Rising Phoenix

Only Helian Zheng was left idle that morning; everyone else was serving the patriarchs, preparing for the coronation, or otherwise arranging matters for the guests. The two queens rose early in the morning and attended affairs in the early palace and even Medora was summoned forth to help. Only the two pregnant women remained in the back palace with Helian Zheng.

Narta exited her room for what seemed like the first time. Locked in between Zong Chen and Gu Nanyi, she had been much to afraid to step outside, and today she could finally come out for a breath of fresh air.

The young woman made her way to the back palace’s kitchen and poured out a bowl of buttered tea and prepares some ointment before heading for Helian Zheng’s residence. As she walked down a veranda, she ran her hand against the wall to balance herself on the slippery ground, but just as she was reaching for the wall, she lost balance and spilled her buttered tea.

A voice cried out in surprise.

A figure had just been entering the veranda through the back palace garden, and though the woman immediately tried to dodge, the tea still splattered onto her dress. The buttered tea was very hot, and the unfortunate young woman quickly shrugged out of her outer garment.

Narta of course recognized the pregnant Han girl that Feng Zhiwei had brought and was instinctively wary, but since she had spilled tea on the girl she could not just ignore her and leave. Narta stayed by the railing and calling for some maids, prepared to leave as soon as a helper came along.

Hua Qiong completely ignored Narta and focused completely on arranging her clothes. With utmost care, she untied a small object and set it on the railing as if it keep it from getting dirtied.

Narta glanced over and recognized a Huyin Temple amulet, a black and yellow piece, together with the highest grade amulet bag made only for the Dama Living Buddha.

“Where did you get this?” Narta immediately asked as she reached for the amulet.

“Don’t touch!” Hua Qiong cried out, grabbing the amulet bag out of Narta’s hands. “The Queen asked Dama Living Buddha for it last night, to bless me and my child and my grandchildren. Don’t mess with it.”

Narta had known that Feng Zhiwei had visited Dama Living Buddha, and her eyes flashed with interest. “The Queen has great Face, the Living Buddha rarely grants amulets personally.”

“It was my request.” Hua Qiong explained, her lips twisting. “Dama Ala is a just man and would not blame me because of his anger with the Queen. My child is… complicated, so I asked the Queen to share my story with the Dama Ala and he gave me this.”

Narta glanced down at Hua Qiong’s belly. She understood Central Plains custom, and a pregnant woman following Feng Zhiwei to the steppes without a man at her side was most likely a rich, powerful family’s abandoned concubine. The child’s paternity was unclear and Dama Living Buddha was indeed a merciful man, so it was possible that the Dama had been stirred to compassion for this Central Plain’s woman.

Narta glanced at the silk bag, her heart growing covetous. This was a treasure that every person in the steppes desired, and to think it was in the hands of some Han woman!

“It blesses fortune.” Hua Qiong smiled as she held the amulet to her chest. “As long as the correct birthdate is placed within, it will bless my child and any future children I have.”

Narta was already longing for one from the Living Buddha, but she was not even allowed to leave the back palace and no one could ask for her. When Hua Qiong explained the function of the amulet, Narta’s eyes almost glowed with excitement: “It blesses any child’s whose birthdate is placed within?”

Hua Qiong glanced at her as she stored the amulet in a sleeve pocket. “Why?”

Narta hesitated a moment before tentatively asking, “If my child’s birthdate is placed inside, I imagine they will be blessed as well?”

“Helian Zheng’s child?” Hua Qiong replied, hesitating as she looked down at Narta’s belly. “I’m not sure, the Living Buddha said that it will bless any children whose date of birth I place within. It might be better to ask for one yourself.”

Narta shook her head unhappily. The Dama Ala’s amulet gifting often came down to luck and fate, and she had already sent people hinting a desire for one of the gifts and had been turned away.

“Your child is not yet born, how can you know the birthdate?”

“The correct month will do, and then you write the name.” Hua Qiong explained. “A mother should at least know the month her child will be born into.”

Narta hesitated again before quickly saying: “Wait for me.” Then she hurried back to her room and came back with a piece of folded paper.

Hua Qiong accepted the folded paper and placed it within the silk amulet bag, murmuring all the while: “I’m not sure it will work for you, and I still think it best if you ask for one yourself…”

“No worries, if it works then all is well, and if not there is no loss.” Narta said determinedly, ever more insistent as Hua Qiong demurred. When Hua Qiong still looked reluctant, Narta quickly pivoted so as not to nag: “Your dress is dirty, let me wash it for you.”

“I have maidservants.” Hua Qiong protested. “It is not necessary.”

“The buttered tea stain will not come out easily.” Narta explained. “But I have my methods.”

“Then let’s return to my room and I’ll change.” Hua Qiong decided, taking Narta by the hand and leading the way. The steppe woman glanced down at the little amulet as they walked and could not help suggesting: “Lady Hua, you should not keep such precious treasure on your person; it would be sacrilegious to dirty it or lose it. All the Hu Zhuo people place such things in a shrine within our residences.”[1]

“I see.” Hua Qiong nodded agreeably, and while Narta sat outside her room she followed the steppe woman’s advice and stored the silk bag under her room’s shrine before she entered a side room to change.

As soon as Hua Qiong left, Narta immediately darted inside and exchanged her own similarly colored silk bag for Hua Qiong’s and quickly hid her pilfered bag inside her robes.

A cold sneer crossed her lips as she turned away.

How could she possible leave her child’s birthdate with this woman…

The steppe woman retook her seat outside and waited, slowly sipping at her tea. Soon, Hua Qiong returned and handed her dress to Narta, smiling as she bid her off: “I’ll be troubling you.”

“I will have it brought back when it’s clean.” Narta replied, taking the dress carefully in hand and nodding in farewell.

As Narta quickly retreated, a small smirk crossed Hua Qiong’s lips, oh so similar to Narta’s when the woman had been stealing her amulet.

Not long after, Feng Zhiwei and the others returned and with them an increased presence of guards in the back palace. A drop of water could not leak out of the encirclement, and when Mudan Hua asked after the matter, Feng Zhiwei explained that with Helian Zheng’s wounds and the coming coronation ceremony, nothing could be allowed to go wrong.

Everyone had dinner together, though Narta sat restlessly and ate little. Near the end of the meal, Feng Zhiwei spoke: “We should rest early tonight. Narta, you do not need to attend the coronation tomorrow, just rest and watch over your health.”

Then she turned to Helian Zheng: “Who do you wish to serve you in bed tonight?”

[1] It’s not clear whether the amulet is in the bag or what exactly is happening. If it is in the bag, at least a portion of the amulet showed through when Hua Qiong placed it aside as she took off her outer garment. The author treats the amulet and bag as if a single object when she describes it being put away, but here Narta is able to see the amulet from where Hua Qiong previously stored it away in her sleeve. Perhaps she was wearing the amulet, and thus Narta’s advice?