Far in the east lie the Concubine Houses for the most beautiful girls, from which, traditionally the Emperor may choose his Royal Courtesan.
She was hidden there.
Song Jie awoke to the shrill sound of chattering, assuming it was the other girls up already she covered her head further with the silk sheet. The noise became more and more frantic so she sat up to discoverer that two birds had flown into her room and were now flapping about madly. They were small with pale yellow flecked into their brown feathers and they seemed not to be able to find the way out. Sighing impatiently, Song Jie got up and ushered them gently back through the ornately carved slots in the wall. The sun was now streaming through them, creating intricate patterns on the opposing side of the room. The stone and terracotta was already warm to the touch as she laid her hand on the sill and inhaled the morning air.
Dressing in pale rose silks she adorned her hair with tiny pearls and blossoms. Recently, the garden tenders had become lazier with the increasing warmth, and the orange blossoms, which bloomed all year round, littered the ground, crushed into a fragrant pulp by the satin slippers of the girls. This further added to the plethora of sweet scents that hung in the air. The water from the pool was used to make all the perfumes of the Houses that were regularly applied to necks, feet and wrists as the water was fragranced by all that grew in the garden. No ugliness from the Outside was allowed. Song Jie dabbed some drops from a tinted crystal bottle on her wrists then looked up into her polished mirror.
Her hair had grown recently; it was now past her chest and was the colour of light honey. It wasn’t as easily tamed as some of the other girls and often required a myriad of pins and grips to keep it in place. Her skin was ever pale, despite the sun's advances and her eyes were brown like chestnuts. Song Jie applied a clear balm to arched lips from a clay pot and left the room.
The wide cloisters towards the breakfast hall were bathed with sun and abuzz with insects. Song Jie momentarily jumped as two courting dragonflies came hurtling through the arches. As she approached the hall she heard the sound of laughter and the discordant plucking of instruments. She had risen late today, probably in part due to the dreams she had been having the last few months.
In her dreams she would be standing in the garden surrounded by falling petals, then she would blink and the trees would be bare, the flowers gone. The orange blossoms would look like wooden skeletons, the jasmine a scarecrow of twisted naked stems. There was not a single bloom in sight and there would be an oppressive cold, it would feel colder and colder until Song Jie would wake bathed in sweat.
She brushed back the hanging plants and stepped into the main hall. It was a flurry of movement and colour. Robes and silken dresses swept across trails of strewn flowers and pieces of parchment with discarded poetry. A small black-haired girl emerged from the fray and came running to Song Jie, "You're up late!"
Song Jie blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light in the room and she saw the girl clearly, it was her closest friend, Yang Min.
"Is it late? I'm sorry," Song Jie smiled sheepishly.
"What are you apologizing for?" Yang Min squinted at Song Jie. "Bad dreams again?"
"Yes, again," Song Jie nodded in stiff reply.
"Come have something to eat won't you? You don't eat enough, no wonder your body's always complaining at you," Yang Min laughed before leading Song Jie over to a long table upon which lay fruits, honey, milk and small sweets. Yang Min picked up an armful of the feast and went to pour them some honeyed water. Song Jie stared absent-mindedly at the table, opting at last for an orange. She turned to say something to Yang Min when she became aware of a noisy commotion behind her,
"He's coming in a month's time!"
"Have you heard he's coming?"
"Why now? What day is he coming?"
Song Jie felt a tug on her sleeve, it was Yang Min, "Song Jie are you even listening?"
"What is it?" Song Jie frowned.
"A notice arrived this morning," Yang Min explained excitedly, "Father is coming."
Song Jie and Yang Min had never met their father. All they had been told since they were children was that he was a man who worked for the Emperor a long way away to the west. He had brought all his 'daughters' here to the Concubine Houses when they were babies, until the day might come when they could be picked as beautiful flowers and sent to the Royal Court. Such an honour was the shared daydream of most of the inhabitants of the houses. However, some feared 'the Choosing', after all, who would want to leave paradise?
"Would there be jasmines at the Court?"
"What would happen to my birds?"
Such questions were always raised at the mention of a Choosing.
