閉月羞花
Bì yuè xiū huā
Shut out the moon shame the flowers.
Beauty so great it eclipses the moon and puts flowers to shame.

*~*~*~*~*~*

After we had returned Ermi to her brother, I was beginning to feel tired. I hoped the evening would soon come to an end.

"I'll walk the Second Prince and Ermi out," said Kageyama, turning to me. "Find Sanli so we can return to Chuanfang."

"How?" I asked. "I don't have your nose."

Kageyama sniffed, and pointed to a staircase leading up to a long row of balconies that overlooked the hall and the patio beyond. "I think he's up there somewhere," he said, before turning to follow after Zhangyu and Ermi.

As I was crossing the great hall to the balconies, someone bumped my arm.

"Oh, I'm ever so sorry," said the girl who had bumped me. Red vine wine from the glass she had been holding had sloshed all over my shawl and dress.

I looked down. Although my dress had only received a little of the splatter, and was red in addition, the shawl was ruined.

I took it off and beckoned to a servant. "Here, you may have this. Aside from the stain, it is good quality." I turned to go.

"I would be happy to buy you a new one," the girl who had bumped me said, doing her best to contain laughter. I looked her over. She wore a gown of extremely fine-looking silk in egg shell blue. Although I did not recognize her, a little way away, in the group of women she had been standing and talking with, I recognized my pink enemy, the youngest daughter of the Fa family. No doubt this was, indirectly, her doing.

I wondered if she had contributed to making Ermi cry as well.

"That is very kind of you," I said, stepping toward the girl who had spilled wine on me, smiling. "But I have many more shawls." My eyes were on the girl in peach silk as I spoke. "You should be careful, though. It looks like when we bumped, I must have ripped your dress."

"Where?" asked the girl in surprise, looking down.

"Here," I said. I took one of my beringed hands and brought it swiftly across her side. The sharp fitting of one of my rings caught the fine silk of her dress, ripping a long gash in the side.

The girl gasped in dismay and clutched her side to cover up the hole. I laughed, looking up to see the Fa girl in peach silks and the others watching. I smiled at them, my most ferocious smile, imagining my mouth full of sharp teeth, then turned and walked away, bare shouldered.

Following the kitsune's instructions, I climbed the stairs. Sure enough, I found Sanli on one of the balconies overlooking the terrace below and the ocean beyond. He sat on the ground, propped against a huge vase that contained an arrangement of pristine flowers all made from colored, shaped glass.

A near empty bottle of wine was beside him, and his cheeks were flushed.

"Drinking alone again Prince Sanli? How melancholic."

He looked up as I approached. "I'm hiding from all the unmarried women."

"You like your independence that much? Or is the prospect of marriage so repellant to you?" I said, stopping before him and leaning back on the stone balustrade.

"Both. And as you are not married, I hardly think you can lecture me." He brought one hand holding the wine cup to his lips and then tilted it back, downing the wine.

"I was married, once," I said, smirking down at the drunken prince.

"You were?" The surprise was clear on his face. He set down his cup.

"I was," I confirmed solemnly. "It may surprise you to know I am a widow."

Sanli laughed, then looked apologetic. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to...I just can't believe it. Why were you married? Who were you married to?"

For once, perhaps because of the drink, or perhaps because of his surprise, the little prince's mask was down. I chose to indulge him. "To a fisherman I met. And do I need a reason?"

"A fisherman? I.... why did you choose him? A woman like you could have any man she wanted."

"He told me I was beautiful morning and night and kept me fed. Are there better reasons to be with someone?"

Sanli turned away from me then, picking up the bottle to pour more wine into his cup. "To pledge to spend your life with someone... I think it would take a love so great, you cannot exist without them..." he said, and drank.

"Oh my, Lord Sanli. You are quite sentimental, aren't you? Who'd have thought?"

Sanli smiled wryly and looked away. My having been married had surprised him, and I could tell he was disconcerted at not having the upper hand in our conversation.

His wine had run out, and, unsteadily, Sanli stood, smoothing out his ornate court robes and coming to lean beside me. Side by side we looked down at the moon on the ocean below.

