The capital welcomed no one without reason — especially not strangers bearing no titles, no banners, and no official seals.
Ju Xian and Taotao stood before the southern palace gate, eyes squinting in
the midday light, clutching a modest pouch of desert herbs wrapped in cloth.
Behind the carved red doors, the imperial city pulsed with activity —
servants, guards, and nobility moving like gears in a well-oiled machine. But
from this side of the threshold, it felt like a wall they would never scale.
> "We're here to deliver a rare batch of desert roots for the apothecary," Ju
Xian said politely, presenting the pouch.
> "You and everyone else," the guard grunted. "Name? Permit? Seal from
your district master?"
> "We traveled across the dunes," Taotao added. "Nearly got cooked alive
by the sun and robbed blind—"
> "And yet somehow you have no documents?" the guard cut in. "Try again."
After two more failed attempts — one involving Taotao pretending to limp
dramatically as an injured patient in need of palace aid — they were forced
to retreat and rethink.
> "We'll never make it inside like this," Ju Xian muttered as they sat beneath
the shade of a mulberry tree outside the garden wall.
> "What if we climb the outer wall?" Taotao suggested, eyeing the vines
clinging to the stone.
> "And get caught and executed?"
> "It would be memorable."
While debating foolish ideas, they noticed a small party exiting through a
side gate — mostly handmaids and a figure walking slightly apart from them.
A young woman with flowing robes embroidered with silver swallows, her
dark brown hair braided with freshwater pearls. Unlike the others, she
moved with grace, her chin lifted proudly. But there was no entourage, no
fanfare.
> "A princess?" Ju Xian whispered.
> "Definitely someone important."
The woman's eyes passed over them. Then stopped.
She tilted her head, intrigued.
And began walking toward Ju Xian.
> "She's coming this way," Taotao hissed.
> "What do we do?"
> "We run."
They didn't wait to explain. Ducking their heads, they turned sharply down
the side path and slipped through a narrow gap in the hedge. Behind them,
they could hear her calling softly — not with command, but curiosity.
> "Wait… I've seen you…"
They didn't stop.
Racing past servant corridors, ducking through open archways, they moved
deeper into the west garden — a space quieter, older. And there, bathed in
filtered sunlight beneath a flowering plum tree, stood the bronze cage.
Sky.
He was perched still, regal despite age, his gold-flecked eyes surveying the
breeze.
Ju Xian froze in her steps. Her breath caught.
Taotao stepped forward slowly.
> "There he is. I told you he's real."
Ju Xian's lips parted. But before she could get closer—
A voice shouted in the distance.
> "You two! Stop!"
Guards. Someone had seen them.
They turned and ran, vanishing into the servant halls.
But not before Sky stirred in his cage… and let out a low, echoing sound.
A sound Ju Xian would carry with her for days to come.