Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

by Julie C. Dao

  The kindness in her voice dug a small hole in the wall of thorns around Xifeng’s heart. But at the same time, she felt a part of herself observing how Empress Lihua’s thirst for a daughter weakened her. The woman was a descendant of kings and should have been nothing but strong and willful. How many had been clever enough to exploit this frailty?

  Xifeng bent her head, shocked by her own callous thoughts. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” This time, the tears that slipped from her eyes were real.

  Save me, she thought. Save me from this long dark road.

  Xifeng followed a maidservant back into the garden, her mind an exhilarated jumble. She struggled to keep up with the girl, who walked at a frenetic pace. They passed a sitting area with a fountain, where Lady Sun sat sewing alone. She inclined her head with condescending grace, but the twitch of her mouth implied that she found Xifeng’s whole person offensive. Xifeng turned away, her cheeks hot, noting that even the maid wore clothes more presentable than her own.

  They passed through exquisite rooms adorned with pillars, paintings, and silken rugs. The luxury seemed like a dream, and Xifeng eagerly wondered what her chamber would be like. When the maid at last led her to an open door, she struggled not to show her disappointment.

  The room was small, with plain furnishings: only two low stools and a table with a washbasin. One window illuminated three beds built into three walls, with a simple curtain of undyed linen beside each. The maid gestured to Xifeng’s bed, which was closest to the door. Xifeng noticed a folded tunic, a comb with long hair in its teeth, and an empty bone cup.

  “With whom am I sharing?”

  “Two other maidens.” The maid handed Xifeng her sack and a folded pile of clothing with cotton slippers on top. As ordinary as they were, they were finer than anything she had ever owned. “Her Ma- jesty requests that you speak to Madam Hong when you have finished washing.”

  When she was alone at last, Xifeng collapsed on her bed. The last hour had exhausted her more than the entire journey through the Great Forest. But she had made it to the Imperial Palace. She had impressed the chief eunuch, charmed Empress Lihua, and earned herself a position—exactly as Guma, and fate, intended.

  It made her dizzy to think how drastically her life had changed in such a short time.

  Her sack of belongings looked strange without Wei’s possessions beside it. He would have laughed at her for expecting grander accommodations, and joked about the grim prospect of instructions from sour old Madam Hong.

  He would have made this place feel more like home.

  From the sack, Xifeng pulled out the bronze box containing her mother’s dagger and hairpin. She tucked it beneath her pillow, vowing to find a better hiding place later, and made to put the sack away when she felt something unfamiliar inside.

  Frowning, she removed the object and gave a choked cry upon recognizing it: a bundle of incense and a cheap metal holder to burn it in. Even unlit, the thin bamboo sticks emitted a noxious fragrance of black fungus and swamp herbs that took Xifeng right back home to her aunt’s secret room.

  Guma had known all along about the hidden sack. She knew Xifeng would abandon her and wanted to make sure she couldn’t ever forget her.

  For a moment, with the scent seeping back into her skin, Xifeng felt as though she had never left Guma behind at all.

  • • •

  Xifeng met Madam Hong on the South Balcony with her face scrubbed, hands washed, and hair pinned into a knot. She wore the clean clothes that had been provided, but she still felt out of place in the luxurious sitting area where the Empress’s chief attendant awaited her.

  Vines of spring roses shaded the balcony, and sweet azalea looped over the railing. Madam Hong sat at a stone table, gazing off into the distance, her face sallow above her embroidered coral jacket. The whole scene appeared staged as though for a performance.

  “Do you know how many girls long to be where you are?” she asked, without looking at Xifeng. “Yet the gods saw fit to throw you in the Crown Prince’s path, and thus his mother’s.”

  Master Yu leaned against the railing behind her. “What a lucky girl you are. Sit down.”

  Xifeng obeyed, wishing Kang were there. His presence would have made this seem less like a standoff, with the eunuch and lady-in-waiting glaring from the other side of the table.

