63. Reunited

Meanwhile Yan had ridden as hard as he could to reach the capital and return to Qi mansion. He quickly leapt from his horse and threw the reins to one of the guards. He heard one of them call him, but he paid then no head and ran into the mansion, running to one of her favorite places to sit. One of Su's maids was cleaning away some teacups when Yan ran up the step to Su's pavilion. "Your Highness."

"Where is my wife?" Yan asked, hardly looking at the maid, instead looking around and over the gardens surrounding the pavilion and looking towards their bedroom on the other side of the garden. "The princess left to go to the palace." Yan swiveled around and repeated: "To the palace?" The maid nodded adding: "An imperial maid came to deliver a letter from the emperor, asking the Princess to come to the palace." Quickly Yan turned and ran back to the main gate. The guard was still holding the reins, he handed them to Yan and while his master climbed back on to his horse, the guard asked whether they had to keep the coachman detained. "The coachman? Why was he detained?"

"The princess ordered that the coachman had to be detained." The guard explained.

"Then keep him detained, we will discuss this when we get back." The guard bowed and returned to his place next to the entry gate. Yan turned his horse but just as he wanted to ride, someone else called out: "Prince Qi! Urgent message." Yan looked up at the sky and forced himself to calm down and face the messenger. To his surprise he saw that the messenger came from Beirong. The young man came to a halt in front of Yan's horse and handed Yan a letter. "Thank you. I'll read it later. You can rest here, my staff will take good care of you." Yan turned to the guards at the gate and made sure they knew this man was welcome. "Your Highness is too kind. But prince Shuomo ordered me to remain with you until you read the letter. He says it's urgent, it's about the mark of Xuan." Mumbling something under his breath Yan quickly opened the letter, he read it quickly and understood why he needed to read it immediately. Yan folded the letter and once more told the servant to rest. Suddenly remembering something Yan turned to his guards and asked where Fei Yuan was. The guard told Yan that he was away to get herbs for an ailing horse. "Tell him to go to the palace when he returns." That was the last Yan said, he rode off at high speed to get to the palace as soon as possible.

At the palace Su had finished her story and then felt a new contraction coming up. She reached out to find something to hold on to or lean on. The emperor stepped forward and clasped his hands around her forearms, giving Su the support she needed, that's how Yan found them. He had ran up to the courtroom and briskly opened the doors, he hadn't paid any attention to the officials. When he saw his wife hunched over, holding on to his brother, Yan at first felt relieve at finding Su and then he worried because he could see she was in pain. He walked to his brother and wife and took the place of his brother, prying Su's hand from his brother's forearm and replacing his brothers hand on her forearm with his own. Su didn't look up, but she did notice the chance in the support she got, the hands felt more familiar, the pressure more assured. "Zhi?" she asked. "I'm here Jian." Yan replied calmly. "Hmm." Su mumbled in acknowledgement. Yan could see she was only focused on herself, so he looked to his side, to his brother, who understood what Yan needed. "She came here with a letter which was brought to her by a young woman disguised as an imperial maid. She's had these episodes like this since then."

"The letter was a trap." Yan stated, once again focusing on Su, he noticed that she didn't lean as heavily anymore.

"How do you know?"

"I was called away because someone had painted the mark of Zuan on a weaponry. When I got there the guards were killed and a text had been added. It read: Where is the Princess Qi?" Su sighed deeply and finally straightened up, looking into Yan's worried eyes, he saw understanding and nervousness in her eyes. "We'll deal with that after Su had give birth. Let me take you home." Yan shifted and slid his arm around Su's shoulder and held her other hand. Though Su didn't like the thought of having to travel home, not now these contractions became more intense and more swiftly every time she had one, she did turn to walk out of the courtroom. Then the emperor spoke up: "My royal brother, stay here in the palace. My sister-in-law will suffer three or four more episodes like this before you reach the gate. I think it will be too uncomfortable for her to travel back." He turned to where eunuch Liu was standing: "Eunuch Liu, have the maids prepare the bedchamber in the empresses rooms. Also have lady Xie be brought here and escort the maids of the Princess Qi who are waiting outside to the bedchamber."

"The empresses rooms?! But your majesty, only the empress is allowed to enter those." Eunuch Liu protested.

