Nature of the Spirit
Chapter 2: Coming of Age
By Nanaki
Late Summer
The morning of September 20th was going to dawn bright and clear. It was about a half hour before sunrise, and Princess Wei Ling was perched in a window sill in the viewing room at the very top of the Imperial Palace, as she often was this time of day. At over 10,000 feet elevation, it was never very warm up here at night, and by September, it was already getting close to freezing again. The Princess was wrapped up in a fur coat and very thick pants under her dress, and the wind was making her nose run, but the view was worth it. She could see for over a hundred miles in every direction, except for where fog huddled above the rivers, and where the mountains around Dirge rose up even higher than the palace.
She wasn't always up before sunrise, but when she was, she always came up here. It had the best view in the empire, and solitude was usually a sure thing, which was why she was surprised to hear someone else coming up the stone stairs. "Ah, I figured I'd find you up here." Empress Sun Lian appeared on the landing, decidedly not dressed for the cold. She shivered in her nightgown and tied the sash up tighter. "Especially on today of all days." She added, before yawning loudly.
Wei Ling regarded her mother with surprise. The Empress' hair was hanging down loose around her shoulders, and looked rather disheveled. Her eyes also looked bleary and a little bloodshot. "Mom, are you sure you should be up yet?" Wei Ling asked.
"I'm not, exactly." The Empress smiled. "I'll go back to bed soon, I just wanted some fresh air. Too much wine at the banquet last night. And I didn't get to sleep until around three in the morning, probably." She stretched, before sitting down on one of the comfortable padded benches close to Wei Ling.
"Three in the morning?" The Princess raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you say goodnight and head to your chambers a little after nine?"
The Empress' trademark devious grin appeared on her face now. "I might have gone to bed, but not to sleep." Wei Ling wore a very disquieting look on her face now. "What?"
"I can't believe you just said that out loud." Wei Ling said quietly. "I mean, everyone who's been in the palace more than a few days has their own theory about... Well, I mean..."
"That's one of the things I want to talk to you about." The Empress nodded. "There are a lot of things I want to tell you, but the first one is: Happy birthday!" She stood up to give her daughter a hug, and Wei Ling returned the embrace, but the puzzled look didn't leave her face. "You're legally a woman now, in the eyes of the law, and the most important thing about that is, if anything happens to me now, YOU'RE in charge. Not your father, not some other regent, but you."
Wei Ling frowned. "Well yeah, but you'll probably be around for another forty years, at least."
The Empress chuckled. "I hope so, but you're crazy if you think I'm going to be the active ruler that long! I'm planning on retiring at fifty five, maybe sixty at the latest. You need to start getting used to the idea of being the Empress."
The Princess gulped, looking worried. "Okay, but why tell me this right now?"
"Because being the ruler can mean big sacrifices." Lian answered bluntly. "Being the Empress means that you have to put the Empire before yourself. Before your own happiness, maybe even before your own life. I don't think my father ever understood that..." Her eyes had a far off look in them.
"I'm sure fighting against your family wasn't easy... But aside from that, what did you have to give up?" Wei Ling asked.
The Empress looked her straight in the eye. "The one thing I wanted most in the world." Despite the serious tone of her voice, a smile appeared on her face again. "Just like Wu's character in the play two nights ago. Was that incredible, or what?"
"Oh, it was one of her best performances ever!" Wei Ling agreed. "I might even say the best ever, except it was so sad! I was almost in tears during that final scene. But she's a fantastic actress, no doubt about it."
"She is," the Empress nodded, "but she's not quite as good as me."
"Huh? Mom, I don't remember you ever being in a play." The Princess frowned slightly.
"I haven't been." Lian nodded calmly. "I do my acting in real life."
Wei Ling waited for a few seconds of silence, before prodding. "Care to elaborate on that?"
"I will." The Empress was staring at a few cirrus clouds that were beginning to glow pink in the predawn light. "I'm just trying to think of the best way to say this. Okay, short and simple. We don't talk about it, but you have to have realized that I don't love your father, right?"
The Princess was a bit taken aback. "I suppose, but I'm pretty used to things being that way. It was a political marriage, right?"
Lian tilted her head to one side, thinking. "I guess you could say that. The simple truth of it was, if I hadn't married him, the Isles of Enlightenment would have invaded the Jade Empire, and thousands of my loyal soldiers would have been killed. In the end, that wasn't a price I was willing to pay."
