Johanna hated it.
"I never did make it here last time," Genevieve murmured, her voice so quiet that only a vampire's ears could catch it, and even then, Johanna had to strain. "Master Po took me away from the cities and towns, save when absolutely necessary as he journeyed about. Rightfully cautious, I suppose."
"Mmm."
"But you…you've been here before, haven't you," Genevieve continued, her voice completely controlled, utterly calm.
Which was a feat, considering the guards that were surrounding them on all sides. Each of the Palace Guard possessed heartbeats, to be sure, but all twelve of them had no doubt been extensively trained and equipped precisely to be deserving of their positions. For all the nepotism that might exist within Cathay, the Dragon Emperors quite simply refused to have anything but the best when it came to the ranks of the Golden Ten Thousand. Those who escorted them through the palace did not speak, their boots thumping loudly upon the jade and marble floors, the sight of them enough to part the crowds like a ship cutting through the sea. Though eleven of the guards were impassive, near inhumanely stoic, the twelfth who happened to be standing directly behind Johanna was practically melting his eyeballs staring at the back of her head.
"…yes, master," Johanna finally replied, ignoring the glare behind her.
She did not have fond memories of the Jade Palace anymore. There used to be, but they had all long since become soured and retroactively unhappy things. And, given the guard behind her, at least some still remembered when she had been here last. One would think that impossible, given the amount of time since then, but then again, those who rose high within the Celestial Empire often benefitted from the various elixirs and pills created by the royal alchemists. Said alchemists, in turn, benefitted from Dragon Emperors themselves granting them the use of the blood of the dragon. Ping had nearly…damn it.
"Halt," one of the Palace Guard barked, the entire formation and thus those within it freezing immediately.
The doors were just as Johanna remembered them. Stretching to the height of a Bonegrinder and wide enough for a main city street thoroughfare, the shaped slabs of pure jade were intricately engraved and painted to display many of the most important moments of Cathay's history. The First Celestial Dragon Emperor, or at least that was what it was presumed to be, stretched throughout the entire work of battles and deeds, cities founded, and discoveries made, for despite being long gone – or long slumbering by the reckoning of some theorists – without him the whole of Greater Cathay would not have become as powerful as it had. One giant stood at each door, and though neither were Bonegrinders they had the potential to live long enough to become such. By Johanna's reckoning, given the utterly massive guandao they bore, the armor that sheathed their bodies, the lack of hunch to their frame and the dangerously bright spark in their eyes, they likely certainly would. Each had been installed within the palace as the Final Guards of the Gate – though it lost something when translated to Reikspiel – by the Empress Huang a full five centuries ago, her last act before being succeeded by her son and departing 'to the Heavens once more'.
Today, though, the gates were opened, the gargantuan levers the giants used to open and close it already utilized. As such, the reason they had halted was instead because they had to wait for permission. Quite simply put, none ventured within the Royal Hall of the Celestial Dragon Emperors without permission. It was a fatal decision to attempt to do so otherwise. Said hall could also fit the entirety of the Imperial Court and the Golden Ten Thousand all at once, though such an occasion rarely occurred. Still, a hundred more of the Palace Guard approached them down the massive length, made small by the massive pillars which held up the ceiling and the banners created by teams of dozens of weavers and dyers which hung from the walls.
"Who approaches the throne of the Celestial Dragon Emperor, the Son of Heaven, Guardian of Cathay, Lord of Sky and Earth…,"
Johanna tuned out the spiel as she glanced around. It really, really hadn't changed much. It should have been more shocking to her, but then again she might well have gotten a bit more used to things being inviolable to the passage of time than she used to be. Still, she wasn't so lost in her memories that she didn't begin moving again when the rest of the guards did, eventually wrenching her eyes forward and welding them in place with willpower as they walked along the lushly carpeted path. The Throne itself was magical – she hadn't known that last time. It was only her nature as a vampire now which let her see the immense power woven through its entire frame, though perhaps that was simply a result of being the seat of choice for the Dragon Emperors for thousands and thousands of years? As it was, the bloody thing took up the entire wall, spiraling artwork and carvings spreading from wall to wall, and from ceiling to floor, all centering upon the absolutely enormous length of the 'seat' portion proper.
And yet, all of it, all the artwork, the tapestries, the decorations, were easily missed because of the one who sat upon the throne.
