“Any more problems?” Yuelan studied the palace guards with a pointed expression. “Or can I go in and meet with the empress now?”

Guangjun frowned when he heard that Yuelan would be meeting with the empress and beckoned one of his servants to lean down. He gave some quiet instructions and the servant quickly went down the street.

The palace guards bowed, not noticing the fifth prince’s actions, and let Yuelan pass. The fifth prince followed after her into the palace. When they were out of earshot of anyone else, Guangjun looked over at Yuelan. “Priestess, please be careful when meeting with Her Majesty. I worry for your safety.”

Yuelan smiled at him. “Thank you, Your Highness. I will be careful. And I have Byakko, Leila, and Willow to protect me.”

“I sent a servant to inform my third brother, just in case. And if needed, I will stand as a witness that you went to see her should something happen.”

“Your Highness is very considerate. Perhaps you’d like to come visit my residence with your brother soon. We could have tea and I can play my guzheng for you. Leila is also rather good at chess. We played together a few times on the way to the barren lands.” Yuelan looked over at Leila, who had started to frown when she was brought up.

Guangjun smiled and inclined his head. “It would be my pleasure, Priestess. They reached a fork in the paths and the fifth prince indicated one of them. “The empress’ palace is along that path. I am headed to meet with Father Emperor, so I cannot escort you any further.”

Yuelan studied the indicated path with a slight frown. Even though it was winter and there was snow everywhere, the path had flowers blooming along it. “Such a beautiful path...it’s a shame what lies at the end of it.” She sighed and patted Byakko’s neck. “Let’s go, Byakko. We should probably make an impressive entrance when we get there.”

The white tiger growled softly. I can do that. He stepped onto the indicated path and continued along it with Willow and Leila following behind.

“Priestess, why did you suggest that I should play chess with that cripple?” Leila asked once they were far enough along the path that they couldn’t see anyone around.

“He wasn’t always a cripple, from what I understand. He was thrown from a horse and his legs paralyzed.” Yuelan’s voice was full of disapproval and she studied Leila with cold eyes. “Being forced to sit in a chair does not make him any less of a human being, and he is still a prince. It wouldn’t be bad for you to make friends with him.”

“In the future, I’d appreciate you not volunteering me for such things as playing chess.” Leila frowned back at the young priestess.

“I didn’t volunteer you for anything. I said you were good at chess. I never said I would make you play it.” Yuelan’s frown deepened. “Leila, you need to lighten up.”

The idiom made Leila frown in confusion. “Priestess, are you saying I need to lose weight? Are you calling me fat?”

Yuelan sighed and lifted a hand to rub at her temple. “No. It’s your attitude that needs lightening. You’re very harsh on anyone who isn’t a woman. You're harsh on women too, but you’re especially harsh on men. If you’re going to stay with me as my guard then you need to learn to treat all people as people. Just because someone is a different gender from you doesn’t mean they’re worth less. Men and women are equals in my eyes. Equal, but different.”

Leila sighed. “Is that why you want me to play chess with that cripple?”

“His name is Prince Guangjun, fifth prince of Longuo. And you can stop calling him a cripple. To answer your question, though, yes. I want you to play chess and interact with him because I think you’ll learn something from it.” Yuelan studied Leila. “And maybe you’ll figure out why your fiance didn’t want to stay with you.”

Leila winced and looked away, no longer feeling like talking.

Willow had remained silent through the entire conversation and had a solemn expression. She still said nothing as she followed Yuelan and Leila along the flower-lined path leading to the empress’ palace.

Yuelan felt a little hypocritical about what she’d said to Leila. After all, she’d been pushing Guangfeng down quite a bit in reaction to how she felt she was being pushed down. That everyone around them had been doing it just as much was no excuse for her own behavior. Willow scolding her had helped her realize that and now she wanted to help Leila realize it too. Maybe if they worked together they could change things for everyone.

It wasn’t long before they arrived in front of the empress’ palace and Yuelan studied the building. She was nervous. The owner of that palace had kidnapped her before, there just wasn’t more evidence beyond Yun Cai’s words to bring it to the attention of the emperor. And it would get Yun Cai in trouble as well.

Her eyes moved, looking up to the sky as she took a breath, and Yuelan saw a raven swoop down to land on the roof of the empress’ palace. Yuelan smiled and patted Byakko. She wasn’t alone to face this woman. “Let’s go.”