To Make You Mine

Spring Is Not Long

The next day when the sky hasn't cleared yet from its slumber of dark night, the east is barely a hue of red, a procession of imperial guards lead by general Nie, followed by the crown prince and his personal troup of guards, empress Sanren riding on an open carriage with her personal guards and maids and a flock of palace maids all dressed in white mourning garb proceeded towards the imperial ancestral burial ground - The Burial Mounds. 

The mood of the procession is solemn, other than the hooves of horses connecting with the pavement, occasional cricking of carriages, and hushed foot steps of foot soldiers and maids there is no other significant noise from the group. 

The people of Yiling are queued along the road leading towards the Burial Mounds. They kowtowed once the horse of the crown prince and carriage of the dowager empress came into view. 

Slowly but steadily the procession reached the Imperial Burial ground, from there only The crown prince, dowager empress, both of their respective personal bodyguards and general Nie along with the priests would climb the mound. The others are to wait for them at the feet of the mound. 

Judging the solemn affair, the nature has also traded the cheerful sunlight to the dark stormy clouds. A hazy gray color clocking the atmosphere. 

The small group start to climb by feet to reach the grave of former emperor Wei. 

They reach the grave, and the priests soon started some ritual which didn't take much time. The dowager empress and the crown prince knelt infront of the tomb, they light some incense kowtowed, offer plates of fruits flowers and spill cup cull of wine across the grave as is custom. 

When Wei Wuxian gets up from his kneeling position he can literally feel a sense of heavy duty lying on his shoulders, but he also felt a warm hand squeezing his right shoulder - just the way his father used to do. Whenever Wei Wuxian made his father proud he'd squeeze his right shoulder with utmost affection and pride and smile a soft smile to him. He'd say, "a-Xian! You made me so happy and proud my son!". He was not a man of many words but his affection was sincere and open. 

Remembering this tear pools in Wei Wuxian's eyes, since the day his father was murdered he hadn’t spilt a single drop of tear. But today, kneeling infront of his father's tomb, remembering his soft smile ans warm feeling of hand over his shoulder he just cannot control himself. He stayed kneeling, his head hung low, hands fists the robes in death grip and stream of tears run over his cheeks, he cries silently, only evident from the way his shoulders shook. A sudden sob tore through his throat, making him to cover his mouth with one hand.

 The empress was crying also, just like her son, her grief is silent. She envelopes her son in warm hug, her tears wetting the left side of the crown prince's robes. A large arm of Wei Wuxian snaked around to embrace his mother in an one arm hug. 

The priests and guards all divert their eyes from the scene infront of them, giving the two grieving souls some semblance of privacy. Thankfully there weren't many onlookers, even if there were none of the royals couldn't care less. 

They had to manage an image of perfection infront of their people, their happiness or surprises are suppressed, so is their grief. But at the end they are also human, the untimely death of Emperor Wei Chnagze is embedded like a broken shard in both of their hearts, it bleeds as much painfully as of any other person. So here, in this holy sanctuary long gone ancestors, they can cry! 

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The procession comes back to the palace when the sun is descending in the west. 

Everyone who accompanied the imperial family on the journey are dismissed for the night, and others are told to prepare accordingly for tomorrow, as tomorrow is the most important day, "The Coronation Day".