Chapter Twenty-Nine: Zhuge Liang Discusses Capricious Love

…Yet who would have thought that a simple discussion could have brought forth such unexpected consequences?

"A thousand years ago, when history was still young, all that lies beneath the Heavens was under the rule of a single emperor. However, during a tour of his nation, the emperor was unexpectedly claimed by the pitiless House of Death. It is said that when his two beloved consorts heard the news of his passing, they became inconsolable with grief.

For an eternity, they searched the vast land for his entombed body, until at last they arrived at the Xiang River where he was said to have succumbed to Death's cold domain. There, the two faithful ladies wept with such sorrow that the nearby bamboo became speckled with their bitter tears.

And that is where we get the name for the Xiang Fei(1) bamboo—Xiang after the river where the tears rained down, Fei in honor of the two loyal consorts."

Lady Song glanced down at her peacock-feather fan—a fan made with the very same Xiang Fei bamboo of the legend she'd just finished telling. She was an arresting woman—fair as the finest white jade, sublimely beautiful…and nigh drained of all her life forces as she reclined tiredly on her sickbed.

Her last child, aptly named Love, had suffered her through an excruciatingly difficult birth. Now, smiling down tenderly at the baby that was to cost her her life, Lady Song knew she would have no lingering regrets once she did leave this world.

Her three other daughters were gathered in a semi-circle around their mother's bed, lined up in descending order of height and age and each kneeling on a padded silk cushion. They were still so young—the eldest hardly nine—and Lady Song mentally corrected herself: She would have one regret once she left this world, that regret being that she would never see her four darling daughters grow up and get married. And they, all four of them, were such pretty, charming creatures, surely they would make excellent matches…wouldn't they?

Wouldn't they?

Lady Song felt a pang of motherly concern over her daughter's futures, but the sweet voice of her first girl brought her mind back to the present.

"Mother, someday I will find a gentleman whom I'll love as faithfully as the Xiang River consorts loved their emperor," the exquisite Xi Lien vowed, a dreamy smile touching the corners of her perfectly-formed cherry lips.

"Me too," Xi Yue, graceful as the Moon that was her namesake, echoed the oath.

"Not me, Mother," another voice piped up, before declaring willfully, "I would rather find a gentleman who'll love me as faithfully as the consorts loved their emperor."

Lady Song looked down with surprise at her third daughter. But, after all, the little imp had always been a bit spoiled by her doting father and amah, so in the end, it wasn't terribly surprising that she should seek that kind of adoration from her future husband as well.

"Child, where will you find such a devoted lover?" Lady Song reproved in a mild, teasing voice.

Five-year-old Xi Tian stuck out her lower lip in a determined pout.

"I'll find him," she declared naïvely. "If I have to travel to the end of the world, I'll find him…"

A shower of golden sunrays peeked in through the ship cabin's window, illuminating the darkly-speckled Xiang Fei wood of a fine-haired calligraphy brush. Xi Tian noticed the simple yet elegant pattern on her brush's handle, and briefly remembered the old tale of the two loyal consorts for whom the bamboo was named after. Her mother must have told her that story a thousand times, and after each time, she had left the sick woman's chamber childishly swearing that she would one day find her own True Love—the love of a young man whose tears would move even nature.

Of course, those had just been girlish fantasies, spun more than ten years earlier from colorful legendry and a bright imagination. Life—and the fatal fates of her two older sisters—had taught Xi Tian that the fairer sex could evoke all sorts of passions in a man, just not his love. A beautiful and gracious girl, like her doomed sister Xi Lien, led to wanton, volatile possessiveness. A bright and talented girl, like her tragic sister Xi Yue, roused only fearsome jealousy.

Xi Tian herself hadn't had much luck in finding that elusive True Love whose devotion could transcend the laws of nature. It seemed like she just didn't have much luck where men were concerned: First, there was her scandalously disastrous engagement to Lu Bu, and now, with Zhao Yun…

…Well, for the past couple of days, Zhao Yun couldn't seem to string two words together in her presence. She had a sneaky suspicion that he was avoiding her on purpose lately, ever since she'd teased him about being a sweaty abomination that morning he'd looked so strange and feverish.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Orchid, I didn't know you were here," a familiar male voice broke into her thoughts.

Xi Tian looked up, to see Zhao Yun standing at the doorway and talking to the floor. Or at least, it seemed that way, seeing how he absolutely refused to meet her eyes. The young handmaid stood up, abandoning her calligraphy practice to curtsey before her new lord.

"No need to apologize; you weren't disturbing me at all," she reassured the embarrassed-looking warrior. "If anything, I should be sorry, seeing as how I'm just sitting around wasting time, when General Zhao might be in need of my services."

Zhao Yun abruptly turned scarlet at her words, an act that failed to escape even her artless eyes.

"I meant, of course, if the general needs some tea, or perhaps for his handmaid to deliver any messages or fetch any objects he might need," Xi Tian added by way of explanation.

She began approaching him as she spoke, feeling it might look silly that she should stand all the way on the other end of the room and shout her words at him. However, Zhao Yun visibly reddened with each step she took, so that when she noticed, she hesitated mid-way, while he stood and blushed quietly by the doors.

"General? Are you feeling well?" It was a silly question, but Xi Tian honestly couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Fine. Just fine," Zhao Yun mumbled distractedly, backing out of the room and scrambling away without once looking at her in the face.

Xi Tian frowned in confusion after his retreating figure. Although he obviously didn't want to admit it, something had been troubling the young warrior these past few days…and his handmaid was somehow the cause. Just what exactly was it that she had done to make Zhao Yun feel so uncomfortable around her?

