Xie Lian was led out of the building which housed the infirmary, and through a whole network of gardens, with an abundance of ponds and pavillons.
It was all lush greens, and Xie Lian almost forgot he was in the middle of a desert. Once they left the gardens, he was led past the archery grounds, where quite a number of soldiers were in the middle of practice, and then further, past the hall where he'd first seen the king lounging on his throne, until they eventually arrived at the gates of an inner courtyard. On each side of the gates stood five guards, who looked quite imposing. They greeted General Nan Yang respectfully once they saw him.
After they walked through the gate, Xie Lian was surprised to see that they were walking down another corridor, with a rather big gate on each of its two sides. He couldn't see beyond the walls of either side however, and since they eventually walked through the gate on the right side, he figured he would have to do his own thorough explorations of this place later.
Having walked through the gate on the right side, they were now in the middle of this inner courtyard, which was rather sizable, and contained a beautifully painted pavillon, surrounded by neatly trimmed grass and tidy pathways. There were even beautifully carved stone benches below the trees, which spent some shade over whoever would sit there. It all seemed very tranquil and peaceful.
They walked past the pavillon, and through yet another gate on the opposite side of the courtyard. This part they entered now was definitely the resting quarters of the dancers, Xie Lian understood immediately.
It wasn't because he saw dancers running around or anything, but just by the way this area was laid out. After they'd walked through this third gate, they'd entered a small-ish, definitely private corridor. There were four entry gates on the wall opposite him, and another one further down the wall on the side they had entered from. Whatever was behind that gate, should be placed directly next to the courtyard they had just walked through.
"Behind the gates are courtyards with three houses, each. There are always two dancers sharing one house. The four courtyards on this side don't have any space for you left, so you will have to live in that one in the back, on the other side."
"Is there a reason why it's separated from the other courtyards?", Xie Lian asked, knowing very well that, even though those four courtyards each had their own entrance gates, they were still all connected through side doors. Was he supposed to stay in solitary confinement here too?
"It was used by the favourite dancer of the previous king. Currently, His Majesty isn't in favor of playing favourites, and decided against having any of the dancers live there to avoid unnecessary jealousy and discontentment among themselves. But since the other houses are all fully occupied, there's no other choice but to put you there for now."
"Does that mean that nobody's living there yet?", he asked, feeling somewhat dreadful. He'd already started feeling lonely during his stay in the infirmary.
"No", came the surprising answer. "A little girl is living there right now. She hasn't been here for very long either. But she also isn't officially a part of the dancers yet."
Xie Lian absolutely did not mind being around children, and was extremely glad he wouldn't have to be living alone there after all.
The general showed him through the gate of that courtyard, and Xie Lian almost wanted to turn tail.
In itself, the place was beautiful. But it also wasn't being maintained. There was wood splintering off beams, visibly loose stones on the ground, and the single big house opposite him looked like it was about to collapse in on itself at any given moment.
Xie Lian turned to the general once more.
"Are there any plans for restaurations in the making, by any chance?", Xie Lian asked, not because he was trying to be fussy, but because he was genuinely a bit worried.
The general did give him a sideways glance, but didn't comment, and only answered the question.
"Not that I know of. I doubt His Majesty knows of the state of this particular building to begin with."
"Then, could I trouble you to bring it to his attention next time you happen to see His Majesty?", Xie Lian asked with what he hoped was a winning smile.
"I will try to keep it in mind."
"Thank you, General Nan Yang. I'm sure I'll be fine by myself from here", Xie Lian dismissed the general, who he was sure had much more important matters to take care of.
General Nan Yang nodded at him, and then left.
Once he was gone, Xie Lian turned back around to face this disaster of a courtyard. He had half a mind to start repairing it himself. However he shook that thought off, and made his way into the house instead.
As expected, decorations were extremely sparse, the seating area across from him looked sad more than cozy and the two bedrooms on each end of the house were only separated from the sitting area by wall screens. The only thing this place had going for it was that it was spacious, though he would've preferred a smaller abode if it had been in a decent state in exchange.
Xie Lian reminded himself that he was really nothing more than an owned person now. So really, he should be happy to have a bed inside his own house, no matter how depricit it was, or if he had to share it.
He was about to take a closer look around when he heard a thud outside, and went to check there instead.
In the middle of the courtyard was a little girl, who was lying on the ground, and in the process of propping herself up again. It was a no-brainer to think that she must've stumbled over one of those loose stones.
Xie Lian rushed over to her immediately.
"Are you alright?", he asked, helping her up.
"I'm alright", she said, her voice sounding much more mature than it should've at such a young age.
"That's good", Xie Lian sighed in relief. "My name is Xie Lian, General Nan Yang told me I'm supposed to live here from now on. So I guess that makes us roommates", he smiled at her disarmingly.
