5 Days passed and Faramund still hadn't visited Jael.
She spent them in her room exploring every nook and cranny she could find in between those four walls. There were scrolls on shelves and pots with flowers in them, red lanterns hanging by the door. The room was just larger than her whole studio back home, and airy, with the sun streaming through the thin windows every morning and falling onto a hanging portrait on the wall. The girl in the ink painting sat by a river as the moon shone behind a magnolia tree. And again, every day the breeze would flow through the room as the servants opened those wooden doors. Which was a lot.
Twice a day for food, once a day for new sheets and it seemed to be every bloody three hours to freshen up Jael with a clean dress and a hairbrush. This proved to be the most challenging task, as her sunburnt locks were nothing like the silky and inky streaks that these women wore so beautifully. The three servant women would have her sit on her knees in front of a low wooden vanity and a golden slab of a mirror, one positioned on either side of her and one behind her as they pulled at her hair. The three of them didn't say much except for, "please sit here miss," and "allow us miss." Jael couldn't tell what they all thought about a pale red-haired girl with foreign hazel eyes that didn't adorn any other person in the palace. They probably didn't even know what a curl knot was either, nor how to deal with them, and the tugs of their brushes showed it. Except for the girl on Jael's right, she had brushed gently every time.
In the mirror she noticed the eyes of the servant girl occasionally diverting from her hair to peer at her face, raw curiosity. It made Jael smile. "You know, I don't think it's necessary for three servants to attend me daily," she shifted to face the girl on her right, "I'd be satisfied with just your service." The three of them put down their brushes and bowed their head. "Miss, his majesty has ordered that you be attended to diligently so that if he were to call on you at any time, you are prepared."
"If he asks, tell him I requested this specifically, and..." the words still felt foreign coming off her tongue, but she'd been practicing like Faramund said, "that I thank him for his attention."
Everything Jael remembered about this ancient culture told her that the monarchs generally fall at the feet of flattery. It couldn't hurt to stay in the good books. The two other young women glanced at each other and then stood up, bowing once again and shuffled out of the room. The one that stayed kept her head bowed and reached for the brush again, Jael softly tapped her hand. "You know, you can be more at ease around me. You don't need to curtsy and bow and call me 'Miss,'" the girl hesitated slightly at the words, but ever so slowly, she lifted her head. She couldn't have been any more than sixteen. An age that had not yet lost childish curiosity.
"What.... what would you have me call you, then, miss?" Her voice was so soft and smooth, like a rose petal that just saw a rainfall. Jael let out a small laugh, "You can call me J-" the girl tilted her head as she considered her next words carefully, "actually, in this new place I find myself, I'm afraid my birth name might be, unsuitable. Would you choose one for me?" The idea brought a glorious smile onto the girl's face, reaching all the way to her deep brown eyes that slanted slightly to the sky. "You would have me, your servant, do this for you?" Her surprise was not understated in her tone. "I think I'd rather see you as a friend, than a servant. I don't really know anyone else here, I'll need someone to keep me company." Even the thought of a... friend. It made Jael's heart warm in response too, she didn't really have many of those back in Australia, save for Faramund and Jane, the other girl from the bakery she had worked at. She wondered what Jane thought of her now, run off? Simply disappeared? Without a word? Ideas ran in and out of her head so fast, and it clearly showed on her face. The girl squeezed her hands slowly. "I would be honoured, miss." Smile met smile and the friendship was made, red locks and raven streaks sitting face to face in the ten o'clock morning sun. If an artist were to witness the scene, they might spend their time painting it onto paper. "Now as for the matter of your name, miss, we must select this carefully. For it will follow you for the rest of your days."
Well, she hadn't thought of it that way. Had simply wanted to protect herself from any trouble by taking on a fake name. "In that case I'm all ears,"
"Hmm. Let me see."
The girl shuffled her knees back a bit and looked Jael up and down, her eyes seeming to search for something. Jael started, "Wait first, what is your name?"
"Oh, um. My name is, Li Mei, miss."