"What on earth?" Wei Ling dropped out of the window sill, and sat down on the bench right across from her mother. "Why was he going to invade?"
"The Sprightly Stones." Lian sighed. "He wanted large amounts of them to build fortresses in his own country. At least, that was the reason he gave. I'm sure our large silver reserves and fertile farmland were attractive prizes too. He sent a proposal of marriage to me to put me off guard, more than anything else. He was reportedly very surprised when I accepted."
"And, based on what you said about giving up the one thing you wanted most, I take it you were in love with someone else at the time?" Wei Ling nodded.
"I was, and still am." The Empress smiled. "Fortunately, it was only for four years, and not permanently, but even so, I had to give up what I wanted the most. Having you didn't help matters, though you were definitely the biggest bonus I got out of marrying your father." She shook her head. "Anyway, the point is, if I had to do it over again, I would. All those thousands of people who would have died, they all have their own hopes, dreams, and loved ones. Compared with that, my single life doesn't mean anything. I'm telling you this because if a time ever comes when you have to give up something you love for the good of the kingdom, I expect you to do it. Just remember how many of the people revere you, even love you, and that will help you get through it."
"Okay mother. I will." Wei Ling replied nervously, before a smile returned to her face a moment later. "Feel like telling me who it was you were in love with this whole time? I'm thinking about it, and I really don't see any likely candidates who have regular access to you."
"I imagine it's because you're looking at the wrong candidates." The Empress replied evenly. "Unless you're even more like me than I thought... Never mind." She said, seeing Wei Ling's puzzled look. "If you want to know, I'll tell you. But I have to warn you, you might not see me quite the same way afterwards."
Wei Ling frowned for a second, then nodded. "Okay... Unless it's Xenin Sho, I still want to know."
"Xenin!" The Empress laughed. "By the dragon, no! Oh wow, this is going to be so much easier now! Besides, Xenin would have been twelve when I first became Empress, you know that. Anyway..." Lian took a deep breath, staring at her knees, before meeting her daughter's gaze again. "The one true love of my life is the Master of the Two Rivers School. Wu the Lotus Blossom." She said bluntly. Wei Ling had no immediate response, then her mouth slowly dropped open in astonishment. She tilted her head to the side and her brow furrowed, but she still didn't say anything. "If you're waiting for a punchline, there isn't one." The Empress finally said. "I'm dead serious."
"Wow." The Princess finally said. "That's just... I mean, wow!"
"Wow, what?" Lian raised an eyebrow now.
"I'm not sure." The Princess admitted. "Does Dad know?"
"Oh, sure he does." Lian nodded. "He always has. Why do you think Wu doesn't have her own flier, so she can zip over here whenever she wants to? And why do you think your father spends so little time in the palace when she is here?"
"Boy, that can't help your relationship." Wei Ling observed.
"The two of us never really had a relationship." The Empress replied. "If not for you, he'd just be some cranky warlord that I have to put up with at official functions. Besides, marrying him has turned out to be a great punishment for his attempted invasion. He has to watch me be with my one and only for five months a year, while he's got no one. No one that I know of anyway, and I know everything that's going on in my kingdom." The Princess looked a little sad now, and Lian realized she'd said more than she needed to. "Um, sorry honey. I know you love your father, and I'm glad you do."
Wei Ling shook her head. "No, don't apologize. It's good to know the truth, at long last." She was about to say something else, when they could hear footsteps on the stairs. Wei Ling was just starting to turn to look, thinking she could see someone out of the corner of her eye, when the sound of the footsteps disappeared. There was no one coming up the stairs. "What the...?" The Princess wondered. "I've never heard of this tower being haunted."
"It's not." Lian smiled. "Hey, it's okay!" She called out. "I told her everything, you can come out."
"Whew, that's a relief." Wu the Lotus Blossom appeared on the landing, seeming to have sprung up from nowhere. "Doing a spider climb while you're still a little drunk is not as fun as it sounds." Her hair was just as disheveled as the Empress', and her eyes were just as blurry. "Well, she doesn't seem too upset about it." Wu observed, and walked over to sit down next to Lian, a bit closer than an ordinary friend would have, Wei Ling noticed.
"What's to be upset about?" The Princess asked.
The Empress shrugged. "I don't know, some people seem to think it's a crime against nature. 'The love that dare not speak its name' and all that crap."
"Considering that you've both had kids, despite being... that way, I don't see how it could be a crime against nature." Wei Ling pointed out.
