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Though the princesses were the closest thing Yue had to children, the Empress did find it something that could only ever fulfill her halfway. They were not the heirs to the dynasty, but they were Shenlei’s prides and joys – there were bonds between blooded family that Yue would never know. She couldn’t possibly understand. Her own clan, her own parents, had lived a thousand miles away once she had been married. Now, the empress supposed they were an entire universe away.

Yue hadn’t been a part of a nuclear family for a long time.

She made the best of things, and took her familial pleasures where she could. Sending night-walking younglings to bed was the responsibility of a true mother, so here, she had no such obligation. Yue smiled and sighed, allowing Fen’s affirmations to wash over her. It felt good, to feel as if everything in life was so secure, even if just for a moment.

It was the blessing of the youth, to be able to think in such a way.

Yue did not have the heart to tell the girl that her reality was due to shift entirely at least twice more in her life: when she became married, and when she produced offspring. It served no one to dwell on such things, especially not now, when reality was so subsumed with the vicissitudes of the times. Of course this was not the time, not when the girl’s mother was still missing.

Still, Yue smiled, inspired by Fen’s inner assuredness that Mei would arise from the darkness of the worlds before. The orchid herself desired very much for the woman to join them, as she suffered a great responsibility for Shenlei’s happiness. There was a small sliver of Yue’s consciousness that would find a way to survive should she not appear.

Yue smiled, certain the dark was obscuring her emotions. I see. Yue sighed. I do hope you see one another soon, the empress expressed, her voice the smallest prayer of hope for a different future; one where Fen did not have to mourn her mother, and where Shen did not have to pine away for a great love lost. He needed to stay strong, if he was to rebuild the dynasty. Yue could be his strength – but she had never seen him heartbroken before.

She didn’t know if she could survive that.

We will be moving soon, she then said, knowing this from the feel of winter’s oncoming frost on the tips of the wind, more than the Emperor’s own words. She began to wonder aloud. What could lie beyond this morass? The woman sat, then decided to lie on the earth in repose, her forelegs crossed quite elegantly, demonstrating that she was keen on staying a while. Is there anything you’ve ever hoped to see?

For two women whose future was predestined, this might be their only chance to see what lay beyond their own great walls.

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