Chapter 5 — A Message Intercepted
WARNING: More minor character death this chapter.

Xiaohe shoved a low stool against the door and propped her foot up against it, hoping that the added weight would be enough to keep it shut. It was dark inside the shallow maintenance closet below deck and it was difficult to move without being in danger of knocking over one of the mops or other equipment. But it was the only place on the vessel with enough privacy. Even the washroom contained too many gaps between the wood for her to comfortably adjust her bindings in it. Once the door was properly shut, she took her shirt off and began unwrapping the strip of cloth binding her chest. 

She wished she had enough time to come up with a better solution. The strip of cloth she had swiped from a corner stand lacked the proper elasticity  and she was only able to wear it comfortably for a few hours at a time. Her mother had blessed her with a womanly chest, but it required a bit more tightening in order to pass her off as a teenaged eunuch and not a 23-year-old girl. Xiaohe had cropped her long, black hair for the cause, but it wouldn’t matter if the rest of her womanly features gave her away. 

When the bindings came away, she felt the blast of cold, ocean air hitting her and she heaved in a deep breath. Xiaohe leaned back against the shelf and took a few more deep breaths. She needed just a few minutes to take a break from the bindings and air out her chest. Sweat had collected there, as well. She smirked a little, thinking about how awful it would be if one of the other sailors happened to walk into the maintenance closet at this very moment and catch her in such a position. They may be licensed traders and sea men, but they were all men nonetheless. And she was under no delusions that none of them wouldn’t take advantage of such an opportunity if it presented itself

There was a violent shove at the door, and it would have opened had not her foot been pressing the stool up against it. Xiaohe gasped and instinctively covered her s with an arm. She heard the man behind the door curse aloud. Panicked, she grabbed the cloth and began wrapping it around her chest again, making sure to leave a little more slack this time. 

“Oy!” the man shouted, shoving the door again. “What’s going on here!?”

“The door is jammed, sir!” Xiaohe called out, deepening her voice a bit. There was pause.

“Eunuch Jun?” the voice outside said. “Is that you, lad?”

“Yes, sir!” Xiaohe said, securing the bindings and throwing her shirt back on. 

“What in the devil’s name are you doing in there, son?” the man shouted back. “Quarter Master’s looking for you! You been in there all morning?”

“Uh,” Xiaohe said, looking about the closet for something, anything. “I was, uh, looking for a bucket, sir!”

She grabbed a bucket. “I was looking for bucket, and a stool was pushed to the door,” she said. “I’ll be right out!” 

“Well, hurry!” the man shouted. “The prince is up, and you can’t make him wait forever for a bit of breakfast. He’s had a rough day!” 

Xiaohe — Eunuch Jun — emerged from the maintenance closet with a bucket in hand and stepped past the sailor into the white light of an overcast day at sea. There was a cold wind blowing into the sails. A line of men were on their knees on the starboard side, swabbing the deck with a mixture of salt water and pine tar. Whenever she looked the rolling waves of endless ocean, she couldn’t believe she had actually done this. Ran away, that is. All her life, Xiaohe never imagined that she would be standing on the deck of a ship, en route to a future away from brothels and beggars. Before the captain had accepted her (Jun) for the Cabin Boy position, she had promised herself that once the ship hoisted anchor, she would no longer be Han Xiaohe, the street-rat ’s daughter. 

She would be important. Somehow, someway. 

At the moment, she planned on gaining the trust of the captain and the men by being an esteemed member of their crew, even if that meant she had to work her way up from the position of Cabin Boy over the years. 

“Eunuch Jun!” shouted the Quarter Master. He was a tall man, middle-aged, with hair cut close to his scalp and narrow eyes. He approached the Cabin Boy with his fingers interlocked behind his back.

“Aye, sir,” Xiaohe said, clearing .

“The prince has awakened,” the Quarter Master said. “Take him his tray now. I shall accompany you to his cabin and you will make yourself available to his every need. Do you understand, boy?”

Xiaohe nodded. “Aye, sir.” She fetched the tray from the cook and fell into step beside the Quarter Master as they descended into the captain’s cabin, which was where the prince was being stowed for the journey. Xiaohe wasn’t sure if it was Heaven’s good humor or simply chance that the prince ended up boarding the same ship as she. All she knew was that it was imperative that he would not recognize her. 

