Winged: A Novella (Of Two Girls) (15 page)

The breeze had a hint of burning wood and
another more tantalizing scent. Someone was roasting chestnuts, a
tasty treat for the colder months ahead. Min Feng’s chestnut moved
restlessly; he was a young colt, already big for his size.

“Ready to head back?” Min Feng glanced at
her cousin who nodded. They nudged their neo-equii with light kicks
on the flanks and made their way back to the Imperial stables.

***

Empress Ze Tian forced her nascent
frustration down and reread the long missive sent by the envoy from
Verdant IV. The farmers had refused to raise their agricultural
input for the next year, stating that the poor contribution was due
to a combination of factors: drought and disease. The river wheat
production had been aversely affected and they urged the Phoenix
Court to be sympathetic to their predicament. Verdant IV supplied
the non-agricultural worlds with much needed staples. A decrease in
their rice production might mean that other agricultural worlds –
Curios and Curios II – would end up bearing the pressure.

Her own phoenix fire flared briefly into
life, a burst of vivid orange flame. She was always orange when she
shifted to phoenix. Orange was her life-color, she had mused
before, when she had time for herself. She looked within, calmed
the flickering phoenix fire. No use getting furious with the
farmers of Verdant IV. They were really facing a bad year,
compounded with forces they could not control. Ze Tian considered
the missive. She had strongly encouraged them to use weather
controls to blunt the effects of the climate on their crops as well
as introducing disease-resistant crop species. But the farmers were
from the traditional – Old Terran – mindset. She felt conflicted
now, because she would rather prefer they keep their traditional
way of life and yet adopt more effective methods of
agriculture.

She would have to convince the envoys from
Curios and Curios II to increase their production and still be able
to feed their own people. When she was much younger, having just
ascended to the throne, she was a firm advocate of self-sufficiency
and she made an example of that, growing her own food in the
Imperial gardens. Her subjects, however, seemed to have their own
minds about doing things. A few planets adopted her method and
became independent in the long run. Others took more time and
became more resistant to change.

The Empress sipped some flower tea from her
cup, savoring the sweet taste in her mouth. The flowers were
harvested and dried from the Imperial gardens. Sold, too,
apparently, according to Chamberlain Song, in the satellite markets
near the Imperial Grounds.

Girlish laughter drifted in from the
courtyard. The two girls were back from their riding excursion.
Young Duchess Bei de Channey, daughter of her sister Ze Wei and her
consort Duke Garius de Channey – a good companion and foil for her
often-impulsive daughter. Solaris was a good staunch ally. Most of
her sisters married the sons and male relatives of the ruling
governments of the Alliance Planets. Their children all carried the
distinctive bloodline, the Phoenix Court bloodline. Already, two
nieces bore the phoenix flame within them. It was a cause for
felicitation.

Oddly enough, the phoenix flame was a mixed
blessing for her daughter. It was a glorious gift and at times, an
unpleasant bane. More so when Min Feng was approaching her age of
majority. She was indeed growing up quickly. Tall, intelligent and
brave – and impetuous. She was sent to the Ermei nunnery two years
ago and she seemed calmer now, though her temper would appear
occasionally.

Fire and ice
, the Empress thought.
Fire and ice. Opposites and in tandem with one another. Too much
of one would cause destruction.

She recalled the cold baths ordered by the
Ermei abbess, a formidable woman who had taught many daughters from
the Phoenix Court. Remembering those times made Ze Tian chuckle
softly. It had been an
embarrassing
time for herself and her
own mother, the Dowager now in comfortable retirement and still
watching the Phoenix Court. It no doubt had been embarrassing for
Min Feng too.

Now the girl moved with a sense of calm
purpose, reinforced by the meditations done in private. But how
long would the meditations hold? Min Feng was
restless
, a
young adult aching to see the world and beyond. She could not hold
onto her daughter for long.

Ah, young phoenix, your future awaits
you
, Ze Tian mused quietly.
The fire beats strong inside you
and you are a sword being forged. How the sword is used is up to
you in the end

An idea blossomed in her mind and she leaned
back against her rosewood chair. It was time for the princess to
learn a thing or two about the real world. She had to talk to her
consort, Duke Zhang.

The telltale signs of shifting-to-phoenix –
the actinic bright flashes of light – woke Min Feng up from a sleep
littered with strange dreams of canine-headed women and their
howling songs of sorrow. She grumbled, grabbed her silk robe and
flung it around her bare shoulders, noticing that the warmth in her
chambers had faded away, leaving behind autumnal chill.

Childish laughter punctuated the flashes of
light. Her youngest sister.

She flung the windows open and was
immediately dazzled by the blazing pink-orange glow. A little
phoenix danced in the air, above the courtyard. Lee Shin, her
sister’s nanny, looked on with a look of worry. Déjà vu hit her,
remembrance of her own childhood.

“Be careful, Min Xin! You just might end up
blinding Lee Shin and me!”

The pink phoenix landed in a spray of
sparkles, leaving Min Feng with floaters in her eyes. She rubbed
them resignedly and when she opened them again, her little sister,
all smiles and bright eyes, stood where the phoenix was.

“Did you like it? Did you see me in flight?”
Min Xin was literally jumping up and down with excitement. “I was
great, was I? Look at my wings!”

Min Feng had to laugh. She doted on her
little sister. “I did. Next time, try to dim your light a little.
People need their eyes to see.”