When Sanli turned toward me again, his smiling, flirtatious mask was back in place. "He told you you were beautiful morning and night, did he?" He nodded to the moon, still tinged a faint pink from the haze of summer. "Beauty so bright, the moon blushes."

"You will have to try harder than that, my prince. Another man paid me nearly the same compliment not an hour earlier."

Sanli frowned. "Another man. Who? Not Zhangyu, surely... Sho Sensei?" he said, laughing at the impossibility of it.

"Why don't you give me a compliment to put the other clean out of my head, and then it won't matter who it was, will it?"

Sanli smiled seductively, and reached his arm around and past me, leaning close. I stilled, thinking he was about to embrace me, then I heard a snap, and he leaned back, one of the glass flowers from the vase held in his hand.

He held it up to the moon. The light shone through the glass, a mixture of many different colors, all whirling together to create a multicolored approximation of a flower.

"In shame,
The flower hides its head.
It cannot compare
To a single one of her blushes."

Then he leaned forward to tuck the flower behind my ear. I went to take it from him, but he shooed my hand away, saying the glass was sharp. As he came close, I smelled the alcohol on his breath.

I recalled the last time we had been alone, and he had drunk too much wine, while on the rooftop in Mengxiang, and what had nearly happened between us.

When Sanli finished he stepped back, the tip of his finger brushing softly against the lobe of my ear as he withdrew his hand.

"Not bad," I said. "But I don't much care for flowers."

Sanli laughed outright. "I pity your husband. You are difficult to please. What do you care for then?"

"Hmmmm, I wonder? Green eyes, perhaps?"

Sanli's eyes, his green eyes, widened slightly as he understood my invitation. He leaned toward me and placed one finger under my chin, tilting my face to meet his own.

"Eyes like mine, Lady Four Strings?" he asked, voice low.

"Well, what do you know," I said. "They are green." I moved closer.

Our mouths were mere fragments apart, and I could almost taste the wine on his warm breath, when the sky above the sea exploded into fire.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

We both jerked apart, surprised. The fireworks continued, indifferent to what they had interrupted.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM-BOOM.

After the initial large explosions, a shower of white sparks shot up from a barge out on the sea, like the spout of a whale come up for air. It was soon followed by more, a whole family of whales surfacing to breathe sparks.

Guests from the hall, hearing the noise, flooded on the patio like flowers pulled by a current. Their oohs and ahhs mixed with the crackling of sparks.

I turned, Sanli forgotten, to enjoy the scene. I breathed deep, enjoying the smells of sulfur and gunpowder that came with the fireworks. A second round of large rockets shot up from the barges with a hiss, exploding into flowers of gold, silver, and pink. The flowers budded, bloomed and then melted into the sea, like chrysanthemums shedding their petals.

Sanli leaned against the rail beside me, sighing. We watched the fireworks together with the crowd below. With each new shape and color, each explosion, the exclamations of the crowd grew, building in crescendo, in anticipation, for what would come next.

I shivered in excitement.

"You are cold," said Sanli. I was about to deny it, but the prince had already removed the overcoat of his robes and draped it around my shoulders. It was warm against my bare skin.

As he went to fix the collar, the prince leaned close to my ear—

"Burning flowers bloom and fade
From a distance
The dragon watches fire
And longs for the sea."

My heart beat, once, twice. So strong my chest ached. Oh. Oh my.

I turned to Sanli. In the exploding light of the fireworks, I caught flashes of his face, in different shades of color. The prince was watching me, a faint smile on his lips. I couldn't tell if he was wearing his mask or not. Was he sincere? Was he playing his games?

Really, what did it matter?

"Was that more to your liking?" asked Sanli with satisfaction, reading the answer on my face.

I stepped toward him, closing the space between us. Grabbing the front of his robes with one hand, I brought his mouth down onto mine.

Sanli stiffened in surprise, then reciprocated, bringing both arms around me and running his hands up and down my back lightly, as though longing to draw me in, but fearful of being too close. His lips, his tongue, all of him tasted of the wine, burning, but with faint hints of sweetness.

I had had many kisses in my life before tonight, and I would have many more after. Yet somehow, perhaps because of the fireworks, perhaps because of the sharp taste of wine, I knew this kiss would always be emblazoned, vividly, in my memory.

