The Mark of the Princess

Chapter 1

William Mason's grey-blue eyes flicked across the small village that housed the palace of the emperor, lively and curious people who all watched with caution. Children and women rushed inside, men approached. William, though, was not afraid. He knew the language, had studied it well and came in peace, hoping for a bit of cultural exploration is all. So when the men reached him and his own crew of travelers, he wasn't surprised when they roughly asked "Who are you?"

"William Mason of Yorkshire, England! I come in absolute peace with my men, we only wish to learn more about you," William offered kindly, a small smile offering the extra mile of hope. The men glanced at each other. He was young, he was hopeful and kind seeming. These men didn't even seem equipped with weaponry that was good for killing anything more than a bird or a deer; weak hunting weaponry to survive was all.

"Then welcome to our village! We shall send a messenger to the palace to bring greetings as the future empress does love and encourage visitors. The current royalty much enjoys them themselves. For now, you stay in empty huts!" One older man greeted, the others smiling though caution glinted in their eyes. They looked at their horses, curiously poked through their stuff and inspected the men with great interest. They looked different than their kinds of people, strangers. The huts were on the outskirts of the central village and near the edges of the more rural area and the meeting paths to the large palace. The palace was a large, square dome with tiers that looked like shingles. Colored red and black, tints of green glistening from the windows.

"It looks beautiful," William said allowed, though his Chinese wasn't quite perfect and translated to 'It looks nice' rather than beautiful.

"Just bùcuò? I think it is very mĕilì," the bald man who lead them replied, more so correcting him with an amused smile as the man knit his eyes in confusion.

"Oh! Beautiful?" William said in realization, switching into English as the man laughed him.

"Shì de, boo-teh-ful as you say in your strange language," The elder man said, his stick a rhythm on the ground as they walked. William smiled and looked back at his men who sat confused. They didn't pick up on languages as easily as William did, that was why he was the leader of them; he knew what he was doing, he always had his homework done.

"What is your name?" William asked, catching up with the man, trying to catch a proper glimpse at his features. He had nice brown skin, the fair of freckles on his old face and wrinkles that lit up his firm muscles when he smiled.

"Bolin, it means xiăoyŭ. My parents name me that because they believed I would be very gentle man and indeed, I was. Always kind," He explained and smiled gently. William perked a small smile as he let the beauty of the name sink in. Gentle rain was what Bolin meant, xiăoyŭ.

"I believe you. Have you a wife, children?" William asked, curious as he followed the man.

"Yes. My wife, her name is Chu-hua," he said. "She very nice woman, though very fat!" He laughed at that. "We have six children. Three girls who marry good men and three boys who marry nice wives and move to other parts of china. The girls, they stay close though. The men, they visit us when possible because they are not very far. What is your name my son?" "

William…" he said, his own name feeling very stupid compared to the contrast and color of the Chinese names the man tongued.

"Wi-lee-um? Very strange, very nice." "Nice?"

"Yes. Maybe not to you, you're people speak it every day but no, our people do not have names like that. To us, you're name sound foreign and beautiful. No?" Bolin asked, smiling as the young man took realization to the words. In fact, the curiosity flourished into a look of question as he began to think. "I leave you to think, please, gather you're men. We are almost there and the ladies will come to bring tea with their daughters and the ladies husbands will help you settle." "Thank you Bolin," William said as they soon reached the huts.

000

"Visitors? From where?" The princess asked, bouncing on her toes at the mention. She looked much like no one else in the whole country, bright blue eyes that were a bit wider than most peoples, lined with thick black lashes and a well rounded face. Her skin was pale with freckles and many knew that she may have been adopted at very young by foreign travelers who died of disease. Theories as to why the princess loved so many people and even as to why she was destined to be so powerful; because she had a past uncalled for but would hurt once known and would become powerful with the rage dwelling deep down but also with the heart to better things.

"From some foreign place, they are pale as the cloths on the table!" The messenger cried and the queen laughed at that, the king smiling.

"Much like Júhuā," The king said to his daughter. She smiled brightly and sat down at the dining table. "Tell us about them, what were the holding, where are they staying?"

"They are staying at the huts by the paths, Bolin is bringing them there. They were dressed in leather and cotton cloth, or I believe it was cotton. They wore hats, very strange ones and the leader was blonde with blue eyes. He spoke our tongue and seemed very kind. Bolin likes him I think," The messenger spoke and Júhuā looked up with peaked interest.

"That's so strange. I do wish to meet him, maybe I can learn something about his culture," She said in a softer tone, her eyes softening in wonder and day dream. The princess never left the walls of her village, not often. And when she did it was to another city, taken there on the path to empty roads and between farms that all looked much the same. She wanted to travel outside, to see the rest of the world! She wanted to go to India, meet the monarch there, where her religion had been started. She wanted to see the land above them, what was it called again? She couldn't remember but surely it was interesting, it sounded so. And this place that the foreigners came from, surely this leader who spoke their tongue could in fact teach her. In return, she would teach him. "I must go see him later!" She pronounced as she caught whiff of the wonderful vegetarian stew that her chefs made. Júhuā was the only one in the family that followed Buddhist law; her parents were in fact followers of the ancient rules of Taoism. The tenth century was a new age and Daisy took to her own path. Her parents smiled smally and nodded, not one to stop their daughter.

"As long as an advisor joins you," her mother warned. "We don't know much about them yet, we don't know if they are dangerous."

"Yes mama," She said more quiet and thanking the man who served her a plate.