by Stone, C. L.
He pulled back. “For luck,” he said.
My heart raced. This wasn’t the time for this, yet I felt something stir inside of me. Feelings I had been ignoring for a while, between him and the others.
This wasn’t the place or time, but I knew deep inside that I’d find another moment alone with him.
He parted from me and then seemed to change into the Sota I had gotten used to. The Taka sang in his cage as he helped to prepare me.
He painted my face with the charcoal mixture Apricot had given me. We waited two minutes before washing it off and then continued with getting dressed. The silvery kimono slipped against my body like water.
Sota began applying makeup. I observed him in a mirror that was set up in the corner.
Within moments, I had transformed.
I was walking starlight, delicate and beautiful.
SELECTION
FROM THE MOMENT I WAS completely dressed, Sota and I were told to wait. I imagined the other women who had also gotten this far were preparing themselves, and we had to wait until everyone was ready.
The wait lasted for hours. The Taka got restless, and Sota let him out. The Taka walked around on the exam table, singing some songs in languages I wasn’t familiar with.
When we were told I was to come out of the room, the Taka went to my shoulder. I felt his talons grip me a little tighter than normal. I wondered if he felt my nervousness.
Sota carried the cage, but soon, I was directed to get in line with other girls.
We were led out of the building by a side doorway. I tried to count how many of us there were, but the number shocked me beyond anything else that had happened.
Twenty-five women.
I couldn’t believe it.
I’d yet to prove myself in any other way than physical appearance, and health and charts.
The whole situation confused me. What had happened to the others? Why were we being brought out like this? Was inspection over?
After we left the building, we were escorted toward the Immortal City. The dragons in the walls were noisier than usual, slithering at an excited pace against themselves, the stone grinding louder than before.
The women were escorted toward a large tent that had been put up just outside the wall.
Near the opening of the tent, there was a line of men, fewer than the women. I was surprised to find Shima was among them. He turned his head to look at us, spotted me but then only nodded and returned his gaze to the front, toward the tent. He wore a man’s kimono, thicker material and a solid red color.
I was glad he had made it this far. Now that he was among the other men, I could see features he shared with them. I hadn’t noticed before, but now the difference was clear to me. He had thick eyelashes, high cheekbones, a strong body. Again, I was sure this examination we had been through was to determine certain physical characteristics.
Where was Ryuu?
The sound of the dragons slithering filled my ears. The sun over our heads warmed the air around us. Behind us, a crowd had formed to look on as elegant men and women were brought to the gate. They were held back by guards.
I hadn’t known this part would be so public.
One of the guards told us to form a line and to enter. Servants held the fabric opening to allow us through.
We entered through the front, and the back portion of the tent was placed next to the main gate, the gate meant for the emperor and his family only. On this part of the gate, the dragons were gold. These dragons seemed slower than the others, their faces older, some with beards on their chins. Their eyes were jeweled, with emeralds, rubies, and sapphires.
I hadn’t been this close to the gate. From stories I’d read and from what I’d learned from Mrs. Satsu, the gate only opened for His Majesty and his family. Anyone else was forbidden to enter. Servants and ministers and others needing to get in took side gates, different ones depending on rank.
We were told to kneel on flat pillows positioned out on the floor of the tent. We filed down, and crossed over until we became the audience for a small stage. The stage had been set up near the gate and had a small set of stairs to one side.
“The final inspection will take place shortly,” one of the guards said. “Please remain quiet until then.”
I glanced around myself, noting where Shima was sitting a few spots away from me.
I found Sota near the back of the room. He stood with Ryuu beside him. Ryuu was dressed similar to Sota, like an escort. Other escorts took up standing positions at the back of the tent, waiting like we did.
What was Ryuu doing? Had he been dismissed?
I gazed over at Shima. Shima rubbed his hands together nervously. I motioned to him quietly, and he looked at me.
I did the slightest of hand gestures to note his hands and to calm down.
He stopped. He sucked in a slow breath through his mouth and let it out.
We waited, looking at the stage and at the dragons on the other end of the tent. The sound of stone made it difficult to think at all.
Two short golden thrones were brought in. They were placed on the stage beside each other.
I wondered why we were here. What was all this?
Perhaps if someone was selected, I thought, they would enter the gate immediately, and the tent was to block anyone else from seeing inside. Would it happen just like that?
And why me? Why was I here among these men and women? Amid the hundreds, why us?
The Taka hummed on my shoulder, but I reached to tap his beak. Now wasn’t the time.
Until I heard another hum, and it wasn’t the Taka.
The gate’s dragons hummed.
I checked back with Shima, but he ignored me. He was focused on the gate. Everyone else seemed oblivious. When the dragons stopped, Shima turned his gaze to me.
We were the only ones to hear it.
I lowered my eyes, looking at my knees for a moment.
Time passed. The walls slithered but didn’t hum anymore. The Taka on my shoulder picked up one foot and puffed out, like he was going to go to sleep.