  “You are here as a servant of the Empress, reporting directly to me and Master Yu,” Madam Hong announced. “You will work hard at any task you are given, whether it is arranging flowers, mending clothes, or emptying chamber pots, if the maids can’t get to them on time. You will find nothing beneath you, for there is nothing beneath you.”

  “You will be respectful at all times. None of that impertinence and showing off your knowledge to your betters,” Master Yu snapped. So he hadn’t been too stupid to recognize her poetic insult, after all. “You have no license to speak to or disturb Her Majesty in any way. You will not leave the city of women without permission from us.”

  “Well, girl?” Madam Hong barked. “Do you understand?”

  Xifeng’s hands itched to slap the pompous expression off the woman’s face. She felt the creature shifting between her ribs and the accompanying spasm of dread. Please, not now, she begged. I can’t afford to make enemies so soon.

  “Speak when you’re spoken to,” Master Yu shouted, startling even Madam Hong. He seemed quite comfortable showing his venom with only the chief lady-in-waiting present.

  Xifeng recalled a story she had read about how the elephant and the grassland bird existed together. The bird ate small pests on the elephant’s body, thereby sustaining itself, while the elephant benefited by staying clean. She imagined Madam Hong as the wrinkled, ungainly elephant and the eunuch as a bald, bad-tempered bird, and almost laughed out loud.

  “I understand, Madam Hong,” she said, trying to keep her lips from twitching.

  The woman scowled. “The ladies wake before sunrise, wash, comb, and dress. They go to the shrine for an hour of prayer, during which they honor the blessings of the Dragon Lords.” She made the sign of respect Empress Lihua had earlier. “Between meals, each works intently on a task given to her. In the evening, they spend an hour reading or practicing calligraphy or music, and then there is another hour of prayer before bed.”

  “The lanterns you see all around us are not only ornamental, but also measure time,” Master Yu said curtly. “They will keep you on task. We do not tolerate lazy, stupid women in proximity to the Empress.”

  “What is to be my task?” Xifeng asked as politely as she could manage.

  Madam Hong scowled. “You were not given permission to speak, girl.”

  Xifeng willed her hands to stay in her lap. She imagined returning to Akira and having to explain that she’d been thrown out of the palace because she had slapped the Empress’s chief attendant. The urge to laugh grew stronger, as did the movement in her rib cage. Before she could stop herself, she said tartly, “My name is Xifeng, not girl.”

  With one smooth flourish, the eunuch leaned over and cracked his folded fan across her shoulder. Xifeng felt stinging warmth where he had hit her and peered at him in amusement. After Guma’s imaginative beatings with the cane—including pouring water over her back to intensify the pain—did the fat little man truly imagine he could break her spirit?

  “They’re all the same when they come here,” Master Yu sneered to Madam Hong. “They think because Empress Lihua is kind and welcoming that they are different. Special. Arrogant and high-strung, with some notion of rising to the top, like foam on an ocean current.”

  “That’s a beautiful turn of phrase, sir,” Xifeng said sweetly, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, and he scanned her face for impudence. Was the imbecile even aware how much of his speeches were stolen from poetry?

  A spiteful smile blossomed on Madam Hong’s lips. “My dear Yu, wasn’t it just this morning that Lady Su
n complained about her maidservant? Perhaps we can put Xifeng to use there, and have her . . . assist while the lady finds a replacement.”

  “You always have the most appropriate solution. I’ll speak to her tonight, and you, girl, will start next week. You’ll have to have a bit of training first; we won’t send a complete novice to Her Ladyship. Now get out of our sight.”

  Xifeng rose with a brilliant smile, enjoying their disturbed expressions at the sight of it. “Thank you for your time. When I see the Crown Prince again, I’ll let him know what you’ve done for me.” She bowed before their shocked stares. Apparently they had forgotten that the prince had recommended her for the position—not that she would likely see him again, but gods above, that threat had been fun. She strolled off as merrily as though they hadn’t treated her like dirt. Outward grace at all times, as Guma had taught her, no matter how she boiled inside.