"Oh, that part's just a crime against religion." Wu deadpanned, and the Empress burst out laughing. "Depending on who you talk to, that is. I think if it was really that important, the Water Dragon might have said something in between giving infuriatingly vague warnings about Master Li."
"I don't think it's ever wrong to love someone." The Princess said softly. "Like most things in life, it's the HOW that's important." Both Lian and Wu just stared at her for several seconds, and Wei Ling began to think she'd said something wrong. "What?"
"By the dragon, Lian, she already has more wisdom than most people ever will." Wu said, grinning.
"Well, what do you expect?" The Empress turned to her. "She is MY daughter."
"Yeah, but you can't take credit for that part!" Wu laughed. Wei Ling was shocked. She'd never heard anyone talk to her mother that way.
"Just what are you implying?" Lian put her hands on her hips, clearly not upset in the least.
"If we're talking blinding intelligence or combat prowess, yeah, she got it from you. But wisdom has never been your strong point, Lian." Wu explained matter of factly.
"Oh, you're just asking for trouble now." Lian sounded smug.
"Hey, it's not necessarily a bad thing." Wu shrugged. "Master Li was a very wise man. He was also a sociopath who never once in his life cared about anyone but himself."
The Empress twisted around in her seat a bit to face Wu. "Well, it was a good recovery at the end, but I'm afraid I'm still going to have to do this."
"Wha-?" Wu's eyes widened as Lian's hands shot up towards her face, then settled along her jawline. "Augh! Your hands are like ice! How long have you been up here?"
"Maybe ten minutes. Maybe. What do you expect? It's freezing up here." The Empress folded her arms now, shivering.
"True enough. Could we maybe continue this conversation inside?"
"I said what I came up here to say." Lian shrugged. "Let's go back to sleep." Wu stifled a yawn and nodded, then started heading for the stairs.
"Sounds good to me. But if you stick your icy feet on my legs, woman, you're getting an elbow in the ribs. I don't care who you are." Wu said as she went down the stairs.
Lian smiled. "Oh, now how can I NOT, after hearing that?" She asked, then turned back to Wei Ling. "Actually, there is something I want to give you before the official flood of present begins." She reached under the bench she was sitting on, and came up with a traditional long sword in its scabbard. "I knew you'd be up here, so I stashed it ahead of time." Now, she held the sword out to Wei Ling, who took it gingerly. "This, is the Blade of the Broken Bough, supposedly the sword of the first ruling Empress. How it got to be in a magical chest in Dirge, I have no idea. I suppose it was the Water Dragon's way of helping me out. But any way you slice it, it's yours now."
Wei Ling removed it from the scabbard, and held it up to the early morning light. "I promise I'll keep it safe."
The Empress yawned again. "Well that's nice honey, but the main idea is that IT keeps YOU safe. I've made sure you know how to use a weapon like that. I'll leave it up to you to decide when and why." She stood up, and headed for the stairs too. "I'm going back to bed. See you this afternoon."
Wei Ling let the sword drop back into the scabbard, and a let a deep sigh out through her nose. "Well, that was quite a 'good morning'. I wonder what other surprises my sixteenth birthday has in store..."
.
When Wei Ling next saw her mother, meeting up before heading off to the official birthday celebration, she was looking much more elegant. The Empress and Wu were both wearing intricate floral patterned dresses, hair restrained but still flowing down to the small of the back. Wei Ling was dressed much the same way, but knew she wouldn't look as grown up, since she was still several inches shorter than either of them. At least the tailors had been able to get her dress' shade of green to match the color of her eyes. "Feeling better now?" She asked discreetly as they headed toward the main path from the living quarters to the throne room.
"Much." Empress Lian smiled. "Truth be told, I could have used a little more sleep, but ten hours will have to do."
"Well, maybe you could get to sleep a little EARLIER tonight." The Princess suggested.
"Oh, how in the world did I give birth to a morning person?" The Empress groaned.
"That part must be entirely Meloku's fault." Wu smiled.
"A LOT of things are entirely Meloku's fault, but that's not one of them." Lian replied. "She's just a decidedly unique person." She smiled now. They walked in silence the rest of the way, surprised to not run into any party guests on the way. Anybody who was anybody would be making an appearance at some point today, trying to curry imperial favor with an impressive gift.
