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The woman was refined, with a type of grace that Yue deeply appreciated. She spoke softly, in common and then in another tongue – one that registered within the Empress’s mind, like a key that unlocked a hidden, unvisited corridor of a library. The language rushed to fill her, and the woman’s face held an endearing expression that desired to pry for more.
She introduced herself as a lady, bestowing the appropriate honors – perhaps not as expressly as the Empress had become used to, but it is perhaps made sweeter by the swirling floral miasma that had whipped up around them. The clan she spoke of was unknown, and the name sounded as names did when they came across the great waters.
So, she was foreign – but in these new lands, so was Yue.
"I am Téng Yuè, cherished visitor," the pale orchid returned the introduction and then dug at the point. "How may I help you, Lady Kaede?" There were many things that one could assume from another by scent and sight alone, but what good would that do when the Empress could glean words directly from her own lips, with their own description of truth and fantasy?
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