Hello all! Thank you for finding interest in this story - this is a project I started a while ago, but which circumstances only recently pushed me to post. Hope you enjoy! I'd like to thank my anonymous Guest reviewer, Dotdodot, Super Sexy Saiyan for already giving me some feedback.

Dotdodot: Thanks for the catch! If you'll notice, I have tweaked Ling's age to match your expertise. ;) Keep it coming!

Super Sexy Saiyan: I really enjoy writing Lan Fan's character, but unfortunately you'll have to wait another chapter! :(

But! The good news is that I introduce you to my OC, who I quite like, and there is a bit of plot development to be had. Hope you're as excited to read as I am to write! I didn't re-do all of this chapter, so I'll probably make more tweaks later, but my computer is acting wonky right now. Enjoy the show!

Bilan Xu sighed as she let the warmth of a newly brewed cup of tea slide down her throat. This was her favorite time of day, and spent in her favorite place. The blossoming flowers of her garden perfumed the air and comforted her after a morning of political intricacies. Despite all of the help she had given to the fifty clans of Xing, and despite the good name she had won for her family, her advisors were beginning to put her to the side. And why? Only because everyone was convinced she needed to find a husband and produce an heir within the year, or else she would become a spinster.

The lady sighed again, this time out of frustration rather than of contentment.

Honestly. Why must my family hold such outdated views? I'm only sixteen!

The wind blew ripples in her tea cup and made the flowers whisper to each other. There was so much she still wanted to do for her country. The people of the Xang Clan were being overworked because their crops were not growing while the neighboring clan prospered. If she acted as a mediator, there was a good chance that the wealthy clan would be willing to help. The Nao Clan was running out of a water supply that could easily be remedied if only they were given the funds and man power. While she was of only minute help in the manual labor department, her family had been saving for decades for exactly that reason. Even their own clan struggled with keeping poverty down and feeding everyone they could as the clan expanded in numbers each year.

What was her mother's response to these arguments?

"You have been an enormous help to your family, daughter. But these are the problems the Emperor should be handling, not a pretty girl who should be starting a family."

Humph. It didn't matter that these were the problems that the Emperor should be handling. The fact was that he wasn't handling them, whether the reason was because of an overload of problems in the empire, or a simple disregard for his nation's wellbeing. If it was the former, Bilan saw no reason why she should not attempt to lessen the ruler's load. If it was the latter, well… then she already had a family to look after. Her family was her nation, and there was never an end to its needs.

Bilan's finger idly traced the smooth porcelain rim of her teacup, painted with nightingales and flowers.

Then again, she pondered. I suppose there is a more selfish reason why I don't want to marry just yet.

"A message for you, My Lady!"

The chipper voice of a younger girl startled Bilan out of her pensive mood. The older girl smiled kindly.

"Yin, we've told you before, you don't need to go running around doing household chores. You are our cousin, not a servant girl in need of pay," she admonished with playful firmness. Yin, nearly eleven years old, smiled toothily.

"But I want to help, Bilan! I want to travel and help villagers just like you when I get older, but Papa won't let me just yet," she said. The girl's eyes shone with ambition and passion that was endearing while she was still young, but which Bilan knew – from experience – that elders would cease indulging once she aged. The older girl could see a lot of herself in the animated child; it made her fondness for Yin bitter-sweet.

Yin continued, oblivious to the soft gleam of affection and regret in her cousin's eyes. "In the meantime, I have to help with anything I can! Even if it means acting like a maid!"

Bilan shook herself from her pensive mood and chuckled, obligingly taking the letter that the girl had delivered. As the wind began to pick up again, she slid it under her half-empty tea cup to make sure it would not blow away.

"Very well, then. If you'd like, you can help me with my garden sometime soon. It has already been trimmed and weeded for today, but it will need maintenance soon enough," Bilan offered. Her smile grew as Yin's eyes widened with delight.

"Yes, of course!" Yin burst in what, Bilan took note, her mother would consider a very unlady-like volume. Yin seemed to notice too, for suddenly seemed to remember herself as the tips of her ears became pink. She heroically tried to compose herself, first from the excitement, then from the embarrassment.

"I mean… ah… Yes," her eyes found her feet, and she bowed for effect. "I would be honored to help My Lady with her prized garden."

Bilan found that she could no longer maintain the face of indifference to the girl's inward struggle. Laughter tumbled forth from her with the kind of spontaneous force that can only be had when laughter is restrained. Yin's little performance tugged at her heart in more ways than one, and she found herself pulling the surprised girl into a hug that surprised her even more. Bilan could see the impropriety of her actions, but found that she did not regret a second of it when Yin quickly relaxed from her stiffened posture and nuzzled into Bilan's midsection. Bizarrely, she could feel her throat tighten and her eyes prick, but she chased the silly reaction away with the soothing sent of Yin's hair. She could not resist kissing her sweet cousin on the cheek.

