They packed some things to bring with them.

  There wasn’t much to take: the few coins Xi Qian’e had left after selling her paintings, a few changes of clothes, Three’s most treasured red skirt and some medicines.

  Then, they went to the warehouse to grab the valuables.

  But the emperor’s gifts — the jade chrysanthemum flowers, the old ginseng and a set of poetry — had vanished.

  ‘This isn’t right,’ the princess said. She paced on the ground, the whites of her robes trailing on the floor. The panic, the worry, Three saw, made the other calmer even as the hue of her skin paled. ‘I’m certain it was here.’

  Her voice, shaking and trembling, echoed off the empty walls. The culprit, an empty spot on the identically empty shelf, was disappointingly cking in any shiny jewels, ginsengs, or rotten old scrolls.

  ‘Perhaps your father or brother took it,’ Three said. She rolled her shoulders, the cloth pack of clothes and medicine hard on her back. ‘What do you need it for? Perhaps I could steal a substitute?’

  ‘It has to be the flowers or scrolls,’ said the other. ‘The First Prince will demand that I publicly join his ship; I need them as proof of my allegiance, so that he can parade it around the court.’

  ‘But it’s not here.’

  ‘Yes, it’s not,’ murmured the princess. ‘I must visit my father.’

  They quickly left the warehouse. They first stopped at Prince Qianzhong’s study, but he wasn’t there; the princess stopped a few servants to ask for where he was.

  ‘My father. Where is he?’

  The maid tutted, annoyance stark like bck ink on her face. ‘He’s with the young master. They want to keep it private.’

  ‘I asked for where, not for who. Talk.’

  ‘My dy, you simply can’t interrupt —’ The maid fell silent as a cold bde slid under her chin.

  ‘Sweetie,’ Three crooned, ‘my master asked you a question, and it’d be in your best interests to answer it.’ One knife, she tapped at the girl’s neck; with the other, she gently traced those rude lips. Her bdes trembled with the maid’s terrified shivering. ‘Properly, mind you.’

  ‘You dare —’

  ‘Guess who’s faster, my knife or your Prince Qianzhong?’

  ‘Y-yes, of course…’ The maid stammered, ‘His Highness and the young master, they are in the Northern Pavilion! P-please forgive this maid, this humble servant knows her mistake!’

  Three tilted her head at the princess. ‘Master, does she really know?’

  Xi Qian’e smiled. ‘I don’t know. Little girl, do you really?’

  ‘Yes! Yes, Your Highness, I do! I’ll go get my punishment right away, I, I —’

  The princess said with a soft, tinkling ugh, ‘Then go.’

  She had only just pulled her knives away when the maid leapt out of her arms. The girl sprinted away, running so fast that the stupid thing stumbled over her own skirt and ate dirt. Then, she scrabbled to her feet and bolted, so quick it was as though someone had lit a fire under her.

  ‘Your father’s servants are absolutely useless,’ Three sneered. ‘They can’t even identify who’s their master.’

  ‘Chicken Feet, you’re hardly one to talk,’ said Xi Qian’e. ‘You threw a ball of blood in my face. Much worse than her, in my opinion.’

  She put her hands on her hips and said, ‘You deserved that! Didn’t you bash my head into the floor?’

  The other flinched. ‘I did.’

  Glee on her face, she grinned, ‘And you beat me, strangled me, threatened me and —’

  ‘It won’t happen again,’ Xi Qian’e cut in. Somehow, the other’s face was more saddened than she’d expected, a mix of something too serious and remorseful to be comfortable. The air suddenly seemed to chill — the joking quality of their bicker suddenly receded like the tide. ‘So don’t worry about that.’

  ‘You’re too stiff,’ Three snorted. ‘It was just a few punches here and there, nothing bad. It’s not like I can’t understand. Anyway, let bygones be bygones.’ After all, how many out there could co-exist with their mother’s killer, waiting right under their nose?

  Especially not this vicious snake of a princess.

  And for some ridiculous reason unbeknownst to her, the woman’s expression darkened even more. ‘A beating isn’t a bygone, Three.’

  She just rolled her eyes while the other seethed. ‘So? I had plenty of them and I’m still hale and hearty, aren’t I?’

  Xi Qian’e rolled her eyes hard and gave Three a hard push on the back. ‘Fine. If you don’t value your health, then I’ll just do it for you.’

  ‘Sure, Mum.’

  ‘Well,’ Xi Qian’e said, her arms wrapping around Three in a hug, a pointy chin pressed into her shoulder, ‘Mum’s been thinking of names for you, Chicken Feet. What do you think of the name “Hu Qingliu”? Meaning, “clear stream”.’

  Three snorted, ‘Doesn’t my surname mean “ke”? Where did the stream come from?’