"Since my mother moved out of them, they've remained empty. An occupant for those rooms will not be found shortly, they can therefore be used. They will give the princess the most privacy. Carry out my orders." The strict tone told everyone opposition was futile. Yan vowed to his brother. "Thank you, your majesty."

"You're my brother, don't stand on ceremony." The emperor said quickly, he once more looked at Su, who had her free hand over her belly. "Su's my sister-in-law and the child she's carrying is and imperial prince or princess."

"Thank you brother-in-law." Su said quietly, she was really grateful they could stay here and she wouldn't have to suffer through the journey in the sedan. "Maybe you should sit down while we wait for them to get the room ready." Yan suggested, he could see Su was tired. Su nodded and slowly Yan guided her to a chair to the side of the room. Before he could hep her sit down, he felt her squeeze his hand tightly, he turned so he was standing in front of her and saw that she was again focused on herself solely. Su reached out to him for support and he held out his hands. Su placed her hands on his forearms and he closed his around her forearms. He could see she was in pain and she bent forwards more, leaning more heavily on his arms, her hands starting to squeeze his forearms, which each passing moment she leaned heavier and squeezed harder. Somehow Yan knew not to talk during this moment, seeing her complete focus Yan wondered whether Su would even hear him. It was also surprising to Yan how much strength Su had. He knew she was strong, but he actually had to push back to make sure Su would remain standing and he was fairly sure his forearms would be bruised quite heavily. He watched her closely and saw how she eventually started to relax and then finally straightened up and looked into his face. "I think we had better start walking to the empresses rooms." The emperor suggested and Yan nodded. He didn't waste time, bend and picked Su up so he could carry her in his arms. Su buried her head in his neck, trying to relax and rest. But even with Yan carrying her it still took quite some time to reach the empresses bedroom, because every few minutes Su would get a contraction and requested to be stood on the ground with Yan again opposite her as her support.

The bedroom was prepared and palace maids were present to help Su undress and get in the bed. Her own maids stood in the middle. Rushuang hadn't arrive yet, but as the contractions were getting closer it seemed best to undress and lay down on the bed. There was a nervous energy coming from the palace maids as they all started to do their tasks, which to Su was very overwhelming. She was already dealing with the contractions and the unknown of giving birth, this extra activity with maids trying to untie strings and remove jewelry and headpieces was too much. So when the maids also tried to get her husband to leave Su grasped his arm even harder. "No, please. Yan please don't go. You can help me with my own maids. Please help me." Yan saw the panic in SU's eye, a panic he only ever saw when she became overwhelmed. He'd seen it before and he never wanted to see it again. Su still held his arm, feeling a new contraction coming up and suddenly she knew clearly what she wanted: silence and the support and love of her husband. Already feeling the need to bend over to alleviate the worst of the contraction of the muscles Su said through almost clenched teeth: "Everyone please leave. Only my husband and my own maids can stay. The rest, please wait outside, if we need something we'll call you." The emperor who had remained with them saw hesitation with the palace maids, so he spoke up: "Take Princess consort Qi's order as my order. Wait outside until you've been called." Then he came to stand next to Yan who was already supporting Su as she suffered through another contraction.

"I know my sister-in-law only does health checks with lady Xie, but I'm going to call the imperial physician and the old lady who was a midwife for mother. They can help until Lady Xie arrives." Yan didn't take his eyes of Su, but he did thank his brother.

"I'm going to deal with the officials and the fake palace maid, after that I will return." Su didn't notice anything but Yan did see his brother leave them and then he quickly turned his focus back on his beloved wife.

Author note: I've mirrored Su's experience of labor on my own. When I was pregnant with my first I had wanted to give birth in the hospital, however the labor was so swift that I was already almost ready to give birth and the idea of moving from my own bed to somewhere else was horrifying to me (not even taking into account I would have to be driven to the hospital). I specifically remember asking whether I had to get dressed and really couldn't wrap my head around how I would be able to do that. So my daughter was born at home. And I was so thankful there were only three people around me, when I see series with a labouring woman surrounded by many people I just can't imagine dealing with that kind of energy while also dealing with the business of giving birth. Similarly I have such clear recollections of only being able to focus on the contraction, especially when they are getting intense, that I wanted to include that (funnily enough during the first few light contractions I was very clear and level headed on what needed to be done: check time in between and call when five minutes apart, imagine my horror when my husband told me they had jumped from 7 minutes to 4 minutes in one go during my first pregnancy!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the story. Please let me know.