"It's beautiful, I love it. Okay!" She slapped her hands on her knees. The white wrap dress Jael wore shifted under her palms, an undergarment of sorts, she'd learned. "What have you come up with?" Li Mei hesitantly reached a hand to one of Jael's locks, which gave off the vision of a dark smouldering fire as the sunlight touched it. She twirled an elegant finger around the strands as Jael sat there patiently, waiting for whatever name she would now be at the mercy of.
For however long she was here anyway.
"Your hair is so soft when separated from itself, but when it's all together, it's like there is nothing in the world that could possibly hold it all up or contain it." Jael snorted, "You know some days it really feels like that." The both of them chuckled together.
"I've really never seen anything like it. I have a name for you. It's different, maybe a bit unconventional, you might not like it."
"Li Mei, a lot of things about me are unconventional." Jael gave a wink. "Lóng huā. I think we shall call you Lóng huā. You can even take my family name if you wish, this one is common: Lì. It will serve you well."
"Lì Lóng huā. What does it mean?" The name was easy enough to remember, sounded much more camouflage-y than her real name. Given the circumstances Jael wasn't going to be fussy, she just needed an alias. "Lì is meaning 'beautiful,' Lóng is meaning 'dragon,' and Huā is meaning 'flower'. Beautiful Dragon Flower." Gosh. This was an art form. "Dragon? Flower? Me? I'd say I'm flattered but I think you praise me too highly."
"Not at all miss! When you were brought before his majesty it was revealed to us that you have a great dragon spirit. This was shown on your back before the entire court. All the maids and palace people have been speaking of it these past days, and many are curious of you and wish to just see you," the young girl's excitement seemed to let out a bit. "It is said that a great dragon spirit will save us from the war, help us to win and stabilise the empire. And so people are believing that you are a blessing sent to us from the heavens."
Her t-shirt dress. This explained the reaction she'd received when her jacket had fallen off that moment in the throne room. And why it had suddenly filled with whispers and gasps. An embroidered dragon pattern… has caused this. She bought that shirt for twenty bucks at a thrift store.
"As for the 'flower' part, it is certainly fitting. You are soft on the inside, miss, like a flower. You have shown nothing but kindness to people far below you and have been only modest. This is why I chose this name for you." Lì Mei's eyes beamed with pride as she finished her explanation. "Well, you certainly thought deeply about this." There was a slight hesitation in Jael's voice, due to her mind being slightly preoccupied with the reputation she had won herself. This was likely why Faramund had been gone so long.
With an expectation like this on her shoulders… Jael, a blessing sent from the heavens?... she shivered. She snapped back to her conversation, "I would've been satisfied with something that meant 'hungry one'."
The room filled with joy and laughter at the comment as the two girls sat in the morning sun. They seemed content to stay there all day as Lì Mei picked up the brush again and began to finish her task of ridding Jael's head of endless knots. They sat there and talked of their dreams and hopes for the future, which Jael had to twist slightly to fit her current situation. When she could, she just turned the conversation back to her new friend, who was more than obliging. She probably had never had anyone actually sit and listen to her before, but Jael was a good listener.
Minutes blurred into hours, and the only disturbance they had was a pair of servants that arrived with food at what seemed to be late afternoon. When the girls had finished their meal, Lì Mei became flustered at the time and insisted that she go back to her station, wherever that was, and Jael was again left alone in her room. Gosh she would go crazy in here if she had to stay any longer.
Where was Faramund? She should tell him about her new alias.
At the thought of this, Jael got up and shuffled around in the wooden closet against the back wall. She pulled out a deep green skirt to tie over her white underdress and matched it with an old navy top - wrap - thing, which had some pink magnolias embroidered to the chest. The girl did her best to tie it all together in the same style of the servant girls which had attended her, but her fingers fumbled around the ties and she ended up knotting them together in a sarong fashion. Jael wasn't bothered to tie up her hair either, Lì Mei had brushed it into a mane, and she was in no mood to fight it. So her feet quietly tiptoed her toward the wooden doors, and she carefully opened one side. No one was in the hallway. Surprising. But perfect.