"Promise me you will never change, Yin." Bilan requested, knowing even as she said it that it was a promise that could not be kept. Childhood ambition rarely had the opportunity to be pursued across the demands of tradition. Yin looked up into the eyes of the cousin she saw as an older sister, with a gaze that seemed suddenly mature and understanding. She, too, was aware of the trap in such a promise.

Yet, with the kind of confidence and faith that only youth can have in the future, Yin smiled back brightly. "I promise, Bilan."

Bilan smiled too, and she found her heart inexplicably lighter as she rubbed a smudge on her cousin's cheek away. It wasn't forced and she felt reassured, as if Yin was the elder one giving her comfort. Perhaps, in a way, she was. The young Lady sighed once more, a mixture of happy and puzzled, before stepping back.

"Good, I'm glad." Bilan said in a way that obviously was in reply to Yin's promise to help with the garden, but which also applied to their more tender moment. "I look forward to working with you, young Lady-in-training." Raising an ironic brow, she bowed with exaggerated elegance, a fitting response to the younger girl's awkward bow earlier. Yin hid a stray giggle behind her hand.

Bilan took on a more sincere expression as she straightened. "You will make a fine addition to the aiding families of this country someday."

Yin beamed brightly and bowed once more, this time with genuine gratefulness.

"Thank you so much, Lady Bilan! I have to get back to work now, but I'll be back to help garden soon!"

Without a sound on the packed dirt ground beneath her, Yin scampered off as quickly as she had come. Bilan watched her go, feeling decidedly happier. She reached toward the new letter from under the teacup, and even as she nudged the crisp white corner toward her, some of the neat handwriting on the front caught her eye:

"-m the Emperor"

Instantly her smile turned into a slight frown of confusion.

"'From the Emperor…'" she muttered.

What could possibly be –

"I thought that girl would never leave," a deep, teasing voice spoke warmly next to her ear.

Bilan gasped in shock and jerked her hand so hard it knocked the teacup off the table to shatter on the ground. She whipped around ready to defend herself, only to find herself nose-to-nose with her opponent. After a moment, his identity registered in her mind, and she nearly did not even attempt to restrain herself from the compelling urge to smack him.

"Zhou!"

The impish man before her smiled innocently.

"Bilan!" he mimicked.

The irresolute line that was Bilan's mouth twitched between an indulgent smile and a disapproving frown. She finally settled on the latter, but the amused gleam in her eye made it apparent that she was not serious, nor was she about to send him away. Nevertheless, she crossed her arms across her chest in defiance of his care-free attitude.

"You made me break my fine china. Again."

The mischievous mouth before her quirked upward, and the dark-haired boy shrugged his broad shoulders uncaringly, giving her a coy look.

"As long as your precious feet are not marred, I see no reason to be – "

"Bilan! What was that sound I heard?"

All too soon the comfortable air around them seemed to shatter and grow tense as two sets of eyes darted to the house up the stone walkway.

"Just the wind, Mama!" Bilan called back quickly, hoping the hasty answer would buy some time. Turning back to her clandestine friend, her tone turned regretful.

"Unfortunately, others hold different opinions than you do about fine china. My mother will think me too clumsy to help the clans anymore at this rate."

A small smile was returned to her companion's now alert expression. Bilan's mother could not, of course, know of his presence – she did not even know that Zhou and Bilan knew each other's names, much less that they often met in secret. But never often enough.

The reality of that little thought made Bilan impulsive as she threw her arms around the neck of the only person who expected nothing from her, and who she wished she could devote everything to. Zhou, not usually accustomed to such physical displays of affection, paused a moment before nuzzling into Bilan's shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist. If Bilan closed her eyes, all she could feel was the warmth of his embrace and the firmness of his chest, could smell only his scent mixed with the essence of the flower garden. In that moment, she could imagine that they were free. She cherished moments like these.

"So it would seem… about the china, that is," he replied somewhat begrudgingly. He pulled back a little so that he could look into her eyes. His hand came up to brush gently against her chin with surprising tenderness considering the callouses of the hand. The thin layer of mirth on the surface gave way to a deeper feeling that Bilan could read in his eyes.

Every time she tasted that fountain of unknown emotion in his eyes, she could feel the blossom of warmth that bloomed from her chest and crawled up her neck as she did now. Zhou's eyes were dark and usually unfathomable, and she made no assumption that it was because of her own abilities that she could understand them so well. Despite the fact that they had known each other since they were children, Zhou could still be as inscrutable to her as if they were strangers.

