The Emperor's Daiyu (BWAM)

45) Repercussions

Akazi

Xiang watches me carefully as I bite into another hot treat.

"Here." I smile, tiptoeing to feed him. He takes a bite and nods at the flavor. When I suggested he order two, he opted out but I knew he would like it.

A few older women passed us and giggled as I fed him.
"What a cute couple"
"To be youthful and in love is a time to cherish" They veered into another topic of trust as they passed us.
Xiang cheeks turned red I dusted off the sugar the powder from his chin.

"Where did you learn to do that?" He asks, trying to change the subject.

"In my village. We had these card games by the mountains and every night, my mother and I would..." my voice trails off as I remember her.
"I miss them, my village and my mother."

It was the first time in months I had thought about her. I look to the floor in thought. Xiang holds me close, kissing my forehead to calm me. "It will get better. One day" he says through a whisper. I knew he could relate seeing that his mother passed on as well.

A woman came up to the both of us and bowed.
I looked at Xiang who was now on high alert. He pulled me to his side, pushing me behind him as the lady stepped closer.

"Emperor, pardon my intrusion but I knew your father." Her eyes looked kind. She stared at me and smiled again. It was sort of infectious! I couldn't help but match it.
She looked around the festival making sure there were no wandering eyes before signaling us to follow her.

Immediately, I follow but Xiang pulls me to stay.
"You trust her?" He asks me with disbelief.

"Of course." I say.

"But, we don't don't know her? Who she is"

"But she knew your father? LIsn't that enough?"

"No Akazi. Last time i remember, my father was a living dictator" he snapped.

"We'll, you didn't know me. But you trusted me?"

"That's different Akazi"

I look around to observe the people as he thinks.
"Come on." I held out my hand so he could grab it. He frowns but holds it and walked together, coming into a small shop. It was filled to the brim with with paper lanterns of red and orange and hanging fans.
Thick book cases scattered through the tiny but cozy shop.

Xiang

The shop was warm. It felt as if a fire was burning in the back. I didn't trust a lot of people but Akazi insisted we enter in.
I only followed because Akazi insisted. I had to keep my eye on her during our trip out the palace. For my sanity as well.

The older lady sat at a wooden table, lighting a single candle and coaxing us to sit. Akazi sits first in a small stool and I reluctantly sat beside her.

"Your Daiyu trusts me? But you don't?"

How did she know Akazi's name? How did she know who I was?

"Who are you?" I frown, impatient with her ambiguity.

"The better question is who are you Emperor?"
She takes a thick band and wraps it around my wrist.

"Xiang Li Fang
Son of emperor Qin Fang.
There use to be joy in the Qin Dynasty.
Music
Love.
Laughter.
Hope.
But your father striped it away, leaving but a small sliver of it.
You never knew it." She opened my palm and pressed her fingers into the ceases.

You are rigid
Hard
Demanding.
You were not taught to love or laugh. How could you know what it meant to when your father forced it away?"

I could feel Akazi's eyes on me as the older women read my mind. "You have no say in your dynasty. Your father never taught it to you.
He taught you to conceal your emotions.
To conceal your fears."

She was more than accurate and it annoyed.
My eyes pained as images of my mother came into my cognition.
Walks in the garden.
Picking flowers.

"It's so funny how happiness can seem so close yet so distant." She interrupted my thoughts.
"The love she had for you was immeasurable." She said.

Akazi's hand gripped mine as she watched me. I hadn't realized I was squeezing the table.

"My my what a beauty she is." The woman turns to her and smiles.
"She makes you sing
Your heart leaps at the sight of her.
She tests everything you once believed and you negate them in hopeless abandon."

She wraps the cloth around Akazi's hand now.
"But rough beginnings plague you. Your journey here was not one of ease.
Finding your place in a dynasty while you are an outsider is proving more difficult than intended Tai Yen"

Akazi's gasps, looking into my eyes.

"You are not even supposed to be alive, but he spared you. Out of selfish reasons I might add" she smiles. She wraps the cloth around us both, intertwining our hands as one.

"But together, as one is when your love blossoms. Your love for other can withstand time and any hardships you will face"

"Will? As in future" Akazi frowns.
The old woman unwinds the cloth as she watches me.

"You must right your wrong Xiang."

"What does that mean?" I fumed, "Tell me!" I bang my fist in the table impatiently. I needed answers!
The past month I have been ruling with no guide. I was tired of living in fear for the mistakes of my past.

"Xiang! Xiang! stop!" Akazi yells, holding my wrist so I would calm down. The lady smirks and stares

"Did you honestly think keeping a list as sacred as the Tai Yen would level out with no repercussionsl

I stood from the table, slamming the chair to the floors. "She's a sham. Let's go!"

I pull Akazi's arm so we could head out.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you; not that way if you want to live"

Akazi

Just as we were about to push past the curtains to leave, he stops and see something in the distance.

"What." I whisper, trying to look in front of him.
He hums and looks at me. "Let's go. We should have never came here."

"Xiang who is it?" I whisper, my nerves rising as he looks for another way out.

"Seems like the gambling game we played attracted more attention than intended."

"There here somewhere!
That was that whole days worth!" I hear the angry voices of a few men. One of them sounded like the guy from the table.

"They shouldnt have been stealing from couples." I frown, crossing my arms. The older lady laughs and signals us to the back.

"Can we trust her? " I whisper to Xiang. I was unsettled how she knew so much about us.

"Seems like we have no option" He says before grabbing my hand, intertwining it with mine and pulling me forward.

We ran as fast as we could, our the tent and into a forest just a few meters before us.