The man rode in on a horse dressed in robes of crimson red and blackened obsidian. When he took over and created his Jiaozhi dynasty--the Great Zhuong. All the world was greenied plains, azure oceans, and well-built houses.
Today's celebration was to usher in a new wave of change in the world, a world he would one day endeavor to wrangle into submission. War was no deal-breaker, and spilling blood was even less. This wasn't a celebration of a win but a preemptive reminder of their greatness.
"Great blessings upon the Emperor!
"Great blessings upon the Emperor Consort!"
The crowd watched the golden and silken woven carriages swoop through the stone streets with bells and gems twinkling like cranes. Lanterns jangled on rooftops and jingled on the carriages. Guards of the inner palace marched alongside.
Emperor Jun, a young emperor who inherited modest beginnings, wanted organized rule under his strict gaze. One of the few alpha men alive, much less in royal standings, he had more respect among his peers than most. And so, marriage had never been a difficulty. He had his spouse, Huánghòu Min, and now four consorts, each as bright as the colors of the season. If there was anything else to be said, he wouldn't say it.
He loved all his consorts equally.
And anyone spotted at the celebration could see it.
The people not only saw their brave Emperor celebrate their new dynasty but also saw Huánghòu at his side right at the forefront.
Huánghòu Min wore waves of yellow and dressed in red. An omega of high stature, Min, was born of a high pedigree. He held his head high and watched as the four new consorts flourished their colors bestowed upon them by the Emperor. Still lesser in the proper rankings but far too close to Min's to be comfortable. This was more than a competition between them. He was noted by the servants for recently, quite gingerly patting his still mostly flat stomach. And everyone hoped for an heir as soon as possible.
If Min was fire, then the softest, Consort Zavala, was water with burnished amber skin tanned in contrast to the paleness of Huánghòu Min. Consort Zavala was a wild card not only for his exotic background but also because no one, including the Emperor, knew why he was here. He dabbled in music, crafting flower arrangements, and singing but never asked for anything but shelter and love.
Contrasting brightness neither dimmed nor shone them particularly bright when Consort Hirotsuna was there. A measure of medium between the two extremes. Consort Hirotsuna was melancholy and spent his time feeding koi or playing Go. Perhaps there was a steadiness to using both the white and black pieces interchangeably as he waffled between those two sides, amicably choosing neither.
But not all the consorts were so consumed with the competition of interest and attention, Consort Chen was one of economy. His family had wealth and accolades but barely the status of scholars. None with any real dignity. Except for now, one of their own, albeit from an offshoot branch in the family and not even of the legitimate bloodline, had made it into the Emperor's main consorts. So now, all he needed was an heir. Everything else would come later. But, unlike the other consorts, he had already given birth to one--an omega son. Servants noted that he had begun praying openly and carrying beads as he whispered under his breath with what were either prayers or curses. His rounded belly openly seen as he tiptoed with servants in hand.
Yet, here four new consorts and not three was said.
Consort Vu was nowhere near as exotic as Zavala, nowhere near as middling as Consort Hirotsuna, not as high-born as Huánghòu Min, and certainly not as ambitious as Consort Chen.
No, Consort Vu was pushed onto the pedestal, expecting little more than the title of Concubine or Senior Attendant. He would have preferred the latter alongside a pleasant retirement, and if he did well, there were seasonal vacations. Well, he imagined to avoid the attention of the Emperor but somehow failed in that endeavor. He hoped that all he ever bore were omega sons and that would be the end of that. For today's events, servants reminded visitors to be careful. Consort Vu was heavily pregnant but rarely paid this change any mind when wandering around except when standing and sitting. Luckily for his Senior Attendant, they could bribe him with books to keep him still.
In five hundred years, this lineage, among many others, will have its own stories to tell, and like all things, it began with an innocuous and safe conversation hundreds of miles away, taking advantage of the celebrations in the capital city.
"You're sure?"
"He was wracked with illness at the inn," she snapped at her husband. "It was either we met them in person or we waited months before receiving the traded goods."
