༻❁༺

---

Yue had half-expected the man to yield to her prodding; to decide that the risk was not worth the reward. Though the reward was greater, perhaps the risk was greater yet – the Empress had long since resigned to the fact that she would likely not die of old age, for the tallest daisy was the one more likely to have its head lopped off.

If these things could be prevented entirely, then certainly no one would ever be ousted from power.

The turning of dynasties happened often, and such an event was rife with loss. She and Tianlong were only on top of the wheel for a time. Eventually, when they could no longer fulfill their duties to their people, the wheel would turn and reveal a new perspective. As she saw it, her job was to stave this off as long as possible, for she could do the most good for the innocents of the world for this brief lifetime where she held power. Not just for the sake of her own future children, but for all children.

The Crystal Dragon had willed it, but not all blessings were the same. In this life, she had been gifted fame and fortune – there was no telling what the gifts in her next life would be.

Perhaps she had hoped to save the man named Batu, for she saw something in him that she did not see within everyone – something she thought deserved to be preserved. It was a poor decision indeed to allow something precious to be put at risk, but the rogue did not retreat.

Instead, he said death had always been his lot, as Yue felt that inner resonance bloom once more. The dose of dopamine smoothed the path towards ultimate acceptance and approval of what he did and said next. His step forward was met with a glint of lilac, a silent flash of her eyes that followed him downwards, to the bottom of his bow.

An averted gaze and humble speech deeply ingrained the rogue’s intentions as the most memorable moment of this meeting. The orchid simpered beneath her hide, feeling quite efficacious and pervasive. The silence lingered a moment, settling between them like a heavy blanket.

She drifted forward, meeting him in his prostration. The Empress placed a thin, regal maw on his shoulder and let it linger as she did with the silence. His scent settled into her nose. When she withdrew, Yue made sure to catch his lowered gaze and invited it to lift as she did, crown atop her neck, adorned by the scalloping shoulders that gathered behind.

“Your Empress accepts your pledge,” she stated, the same satisfied expression writ across her visage. She wondered if he had expected this result, for such a talker must have his intentions, though she could not detect any that were false. Rather, she found him to be a breath of fresh air.

“Rise, Batu Wèi Jūn,” (Noble Guard) the Empress bade him, using the word that now was as synonymous with his name as was the word ‘Batu,’ “For we must move your quarters closer to the palace before nightfall.” As spectacular a set-up this hillside was, she felt it would be better closer to where the Harem and Golden Kin slept. This was the first sacrifice she dare ask of him.

“You must tell me more of your travels, when there is time for it.”

---

༻❁༺

She would not touch him if she knew what thoughts bent the horseman’s head; the subliminal urge to take what a man could neither purchase nor conquer. On this dark gray winter evening, Yue’s silken furs escape in wisps on the eastern winds and impel the nomad by primal instinct.

What she witnesses she may not know then; a clinical demonstration in control of Batu’s pursuit for ascendancy. His era would imprint itself here and upon those who live in it.

To leave the hillside he is prepared to do. An imperial guardian would keep close to his regal charge.

"Any time you wish it, Heavenly Empress."

༻❁༺

---

Once the decision had been made, Yue could not help but melt into it fully. It felt right, and the Empress felt burgeoned at having her court more fully fleshed out. It was another step towards normalcy; in replacing what had been lost in the changing of the worlds. The Orchid would never forget those of old Tianlong – but felt it was beyond time to welcome those of the new.

The corners of her mouth turned up in a small, approving grin. There were only few that she felt at ease around – few that she felt had no designs on her success or choices, many of them now lost – and though she was not yet sure if Batu was truly one of those people, she was certain that he showed great promise.

For that reason, she smiled.

"I will help," the empress then suggested, flicking her gaze to momentarily look past him, observing his pelts and hides, "because you are helping me." She was able-bodied, and capable of shouldering some of his wares. There was no reason for them to be unattended, overnight, if it could be helped.

Her vision fixed back on him. "We could speak of the more... specific expectations that your role entails," the ivory shewolf suggested, suppressing a small sigh. She could not deny that it was a necessary conversation, but not one that she wished to have at the moment. The hour was growing late, and with it, her will to conduct business waned greatly.

