Wen was almost disturbed when she was refused at the gates of the Plum Aroma Palace. The maid had said the Empress Dowager would no longer see her.
That old woman was angry.
Wen thought she knew why.
Touching her belly, Wen turned a bit to leave, but then she saw, of all people, the Empress Consort and a Seed Consort approaching. Or rather, the eunuchs approached while carrying the women in sedan chairs and the favored maids kept up.
Seed Consort Miseo was a decently tall, graceful elven woman known for her dancing. She was the mother of one of the Emperor's daughters. Her black hair was in a tower of buns, the biggest at the base on the back of her head and the smallest a few inches from the top of her head. Her face was a gentle heart shape. Her nose was a little long but it was also straight and firm. Her lips were sharp and wide. Her eyes were a sweet violet color, tapered and upturned.
The yellow embroidery on Seed Consort Miseo's voluminous coat was unusually bright in the late winter air as she elegantly stepped down from her sedan chair. Loops of golden chains with little beads were draped over her buns and forehead, framing the symbols pasted there. As Wen and her maid knelt before the women, she thought of a beauty goddess wearing multiple chains and gemstones in her hair, so well placed that they seemed to naturally grow there.
The Empress Consort spoke first, moving to the Seed Consort's side. "Oh? What an anomaly! This Bamboo Lady has been refused by the Empress Dowager." Her tiny smile matched her tone. A bit playful.
Putting her palms together under her chest, her fingers and nail guards resting against her wrists and bracelets, Seed Consort Miseo said in a dignified and glossy voice, "I'm certain this is a temporary issue. The Empress Dowager has made her affections for Bamboo Lady Wen quite apparent."
Holding her sleeve over her little smile, the Empress consort seemed to giggle, and she said to Wen, "I suggest you leave before the Dowager becomes too irritated by you."
"I must agree," the Seed Consort said. "Nobody wants to see you punished. Now go."
Prostrating herself, Wen said, "I apologize for causing discomfort to my superiors." Then she got up to her feet and left with her maid.
***
When the Emperor arrived at the Plum Aroma Palace, he saw Seed Consort Miseo leaving. She and her maids knelt before him as he asked her, "How are you, Miseo?"
She nodded. "I'm well, Your Majesty."
Flicking his fingers up, getting the women to rise back up, the Emperor gave another question. "What of Eunhe?" That was the little girl he had with Miseo.
The Seed Consort lightly adjusted the collar of her coat. She had very refined hands. "She's healthy and active. I've been teaching her how to dance."
"Oh." A curious ping rang in his heart as he considered that. "I'll have to visit and watch her practice one day." He nodded and turned away. "Have a good afternoon."
Inside the reception room, he saw the Empress Dowager with the Empress Consort as a guest. The poor, fuming Royal Mother's harsh face made the Emperor want to hold her hand and give her pacifying words, even though he worried about her temper. At the same time, he was highly amused by the situation. It was all very strange. He sat down with the women and took a cup of tea from a maid.
"Royal Mother," he said, "I've heard that you're quite bothered by something. Would you mind telling your concerned son what's caused this?"
After taking a haughty sniff, the old woman said, "You already know. Everyone in the harem knows. It won't be long until all your officials and military leaders figure it out."
The Emperor drew in a little tea. He tried to hold onto a concerned expression, but his eyes were cheerful. "How disturbing," he said as he put the lid back in its level state on the cup. "Am I the only one standing in the harem who doesn't know what this problem is?"
He noticed that Atsuka, the Empress Consort, held her two sleeves to her lips and tittered while the Empress Dowager hissed and took a loop of prayer beads in her thin fingers.
"You've become a fatuous Emperor!" the old woman practically barked. "You've put a woman in the same room as your most vital meetings so she can respond to what she should never hear!"
"Oh! Dear, Royal Mother!" His smile broadened as he put his teacup down. "There's been a misunderstanding. Those sorts of meetings take their tolls on my heart, and I need my favored Wen to comfort me. I want to be absolutely certain that she'll be very close when the meetings are over, and that I won't have to wait a second more than necessary."
With a disgruntled, coughing noise in her throat, the Dowager slammed her fist on her chair's armrest, clacking her prayer beads against the wood. "You've gone absolutely mad! The last thing we need is an Emperor with a weak mind! To have a woman placed where she doesn't belong is one of the worst dangers, and when an Emperor holds a woman too preciously the empire is at risk!"
Atsuka suddenly rose from her seat, took a spot before the Dowager, and went to her knees. Her eyes were mischievous but her words seemed deep. "Oh, Great Empress Dowager, please don't blame this sad little daughter-in-law for caring for that Bamboo Lady's welfare. She's done no harm, and she was only following His Majesty's orders. If she were to refuse him, then I'd personally censure her for being disobedient."
The wooden hair sticks in her coiffure were shaped like tree branches; the jade leaves on those branches shined as the Empress Consort lowered her torso to make an even more submissive position. She even let her decorated brow touch the floor. "Please show Bamboo Lady Wen your tolerant and gentle side."
That ... didn't exactly work. The Emperor almost bit the inside of his cheek as he watched his mother's face flush into a dark pink color. Then she called out, "Someone, bring that seductress here! I'll force her to renounce her wicked methods!"
As some eunuchs left to find Bamboo Lady Wen, the Empress Consort Atsuka rose back to a normal kneeling position and asked, "What force could rightly be used? Not even the Empress Dowager is more powerful than the law, and the law demands that an Emperor's consorts must be obedient to him."
The Emperor shrugged a little and said to his wife, "Go back to your seat, Atsuka. It wouldn't be very impressive if Wen were to arrive and see you kneeling."
It didn't take long for Wen and one of her maids (this time it was Yuwei) to enter the reception room and kneel before everyone. "Greetings to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and Empress Consort. I'm honored to have been asked to come here." Her face was very calm and pretty. She'd certainly become much prettier since the Emperor had first seen her. And her pregnancy was only helping that. She nearly glowed, or she did in the Emperor's mind.
The Emperor would've loved to think to himself that what happened next was surprising to him.
It wasn't.
Although it would be fair to say Wen was caught off guard. Her eyes widened and her cheeks loosened. Yuwei flinched in the most obvious way. Empress Atsuka turned her face away and made what seemed to be a false cough in her sleeve.
The Empress Dowager was yelling at Wen.
