Wen put her bronze badge in her blouse, the cord looped over her brooch. She put away her thin shawl and picked up a wider one, a gray one, that could protect her from any unlucky chills. Then she made sure her maids had their shawls.
They were just about to head out the main entrance of the Sweet Carrot Palace when suddenly two eunuchs arrived. One of them was holding a scroll, and the other announced with a booming voice, "His Majesty, The Emperor, has issued a decree!! All must listen!!" Of course, this stopped everyone in their tracks, and the eunuchs waited for all the women in the palace to gather together so they could hear the decree.
The eunuch with the scroll opened it up and read it aloud in a very business-like, no nonsense tone, yet he was almost as loud as the other eunuch. "Seafoam Attendant Wen has precious eyes and precious hands. Consequently, nobody is allowed to damage them! Even if Seafoam Attendant Wen commits a crime, none of her punishments shall damage her eyes nor her hands! So said our Great Emperor!"
Wen didn't have to look at the other women pointing their judging eyes towards her. She could feel their those eyes pricking her nape and back. She looked at the eunuch with empty hands and asked, "Will this decree be read to every palace?"
"Yes, Mistress Seafoam," the eunuch said with a nod so deep that it was halfway a bow. "Eunuchs are spreading the decree as we speak. Nobody will have an excuse if they harm your protected body parts."
"Oh," Wen said. "Thank you for coming."
The eunuchs left after giving half-kneels. Pollen Lady Kumi herself approached and patted Wen's shoulder twice, the points of her fingernail guards tapping on Wen's clothing. "The Emperor has a clear interest in you. It won't be long until he pays this palace a visit, and he hasn't done so in such a long time."
Wen clasped her hands near her belly, silently thinking of how even after she'd returned from her years of labor she'd kept her fingernails short out of habit. Now that she was one of the Emperor's consorts, her nails looked out of place. "This concubine can't control our great Emperor, and so, no promises will be given."
Smirking a little, the leaf decorations in her hair fluttering, Kumi told her, "Once his interest in you fades away, perhaps he'll notice one of the nervous blossoms here. His forgotten affections for me might even be rekindled." Quickly, she adjusted her shawl's position. "The Emperor simply took you. You didn't even have to have an audition. The Empress Dowager had no say in this matter. You'll have the Emperor's grace soon. It was good luck that he sent you here instead of the Moonbeam Palace."
"Madam, may this person ask, what's significant about Moonbeam Palace?"
Kumi's little smirk faded into a blank expression. Her brown eyes didn't soften, but they didn't harden either. "Poor Dear, that was where your sister, Honey Attendant Hua, once lived."
Wen's stomach flipped and stung, but she didn't let the feeling show on her face. She half-knelt and said, "Thank you, Madam. I'll take my leave now."
"Enjoy your walk," the Pollen Lady said.
***
"Where did you two work before I arrived?" Wen asked her two maids as their shoes tapped on the smooth stone road. The trio kept to one side, close to wall, to make room for any traffic they might encounter, but there wasn't much.
Nuan, the maid with black hair, she was the one to respond first, and she did so with some cheer. "We servants used to work in the Hard Labor Department, but now we work for Mistress. It's a grand honor."
"Yes," said Moto, her green eyes bright as she looked at Wen's calm face, "there's no desire to return to that place. So we servants must serve Mistress well to keep these gentle positions."
With an understanding nod, Wen said, "I imagine the work wasn't very easy. Your poor hands have bandages."
Both maids hid their hands behind their backs. They certainly did have rough looking hands, but Wen knew that as palace maids, their work would be much lighter from now on.
"Well," Wen said, "you must know where the Hard Labor Department is."
Nuan nodded, but her brow was worried. "Yes, but why should our Mistress care to know?"
"I don't want to go there," Wen said, "but I do want to go somewhere else, and I'm wondering if you know also know where those places are?"
Moto asked, "Where does Mistress want to go?"
"I'd like to visit the Embroidery Department."
Nuan told her, "There are two different ones. The Younger Embroidery Department is larger, full of young embroidery maids who make the clothing for all the servants and consorts, including the Empress Consort. The Older Embroidery Department is smaller, and it's full of older women who make clothing for the Emperor and the Empress Dowager."
"Then I'd like to go to the Younger Embroidery Department," Wen gently insisted.
"We servants know the way, Mistress," Moto said. "In fact, one should turn right at the next split in the road."
When that split did come, the trio turned right, and there they happened to see another concubine with two maids. Wen knew it was a concubine because of her makeup, clothing, and jewelry. She seemed to be a Seafoam Attendant. Wen and her maid stopped to half-kneel, for even consorts on equal footing had to be polite to each other.
The strange thing was, that other concubine did stop in her tracks, but she didn't kneel. She pointed at Wen's face and said to one of her maids in an outraged tone, "What's this foolishness?! A maid's playing dress up games with face paint?!"
She had large round eyes, much like Wen did, except instead of dark blue they were hazel. Her face was round. Her cheeks were plump. Her lips were thick. Her nose was upturned and soft. Her looped and layered hairstyle had a pale blonde color.
Her gray eyes wide, her head down, Nuan said, "This is our Mistress, Seafoam Attendant Wen. She came to the Tree Cage this morning."
"The audacity of this one, Mistress Bora," one of the other maids said in half a whisper.
Bora's painted features mashed together in an ugly expression as she stepped forward, not far at all from Wen, and practically shouted at her, "Kneel! On your knees now!! Who's your mistress?! What palace is your place?!"
Wen wasn't required to get on her knees. She knew it. Her two maids knew it. And she wasn't about to humble herself before a concubine of the same rank, especially when this one was so lacking in proper judgment.