Chapter Text
*
The Rear Palace
*
His new pawn has pleased him, performing exactly as he might have wished.
“Good girl!” he says, radiating effortless charm, pursuing his plan to seduce her a little. His hand comes to rest lightly on her shoulder – a gesture that has been known to bring women to their knees. For a brief moment he registers the delicate shape of her collarbone under the press of his fingers; the rough fabric suitable only for the lowest of serving girls.
Then, unlike every other woman he’s met since donning his lovely mask, she shrinks away and scowls. Her look is black as charcoal, and he could swear she wants to bite his hand in retaliation.
He laughs delightedly.
*
The hair at the back of Maomao’s neck stands on end. Without looking, she can guess from the chorus of sighs that the guest being received at the Jade Pavilion today is Master Jinshi. Again. Doesn’t he have anything better to do than to haunt the place? And to constantly-
“Master Jinshi!” comes the voice of Lady Gyokuyou. She sounds delighted.
Maomao sighs and sidles out of the side door into the corridor. Her position here is surprisingly tolerable, and Lady Gyokuyou and her ladies in waiting have remained kind. But the endless social parade, and most especially him…
“Where’s Maomao? I thought I saw her a moment ago?”
Maomao’s shoulder blades hunch up around her ears and she walks a little faster. Maybe she can pretend she hasn’t heard. But a moment later, Yinghua bustles around the corner ahead, beaming at Maomao as soon as she sees her.
Caught.
“Maomao! Master Jinshi is here to take tea with us!”
Right. If it’s teatime, then her presence as a poison taster is required. Why can he never call earlier in the day, when she wouldn’t be needed?
Still, she perks up slightly at the thought that today might be the day that someone slips some delicious, rare poison into the tea and sweets being served. It is with this private, faraway look on her face that she enters the parlour where Lady Gyokuyou is already seated. An expression that turns to a darkened thunderstorm as Master Jinshi practically lights up the room with his sparkling smile. Maomao briefly imagines a bolt of lightning striking out from the thundercloud to zap him.
Perversely, her reaction seems to please him.
*
Sometimes, when Jinshi looks at her, he can almost believe he sees a tail lashing. Or fur standing on end as she stiffens and shudders.
“My little cat,” he says dreamily, gazing off to one side of his office.
There is the subtle sound of a throat clearing beside him. He pouts, caught, and sends Gaoshun a reproachful look. Gaoshun glances at the huge pile of paperwork in front of them.
Jinshi sighs.
*
Maomao jerks back, almost hissing with alarm as that man reaches for her shoulder. What is it with this nymph-like creature? Does he have no concept of polite distance? Why is he always trying to touch her?
*
Jinshi’s mind is still full of the occupations of his day when his eyes absentmindedly fix on a small, green clad form huddled in the distance.
What is she doing?
He pauses his steps, Gaoshun coming to a halt behind him.
The apothecary has apparently found a new patch of ground in the rear palace where interesting plants have grown, he realises. On her hands and knees, her hands move in a frantic blur of motion as she gathers and hoards.
His eyebrows quirk at her bizarre, though not unfamiliar, behaviour. His head tilts to one side, trying to think what this reminds him of. And yes, that’s it exactly! She’s playing!
An involuntary smile crosses his face. His pace picks up again, practically vibrating with energy. What a light this will prove to his day! Maomao is always entertaining - how fortuitous to have stumbled across her!
Tension ricochets through her small form as his shadow falls over her. Wary as always – but then she doesn’t yet know it is him!
“Apothecary!”
For a long moment she stays facing away, hands shaped in a rictus of claws. Then her head swings just enough to the side for him to see unimpressed eyes flash his way.
He can’t help but beam at her, pleased at having correctly predicted her reaction. “What are you doing?”
“Collecting plants,” she says flatly. Her lack of interest in him surprises and tickles him as always, and he smiles again. But…
She glances back at the plants, then at him again. The clear dismissal does provoke the usual thrill, but this time there is an undercurrent. The thought takes a little while to trickle through, so strange and foreign is it. But…
She had looked so happy, before.
All of that had disappeared when he’d spoken to her. His presence had taken it away.
“Please excuse me,” she says, voice polite and disinterested. “I must return to Lady Gyokuyou.”
He droops with sadness. “Until next time, Apothecary.”
*
The world seems still and far away. In the sky, evening reds and purples begin smudging into darker blues. Each individual change impossible to catalogue, forming part of a greater shift.
“What are you doing up here?”
Maomao tips her head to the left, just enough to track Master Jinshi walking along the top of the wall to join her.
She’d heard the distant noise of someone ascending, steeling herself for trouble. It’s not like there was anywhere for her to hide up here. She isn’t entirely sure what the punishment would be for being up on the wall, but the threat of it hadn’t been enough to deter her repeat exploration.
“It’s quiet up here,” she answers neutrally.
“Do you have to sit so close to the edge?”
The light edge of panic in his voice is bemusing. Maomao looks down, the dark plunge of the moat below partially obscured by her dangling legs.
“I won’t fall,” she assures him.
“You don’t know that,” he mutters, drawing nearer.
He seems muted today. Another glance to the side confirms he isn’t projecting his usual dazzle – if anything, he seems grumpy. She relaxes slightly. She prefers him when he is like this.
“Has anyone ever tried to escape?” she asks.
“The rear palace?” After a moment, he sits cross-legged to the right of her, a noticeable distance left between him and the wall-edge. His robes drape elegantly around him. “I believe the walls and moat were largely designed to keep other people out.”
It is not an answer. Given the number of people within these walls that did not choose to be here, Maomao is certain some must have tried. Presumably they lie at the bottom of the moat, or were caught and punished by the guards.
“Is that what you wish to do?” he asks. “Escape?”
His attempt at unconcern is rather transparent; Maomao casts him a look from under her lashes. “I was not asking for myself.”
He hums, then, a moment later, “I wish I could, sometimes.”
She blinks.
“You can leave whenever you want.”
He has responsibilities, ones she has often suspected he shirks, but he can traverse between the rear palace and outer court whenever he wants. Go into the city. The woods, the fields.
“So I can,” he says. Almost sadly. Then sighs.
She looks at him again and muses a little on his contradictions. It would be easy enough to ask questions, and she suspects he is in the mood to share. But she does not wish to be pulled into his orbit any more than she already has been since her arrival at the Rear palace.
For a few minutes they merely sit, watching the last of the light fade from the sky. Then he gracefully stands. “Well,” he says, “you may enjoy heights, but I think it is time for us to return to the ground.”
There is, of course, no choice in the matter, so she nods and follows in his wake. He climbs down first, then hovers at the bottom as though he plans to catch her if she falls. Which brings to mind the previous time he caught her climbing down the wall.
She clings carefully to every stone.
*
“Apothecary, I’ve had the most fascinating day! Would you like to hear about-“
“No,” she cuts him off. There is a slight twitch as she realises she has been rude to one of high rank, and she bows behind her sleeves, gazing passively while she waits to find out if there will be a punishment. “Forgive me, Master Jinshi, I’m busy.”
*
“Why doesn't she like me, Gaoshun?” Jinshi asks, head dropping to the table with a groan of despair.
A moment of silence. Then, diplomatically, “Perhaps you are not using the correct approach.”
The correct approach, Jinshi thinks scornfully. Did he not shower her with his most impressive attention? Any other woman would-
His head rises slowly. Gaoshun watches warily as new thoughts play across his master’s face.
“She really is like a cat,” Jinshi says thoughtfully
*