The Last Dahlia

025

While the princess had a tearful reunion with her prince, Yuehwa chose to skip stones in the imperial gardens, a plate of chicken bones by her side as she washed it down with some of the top quality wine she had pilfered from the kitchens—again. By now, the head of the royal kitchens was convinced that there was a ghost in his kitchen because he couldn't for the life of him find the culprit. He set up an altar at the kitchen entrance to ward against the spirits—his food continued vanishing.

She counted the number of days since she had returned to Gi, tossing one stone out for each day. "—fifty-nine, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-three," she recited out loud, throwing out her final stone. It skipped five times across the water surface before sinking into the depths of the pond. "Sixty-three days." And still no sign of him.

Naying was well on the mend, and based on her own estimations the princess would be fully recovered within another ten days or so. When that day came, her job would be considered done and her debt to the princess could be written off for good.

The good thing about being in the palace was that she could get first-hand news of any political upheavals taking place across the kingdoms. Every morning while the king was addressing his ministers in the grand hall, she would laze about on the rooftop, eavesdropping through a carefully removed roof tile. She learnt about all the details of the war between Gi and Jin, and the suspicions of the Gi court towards the alliance with Dahai; she learnt of the drought that had struck the western border of the kingdom and the dilemma of dividing funds between drought relief efforts and the ongoing military campaign; she learnt of how the king would listen to all of these reports with disinterest, even falling asleep halfway on several occasions. But for sixty-three days, she heard nothing of the situation in Feng. As far as the Gi court was aware, business was as usual in the neighbouring kingdom.

"Where do you think he is now, Ember?" she asked her feathered friend. "What do you reckon he's doing?"

Aren't you tired of asking me that question? the bird replied testily. Who knows, maybe he's in some brothel somewhere with one girl in each arm, thanking his lucky stars that he rid himself of you.

Yuehwa laughed. "Ember, you're getting old. You already used that one two days ago."

I know, but it's not easy coming up with sixty-three different witty replies. If Shoya didn't show up soon, he figured he would be annoyed to death by Yuehwa's repetitive questions. Where are we headed after this? he asked. Perhaps when Yuehwa had something more to entertain herself with, she would spend less time thinking about the one that got away—and she would stop asking him useless questions.

Before she could answer him, a voice interrupted their conversation.

"You came back."

Yuehwa groaned. She knew that this moment was unavoidable, but one could hope. Turning around, she plastered on her brightest fake smile, though her eyes were hardly smiling along. "Look who's back from gobbling up someone else's land. I hope you didn't suffer from indigestion," she said.

Baixun chuckled, sitting himself down on the grass beside her. "I think my appetite is far better than that," he replied. "I've only just gotten started. Thank you, for finding the cure for Naying. Where did you find it?"

"Feng. We managed to find the golden chrysanthemum, an ingredient that's capable of curing any poison. It was only supposed to be a legend, but I suppose some legends are actually real."

"We?" Baixun raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't think I would have known to go looking for the golden chrysanthemum if I didn't have any help, did you?"