It was only because he trusted her that he let her see what he was feeling, and that fact would never cease to do incredible, foreign things to her stomach. When Zhou leaned forward and gently kissed her flushed cheek, she was not surprised to feel the sensation redouble its efforts in making her look like a love-struck fool. Of course, that was what she was, but -

"I love you." He whispered in her ear.

Bilan blinked in surprise at the sudden, unexpected proclamation. They had been seeing each other romantically for more than six months. It was not the first time either of them had said those three little words, but Zhou did not say such things lightly – As the rustling and shuffling noises behind them increased, however, Bilan understood.

"But I have to go now. With luck, our next visit will be much longer," he finished quietly. Bilan nodded.

"Bilan!"

Turning her head automatically, Bilan only had the warning of a small gust of wind and a chill replacing Zhou's body heat before she realized that he had disappeared. Not knowing whether to feel relieved or melancholy, she turned fully to face a new rather problematic development.

Her mother.

"I know what wind sounds like, and that was no wind," her mother's hassled voice continued from behind a tall shrub. Bilan glanced guiltily at the shattered teacup at her feet. Mama was not a particularly vain woman, but she did not tolerate waste either.

Even as Bilan steeled herself for a stern lecture, the woman in question appeared, looking harried and suspicious. It took her characteristically sharp grey eyes less than a second to assess the damage of the crime scene, managing to make Bilan feel as though she was all of six years old again. The young Lady held in a sigh. No matter what age she was, she suspected that effect would never change.

"Yes," her mother began disapprovingly. "'The wind' indeed."

Bilan bowed low in apology so that her hair hung down around her face. She desperately hoped that her blush was fading while it was hidden – or that her mother would at least assume it was from embarrassment rather than… well, what it was from.

"I am sorry, Mama. A… bird… flew past me so quickly that it startled me. Please forgive my clumsiness," she prayed to every god that existed that her mother thought nothing of the small pause she took. Bilan had never been a very adept at making quick lies.

Unfortunately for her, her mother had always been frighteningly skilled at detecting them.

She felt a fan tap her chin, and her respectful bow was steadily raised until her eyes met her mother's once more. They were squinted in a way that said 'I know you're hiding something from me', but they did not seem unkind. After a tense moment when Bilan didn't know what would happen next, her mother finally allowed a small, good-natured smile.

"Well, lucky for you, that teacup was from a gift set that your father's sister gave us," she said as she stooped to begin cleaning up the mess. Bilan quickly began to help her, feeling as though she had just passed judgment and was being allowed to live. "I have never been overly fond of that woman."

The daughter couldn't help a small smile at her mother's bluntness. The older woman may have been extremely traditional, but that rarely stopped her from expressing her thoughts.

"However," the Lady continued as she carefully collected the broken china in a handkerchief. "You must be more careful, Bilan. This is the third teacup you've broken in as many months. If you continue like this much longer, we'll be out of china within a year or two!"

Bilan flushed at the truth of the statement, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. She did seem to get rather clumsy when Zhou was around…

"By the way, child, what is that in your hand?"

Surprised by the change of subject, Bilan stopped reaching towards the china and looked down. Sure enough, the white envelope that Yin had delivered was still clutched there, completely forgotten about until now.

"Oh, this. Yin ran it to me. I haven't actually opened it yet…" she paused, looking once again at the addressing title. "But… it seems to be from the Emperor."

Her mother's eyebrows raised considerably, china forgotten.

"What?"

Bilan froze for a moment, not really knowing how to react. Her mother's reaction made her realize just what the words 'from the Emperor' meant. She sucked in a lungful of air in shock. The most powerful man in their nation, the one battles were fought over, had written with ink on piece of paper and had sent it to her. Well, it was more probable that he had ordered someone to write it –

"Well don't just sit there, child, open it!"

Bilan let out a breathy laugh with the air she had been holding in at her mother's obvious excitement. It hadn't really seemed real until now, but if it was enough to shock a woman like her mother, it was real alright. Sliding a nail under the wax seal, Bilan bit her lip and began to babble.

"I wonder what it could be about. Maybe the Emperor is finally noticing our work and it giving us funds… or maybe he even wants to get personally involved!" Bilan was having trouble keeping her racing mind in check. The Emperor had such power that it seemed to reach the countless miles from the palace straight to Bilan's fingers as they shook with nervous anticipation.

With the pristine white paper unfolded, her impressive mother was beginning to look more like a bubbly schoolgirl. Bilan's teeth began to worry her lip as her eyes scanned the writing.

"Well, what does it say?!"

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "It's… an invitation. Here, look."

For once her mother complied without hesitation, leaning over to read the neat writing on the letter.

