhong Hu squeezed her hand.
"If it takes me, it is not bad fortune in the marriage, Rong. The wedding and the marriage are perfect. We are at war."
"I know," Zhong Hu said after a quiet exhale. "That will not make it easier."
During the battle, Ruya charged into a group of cultivators from the White Sea Sect. Her new lieutenant general helped to hold their forces together against the brutal fight that ensued, and together they prevented the White Sea Sect from overwhelming the rebel forces. By the end of the day, the casualties sustained by the imperial army and the assassination of Emperor Zou resulted in the surrender of the emperor's forces.
Life in the New Empire
Following the surrender of the imperial forces, Su Chao began a transition of the center of power back to Yinguonan, the Old Empire capital. He purged many in Zou's court and pardoned others. Zhong Hu and Ang Jian stayed at his side to ensure a safe transition and to keep an eye on the Garalese border. Once things were more settled, Ruya left to find Li Shu and see if there had been any success in finding surviving family members. She also personally gave her condolences to Luan Cho Ming's family and told them of her role in the Guilded Retribution. Seeing that the family did not have the means to continue housing Li Shu, Ruya took the girl with her, hoping that at the capital they would have better chances of finding her family.
The Gaos settled in the upper districts of Yinguonan. Ruya focused on creating the home she and Zhong Hu had hoped for during the war. While she had been dismissed from the army following the end of the war, Zhong Hu was still expected to serve the new emperor in an advisory capacity. Ruya wanted to give him a safe place to rest at the end of the day. She also sought to make Xiao Bi as comfortable as possible before her upcoming marriage to Emperor Su Chao. She and Xiao Bi arranged to adopt two dogs so that Zhong Hu and Xiao Bi could train them together.
Ruya also headed the efforts to find any additional surviving members of the Gao family. She worked with descriptions of Zhong Hu's siblings and screened visitors so that Zhong Hu would not have to take the brunt of the emotional process. A few months after moving to Yinguonan, they found Zhong Hu's sister Liu Yanyu and her two children. Yanyu and her daughter Zhilan moved in with the Gaos shortly after. Yanyu did not approve of Ruya and upset the peace of the home with her sniping remarks. Ruya and Zhong Hu quietly clung to the knowledge that once Zhilan was married, her mother would move with her into her new home.
A few months after the war, Bai Rou Ying visited the Gao family and struck up a friendship with Li Shu. Ruya was happy to have two children in the house, having always wanted some of her own, but Rou Ying did not get on well with Zhong Hu's sister or either of his nieces and constantly got herself into mischief. Being half demon and having lived most of her life in the Thousand Vortices, Rou Ying also had little concept of Zhenic societal norms and expected to be housed for as long as she wished.
Family turmoil increased when Zhong Hu cancelled Xiao Bi's engagement to Emperor Su Chao after seeing how unhappy she was at court. He arranged for her engagement to Zhang Ke Yuan, and Zhilan pursued an engagement to the emperor instead. Xiao Bi was furious and deeply hurt. Nothing Zhong Hu or Ruya said did anything to end the strife; ultimately they sent her to assist Ang Jian as an aide while the Zhang family reestablished the Cold Wolf Sect.
These events, combined with Zhong Hu's continued work for the emperor, exhausted both him and Ruya. The two made plans to visit the Zhangs for the anniversary of the war.
During their stay, an old sect member named Qin Junjie, unsatisfied with his new position in the restored sect and holding a grudge against Ruya and her successful life in the new dynasty, used the Meditative Griffin Horn to attack Ruya with a horde of ghosts. Zhong Hu's dog Gan successfully alerted Zhong Hu and he and the Zhangs were able to rescue Ruya. Despite a great desire to enact his own retribution on Qin Junjie, Zhong Hu agreed to let Huai Shi handle it as a way of establishing his authority in the sect. Ruya struggled to accept that the unrest of the souls who had died during the Cold Wolf Massacre was not her fault, but recovered slowly from her wounds under the care of her friends and family.
Li Shu and Rou Ying did well at the sect during the visit, and Yin Da suggested that Li Shu could be adopted into the sect and find herself a comfortable future there. Ruya struggled with the option, as she had grown close to Li Shu. Yin Da pointed out that Li Shu had been in limbo and put undue stress on Ruya, who was acting as the sole caretaker while Zhong Hu worked and assumed that she would soon be rehomed. If Ruya wished to adopt Li Shu, it needed to be a decision made by both her and her husband. Ruya discussed this with Zhong Hu, who agreed, but ultimately felt that the decision to adopt Li Shu or not should be Ruya's. To help herself make a decision, Ruya arranged for Li Shu to remain at the sect until the Gaos returned a few months later for Huai Shi's wedding.
While the Gaos were back at the capital, Ruya's oldest sister Goland, her husband Imre, and their daughter Chabi visited.Ruya's popularity in Garal had grown and the story of her defending the Garalese immigrant family resurfaced due to her efforts in the War of Eternal Day. The Garalese soldiers she had confronted during the war remembered her valiant attempts to part in peace. These and other rumors blossomed during the war under the careful ministrations of Du Rui Sheng, who was sent to Garal for her own protection at the time. As a result, the khan denied having ever exiled Ruya and praised her efforts to wrest Zhenhai from a despot who had violated almost every facet of its treaty with Garal. Ruya's sister and her family took advantage of the newfound goodwill to travel to Zhenhai and reconnect.
Her sister's visit had a profound impact on Ruya and gave her much-needed perspective on her family's home life growing up. Ruya had believed that her siblings did not want a relationship with her and found that she had, in large part, been mistaken. When Goland and Imre had to return they did so with promises to host Ruya and Zhong Hu in Garal.
The Gaos eventually ended up living with the Zhangs in the Cold Wolf Sect. Ruya and Zhong Hu adopted Li Shu and assisted her in developing her artistic talents. They also continued to mentor the Zhang children and kept close ties with the Wei family.
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