Of Scribes and Heralds
Thirtieth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
The Docks of Yin, Yi Ti
There were a great many young men clutching brush and paper close that day on the docks, functionaries of the various ministries, young monks here to bear witness in place of their elders concerned with weightier matters, and of course merchants' clerks waiting for what was sure to be a grand opportunity for trade from the sheer scale of the fleet even if the goods did not prove that worthy. There was, however, only one young woman hidden beneath the plain dark green robes of a minor scribe of obscure birth, her braid austere as such a one would wear. Hua Fen waited and watched besides the old foreign merchant, Coryn, eyes fixed on the sky as was every other pair in the crowd. How could one not when a blood red dragon had been spotted there?
It was all she could do not to fidget in place in the heat like a child who had not yet learned patience.
No one is looking at you Fen, the young woman reminded herself, finally giving in and wiping sweat from her brow. That would change soon, she knew, unlike anyone in the crowd save perhaps the blue-clad delegation from the Imperial palace, what was on those ships and she was to serve as an interpreter in dealings with the court and even the Emerald Magistrates. She shivered a little at the thought.
Would her ruse hold under the searching gaze of one of the Emperor's own hands? Yet that fear had not been enough for her to refuse the offer when Lady Tyene had made it. What was mere discovery, after all, compared to the horror she had faced in the night? The same horrors that stalked the shadows every night, for she was not so arrogant to think herself the target of the only fiend to have found its way to the streets of Yin. Was that why she was here then, fear? Did she expect the foreigners from the far west to keep her safe in exchange for her service?
The answer did not ring true, but before she could consider the matter any further the deep sound of the Imperial Guards'
sheng pipes rang out. The heavy note sent an instinctive shiver down Fen's spine as she remembered what such sounds usually heralded, war and invasion. The idea that anyone could invade Yin was on the face of it absurd, but the last few days had shaken her sense of what was possible and wasn't. She looked to where the guards were pointing, looking a touch uncomfortable to be breaking formation, but of course it was their duty to alert their superiors as best they could and a palace eunuch was used to looking to things far away but those near at hand, a page of accounts, whispered in their master's ear.
Part of Fen was upset that it was not her father being given the honor of meeting with the servants of the Archon of the West, but it was only a small part for there where the guard had pointed there was a dragon, a thing of blood and sorcery yoked to its rider, not a true being of legend of course, but the closest thing Fen would ever see to one of the great keepers of the world. There were other flying shapes too, and some around her claimed they were more dragons, but even without knowing from the start that there was only one dragon with the fleet she could tell the difference between them. Among the other shapes three were not as graceful and they did not gleam of crimson scale in the light of midday and the fourth... that gleamed bright indeed, but it was the flash of steel.
As the ships drew near Fen noticed that they seemed strange in shape and purpose also, most were like the ships of the Elephant City of which a few could be seen each year in Yin making the long journey, but some few were more familiar, like the ships of the port of Port Moraq who gave tribute to the Emperor in her grandfather's day and others stranger, one long and thin with a serpent's head for a prow and not much room in its belly for cargo and two that seems tangled in strange vines and leaves as though they were not ships of men at all, but living things onto themselves.
No wait, there were people moving on the foremost one...
Alas that Fen did not have the time to sit and watch, she had to be present along with Coryn to greet the first delegation to set foot on the soil of the Golden Empire, to show that they did not come just as strange travelers unknown and unknowing, but friends to the Azure Throne known and respected. Truth be told the young scribe was not thinking of deeper matters, but making sure her papers were in order as she shuffled and handed them off to pass the cordon of steel and offer humble greetings to those within, officers and eunuchs, not that the minister was paying attention to her, eyes still fixed upon the sky and... "Most Honored Magistrate."
The man gave her a look a hairsbreadth more than Fen was comfortable with but he made no comment, turning his eyes back to the pier before them before from the sky descended a herald of steel and flame.
"From My Lord Viserys Targaryen, King of the Stepstones, Overlord of Lys, Myr, Tyrosh, Braavos and Pentos, Triarch of the Three Daughters, Archon of Volantis, Overlord of Sallosh, Naath and the Basilisk Islands gives his most gracious greetings to the Emperor of Yi Ti, the Golden Son of Heaven By the Kami Enthroned on Earth, Master of the Four Corners and Father to the Land," the deep steel voice rang over the land and then Fen knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that for the first time in many years a new thing had come to Yin and to all of Yi Ti.
OOC: This feels like a good cut off point for Fen's PoV, but if you guys want to see more Yi Ti on screen before the new turn I can continue. 