Lakshmi Song may not have been a male alpha, but a female omega was close enough to squeeze in an appointment here, along the main merchant routes connecting the empires, just based on her rudimentary status alone. She had never taken favors and compliments seriously before, but today was the day she understood they really could make or break their dreams—or, at the very least, add a layer of difficulty.
No one at the inn believed her and her husband were merchants. No one at the inn was willing to take their gold. And no one at the inn was willing to do more than curry compliments and turn wary gazes on their backs when they turned. They couldn't be trusted, apparently.
Most males were omegas at the turn of the century but her and her husband were different.
A female omega and a male beta was unheard of, yet here they were.
A match outside of omegas and alphas was already odd. Betas didn't really exist as far as medicine was concerned. Betas, to popular opinion, were only weak alphas, but long long ago, they did exist.
It was her preference to use the term over calling her husband an alpha when she knew it was his sore point. And she had never liked the bravado of a regular alpha, male or female, it differed little to her.
Her husband was and is a welcome reprieve.
And he seemed to appreciate that lack of alpha expectations.
"And so we arrive."
As such, with clear honesty between them, his moods, like now, were clear to her. His discontent wrapped every word in a short sentence.
"We'll receive the goods, half the pay, then leave."
"Did they describe the place to you?"
"No, but they rarely do."
The looming building peered out from the horizon ahead of their open-faced carriage. Their directions brought them to the exterior of a stonewall. Not quite the size of a palace or housing but secluded enough to have space for a higher-than-average expenditure-type of lifestyle. Her eyes filled with taels as gold flickered in her mind's eyes.
These people had money and lots of it. Her crimson brocade wasn't cheap but this was something else. It whetted her ambition to know the Liu Clan was far wealthier than rumors said.
"I don't like how this place looks."
The open space did remind her of a battlefield.
She dusted off her ruqun and ruffled her sleeves as she said, "Here? This?" and turned to her husband, who wore a disgruntled expression. His face twisted, and his goatee quivered as if he were about to speak but held back. "We could turn back if you wanted. We would also be penniless within a week's time. It's really all up to you."
Her husband sighed and said, "There isn't anywhere else within a day's travel."
"It looks as though we have no choice."
"I'm sure that's what the dead said before they were killed."
Owls hooted in the background as they traveled through the thin forest, turning into stone and dirt pathways, only to arrive in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of a hill.
Once they reached the top of the hill, this pocket of nowhere had a rather large front house wrapped around a few smaller, sprawling houses behind it like a tantalizing trap.
"There's a children's story I read to Liangyu the other night," She said as the reins snapped and the horse's speed slowed down the hill. "It was about a demon waiting in a house pretending to be a widow. Over time, as months and months passed, it started to forget that it was ever a demon. It visited neighbors, fished with the fishermen, and weaved nets with the housewives becoming everything this widow once was. So, when the soldier finally came home, she greeted him with food but despaired, 'What if I'm caught? What if I have to leave?'"
The horse's heels continued to clack against the sandy paved road.
"The soldier said, as he ate, 'I heard an awful rumor in the streets.' and the demon answered, 'Oh, dear, what was it?'. There was silence in the room. Silence until every bit of the bowl covered the soldier's mouth and emptied into his stomach. As the soldier didn't speak, the demon waited with bated breath on whether the soldier would have to be killed. The soldier said, 'They told me the old woman who lived here was dead. I was almost worried. I haven't had a good meal in so long.' But when the demon reached for the bowl, it noticed the bowl was still full. When it turned to face the soldier, his face was distorted, mangled with rot and the flesh of the dead. The demon soldier said, 'I haven't had fresh yaoguai in centuries,' and ate the other demon."
Her husband snapped his mouth shut and then opened it to say, "What lesson was meant to be learned?"
"There's always a bigger and badder bad out there," She said as the carriage drew to a stop. "Your sons had been fighting all that evening. Nasir didn't speak a word after hearing the story. Liangyu will always check to make sure we eat all our food now. It's a win win."
Her husband sighed heavily.
When the horse slowed to a stop, her husband stood in front of her like a bulwark, still just as suspicious. Another enormous gate separated them from the estate until the gate door squealed open. A small form of a man dressed like a valet of sorts greeted them.
