The Ambassador housing wasn't large, but it would be dishonest to call it small. There was a fishing pond at the front and a two-level building with four rooms on each level. The bottom level carried the kitchen, the servant's quarters, Candise's work room, and an open thatched area for camels or horses. The second level were their bedrooms. The main bedroom was the size of two rooms with Yusun's bedroom across the hall and a bathing area leading to a lower bathing pool was in the last room.
The windy breezes were about the only soothing thing about this.
Yú Yīng had been married to Ambassador Chen for half his life. The deal was made to give their black market dealings more connections and more palms to grease. Nothing more, nothing less.
"And then they thanked me," Candise Chen grunted in his ear in the midst of thrusting repeatedly without purpose or aim. Until she released and groaned, flopping over like a fish on her side of the bed. "Easy pickings. All I had to do was sound like them and give a little homage, and they were eating out of the palm of my hands."
She promptly fell asleep as Yú Yīng reached underneath the mattress for the potion mixed with every abortifacent and contraceptive herb known to humans. And gulped it down.
He stood up and wrapped an appropriate nightrobe around himself before leaving the room with barely a breath. The housings here were easy to be quiet in unlike the wooden creaks of the Eastern Empire. But this also meant--
"How are you already wandering about?" he hissed, snapping his fingers around his daughter's ears. "We only just arrived, and you've found a paramour to sink into the night with."
"No, Ada, me?" His daughter's bright smile peered up as she made prayer hands. "I swear to Amitabha I would never be so brazen. I was helping you out."
Yú Yīng scrutinized her briefly before saying, "Yusun, please explain to me how. And be truthful."
"Well, what had happened was--I walked to the tavern for information, I swear that's it, but it was too quiet in there. I felt the mood wasn't right. I slid in, listening to a few soldiers whispering among themselves about a suspicious individual. I followed that lead to what ended up being Sergio's point of contact. We spoke a little, you know, the usual, typical things, and now I have the records of the on-goings of the capital." She said as she handed over rolls of papers held together with discolored twine. She was dressed in commoner clothing and in colors that fit the sand. It appeared planning had gone into her excursion. "I told you--you can trust me."
"I'll send this to our people for verification, but. . ." Yú Yīng paused at Yusun's wide-eyed expression. "If you can keep acting this responsibly, you'll have more room to breathe. Understood?"
"Always, Ada, thank you!" She said and rushed off to her room.
The young alpha was nearly at the age of marriage but already a few years older than Yú Yīng was on her marriage day. Although her nature was naive and adventurous, part of Yú Yīng worried about the upcoming days. Time certainly flew like the wings of a hawk—sharp and quickly.
"You're going to keep lying to that child then?"
It was the raspy, cold voice of Yú Yīng's eldest, Chuli, who emerged from the shadows dressed in the long imperial robes of the Eastern Empire. Her hair was cut short like the styles of these southern Empire folk. A golden snake circlet with tassels falling over the back wrapped around her forehead.
"When did your ship arrive?"
"Not too long ago."
"And your spouse?"
Chuli smirked. "Adjusting. He's excited to see his mother after all this time."
"We didn't plan for his appearance," Yú Yīng reminded her, feeling his temper burn at the end of his throat. "You don't coax a beast when their belly is full."
"No," Chuli said as she twisted around with a dismissive glance at the housing around her. "You do it when their back is turned."
Her daughter wisped out the room with the windy breeze falling through the only proof anyone had been there at all.
"Lady Harimoto," Yú Yīng said, knowing that the woman was within earshot. "I'll need your help in sending this for verification. Akira's point of contact will be waiting. Make sure Master Lin is made aware of the changes as well."
The woman's clothing was unlike most of the Eastern Empire, with rigid and sharp lines, unlike the flowing nature of Yú Yīng's.
"Is there anything else?"
"Let Master Won know that his children are alive."
Lady Harimoto's barest of reaction was a flicker but noticeable even to Yú Yīng.
Yú Yīng asked, "Do you think he shouldn't be informed?"
"No," Lady Harimoto shook her head. "I think Grand Master Won will react indifferently. And that may not be in our favor."
"Better to feign ignorance out of ignorance than to lie outright," Yú Yīng sighed. "We will inform him when the time is right. It's not as if the old man is in the right mind now. No need to enrage him further."
Lady Harimoto tilted her head and then floated out of the room with a hood now covering her form as she entered the night.
"It's time," yawned Candise Chen from his back. She rolled her head on Yú Yīng's neck until Yú Yīng shook her off. "We have a trigger waiting to sprung. Why don't we set it off before the southern Empire does?"
"All it will do is incite the Western Empire's soldiers to fight amongst themselves."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Candise laughed and then leaned forward conspiratorially, "And we will need friends this coming season."
"I'm not sure you even know what those are."
"Bah, who needs friends? Allies, I meant. Allies."
Yú Yīng nodded and then said, as if speaking to a child, "Fine, fine, as long as it doesn't burn more bridges than it builds."
