Lihua, Why are you Weeping?
Jiang Lihua wondered if the walls of the Vermillion Palace had ever seemed more like a cage than they did in these last few weeks.
As the young empress made her way through the labyrinthine passages of the immense palace-city which served as the administrative and legislative capital of her own nation, she reflected on how naive it was to truly believe in such madness.
Her nation?
Her capital
? Perhaps the small coterie of attendants trailing her were loyal to her, personally, but even then so many of the young girls and eunuchs had family who were effectively hostages to the more powerful influencers within the capital. Putting aside those who could simply be bought with a few taels of silver.
"I will always be with you, Lihua, never doubt that."
The tracery of warm fingers along her cheek lit up like fire, seeming to sear her flesh at the same time it brought her comfort. Absently, she raised a hand to mimic the parting touch of the man she loved.
"Xingke..." The word left her lips softer than a breeze on the wind, but still one of her attendants heard. Perhaps not the word itself, but it was enough that she had spoken at all.
"Lady Tianzi, Your Imminence, how may this lowly one be of assistance?" Min asked, nearly prostrating herself as etiquette dictated.
Lihua paused, considering what she was allowed to do in these trying times. "I will take in the mustering of my troops in the center courtyard."
"At once, My Lady."
More bowing and scraping, from both her followers as well as the guards who happened to be stationed along her path. Even the mincing bureaucrats lowered their eyes respectfully, though Lihua had to resist the urge to recriminate them on the spot. It was likely many of them did not even know of their treason. After all, the High Eunuchs were the
servants and
advisors to the Empress. Ostensibly, they held no true power. The fact that they insulated her from any contact with the functionaries of the court was only to be expected.
After all, she was the glorious Child of Heaven, to be shielded from view by unworthy and base eyes.
She missed Kaguya.
It was an errant thought, brought to the fore by the random depressive contemplation she had been suffering from since the last letter from her friend had arrived. That letter, the thing which had started all of this insanity.
As her contemplation darkened, guards opened the door to the massive western wing's observation room. Turning to her attendants, she waved them off. "I wish to be alone. Wait until I summon you."
The door slid shut behind her without another word.
Lihua herself hadn't touched it, of course, it would be
unseemly for the empress to do even so much physical labor.
Even now, though, she wasn't truly alone.
Guards were ensconced within the shadows, having been forewarned of her appearance by one or more of her attendants signaling the eyes and ears of the High Eunuchs...
For a lack of anything
else to do, Lihua approached the grand overlook built onto the side of the room. Silk curtains that would remain drawn until the procession in a few hours tinted nearly the entire view of what was going on, though Lihua could see outlines lacking detail through the thin screen. Likewise, she knew individuals looking up would be able to only see the outline of her own form.
A shadow, lacking color, definition, personality...
Carefully, one eye trailed down the crack in the silks and spotted Zhou Xianglin standing as she directed the troops. With Xingke...
not here, the other woman was likely her closest ally within the forbidden city, along with the small cabal of lesser eunuchs and military administrators they'd been working hard to align. It wasn't enough to run the country, not by a 'long shot,' as Kaguya would say, but such was her powerbase within the Federation. Little by little, she'd whittled out a small niche for herself.
Then
this had to happen.
It was too soon, too early.
"Announcing the Lord High Eunuch Xia Wang, Administrator of the Korean Peninsula, to seek audience with Her Imperial Imminence, the Child of Heaven."
Lihua didn't bother to turn, it wouldn't change anything.
Sure enough, the door slid open without her permission. A gross breach of etiquette that, in her father's time, would have and
had seen the hand which did so amputated.
Was it wrong for her to wish she could go back to those years? Was tyranny the only way to fight tyranny?
"Ohoho! Tianzi, it is a pleasure to once again be in your presence from beyond known lands. Returned to civilization as I am, it is doubly a pleasure to see you attending to your duties so studiously." The pale-faced man laughed again at his own wit, even as Lihua kept her red eyes locked on the field below.
On the
woman below, who held her favor, which was the only reason she'd been given command in Xingke's absence.
Because with Xianglin gone to the Indonesian Confederation to take command of the replacement troops they've raised here, I will be down one more ally. It's a masterful move by the Eunuchs, both allowing me to be seen still dictating appointments, but also crippling my own powerbase.
"The men seem ready, I do hope they will be able to protect our subjects within the Confederation against the piratical threat which has so imperiled the area without necessitating to foreign intervention." Lihua replied, her tone even and cool.
It only caused Xia Wang to laugh again, as if she had told a particularly humorous joke. "Ah, to think that even after the loss of your precious Xingke, you have such bite left to scheme and plan against those who only wish the best for you."
The best which serves yourselves.
In her mind's eye, she visualized the complex intricacies of the eunuch's structure as a great series of interconnected leaches, feeding off the already-sickly body of the Federation. They were supposed to provide oversight for the bureaucracy of the super-state and instead demanded tribute and bribes merely to conduct the most basic of affairs. After all, nothing could be 'official' without a functionaries' seal of approval.
Then the eunuchs who favored Ethiopia had blocked any attempt to send reinforcements to the garrison in Indonesia. A line had been crossed when they decided her soldiers, her
people were worth throwing away to satisfy empty pride. Even with all of the political capital she had expended to push through farming reform with the clique of Eunuchs who had favored Britannia, that victory paled in comparison to what would have been needed to move their obstinate hearts this time. It had taken Xingke, behind their backs, to save her friend Kaguya and the nation of Indonesia. It had taken Prince Lelouch to save Xingke from the eunuchs' wrath in return. She could do nothing, and had to depend on others,
again, to halt the voracious appetites of those who ruled her country.
It will never be enough, they will take everything they can.
In exchange for what? A preferential trade treaty? Labor from the prisons to work the new territories they've conquered? A new scheme to launder money? A chance to marry me off to the highest bidder?
Xianglin, down in the square where the troops were forming back up in parade formation, looked up at the Empress' box for a scant moment, and their eyes connected. Or, at least to Lihua, it felt as though they did.
She would have to trust Xianglin to carry her weight in the days and weeks ahead.
"I wish to give the speech now and have this affair be over and done with." Lihua stated bluntly, crossing her arms defensively and taking reassurance from the weight imparted by the gesture. "I will give them my blessing and then retire. There are matters of state, inconsequential ones I am sure, which have been given to me to complete."
Xia Wang chuckled again, his laugh high-pitched and 'courtly' in a way she found anything but flattering. "Do not be in such a hurry your highness, I am sure your destiny will await you no matter the time it takes."
Lihua took a deep breath, banishing her nerves and forcing her face to remain placid. Doubtless, the man would interpret any nervousness on her part to irritation or anger, but she couldn't take the chance.
The High Eunuch to her side was right about one thing.
Her destiny
did await.
One way or another.
