Yuqi carefully lowered herself through the window using the rope she had spliced together from the Minister’s bed sheets. Inch by inch she rappelled down, hoping against hope that the rope wouldn’t break. She felt two blisters forming on her fingers but continued to slide down the castle wall. Until she ran out of rope.

“Damn!” she cursed, craning her neck to see how far below the ground was. Too far. A fall from this height would leave her with a couple of broken bones at best. She glanced around hurriedly—a guard could come strolling by any minute. But so far the coast was clear.

“Think, Yuqi! You can figure this out!” she growled to herself. She tried to get her bearings. Right now she was hanging above the flower gardens below the Minister’s chambers. Thousands of lilies lay in full bloom underneath her feet while to the right and left were large rose bushes.

“If I fall on one of the rose bushes I probably won’t break anything,” she muttered, “besides my pride.”  

Yuqi started swinging her legs back and forth, gaining momentum. After ten swings she gritted her teeth and let go. She flew through the air for a brief second and tumbled into the closest rose bush. Thorns tore at her face and hands and she ripped her way through the bush, coming to a stop upside down.

“Urgh, I don’t think I broke anything?”

She moved her arms and legs. They seemed to be working fine. She managed to extricate herself from the bramble and pulled herself to her feet. Her dress was ruined, and she felt several scratches bleeding freely on her face. But at least she escaped.

Earlier that morning, a guard had approached the Minister's chambers and asked to speak with Yongsun alone. The after the Minister spoke with the guard (Yuqi couldn't hear anything even though her ear had been pressed against the door), the Minister had ordered Yuqi to wait in her lodging instead of accompanying her to the throne room. She had given Yuqi such a malicious glare that Yuqi immediately broke out into a cold sweat. The sinking feeling in Yuqi’s stomach seemed to confirm that the Minister suspected Yuqi of helping Shuhua break out last night and acting as a spy for the remaining King’s Guards. And now it looked like the Minister finally was going to get rid of Yuqi. Yuqi had managed to stay alive despite the coup because she proved herself a good lady-in-waiting to the Minister. But Yuqi knew that remaining in the Minister’s good graces never was a sure thing since the Minister had such fickle moods. So, once the Minister left, Yuqi pulled out all the sheets she could find, knotted them into a rope, and climbed out the window.

“Ah, what do I do now?” Yuqi asked thin air. She still had to find a way out of the castle and into the town, and that meant going through the courtyards which were teeming with guards. She’d need a disguise or something, but she didn’t have any other friends in the castle.

Just then, she heard the sound of armor clinking and she ducked behind the rose bush. She peeked through the thorns and saw a lone guard making his rounds through the garden. For a wild moment Yuqi thought she could overpower him and steal his armor but she dismissed that idea. For one she was tiny. Second, she never learned how to fight, having been trained as a lady-in-waiting for Shuhua. She shrank against the bush as he neared her hiding place.

But as the guard walked on, he seemed to notice something. Yuqi looked where he was looking and cringed. Her bedsheet rope was still hanging out of the Minister’s window. Yuqi gnawed on her fingernails anxiously. Now would be the time when the guard would raise the alarm. They’d figure out she was missing and she’d be capture and killed. She thought about just surrendering herself now, but just as she was about to step out the guard took off his helmet. A cascade of long red hair fell out and Yuqi felt her heart stop.

“Minnie is that you?” Yuqi fiercely whispered.

“Yuqi?” came the reply.

“Minnie!” Y