[🎐] a thousand ceaseless dreams

iii. heiyaoshi

Heiyaoshi's eyelids fluttered open as something gently nudged his hand, which was tucked close to his face that was half-buried in his pillow. He rubbed his eyes and pushed himself up, blinking rapidly as the morning sunlight filtered through the curtains and landed on his white sheets, making it quite difficult to look straight at. A brighter blur sat on Heiyaoshi's pillow, the only indicator that it wasn't part of his bed being its pure black eyes and pink nose.

Heiyaoshi leaned down and gave Yùtù a gentle pat, his hand slipping off as he laid back down, still not fully awake. "Good morning, Yùtù. . ." he mumbled. "I'm not late, am I?"

Yùtù shook her head and hopped off the bed and scurried between the curtains that separated his bed from the rest of his room. Heiyaoshi reluctantly pushed himself back up, stepped off his bed, and took his glasses out of a small wooden case on his bedside table. He blinked a few times to get adjusted to the morning sunlight and found Yùtù on one of his tables, with a mortar and pestle which was clearly from the royal kitchens and not his room. A few other small porcelain bottles and cups were scattered around the bowl with their lids off.

Heiyaoshi walked over to Yùtù and peered at the bowl, which had a mix of herbs and flowers. "Yùtù, if you want to make tea, you can ask the maids to do it for you instead, remember?" Heiyaoshi said quietly, picking up one of the porcelain containers and taking a look inside. "Did you take these from the kitchen or did they give them to you? What am I saying, they wouldn't give herbs to a rabbit. . ."

Yùtù frowned and dropped the pestle in the mortar with a disappointed squeak.

Heiyaoshi smiled and gave her another pat. "I'm happy you took the time to make tea for me this morning. Don't worry." He walked over to his window and pulled the curtains open. The sky was still a golden yellow and a dull purple at the top, the sun just starting to peek over the mountains. But in Zhuimeng, that always insisted that it was a while after sunrise; the peaks surrounding the city towered above them like a giant stone wall.

Heiyaoshi glanced at the sundial on his wall. The shadow stretched across 卯—mao shi, the time when the sun was awakening and Jade Rabbit was grinding its herbal medicines on the moon. Coincidentally, Yùtù always woke up during this time to make Heiyaoshi's special tea. He personally had no idea what was in the tea, only Yùtù did, but it was his favorite.

Yùtù carefully poured all the herbs into a bag once she was done grinding them. Yùtù wasn't a very large rabbit; she was only a little bit bigger than the mortar and could fit snugly in both of Heiyaoshi's hands, but she never seemed to spill a single drop of tea or herbs as if she'd done it a thousand times. She carefully dropped the bag into a teacup and then sat next to the teapot, which was a little too big for her to handle.

Heiyaoshi smiled and walked over to slowly pour the steaming water into the cup. He gave Yùtù another pat on the head before picking up the teacup with both hands and taking a cautious sip. He strolled over to his window and sat down on the cushioned chair next to it, staring blankly at the leaves whistling by. Heiyaoshi's room was right next to the garden and a flowering tree had been planted in front of his window, which made this chair an ideal place to read—as long as it wasn't that windy and flower petals didn't constantly fly inside, making another mess for his maids to clean.

The prince glanced at the sundial and sighed. Over an hour was left before the palace's scheduled morning meal. Usually before breakfast, Heiyaoshi's father would oversee reports from his ministers and 'make important emperor decisions' (as the emperor explained it to the young prince). Heiyaoshi had attempted to help out a few times before, but he never quite understood politics. As a result, Heiyaoshi's father always came to morning meals with heavy eye bags and a tired voice as he invited everyone to eat.