Yue supposed he would soon know such intricacies about her; things such as her daily routine. Perhaps she might know these things about him, too, but so often soldiers hid their truest selves beneath their armor.

The empress pushed past him to press her nose against the skins, reaching for additional sensory input that might help her decode her own desires, in that moment.

"or I could share more of myself, had you any curiosities."

When she finished speaking, she made a wide arc with her nose to look at Batu over her shoulder, blinking heavily. There’s no use hiding anything, now, she supposed – and she wanted to feel real.

Not a figurehead, but real.

---

༻❁༺

Where is your husband?

Where are your children?

The nomad has curiosities— those reckless enough to cost him a title only just secured. In the dark, smirking traces play over teeth with Teng Yue’s back to him, the curving spine framed in moonlight, the silver sarlag amassed about her shoulders. No longer a rigid huabiao. She arcs.

He gathers two pelts without looking down. There are parts under the sovereign composure wanting to be revealed, and perhaps for this reason the guardsman binds tighter to the code of his new station. The wind tugs at the edge of her deel and he steadies it, lifting away the other furs she’s gathered onto his own shoulders.

“Speak of your expectations and I will listen, Empress.” He glances back, sharply, “but if you would share more of yourself— I will guard that, too. Do you wish to acquaint me with those who hold place in your court, and whether any warrant scrutiny?”

༻❁༺

---

He obliged her, and suddenly Yue regretted having such openness with the man – perhaps it wasn’t openness, or vulnerability, in the way that most would think of it – but it was as such, for Yue. She feared that she did not get the same rights as others to have interests, to nurture the depth of one’s soul.

After all, where was the time?

And in that moment, Yue felt so very barren and boring, though laden with hides and communicating with someone so unlike she. These were two objectively interesting things, but when Batu said he would hold her secrets, she wished she could fill his mind with something fantastical and wondrous.

Even politically, the landscape had been peaceful and dreadfully dull. The Emperor had always preferred to keep his charges within the confines of his rightful nation, if not within the walls of the palace itself. Yue felt a call to lead an exploration outwards, but she knew two things already:

The first, was that Shenlei would never allow it, and would certainly send another in her stead. The second was that politicking was always Yue’s fallback when she felt her life lacked in any way. and it was imperative that she must not fall victim to her compulsions.

Heaven’s Mercy was relieved when, at long last, the sable warrior suggested they discuss those of the court. This was a topic easily handled. "Yes, good idea Wei Jun," the ivory woman commended, looking appreciative as she shouldered his wares, and made smaller the distance between the hillside and the palace.

"There are many – though, not as many as once were."

She could have sighed for all that had been lost in the transition to this new world, deep archives of knowledge and halls overflowing with favor. "The Imperial Emperor has four wives in his harem: myself as first wife and Empress, Mei the sun consort, honorable concubine Teng Xiulan, and then concubine Lihua, whom you are already acquainted with." All were here, except for Mei. For that, Yue mourned.

"I believe there might be a new one, not yet presented to me."

They walked. "These women are my responsibility. Watch them, if you can. Their purity must be assured." It was a request that he likely would enjoy, for they were all quite comely, and it would give her a chance to see how he grappled with competing priorities. Especially for one who had already spent much time with one of her charges, alone, with none to answer to, save the eyes of the Crystal Dragon.

If Batu could be truly trusted, then let him prove this early on, so that she wasted no time restoring the dynasty to its former glory.

---

༻❁༺

The great khagan had many brides, one of which was a princess given from the han court to his brother monarch. Batu had never known his father’s wife, except that she was an accomplished lady of the arts who stared at the steppe herds like they were repulsive barbarians, and whose endless stream of sorrows led the tiger to visit her ger often.

For all his campaigns and travel, the mongol’s son had seen no han women on the silk road. This realm of delicate femininity is mysterious to the horselord, and so he is attentive to his majesty. Not for the sake of the emperor’s pretty-faced harem, but because he is ambitious. He is not finished becoming what he means to be, and because he chose to kneel this night before a sovereign worth binding himself to.

“I will keep the harem under guard as requested,” though not as fully as he intended to the platinum lady, whose tremulous smile has gone. He desires to see it again.

“What are your appointed hours, your imminence? The time in which you prefer to rise, and when you will rest.”