She sighed in relief, smacked her husband's chest, and said under her breath, "Your crab-walking was even starting to scare me."
"I still don't trust it." He mumbled as he stuck close.
Twisting around her husband with a gentle push to the side, she greeted the valet, who looked like a typical omega with his hair in a bun, wearing the crest of the Liu Clan on his chest. Green and gold lightly trimmed his clothing as he greeted them wordlessly and gestured to the doors of the gate. Rather strange for someone of low status to wear the crest so openly, but the Liu Clan was known for their bizarre etiquette.
In her initial search into climbing the ladder of her husband's country, it was the fringes of gossip that led her into the martial world. It wasn't of interest to her in a literal sense, but the business and untapped potential that could link that world to her own gave her the shivers.
And there was no clan more famous than the Liu in the martial world with their libraries of elixirs and healer, cultivation that led to longer life spans and stronger intellectuals, and, best of all, they had opened a school but struggled to gain students because of their so-called "bizarreness".
They needed help and here she was to offer it.
This valet led them through the winding exterior to a housing on the left. Students trained here on bamboo mats, sparring dolls, and what looked like long ropes. There were only two students: an elder and a youth, working on the proper techniques for striking a sparring doll. The youth appeared quick on his feet and could compensate for his shorter height with sweeping kicks.
The rest of the training hall was empty.
He introduced them to the elder and youth, respectively, as Master Won and his disciple Cheng-en, under the age of ten years, the son of Mistress Liu, and her spouse, Sir Liu.
The disciple stared at the valet oddly before dropping his gaze to the floor. Silence spread in the room as Master Won tilted his head at the sound of someone upstairs. The elder said, "Ah, it appears you're here for the meeting. I'll leave you to it," and turned back to his disciple and said, "You're nowhere near Xia Ting's level anyhow. You can't waste time."
"That's not fair," the disciple groaned. "You trained her like an alpha."
"And you think we trained you as an omega?" Master Won scoffed, and then his long gray beard shook with laughter. "If you're going to miss your martial sister, take it out on her, not this old man."
The disciple sputtered out, his cheeks tingling with embarrassment, "Who would miss her? Not me! I'll finally be the top disciple, and she'll leave me alone. Forever."
"Besides, there's still Master Lin."
"He doesn't like me. And all he talks about is how great the dao sword style is."
"You are a bit small for a sabre."
"Master!"
The old man's laughter echoed in the halls.
Even Lakshmi could hear the drop in the disciple's tone as the valet led them further and further away into the next rooms where other loud noises only became louder.
These halls were built at an angle with a heavy stone banister unlike anything she had ever seen in this side of the world. Her thoughts were interrupted when a heavy desk flung into the halls, cracking on the stone banister into shards. She noted that the left side of the banister had more wooden shards than the ones left behind by the desk, while the right side had vases and calligraphy decorating the walls. The banister appeared to be a shield for these items like a secret cabinet.
The valet knocked his knuckles against the frame of the door, out of range of any far flung object, and said, "Mei Lien, the Songs are here."
Loud expletives sounded before the noises quieted. A silence that was suddenly deafening for how loud everything had been seconds prior. Sliding the door fully open on both ends, the valet gestured them inside the room.
The room had dark wood and soft flooring. Chairs sat on both sides of Mistress Liu's seating, and a large Buddha figure painting stood behind her, gazing jovially down at them.
Quiet as can be, the valet slid from behind them to stand at the shoulder of Clan Liu's Matriarch. The woman was willowy, with firm musculature showing through the Liu Clan robes. Her nose was sharp, and her lips were dark red. Even her hands appeared to hold over the chair like knives. If those were attacks, then her eyes were the final stab.
Nothing but cold ice stood in those irises.
But she was now very confused. She and her husband took seats beside one another, seeing the room as a comfortable but rather ordinary meeting room with the proper flowers, calligraphy, and designs necessary for its use. The vases were lightly jeweled and painted a celadon shimmer. Flowers were well arranged in bright colors, and the calligraphy art was sharp strokes, as any martial academy should be open to admiring.
And yet, where were the traded goods?