"You are to stay at the Emperor's palace for a celebratory feast held in honor of Prince Ling, heir of the Yao clan, soon to become Emperor.
Transportation will be provided for you within a week of your receiving this letter, and you need spend no expense. You will bring as many attendants as you wish to ensure your stay is comfortable.
We look forward to your attendance.

-Councilmen of the Emperor"

They both simply sat and stared at this unexpected gift with only the flapping of the paper in the breeze to fill the silence. Bilan personally couldn't believe such an invitation would be extended to their family. Though they carried the name 'Xu', they were not the immediate family of the Old Emperor's wife: the Twelfth Empress was Bilan's aunt and her father's sister. As such, they generally received little publicity.

Bilan was jerked from her ponderings when her mother broke the silence.

"How curious," her mother murmured. A breeze passed and blew their hair away from their faces, and Bilan noticed that the familiar grey eyes were narrowed at the paper and seemed almost distressed.

"Mama? What's wrong?" Bilan asked. Her mother simply sighed and looked away, only to return her attention to the object in front of her.

"Nothing, really. Your mother is just being silly. But…" the steely woman paused long enough to look suspiciously at the letter once more, scanning it carefully. "… The way this invitation is written… it seems more like an order."

"Hmm?" Bilan took another look at the words on the paper, trying to see what her mother saw.

This time, she noted the phrases like "You are requested" and "You will bring", as if there was no question as to their attendance. She admitted that some of the wording didseem a little forceful…

"But why would they possibly order us to attend a celebratory feast? It's not as though we're all that important in the system of royalty. We've probably only been invited in the first place because some more important family declined. Surely it can't be more than a coincidence."

Bilan's mother nodded her head quickly in agreement, though her mouth stayed in an unhappily pursed line. Handing the letter back to Bilan, she began to busy herself with picking up the broken teacup once more, collecting the last shards in her handkerchief.

"I told you I was simply being silly," The older woman sighed. Bilan nodded and tucked the letter away in her robe, though she noted that her mother did not at all seem reassured. "Now go respond to those business letters we received this morning. You have always been better with words than I am."

If her mother was trying to change the subject, it worked. Instantly Bilan's mind was filled with the horrors that stacks of business letters could bring – and since her father was away visiting other clans, the paperwork fell to the women of the household.

"Yes, Mama." Bilan rose obediently, despite the reluctance and simple lack of motivation that weighed her steps. Frankly, she thought that her mother simply wanted to get out of the job herself… but she was really in no position to argue. She needed to be the best representative of her family that she could be, seeing as she had no brothers to continue the family line. It was agreed that the Xu family tradition would continue under her husband's name when she was married, so in the meantime she was trained as a son would be as far as the politics of her position meant.

She was walking up the dirt path to their home, already thinking about what responses she would have to be writing, when her mother's voice interrupted her progress.

"You might as well think about what you want to bring to the Palace while you're at it," her mother added from behind her. Surprised, Bilan paused and looked at her mother, whose back was facing her daughter.

"We leave in a week, but you'll surely want to impress Prince Yao as much as possible," she continued. With a smile on her face, she turned her head to regard her stunned daughter. "Don't look so shocked. Just forget about what I said and try to enjoy the trip as much as you can. It isn't every day that you get to go to the Emperor's Palace."

Emperor's Palace…

When the words finally sunk in, a wild and quite unlady-like grin broke out on Bilan's face.

The Emperor's Palace!

Somehow, hearing her infallible mother speak so matter-of-factly about such an extraordinary visit made it so much more real than when they had been talking about it seriously. She was going to the Emperor's Palace!

"Of course, Mama! I can't wait!"

Probably looking no more dignified than young Yin had looked not so long ago, Bilan practically floated the rest of the way up the dirt path. She found that, at the end of the day, she could barely remember what she wrote in response to the business letters assigned to her. Sleep was an elusive luxury, but her dreams were full of an enchanted palace full of possibilities.

And yet, when her daughter left, the Lady of the House re-adorned her strangely solemn air. As a political veteran who had seen quite her fair share of the dealings in the Xingese Court, she could predict what her green daughter could not. A girl Bilan's age and of her reputation had only one use to the Emperor's Council, especially with the otherwise overlooked family connections that she had.

It was with this unnerving hunch that Lady Sunako Xu, like her daughter, had trouble finding sleep that night. For, despite her urges on the matter, she knew how much her daughter did not yet want to marry. Truth be told, she was not sure she truly wanted to let her go just yet.

It was only in the wee hours of the morning that all the inhabitants of the Xu household found rest, though one end slept with blissful imaginings, and the other with fitful worries.

Endnote: I'm thinking about changing the title of this story to something a little more creative. The title "The Fates Who Cannot Hear" and several other variant forms have been bouncing around in my head. Any opinions? Thanks!