"I am pleased," Gentle Whiskers says, smiling. There are new wrinkles in his face that I never saw before and his beard is almost all white now. "Your cough is almost gone and you are walking well. I will seek permission from the Emperor for you to walk or sit in the gardens sometimes."
"Father, that is a lovely idea," says Fluttering Bird, fussing with my coat. I still find that I become cold easily and Fluttering Bird has been careful to keep me warm. Without her, I am lost. "Please do. You will like it, Consort Lin," she tells me. "The weather is warm now, so we can sit beneath a tree and have a picnic sometime. You will enjoy some of the other gardens."
Nodding my assent, I am happy to do whatever they think best.
"I will go and ask his Imperial Majesty tonight then," Gentle Whiskers hands Fluttering Bird a bowl of rice to feed me. "Excuse me, Consort Lin, while I see to my other duties."
The Emperor approves of the plan and gives permission for us to frequent the gardens as often as my health permits. Upon Fluttering Bird's urging, I write a letter of thanks in my ugly scrawling script. Gentle Whiskers has been teaching me to write and Fluttering Bird has been tutoring me in the art of calligraphy. I delight in playing with the coloured inks provided to paint the fleeting pictures in my mind. It feels familiar somehow. Like I have done it before.
On my paper I paint. There are mountains and valleys and trees covered in blossoms. There are fish in the rivers and a campfire in a forest. There are horses on the plains and goats dancing on the rocks. There are birds and flowers in a garden and fountains flowing with water. Tigers and dragons. Clouds and water ripples.
Some of the other ladies come to visit me. They always ask me to paint, so that they may draw their poems in calligraphy and hang it up with pride. Fluttering Bird guides me through these visits with patience. The young noble men come to visit. They drink tea and talk of other women. They ask for advice and for a painting to give the one they love.
They give me pretty trinkets. Hair clips and pins and bowls. Clothes and robes and jewellery and soon my room has not enough space for them. I do not like to use them, but Fluttering Birds loves to dress me in them. I prefer to remain simple, because that's what the Emperor likes best.
Fluttering Bird helps me to organise picnics and quiet tea parties, to entertain the people in the palace. There we showcase my latest paintings. In the gardens, the Emperor meets me almost daily and shows me their beauty with pride. His eyes glow bright when they see my delight in the changing garden landscape.
A distant tinkling sound like falling water distracts me one day and I tug the Emperor's sleeve. He is explaining the medicinal uses for a herb with deep red berries, but stops when I look up at him.
"I am sorry," he says with a laugh, brushing back a frond of my hair that has slipped from its clip, "was I boring you? I thought you were interested in hearing the names of things and their uses."
"It was interesting," I tell him. "I enjoyed learning from you, but listen. What is that?"
"What is what?" he asks, looking in the direction I am pointing.
"That water sound beyond the trees," I say, pulling him in that direction.
"I hear nothing," he says with a smile, but the space between his eyebrows has creased. "There is nothing very interesting over there, but you are right. It is getting late and it is time for me to go back to the court. Perhaps you would like to join me?"
"May we see what is making the sound of water beyond the trees first?"
"Perhaps it is a bird," the Emperor says. "Come with me to the court. You can sit at my feet and listen to me make judgements upon the bad people. My magistrates were unable to judge these difficult cases. Perhaps I will ask your advice?"
"Advice?" I smile. "Does not the Emperor know all?"
He chuckles and holding my arm more tightly, pulls me away from the trees, where I can hear the falling water. I want to see.
"No, Tofu," he frowns. "Behave and listen to me."
"Yes, your Imperial Majesty," I bow my head with a sigh.
The Emperor sits in his throne and lets me sit on the floor by his feet, and holds my head in his lap. I don't feel right, sitting like this, but the Emperor insists. Below the Seven Perfect Steps, all the wise men and courtiers kneel on their cushions, filling the hall.
"We will execute justice," the Emperor strokes my hair and cheek. "Bring the first case."
Men are led to the bottom of the Seven Perfect Steps and a man with a loud voice announces their deeds. Sometimes there are people who speak for or against them. When I do not understand, I look up and the Emperor explains who is good and who is bad.
"A good person may make a mistake," he says, "but their mistakes must be punished. No sin should be left unpunished. When they fight against me, they become my enemy, and?"
"Your enemies are bad people and must die," I recite back to him. It has been a long afternoon and I am tired of sitting on the cold floor. Many of the people have been sent to the cells or to death by one way or another. "Will we be here much longer?"
"There is just one more case," the Emperor says, his eyes have been stone all afternoon and I am worried he will not see properly again if they do not melt soon. Now, they are cold mountain stone. Icy. "I will tell you their story and then you must decide whether they live or die." He claps his hands and a group of both men and women are led from the door to the Perfect Steps. Their necks are tied together by ropes. Their clothes are old and worn. When they see me, they cry out.
"Third Princess! Princess Lin!"