The sound of heavy boots, echoed on the cherry wooden floor. Zhenya crawled out of the futon, towards the furthest corner of the room she and her mother shared. Her mother was not there, instead she could hear her and a man scream in another room. The heavy boots came closer, and stopped in front of her room. She put her knees up, and placed her head under her arms. Making herself as small as possible. What would it be this time, another scolding about something she didn't do, or maybe a beating. What other reason was there, she might be five years old, but she knew that the other consorts and their children hated her. The door slid open and her father's soldiers rushed in, she was quickly spotted, rudely picked up and dragged out of the room. She already knew that there was no use in screaming, begging for mercy. There will be no mercy, not for her. She got carried through the halls of the Xuě fēng palace, the smallest palace of the Royal palace, that was her entire world. They passed the living room, and there was her mother. Together with a man that she vaguely knew to be her father.

"No," her mother screamed, "She is only five, please your majesty. I am begging you, she is too young." Her father didn't even look at her, he didn't even look at his own flesh and blood.

"She is a princess of the Móhú de kingdom, and she needs to do her duty." her father said. "I can't send any of the other princesses, their mothers wouldn't allow it. But you," her father, turned around and grabbed her mother by the cheeks. "Have no legs to stand on." He pushed her mother backwards, and her mother dropped to the ground.  "Princess Zhenya of the Móhú de kingdom, you are being sent towards the Yīnghuā shù empire. As a hostage," her father said without any emotion. Her turned away, and the soldiers carried out of the palace. Placed her into a carriage without any windows, and a lock on the other side of the door. She cried in silence, and curled up in a ball. She heard the shouting, and the carriage started to move. From a distance, she gates opening, and closing after a lot of time. She didn't know what was going on, and all she wanted was her mother.

*********

The carriage stopped a few times along the road, she however was not permitted to go out. A bowl of cold rice with nothing else was pushed inside the carriage. From time to time, but not every time, they stopped. Zhenya know what hunger was, because there were times when her mother didn't get any money for the Xuě fēng palace. But this was the first time that she was laying in her own filth. One day the carriage stopped once again, she didn't expect anything. No food, no breath of fresh air, how brief it might be. But the door swung wide open, and the cold air filled the carriage. She shivered, four hands reached out to her and dragged out of the carriage. She wanted to scream in fear, but she knew that was no use. The eunuchs stripped her from all her clothes, scolding her for the filth and stench. They threw cold water over her and started to scrub her from top to bottom. They were not gentle about it either, she would suffer a cold the day after this, that was for sure. The eunuchs wrapped her into a nice dress, that was too small for her, and placed her into a nicer carriage with windows. Fresh air wrapped around her, why was she inside this carriage? Why did she need to be washed? And she never in the five years that she was alive was she able to wear such fancy clothes. She didn't know anything, but the carriage was once again pulled forward. It wouldn't be long before she saw the large city, the people in the streets, and they looked at the carriage. Some whispers reached Zhenya's ears, their words were harsh. She sat up and looked out of the window, and once the people saw her face the unkind murmurs changed to disbelieve.

"How old is this child?" someone in the crowed said.

"Does the Móhú de kingdom no shame," another said. But none of them did anything to stop the carriage, one of the eunuchs that walked next to the carriage looked at her in contemned.

"Sit back down, you brat." he snapped. This gave more negative responses from the crowed. Still, Zhenya did as she was told, but she was still able to see the palace appeared in view. The walls and gate were bigger, thicker and larger than the palace she used to live. The gate opened for the carriage, and closed when they passed. The smaller palace were neatly built in a simple row, leading up to the main palace. The one that was the home of the Emperor and Empress, the other palaces were for the concubines and grown up prince's. Which was the same as her father's palace, but these palaces were bigger. The carriage stopped in front of the palace, the eunuch who had scolded her opened up the carriage and pulled her out. Again without any gentleness, but fixed his attitude when the imperial soldiers looked at him with disgust. "Listen carefully, you brat, you do not say a thing." She nodded and followed the man into the building. She placed her sleeve in front of her face when the heavy double doors opened, this because the aroma of the incents was much heavier than at home. "What in the devil's name are you doing?" He once again scolded her. "Put your arm down at once." But she didn't do what he said, because if she did that, she would not able to breath. He didn't repeat his words, because they were too close to the most important people inside the room. The emperor and empress of the Yīnghuā shù empire, the eunuch bowed for the emperor and empress, and he tried to pull Zhenya with him towards the ground. But the girl was frozen in place. She has never seen such a beautiful woman, besides her mother, in her live. Her father's wife and concubines were pretty, but this woman eclipsed them all. The woman gave her warm smile which reached her eyes.

"And who do we have here?" the woman said.

"Princess Zhenya, the sixth princess of Móhú de kingdom, trueborn daughter of king Tang Zhelan." the eunuch replied. The warm gaze of the empress changed into a cold stare.