The man they were taught to call 'Father' visited a few times a year; this was common knowledge, as new girls always appeared. However, even he did not venture into the inner sanctum of the Houses. Once, five years ago during one of his visits, Song Jie and Yang Min had let curiosity overcome them. They had hidden, kneeling and cramped in the terracotta roof, waiting to see him. They had stayed there for hours in the heat, their stomachs rumbling, threatening to give them away when finally they had heard muffled voices. They leant timidly over the eves to see the opening and closing of doors and the subsequent sound of horses' hooves. Disappointed and dejected, Yang Min had sat up sighing and complaining about how they had missed dinner for nothing. Song Jie, however, had been sure she'd glimpsed a flash of blue satin.
"How do you know a notice arrived?" Song Jie asked Yang Min, catching her should lightly.
"Han Luli caught Auntie reading the scroll, apparently the messenger was on a big pale horse the size and colour of the magnolia by the pool," Yang Min whispered hurriedly.
"That means more nursing duty for young ones," Song Jie commented softly, but she was already staring out of the window at the orange blossoms.
Father's imminent arrival had prompted a recurring idea in Song Jie's mind, one that had been gnawing away at her for weeks now, like the woodpecker at the same magnolia tree Yang Min had mentioned. This news could be the final prompt that her heart needed. She quickly left the breakfast room under the pretence of needing more rest and turned to walk out into the gardens.
The Concubine Houses were terracotta brick, several large rectangular buildings housed the girls in small cloistered rooms. There were glassless windows through which flew butterflies, bees and often small birds seeking cool shade from the midday sun. Jasmine and rose creepers clambered up the sun-baked walls creating cascades of sweet-smelling flowers. Patterned tiles led out to the pools in the centre of the garden where giant carp swam lazily, the grandfathers of their watery world.
The orange trees over-laden never stopped flowering, they simply blossomed and fruited simultaneously whilst stooping under the great weight. The seemingly never-ending youth of the girls juxtaposed by the hunched old men of the garden, offering their fruits. Of course, another ever present feature were the girls themselves. With an only-increasing number, the girls could be found practising lutes under every tree and sat reading in every nook and archway. The overpopulated Houses seemed to be bursting at the seams like a ripe fruit. The time was ripe thought Song Jie as she brushed her thin fingers along a branch of blossoms which obligingly showered her in petals.
She was planning to escape. She had been planning for quite some time; she had just never gotten around to doing. She had always felt something was not quite right, as if the serenity and beauty of her surroundings had never quite pasted over the cracks of the illusion. She thought of Auntie, thickly applying white chalk to her wrinkled face, it only served to deepen the lines. They were all prisoners in an ivory cage, like the small sparrows other girls kept in their rooms - their squawking keeping Song Jie awake at night. When she had been eight there had been an incident in the Sleeping Houses when girls had awoken, and to their distress, found the cages unlocked and their beloved pets flown. Song Jie had always remained diplomatically silent on the matter.
Song Jie's plan to find a way to the outside world had begun to formulate, if only in subconscious whispers, when her nightmares had started, three years ago. She also knew she had to leave before she had spent all her life not understanding the words she had read,
"The world is silent, the world is still, it is waiting for you."
Of course there were dark rumours about the Outside, hushed murmurings squeezed out of Auntie - a fat old woman who was the only one allowed to pass between the two worlds. She had used to go with Father on his journeys until she developed crippling gout and now spent most of her time in the Breakfast Hall, her beady eyes rolling around the room. The girls would run up to her and ask coyly, "Auntie, what's outside here? We've heard talk of monsters!"
Auntie, predictably, would sit up in her seat and reply, "Oh yes, there's horrible monsters, and demons too behind these walls, only your Father has safe passage due to the glory of the Emperor. There are creatures out there that would prey on girls like you, swallow you down in a single mouthful!"
The girls would all draw back gasping and giggling in exaggerated fear, for who could envisage such monsters whilst living in a place like this? Some, however, would go pale and withdraw to a corner for a while and Auntie would add almost kindly, "So feel blessed you are here with the blossoms."
Song Jie had never paid much attention to these stories but the Outside had always interested her. Her curiosity, however, had not been realized into a plan until three months before, when the first of a string of truly curious events had occurred.
