The Nightingale's Song

by Nasu Hasami

When Hua Mulan returns from war with her sex revealed, the phoenix-general is sequestered by the Son of Heaven and named the first lady-chancellor. For a silk merchant's daughter, the bounty reaped from destiny feels more like a prison than a reward. (Drabble series. Companion story to The Tiger Inside.)

1. I Distance

The Nightingale's Song

By Nasu Hasami

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"When first I look'd on thee, I lost mine eyes."

~Richard Crashaw~

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I. Distance

Chancellor Hua is not the soldier Qilin Li remembers. In the court, filial piety gives way to ambition. The lady-chancellor is courteous and dignified, though her cold eyes are piercing and offer no friendship. Flanked by eunuchs, she minces out of the Great Hall on the emperor's heel. The qilin-general stands the proper station behind the lady-chancellor—the distance of so many feet and so many paces.

It is similar to the distance between them beyond the imperial palace.

For twelve years they served together, as brothers. Yet, with her womanhood revealed, prestige fell to Hua swifter than burning arrows.