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Mei Chang waited in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The waiting room was gilded gold covering baser metals and wood. Xiao Mei sat on her shoulder and guards with wooden masks stood at the doors, but otherwise she was alone.
Her mother had been barely out of girlhood when she had begged the Chang Clan to send her to the Emperor. The Chang Clan was small and downtrodden enough that it had been difficult to find one with the lineage, beauty, and skills sufficient to be the concubine of the Son of Heaven. The Hsieh Clan had thanked the heavens at the birth of the latest prince of Xing, while the Wang Clan had strutted like kings because their scion would always be the Eldest Prince, and rumors of the Emperor’s poor health had started to circulate. Though young, her mother had asked for a chance to fight for her clan.
Mei Chang once saw a photograph taken of her mother not long before she left for the capital, and a child not much older than Mei Chang herself had stared back at her, instead of the classical beauty her mother had grown up to be.
Her mother had supplicated herself before the Emperor and asked for his favor. She had submitted herself before him, that an old man might possess her and emptied herself of all other ambition. She had eked out a victory where before there had been none.
In Mei Chang’s eyes, her father was a fool. He had chased after poisoned elixirs and specious legends and for years had ignored what everyone already knew was the path to immortality. Only when his time was running out did he remember that children to carry on one’s lineage had been the method for time immemorable.
As the 17th princess, she had barely a chance. The other clans had an almost insurmountable lead on her.
Still, she had crossed the desert, alone, with only Xiao Mei for company. She had scrabbled at the ground, extracting trace water and carbon from the air and the sand to turn into food. She had wondered whether the desert would bury her whole, the winds would strip her body of its flesh and scatter her bones, or the sun burn her to ashes.
And yet, it wasn’t enough. Ling Yao, with a carefree attitude and no real skills, and without his loyal retainers would never have been able to cross the desert, Ling Yao had beat her. He had beat her because he had been willing to be possessed by a greater power. He had submitted himself to a greater power and endured, winning his prize.
Was this the only way for the people of Xing?
Mei Chang refused to live on scraps of mercy and dependency on another’s good favor.
The Emperor had offered to let her be the Minister of Trade with Amestris. It was a generous offer, and when the railroad between the two nations was complete, it would allow her to travel regularly back and forth, and be a child of Amestris as much as Xing, if she so chose.
She thought about Al. Amestris was different from the legends. There were no fairy tale princes on white chargers, no knights in shining armor. There were only empty suits and a scramble to survive. The only princes in the known world left were her half-brothers. She closed the door on him in her mind. For a time, she promised herself.
The Chang Clan had no resources to benefit from favorable trade agreements. It had no goods to export and no money to develop industry or purchase items from afar.
Finally, the doors opened, the guards parted, and Mei Chang knelt before the Dragon throne.
There was a moment of silence before the Emperor acknowledged her: “Princess of the Chang Clan.”
“Your Imperial Majesty,” she greeted, “I, your subject, am grateful for your kind mindfulness of my small clan.” Mei Chang looked up at the Emperor’s face, and in the trappings of the emperor’s robes, she saw only Ling Yao.
Straightening her shoulders and standing to the fullest extent of her small height, she said, “However, I am not yet suited for a minister’s role and would not serve you as you deserve, especially given the wiliness of the government of Amestris. I have a cousin, well studied in accounting and politics. Although she is young, she has already ranked first in the provincial governmental exam, and she is studying for the national exam. Let her be my proxy for now.”
“What will you be doing in the meantime?” he asked.
“I ask of you command of a fleet. The barbarians to the East have raided our borders while the honored Grand Imperial Sire busied himself in search of immortality. Though they are as gnats buzzing against an ox, our honor demands satisfaction,” she replied.
Ling Yao’s customary expression of amusement didn’t falter, but she wondered what went on behind his eyes. “Our honor or our treasury?” he said, as if musing aloud.
“Of course, we will demand compensation for allowing this slight on our virtue for so long. Be assured, I offer this out of my gratitude to you, exalted one. The Chang Clan does not even ask for a pittance of whatever tribute is offered to offset the trouble taken to dispose of this issue,” replied Mei Chang.
“How generous. What of regulating the merchants once friendly relations are restored between Xing and the East?” asked Ling Yao.
“Who better than the Minister of Trade? For but a small cut of the transactions, for the inconvenience of administrating over such barbarians, of course,” said Mei Chang.
He smiled at that, not the fake smile of amusement but a real smile, having caught onto her plan. “I will consider this,” he said and dismissed her from his presence.
Mei Chang thought of empires, conquests, taxes and gilded gold built on base materials. Xing was not Amestris, and she was not Father. She was only human, but she would ensure the survival of her clan.