Daughter of Heaven

Chapter 2 : Meeting Him in the Garden of Serenity

Hua Er ushered the little princess into the rooms. She picked up a pearl encrusted brush, patiently untangling the unruly curls.   

Hua Er softly spoke, her voice had a dreamlike quality to it. "Your brother was only twelve and you two when Lord Lu and Lord Luo decided to rebel. They led an army of ten thousand men into the palace, leaving rivers of blood in their wake. You and and your brother escaped on horseback, taking me with him. We headed deep into the stone forests.  No man ever went into it voluntarily, for the Stone Forest was the border between the demon and living world. Demons and evil spirits that lived there are said to hunt and enslave any souls that dare encroach their territory...." Her voice got fainter and fainter as Yu Zhu's eyes drooped. 

The hazy scent of the Mu Dan incense, mixed with the heady smell of the linden flowers was too much for the little girl who had spent her day escaping maids and palace guards.

Hua Er smiled and picked up the child, gently depositing her on the bed. Her lovely figure bent over and blew out the candle. Yu Zhu had fallen asleep so quickly that she didn't even remember when the older girl had left. She dreamed of the melody about the sad boy waiting for the little girl....

"Princess Yu Zhu wake up! You're late to your martial arts lesson, Teacher Ma Yu will make you swim the length Lake of Serenity!"

Yu Zhu sat up with a jolt, Teacher Ma once made her stand on one foot on the roof of the Kun Ming Palace for 2 hours because she had yawned in class. The teacher told her it was to build character, but Yu Zhu thought it was because she was angry at her for drawing faces on the teacher's favorite robes in ink.

Yu Zhu flew down the white stone corridor of her royal residence to the hanging flowers entrance of the Garden of Serenity. Maids and Eunuchs in blue and grey silks knelt along the bright red walls to murmur greetings and to say a silent prayer for themselves. She skidded around the corner and struggled to put on her soft fur boots, the maids behind her dangling scarves and other articles of clothing, desperately chasing after their little mistress. 

As an old eunuch once described, while rubbing his sore bottom, running into the princess was like being assaulted by a tornado of flying silk and flying maids. The chance of injury was dangerously high.

 When she finally arrive at the entrance of the garden, Teacher Ma raised an eye, "Princess, it seems you forgot something." Yu Zhu looked down, in her haste, she had only succeeded in putting on one boot. Teacher Ma shook her head and said softly repeated to herself "The pay is good. The pay is good..."  She gestured to the little girl, who had just caught the other boot from a palace maid, "Let's start."

"The thousand jade lotus strike is to be done with grace and deftness befitting of a noble lady defending herself without seeming to, not a drunken swimmer frantically trying to dog paddle to shore." Teacher Ma Yu admonished as she corrected Yu Zhu's stance.

Yu Zhu glared at the maids whose faces are turning red from laughter. Her silk sleeves tangled with the dragons well tea bushes, the sound of delicate silk ripping made a vein pop out on Teacher Ma Yu's forehead.

"Your movements should be as delicate as a dragonfly resting on a flower." The teacher's fluid motions were graceful and deadly at the same time as she showed her pupil the move again.

Yu Zhu made the same move, only this time she looked like she was trying to swat a fly, and desperately failing.

Loud, booming laughter erupts from behind. Yu Zhu turned around, furious, only to find her father clutching his sides. The two young men on either side of him had different expressions on their faces. One's smile was as warm as the sun, and the other seemed to be holding in his laughter.