Chapter Thirty Five - She misses him, he misses school

Little servant girls looked demure as they poured tea for the ladies while little servant boys appeared tall and amicable as they poured wine for the men. The guests were very satisfied. One little servant girl bent at the knees as she presented a tray of little cakes and sweets to a group of girls before being jovially dismissed with the wave of a hand and a small pouch holding a silver coin passed by that girl's personal maid. The girl, who happened to have burnt umber coloured hair prettily braided and caught in a half bun upon her head turned to ask a question of the girl beside her.

"Are you also here to see Qinwang's sons?" She spoke behind her lace fan as if attempting to hide her blunt words.

Carmen huffed and glanced at that girl's colouring, admittedly jealous that the girl had such a wealth of rich hair, while hers seemed so dull in comparison.  Of course, there was no comparison between skin tone; Carmen's was like milk, this old Marquis granddaughter had to hide the ruddiness of her skin with pearl powder.  "I can't say that is not what my Grandmother might be thinking," she replied with some evasiveness.

The girls all nodded; they knew that Carmen was her Grandmother's favourite.  "They are quite handsome!" A girl with indigo curls sighed as did the others, causing Carmen to almost sneer in front of them.  Could they not be any less like sheep?

Her sultry eyes glanced over at each princeling in turn.  The older brother was much like his father, but virile in his youth with a pointed chin and narrow eyes.  Two sword shaped brows neatly finished his handsome face and his dark steel coloured hair was captured in an ornate silver crown.  He was very broad of shoulder.  The younger brother was known to take after his maternal family more, he was round of face, which was very youthful and his hair was like strands of spun gold held in a crown of the metal with the same name.  His height just about reached his brother's chin.

"They are alright," Carmen finally gave her response.  It was just that hair as black as coal was more appealing, a man who was tall and strong but not build like an impenetrable wall... ("I question your eyes," Sun would have said if he had access to his cousin's mind.)

The girls all looked at each other, enlightenment suddenly lifting their features and with a rustle of silk, they all took a seat about her with broad smiles upon their lips.  "Just which cad has attracted our Carmen's attentions?"

"Yes, yes," the Marquis granddaughter tugged her sleeve coquettishly, "is he here today?  Surely we should confront him!  How dare he steal our Carmen's heart and leave her so melancholy!"

The girls all giggled, but Carmen just smiled, coyly and allowed them to coax and please her for a while. Eventually, she gave them a little fodder for their thoughts. "His name is Jin Li."

More glances were exchanged and a girl with hair the colour of grape wine asked aloud; "Is that person of West Xulaphrey? He sounds such with that unusual name."

"I couldn't say," Carmen allowed, not admitting that actually she knew very little about the young man, not that she hadn't attempted to find out. But Sun's servants never showed any face to her maids when they inquired. "He attends that school that my sixth brother attends." Although they were cousins, as they had the same genealogy, it was natural to refer to him as such.

"Speaking of your sixth brother," said the girl with indigo hair, who happened to be related to a duke but not close enough to be considered for marriage amongst the purple. "He seems to have matured somewhat over this half year."

Carmen scowled using her fan to discreetly hide this from the Madams who happened to glance their way from time to time.  "How so?" She wanted to know what was going through this silly girl's mind.  They looked at her as if her eyes had no sight to see.  "What?  Do you look at the brothers in your family and think they have grown up during the time that you had not seen them?  Besides, what is half of a year?"

The girls looked sheepish; she had a point.

Sun shuddered as he felt too many eyes boring into him, like he was some object upon display.  "Are you alright, brother?" Mond asked him, lightly as he stood beside him, their grandfather having wandered off in some other direction.

"I... I'm fine, I think," Sun replied with slight hesitation, before pouting.  "Why was it that Grandmother insisted we attend tonight?  I feel as if I have been put out on display at auction as one of the lots!"

"At least you are not considered one of the most valuable items, little brother," Mond indicated the starry eye girls practically lining up to greet the second princeling with their parents.  The man's bright smile remained upon his lips, but his eyes seemed very weary.  Their Grandmother was not the sort to throw her granddaughters in front of men's eyes to try gain their attention, so neither she nor any of her granddaughters were amongst that crowd.  And with Grandfather remincising elsewhere, the elders in the room did not approach them as that was beneath their status and was inappropriate.

"You're the luckiest, brother," Sun was not resigned.  "You are already engaged; they won't look at you like some prize bull, ah!"

"Not entirely so," Mond denied.  The elders were not considering him and his future wife's family were not present at the affair this evening, but he'd felt a handful of burning stares regardless.  He then decided to tease, albeit clumsily, his little brother.  "So you want Grandmother to find you a wife, I should inform her."

"Don't you dare!" Sun leapt up at him and covered his mouth with his hands, attracting a fair bit of attention before realising he'd been played.  His face reddened brightly as he lowered his hands, his older brother apologising to him, even if he offered others stares of indifference.  "Brother!" He wailed softly after the crowds resumed to chatting and making uncomplimentary compliments with each other, letting them slip away unnoticed.

"What do you plan to do?" Mond asked with some curiousness.  He'd not the options that Sun currently had available, he was an ordinary person after all.  Marrying, having a young wife to return home to once he'd gained some merit in the army then raising children with her had never seemed a bad notion to him, however, so he was not jealous of Sun. 

Sun beamed as he answered; "I'm going to prove to everyone that a wind root is not lame!  Did you know, my Teacher Corvus has just a wind root, yet he's amazingly strong and fast!  Admittedly, he can be a bit weird sometimes and annoying, impulsive, doesn't think things through, likes to show off... a lot and he doesn't understand the concept of privacy at all, but he's taught me a cultivation method that is perfect for me as well as some techniques I didn't know were possible!  I get a cloudy Spiritual Pill every month, access to the medicinal baths everyday, the food isn't bad and no one looks down on me because I am short!  Well, some of the other first years did in the beginning, but those idiots alienated Jin Li because they were jealous, so that type of people aren't worth my time anyway!"

A small smile curled Mond's lips as he listened to Sun rattle on, uncaring that he had heard much of this before.  Sun began to once more embellish some of his adventures at the school, some including his Teacher, some including the young Master Jin Li and the alchemist boy, Leon.  As his brother spoke, he noticed from the corner of his eye someone pause in the shadows of the palisade, but as he turned about, there was no one to be seen.  So he simply dismissed it and returned his attention to his little brother, enjoying the renewed connection with him he'd thought some ten years lost.