The rain came in the afternoon, a thin grey curtain that turned the garden paths to mud and drove the servants indoors. Liu Lanzhi sat by her window, watching the water run down the glass. She had not seen Zichen that morning. The storm had come before dawn, and Liu Lanzhi had sent Yulan to the boy's quarters with a message: Stay inside. I will come when the rain stops .
Expectation had suggested he would appear anyway. He usually did. The child would often come through the hedge with his robes soaked, his hair plastered to his face, and his smile bright.
But today, Zichen had not come.
Liu Lanzhi waited until the rain slowed, until the grey began to thin, until the light shifted from the flat white of storm to the pale gold of late afternoon. Then, the Northern princess rose.
"Yulan. Where are the Eleventh Prince's quarters?".
Yulan's hands paused over the tea things. Her eyes flickered to Liu Lanzhi's face, then away.