She had no idea where she was going, but the nine-teen year old seemed to like it that way.
Jael stepped out into the hallway.
***
The palace was a maze of hallways, pillars, and rooms. Which were more often than not, guarded by a pair of men in armour who carried halberds at their side. Just the sight of the weapons made Jael want to reach for the scab now forming on her back where one such blade had sung its way down her skin only days ago. She shook the thought from her mind and walked into what looked like an indoor garden speckled with a few magnolia trees and a gazebo on one end with rock paths leading around a large pond that had a small wooden bridge joining her path to the other side of the garden. The pond was full of fish too it seemed, and big ones at that. Jael moved from her spot next to the corridor pillar and slid onto crimson boards of the bridge. Looking around into the open space she realised that this little garden pocket of the palace had no roof, it was completely open.
Beautiful. It made her heart stop.
Jael stopped for a moment standing on the centre of the bridge and lifted her face to the sky, and the stars faced her back. It was a clear night, and the moon was full. She'd been wandering around for hours now, it seemed, though it did not feel that long. Gosh she really could stay here forever.
At the idea Jael shut her eyes and relished in the feeling of the night's breeze against her cheek. The freshness of it was calming and the sound of it made her heart flutter. She had found in her few short years that silence was not always sad, that in fact, most of the time the songs of the earth were quite beautiful if one really listened. It was so comforting, it almost felt like a kiss from her island home... but, this was not her island home. This was not her country. And this was not her time.
Reality snapped her back into the present. She should focus on whatever 'job' it was Faramund needed her to do here so she could get back home. Maybe by then, she'd wake up and realise this really was a dream all along. Or maybe... maybe she could simply... stay.
Her brain fell into shambles when she considered her situation and all these ridiculous ideas, so Jael let out an exasperated sound as she plonked herself onto the edge of the small bridge and dipped her bare feet in the cool water of the pond beneath. Koi fish of varied colours including bright red, white, and orange swam around her ankles and started to softly nibble at them. The girl giggled at the strange feeling.
"They think you're going to give them food." Jael's head whipped to her right only to find a man leaning against one of the pillars from the corridor on the other side of the garden. He had his arms crossed and stood himself as if he were admiring a painting.
"Oh, sorry I didn't see you the- wait. How do you know that?" She briefly glanced back at the fish.
The person stepped from his shadow in the corridor and into the night's moonlight. As the light fell on him it revealed a fair skinned face with raven dark hair pulled into a half bun on top, and the rest just sitting loose on a pair of broad shoulders that wore a light blue satin tunic. Looser strands from his bun swayed across his face, just as Jael's bun had done days before.
Goodness. Twenty-first century men should really start normalising long hair again because he was -
"They usually will only be interested in a person if they think they are getting fed." Jael chortled from her seated position on the bridge and turned her attention back to the fish. "I think I can relate." More footsteps sounded and the man was quickly at her side but still standing, with hands still in a fold. Did he want something? Should she go back to her room? Faramund probably didn't want her speaking to someone else without consulting him at the moment. Especially if they were a sort of high-up person with power, which, judging by his clothes, this man seemed to be. "Forgive me but are you going to stay here all-night miss? This is in fact the garden in my quarters." In his quate - oh, OH!
Jael swiped her feet out of that pond faster than she could down a bowl of ramen and was fumbling to get them under her quick as she could. The stupid skirt was too long and made it that much more difficult, but after what felt like too long for her to be dignified, the girl stood in front of the man - whose quarters she had broken into - and attempted a smile. "I'm so sorry sir that was not my intention at all, I had no idea this was your garden and -" a laugh interrupted her.
A laugh. He laughed. Heck it was a beautiful sound too.
"I - I'm sorry what's so funny? I just broke into your house."
"Yes, yes you did. An outsider with no previous tours of the palace, who is also a girl with no shoes, just got past eight guards on her own and sat herself in the middle of the fourth Prince's garden, without so much as a blink. You know some are accusing you of being a witch, perhaps they are right."
Oh okay cool.
He was a Prince.
Shit.
Shit.