Liu Bei watched with little interest as a pair of brightly-patterned butterflies skimmed the quiet surface of a lake. Sun Shang Xiang should almost be at Wu by now…Had she arrived already? Had her ship docked safely at the harbor? Was she currently employing Liu Chan as a tool of appeasement against her redoubtable old mother?

"Something troubles you, my lord?"

Liu Bei turned around to see Zhuge Liang, robed and impeccably groomed, standing a few paces behind him. He hastily began smoothing out the worried wrinkles from his forehead and around his eyes, feeling a bit awkward at being caught brooding over his bride.

"Just thinking about—" he started to answer, when his chief strategist guessed, "Lady Sun?"

"You know me well, Kongming," Liu Bei admitted with a small smile.

Zhuge Liang slowly flicked his fan back and forth while he stepped up to join his king by the lake.

"There is no need to fear for Lady Sun's safety," he reassured the concerned husband. "Zilong's a pillar of strength; she is in capable hands."

"That is," he added slyly, after a brief pause, "if our Little Dragon doesn't allow himself to get too distracted by one of his shipmates."

Liu Bei had to laugh upon hearing the younger man's quip.

"You mean Orchid?" The question was unnecessary; both men knew exactly which "shipmate" might distract Zhao Yun from his duties.

Zhuge Liang joined in his lord's laughter with a few chuckles of his own.

"It's a shame Zilong has grown so attached to the girl, however." His next remark clearly surprised his lord, whose eyebrows flew up in alarm upon hearing the cryptic prediction, "Considering that young Miss Orchid may disappear at any given minute."

Liu Bei gaped uncomprehendingly at the prime minister of Shu, his mouth a round "O" of surprise as he stammered in a low voice, "I…I don't understand. Kongming, if there's anything you know that you aren't telling me—"

"My lord," Zhuge Liang spoke up with a half-smile, "haven't you ever thought it strange that a mere handmaid such as Orchid should be so well-educated as to be capable of leading a round of linked verse poetry with the aristocracy of the South?"

Liu Bei frowned, his forehead creasing in distress as he mulled the matter over.

"That is unusual, but not improbable," he conceded in a vaguely defensive tone. "Since she used to work for a noble family, perhaps her previous mistresses taught her what she now knows."

"I always did think it a bit odd that a mere handmaid should be both exceptionally well-versed and exceptionally well-dressed as well, so I had the cook keep an eye on her," Zhuge Liang disclosed rather nonchalantly.

"The cook…?" Liu Bei's face was a myriad of expressions, as slow realization battled with lingering confusion.

"Mrs. Bao was the only one in a position to give me detailed reports on the girl's activities…and those reports have had quite interesting things to say," Zhuge Liang drawled in a languid, almost careless tone. "For example: Do you know that the seemingly innocent Orchid has been exchanging letters with a strange gentleman? A gentleman with a suspicious strip of gold silk tied across one eye?"

Liu Bei's face flushed in alarm.

"You're not insinuating that…" he started to guess in a strangled whisper.

"Now, the girl could just be secretly meeting her paramour…although Mrs. Bao has observed that this mysterious gentleman with one eye acts decidedly unlover-like around his charming little maid," Zhuge Liang added with a small chuckle.

"She's a spy for Wei!" Liu Bei's features tightened. "And during the months that she's been staying here, who knows how many military and strategic secrets she could've leaked to Cao Cao and his men…"

"My lord, there is no need to fear." Zhuge Liang gave a confident smile. "She is vibrant, capricious, and still quite innocent; she is only a threat to General Zilong's heart, not to Shu itself."

"How can you be so sure…?" Liu Bei began uncertainly.

"My lord," Zhuge Liang pointed out, "the girl has never once been around during our strategy sessions; Mrs. Bao made sure to bully her into hiding every time something of even remote military importance was being discussed."

Liu Bei chuckled softly at this revelation.

"The poor child," he sympathized. "Mrs. Bao frightens me sometimes."

"And even if Orchid had been around during the sessions, she would've been too bored to remember anything. All that she could have revealed to Wei are the insignificant details they would have eventually found out, anyway," Zhuge Liang deduced. "If anything, it was rather useful keeping her around—she's served quite well to test the strength of your marriage to Lady Sun, and only Zilong has a reason to be troubled by her."

"Why do you say that?" By now, Liu Bei had sunken onto a large rock, feeling that he needed to take this precaution before his strategist unveiled any more surprises.

"Because the good and brave General Zhao Zilong seems quite taken with Orchid, and one never knows when she might be recalled to Wei by Cao Cao once this infiltration assignment of hers—if it could even be called that—is over," Zhuge Liang finished.

Before the king of Shu could respond, a new, thunderous voice blustered, "WHAT!"

Zhuge Liang abruptly stopped fanning himself, as both he and his lord turned around to identify the speaker.

The massive and swarthy form of Zhang Fei towered a few feet away, powerful, bristling, and only slightly tipsy. Eyes flaming with rage and nostrils flaring like a bull's, Zhang Fei was glaring in outrage at his sworn brother and his prime minister, as he bawled out, "You mean that little handmaid Zilong's so smitten with is actually a spy for Wei?"

Liu Bei warily stepped forward, raising one hand as if in an effort to calm his Third Brother.

"Yide, please lower your voice and don't try to do something stupid…" he counseled in a soothing voice.

"Nonsense! Nobody spies on Shu! Not even a woman!" Zhang Fei raged, wildly waving one fist around. "And if Cao Cao thinks he's so clever that he can get away with this dirty, underhanded plan…Well, I guess I'll just have to be clever myself and come up with my own underhanded plan to undo all his evil work!"

And in the blink of an eyelash, the headstrong master of the Serpent Spear had barreled off to do something stupid.

1. Imperial consort