"My name is Banyue", the little girl introduced herself. "I met General Nan Yang on the way here. He already told me about you."
"I see. That's good then. Maybe you could tell me more about how things work around here?"
Banyue nodded, and they walked to the sad sitting area together, mostly because Xie Lian was anxious that this little girl would stumble and fall again, possibly hurting herself next time. Luckily though, nothing of the sort happened.
"What would Xie-shushu like to know?", Banyue asked politely.
However, hearing this address, Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Last time he'd talked to young children, they'd still called him gege… Was he really getting that old already? He didn't let his thoughts show on his face.
"How about you call me gege instead of shushu, hm?", he asked, even though he had intended to say something else entirely.
Banyue just looked at him with big eyes and nodded.
Xie Lian then made a show of thinking about his questions, tapping his finger against his cheek.
"Then… General Nan Yang said you're not officially a part of the dancers. How come you live in the dancer's quarters?", he asked kindly.
"I'm not a part of the dancers yet, because I'm still too young to join their performances. You have to be at least 14 to join officially, but when I told King Hua that I don't have anywhere to go, he said he'd find a place for me in his home. At first I was living in the main palace, but I wandered around a lot and saw the dancers practicing. I really liked to watch them dance and wanted to learn how, but when I asked King Hua if I could also dance, he told me I was too young to join the group. He promised I could live here and practice with them in advance if I wanted, so I could perform at banquets as soon as I was old enough to join the dancers."
"That's very nice of His Majesty", Xie Lian commented.
Banyue nodded forcefully.
"King Hua is really very nice to me. One day I want to pay him back for everything he's done for me."
"Well, that's very nice of you, too", he chuckled. "Say, Banyue… why do you have so many bruises?"
"Huh? Oh… I guess I'm just clumsy."
Xie Lian believed that, having found her after she'd tripped over a loose stone, however when Banyue had lifted her arms while talking earlier, the sleeves had shown her too thin forearms, and there was a bruise around one of them, suspiciously in the form of a handprint. Xie Lian decided not to push the matter for now, and ask again, once they knew each other better.
"Haha, I see. I'm clumsy too sometimes, actually", he admitted while scratching his nose. It made Banyue giggle. "So then, how's the daily routine here?", Xie Lian continued, but made sure to get away from the heavier questions for now.
"Oh, we have to get up early for breakfast, which is during mao shi, and we all eat together in the hall, then we have some time to warm up and get ready for practice in our own time, and at chen shi we start practicing at the pavillon until lunch, which is during wu shi. Then we have a break, and practice again during shen shi.We're free to do whatever after that, but dinner is at you shi and sleep time is at hai shi."
Xie Lian thought that didn't sound so bad.
"Wait, but then shouldn't I have seen everyone practicing when I came here?"
"You would have, but today is a special day, so everyone is preparing for their performance for the banquet later at the Great Hall."
"Which day is it today?", Xie Lian had to ask, because he'd completely lost track of time.
"It's June 10th", Banyue said, as if that was supposed to mean anything to Xie Lian. His confusion must have shown on his face, because Banyue continued "It's King Hua's birthday."
Ah.
Well then today was the perfect opportunity to sneak around this whole area with absolute surety of not running into and having to explain himself to anyone!
Banyue was very much up to the task of showing Xie Lian around, explaining anything to him he asked about, and Xie Lian was happy to see her relaxing around him, and becoming more animated in her facial expressions and gestures.
They were the only two who went for lunch in the hall inside the dancer's quarters, but they still hadn't been forgotten; there was still one cook handing out their lunch to them, and something in Xie Lian's heart loosened. It seemed like this king really did have everything under control here, and was not out to make life a living hell for Xie Lian. For now.
After lunch, Xie Lian roped Banyue into showing him exercises for warming up, which the child did happily. The former general realised pretty quickly that his whole body was rather stiff in comparison to Banyue.
While the little girl had no problem touching her feet with the palm of her hands, Xie Lian just barely managed to get his fingertips to touch his ankles. And even that hurt in the back of his knees and thighs!
"I think dancing might not be for me", he sighed, feeling a little depressed. It was true that he wasn't particularly fond of having to dance, but since he did have to dance no matter what, he wanted to at least be good at it.
Banyue patted his upper arm. "It's fine, Xie-gege. When I started a few weeks ago, I was like that, too. It'll get better in no time", she tried to cheer him up.
Xie Lian couldn't help but smile.
"Alright then. Since Banyue says so, it must be true", he teased her gently, with a grin.
Banyue giggled, and then continued to torment him with more warm up exercises.
Despite getting tortured like this, Xie Lian had to admit that he rather enjoyed the day. They were doing their exercises in this tranquil courtyard, and he genuinely felt at peace for the first time since the war had taken everything from him all those months ago. He must've come to terms with his parent's death at some point, he realised, even though he still felt incredibly guilty about not having been able to give them a proper burial.
