If No One Will Listen

Part 6

Shen was so exhausted that his not-so-little nap lasted for nearly four and a half hours. At some point, he surfaced briefly and realized that he was in bed, but this knowledge had barely dawned on him when he was out again. Finally, in the middle of the afternoon, he managed to open his eyes.

For a long time, he wasn't sure where he was. Somewhere in the palace, definitely, but he had never been in this room before. It was nearly as lavish as the throne room, but much more roomy than the quarters where he lived with Nana. He himself was laying on what appeared to be sheets hewn of silk, on the fluffiest pillow he had ever felt in his life. But where was he?

He stayed where he was for several minutes, blinking sleepily, until his father peeked into the room to check on him. Upon seeing that the peachick was awake, Lord Jin smiled and went to sit by the edge of the bed.

"Morning," he said gently.

Shen yawned. "It's morning?" he mumbled.

"Just an expression, child," answered Jin, still smiling. He reached over to stroke his son's head feathers, and Shen nuzzled contentedly against the touch. "How are you feeling?"

Shen shrugged. He was still pretty dizzy as he tried to sit up, but he could definitely feel that his fever had gone down, if it hadn't broken completely. "Better."

He realized now that he must be in his parents' quarters; the royal chambers. He looked around again with wide and no longer red-rimmed eyes. Everything here was so fancy and beautiful, and yet here he was, wrinkling priceless sheets and sprawled out in his oversized and very plain sleep robe. Despite being the prince, he had never been here before; he supposed his parents hadn't wanted a bad omen in their room. He almost drooped at this thought before following it up with the fact that he was in here now – probably brought by his parents themselves, not Nana.

On that note – where WAS Nana?

"Looking for something?" asked Jin.

"Nana hasn't come to get me?" Shen said cautiously.

"Um…yes…" Jin looked down, rubbing a bit at the back of his neck. "She, um…has gone away."

"She LEFT me?" cried Shen, mortified. Losing his Nana was his greatest fear. Sometimes he even had nightmares about her packing up and leaving in front of him, never to return.

"Easy, son." Jin placed his hands on Shen's shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. "She has gone to visit some relatives outside of Gongmen. She'll be back in a week."

Shen breathed out, slightly calmed. At least Nana wasn't gone forever. But a week was still a long time; at least, to a five-year-old it was. "Who's gonna take care of me, though?"

"Your mother and I," responded Jin, smiling again.

"But…aren't you busy?"

"Not too busy for my son."

Shen sniffed doubtfully. They always had been before…

Jin reached down and lifted up the boy's chin so that they locked eyes. "Not too busy for my son," he repeated, more firmly this time.

Shen considered this, thinking about all of the things he had contemplated over the past few days – things that parents were supposed to do with their children. If his parents were really going to take care of him, then maybe they would be willing to act like they were a real family. "Are you gonna play with me?" he asked.

"Yes," promised Jin.

"Can you tuck me in and say goodnight when I go to bed?"

He pulled the child into his lap, cradling him lovingly. "Yes."

"When I get better, can we go on a picnic?"

"A picnic? That sounds like a wonderful idea."

Shen immediately brightened at the prospect of a picnic. "I'm better!" he declared, hopping out of bed immediately. Unfortunately, he wasn't as better as he wanted to be, because he was soon reeling from dizziness.

Jin gently scooped him back up and laid him down again. "Not yet you aren't," he contradicted gently. "Sleep, son."

"But I already went to sleep!" Shen complained.

"Yes, but I've heard you didn't sleep very well last night. You need to get some rest."

"Fiiiiiiine." Shen reluctantly submitted, but he climbed into his father's lap instead of staying in the bed. He didn't know why, but he felt a lot better just knowing that someone who cared was near him – it just seemed to be what he needed after dealing with last night's major emotional trauma.

Jin didn't mind his son's clinginess one bit. If anything, it reassured him that Shen wasn't angry or frightened of him and Ah-lam anymore. He sat there contentedly and smoothed his son's white feathers. White wasn't such a bad color after all, he thought. In fact, when Shen was so peaceful-looking like he was now, the white seemed to be almost beautiful, radiating purity and happiness.

"Baba?" Shen spoke up just before falling asleep again.

"What is it, son?"

"Do you love me?"

"More than anything…"

"Does Mama love me?"

"Yes, very much."

"You wouldn't ever wanna get rid of me because I'm not normal, right?"

Jin barely restrained a gasp at this, and immediately wrapped his son up in a tight hug. "Never…never…never!..." he exclaimed.

Shen yawned sleepily, seemingly satisfied. "I love you, Baba…don' ever leave me…" he mumbled, and dropped back into slumber.

This nap only lasted about an hour, though; after that, Shen once again awakened, this time to find his mother there. "Look, Sheng Li, I've brought you a set of dominoes," she said, showing him a small wooden box filled with elaborate tiles. Shen was delighted, although he couldn't seem to stop getting his mother to address him by his full name.

That sick day was one of the best that he could remember. Besides not feeling too poorly after sleeping so much, one or both of his parents was always around to keep him entertained. They told him stories, played games with him, and made him his favorite foods for dinner (although he didn't have much of an appetite). He was almost sad when it was time for him to go to bed for real, until he remembered that he had another week to spend with his parents.