Min Xin giggled. She was born five years
ago, after which the Empress declared that she had enough of
childbearing. Being the youngest, she was indulged and pampered by
her nanny as well as their father, Duke Zhang, himself a marquis
and in charge of the military training for the Imperial Fleet.

Lee Shin ushered her charge indoors and Min
Feng could hear the little girl’s giggles bubbling along the
corridor. She was such a happy child.

With a sign, the first princess of the
Phoenix Court turned around and made her way to the inner chambers
so that she could bathe and prepare for a new day. Watching her
sister in phoenix form had woken a strange and poignant yearning in
her.

Zither music, from the main Court itself,
added a doleful undercurrent in the atmosphere.

***

The sadness grew in the Firebird’s chest. She would
miss the prince. He was such a courageous young man and fortunate
enough to have met the princess who was able to defeat the evil
witch. They were meant for each other. And herself? She was only a
secondary character in the story, the bringer of good hope and
luck, the banisher of darkness and evil.

In the end, she had only herself for comfort and for
love. Her bloodline was rare. Most men would shy away from her
brilliance. The prince did not. He was an exception. Her future
looked bleak, un-bright like her feathers. She felt as if the sun
was leaving her body. When she knew that the prince and his bride
had already left the area, probably to a happy marriage, she
changed.

Where the glorious flame-feathered Firebird once
stood was a woman, dark of hair and chiseled cheekbones. She hailed
from the borderlands, between China and Russia. Self-consciously,
she touched her robes, woven with her clan’s patterns. Perhaps, it
was just a journey back to her clan village and face a silent
night, alone.

She began to pick her way through the forest. It was
safe for her, because the animals knew what she was and dared not
approach her. She sighed softly and sang:

Alone, I walk-

My wings clipped, my soul

Gone.

Alone, I walk-

My eyes weep, my voice

Gone.

Alone, I walk-

My steps drag, my joy

Gone.

A twig snapped, breaking her semi-trance. She raised
her right hand now wreathed in a swirling ball of sun-fire. “Who
goes there?” She snapped, feeling braver than she was inside.

A handsome man, older than the prince, but still
patrician in his features, appeared. He was dressed in hunting
leathers and he held an elegant crossbow.

“
I am sorry, my lady. I seem to have startled
you.” His voice was warm, like sun-warmed honey. Amber and rich.
She savored it.

“
I am Prince Albard,” he introduced himself and
bowed deep. The Firebird woman smiled warmly. She could look
forward to the future now.

• The Book of Phoenii, The Firebird’s Tale.
  

The Phoenix Court was nestled in the middle of a
large interlinked network of buildings and smaller apartments for
the servants and workers. Like a labyrinth, it formed a criss-cross
of bridges and roads, with the Court itself as the nerve center and
central meeting place for the Empress to hold audiences with the
numerous envoys and delegates. There were gardens and courtyards,
lakes and riding fields within this large city, itself surrounded
and protected by titanium walls. A small starship port even
existed, permitting entry of lighter spacecraft like sleds and
schooners. It was said that all roads led to the Phoenix Court:
there was a main Road taken by the distinguished visitors as well
as minor merchants who might want to seek an audience with the
Empress or one of her household officials.

Around the walled city clustered
the markets plying goods ranging from major food crops and
vegetables, including the famous Phoenix Court flower tea and
essentials such as clothing and bedding. The Left Quadrant market
was well-known for its eclectic and multi-cultural food items,
eagerly sampled by both Phoenix Court inhabitants and tourists
alike, the only difference being that the Phoenix Court inhabitants
could make orders from the individual merchants and have them
delivered to the Court straightaway. The food hailed from Old
Terra’s diverse ethnic races and the culinary exchanges and
marriages that had developed throughout the generations. The aromas
were delicious and heady, the cries of the sellers creating a
cacophony of noises. To the casual glance, the Left Quadrant was
reminiscent of an ancient
souk
.

The more adventurous Imperial family members would
don “common” and mingle with the crowd. It was a time-honored
tradition. They would merge with the throngs of ordinary people and
sample the Left Quadrant as it was, without the protection of surly
bodyguards and the artificiality of Courtly courtesy.

Princess Min Feng pulled the cowl over her dark-gold
hair and stepped across the small land bridge joining the Left
Quadrant to the back door of the Imperial kitchen. She could
already hear the merchants advertising their wares. She really
wanted to try the Amerindian fry bread and the broiled Moroccan
snails, a guilty pleasure of hers.

T he crowds swallowed her up and she allowed it,
letting the irresistible undertow pull her into the flow and ebb of
the moving sea of humanity and humanoids. Her eyes took in the
vibrant colors of the Left Quadrant, her nose the fragrances of the
cooked and raw food. The bowls of broiled snails beckoned to her
and she bought a small bowl whereby she enthusiastically slurped
the soft rubbery flesh and sipped the spicy broth. Then she made a
stop at the store selling candied hawthorn and purchased some for
Min Xin. The tide drew her in again and she drifted along, admiring
the different wares and flavors of Old Terra.

At last she found herself at the fry bread stall and
it had its fair share of regular customers. A large pot filled with
oil crackled, with a few fry bread floating and closely watched by
a teenage boy around her age, perhaps older. A middle-aged woman,
her black hair braided and trailing down her back, bantered with
the customers while deftly wrapping the fry bread in paper and
handing the packages out without missing a beat.