On the journey to Wutai from Longhua, Yuffie followed the old imperial road leading from Longhua through the rocky shrublands and into the mountain pass. The road passed by Wutai's three major towns, came within sight of villages tucked into the mountains, plunged through the Lotus River valley and the south quarter of the capital, and terminated in the city's central square. This road was the only reason some of Wutai's mountainside villages continued to survive. Other villages farther from the imperial road, like Yuffie's grandmother's village of Puhua Si, were not so fortunate.
The first stretch of the mountain pass ran by the ruins of a temple. There were many of these along the road even before Shinra came, and their number only increased with the outbreak of war. Past these ruins, the imperial road plunged into woodland that was vibrant with color in the fall, but bare in winter. In a large clearing to the left of the road was the provincial capital of Pusa Ding, though it was little more than a village now. After Shinra left the city and its mighty walls in shambles, the residents tried to rebuild. With the entire nation devastated, however, the most they could manage was thatched-roof huts. The village was practically silent when Yuffie stopped by for a quick lunch. While she ate, she wandered to the west end of the village and trained her eyes on the foot of the distant mountains. Somewhere at the base of those mountains was an abandoned village called Shuxiang. It was important to Yuffie's father for some reason. After she finished her lunch, she left as quickly as she came and continued along the imperial road. The prosaically named East Mountain lay in the distance. It was once the site of an imperial palace and several temples, but they were all in ruins now. All in all, the entire province of Pusa Ding was Yuffie's least favorite part of the journey through Wutai. Its ruins reminded her that all the best times to be alive in Wutai were over by the time she was born. It was like going to see an action movie with a sad ending, and only arriving in time to see the sad ending: if it was all going to end badly, it would have been nice to at least see the epic fight scenes – but no, that was all over for Wutai.
In the early afternoon, she passed into the province of Tayuan. First she sped by the ruined village of Guangzong, another victim of Shinra's northward march. Then the imperial road took her past rice fields, the shores of East Lake, the lakeside temple, and the provincial capital of Tayuan, built partially on the lake. Yuffie enjoyed walking across the city with its canals and stone bridges, especially when she came home for the Mid-Autumn Festival. In spring and summer, the city was overrun with tourists who would annoyingly stop in the middle of bridges to take pictures of every canal. During those seasons, the wealthier residents of Tayuan sought refuge in their estates among the bamboo forests of the northern mountains – until even wealthier foreigners began building their own summer houses there.
As the sun set, Yuffie made her way through the province of Xiantong, the most mountainous part of the continent. Out of necessity, the town of Xiantong and its neighboring villages were all close to the main road, but only one, Jile Si, bore the brunt of Shinra's might. Built on a plateau among the peaks, the provincial capital of Xiantong survived, preserving the sweeping, tiled roofs that made it so similar to Wutai. All that was lost was a temple that was so important to Yuffie's father that he visited its ruins every year. When Yuffie stopped by the town for a quick dinner, the residents were just beginning to light the street lanterns, chasing away the swiftly falling darkness of the winter night with flickering golden light. All told, Yuffie thought Xiantong and Tayuan were nice cities, but they were no Longhua.
Finally, after nightfall, Yuffie passed the ruins of the fortress at the end of the mountain pass. Its location guarding the road down to the Lotus River valley made it one of Wutai's most strategic points, which just meant that it was in Shinra's crosshairs when the army blazed its way northward. Past the fortress, the mountains descended into the Lotus River valley. Thanks to the river, most of the valley floor was farmland dotted with villages. Past these fields and villages lay the ancient capital of Wutai, past the city lay the great forest, and past the forest rose the mountains bearing the huge carvings of the earth spirits, Da-chao foremost among them.
Yuffie sped down the mountain and along the ancient paved road through the rice fields. This was once the liveliest stretch of the imperial road. The capital's merchants and their chocobo-driven carts trundled down this road to sell furniture wrought from the finest woods of the forest, intricately engraved lacquerware, jade-colored ceramics, and other fine, handcrafted objects. Eager to receive a sign of favor from the Emperor, village elders jostled against each other on their way to the Palace. Ranks of armored soldiers wielding lances, swords, and guns marched southward on this road to unite the Empire all the way to the South Sea, returning triumphant by this same road – until the humiliating day they returned with Shinra's army at their heels. Then the majestic imperial road became the dusty beaten path of tourists with their cameras and chocobos. These tourists nearly disappeared after Meteorfall and during the outbreak of Geostigma. After the rain that cured the epidemic and the brief scare with Deepground, the flow of tourists swelled and steadied once more. Thankfully, in January, there were few tourists willing to put up with the bitter cold of Wutai's winter even to see the city's New Year celebrations.
