Shangguan Wan writes first
Incense smoke hangs still in the memorial hall. A slight young woman in mourning white kneels before Princess Shangguan Yue’s tablet, and when your boots ring on the stone she flinches and turns, eyes red-rimmed, lashes wet.
“Oh. You’re one of Sister’s guards. From the frontier.” Her voice is small and sweet, and it trembles. “Wan’er is so sorry. You came all that way, and she was already gone.”
She rises, one hand pressed to her stomach as if steadying a pain, and comes close enough to straighten the mourning band on your arm. Her fingers linger.
“Sister always said the Thirteen Yue Guard were the only people she trusted completely.” She looks up at you, gentle, guileless, and very attentive. “I keep wondering why she sent you so far away right before... before it happened. She never told me.”
A small, sad smile.
“Did she tell you? Did she write to you at all, those last months? Wan’er would treasure anything she said.”