His spouse's grin merely widened.
"You're going to have to do something about that child of ours."
Candise, for a moment, sparked a look of seriousness before she shrugged. "She wants to burn it all in fire. I can't say I don't understand. Ah, the fierceness of youth." and wanders back to their room, muttering under her breath. "A teacher may open the door, but the student must choose to walk through."
Her words settled in the air like a warning and like thick fog. He leaned against the cold, stone walls as if the air had been sucked out his chest. This wasn't something new for him.
Nothing about their journey had been good.
For a long while, their daughter had been shipped around not like a daughter of nobility and royalty but like a slave--barely even that of a poor merchant's child. And then used as a way to funnel the Sonhrai Empire's anger and hatred toward the Jiaozhi Empire. Nothing more or less than a hostage.
In another lifetime, they could've been happy.
Zulfi paced the aged tapestry wall with wringing hands. He dressed simply, with little use for clothing other than for the need of coverage. His status was less than a commoner, and it would do nothing even if heard. More than twenty-three full seasons had passed, and three of those had been spent in this cage of thick wool. His tables were made of imported glass, he drank the finest juices, ate the freshest foods, learned to read in the quiet and slept when all else failed. It was a life of ease.
It protected him from the outside just as well as it kept him in the inside. His hand cradled his enlarged belly as the movement kept him slightly off-balance.
The tapestries opened and Thabani's thick vining gray hair poked out. Those who called her the Matriarch of El Mahdy when he called her his lover in private. Her stick tapped in before clattering to the ground as she opened her arms and swept him in, drawing kisses all long his cheek leading to his lips.
Her fingers landing on his hips and rounded belly.
"I have good news," she said.
But Zulfi was unmoved, he merely quirked a brow, and her hands began massaging his back to his belly as she said, "I will be able to bring you into the household now."
He blinked again. The years leading up before being swept into the world of the Matriarch was nothing but starvation, pain, and loneliness. This cage was better than nothing at all or less than nothing. So, he said, in disbelief, "I will be able to raise Behenu?"
"Our family will come together as one," Thabani El Mahdy repeated as she drew more kisses along his lips. "Now, let me lead you out--"
"Now?" Zulfi broke out and clutched her arm in surprise. "You mean it then."
Thabani's eyes softened and crinkled at those words. She repeated, "I have already added you to our books with the Imperial scribes. You enter our household as my spouse and not my slave."
The words nearly broke Zulfi, whom Thabani caught just as he lost footing. He had known his lover's slow, measured steps and walking stick were fake, but he hadn't known her strength was so solid.
"Breathe, Zulfi."
No tears fell from his eyes, but as they left the tapestry cage and he felt the full brunt of the sun, he hadn't known how unsteady freedom actually was. His hands only clutched Thabani tighter.
"Do Himmat and Hammid know?"
"No, but they are soon to be married," Thabani added. "They won't have the time to cause us trouble when they have their own households to build."
"I don't understand how the Empress allowed this."
Thabani clicked her tongue as her guards brought a kajawa, a camel carriage, for them to ride. They were rare specialties of the elite nobility and just as few royals had them. She said, "The Empress worried about the El Mahdy because of its strength. With only me, she had nothing to fear. Even with omega children, she had her spears set on us but was not alarmed. With the birth of Behenu, I had to shift our family in her mind before she struck. If she could not worry for the empire, lost to foreigners, she worried for our family. This is no longer true."
"We are off to war then? Without a military?"
"War is not always fought with soldiers."
As they slid into the carriage, Thabani gestured him over and nestled him between her arms wrapping him securely in her sights. The carriage trembled as the camel was led back to the El Mahdy residence.
"Make sure to bring my books."
Thabani tsked, "This must be why your eyesight is nearly as bad as mine."
"We have no need to exaggerate."
Thabani burst out into laughter and the shaking shook out whatever tension sat in his spine. Perhaps he would know peace in this lifetime.
"Have you gotten to read the telling of the warriors by the ocean?"
"I have had little time to read these past few years."
Zulfi smiled as he pulled Thabani's arm tighter around him and comfortably underneath his belly. "The story starts where the moon is out, and it starts to rain in the desert."
He may be one of the lucky ones.
When they reached the residence, he wasn't awoken by Thabani's gentle words but what sounded like threats from outside. He was alone in the carriage, but a blanket sat covered over as if Thabani had more than a few moment's notice to leave. His eyes peered around the carriage opening and found Thabani staring down her guards as they pleaded for forgiveness. Zulfi grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself, hoping that it would at least cover up his middle before leaving the carriage to meet Thabani at the entrance.
The sun had already fallen, lanterns were lit, and the air was chillier than yesterday. He said, "Thabani?" with his hand reaching hers. When her hand wrapped around his, his concerns fell away. They, at the very least, were fine. So the issue was with the residence itself. "What's wrong?"
