The entire day was spent in hedonism – the highest of vanity and pleasure. The girls each bathed for an hour in flower petals and sweet perfumes. In amongst all this, most the girls were too nervous to eat and so the small dishes went untouched as they flustered around the rooms, asking for their hair to be done up in a certain way, or their lip’s daubed a different shade.

It was tiring and because of your lack of sleep the night before, you sat on one of the cushions and waited for it all to be over. Nearly nodding off into dream land, you tried to take a light nap without ruining your appearance – god knows if any suitor saw how you slept, legs and arms sprawled over the pillows and mouth agape, they would never want to look at you again.

“Sister,” one of the younger girls peeked up at you, leaning against the wall, arms folded across chest. You opened an eye, “Hmmm…?”

She giggled, kneeling in front of you, she held up two hair pins, “which one looks better?”

You randomly chose one and then squinted your eyes back to sleep, trying to block out the light. “Sissteerrrrrr-” her voice drawled, she was simultaneously nagging and acting cute.

You looked tiredly up at her again, this time, not so amused. “What is it now?”

“Shouldn’t you be excited? Why are you lazing around? Get up; get some more energy into yourself.” She held up a fist in enthusiasm. It was sort of cute, you thought, that she was being optimistic, but you really couldn’t be bothered. The maids weren’t joking when they said all the girls needed their beauty sleep to keep up with the hectic proceedings of the day.

You rolled your eyes as she pouted. “Fine…” you groaned, and stretched. She led you by the hand, sat you down in a chair and began redoing your hair that had become tangled when you were ‘napping’, all the while giddy with excitement.

“Wake me when you’re done.” You looked up at her and she laughed.

Tao laid on his brother’s bed and sighed heavily. Chen furrowed his brows and then in one swift moment turned around in his seat, one hand gripping the seat back to face his bedroom, “Tao,” he said sternly, “if you’re going to lay there and sulk for no reason, then at least have the courtesy to do it outside. I can’t concentrate with you here.”

Tao didn’t answer. Lately he just felt so deflated, like there was nothing of him and he was nothing. He used to have not a care in the world, worry only to some extent about his stallions and maybe musing about the day’s training but his pride was crushed that night when he encountered the intruder. It was petty of him to feel like this; part of him was fascinated as if meeting an entirely new species, another part felt shame at having even fought and possibly hurt a girl like that and the last part of him was horribly embarrassed at how the situation ended. If only he could stop replaying it in his head.

“Taooooo,” Chen droned. Seeing the long legs of his younger siblings hang from the end of the bed – the only visible piece of furniture from where he was sitting, Chen opted for a different approach in getting a response out of his brother who seemed not himself. Placing down his brush, Chen sighed as he got up and walked over to where his brother was, sprawled over his sheets. Chen scratched his head a little before pursing his lips and in the most sympathetic voice he could muster, asked, “What’s wrong?” – particularly drawing out the vowels with the modality of his voice.

Tao glanced at his brother, his short black hair a mess. “I just don’t understand girls.”

Chen chuckled in relief that ‘women’ were the only things occupying his mind. At least it wasn’t something sinister like the downfall of a battle strategy. Chen pulled one of Tao’s arm so that the latter sat upright and with a hearty slap on the back, Chen practically dragged the younger boy out of his room. “I feel you, brother,” He laughed. Once Tao, who was still sulking slightly was in the corridor, Chen slid close his door and yelled across the rice paper a wood, “Now go pick some flowers to solve your problems!” Still moping, Tao grimaced and with no other choice, walked down the corridor to his horses. In the end, his brothers weren’t even on the same level as his pure-breds.

On the other side of the palace, Luhan was painting for the guests that had arrived a few days earlier. He’d been called upon by Xiumin sometime midday to entertain the new friends and he was more than willing to show off his artistic abilities, what with the rest of the place so boring and stifling. He had originally planned on painting some sparrows, some plum blossoms with a background of the Chinese mountains, but today he felt particularly obliged to indulge and instead, painted a masterpiece featuring a panda and wrote some prose to make the work seem more mature. Xiumin who sat by his side with the ‘Italians’ – as they called themselves, laughed and tried to explain the humour behind painting such a cute and iconic picture. The two men laughed in agreement. It was late afternoon and the men enjoyed in some tea and sweet cakes.

“I’ve sent some messengers back to our homeland with supplies and maps so let our people know that the trade routes are officially open. We are extremely excited about the endeavour.” His hazel eyes shined with vigour and his beard did nothing to hide his bright smile.

“It is always a pleasure to be so fortunate in working with you. I am sure our nations will make great alliances; the two of you are always welcome as I already consider you our friends.” Xiumin smiled and gestured towards the painting. “This is for you, especially painted by my brother – so that you will hold a fondness of us in your hearts.”

Luhan wiped his nose and sniffed a little as he handed the new-found friends his painting. He’d always been unruly with his brushes, but that was how the came out – boisterous and distinct. A little ink stained his nose but no one commented on it, for the aura in the room was shining bright; it was a great moment for the two empires. The men left the palace with warm farewells, promising to return soon to bear gifts from their land as a trade for the painting – priceless they described it. In amongst all this, Luhan wondered how his brother was not exhausted from all his compliment giving and overall enthusiastic attitude to everything. Looking at the grin plastered on Xiumin’s face as he stood at the door and waved goodbye while the maids ushered the men away to the palace gates, Luhan shook his head and thanked god that it wasn’t his job to do so.

After a few minutes the maids returned and they curtsied before the two princes. “Sires, I have a reminder: that in two hours your dinner will be held in conjunction with the introduction of the harem. Lord Sun-ye values punctuality and does not wish you to be late.”

“Understood. Tell him we received the message and will prepare for the evening.” Xiumin had a natural flair for these affairs whilst Luhan sat there quietly, only nodding in acknowledgement.

After the maid had left, Xiumin looked to his brother, and then made a face – finally noticing the smear on his nose. His indicated on himself, by rubbing his own nose in front of Luhan to imply that there was a blemish on his seraphic features, before telling him nonchalantly, “You better go get changed.” Luhan looked down at himself and as with usual, he had ink over his robes. Shooting Xiumin a sheepish smile, Luhan left without another word, not quite receiving his brother’s implied message that something was on his nose. Xiumin sighed at his brother’s lack of awareness and decided to remind him once again, just in case the latter forgot, yelling down into the corridor, “Meet you at the dining hall, 7 sharp!”

“Sure, sure!” was the reply.