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hendery and i had arrived back at Cressida and yet it was still early morning. it was only 11:34 am, meaning that i had a lot of time to join the other boys in practice. i quickly changed into my training clothes and left to the fighting grounds outside.
outside on the fighting grounds i saw king longwei and the expected people for the sword dance; yongqin, chenle, renjun, dejun, jun, minghao, dingbang, yangyang and caihong. "general! lovely for you to join us, we were just about to start!" king longwei had exclaimed as he caught sight of me standing outside on the sidelines.
i smiled softly at the king and walked over to where everyone else was. "now, i may not be a professional dancer but, i know this dance well enough to teach you. i'm expecting a lot from everybody, especially you general li." the king spoke as he moved his eyes to me.
as confused as i was, i left it aside and decided to ask him about it privately later, along with my questions about the portrait i found at the temple. for some reason, hendery refused to tell me about the portrait and demanded me ask king longwei instead.
"alright! everyone spread yourselves out and then i'll position you all!" the king's booming voice yelled as we all immediately scattered ourselves around the fighting ground.
although this area was what we used to prepare for a war/fight, the king insisted we use it for the time being to practice the sword dance.
"xiaomei you stand right here." king longwei stood in the center of the ground, indicating i should go here. around a meter diagonally behind me on the left was yongqin while on the right side of me was minghao.
the king continued to give everyone a position on the ground before clasping his hands, returning to the front so he could get a good view of all of us. "dejun move to your left a little, you're too far off." dejun followed orders and moved in closer to everyone else. the king plastered a smile on his lips before speaking again.
"this dance is very graceful and somewhat slow. you must be able to control your movements well to be able to dance to this well. this dance is very..nostalgic. you must have good coordination and balance in some parts. you must be flexible and aware of your surroundings because unlike the past years, you'll be using real swords." the last part of his explanation made all of us go wide eyed and gasp.
"your majesty, might i say that it's dangerous to be dancing with real swords, especially when we're this close to each other!" i exclaimed while pointing to the distance between minghao and i. the king let out a playful chuckle before walking to where the shelter was.
in his two arms was a large brown wooden box. when he placed it on the ground, the loud thud of the box was enough for me to know what was inside; swords. king longwei opened the box and took out a sword, holding it in the air for us all to see.
it was a sword with a black handle with gold decorated on it. at the tip of the handle was a yellow thread. the black of the sword itself was long and sharp; one wrong move and you could hurt the person beside you.
"this is not the first time this dance is performed. over a decade ago, before any of you were born, they used these exact swords for the sword dance. they learnt the dance and perfected it with grace. it would be wrong of me to not give you these swords for the dance." "your majesty we could hurt each other like that!" i protested, raising my voice louder than i wanted it to.
king longwei sighed and looked at me, "your mother could do it and i know you can too. she wanted me to teach you this when you grew older, so did your father. with what you found at the temple, i want to take this chance and teach you, all of you." he spoke while diverting his gaze from me to everyone else as he said the last part.
"this is why i advise you all to be careful of your movements and know how to control your movements." he said. given that no one else spoke a word to protest or comment, he began the lessons of the dance.
what felt like an hour, he finally gave us a 15 minute break before we went over it again. "jiejie! i'm tired~" chenle whined as he hugged me, resting his chin on my shoulder. "i'd love to comfort you but i need to talk to his majesty first." i said while looking down at the tired boy. chenle nodded in understanding before seating himself down on the dirt.
"your majesty," i tapped him on the back before he turned around with a smile, "you mentioned my mother before and i was wondering if she really learnt this dance?" i asked with a shy smile.
"before you were born, years before that, during the annual autumn festival in Eleftheria, your mother participated in the sword dance because you know, she's the general; all the guards participated. it was during her first few years of being general, meaning that hadn't met your father yet. but, that night during the festival, people from other kingdoms were able to come in; even if you were from Meraki, that's when your parents met."
"your mother was also the center for the dance and just like usual, she wore her mask. that night of the performance, she wore her usual black cloak with gold patterns and wore her blue peacock mask; i want that for you too. i want you to wear the usual outfit fitted for this dance in addition of her cloak and mask."
the king's words left me speechless as i listened intently. "i have a feeling you want to ask me about something else as well?" i nod my head.
"i saw another scroll in the temple, it was a portrait of what looks like a family but i don't exactly know who it is." as if he knew what i was talking about, he puts a hand on my shoulder and pats it lightly.
"the portrait you see straight away when you walk into the temple, the one hanging on the wall, is a portrait of the former queen and king of Meraki from many many generations ago. they were the couple that are told in the folk story of Qiuyue. they're the couple that had made Qiuyue the emblem of Meraki." he removed his hand from my shoulder and looked me dead into the eyes.
"the scroll that falls out after you insert the necklace however," my eyes widened at how he knew but of course, i assumed father had told him before he died.
"is a family portrait of the late king and queen of Meraki; before they died, before their daughter had children, and before they left their child in the woods."
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hehe second update so..the portrait from the last chap🤨🤨