The Quarter Master knocked on the door and waited. A soldier opened it and examined them both before letting them in. Xiaohe hadn’t been inside the captain’s cabin after she had been ordered to clean it and clear out any offending objects. It was crammed full of people. The ship’s captain, the Captain of the Guard, six soldiers, a General, an old woman, the Sailing Master, and the prince himself, sitting on the captain’s daybed, cradling his head in his hands. The Quarter Master stretched his arm out and motioned for her to stop and stand still. 

A few of the men were gathered around a table in the center of the room, where maps and papers were spread out. The General unrolled a piece of paper with the illustration of a woman on it.

“The leader of the rebellion is a woman named Cheng, Your Highness,” the General said. “ She is a former soldier of the Royal Navy, she attempted to stage a mutiny with another sailor. The attempt was foiled and both were banished from the kingdom for their crimes. About eight years ago, she formed the People’s Army with three others, though we suspect she is the one calling the shots.”

Yixing had a blanket thrown over his shoulders, but he still felt oddly cold and sick. His head was throbbing and his stomach churned. He still wore the uniform of the Palace Guards. The only thing missing from his White Lion ensemble was the scar beneath his eye. The General continued.

“The People’s Army claim that their goal is the overthrow of your dynasty and the raising up of the lower and middle classes, Your Highness,” he said. “Though we also suspect that part of this is a vendetta against your father.”

At the mention of the man, Yixing looked up at the General and Captain Huang with a desperate look. The events of the previous night came rushing to him again.

“What’s happened to him? My father?” Yixing begged. “You said he was captured when they took the Palace. Where is he now? What have they done with him?”

The captain and General Sun shared a look between them. As if silently arguing with their eyes who would be the one to tell him. In the end, Captain Huang sighed and turned to the young prince with a sad expression.

“We don’t know yet, Your Highness,” he said. Yixing felt as if a sword had been run through him. His stomach flipped. 

“You don’t know?” he asked. The room turned cold. The ship’s captain came to the rescue.

“We have a nest of homing pigeons, sir,” he said. “I can send for one to be brought for you.”

Captain Huang nodded.

“That would be useful. Please,” he said. At that, the Quarter Master pushed Xiaohe forward. She braced herself and turned her eyes downward. He couldn’t possibly recognize her. He hadn’t looked at her face long enough to remember it, and she looked too different from before. She hoped.

“This is Eunuch Jun, Your Highness. Our Cabin Boy,” the Quarter Master said. “He will be looking after your needs during your journey with us. He has already gone through great pains to make this voyage comfortable for you. He has brought you your tray. He’s also laid out the sheets and pillows for your bed, cleared out the chamber pot, even scrubbed and polished these floors—,”

Almost immediately, Yixing doubled over and, with a horrible gagging sound, puked all over the newly scrubbed and polished floors. Captain Huang rushed over and placed a hand on his shoulder as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Xiaohe frowned and tried to keep herself from saying something rude. 

Yixing gasped for air after the purge, and spat the bitter taste out of his mouth. His eyes began to water and his head was still pounding. He looked up and saw the Quarter Master and the Cabin Boy. 

“I’m sorry,” Yixing sighed as Captain Huang pushed him to lean back against the wall of the cabin. The Quarter Master nudged Xiaohe’s arm.

“Eunuch Jun. Leave the tray here,” the ship’s captain said. “ And then if you’ll please go into the nest and produce a pigeon and bring it to Captain Huang. He wishes to send a message.”

“Aye, sir,” Xiaohe said. She left the tray on the table with the maps. She was about to turn and leave when the Quarter Master grabbed her arm and told her to bow before she turned her back to the prince. Yixing inched himself forward on the bed and reached for the bowl of hot porridge. Once the Cabin Boy was gone, the General turned back to the prince.

“Your Highness,” he said. “I think we ought to consider a proportionate military response. We still have friends back in the Capital and in the Mountain Kingdom.”

The warmth of the porridge going down his throat was soothing, though Yixing was afraid it may come back up again soon. He nodded.

“Of course. That’s a good idea,” he said. 

“We will need you to speak with the King there, then,” General Sun continued. “To give their troops permission to enter the Kingdom and form an alliance with our men.”

Yixing put the bowl back down and looked at the General.

“Me?” he asked, eyes wide. General Sun swallowed before speaking again. 

“In the absence of the King, you are next in the chain of command.”

Yixing stared at the general for a long time, not sure if he was going to argue or not. Instead, he pressed his lips together and looked away into the midd