Fluttering Bird steps into the stopped carriage to find both Little Swallow and me crying in each other's arms. With a heavy sigh, she gives us both a big hug.
"Shh," Fluttering Bird pats both of our heads. "Stop crying. You need to come down very soon. If the other children see you crying, they might all start crying too."
Little Swallow hiccups and buries her head in Fluttering Bird's shoulder. Fluttering Bird carries her out to deposit her in Keen Eyes' arms. Then she returns to me to adjust my clothes.
"My Lady, are you ready?" she asks.
"Is everything all right in there?" asks Prince White Fur.
"Everything is fine, your Highness," Fluttering Bird calls. "Just give us a moment, please."
"We're back," I clutch Fluttering Bird's sleeves and whisper. "Why are we back in this city?"
"We don't have a choice, my Lady," Fluttering Bird holds me. "It's all right. You'll be safe here now. The Second Prince is here. He'll take care of us. He promised right?"
"He promised," I nod.
"And he never breaks his promises, right?" Fluttering Bird says.
"Yes. He never breaks his promises."
"So we can trust him, right?" Fluttering Bird encourages me, patting my back.
"Right," I agree. "Trust him."
"Good," Fluttering Bird says. "We're at his house now. It isn't polite to stay outside his door for so long, is it?"
"Not polite," I take a deep breath, standing up. "We should go in."
"That's it, my Lady," Fluttering Bird says, leading me by the hand. "Come along."
I climb down the carriage with Keen Eyes and Gentle Whiskers' help on the ground. My legs feel shaky and Fluttering Bird quickly supports me on one side. Keen Eyes takes my other arm, allowing me to lean on him while my legs wake up.
The children have lined up in front of Little Swallow who leads them behind Swaying Blossoms into the big doors. They look like little ducklings. Teacher follows in the rear, helping to carry some of the luggage in. I hesitate at the doors.
"It's all right, my Lady," Fluttering Bird soothes. "Come on. Big step."
Taking the big step, Prince White Fur returns to find us walking in - or rather sideways. I sidle toward a wall. There's a large number of servants and soldiers going in and out, carrying bundles, boxes and furniture. I don't recognise the majority of them. The children surround me, holding onto my hands and clothes, seeming as reluctant as me to go anywhere.
"Princess," Prince White Fur gestures me to follow. "This way, please. I've given you the quietest courtyard. It's out of the way, so that you don't have to worry anyone will wander in to where you are."
Renewing my sweaty grip on the hands of Little Swallow and Swaying Blossom's oldest child, Deep Waves. They look up at me and give me a firm nod, squeezing my hands tight in theirs. With all my people lending me their strength and courage, I swallow my fears and allow myself to be led along long covered paths past a main hall, a large garden and over a bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a house surrounding a smaller courtyard with a little gate that says, 'Peach Wine Courtyard'.
An interesting name.
I stop for a moment, staring at the calligraphy above the gates. The words stir pictures and make my fingers itch for a brush and ink. I don't hear the voices or the hands tugging me for a moment while a picture rolls out through my mind. The inks, the mix and ratio for the pinky colours with a pale yellow and green washed background. A man sitting alone on a tree branch, drinking from a wine gourd.
"My Lady," hands on my cheeks direct my face back to look into a face wrinkling with concern. Fluttering Bird tilts her head in question.
"Paint," I plead, grasping her hands and looking into her eyes. "Paint, please."
Surprise widens her eyes and understanding brightens her brow. My eyes return to looking at the calligraphy words on the gate.
"Swaying Blossoms, hold onto my Lady," Fluttering Bird runs into the house, checking boxes and things, all a-flutter. "Teacher," she calls, "do you have coloured inks?"
"No," Teacher calls back
"What's going on?" Prince White Fur looks between Fluttering Bird and me. "What does she want? What are you looking for?"
"She wants to paint," Fluttering Bird calls over her shoulders. "Do you have any paper and coloured inks that she can paint with? Swaying Blossoms, sit her at the table in the courtyard. Teacher, get her some paper and weigh it down for her. Find her a good brush. Black ink will do for now until we find other colours for her."
"My Lady paints?" Swaying Blossoms scratches her head.
"You don't know," Gentle Whiskers says. "You joined us only after she stopped. Do you remember the painting in her old sitting room? The one with a bird bathing in water?"
"She did that?"
"Yes. She did the painting and Fighter did the calligraphy. Just about every courtyard in the palace and many of the nobles all had at least one of her paintings," Gentle Whisker's eyes are full of light while he leads me to the nearest table by a rock feature. "Sit here, my Lady. They'll bring you the paper and ink. She used to design jewellry with Jeweller Ping from the Apricot Treasure Pavilion. At her best time, her paintings and jewellry inspired a whole new trend in the imperial courts."
"Paint," I tug at Gentle Whiskers' sleeve. "Fingers itchy. Paint."
"It's coming, my Lady."
"I'll organise for her to have a full set of brushes, paper and inks," Prince White Fur sits beside me and takes one of my fidgeting hands, massaging it. He looks at me carefully while I try to extricate my hand from his. "She didn't paint when she visited me all those years ago. We did more horse riding, archery and sword dancing. She excelled at archery and was a good hunter. She almost beat me in the hunting excursion that year and put many of our men to shame."
"She could ride and fight?!" Swaying Blossoms stands straight. Straight like a tree.
"My lady did such male sports?" Gentle Whiskers exclaims.
"She tried but wasn't very good at sewing or embroidery," Prince White Fur pokes my cheek and I pull a face at him. He laughs and pokes my cheek again. "My mother thought it was a shame. She was hoping my future bride would be able to promote the female arts. The furthest we got was playing a duet on stringed instruments."
"What instrument did she play?" Gentle Whiskers asks. "She's never shown any interest in music besides listening to my daughter's singing."
"She played the lute. She also sang but the songs she sang were mostly war songs," Prince White Fur helps me remove my arms from the table where paper is slid in front of me. A brush is placed in my hand and ink is ground. Water is brought to the table.
"Ahhh," I breathe, wriggling on my seat to find a more comfortable position. Closing my eyes for a moment to adjust the picture proportions in my mind to the paper size in front of me, I dip my brush and bring it to meet the paper. Lines flow and spread out.
Comfortable.
Satisfying.
Like flying.