The King's Dancer

Chapter 3

Xie Lian was led out of the building which housed the infirmary, and through a whole network of gardens, with an abundance of ponds and pavilions.

It was beautiful; each of the gardens was a lush oasis in its own right, and colourful flowers were sprinkled all over the greenery. Xie Lian almost forgot he was in the middle of a desert.

Once they left the gardens, he was led past the archery grounds, where quite a number of soldiers were in the middle of practice, and then further, past the hall where he'd first seen the king lounging on his throne, until they eventually arrived at the gates of a private inner courtyard. On each side of the gates stood five guards, who looked quite imposing. They greeted General Nan Yang respectfully once they saw him.

After they walked through the gate, Xie Lian was surprised to see that they were walking down another corridor, with a rather big gate on each of its two sides. He couldn't see beyond the walls of either side however, and since they eventually walked through the gate on the right side, he figured he would have to do his own thorough explorations of this place later.

Having walked through the gate on the right side, they were now in the middle of this inner courtyard, which was rather sizable, and contained a beautifully painted pavillon, surrounded by neatly trimmed grass and tidy pathways. There were even exquisitely carved stone benches below the trees that cast some shade over whoever would sit there. It all seemed very tranquil and peaceful.

They walked past the pavillon, and through yet another gate on the opposite side of the courtyard. This part they entered now was definitely the resting quarters of the dancers, Xie Lian understood immediately.

It wasn't because he saw dancers running around or anything, but just by the way this area was laid out. After they'd walked through this third gate, they'd entered a small-ish, definitely private corridor. There were four entry gates on the wall opposite him, and another one further down the wall on the side they had entered from. Whatever was behind that last gate, should be placed directly next to the courtyard they had just walked through.

"Behind each of those gates are courtyards with three houses. There are always two dancers sharing one house. The four courtyards on this side don't have any space for you left, so you will have to live in that one in the back, on the other side."

"Is there a reason why it's separated from the other courtyards?", Xie Lian asked, knowing very well that, even though those four courtyards each had their own entrance gates, they were most definitely still connected through side doors. Did that mean he was supposed to stay in solitary confinement here, too?

"It was used by the favourite dancer of the previous king. Currently, His Majesty doesn't indulge in playing favourites, and decided against having any of the dancers live there to avoid unnecessary jealousy and discontentment among themselves. But since the other houses are all fully occupied, there's no other choice but to put you there for now."

"Does that mean that nobody's living there yet?", he asked, feeling somewhat dreadful. He'd already started feeling lonely during his stay in the infirmary.

"No", came the surprising answer. "A little girl is living there right now. She hasn't been here for very long, and she isn't officially a part of the dancers yet."

Xie Lian absolutely did not mind being around children, and was extremely glad he wouldn't have to be living alone there after all.

The general showed him through the gate of that courtyard, and Xie Lian almost wanted to turn tail.

In itself, the place was beautiful. But it also wasn't being maintained. There was wood splintering off beams, visibly loose stones on the ground, and the single big house opposite him looked like it was about to collapse in on itself at any given moment.