Mei woke without much fanfarre very early. Her days in the orfanate and later in the army had always been filled with certain routines and then later, aging and ghost pains from lost limbs had made sleeping for longer than four hours impossible for her. She had to say sleeping for almost six hours without any drug for pain and actually feeling rested was an amazing feeling.
Nanny Coco was asleep and as she did not want to awake her, she decided to just settle for some meditation to pass the time. That reminded her that she needed to set a clear schedule for her morning activities and to get Aridel to provide her with all the things needed to ensure she could do her training. However much potential she had for cultivation, she was sure that her body was in need of a serious work to be well conditioned and surely, it would help her cultivation if she got in shape.
And speaking about cultivation. Aridel had said that he would help to train her on that particular area and she believed that he would. The problem was that she tended to be impatient and there was also a certain feeling of restlesness inside her body, as if there was a current of something contained inside her that should flow somewhere but couldnt.
Mei concentrated on trying to locate where in her body she could feel that overflow the most and when she realized her shoulders where the place, she tried to relax and concentrate on the next place she felt not quite normal. As soon as she did that, that something, qi she guessed, seemed to flow to her chest the next place where she felt weird.
Mei breathed deeply and thought of what little literary knowledge she had about cultivation. In stories, it was always said that qi flowed in ones body using channels called meridians that were akin to veins and arteries but not quite so. Some places where special in the body and seemed to be crossroads of sorts and thus qi was more concentrated there. She guessed her chest area contained one such important place.
-My Lady, are you...
Nanny Coco spoke those words with a choked voice. She had woken up because it was already her usual time to get up to tend for Lady Mei's morning routine and breakfast. She found her sitting on the bed, and the position she was in and the flow of enery around her meant the impossible: she was able to cultivate now.
Mei heard the words as from afar and switched gears fast. She opened her eyes and smiled.
-I can cultivate now Nanny-she reassured her and saw how the older woman smiled while trying to sniffle her tears.- My soul became free during yesterdays episode but I want to keep it a secret for some time as I am still weak-
-The Lord knows?-
-Yes, he promised to help me train. I will also need your help to do so without people realizing about my improval-
Nanny Coco was an intelligent woman. She said nothing more about the matter but started prepparing her morning clothes and helped her with getting a fast morning bath. One maid from the Lord Estate had also come in when she was starting her bath and delivered a simple yet elegant red dress complete with a veil, a set of gold jewelry and a pair of shoes with delicate red petals embroidered. When Nanny Coco saw that, she blessed Lord Shen in her heart as he had taken care to bring proper and comfortable clothes for his bride that would help her to endure the ceremonies from the day.
Mei on the other side, felt trapped worse than on a VAC suit used to work on space. For one thing, helmets and suits had evolved to the point that a soldier had full visibility of the outside without being exposed. The veil and the lenght of the dress were so uncomfortable for her that she realized why ladies of old times needed to be helped just to move around by maids.
-The Lord awaits in the main hall. The Lan family is set to arrive in two hours after breakfast and Preceptor Dun already announced The Emperors will arrive at noon for the weding ceremony and a family lunch-This servant was quite to the point. Mei liked her on the spot but could not ask much about because she could not risk getting exposed as a fake Lady Mei. She had to settle for a gentle and sincere smile as thanks for her help.
And then she was also distracted by the beautiful show of Aridel sitting on cushions laid beside a low table filled with delicate pastries for a light breakfast.