Imperial Envoy's Grand Ship
The dock lay beside the canal. After the founding of the dynasty, it had been repaired; even the silted channels had been dredged and widened. Prosperity stretched along both banks, with shops and storefronts packed together like fish scales and comb teeth. Bulk goods had increased severalfold. Though veiled in threads of rain, laborers still hurried busily up and down.
Only one place was silent as a grave. Armored soldiers stood openly at their posts, hands on their sword hilts, each one like a statue of stone.
In the shadows, bowstrings were readied as their owners focused intently and waited.
"Your servant Chai Kejing, Prefect of Nanxing Commandery, requests an audience with His Highness the Imperial Grandson."
The lean, gaunt middle-aged man had barely boarded when the ship's murderous solemnity stunned him into stillness. After all, he was a prefect; he could see both the open and hidden arrangements. He could not help murmuring, "The Qimen Guards truly deserve to be called the Imperial Grandson's honor guard..."
Chai Kejing had vaguely heard some rumors as well, but inwardly he sighed. Even if one stood at the summit of officialdom, a feudal lord over one region, surrounded by guards on every journey and bells sounding at one's rising and resting, one could never obtain such honor.
This was treatment reserved for a sovereign.
The person ahead had already gone inside to report.
He stood obediently outside, allowing the fine rain to drum against the raised umbrella, pattering endlessly. He stared blankly at the water beside the ship, though no one knew what he was looking at.
"His Highness the Imperial Grandson invites you in." Before long, the man came out and spoke to Chai Kejing.
Chai Kejing folded his umbrella and set it aside, then cupped his