Turned Table of the Phoenix

Marriage

It was about noon when I walked down to Katsuro's cell. I looked at the guard and checked to make sure he was too drunk to recall anything that we would soon discuss. Katsuro sat up and handed me the silk blanket.

"Thank you," he said as he bowed again.

He then started to share what he had learned from that day.

"The empress is in need of a new husband. She has no control over the armies and the northern borders are being attacked. She needs more backup and foreign connections. The Emperor had the connections, but now she lacks those. She's also running out of gold and silver in the treasury. In simplest terms... she needs a new husband and soon. Without a new husband this empire that your father has built will dwindle and fall into ruins. Now about who is the culprit for the incident with the arrow, I only have a few suspicions. I don't believe it was any guest at your party but rather an old connection of your father's".

I sat there shocked, my mouth dropped open and my eyes grew wide.

"And you got all of that from a drunk guard?!"

He shook his head no

" Then how did you get all the information?!"

He coughed and cleared his throat then whispered, "I used the keys and found secret passageways the servants use."

By that moment I was almost over the edge in concern.

"And they didn't notice that you weren't a servant?"

He smiled.

"Of course not, they're too busy with their own work. Also servants are always constantly being replaced".

I couldn't help but chuckle at how clever and cunning he was.

"Well stay in your cell I don't need you getting hung before I get all the information I need. I'll get you out soon until then I need you to stay here."

He nodded then added, "I heard that Emperor Hitoshi is going to marry the empress... you know what that would mean".

I froze dead in my tracks, repeating in my head what he had said. like a broken puzzle the words finally came together in my mind creating the full picture. I then took off down the hall at a full sprint throwing the blanket at Katsuro.

"Wait where are you going?!" Katsuro yelled as he held onto the bars pressing his face against them.

I turned the corner and ran straight into Emperor Hitoshi almost knocking him to the ground. I bowed and asked for forgiveness. He smiled kindly and lifted my chin with his finger and asked me, "What is the rush? Where are you going?" I looked back at him in the eyes and said, "I was actually looking for you Emperor Hitoshi. Are you seeking to wed Empress Saku Miyo"?

He looked around at his servants and noble men and women that surrounded him. He coughed then excused his servants and the nobles. He waited until every man and woman was out of earshot and the proceeded to ask me, "How did you know about that? I haven't even talked to the empress about the possibility of that."

I smiled and tapped my jaw line and said softly, "I can't help it... I am a smart girl, I have seen the way you look at her when she walks in the room and how you converse with her often."

The emperor smiled and nodded.

"You are indeed a very clever girl. However, I would be careful with who you share information with and also with those you receive the information from," he whispered in my ear.

Somehow his statement left an unsettling feeling in my stomach. It felt as if an illness had came over me suddenly at that moment. He slowly walked past me his red and gold robe trailing behind him. He stood there with a powerful stance, his chin raised and his dark eyes faced forward. He turned his head back towards me and said, "Go and enjoy this nice day. I will discuss with your mother the possibility of that arrangement later, but as of now I will go and enjoy the weather too".

I walked to the gardens and sat down under a large pavilion and plucked at the grass and flowers that surrounded me trying to submerge my worries. I looked across at the palace that gleamed in the sun. The stone dragons sat there at the front of the building and the koi pond shimmered with the scales of the fish. But as I looked closer, from the darkness of the palace there stood a man ... Emperor Hitoshi's son.

He leaned against the open doors, legs crossed one over the other. He starred at me dead in the eyes then turned around back into the palace where I couldn't see him. I was sure he saw me, I knew that he knew I was there. I couldn't worry about him at the moment though. I only need to worry about his father and the empress I told myself. If the empress and emperor wed... then I will be back to square one and the whole game will be reset. Not only that, but then they will be even more powerful than Emperor Chou Wu ... I didn't have time to waste.

Time was precious at the moment and coming to an end. Someone was trying to overthrow me before I could over throw any of the others. Both the culprit and I were good at this game. I tapped my jaw and bit my lip looking back down at the flowers in my hand.

How could another game piece be added to the board. I had removed the kings piece... was it possible another could be replaced just as a pawn can become a queen? I shuddered at the thought of that. In the very end, it didn't matter to me. Another piece added is another piece to be removed.