  Kang waited for her on the ground level. Despite his customary simper, he surveyed her with quick, clever eyes. “You survived. They haven’t broken you like a colt in the stable?”

  “It is impossible to break me.”

  “Good. I knew you had spirit,” he said warmly. “Intimidating new girls is how they assert their dominance. The Empress has given them power over us and they never want us to forget.”

  “Why do you speak so freely of them?” Xifeng asked, arching a brow. “Are you hoping to catch me off my guard and report my careless words to Master Yu?”

  Kang’s eyes widened. “My dear, no. I speak my mind because I want to be friends . . . never to trap you.”

  Xifeng stared at him, unnerved by the earnestness in his expression. If this was a ploy, he was a very good actor indeed. All of her instincts warned her not to trust him—but then again, an ally could be useful. “I would like to be friends,” she said carefully, and his face lit up.

  But a roar of laughter from the adjacent building dissolved his cheer. “Eunuchs,” he muttered. “They’re playing one of their table games again.”

  “Why aren’t you with them?”

  “They despise me. They hate the young and ambitious and, above all, the talented,” he said matter-of-factly. “They don’t know where I come from, but they know where I aspire to go because I have the capacity to do so.”

  “Where would that be?”

  “I would join the Five Tigers, the most powerful eunuchs in the Empress’s household. That fool Master Yu is the worst of them. They’re getting old, but they must hope to live forever, because they guard their positions jealously. They haven’t asked any younger men to join.”

  Xifeng frowned. “What real power do they have?”

  “You’d be surprised. Empress Lihua’s father was often away fighting in the wars, and his favorite eunuch, Tao, would rule in his absence. Tao was the one who drafted the treaty about the Unclaimed Lands between Dagovad and the Sacred Grasslands.”

  “The lands near the Gulf of Talon,” Xifeng recited automatically, as she would to Guma after a lesson. “A barbarian horde swept out of the Shadow Sea and populated those lands for a century. The queen of Dagovad and the king of the Grasslands joined forces to muster up an army large enough to roust them out.”

  Kang grinned. “I should have known you’d already know all about it.”

  “I don’t know much about the treaty,” she admitted. “Or the invaders themselves. Guma told me they originated from Kamatsu and the Great Forest many ages ago.” She had often wondered about these warriors who spent their lives on the wild sea and were spoken of with such fear and awe. They were called barbarians, disparagingly, though their clever methods of shipbuilding and even their musical instruments had been adopted by the mainlanders. Perhaps, she reflected, they in their turn thought of people on the continent as barbarians.

  “After they drove the invaders away, as you said, the two kingdoms turned against each other and fought over those lands. Rich soil and a port, you know. People have killed for less. So the eunuch Tao stepped in as an impartial third party on behalf of the old Emperor and drafted a ten-year treaty to split the wealth between them.” He paused significantly. “That ten-year treaty ended last winter.”

  “What happens now?” Xifeng asked, fascinated. “Do they draft a new treaty? Or will one of them claim the land for themselves?”

  “The latter, I’m afraid. The queen of Dagovad grows bolder every year, especially now that her elderly husband has died and she has come into her own. She has made enemies of many, including her own sister.”

  “Her sister?”

  “The queen of Kamatsu. They’ve been enemies since they were girls, and Emperor Jun’s treaty with Kamatsu does not sit well with many—Dagovad in particular.” Kang pursed his lips. “This eastern conflict will be a problem for Emperor Jun. At least Tao’s actions secured peace for a decade, something Dagovad will not forget.”

  “How intriguing that someone else can rule in the Emperor’s place.” But a eunuch is still male, Xifeng thought. Would they feel the same about a woman?

  Kang led her away from the building, his knuckles white on the painted fan. “You’ll learn that the eunuchs are every bit as powerful and conniving as the ladies. It’s all a game.”