"So you're the little El Mahdy's omega parent. He's cute." The figure said, who was dressed in thickly layered clothing. If it was silk, it was about the most elaborate he'd ever seen, and he's worked in enough high-end brothels to know the difference. Not even imported. Likely rare to find even on the Eastern Empire shores. "Well, you'll understand the process of legitimacy for my husband then."
This figure was the reason the guards were apologizing. Who were they that the guards couldn't even refuse them entrance? And to the El Mahdy's residence of all places.
"Nobility is not the same as royalty," Thabani said tightly. "And especially not in relation to the most favored consort."
The woman thinly smiled and added, "Not legitimizing him is the trap—not my mother and father's machinations. I could go somewhere else, anyone else, but what would be the fun in that? I'm sure you agree."
"It depends, Chuli," Thabani said pointedly with a raised finger direct at the figure. "If you love your husband, this is worth all the gold in the world, but, if you don't, the Empress will gnaw you two apart. And neither of you will have anything in the end."
"My husband isn't naive, Matriarch," Chuli said with narrowed eyes. "He's well aware the Empress may not like him or his brother, but I hear between the consort and my husband, even his brother, look similarly in visage. That is something we can work with."
"The Empress is not a sentimental being."
"The Empress only has three omega children. To my knowledge, "Chuli said, smiling. "Two are spoiled and ungrateful. One is only concerned with their reflection and other's opinions. I don't need to know the sciences to find an answer. Because I know very well what a filial child can do for a parent."
Thabani went silent, but Zulfi sighed before knocking his shoulder into hers. He said, "This sounds like a situation where if it fails, then it isn't your problem."
"Even a brothel wench knows the situation better than you."
Zulfi rolled his eyes. "You'll have to do better to actually hurt my feelings."
The rogue cocked a smirk as if surprised that he could speak at all.
"I'll help you," Thabani relented. "But never call my husband that again. At least pretend to have propriety."
Chuli pretended to yawn and picked at her ear.
"You can leave now."
With little less than an impolite gesture in Zulfi's direction, Chuli swept her cloak around her face and left back into the desert.
As Thabani with the guards in tow wandered into the residence, Zulfi had to hold back his awe. Fresh water within reach. Fruit trees carefully nurtured. Areas of shade to relax under and an amiable atmosphere of kindness. The servants worked with respect but they almost appeared as members of the family.
"My family once held over a hundred members," Thabani said with her hands pointing at each of the housings. It gave reason for why the residence was so large. "More than half were killed in the wars over the years, the rest were slowly killed by execution with excuse after excuse after excuse."
"You never--?" Zulfi kept the words open-ended, but Thabani waved her hand.
"Those family members of mine were mostly made up of crooks and war deserters. I was lucky to have been a good soldier and living in the era when our military was dismantled." Thabani said bluntly. "Otherwise, a millennia-old bloodline would've been wiped out. I have no doubt. We could blame the foreigners, blame the royals but ultimately we got lazy. And that's what did us in."
They entered the main residence, and Zulfi breathed in the cleanest, tastiest air he's ever had. Much like his tapestry cage, loose tapestries hung from the walls, but unlike his former home, there were high but slender openings where the wind dropped in cooling them below.
They had a bit of sunlight peek through on the plant life inside the residence leading through a courtyard that led to a room with three expansive doors. Blue stones of marble and gold decorated the interior where the bedding sat off-center. A fountain warded off on the wall carved out of the same blue marble stone. In the center was an iron pot for fire and warmth.
The left expansive of the room was separated with a low-level wall and plush couches tucked against the square corner. Dishes and cutleries for snacks and tea settled here. He imagined at one point this space was for the alpha parent to surround themselves with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Zulfi peeked a look over at Thabani but the Matriarch only motioned one of the servants to bring food.
To the right expansive was the corridor leading to the spa bath with openings for the servants to nestle through and make preparations throughout the day. There were two layers to the bathing arena. And in the lowest one had a smaller bath with less than half a foot in height as if it were made for babies and toddlers in mind.
"Where is Behenu?"
"I wondered when you would ask," Thabani said, relieved.
Where the Matriarch may have feared greed and materialism, Zulfi was practical. Asking for his child so soon could lead to bargaining, a dependency that Behenu might not even have if she recognized him at all, and a sense of ignorance for what being Thabani's spouse entails.
All he knew was that he could work with these spaces. In fact, he wondered how Thabani handled such a weight of responsibility. Where Zulfi is a stranger to these walls, but even he could feel the pressure of history. He couldn't imagine someone who had known so many family members and then was left alone to carry the weight.
With one step forward, he hesitated and yanked Thabani back to his side. The baby was moving and Thabani had missed all of Behenu's movements much like he missed Behenu's first motions.
But they could be here, together, for this one. Thabani held her hand steady and wrapped him in her arms.
He was sure the guards and servants turned away so no one could say for sure that, perhaps, both of them had tears to spill.