As they approached the large open hall below the throne room, they were surprised to see it swarming with guards, apparently listening to someone who was speaking. "There can be absolutely no mistakes on this." The voice of the Emperor's captain of the guard and right hand man, Xenin Sho, reached their ears. "I don't need to tell you what will happen if we- Highnesses! Good afternoon!" Xenin's face went from shock, to anger, to that simpering false smile he used around the Empress, all in the space of about a second.
"Good afternoon, Xenin." Lian said flatly. "Is there a reason so many guards are gathered here now? Seems like an inopportune time for training exercises." Looking around, she saw that most of the gathered guards appeared very nervous, looking away as soon as she made eye contact. She knew most of the faces, so they weren't new. Lian hadn't felt uneasy in the throne room for twenty years, but right now, she did. Something was definitely up, and she was pretty sure she wasn't going to like it.
"Yes, All Highest." Xenin hurried over to her, bowing repeatedly. He never bothered to show that much respect. "I sent guards down to your chambers to make sure you were safe. Did they not arrive there?"
"We must have passed them on the way." Lian said quickly. "How about telling me why we might not be safe?" She glanced over at Wu and nodded, ever so slightly, eyes narrowed. Wu nodded back, then went back to scanning the guards.
"Well, implausible as it may sound, we've received information that indicates there are imposters trying to infiltrate the palace." Xenin replied, sounding calm, but his body language indicated that he was very nervous.
Lian suddenly had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen, and since Wei Ling was standing slightly behind her, the Empress made a very quick waving motion with her left hand. 'Get out of here, honey. Now.' Unfortunately, Wei Ling didn't see it, or else didn't understand. She wanted to turn and yell for the Princess to run, but she had a feeling she should try to buy as much time as possible. "Do we have an idea who these imposters are impersonating?"
A rather unpleasant smile appeared on Xenin's face, and several of the guards were waving at him to stop. Apparently, something about his plan was off, but he was going ahead anyway. Boy, did the Empress get tired of being right all the time. "Oddly enough, the imposters have chosen to double as yourself, Empress, as well as the Princess and Wu the Lotus Blossom." Lian could sense Wei Ling suddenly stiffen behind her. Good, at least none of them were going to be caught off guard. Some of the guards in the hall began circling around toward the entrance, to cut off their escape. Xenin came a few steps closer. "But then, I'm sure you already knew that, since you are they." Apparently, Xenin had expected the fighting to start at that moment, because he backflipped away, even though no one else had moved.
Instead of a sudden dash toward the door, Wu calmly began walking toward the guards. "Xenin, you are one dumb son of a bitch, trying this while I'M here. But, at least you've got guts, I'll give you that much."
Xenin snorted. "Apparently you haven't done the math. You're vastly outnumbered here."
Wu looked away from him, and addressed the assembled guards. "Anyone who wants to see another sunrise would do well to leave right now." She waited a beat, and no one moved. "What fools. Maybe you think that you'll live through this because I'm a strong believer in the Way of the Open Palm. But for trying to assassinate the one I love, I'll kill you all!!" While her shout was still ringing in the air, she slipped into a chi speed burst, and had momentarily taken over twenty of the guards out of action with her Storm Dragon style before they could even draw their weapons. Even as most of them were still turning to face her, the energy claws of her favored Leaping Tiger style appeared and proceeded to whirl around the room in a dervish of destruction.
Xenin was torn for a second. He wanted to accomplish his mission as soon as possible, then worry about Wu later. But he realized that even with as many guards as he'd gathered, they weren't going to buy him much time. Reluctantly, he jumped into a chi speed burst of his own, and charged straight at Wu.
She trapped his slashing sword blade in between her claws of energy, and glared right at him, not flinching. "Well, it's been quite a while since I fought someone who knew the value of focusing on speed."
"I've been wanting to kill you for a very long time." Xenin grinned.
Wu looked like she had something else to say, but she had to twirl out of the stalemate to deal with the guards swarming around her. She sent the nearest ones flying with a foot sweep, then sent another flying across the room in many bloody pieces with a harmonic combo. That caused the rest to hesitate for a bit. In the split second she had to look around, Wu saw the the Empress had already managed to appropriate a sword from one of the foolish guards, and was causing her fair share of damage. The Princess was managing to defend herself, but her movements were shaky, and it was clear that she was very scared. Not that Wu blamed her in the least. Being attacked in your own home was very unsettling, as she knew all too well.