  “Why have you decided to trust me? How can you be certain I won’t repeat your comments to Master Yu, for instance?”

  “Because that’s not who you are.”

  “But how do you know?” Xifeng persisted. “We’ve only just met.”

  “I’m a good judge of people, and perhaps a bit lonely, too.” He gestured to their surroundings, his silk sleeve billowing. “This is a place built for secret alliances. Everyone has someone to eavesdrop and whisper with, and I long for a friend of my own. And to be honest, Xifeng . . . if anyone were to make themselves a success at court, my wager would be on you.”

  They paused beneath a wooden archway with letters etched into the base: Pride, prosperity, perseverance. “You are so confident in me?” Xifeng asked lightly, running her hands over the last word.

  “I sense a ruthlessness in you. An unwillingness to be refused or defeated. Yes, my dear, I want to be your friend, and I want to be there when you make it.”

  His stark honesty astonished her—but gratified her, too. “You hope to use me,” she said, only half jokingly.

  The eunuch twinkled at her. “In time, you may come to trust me, too.”

  “I may,” Xifeng hedged, though she felt herself thawing at his kind manner. It wasn’t like anyone else was being friendly toward her. Still, something in Kang’s playful demeanor made it difficult for her to tell whether he was serious. “Well. If they wish us at the bottom of this pond, weighed down by stones, at least we’ll be together.”

  “Mustn’t say such things too loudly. You never know to whom you’re giving ideas.”

  They laughed.

  “The concubines aren’t above it, either. Lady Sun would claw Lady Meng’s eyes out if she could, to secure the Emperor for herself only. There’s a whole harem of consorts left over from Empress Lihua’s first husband, but thankfully Emperor Jun prefers only the two of them.”

  “Lady Meng seems so unhappy,” Xifeng said. “She came through my town, you know, on her way to the palace, and I envied her good fortune.”

  “She’d best improve her attitude or she’ll be shipped off to a monastery. But I admit it’s not a life to which everyone is suited, especially when you are Lady Sun’s direct competition.” A scowl creased his features. “Lady Sun is His Majesty’s favorite because she gave him two daughters and a son. Her power is absolute. Now there’s someone I wouldn’t mind seeing at the bottom of a pond.”

  Xifeng remembered the gilded palanquin she had seen and the pale, listless girl she had met. “I was stupid to be jealous of Lady Meng. I didn’t think what it would mean for her.”

  “No, a concubine’s life wouldn’t suit you, would it? You’d want to
be the first and only in a man’s affections, such as that warrior of yours.” He laughed at her shock. “I put two and two together when you mentioned that your friend Wei had first attracted the Crown Prince’s attention.”

  Xifeng remained silent, her eyes downturned. Wei was no one’s business but her own.

  “Oh, come,” Kang said kindly. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I was only teasing. Let us talk of something else, and we will discuss matters of the heart when we’re better friends.”

  They spent the evening walking the grounds. He showed her the bathhouses and rooms full of thread-bound books, inkstones, and sharp pens ready for writing. The music room was as fully equipped with lutes, drums, and pipes.

  “People in my town would laugh at the idea of calling books and music work,” Xifeng told him. “How is it some men break their backs farming a dead land, whereas others sit in comfort and ruminate on stars and poetry?”

  The eunuch shrugged. “It is as the Dragon Lords will it. You know that.”

  They chatted comfortably as they explored, and Xifeng felt she had wasted much of her life cloistered in her forsaken town. Almost as soon as she had left, she had made friends, and Kang might one day be another. His wicked sense of humor and sharp tongue suited her perfectly.

  “What are you thinking of?” he asked on their way to the evening meal.

  “Of friends. I’ve never had any,” she admitted. “The boys wanted . . . other things and the girls avoided me. But I watched their friendships come and go. I saw how much more time and trust it took for women to form bonds, and how easily they could break apart.”

  “Women are complicated creatures.”

  She eyed him. “You may be one of the few men with whom I can truly be friends. After all, you don’t want anything more from me.”