The King's Dancer

Chapter 8

After taking a bath, Xie Lian walked back into his chambers, only to come to a surprised halt when he saw the sitting area.

There was nobody there, but on the table was a variety of moon cake, as well as a jar of wine very nicely laid out.

Xie Lian blinked, and looked around, but there was indeed nobody else here anymore. Still, whoever had brought it, Xie Lian sent them a mental thank you, and smiled warmly. He ignored the wine, but grabbed the delicate plate of mooncakes, and walked into his little courtyard.

He hadn't paid attention to it earlier, but the moon was indeed beautiful tonight, a perfect circle in the sky, glowing in a warm, yellow-ish light. He placed the mooncakes on the table, and took a seat on one of the stools.

It only took a second for nostalgia and sadness to spread through him. Last year he'd spend the Mid-Autumn festival with his family. There had been a big banquet, not unlike the king was holding right now, and spirits had been high throughout the night. Xie Lian had talked and laughed a lot, completely free of worries. He'd wished to stay as happy as he'd been that day for the rest of his life, but that had perhaps been too much to ask.

Now, sitting alone in this little courtyard, in a kingdom that wasn't his, with no parents and no friends his age, he couldn't help but feel incredibly lonely. There was only the moon keeping him company tonight, but it wasn't like that round disk in the sky could do anything to cheer him up.

"The roundest moon can be seen in autumn... it's time for reunions", he quoted to himself. Not that anyone was alive for him to reunite with , he thought, and couldn't hold back a tear sliding down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly.

In order to distract himself, he ate a mooncake. It was sweet and soft and Xie Lian's mood immediately lifted slightly upon tasting it.

Two days later, when they were supposed to have dance practice, Miss Fang was running late. It was an unprecedented event for Xie Lian, and he wondered if something had happened to her. They had the previous day off practice, so he hadn't actually seen her since the evening of the banquet.

He asked Banyue if she knew something, but she was as clueless as Xie Lian was himself. So he tried to approach the girls of his group, but they gave him rather nasty sideways glances as soon as he'd moved closer, so he sighed and gave up.

Just at that moment, Miss Fang walked in, looking rather windblown, and very unlike herself.

When she came to a stop in front of them, she took a moment to just look at them, before she shook her head and heaved a rather heavy sigh.

"Let me start off with this: Your performance was splendid, there are only few things I have to criticise. I'll do that in just a moment, however, first things first.

"One of you caught His Majesty's interest at the banquet", she started, and immediately got interrupted by the girls' excitement at hearing those news.

For whatever reason, Xie Lian's stomach plummeted at hearing this, and he wondered just what had happened after he'd left the banquet. Maybe the girls had realised that the king had paid a lot of attention to him, and they'd outdone themselves to draw his attention to them for the rest of night? Successfully?

Xie Lian felt a twinge in his heart at that thought, but he refused to acknowledge it.

"Quiet!", Miss Fang called, and the girls immediately ceased their blabbering. "Xie Lian, I don't know what you did, but His Majesty wants you to dance for him more frequently from now on. In his private chambers."

Xie Lian could hardly believe what he was hearing. He was happy he'd done such a good job listening to the concubines, and had apparently been rather successful at seducing the king, but he hadn't expected an outcome like this!