My knees began to feel sore as we waited. Underneath the pillows was brick, and while it was better than kneeling on the bricks themselves, it still hurt.
The guards remained around the room, watching our every movement. I wasn’t the only one with a pet on my shoulder. Others had the occasional bird or monkey or some other animal. One woman had a large snake slithering around her shoulders. I had the only Taka. Each animal was disciplined, as silent as everyone else.
A minister appeared, a woman in a black robe with a gold obi. She turned to us and spoke, telling us that soon the emperor would enter.
“Also to join us,” she said, “is the future high empress, the one chosen by His Majesty to sit beside him through this life and the next. You will kowtow as appropriate.
“After they’ve sat down, you will rise, starting from here.” She pointed to the person closest and to the left of the stage. “One at a time, you will stand up and wish them both health, longevity and eternal happiness. After doing so, you will state your name and tell them about who you are.”
I had my lines prepared, and I went over them in my head. I was nervous to speak in front of the emperor. One misspoken word, and I was sure I’d be dismissed as easily as the girls prior to this moment had been.
The minister continued. “Once you have spoken, you will remain where you are and may be asked questions or given further instructions. It is up to the emperor to decide.”
This was it. I hadn’t expected selections to be done so quickly.
Time passed while we continued to wait.
Suddenly a small, delicate chime sounded, almost smothered by the noise of the dragons slithering at the gate.
Everyone in the tent immediately pressed themselves to the floor. I did as well, not daring to raise my head.
“Presenting His Majesty Emperor Tai and Her Majesty Future High Empress Apricot.”
I swallowed my surpri
se, grasping the floor with my fingers. I heard nothing else at that point. The dragons overwhelmed the sound of movement from that point.
She had done it! I couldn’t believe it. Apricot, who had almost been arrested the night before, whose mother had been killed—with everything going against her, Apricot was ranked first.
I was happy for her.
While we were told to sit up, I still kept my head down, looking at the floor. I wanted to appear humble.
When everyone was still silent, I picked up my head slowly.
I wasn’t supposed to meet the eyes of the emperor or his future wife, but I couldn’t help it.
I found Apricot glancing back at me. Her face was painted, like mine, and she was beautiful, in a red-and-gold kimono painted with phoenixes.
Her expression was calm, but perhaps as a reminder, she drew back her shoulders and raised one eyebrow in my direction.
I sat up straighter, presenting myself as royalty as she’d taught me. I faked the confidence to feel worthy of being where I was, among royal people.
I dared a look at His Majesty. He was young, and his features were traditional, like Shima’s. He wore red and gold, matching Apricot, but his robe was covered in gold dragons, much like the gate behind him. While his expression was Zen-like, there was a glow in his eyes. He often turned his head to look at his chosen wife.
He liked her.
Starting from that far-left corner, men and women rose. From their spot, they recited wishes of long life and happiness to both the emperor and Apricot.
After, most recited their names, their ranks if they had one, and any occupation they’d had prior to being registered.
During this, the emperor said nothing. When each had finished speaking, the minister who remained at the steps looked to him.
But the emperor did nothing. Not negative, not positive. He simply waited. The minister seemed nervous and asked those who had spoken to sit.
When my turn came, my body was stiff. My heart raced. I was sure that once I was standing, I would topple. I had no rank or occupation, other than farming. I had nothing to offer His Majesty but who I was.
Yet, I rose as expected.
“Ten thousand years of health,” I said. I raised my eyes to meet their faces, a daring move, but Apricot had told me to show confidence in this moment, and to look at him directly, to make him believe I meant what I said. “Ten thousand years of life. Ten thousand years of happiness.”
After that, my mind froze. I knew what to say and my voice caught in my throat. Seconds passed. I was getting dizzy. I thought me may faint, quickly forgetting what I was going to say next.
And then suddenly, the Taka began to recite what I’d just said.
“Ten thousand years of health,” he said, his voice sounded more masculine than mine, but kept the same respectable tone. He repeated the two other lines just the same, just as perfectly.
I silenced. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I was sure I’d ruined my chances.
He had spoken like he was a real person and knew to show respect.
Suddenly, the sound of the wall increased within the tent. Soon I could hear nothing except their writhing, the sound of stone grinding against stone.
It was so loud, I couldn’t hear what was said to me, but the head guard made a motion for me to kneel.
Was it over? I hadn’t said any lines yet.
Except the emperor was smiling at me. Out of all the ones who had come before me, I seemed to be the only one who he showed any expression for.
Apricot was beaming, though she hid this quickly once I knelt down.
From that point on, I couldn’t hear anything. People spoke, rising to greet the emperor, and yet all I could hear was the wall.
I panicked. What did this mean? How could I continue without hearing anything?
I waited, watching as best I could from my kneeling position. I could see Shima rising, saying a few things, and then bowing again. His voice was the only one I could hear, but he seemed to be speaking louder.
Did he hear the grinding? The dragons getting louder? He spoke as if trying to speak above it all.
