Halls of Heaven

[Pyra]

Every King needs a cook.

A huddled mess of robes glided through the tall and barren halls of the palace. She, who was a he to anyone who wasn't looking close enough, had taken this path for the past few days while making her way to the kitchen. If she hadn't then she knew she would've managed to run into someone who was going to pester her or have her go run an errand. And that always got to her- she who'd grown up as fiercely as possible, who'd never enjoyed the idea of royalty.

"Boy, come here." Drat, a concubine. They were the worst, yet luckily often herded into into the other side of the palace, which was closer to the King's chambers. The King of Qin was famous for having more women than cattle, and each one was a bane to the palace's staff. Still relatively cloaked, Xing Yi slowed and slid up to the aging woman, who'd looked like she'd been enjoying the royalties of the King for a bit too long. Yi made sure to keep the duck she'd been carrying behind her, hidden from view.

"Fetch me the gardener, I need to work on his Majesty's spring arrangement," said the cow, which seemed to bark rather than moo. "Uhhh! What is that horrible smell?" Yi had been looking down the entire time- a bit in her own world. Truth be told she wasn't enjoying her time here at the palace. All she did was work, keep her head down and scurry back and forth. "Boy!" She finally looked up, her face still partially covered by her robes. "You think you could tidy yourself up? This is the King's palace," hissed the unruly woman." They each held their gaze, neither wanting to back down despite their obvious positions. Finally though the concubine looked back, gave a look like she'd just ate a bug and then ushered Yi on her way. "Hurry back now."

Another errand, great. Her boss who was the head Chef of the palace wouldn't be pleased. Like the concubines he was strict and requested much of her, but despite that they shared something special. They were both in this hell, but they were working to get out of it.

After finding the gardener, waiting on him, taking him to the concubine, receiving a scolding from said concubine, she finally was walking back down the pathway toward the head kitchen. Unlike the halls of the main palace the ceilings were lower and filled with rafters. They were dark and ominous, Yi had remarked that she was afraid at first to walk under them for fear they would crumble on top of her. Not thinking about where she was walking, she ran right into her boss.

"Ahh!" shouted Yan Tao, as his hands nearly dropped the stew he was placing on a cart. "Yi! Is it not enough to just be late but must you also ruin my dish?!" His eyes lit up like when he'd just tasted too much curry and the young servant girl couldn't do anything more than laugh. "How's it going old man?"

"Great, do you have the duck?" Tao looked around, checking to see if they were the only two in the hallway. Yi pulled her arm from under the back of her robes and handed him the duck- a favorite dish of the palace. But not this one, Tao reached in to the duck's cut up center and pulled from it a small vile. Inside the vile was clear but filled with a collection of small particles- they were almost as feint as dust.

"Good, go cart this off to the minister's court, I will hide this," said Tao as he slid the vile in his sash. Just then several servants budged through the kitchen's doors carrying all sorts of dishes. Yi quickly adjusted her robes and filed in behind them. This was the last time she'd be carrying in another vile, and hopefully that meant their mission would soon be over...

[Shogun]

Every lord needs a squire.

Sure, "squire" was a word that wouldn't be invented in the english lexicon for hundreds if not thousands of years, but Shao's job was more or less the same; he attended to one of the many needs of his lord King, a son of a son of a warlord to the north. He wasn't important in any sense of the word. He was merely an attendant, his lord grandfather hoping to win a seat closer to the throne for his son, at the expense of his son's son.

Curse his father, but curse his grandfather more.

He was carrying something of his lord's, he didn't even care what, when he came across one of his lord's ladies. The lord's ladies were always in the way, always telling people who already had something to do something more to do.

It was all very tiresome.

He waited til the lady was done admonishing this other squire, or maybe they were a slave, there were too many of either to keep easy track. He stalked behind him, watching him interact with a cook, the head chef, and his lordly mind put two and two together.

They were related. They looked almost identical, though the boy had way softer features than his father. He watched as they handed off the goose, hand rooting around inside, probably looking for any remaining organs. Except, the flash of something reflective, which is nothing inside a goose. However, this squire could do nothing, even if he suspected something; that was the head chef, appointed by the lord himself.

However, what he could do, was accost the server boy. He awaited for the boy to push the cart around a bend in the hall, and he chased after, catching up quickly. He put down his crate, and heard a gentle clinging. He opened the crate, finding the lord's sword and armor inside. It must be on it's way back from being maintained. He unsheethed the sword, and hurtled forward, intent on capturing this slaveboy.