The Star Gazer

Chapter 7: Boötes

| Boötes:  The Herdsman constellation |

Icarius, a winemaker taught by Dionysis, offered wine to a group of shepherds as a gift of goodwill, however, they had a little too much of it and thought Icarius had poisoned them. The misunderstanding cost Icarius his life. Zeus placed the winemaker in the sky as the constellation Boötes.

True to his word, Koumei didn't see Tolui until it was time for the lunch meeting. He had been silent the entire time, even when Wenru returned and helped him to get dressed. Though his tongue was still, his mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour. 

"I don't think you're ugly, Koumei."

Why would she say that? She even used his name without any titles.

Was it a test of some sort, perhaps she was mocking him somehow? Or maybe she was trying to flatter her way into his good graces. Whatever Tolui's meaning behind her words, Koumei couldn't stop himself from replaying that simple sentence in his mind over and over. However, as he neared the door to the banquet hall he shook his head as if to clear his mind of any thoughts of the Plain princess. 

Koumei subtly fanned his face using his feather hand fan. He had asked Wenru to apply extra powder to his face and any sweat would make it crack and appear as if his face was falling apart. The formal robes he wore were layered tightly against his body, almost to the point of feeling like he was suffocating. Normally Koumei felt no discomfort from his clothes, but the upcoming meeting had a strange sense of foreboding. 

Was it too late to turn around and forget about the whole thing?

His feet slightly twitched with the thought of skipping the meeting, but the sound of someone behind him quickly stopped any thought of doing so. 

"Prince, I have brought the girl."

Koumei only nodded at the servant, serving as both acknowledgment and dismissal. He couldn't quite bring himself to look over at the figure that he knew was standing behind him.

"Am I correct in assuming that I should be seen and not heard during this meeting?" The soft voice behind him asked. Tolui spoke with a bit of hesitance, almost as if she wasn't sure that Koumei even wanted to hear her voice. 

"It would be in everyone's best interest if you stayed quietly at my side. Don't draw attention to yourself."

There was a small exhalation of breath as Tolui indicated her compliance, making Koumei's lips twitch with satisfaction. He was unsure of what would happen if she had an outburst similar to that of Sindri's banquet dinner.  While Commander Zhao was not known to be loud or headstrong, it was still unknown how he would react to a blatant lack of respect. 

The feeling of foreboding was still looming over Koumei, but he reached out and opened the banquet doors. 

Despite bracing himself for a war zone, the only thing that greeted Koumei as he entered was the quiet sounds of Kouen drinking a cup of tea. A few of his personal guards were resting near the back of the room, but other than that, the banquet room was completely empty. 

"Hello brother, I wasn't sure if you were going to show up or not." Kouen said before taking another drink of his tea. His sharp eyes didn't fail to notice that Koumei had entered with an additional party at his side. His lips formed into a small grimace behind his teacup, no doubt thinking back to the mess Tolui has caused before. 

"You know I can't stay away from meetings like these, especially when new information is to be found." Koumei answered as he slid into a seat at the table. His brother smirked to himself, he knew how much Koumei hated meeting with people but also hated being anything less than one step ahead of the flow of information.