He tried to push those thoughts away.
After dinner, Banyue told Xie Lian that she'd taken the bedroom on the left side of the house, but that there was no particular reason for it, and Xie Lian could have it, if he wanted it. Xie Lian refused, of course, because he was perfectly fine with the right side.
After bidding each other good night, Xie Lian finally took a closer look around his new sleeping quarters. He didn't have anything besides himself that needed settling in, so he especially paid attention to the things that came together with the room. There was not much, but all the essentials were there, like a comb for example.
There were also a few sets of new robes, though Xie Lian hesitated to call them robes. They were pieces of fabric, however they were rather revealing, and if Xie Lian would have to wear them, he'd probably die out of sheer embarrassment. For now, he just hoped they were leftovers from the favourite dancer of the previous king.
The next day, Xie Lian finally got to meet the other dancers during breakfast. He realised with some trepidation that he was, in fact, the only man in this whole group of dancers. When he realised it, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but his body had decided on laughing hysterically for a few seconds before he managed to calm down again, because he didn't want to scare Banyue, who was already looking at him with concern.
Banyue walked him through the warm ups again, and Xie Lian felt like he was doing just about as bad as he'd done yesterday, but he didn't mention it.
A little earlier than Xie Lian had expected, a woman walked into the courtyard, who was very obviously their instructor. She looked rather severe, and wasn't exactly young anymore. There was something about her that reminded him of his combat instructor back in Xian Le, and it immediately struck fear into his heart. He wouldn't dare to underestimate this woman.
After everyone had gathered in front of her, she first started by praising the overall performance yesterday, before she got into criticising all the little mistakes that had been made. Once she was done with that, she told them to go through the routine again, and then put her attention on Xie Lian.
"So, you're the new dancer I already heard so much about. Xie Lian, was it?"
"Yes, madam", Xie Lian tried to smile through his nervousness.
"You may call me Miss Fang. I know you were some high ranking general and whatnot before, but I don't want to see any of that arrogance around here, understood? You do whatever I tell you to, and you don't question me.
"Now, I can't believe His Highness chose to put a man in my dance group, there's nothing aesthetically pleasing about men", she sighed. "But I guess I can work with you, at least you're not burly. And you're not much taller than the girls. I might be able to work you into the group nicely after all, I actually expected much worse. No, I think you'll do. But I can already tell by the way you're holding yourself that you're much too stiff", she said, and cracked her knuckles. "Let me loosen your muscles first."
Xie Lian gulped, and was led away to lay down on a bench, face down. Miss Fang then put him through something she called a massage, though Xie Lian would've called it misery.
She hadn't been lying about loosening his muscles, because Xie Lian felt like she'd kneaded his muscles into mush, and he wasn't sure if his leg muscles would still hold him up if he tried to stand, or if they'd been kneaded into a too soft mass for that. Miraculously, he could still stand after the procedure.
Miss Fang then proceeded to instruct him on several exercises to keep loose, which involved a whole bunch of chest and bum shaking, which Xie Lian was entirely uncomfortable with. She ordered him to do those exercises every day during warm up, and threatened him that she would know if he didn't comply. Then she pulled him back to the group, and started them all on a whole new routine, which they had to get down to perfection by the mid autumn festival, apparently.
Xie Lian did his best to keep up, and he thought he was doing rather well with his feet. However, his arms, and especially his hands, didn't quite get the hang of graceful agility. Which wasn't surprising, since they'd only ever had to hold a sword, or a bow and arrows, and sometimes punch and strike things. None of which required nimble movements.
"Xie Lian!" Miss Fang called him out. "Stop looking so fierce. You're not heading into battle, and you're not about to go on a killing spree. You're supposed to look gentle! And smile! Can't you concentrate unless you frown like that?"
Xie Lian sighed, and tried to get his facial expression under control. He'd never realised that dancing was such hard work!
When it was time for lunch, Xie Lian was tempted to just lie down on the ground of the pavillon and to starfish his way through noon, until it was time to dance again, but Banyue wouldn't let him go without eating something. In order to not be difficult for the little girl, Xie Lian dragged himself to the dining hall, and had lunch like a proper human.
"Xie-gege", Banyue started, after they sat down on their own table. "You're working really hard. But your hands…I think you need more help with that", she said carefully, as if trying not to hurt Xie Lian's feelings.
He smiled.
"I know. I'm just not used to coordinating my fingers like that. Maybe you could give me extra lessons after lunch?"
Banyue looked a little torn for a moment, and lowered her head.
"I'd really like to help Xie-gege, but I promised King Hua I'd visit him today after lunch…"
"Oh, that's not a problem, Banyue. Promises like that always come first! I'll be fine practicing on my own, too. Don't worry about it."
Banyue was silent for a moment before she spoke again.
"How about you come with me? I can teach you a little bit on the way…"
