Princess Snow and the Empress

2: An Adventure of a Lifetime

Spring

After fifteen long, boring years living confined behind Palace walls, Snow was finally leaving!

She could hardly believe it, she had to pinch herself as they carried her from her quarters all the way to the gargantuan doors of the Palace gates. Green banners bearing the emblem of a golden dragon fluttered in the morning wind, which was crisp against her cheeks.

"They haven't left us behind, have they?" Snow asked Peony through the open window of her palanquin.

"No, Your Highness. They're just outside the gates," her younger female attendant reassured her. Eventually they passed a pair of giant stone lions flanking the Palace doors. Their fangs were bared, narrow eyes gazing sightlessly at a long procession of the nearly hundred soldiers on horseback and caravans that waited outside the fortified walls.

"Why are there so many soldiers? I thought it's just a small hunting party."

"In case of rebels, Your Highness," said Captain Wong, a barrel-chested man with a leopard on his rank badge. He signaled for the men carrying the palanquin to follow him.

"Rebels? We have rebels?"

"Nothing to worry about, Your Highness. Usually they get quashed before they can gather enough numbers. Here's your carriage. You! Bring over the princess's luggage!"

Peony helped Snow out of her palanquin and into her carriage. It reminded her of a small pavilion on wheels, with an upturned roof and red latticework covering the windows.

This is so fun, I've never been in anything like this. She ran her hands over the wooden panels of the interior and opened all the hidden drawers on her side. A lacquered food carrier – with steamed buns, egg tarts and fried wontons nestled within its three tiers – sat beside her. Usually, the delicious smells made her mouth water but this time, she had no appetite to eat. "Why aren't we moving yet?"

"Have patience, Your Highness. They need to make sure everyone's here before we can start." Peony continued rifling through a chest of the princess's belongings. "Aiya, did we forget to pack trousers? Lotus said she did– ah, they're here at the bottom."

Snow slouched against the silk-covered cushions. Her excitement swam in her stomach like her pet koi fish before their feeding time. How did the forest look like? Will there be insects? Would she catch anything? Would she see him beforehand?

"It's going to be a long journey, Princess. Do you want me to take out your needlework while we wait?"

The sounds of snorting horses and chattering soldiers outside drifted in through the windows. "Go ask how long till we depart," Snow commanded. Needlework was the last thing on her mind when she's about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime!

Peony opened the small sliding window at the front where the driver sat. "Uncle! When are we going?" A country lass, she spoke in an assertive yet friendly manner as if they were family.

"We're waiting for the princes to arrive, Little Miss," came the driver's reply.

As if on cue, a shout rang out for people to make way. Palace guards cleared a path for the princes, who clip-clopped past her carriage with such a large entourage that she only caught glimpses of their profiles and richly-dyed silk. However, there was no mistaking who the six youths were, with their fair skin and elegant bone structure, courtesy of their concubine mothers and her emperor father. Also, no one else puffed out their chests with such self-importance like them.

The peacocks are here. What about him? And Big Brother? I didn't see them. She searched amongst the passing riders for two familiar faces. If she attended the hunt and they didn't, it would be a disaster.