We broke apart, breathing heavily, though the kiss had not been that long. The smells of sulfur and the cries of the crowd below suddenly came back into focus.

A throat cleared behind us. "Excuse this humble soul." We both turned, to see a servant in Guang Han's livery standing there. "Lord Guang has requested to speak with Lady Yunyou."

I felt Sanli's arm snake about my shoulders, still covered in his overcoat. "Lady Yunyou and I were just about to leave. Perhaps Lord Guang can call on her at Chaunfang tomorrow, if he needs to speak with her."

"No," I said, surprising myself. "I will see Lord Guang first."

Sanli withdrew his arm. I peeled off his overcoat and returned it to him. He looked at me, strangely. Then, mask firmly back in place, said: "Fine. Sho Sensei and I will wait for you in the hall."

*~*~*~*~*~*

As I followed the servant through the halls of Guang's manner, the sinking feeling in my stomach grew.

I already knew what Guang wished to speak to me about. I had suspected earlier, when he had looked so pointedly at Zhangyu while claiming he wanted a name with more... color. Later, when Ermi had told me Guang Han had purposefully sought her out to talk to her, my suspicion was all but confirmed.

He seeks to marry the little princess.

So, I tried to tell myself, the feeling of dread in my stomach was misplaced. It was not me the dragon was hunting.

It was strange though, when I thought on it, the feeling in my stomach had started from even before the servant summoned me to Guang Han. In fact, I believed it had dropped sometime during the fireworks, and hadn't risen since then. Odd.

The servant led me to set of wooden doors made of smooth wood polished to a sheen. He knocked, pushed open one of the doors and announced my presence, then bowed me into the room and shut the door behind me.

I was alone in the room with Guang Han.

The man, or rather the dragon, leaned upon a large wooden cartography table at the far end of the room, watching me as I entered. His relaxed languid posture seemed to be his customary pose, as though he was reclining on a rock to feel the sun on his scales. A creature of leisure.

I did my best to appear calm, looking at the room around me with pretended interest. It was a study, the shelves lined with books and globes and roles of parchment, no doubt maps. Several were spread on a nearby table, and as I passed by, I saw they were maps not of the land, but of the sea, depicting its trenches and currents, and making notes of what dalong claimed where as their territory.

I'll bet he has to avoid our kind, I thought with satisfaction. After all he did.

A mural on one wall caught my eye. Painted in vivid strokes, two great dragons were locked in combat. One was cobalt blue, the other was blood red. I noticed the blue scaled dragon had six claws. Around them the sea roiled and churned with the dragon's thrashing.

I felt Guang Han come up behind me. "It's how I lost my eye," he said, noticing my interest. "The Six Clawed one may have taken my eye, but I managed to drive him from the sea, saving what was left of my kind."

Liar. "Oh my, how selfless of you," I said. Not willing to give him my back, I turned to face him.

I studied the man before me. Guang Han looked much as he had looked all those centuries ago, on the island. Dragons can vary to a degree the human form they take, but most don't bother. Why hide who you are?

His face was still the same, all sharp angles and smug smile. The rough scraggle of his beard had been subdued somewhat since that day on the island, and his skin was paler, less tanned, no doubt in keeping with human fashions. I had not known him well before, but I had always suspected he was quite vain.

The biggest difference, of course, to how he had looked before, was that now he was down to one eye. Hah. Unfortunately, as the woman had laughed earlier, the roguish quality of the eyepatch added a good deal to his attraction.

He really was a handsome man. It was a shame he had tried to kill me.

"Lady Yunyou, thank you for taking the time to speak with me," Guang Han said. He was standing no more than an arm's length from me, single rust brown eye fixed on my face. I felt gooseflesh spring up across my arms.

"It is my honor," I simpered.

"I'll get to the point. I have a proposition for you," he said, tucking one hand into the front of the silk jacket he now wore over the top of his pajamas. "I have entered into negotiations with the Green Throne to marry your charge, the young princess."

"Oh my," I said in mock surprise. "What happy news."

Guang Han took a step nearer to me, and I had to fight every instinct to keep from taking a step back. "I know the power a maid like you can have on a young girl like Lady Ermi. Put my name in her ear, let her dream of me. I'll take care of the rest."

