I had just fallen asleep for maybe an hour or two when a loud knock woke me up. I grumbled and covered my head with my blankets.
"Hey! Wake up! It's time for your first training lesson!" Yiming's voice said through the door.
I am not going to lie: I had hoped it had all been a dream. Everything from my headaches to being in another world. I had hoped that once I wake up, I would wake up next to Kai in our bed.
But none of that was a dream, and there was no Kai next to me.
"Meiyi! If you don't wake up now, I'm coming in and I'll wake you up myself~" Yiming sang. My head pounded, but this time I knew it was just from lack of sleep and Yiming being annoying as hell.
"Fine! I'm coming!" I shouted at him.
A few minutes later, my hair was done neatly even without using an old dusty brush that I found in the dressor, and I opened the door to see Yiming yawning as he leaned against the wall opposite my bedroom door.
When he saw me he cringed. "By the gods... Forgive me for saying this, but you look like shit."
My right eyebrow twitched. "Why thank you."
"Have you even slept a single minute?" Yiming asked.
I gestured to my face, "Does it look like it?"
"Nope."
A stream of maids came flooding down the corridor with brooms, mops, dusters, and buckets. They past by me into my room and started cleaning with more passion that I had ever seen any person could have.
Yiming led me through the palace and each person that we passed greeted me with a "welcome" and some even spoke to me as if they had seen me before. Nobody questioned me as to why I was suddenly in the palace or where I had come from. The emperor was truly powerful. I wondered where he was.
We exited through a grand pair of doors, leading us to an enormous garden with a beautiful fountain in the middle. Birds chirped and butterflies flew by, and I was so amazed by how beautiful everything was that I couldn't stop staring. Yiming scolded me and told me to hurry up or else we'll be late for training.
Past the gardens we came upon a training field. There I saw Lingyue sparring with Weixian, and two other men. The one man looked a little younger than me. He looked shorter than the other men around and his hair was tied up. He was fighting with twin blades that were about the length of his forearms. The other man looked older than all of us - maybe by ten years or so. He was gigantic and incredibly muscular. He was wielding an axe almost as big as himself as he fought the younger man.
When Lingyue saw us approaching, she sheaved her sword and ran to us. Attendant Weixian frowned at me. His hair was tied up today, blowing in the breeze. I wondered if that angry expression of his was what Lingyue meant when she said that he was a bit harder to get along with.
When Lingyue got to us she covered her mouth with her hands. "My dear, you look like you didn't even manage to get a wink of sleep. I mean, I guess who would even be able to sleep in that trash heap of a room."
I smiled, "I managed to sleep for a while at least, thank you. I... just had a lot on my mind."
Lingyue looked sympathetic. "I understand. You must be going through a lot." She threw an arm over my shoulders, "Just know that you can lean on us. We will always be here to support you like one big family."
A family. I thought about mom and dad. They had their only daughter who they saw as a miracle taken away from them... and they probably did not even know it. I wondered if they felt my absence in some way. I, for one, will always feel theirs.
I'll never hear my dad calling out "Monkey!" as I entered their house anymore. I'll never be able to lie with my head on my mom's shoulder and have her console me ever again.
"You look mortified. Are you disappointed to be part of our family?" Yiming asked.
I shook my head violently. "No, of course not. I was just thinking about my... old family."
"Do you remember your parents?" Lingyue asked. I knew I couldn't tell her the complete truth, so I said, "A little bit. It's only short flashes of memories, but my heart aches when I try to remember them. I barely remember their faces."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I cannot imagine how that must feel." Lingyue said sympathetically. She looked at Weixian practicing with his sword in the distance and her expression held a deep melancholy, but her mouth still formed a sad smile. "Our parents died tragically in a vicious battle when we were very young. Weixian saw everything and our mother died in his arms."
"That's horrible. I'm so sorry," I responded in genuine. I was going on and on about my misfortune, but mine was nothing compared to theirs. At least my parents were still alive.
Lingyue shook her head and grabbed my hand, "It has made us stronger. We fight for the same cause that they did and we live through every day trying our very best to make them proud."
I squeezed her hand and let her lead me towards the other attendants. Yiming was actually quiet for once, and simply followed us.
The other attendants gathered to greet me. None of them were out of breath, despite sparring very intensely earlier.
The giant man was the first to introduce himself. His face held the sweetest smile that I have ever seen and it was actually quite strange for such a large man to hold such a gentle aura. He gently patted my head. "Hello there, little girl. You must be the new trainee attendant, Meiyi? My name is Da Zhanfu."
"Nice to meet you," I responded.
The short man stuck bowed deeply. "Nice to meet you, I'm Li Xiaodao," he rose from his bow suddenly and grinned with a lot of vigor. "You can always count on me! I was in your shoes until only recently, so I understand your struggles the best out of all of us!"
"Thank y-" I started saying, but Weixian appeared and hit the back of Xiaodao's head. "We were all once trainees. You aren't that special."
Okay, that was a bit harsh.
But Xiaodao grumbled and snapped back at Weixian, "Hey! What was that for you white haired baboon. Don't think the fact that you have all the ladies wrapped around your finger that I'll also be wrapped around your finger, you jerk!" Attendant Zhanfu laughed and picked Xiaodao up by the back of his shirt and put him on his other side so that he stood between Xiaodao and Weixian. "Kids! Kids! Behave in front of the ladies!" I caught a glimpse of pink forming on Lingyue's cheeks.
Zhanfu shoved Weixian forward. "Weixian, be nice and introduce yourself properly."
Weixian rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'm Wen Weixian. There. And don't expect me to baby you, Meili - or whatever your name is. I don't let useless fools slow me down and waste my time."
"It's Meiyi," I responded, rather offended by how this man spoke to me. "And don't worry, I won't. Let's hope we don't have to interact much."
Zhanfu and the others raised their eyebrows.
Weixian's one eye twitched in irritation, "That makes two of us."
Jerk.
Yiming cleared his throat and spoke for the first time in too long for Yiming. "I'm sorry to burst you guys' bubble, but Weixian, you will need to tutor her on all the knowledge-related things."
"What?!" Weixian and I exclaimed in unison.
Tutoring takes a lot of time. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years, even. Does that mean I will have to spend that much time in a room alone with this jerk? I don't think I will survive it. Or rather, I don't think he will survive it because I will pull all that pretty white hair out of his scalp.
"Well, yes. Weixian is the most knowledgeable person among you. He is best suited to be Meiyi's tutor. I, myself, will teach her combat," Yiming said. He suddenly seemed more like someone who held authority than he did since I met him. It suited him, strangely.
Weixian let out a sigh that almost seemed to last for hours. "Fine. Yes, Captain." He looked at me with disgust and then looked back at Yiming. "But if she turns out to have the intelligence of a cow and works even more on my nerves than she already does, then I'll fail her."
"Hey!" I exclaimed. The nerve on this man.
Lingyue went over to her brother and hugged his arm. "Please, big brother. Be nice to the new recruit. Find kindness in your heart."
"Ugh, get off me," Weixian said and pushed his sister off.
Yiming clapped loudly. "Alright, great! Now that you are introduced, let the training begin!"