"Did I ask you anything?" the woman snapped. The eunuch lowered his head even lower. The emperor reached out his hand towards his wife.

"Calm down, dear. This man only replied for the scared little princess," the emperor said. He now turned towards the eunuch, who was trembling in fear, or was this rage. Rage that would be vented out on her, as always. "How old is this little princess?"

"She has lived for five winters, your imperial highness." the eunuch replied. The emperor nodded slowly.

"So that is how much king Tang Zhelan values the agreement, sending his youngest daughter, who he conceived with a lowly maid." The emperor said harshly. The anger inside his voice made her tremble in fear, or was this because of the cold bath from earlier. The empress saw her trembling body, and placed her hand on top of that of her husband. Which pulled his attention first to her then, she motioned with her chin towards Zhenya. His gaze went over her, and he balded his fists, but his gaze softened. "I am sorry, princess Zhenya. This explosion of my temper was not aimed at you, but at your father." She nodded slowly, as if she understood him. The emperor waved the hand towards a close by soldier. "Escort the princess Zhenya to the Líng lán palace, together with her maids."

"The princess was not escorted by maids, your imperial highness." the eunuch explained. "Only by eunuchs." Which enraged the emperor once again. The empress shock her head.

"This is outrages," she screamed out. She then turned towards the emperor. "The care of this child shouldn't be in the hands of men, she needs a woman's touch. And I am sure that this girl is not being treated well, while on the road. Her clothes do not even suites her, she is paler than a lilies leaf." Zhenya slowly nodded, hopeful that this woman would protect her from this nasty eunuch. "She better stay here, for the first couple of days. So that we can hire some proper staff for her, and get her adjusted to the palace live here." The emperor nodded slowly.

"What shall we do with those useless eunuchs," the emperor asked his wife.

"What ever you want, my dear," the empress said. She stood up and walked over to Zhenya, and reached out her hand. "Come with me, Zhenya." Zhenya took the woman's hand and went with her. Deeper into the main palace, maids jumped aside and bowed for the empress and the little princess. Zhenya gazed over her shoulder, and saw that the servants started to whisper. But the empress ignored them and kept on walking. They enter the living quarters, a young boy rushed towards the woman. "Zhenya, this is my son and the crown prince Liaxaun. Liaxaun, this is the sixth princess of the Móhú de kingdom, Zhenya. She is sent here by her country, and because her father only sent eunuchs, which will not do. So she will stay here for a couple of days, be nice to her." Liaxaun nodded, but didn't say anything. "Are you hungry, Zhenya?" She nodded, and the empress quickly ordered the servants to bring some food. Which they did, Zhenya never had seen so much food in her live. Hastened, she looked at it, not sure what to do. "Please, eat up," the empress said with a warm smile. She took a small bowl and chopsticks. Slowly eating the rice and meat dishes. "There you go." The empress then also took a bowl and started to eat. "Liaxaun, take a bowl and eat with us." Liaxaun did what his mother said. With their help, the food vanished in a matter of time. "Now it is time for this little princess to take a hot bath, and that the servants to look for suitable clothing."

******

The cold that she had predicted did come, and she lay shivering in a futon on the floor. Her sweat streaked forehead whipped clean with a clean cloth by the empress. She wanted for some reason to plead for her live, but she couldn't get the words over her lips. The only thing that passed her lips was a fierce couch, and every time that happened the empress placed a calming hand on her back.

"It is alright, Tiánxīn. Let those Èmó out," the empress said. The door shoved open and the emperor entered. Zhenya closed her eyes, not wanting to face this man. He scared her.

"I heard that our geust was sick, I couldn't believe my ears. But now that I see it with my own eyes, I have to curse Tang Zhelan. Does he think so less of us, to sent a sickly child to our doorstep." the emperor said, in a calm but angry voice.

"I do not believe that the Princess was sick when she left home, my heart." The empress said, the emperor didn't ask why she believed that this was the case. Or at least not outloud. "According to the maids that helped her bath, her skin was rubbed raw earlier that day. Also her hands and feet showed signs from frostbite, her to small clothes were still a bit damp. Which means that she has being bathed earlier that day, with was I believe cold water, not dried of properly. And it is pretty cold out there. She was also pretty hungry, I never seen a small child her size eat so much in one sitting. Not even our growing Laixaun could eat that much. We needed to eat too, so that she wouldn't over eat. And then again the maids shared that she was very skinny, those useless eunches haven't treated her well." the empress concluded. The door slid open once again and someone else entered the room. Zhenya didn't see who it was.

"My emperor, empress, I have found the information that was reqeusted." said a man with a deep growling voice. "We have found a carraige, or more accurate a cage without windows and a lock on the outside. Half a days ride from the capitol, the inside of this carraige was filthy and smelled like someone was locked up in there for days. Without fresh air, or time to do their busniss outside."

