Power Over Me | Haobin

Chapter Two

The first thing Hao does when Matthew drops him off in his chambers is take a bath. He left Quanrui to find his own room, and stumbled inside in a daze, with the promise to find each other later.

All he had to do was pull a velvet rope near his bed and a maid appeared to draw the bath for him.

As he slips into the copper tub, an involuntary sigh of relief escapes from his lungs. He can feel all of his muscles, so tense after over a week of travel and anticipation, that have worked themselves into complicated knots. Closing his eyes, he lets himself enjoy the small pleasure of letting those knots finally loosen for a moment.

Whatever soaps and oils the servant mixed into the water smell divine. They're mostly floral, but there's a hint of freshness that reminds Hao of the smell of the lakes and rivers around his palace after a long rain. He wonders if the servant prepared these scents specifically for him, knowing he would be missing the familiarity of Grosindan.

Even in his short time in Kallindaria, and even shorter time in Bitnan, he can already tell everything is different. The smells, the sights, the food, the people—everything. For a while after they crossed the border, he tried to watch through the window of his carriage for something that would remind him of the only place he's ever known. They passed an orange stand once, which he guessed got its goods imported from South Grosindan, and then a man painting on the corner of the street a day or two later—small fragments of a life that's slipped through Hao's fingers. The painter had looked poor, and Hao only found himself wondering what kind of country he was entering that let its artists starve. He stopped looking out the window after that.

The water dirties quickly with eight days' worth of grime scrubbed from his skin, and Hao has to get out sooner than he'd hoped, to avoid sitting in it for too long. There were few chances to properly clean himself on the road, after all.

By the time he exits his bathroom, he finds that all of his trunks have been delivered to his rooms. Some have found their way into his bedroom, and he opens one at random to pull out robes that he guesses will be suitable for his first meeting with his future king and father-in-law. A good impression isn't exactly optional.

He has to rummage quite a bit to find something he thinks will do. He wonders absentmindedly if someone will come by later to unpack his things, or if he is expected to do it himself. There are so many customs here that he is sure he's never learned of. Perhaps the Kallindarian people don't believe in touching others' things?

Unpacking would give him something to do with his days, as he brought more than he likely should have. There were just too many things that reminded him of home. Like the lake glass he collected with his brother when they were kids or the flower crown he made with Quanrui on his fifteenth birthday, pressed between the pages of his favorite book.

He slips the cool brocaded silk of a blouse over his shoulders. He works his way through the various knots and ties to fasten it closed. It is almost jarring, to go through such familiar motions in such an unfamiliar place. Before this journey, he'd never woken up anywhere but his bed in the palace he called home. He'd never taken a bath or gotten dressed without a servant nearby that whom he could chat idly.

He tries not to think about all of the people he left behind. In Grosindan, he made it his mission to get to know everyone he came across in the palace because he thought he'd be reliant on them for the rest of his life. He wanted to know the people who took care of him. He wanted to learn how to take care of them, too.

Now, he has to start all over again.

A knock at the door has Hao turning towards the entrance to his bedroom. He rushes to finish changing into his clothes and then moves quickly into his sitting room. In the main room of his chambers, there are two large, plush couches situated on either side of a grand, golden fireplace engraved with various figures and scenes. Large windows and double doors opposite the main entrance lead onto a private balcony that appears to look over the castle grounds.