After our weird and awkward conversation where we both laid our cards on the table, or it's safe to say I laid mines on the table while Lee became heartbroken even though he tried to hide it from me. He put on a strong face as we made our way to the city.
A city we didn't know its rules, traditions or the way they live and survive. But one thing I noticed, it was like a different world. Very different from Xinjiang or any place we came upon on the way. We were shocked by almost everything we saw along the way, there were men in different robes of varieties of color, and they had hats on top. Their skin was not pale at all, and they looked warmer and beautiful.
Women were shining in their adorable frocks sewed with different styles and they wore wide hats and almost every lady I saw had a little bit of paper fan in her hand, probably trying to minimize the heat since it was really hot. The way the people moved, talked, ate and thought was different from our world.
I felt like we had landed on a different side of the world. In Xinjiang we lived in caves, we were the cave people but in the warm land they lived in huge houses made up of woods and stones. There were animals who were small and passing through the streets without being hunted, I wondered what do they eat.
"Everything is so different." I said while looking around.
"Very different but, a good different. I love it."
"Me too"
We gazed into an open place where there was a woman and she had what we figured out could be food. It was strange food, though, it was neither meat nor fruit. "Bread, come get your daily bread here. Smeared with butter and honey, get your bread." she shouted for customers.
I looked at Lee and asked. "Bread?"
"What's a bread?" He asked me, too.
"I don't know. Have you ever heard of it?"
"No, but let's go and try it."
"Let's do it." I chuckled softly as he held my hand and we raced to the woman. She was surrounded by three customers and each handed over a weird stone before taking the bread.
I didn't know what money was at that moment, we never used it at Xinjiang. It doesn't exist and I wondered what that was so I made a few steps towards the woman.
"Hello." I greeted her by waving by hand and giggling nervously. She was not a cool woman at all, she kept her face sour and looked at us.
"Are you two thieves?" She asked.
"Thieves?" Lee replied to her "No ma'am, we are not. We are royalty, you see her, she's the princess." he added pointing at me and I had to smile up like a doll because we were just trying to fit it.
The woman seemed confused. "A princess?" she asked.
"Yes I am. Princess Mingzhu of Xinjiang, ever heard of Xinjiang Empire?" I asked her.
"Get out of my store, both of you. Thieves!" She said and took out a broom which was beside her and then she started chasing us.
We took off and run as she kept screaming and calling us thieves. The crowd looked at us and some men on the streets joined the woman in trying to retrieve us. There was no use of stopping and making amends during that time, we had to hide from them and thank goodness because of our fast legs, we managed to escape from them and hid inside a house which we found empty.
We watched as they passed through and when they returned after not finding us, is when we were sure of our safety and came out of the house. This was another part of the city but not so different from the first and not so far, if we were to turn back, then the woman would easily catch us but I guess she gave up and went back to selling her breads.
"She nearly had us." I said and Lee looked at me. Then we both laughed, it hadn't even been a day and we were already chased down as thieves.
"We need to find a place to stay." Lee gave out a suggestion.
"Like a shelter?"
"Yes princess. Shelter and some new robes, also a shower with warm water"
"Mm-mmh. Where would we find that?" I asked him.
"Do you trust me?"
"What do you want to do, Lee? Please don't make a mess ─"
"No mess, I promise. Wait for me here." He said and took off, leaving me behind in a crowded street where people moved carelessly.
Some of the people were in horses, others in carts and some, like me, we just stood and watched. I took a moment to breath in the warm air and just enjoy how good it felt as it entered inside my lungs and warm it up. The dream I chased had come true, I wished I could just fly back to my father and tell him of my findings.
Telling him that I found the warm land, with a shining orange sun, perhaps that would change his mind towards giving me up to some girly looking prince who couldn't even swing a sword. As I was lost in my thoughts of happiness and clarity, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
I quickly turned back, and a strange man stood in front of me. He was old, not that old but perhaps in his late forties and had beards. He wore a brown robe with a sort of sigil attached to it. I didn't recognize the sigil, but it didn't take much time for me to realize that he was a soldier to a certain empire, hence the sigil.
"Your Majesty!" he said and knelt down before me. I was shocked, I looked around to see if anyone was as shocked as I was but it seemed no one paid attention.
"Who are you?" I asked him curiously.
"My name is general Chun. We've been waiting for your return, our Queen." He made it to his knees and locked eyes with me.
"Waiting?"
"Yes, Your Majesty"
"Did you just call me a queen?"
"Your Majesty?"
At this point, I was so confused. "You knew that I would come here?"
"We've known it for some time now. Meet us at the flying tower tomorrow at first light, we don't have much time. I fear the storm is upon us." said the man, and then he bowed again and left.
I looked at him until he disappeared from view. That man said he had known for sometime that I was coming to the warm land. Who was he? I had never come across him, and he didn't look like he was one of my warriors back home. As I remained shook by his encounter, I heard;
"Banana." Lee's voice came out and I turned around to see him. He was holding a bag which was full of bananas. As always, he carried that smile with him when he walked towards me.
"Let me show you what I bought." He said as soon as he placed the banana bag down and picked another bag where he took out a robe and a frock, the blue robe was for him and the frock which had lots of decorations and mixed colors was for me.
"Here you go, this is yours." He handed me the colorful frock.
"You bought these? Using what?" I asked him.
"Coins"
"Coins? What are those?"
"It's so different from Xinjiang here. They'll give you anything if you have coins." said Lee and took out a handful of coins and I gasped.
"Where did you get these, Lee?"
"I stole them." He replied and smiled at me.
Then from where we stood we heard, "There he is. Catch him!" and a group of five men came running towards us. There were ambitious and angry, Lee picked up the bag containing bananas and the other bag and took off shouting at me to follow him and I did.
"Oh no, not again..." I said as we got chased down the streets, and we tried to escape just like before but only this time we really did steal some money from the men.
Somehow Lee knew all the corners and alleys which helped us to escape being captured again. When everything settled down, it was already dark and we started searching for shelter. Luckily for us, we had managed to secure a whole house just right down the city for half of the coins we had. We rented it for the whole month, and it was beautiful and cozy. It had two rooms with warm baths and warm beds, after having dinner which contained some weird spices we have never tasted before, I retired early. I was excited to experience how it feels to sleep on a bed and not on some freezing cave, and it was magical as I expected.
I couldn't stop smiling at all that was happening. It felt like a dream and if it really was, then I swore to kill anyone who would wake me up. I didn't need a fire to keep me warm, I was warm enough on my own and I had to shut my eyes down to experience the moment. No later did I fall asleep on the bed and got lost inside my dreams.