Song Jie had been coming back from a walk when she had seen a shape moving in the garden, like an animal slipping through the shade of the evening. Given that nothing was permitted entry from the outside world Song Jie had familiarised herself over the years with every living creature within the Houses' walls. This animal's movements, however, she did not recognize and it darted strangely amongst the undergrowth as she approached. Quickening her pace Song Jie had strode over to the patch that she had last glimpsed the mysterious shadow. She had no need to be afraid; there were no monsters in the grounds.
Song Jie soon became aware of a new scent in the garden, although she was ignorant of it at the time; it was the smell of persimmon.
"Hua-Ling? Are you eating honey-sweets in the roses again?" Song Jie had edged forwards, aiming to catch her friend in the act. It was well known that Hua-Ling had a fondness for honey-sweets beyond Auntie's tolerance and was often found crouching behind some leafy plant, her lips caked with the powder dusting used to preserve them. Song Jie knelt down to peer through the branches, the orange glow from the night-lanterns did not reach this far. She was in the darkest part of the garden but she could still hear girls laughing, trying to catch the nightly fireflies by the pool.
"Hua-Ling?" Song Jie had whispered and slipped her hand along the damp ground to feel for the satin robes of the errant girl. Her fingers found instead, a small scrap of parchment. She pulled it out and peered into the branches again to find two pale un-human eyes staring straight back at her. Song Jie had screamed but did not move from her place, the fear had frozen her to the dewy earth.
Moments later, hands had grabbed at her shoulders like pincers, "Song Jie? Song Jie? Are you alright?"
She had looked up blinking, it was a tall dark girl called Han Luli who had been catching fireflies with the others. The familiar girls all stood crowded round her and Song Jie could suddenly see their faces very clearly. She noticed that the light of the lanterns now illuminated this part of the garden as she could have sworn it had not done before. More voices could be heard approaching, even that of Auntie's, who had been prised up from her chair by the commotion. Soon Song Jie felt a small hand pressed into hers, it was Yang Min.
"Song Jie, what happened?"
Song Jie looked into Yang Min's wide eyes, blinking with fright and found herself remembering what she had just seen. She turned quickly to look into the roses but the pale eyes were gone, as too was the smell of persimmon.
Auntie bustled about demanding answers and information from the firefly catching girls who claimed not to have even noticed Song Jie's presence in the garden. Song Jie made up her mind to avoid even more trouble and stood up decisively, "Auntie, I apologize, I was sleepwalking."
"Sleepwalking? What in Heavens..." Auntie snapped back, looking rather harangued.
"I dreamt I had lost my favourite pin, so I must have come out here to look for it," Song Jie explained, thinking as quickly as she could for some kind of excuse.
Auntie looked suspicious, but Yang Min piped up, "It's true, Song Jie has been having terrible nightmares recently."
This had indeed been the truth, Song Jie's particular nightmare of the bare trees had first come a week earlier, she had even run into Yang Min's room crying in a cold sweat.
Auntie's face had relaxed, the possibility of a threatening or even an outside presence within the Houses had shaken her to the very core. That night she personally walked around the perimeters of the walls herself, on a gnarled cane and supported by Han Luli. It was even whispered that word had been sent to the guards outside the walls, and the protection further checked.
Auntie had tapped her stick against every tree as she went round, muttering to herself in thought. Girls did not tend to have nightmares in the Concubine Houses. 'Paradise does not tolerate peril,' Auntie muttered dryly as she hobbled back up the steps, all the same she took one final look around before going in.
Song Jie had sat in her room alone; having assured Yang Min that she was alright the smaller girl had finally retired to bed with a yawn. Song Jie gazed at the thin slats of an open window, moonlight shone through, falling on her pale skin. She looked down at her hands and realised that one of them was still clutching the scrap of parchment. Moving over to her bedside lantern, she unfurled the scrunched paper carefully so as not to rip or damage her only clue as to what had occurred in the garden. At first she had thought it blank, but turning it over Song Jie saw three words,
"You are trapped"
That night Song Jie had dreamt of the dead blossoms again.
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