Once he knelt again and attention had moved on to others, he looked up at me, meeting my eyes. We shared the same concerned look.
Once the introductions were completed, the emperor held up his hand and gestured to the gate. He spoke, but I didn’t hear what was said.
I panicked. If I couldn’t hear him, what was I supposed to do? What if he asked me questions?
Starting from the left side again, those in the front rows rose carefully. One by one, they were escorted up the steps, with bowed heads and lowered eyes to show respect.
The minister spoke to each of them and said something. I couldn’t see what was happening, but each person stepped close to the gate. The dragons slithered close to their faces.
As the first one approached the gate, the minister waited.
After a few moments, the minister said something else, and then the person was escorted off the stage. Their escort joined them, and they walked out of the tent the way we had entered.
Was this some ceremony? I didn’t understand.
One girl in the second row fainted before she even reached the steps. She was carried out by her escort.
My heart raced and my mind buzzed with questions. What did facing the wall mean?
And why were they so loud? How could anyone else hear each other?
I glanced once back at Shima, who seemed to become pale.
Soon, it was my turn to approach the gate. I prepared myself, keeping my head up, my eyes level. The Taka clutched at my shoulder.
As I climbed the steps, I focused on Apricot, who kept a pleased expression on her face. She didn’t seem worried.
She had every right to be happy. But what was all this about?
I approached the gate, getting nearly nose to nose with one of the dragons, who stopped slithering to look directly at my face.
And then suddenly, he hummed. The dragons around him started a couple of notes after he did.
The tune was familiar to me, and then I realized that it was the song I had started to sing near the wall a few nights ago.
The main dragon that faced me, his golden lips moved, and he sang a few lines of the song. The voice was like grinding stone and metal. It hurt my eardrums to hear it.
I considered this might be a dream in that moment. Perhaps I had fainted waiting for the emperor to choose someone.
I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t hear what the minister did, and I didn’t see what the others had done.
But the voice of the dragon, the song—since I wasn’t sure anyone could hear me anyway, I joined him. I was sure in moments, I’d be escorted out anyway. I’d never get another chance.
I sang, completing the song the dragon had started. The Taka sang with me once I’d begun, matching my words. The Taka, myself and the dragon started again, singing together:
To have nothing is to have no distress.
To have nothing is to have every path to follow.
To have nothing is how we all end up.
To have nothing is to have everything.
And everything is the world at our feet.
Suddenly the golden gate presented an open doorway, tall enough for someone of my size to enter. From the other side of the gate, light shone as if the sun were directly behind it.
I didn’t know what to do, until the Taka on my shoulder flew up above me and then headed toward the door.
The brightness blinded me, I was so close to it. I could see nothing of anyone else around me.
I must have fainted. This is a dream.
I stepped through to see where the Taka had gone.
FAVORED
INSIDE THE GATE, THE bright light continued. White light was all I could see.
I felt nothing. Not cold or hot. Not a surface to step on.
Memories came to me before my eyes, but altered. I saw my mother. Her green eyes, so much lik
e mine, like the sea she’d died in. She wore a golden kimono. Her hair was high on her head, adorned with ornaments like mine.
My father came up behind her. He wore a kimono that looked like it was on fire, with birds flying around it. His face was lined with age, and his hands were like they’d always been, dirty and rough-looking from years of fishing. The contrast between what he wore and his fisherman’s hands stood out to me.
I felt I was the same. Dressed in an elegant kimono that had once belonged to the grand empress herself, yet I was nothing but a fisherman’s daughter, a starving girl from a village from far away.
Seeing the two of them confirmed this was a dream of some sort. Somehow I was floating while standing still. They said nothing to me, only stood side by side, looking on at me.
The light around us flashed brilliantly in my eyes, and I stumbled on rock and grass, then found myself on the other side of the gate. The golden gate was closed behind me. It looked imposing against the blue sky above my head. I felt small being so close to it. The doorway of pure light I’d walked through had vanished completely.
I pinched myself. When the pain radiated up my arm and I didn’t wake, I was confused. I had just passed through a solid gate? What had happened to me?
Yet when I turned around, I thought my mind to be playing tricks on me. What was before me was something I could never have dreamt of. Mrs. Satsu had warned us all about the magnificence of the Immortal City, about how it would change your life forever just to see such beauty.
She was right.
In front of me was a pathway that wound through magnificent gardens. Orchids and roses bloomed in patches along walkways. The center pathway was made of golden and pure white stones. There were serene ponds dotting the gardens, and in each were swans and geese, alongside some turtles and a few creatures I didn’t recognize. The center pathway led to a stream at the crest of a hill. There was a bridge, painted red and gold with dragon and phoenix carvings along the banisters.
Beyond the gardens, from what I could see over the hill, were magnificent buildings with elaborately carved pillars at every corner, and painted window panes. I couldn’t see what they were yet, only the shapes. I couldn’t even tell how far away they were.