The massive walls surrounding the city drew closer. Through the southern gateway shone red paper lanterns lining the main street. Yuffie slowed her hoverboard, jumped off, and picked it up to pass through the gateway on foot. Past the gateway, the ancient stone road plunged, still straight as an arrow, between the ranks of centuries-old wooden buildings and their red lanterns bathing the street in a weak, melancholy glow. All of the shops and restaurants were closed by now, offering only mute, dark fronts to the street. Only the occasional teahouses and izakayas poured faint light and conversation into the street. Few people were outside. Those who were had their chins tucked into their collars and their eyes glued on the ground. It was the coldest time of the year, when anyone who dared to go out did so only out of necessity and avoided all conversation outdoors.
If Wutai were still an empire, Yuffie would still be a princess and everyone in the city would know her face. Instead of ignoring her or giving her an indifferent glance, they would all hurry to greet her. They would address her not by the borderline-polite "Miss Yuffie" but by the humble "Your Imperial Highness, Princess Xi'irh." They would call their families out into the streets to see her and ask her, "How was your stay abroad? What have you been doing? What is the rest of the world doing out there?" She would tell them stories about the big world out there, and they would hang on to all of her tales of her adventures. Then again, if she were still a princess, she probably wouldn't be allowed to leave the city.
The ranks of the tired wooden buildings along the street fell away when she reached the river. The rigidly straight main street crossed the river over a stone bridge before following the gently curved northward course of the river. Chatter floated across the water from a building on the left: Turtle's Paradise, always the liveliest spot in Wutai thanks to its prime location and keen advertising.
Across the river, Yuffie followed the gently curving street to the Place of the Earth God's Repose, known as An-xi Square for short. Once the heart of the Empire, the square was also the geographical center of the city until Shinra dropped the bomb that wiped out city's north and northwest quarters. After entering through the Meridian Gate, visitors beheld the three great monuments: to the west, the Pavilion of Heavenly Harmony and the temple complex behind it; to the north, the Pagoda of Martial Might, the dojo, and the armory; and to the east, the Palace of Earthly Peace. Yuffie walked towards the Palace and, instead of climbing the steps up to the main entrance, went around to a side entrance. The main entrance with its magnificent red gold-studded doors was the tourists' entrance into the Palace.
The Palace was a vast complex of hallways enclosing courtyards and linking rooms. The half closer to the square – the half that included the Emperor's throne – was a museum. Ever since the end of the war, Yuffie and her father had lived in just six of the hundreds of rooms in the half that still belonged to them and didn't know what to do with the rest of it.
Inside, seated in the tatami room, was the man all the tourists hoped to glimpse when they visited the Palace: the last Emperor of Wutai reduced to an ordinary man. A relic of the glorious past, he bore his title of "Lord Godo," the last vestige of his majesty and his regnal name, like the streaks of silver in his hair, as if only half of him lived in the present. After the war, this crumbling statue of a man was all Yuffie knew of her father until she climbed the Pagoda and discovered that somewhere deep beneath the shame and disillusionment, there was a heart that still burned for love of Wutai.
Yuffie leaned her shuriken and hoverboard against the wall, hung up her coat, and kicked off her boots. "Have you been waiting long?" she asked, remembering to switch to Wutaian just in time.
Godo gave a start, as if only now registering her arrival. "You're late," he said. "You said you would be home yesterday."
"I spent the night in Longhua. Like I always do," she added pointedly. "I'm hungry."
On the table in front of her father there was a teapot, two teacups, and a plate of lotus seed buns. Yuffie sat down and grabbed a bun. She washed the first bite down with the tea, or attempted to do so and spluttered when the tea burned her tongue instead.
"Why did you spend the night in Longhua?"
"Bucuz uh huff frezz."
