豈曰無衣、與子同袍。
王于興師、脩我戈矛、與子同仇。

How shall it be said that you have no clothes?
I will share my long robes with you.
The king is raising his forces;
I will prepare my lance and spear,
And will be your comrade.

***

The first day Xiān Chí searched the entire building. With every room it became more and more clear that though it might have one day been a palace, it was now only used as a prison. The windows were blocked, there was only one way in and one way out.

The big, solid, door Xiān Chí had been pushed through the previous day was the only way to escape the palace. The only way in, and out.

Last night she hadn't been able to see all the details. But now she noticed there was a small, too small for a grown woman to crawl through, a hatch one could presumably shove food through for the prisoner.

This in fact happened a few hours later. Far later than Xiān Chí would have liked, her stomach empty and disgruntled being denied its regular meal schedule. Through the bars on the windows she could see that it was getting dark outside, though the moon was yet to be seen.

A maid appeared on the foot pad leading to the palace, in her hands a small plate with hopefully a meal on it. The maid didn't react when Xiān Chí thanked her, nor when asked if she would be there in the morning too. The food was shoved unceremoniously through the hatch and the maid was off once more, without checking if the prisoner had noticed her arrival.

Xiān Chí didn't dare worry too much about what was going to happen. If the Empress had wanted her dead, she wouldn't have been locked up here. So surely they would keep her fed and look after her basic needs, beside of course freedom.

The food wasn't that bad either. It was clearly older, and unwanted, but it didn't taste bad. It simply didn't look all too well, but Xiān Chí didn't either so that shouldn't matter.

After a day of searching an old house her once pristine clothes were covered in dust and other less savoury substances. If she had found something substantial, Xiān Chí wouldn't have cared too much, but as of now she hadn't found anything. Her clothes were a good reflection of her life; bad, but if cared for it could turn for the better.

The only thing that had given her a sliver of hope was the old rusted key she had found on the table. It was too old to fit in any lock within the palace, though that place was already ancient. That was beside the fact that the only lock available to her was the big wooden door, and Xiān Chí had already checked that.

But it was hope, something she would certainly need in this situation.

This key was everything she could dare wish for in the moment. A way out, how unlikely it might be, was better than nothing at all.

***

It became clear awfully soon, that having hope might actually be worse than having none at all.

It made one believe there was a way out. That there was still a change for redemption, while there was none.

The scone day Xiān Chí had been locked up had been spent once more searching the entire building for anything that could help her escape. Again she found nothing of significance and confirmed her initial suspicion that the key had no lock to unlock.

That night when her only meal of the day arrived once more, she had felt restless. The fire burning inside her still bright and warm. She hadn't accomplished anything new that day, but she had been busy. And surely they wouldn't keep her locked up there forever.

The third day she sat at the table tinkering with all the scarps she had found.

The fourth she searched all the walls from top to bottom for a nook to break through.

The fifth she laid on her sleeping mat, in the vague wish that if she tried hard enough she might fall asleep again.

The sixth, the seventh, the eight, the nineteenth day, she tried again and again to not lose hope.

To not forget where she once came from. To not forget Jīn Sù's face, the place she came from. The person that she used to be.

Every day she meditated for hours in an attempt to burn time, but it worked less and less as she was unable to physically exhaust her body in anyway.

And as the weeks became months, became a year and then two, her hope slowly disappeared.

***

It was evening when the maid who used to bring Xiān Chí her meal was late. She sat by the window and gazed over the path surrounded by the peony trees. During the spring and summer she had enjoyed watching the blossoms grow and flutter down to lay on the path, making it a sea of pink

Now that Autumn had arrived, the trees were saddening empty. A few flowers still lingering at the place they were born, but it wouldn't be too long before they too would join their siblings in flight.

She used to walk outside beneath those trees from dusk till dawn with Jīn Sù at her side. Wondering at the beauty of nature was in its simplicity.

Now she had been inside, like she had been for months before and would be for many months to come. Her skin had lost all its colour it had gained while working outside under the blazing sun. Now a ghastly pale, befitting the lady they made her up to be.

Her hand softly caressed the window, following the lines of the trees she so longed to touch for real. Her strength had left her long ago, including the while to hammer against the bars of her prison in a feeble attempt to escape.

That was when she still had hope. Something she had lost and knew better than to think she would regain.

No one would come for her, no one would speak up for her.

Jīn Sù was dead.

Why would she bother to attempt to return?

The key in her pocket was her only defiance. Xiān Chí had been unable to truly let go of the key. They only piece of her prison that made little sense.

She didn't dare to throw it away. What if one day someone would come to her door and she would need it to escape.

What if, what if.

The key was the embodiment of her prison and her unattainable freedom. It was a mockery she was unable to escape from. Like she was unable to escape from the rhythm of every day.

She would stand up, wash, sit by the window and wait. It was stupid to believe that would change one day when it had stayed unchanged for so long already.

Her fingers traced the elaborate curls of the key as she waited for her meal.

It had been the first thing in many months that was different than usual, normally the maid was very punctual and had never been this late before.

That was when a decidedly male person appeared around the corner. An eunuch in elaborate robes carrying a plate Xiān Chí was very familiar with.

A plate that captured her attention so well that Xiān Chí didn't even look at the eunuch's face till he was standing right in front of the window and knocked on it before shoving the plate through the hatch. He was still waiting there when Xiān Chí arrived to retrieve the plate.

He laid on his belly on the ground, his robes splayed over the grass, a smile stressing over his face.

"Xiān Chí ! Finally, you don't want to know how long I have been looking for you."

Chéng Tù gazed up at Xiān Chí from the ground, his hand reaching through the hatch to catch her own.

***

豈曰無衣、與子同裳。
王于興師、脩我甲兵、與子偕行。

How shall it be said that you have no clothes?
I will share my lower garments with you.
The king is raising his forces;
I will prepare my buffcoat and sharp weapons,
And will march along with you.

Fragments of《無衣 - Wu Yi》 Odes of Qin