"So that is why she was scrubbed clean, that poor child." the Emperor said. "She was kept in there like an animal, with much food, water or clean air. No not even an animal could be kept that way, let alone a child. Wife, please don't burn yourself out by taking care of her. Let your most trusted maids help you, I am going to kill those bastards." The emperor's footstep together with someone elses walked away from the room. So she didn't have to beg for her life, that was a relieve.

*******

It has being weeks since Zhenya entered the imperial palace of the Yīnghuā shù empire, and she is still living in one of the spare bedrooms of the imperial couple. Prince Liaxaun has taken her under his wing after she got better from the cold. But tomorrow she will move towards the Líng lán palace. Together with the Empress’s most trusted maid and a few other servants that were selected by the Empress herself.

“Zhenya, hurry up!” Liaxaun shouted. “I do not want to become late because of you.” It wasn’t her fault that they were about to be late for his martial arts training. He overslept, and she is still getting used to her new surroundings. They do not leave the main palace often, and if they do, then they stay inside the garden of said palace. It is only a few times that they have left it completely, and that was only for his training. He had begged his mother to let her go with him, because he wanted to show her off to the other imperial children. Mainly the other three princes, the two princesses didn’t approce her at all. She didn’t know why that was, maybe it was because she was wearing their old clothing? The Empress told her that much, but now that she thought about it, she didn’t care about them. She was already showered with attention from the princes. They set foot on the wide, dusty area, and Liaxaun shot off towards his brothers. The master, General Mao, tossed him a wooden sword, which he caught with ease.

“You are late,” General Mao said. “And do not even think on blaming it on Princess Zhenya.” General Mao had taken a liking to her as well, which was a good thing. He himself had a daughter, who was hanging around First Princess x. But he had slipped more than once that he was not able to understand why the now dead eunuchs could treat her in the way they did. But all of it didn’t matter, Liaxaun started to face the Second Prince Rougang. Who was the closest in age as him and have trained with him for years now. Zhenya sat down on the dusty grounds, normally some other soldiers were present, sometimes with horses. But today they were the only once that occupied the field, which meant that she didn’t have anything to do, but watch them train. But then her eyes fall on something, a basket at the edge of the field, which was holding another wooden sword and a dummy. She got up, went towards it and started to duplicate some of the princes moves on the dummy. “Lower your shoulders, otherwise your arms would get tired pretty quick.” the voice of General Mao said behind her. Which made her jump up, turn around to face him. With a guilty look in her eyes, what earned her a deep belly laughter from him. “No need to be this jumpy, you did nothing wrong. You simply want to do something while those blockheads are training. I need to ask the Emperor, if he is willing to allow you to be trained as well. If you want, of course.” She light up, did he mean that, was she allowed to train with the imperial brothers? She nodded quickly, and he motioned her with his hand to follow him. “Alright, you blockheads. Princess Zhenya will join us for today, and if your father allows it. She will train every time with you.” The boys jumped up in excitement, which probably meant that they would beg their father for this. “And because of that, we are going over the basics. Yes, I know that you guys already know it. But the same can’t be said about her, and it doesn’t hurt to go through them again.” The princes didn’t even protest, maybe he said this to be ahead of them. She didn’t know, but they started. They didn’t only train with swords, but also archery, kung-fu and the art of using a spear. Never in her life she has felt this tired and for filled, she couldn’t believe that she was allowed to train with them. At least for today, the next time was still up in the air. But she at least had today. The only problem was that she was too tired to walk back to the main palace. So Liaxaun carried her on his back.

“That was so much fun,” he said. She nodded, too tired to even speak. “I hope that father gives you his blessing. Because next time we are going to train horseback riding.” That would be fun too, she loved horses. Something she had found out when she arrived here, and was allowed to pet them.

“Hello the two of you, how was training. Wait, why are you carrying Princess Zhenyi?” that was the emperor.

“She tired herself out during the training today, Fùqīn.” Liaxaun said proudly. “You should have seen her, she is just as good with a sword as I was at her age. At least according to General Mao.” Liaxaun sounded so proud of her. “O yeah, General Mao was going to ask you if she was allowed to train with us in the future. She is almost always there anyway, watching me and the others train.” Zhenyi glanced at the emperor to see his reaction, he seemed less scary today. The emperor looked first at his son, then at her, and then back.

“She has trained with you?” he then asked. Both Liaxaun and she started to nod. “You know she is not the first Princess that has learned the arts of man. There have being female generals as well, so I do not see any harm in her training with you. Your mother was already saying that she needed to learn something like embroidery, or the art of music.”

“I can still learn all of that, your majesty.” Zhenyi said she wanted to fill her days with stuff that she was able to learn. And embroidery and the art of music sounded like a fun pastime. The emperor nodded in agreement.

“Then from today on, you will teach everything we can offer. Music, art, fighting, math and of course language.” he said with a big grin. “I will walk with the two of you, to inform the empress. Is she not a bit heavy, Liaxaun? I can carry her if you want?” But Liaxaun shook his head.

“She is not that heavy, Fùqīn.” Liaxaun said.