"Oh, but my lord," I dithered, playing the fool. "I worry I do not hold so much influence on the young princess as you suppose."

Guang Han frowned. "She talked of you ceaselessly earlier." He raised one arching eyebrow. "You do not seem the type of woman who is content to remain quietly on the side. Help me woo the princess, and I will make sure you are rewarded well. Comfort, prestige, power, money, it can all be yours."

"I will see what I can do, my Lord," I intended to do exactly nothing. "If that is all...?"

"It is. You may go."

I turned to leave, but Guang Han reached out a hand, the same hand that had nearly ripped my heart out, and caught my wrist.

"I trust you will keep this conversation a secret?" he said.

"Of course, my Lord."

He stroked my wrist with his thumb. "You are a very beautiful woman, Lady Yunyou." He said, smiling. Then he frowned. "Have we met before?"

"I'm sure a man like you has met many beautiful women."

"You didn't answer my question," he replied, tone slipping from playful to something more dangerous. His grip on my wrist tightened.

"I would remember meeting a man such as yourself," I said, smiling.

Guang Han's grip tightened further. And then it loosened. Quickly, I excused myself, slipping from the study and shutting the door behind me.

My steps accelerated as I made my way back to the main hall, silk slippers rapping faster and faster on the stone. I couldn't shake the feeling of the dragon's single eye following me through the walls.

Back in the great hall it was easy to find the prince and Kageyama, as the guests had thinned considerably. The two men were over on the sofas where Ermi and I had sat earlier, with all the other charming noble women. A few of the women were still present.

As I came closer, I saw a vision in peach silk was sitting beside Sanli, laughing at everything the prince said. As I watched, my prince leaned close, too close for propriety, and whispered something in the Fa girl's ear, causing her to blush and laugh lightly.

The flirt.

Sanli saw me approach, and greeted me loudly. He was undoubtedly drunk at this point. "Lady Yunyou. Did you enjoy talking to Lord Guang?"

"I did," I replied. "I hope you weren't bored waiting, my Prince."

Sanli laughed loudly and gestured. "How could I be, when surrounded by such beauty." The women around him tittered. "Right, Sho Sensei?"

Kageyama, sat on a sofa on his own, stifled a yawn in reply.

"This lovely flower beside me is Fa Ma'Ling," said Sanli. "Have you had the pleasure to meet, Lady Yunyou?"

"Briefly," I said. My peach nemesis had a name. Fa Ma'Ling. Our eyes met. Fa Ma'Ling inclined her head to me in greeting, face pleasantly benign. My look was anything but.

I sat down across the pond of mechanical fish from Sanli and the Fa girl. The other two girls on the sofa ignored me, whispering to each other, and so I found myself with nothing to do but watch Sanli. My eyes drifted to his lips. I wondered if they still tasted of wine, or if the taste had faded.

Sanli caught me watching him, and leaned closer to Fa Ma'Ling to breathe something in her ear that made her blush and laugh. I wondered if he was reciting poems for her as well, and what the topic was.

Suddenly I was too tired for the prince and his games. I turned my eyes to the pond and its mechanical inhabitants. I thought over the events of the evening.

I wondered what to do about Guang Han and his intentions toward Ermi. I did not like the girl, but I did not wish her unhappiness. And Guang Han would definitely bring her that. In addition, I had no desire to see Guang Han achieve his goals. I knew though, that if I did not help him, he would find another way to get to Ermi. I had to think up a way to foil his plans beyond recovery.

And then, in a flash, like lightning on the sea, an idea came to me. An idea so terrible, so reckless, I would have to be half-mad to try and attempt it. So of course I would. I laughed out loud.

"Something amusing, Lady Yunyou?" Fa Ma'Ling asked brightly, as though she had real interest.

"Why, it's just.... Lord Guang swore me to secrecy, but I'm afraid I cannot contain such happy news." I said my words loudly, so all present could hear.

"What news?" frowned Kageyama, perking up.

"Lord Guang has proposed marriage!" I cried, trying my best to look giddy and excited.

"To whom?" several women in the circle chorused, the need to know alive on their faces.

"To whom?" I said, and paused. All eyes were on me, including a set of green ones.

"To whom?" I repeated. I smiled. "Why, to me, of course."

*~*~*~*~*~*