Three Kings and a Princess

Gold I Bring to Crown You Anew: Part IIB

#FanFiction #TheApothecaryDiaries #TearmoonEmpire
2/12 #wss366 #ScribesAndMakers #MastoPrompt

[Continued from previous post “Gold I Bring to Crown You Anew: Part IIA”]

The two walked to the parlor in the main house, with Mao being careful not to trip on her new, awkward gown. Managing it was a #continuous nightmare. If people had to wear these things every day, they would be useless for anything but decoration. Just something for men to look at. The thought displeased her.

The first thing she noticed upon entering the building was the scent of sandalwood and agarwood with a touch of frankincense. “An expensive waste of precious resins,” she thought. But that was to be expected, given how important this guest seemed to be.

Upon entering the parlor, her eyes were drawn to a man dressed in a lavishly embroidered gown. His clothes were rich with gold and silver thread; no expense had been spared. A gold crown adorned his head.

He rose and called to her, “Niang Niang, at last I can reveal my true identity.”

Mao stopped. “No, no, it couldn’t be!” The thought whirled in her head.

“Tianyu,” she said in complete disbelief. The dissection-mad surgeon stood before her in regal robes, arms outstretched with a besotted look on his face. A less august person was hard to imagine.

[Continued tomorrow in “Frankincense to Offer Have I: Part I”]

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMFic
#ApothecaryDiaries

Three Kings and a Princess

Gold I Bring to Crown You Anew: Part IIA

#FanFiction #TheApothecaryDiaries #TearmoonEmpire
2/12 #wss366 #regard #ScribesAndMakers #Vivid? #MastoPrompt #Continuous

[Continued from “Gold I Bring to Crown You Anew: Part I”]

"Your visitor brought you not only gold but a dress too. It's outlandish, but it's made of the finest material," Pairin said, as she laid out a blue dress.

Mao’s eyes widened. The dress was made of soft blue silk layered over cream-toned linen and cotton; every ruffle was cut and stitched with almost obsessive care. Red satin ribbons and a #vivid blue sapphire finished off the opulent dress. It was an absurdly costly foreign gown—clearly the work of someone with far more money than sense.

It tugged at her memory, although she couldn’t say why. No one from Li would ever dream of wearing something so impractical.

Had an eastern prince, with no #regard for common sense, decided to court her?

With Pairin's help, Mao was slowly encased in a monument of silk, linen, and layers of petticoats. Finished, Pairin stepped back and admired her achievement. “Just think what we could sell this for.”

The lack of a compliment would have insulted any other woman. Instead, Mao thought the same thing, picturing the mounds of herbs and medicine she could buy. She hoped she would have the chance to do so instead of being packed off to someone’s harem or taken to a barbarous land to the east.

“Hmm,” Mao wondered. “Or did she mean me?” It didn’t really matter; they were both practical women. Marriage for the inhabitants of Verdigris House was about money first, with love being an afterthought.

“Would you like something to help with your first time? New girls often do.” Pairin produced a small packet. “Just the first time. Any more is bad for you.”

“Poppy paste,” Mao thought. She took it and secreted it away. “But not for this. I’ll save it for when nothing else works,” picturing a maimed soldier. “Or for someone too important to feel pain.”

A smile touched Pairin’s lips as she watched Mao both accept her gift and refuse to use it. “Come, we mustn’t keep the client waiting any longer.”

[Continued in the next post “Gold I Bring to Crown You Anew: Part IIB”]

#MicroFiction #TootFic #Serial #NMFic
#ApothecaryDiaries