One cool spring morning, when the peach blossoms were at their rosiest and a chill of the wintery air remained, the peacocks were at their estate, waking up from their perches to move on to address the issues of their city together when, without apparent warning, Lady Shui Lian decided to stay behind in their chambers for a moment. Lord Kongque, who loved his wife more dearly than his own life, headed back into the chambers after her.
"Darling?" he asked in a soft concerned tone, "what is it?"
"My Lord, my love, perhaps the Heavens Above have at last answered our prayers. We have", she said, pulling aside the robes where her feet were, to reveal a single cream-colored egg, "an heir at last"
"Can it be? How wonderful!" proclaimed Lord Kongque, giddy at this most wondrous happening, his long brilliant train of feathers fanning softly in joy. "We must commemorate this splendid news, my dear! Let us have a ball this evening and share this blessing with our subjects!"
"But first", interjected the breathless Lady Shui Lian, "we must consult Ah Mah. This is wondrous news, to be sure, but we can't let happiness get in the way of practicality. She alone can tell us whether the egg will be all right, and she might be able to keep onto it well for us."
"What do you mean?" asked Lord Kongque, somewhat befuddled.
"Think about it, Kongque", said Lady Shui Lian pragmatically. "We've got an obligation to this child, but to our people as well. Ah Mah can keep the child warm for us as we tend to the city's issues, and at the end of the day, I can come back to it and continue keeping it warm."
Lord Kongque saw how right his wife was in suggesting this; while it was clear that he would have a son or daughter soon, he was still a ruler with his wife over the creatures of Gongmen City, a position entrusted to him by his father with the utmost dedication to his post.
"Very well, then", Lord Kongque conceded, "we shall arrange a visit with the Soothsayer".
Ah Mah, the elderly goat soothsayer of the Peacock family, had been in their employ since around the days of Lord Kongque's grandfather. Aside from being the Peacocks' consult on more pressing matters, she was also Lord Kongque's nanny as a child, and the lord had some amusing memories of those days, memories he would like his own child to have of how the old goat was a dedicated guardian and a good friend.
The order was given to summon the Soothsayer, who herself was off visiting the village of the pandas, not far from the bustling metropolis of Gongmen. The Soothsayer had been the trusted consort of the pandas as well for years and years, offering advice and sage help on anything and everything the panda community required assistance with, from the idea of whether or not to expand their village to even offering the panda children tips on how best to build kites.
Ah Mah left the panda village the following morning and appeared almost at once at the palace gates, carrying but a small rucksack and her cane with her. Upon stepping in to meet her, the peacocks both smiled widely, welcoming their old friend back into the palace.
"Ah, my dear Mah" Lord Kongque chuckled, "welcome back to Gongmen. Please, do step in, you must be fatigued after such a long venture from the forests here", he finished warmly.
"Yes, please, join us for dinner: we've much catching up to do!" continued Lady Shui Lian.
Ah Mah, who was not one to tire easily, chuckled lightly at the hospitality shown her, always amused so with formality: as a lighthearted goat, Ah Mah was never one for standing on ceremony, even when the occasion called for it, and clapped the lord peacock heartily on the back, to his slight surprise, and walked in through the gates with them. It was good to be back in the heart of Gongmen, with its most gracious hosts welcoming their trusted friend back with open wings.
That evening, after a splendid dinner of fresh mushrooms, vegetables and rice, from which the Soothsayer had saved enough room for a last snack, making one of her silk napkin, the three sat in the gardens and drank hot tea, saying little, but keeping an air of peaceable calm, until…
"You must have wanted a familiar touch in a nanny for your child, Lord Kongque", the old goat remarked coyly.
"Your fortune-telling skills are as good as they ever were, Ah Mah" responded Lord Kongque. "Whose mind did you read that gave it away?"
"Why, no one's, Lord Kongque! How often does one see a lady peahen walk so carefully, even if she is royal?" chuckled the goat merrily.
True enough, Lady Shui Lian had taken it upon herself to carry the egg close to her, keeping it beneath her robes so that it would stay warm.
Exactly the kind of touch we need, Lord Kongque thought to himself; it was just a matter of getting the goat to say-
"Yes".
"Yes, what, Ah Mah?" asked Lady Shui Lian curiously, though it could not have been plainer that she knew to what the goat was saying "Yes". She would agree to watch over the royal family's unhatched egg. At that, the Soothsayer calmly confirmed that she would be glad indeed to watch over the egg, much to the peacocks' joy.
"But", she added, "a closer look at the signs and omens surrounding your child would indeed be profitable, if we are to see what his, and yours, futures hold more clearly. We must examine the omens at once."
A quick ascent to the main throne room of the Tower, Lord Kongque and the Soothsayer leading the way, with Lady Shui Lian following on a small palanquin carried by two gazelle footmen as she kept the egg warm, brought both peacocks and the goat to advance with their sign-finding. Ah Mah wasted no time in drawing out her trusted bowl, into which she put a measure of herbs, powders and a strand of silk from a reluctant Lord Kongque's sleeve. Once the items were in her bowl, she proceeded to withdraw a tiny wooden vial from her sleeves, from which was issued a small amount of grayish fluid, and called for the egg, which Lady Shui Lian hesitantly offered forward; Ah Mah dabbled a small amount of the gray fluid onto the egg's surface, smoothing it lightly with a small brush and moving the brush away with a small amount of the fluid applied onto the egg. This fluid was dripped into the bowl and the egg returned to its mother.
With that, Ah Mah asked for a small amount of the combustion powder, which she poured into the bowl and lit with a flint. The bowl sputtered and sparked in various colors, the silk shriveled and blackened and the herbs seemed to manifest themselves into the form of smoke, disappearing as deliberately as the smoke plumes rose from the bowl.
Shapeless at first, the smoke rose lightly, and the old goat moved in closer to shape it with her front hooves until…
An image formed: a peacock-shaped cloud arose, festooned in various hues and shades of blue and green, red and yellow. The peacock cloud then changed form, losing its color until it was a snowy-white shape, peppered with red and surrounded with puffs of grayish dust, until it altered once more, forming into a small cloud and bursting into a small puff of sparks and glittering gold dust, which dissipated before it reached the floor.
Both peacocks looked at one another with looks of utmost confusion on their faces. What could this mean? Even the servants present exchanged puzzled looks; the goat alone knew what it all meant.
"Your child…is destined to bring about something wondrous."
Two sighs of relief issued from the peacocks, who were both relieved and somewhat pleased at this.
"But you must know that, while I have done what I can and read the signs as best as I could, your child's future still remains up for him or her to decide for themselves. All I can say is that good will come out of your child's ascent to power, though how, when, or through what means…I cannot say"
The following night, the peacocks set to work constructing their brightest and most ornate fireworks yet, with Lord Kongque assembling them and Lady Shui Lian, who sat with her egg, unable to move too much, directing her husband through words. With that, the peacocks held a party in celebration of their child, inviting all in their kingdom, extending their invite as far as to the village of the pandas, who themselves had never before seen the fireworks up close and stood amazed as the bursts of color and light were presented.
The peacocks, while the guests were in full revelry and enjoyment, quietly made a vow to each other: that they would assure that their child brought about precisely what the Soothsayer said: something great through his or her own rule.