Then she sent one man who closed in flying with a palm to the jaw, then grabbed another to block another sword slash from Xenin. Wu had hoped that the sword would get stuck in the newly dead man's armor, but no such luck. Xenin charged at her with a blindingly quick series of slashes, and she let him back her up into the very center of the room. "All right, that's enough of this." Wu said calmly, and brought her hands together, her fingers forming the sign for a transformation spell. "Jade Golem!!"
"Oh shit." Xenin quickly backed away as the blinding flash of the transformation faded to reveal a hulking figure of stone, almost twenty five feet tall. Wasting no time, the golem immediately swung down with an ax, right at Xenin's head. He blocked with the flat of his blade, both hands on it, and was subsequently hurled back into the wall, where he crumpled down to the floor.
"Great work!" The Empress called over the din of crashing steel. "Now get my daughter out of here, right now!"
The room took on an eerie yellowish glow, then Wu again stood where the golem had been. "What are you talking about?!" She demanded. Several of the guards charged in toward the Empress, weapons raised, and Wu charged forward with another speed boost, sending them all flying with a jumping roundhouse kick. The rest of the guards seemed to be trying to get into a unified line before advancing again.
"You heard me." Lian was looking around the hall, eyes narrowed. "I'll keep them busy here, you two get out, right now!"
"I should be the one to stay!" Wu protested. "You two go!"
The Empress shook her head quickly. "Both of you matter to me more than my own life, but my number one priority is making sure my daughter is safe. As long as she's alive, it doesn't matter what happens to me! Go!!" She charged toward the advancing guards and broke through their line easily, sword dancing through the air many times per second.
Wu looked back the way they had come in, and saw that reinforcements were starting to charge down the hallway, weapons raised. They didn't have much time. She took hold of Wei Ling's arm and started heading up toward the throne. "Are you making that an order?!" She called out.
"You better believe it!" The Empress cried. "Get her away, then get back here and -ugh!- bail me out!"
"Okay!" Wu and the Princess took off in a mad dash toward the throne. Wu had to knock a few guards aside, but there weren't many in the way. Apparently they weren't privy to a very handy secret that she was about to make use of. When they reached the top landing, Wu pressed down on the ornamental dragon head on the throne's right arm, and it quickly slid forward, revealing an opening in the outside wall. She ushered the Princess out, then grabbed a handle on the rear of the throne and slid it back into place.
"Where are we going?" Wei Ling gasped breathlessly, more due to the adrenaline than because she was tired, Wu was sure.
"Flier platform." Wu pointed toward an external platform a few hundred feet away. They sprinted along the heavy stone walkways, eyes scanning for guards the whole time. There were none, except for two watching over the fliers on the platform, and their puzzled expressions as the ladies came running up told Wu that they weren't in on the plan. That Xenin really wasn't all that bright. But then, logic dictated that Xenin couldn't be the mastermind of the plan anyway. Wu still kept a watchful eye on the guards as she slowed to a walk. "Sorry to burst in unannounced, but the Princess will be taking a flier out, right away." She lowered her voice as she turned to Wei Ling. "I assume you know how to fly one of these."
"In theory, yes." The Princess nodded. "But I've never flown one by myself before."
"In theory's good enough." Wu smiled, gesturing for her to get into a model based on the Marvelous Dragonfly. "I'm pretty sure your mother wanted me to go with you, but if I do, the odds are, she's gonna die."
"What?!" The guards crowded close. "The Empress is in danger?!"
Wu ignored them. "Go to Two Rivers and find Tseng. Then the two of you vanish into the wilderness for about a week. By then, we should have this all sewn up!" She clapped the side of the flier as Wei Ling climbed into the pilot's seat, then turned and sprinted back toward the throne room far faster than any human should have been able to run.
Wei Ling flipped the switches and pulled the levers to start up the flier automatically, without really paying attention. She was momentarily torn between flying right back into the throne room or getting away, but with Wu there, the situation shouldn't get too desperate. As the flier lifted off, she turned it so it was pointing toward the southwest, then pulled the lever for the main engine and blasted off.
'Just hide out in the woods for a week? Is that the best plan we can come up with?' She wondered to herself. 'I guess Wu didn't have a whole lot of time to think.' She realized. 'Well, I'll just see if I can improve on it somewhat...' She began running over options in her mind, glad to have something to keep her occupied during the three hour flight to Two Rivers. "Well, there's a story for the grandkids." She remarked to herself. "What did I get on my sixteenth birthday? Oh, an assassination attempt. It was SO much fun..."
.
"This looks like a personal dispute. But if the dog needs to die, so be it." - Sagacious Zu, Jade Empire