"Friends?" He shook his head. He hadn't looked pleased when Yuffie arrived, but now his anger was evident. "True Wutaians have no friends in Longhua."
"Wow. That was so salty, I can taste it in the bun!"
"What? Is the bun salty?"
"No. You are."
"What are you talking about?"
She forgot the joke didn't work in Wutaian. "Never mind. I heard you had a spat with Minazuki," she said, reaching for another bun.
Godo watched her dip the bun in her tea with a look of disapproval on his face. "Minazuki thinks he is the new Emperor, and Longhua thinks it is the new capital."
She thought of the city's tall, glassy buildings and crowded, brightly lit streets. "Can't blame them."
"Now they want to bring the Lotus River all the way to Longhua. They even brought engineers to tell me they could do it. I told them we cannot. The river is sacred."
"Yeah, but they need water."
"They have a lake."
"It's dirty. That's why they're asking."
"It's their fault!" he retorted. "They polluted South Lake with all those factories and all that careless building. They'll do the same to our river."
"They need water, though. And they'll fight you for it."
Godo looked at her sharply. "Fight?"
"Longhua was training an army just outside the city this morning." The officers she met that morning told her they were police, but she wasn't fooled. Longhua didn't need a police force that large.
Godo shook his head in disgust. "If it's war they want, we'll give them war!"
Yuffie looked at him in alarm. "Why can't you just give them water?"
"They will ruin it! And why are you defending them?"
"I don't think it's fair that you won't help them!"
"If you care so much, then why don't you go and fight for them?" Godo spat.
"Do you want me to? Then fine! Maybe I will!" she shouted back defiantly.
She immediately thought she had spoken too impulsively, but Godo seemed not to have heard her. "I must meet with the Wusheng," he muttered. He looked old and burdened. Something about the sight of her father like this startled Yuffie, bringing to mind some childhood memory trying to be remembered. Godo was on his way out of the room before she could recall it. Over his shoulder, he called, "Don't forget to say hello to your mother."
Yuffie drained her teacup. For the most part, it was just another homecoming: he told her she was late and gave her food, they argued, and he began to storm off before reminding her to say hello to her mother. She didn't know how he always remembered to remind her. She knew for a fact that he hardly visited her mother himself.
Only after she heard the distant sound of Godo's door sliding shut did Yuffie stand up and trudge across the courtyard to her mother's room. She sighed and slid the door open. "Hi, Mom."
Across the room, the bronze statue of Da-chao flashed in the candlelight. To the side lay Yuffie's mother's shrine, a triptych of framed pictures with a long golden hairpin lying in front. The first picture was a painting of a woman with the same heart-shaped face, large eyes, and delicate nose as Yuffie. Her black hair was carefully arranged in a low chignon and held in place with a long wooden hairpin. The second picture was a wedding portrait. In their wedding kimono of scarlet silk with fine golden embroidery, the Emperor and Empress looked calm and contented, but not happy. In the third, largest picture, Yuffie's parents sat next to each other, her mother on the left and her father on the right. Her older brother, Farruo, stood next to their father. Her mother held the wide-eyed baby Yuffie in her lap. Her other brother Kuniyoshi was absent, having died before Yuffie was born.
The sight of her father's face just now had brought back one of Yuffie's few memories of her mother. During the war, Godo came home only once a year. Whenever he left, he looked old and burdened as he did just now. Yuffie once asked her mother why Baba was always gone. Her mother answered that bad people were trying to destroy Wutai. Yuffie's father was fighting them to protect Wutai's people, their way of life, and their honor. That was how Yuffie began to realize that her father was someone important, and that made her important, too – in many good ways, but also in many annoying ways. With the possibility of war with Longhua, she would now be expected to throw her support behind her father, or even to take a leading position in the army, just because she was Lord Godo's daughter. She could almost hear the Wusheng telling her, "This is your duty to your country. You have no choice."
"No choice!" she scoffed aloud. "Who're you to tell me what to do?"
"Who are you talking to?" came Godo's muffled voice from his room.
"No one!"
When she stood up, a sudden chill made her skin tingle. The candles shivered, making the bronze statue of Da-chao flicker in the light. With the dancing shadows on his face, he seemed to be laughing. Yuffie hurried out of the room and closed the door.
