In Jinghe Year Fifteen, on the twenty-second day of the fourth month, the envoys of every vassal state entered the Capital.
The Northern Guesthouse and Southern Guesthouse of the Court of Diplomatic Reception, Capital.
The Northern Guesthouse differed in its design from the Southern Hall.
The Southern Hall had eaves that pecked high into the sky and corridors winding through nine turns, built to receive the Southeastern Vassal States and display the court's gracious generosity in winning them over.
The northern establishment was different: its courtyards were vast, its buildings spacious and widely set, its walls thick and heavy.
Several bays of stables stood in a corner of the courtyard, ready for the camels, horses, and baggage brought by envoys from the Northern Lands.
At the Northern Guesthouse, the sky was clear and the air fresh, and spring sunlight streamed through the windows.
Horses neighed now and then in the courtyard. Members of the Khitan delegation gathered in groups of three or five, squatting beneath the covered walkway to bask in the sun and speaking their native tongue.
The wind brushed the bronze bells at the corners of the eaves, their clear, tinkling notes answering the rough, booming voices.
Within this single courtyard, the difference between north and south stood starkly revealed.
Inside the main hall of the Northern Guesthouse, the charcoal fires had already been removed and the windows stood half open. Several plates of cold dishes and a pot of warm wine rested on a square red sandalwood table.
Two bronze lamps stood unlit. In the daylight, they were no more than ornaments.
The Khitan envoy, Yelü Qi, sat at the eastern end in a thin stone-blue robe, his burly frame filling the chair.
His eyes were half closed, his features those of a hawk or