It turned out that there was another small bedroom in his parents' quarters, which had been intended for Shen until he was signed off to the soothsayer. The servants had made up a bed mat for him in here. It was still done up in pastel colors and fluffy shapes, though, decorated for the baby that it never saw.

Shen had the pleasure of both his mother and father tucking him in that night, but in an unfamiliar room and in the aftermath of a breakdown, he was afraid of being by himself and almost cried until Ah-lam agreed to sit with him while he fell asleep. He clung to his mother's robes while she sang him lilting lullabies, until his eyes finally closed and he fell asleep, feeling comforted and loved.

The night did not pass without incident, however.

At some point during the night – or really, very very early the next morning – Shen woke up in his strange bed feeling…funny. All foggy and light-headed. He didn't like it at all, and with quite a bit of difficulty, he crawled out of his room and into his parents', where he blearily nudged his mother until she awakened.

"Hmm? Wha…?" Ah-lam sat up groggily, seeing her chick crouched by the side of the bed and seemingly half-asleep. "What is it, my dear?"

"Mama, I feel funny," Shen mumbled.

She lifted a wing to his forehead. "You have a fever again." She frowned, glancing over at her husband, but he was still heavily asleep and snoring. With a sigh, she said, "It doesn't feel too bad; I don't think we need to get the healer. For now, Sheng Li, dear, why don't you sleep with Mama and Baba? We'll make you feel better…"

"Kay," he muttered, and tried to crawl into bed, but his arms gave out and he fell flat on his face. Ah-lam scooped him up and tucked him in beside her; he instinctively snuggled into her, reassured at feeling his parents nearby. Even though he really didn't feel any better, he was calmer now that he wasn't alone, and fell asleep again.

About two hours later, both Jin and Ah-lam were awakened by a heart-wrenching sound: their son crying.

Shen was laying sprawled out in bed, hardly able to move, sobbing quietly. Even a brush of contact against him was enough to register that he was burning up with fever. "Baby? Baby, what's wrong?" cried Ah-lam.

"D-d-d-don'…f-f-feel…g-g-g-good…" Shen choked out.

The lord and lady exchanged a glance. Shen was sick all the time, and seemed to have gotten fairly used to it; if he was crying about not feeling well, then something might be majorly wrong.

Jin quickly got up and headed off to find the healer, while Ah-lam held her chick close and murmured, "All right…it's okay, Mama's here…calm down, Sheng Li, you'll make yourself even more feverish…"

Several minutes had passed in this manner when Shen suddenly jerked in her arms. "Mama? Mama?" he cried out.

"I'm here," said Ah-lam soothingly, rubbing his back, but he didn't seem to hear her.

"Mama!" Shen called desperately, writhing against her. "Mama…no…m'sorry…please come back!..."

Ah-lam's eyes widened in alarm and horror. "Sheng Li, darling, I'm right here!"

"I soreeeeee!" Shen wailed, collapsing against her in a limp, broken heap. "Mama…come back!"

Mortified, she kept him enveloped in her arms, trying to reassure him that she was there, but he neither heard her nor sensed her presence. The poor thing was overheating himself, bawling until he was nearly too hot to hold, but his mother didn't dare put him down. It seemed like an eternity before Jin finally returned to the room with the healer in tow.

While there were of course many healers within Gongmen, as well as within the Tower of the Sacred Flame itself, the preferred physician for the royal family actually came from a small village outside of the city. She was a panda named Lady Biming, who had attained some fame throughout China for her skills, and was a friend of both the peacocks and their court soothsayer. During Shen's very early years, from birth up until the age of three, she had been the one who came in from her farming settlement to give him daily or weekly injections and doses in the hopes that he might live past his normal life expectancy. These days, she could still take care of the peachick's health better than anyone else.

"Where is the child?" was the first thing she asked when she entered the room, and her green eyes shone with concern when Ah-lam tearfully gestured to him. "Poor baby…what's wrong, my prince?" she asked, kneeling down to the chick's level, smoothing his feathers back. Her hands were enormous, but gentle and steady from years of practiced healing.

Shen didn't respond to the touch, only wailed incoherently. A few muddled "m'sorry"s were audible in the mix.

"He keeps begging for me to come back, but I haven't left!" Ah-lam sobbed. "Doesn't he realize I'm here?"

"He's burning up with fever, milady," Biming responded. "I think he's hallucinating. But don't worry, we'll soon set him straight."

For the next hour, Biming worked steadily, gently inserting acupuncture needles into her patient and having him gulp down the occasional herb or elixir. She also made sure that he drank plenty of water, so that he wouldn't become dehydrated from the fever and the crying. Shen's sobs grew quieter and weaker, and eventually stopped altogether. Finally, he opened his eyes and appeared to see the room around him.

"M-Mama?" he croaked, looking up at her.

Ah-lam sobbed and clutched to him. Shen looked vaguely confused.

"Whazzgoinon?" he asked groggily.

"You…" Lord Jin groped for words. "You had a bad dream, son."

"Oh." Shen curled into his parents and shut his eyes.

Biming smiled. "That will be all, darling. Go back to sleep."

Shen was out before she even had a chance to finish saying so.