It is quiet on the road at night. The moon is big and full, round like my mother's face and just as white and pale. I only knew my mother when her skin was white but my father used to talk about how rosy it had been once, like peach colored silk. I wonder often if my face is rosy or if it is moon white.

My brother always told me it was rosy.

But the moon is very pretty tonight and it is the only face I want to talk to. There are other faces here in the carriage but they have sharp smiles and I cannot trust them.

My brother has a soft smile but my brother is far away on the road at night, far away at our quiet house where we were alone and alone was safe.

My mother has disappeared.

My father has disappeared.

So we were alone and alone was happy. But I am not alone any more.

He is staring at me with no smile (at least he is honest) and his eyes are hard, like little pebbles made smooth by the river, and his hair falls across his face like sunshine through a big window in the spring, and his mouth is thin and small, thinking.

My brother has a thinking mouth too.

I have seen him before at our far away house and he has a name I don't remember. He is taking me away.

"How are you feeling?" The old man tied to him by years of strings asks me again to fill the silence.

"Very good, thank you, sir," I say again to fulfill my duty as a lady.

But I am looking at him looking at me looking at him and his blue-pebble eyes. They drill into me hard, not into my eyes or my face, but below, somewhere I cannot quite pinpoint.

My brother has below eyes too. But they are like lights, little dark suns in eclipse, not stones.

His eyes make me hurt in the stomach. He has marrying eyes and this is why I don't trust him the most. I am a lady and I am for marrying; that is what I see in his thoughts behind his tiny, sharp eyes.

But my brother thinks differently. I have seen many marrying eyes far away at our quiet house, I have seen them come and my brother turn them away. I wonder suddenly if that is why I am not alone anymore.

But the moon's blank face makes me think there is more.

People say all the time that my brother is the smartest man in the Middle Kingdom. People whisper behind their hands that a new man is in the pretty jewel palace with perfect doll people that my brother used to go to. But people say now that the new man does not like smart men. People say now that smart men think too much, that smart men write bad books and speak bad thoughts that the pretty doll man does not like.

Men. It is always men.

People said all today that far away at our quiet house where we were alone was not safe. I watched my brother watching me watching my brother and my brother's setting sun eyes. My brother gave me a soft smile but my brother did not say no. My brother did not say things would be okay. My brother did not say anything because my brother is the smartest man in the Middle Kingdom and my brother knows my brother cannot lie to me. My face is not rosy, has never been rosy. It is moon white and I can speak only to the moon because she is me and I am her; there is no moon tonight.

He puts a thinking hand down from his thinking mouth and says,

"I wouldn't worry about him. He can take care of himself." I bite my tongue and many words that don't belong in a lady's mouth, a marrying lady's mouth, and look down from the eyes that want to tie me to him too and I say to my hands,

"I hope so, sir, I hope my brother does not burn."

They are quiet, he is quiet, it is quiet. The moon is big and full and she is me and I am her; there is no Lenalee tonight.

She has disappeared.

Setting: The beginning of the Qin Dynasty in China in which the new emperor, Cheng, imposed legalist beliefs, began the construction of the Great Wall, and executed many scholars for speaking against his government or himself. This time was also notorious for book-burnings.

Here, Komui is a scholar and Lenalee has been sent away to a safer house due to the dangers associated with Komui's work. I'd like to see if anyone recognizes the old man and "him"/"he" who are taking her to safety. :3 I hope you enjoyed installment two! If you have any suggestions for more stories or any comments on this I'd love to hear them!!

A thousand thank yous,

S