  ‘Fine fine fine. It’s your name, after all.’ The princess smiled and said, ‘I’ll keep thinking, then.’

  ‘…Just call me Three.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It’s a waste of time, I’m just a guard —’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Alright, Mum.’ Three crossed her arms behind her head as she stretched. ‘Whatever. I’ll leave it to you.’

  They walked a little longer, then arrived at the Northern Pavilion.

  It stood on white wooden legs above the gss-like ke, the bck roof hard against the sky. The paleness of it all made everything unreal; the small structure seemed almost indistinguishable from the perfect reflection below.

  The two princes were seated there at a bck and grey table. When the taps of the women’s footsteps sent out ripples from the bridge’s pnks, they swivelled around to face them.

  The Sixth Prince had a ziness about him, as usual. It was as though what he saw was not his sister and her guard but rather some hunting dog that had strayed out of its cage.

  A touch of surprise; a hint of irritation; the nobleness of him that deemed getting up to shoo it away too tiring, too lowly.

  Three made her decision about him faster than Seven could swear: the princess’s younger brother was an absolute prick.

  ‘Ah, Elder Sister. You’re here.’ The little brat gave them a casual nod, his red wooden earring swinging, then turned back his father. ‘What do you want?’

  Prince Qianzhong’s eyes — though his gaze was hidden under white silk, it was still sharper than arrows — seared into them. ‘Qian’e, you came. Your guard too?’

  The princess crossed her arms and said coldly, ‘The chrysanthemums. Where are they?’

  ‘Flowers? Sister, it’s almost winter. They would’ve long wilted by now. Perhaps wait for next year’s lot.’ Propping his head up on his hand, the prince’s pink eyes curved into a smile. ‘Unless you want tea? It would do your heart and bones some good.’

  ‘You know exactly what I’m referring to, Brother.’ She gritted her teeth and spat, ‘The jade chrysanthemums. I must have them back.’

  ‘Oh, dear. Did you lose them? I’d say to check your servants for theft, but you don’t have any. Sorry, I can’t help you.’

  Three watched her master. The anger, seemingly about to erupt, suddenly vanished — it was smothered, hidden away.

  Schooling her features, the princess said, ‘Fine, Brother. Then I request your aid in having the jade returned to me. What would you have me do?’

  The prince didn’t even hesitate. ‘Move out.’

  Huh?

  It didn’t shock the prince. ‘I want you out of this pace. I already helped you once on Father’s request; now, don’t let him see you again.’

  The man being discussed in question stayed silent. His head kept swivelling, from the prince to the princess, back and forth as though he was watching a squabbling match.

  ‘Done,’ said Xi Qian’e. ‘Sounds good to me.’

  ‘Wonderful.’ The prince turned back and called out to a servant. The other came hurrying over; he whispered a few words to the boy then sent him off with a dismissing wave. ‘It won’t be long, Sister. After, I want you out in no more than a shichen.’

  ‘I’m aware.’

  True to his word, the boy returned sprinting, holding a bundle of brown silk. He gave it to Three, assuming she was a maid of some sort — the softness of the fabric told her that it was better than the princess’s own clothes.

  She clenched it tighter.

  The princess didn’t trust her brother. She bent over and peeled open a silken leaf; only once she gave it a careful search did she then nod and beckon to Three, moving to leave.

  ‘Wait,’ said the prince, rising from his chair, ‘I’ll escort you out.’

  Xi Qian’e shot him a strange look. It said, Did your brain get waterlogged? ‘Brother, I won’t steal anything from you.’

  ‘That’s good.’ He strode to their side. He was a little taller than his sister, a fact that had the muscles in Three’s back twitching. ‘Let’s take a walk. I trust you’ve got your things already. Your guard seems quite prepared.’

  ‘She is.’ Xi Qian’e smiled.

  ‘I see. She’s the one who tortured Mother to death?’

  Three nearly choked on her own heart. She quietly backed away to watch the siblings walk, successfully treated like air. Or perhaps a dead dog.

  They walked in silence, all the way to the gate of the pace estate.

  Then the prince stopped and said, ‘Sister. I’m a very, very greedy person, you know.’

  He looked away — the shadow of his back suddenly became thin, diluted and shallow like his sister’s skin and the lips of his father.

  What was he looking at? The ghosts of birds on the naked trees?

  ‘Mother died loving you the most,’ the prince mused, ‘so I’d greatly appreciate keeping Father to myself.’

  ‘He chose you already,’ said Xi Qian’e. ‘You and I don’t need to fight on such matters, not with the competition at hand.’

  ‘He hasn’t chosen me,’ the prince said. ‘His heart has only ever had the space for Mother.’

  Then he gave his sister a bitter smile and walked away.