維天有漢，

監亦有光。

In Heavens there is the Milky Way,

It looks down and is bright;

Fragment of Classic of Poetry, Lesser Court Hymns, Poem 203

*** 

There had been no warning, no court to determine her guilt.

Xīwángmǔ had rounded up on her, a finger pointed at her as Xīwángmǔ yelled in rage.

'It was her fault, she had seen the way Xiān Chí looked at the Crown Prince, she had set the palace on fire to kill him. Everyone was accounted for, everyone had an alibi or was unable to do it.'

'It had to be Xiān Chí, someone had to have done it.'

Xiān Chí remembered the figures in the dark, the way they had gone, remembered how she had thought the guards would handle them. Forgetting she had been a guard too.

There had been no one left to stand in front of her, to protect her from the accusations.

Jīn Sù had been the only one to ever do so. Jīn Sù who was laying still in the grass with a maid that was not Xiān Chí caressing her face. Providing for her to be carried to a safer place where they could check her for medical emergencies.

No one dared to stand in the way of Xīwángmǔ, no one was able to to begin with, and would not dare try for Xiān Chí's sake.

No one protected her or spoke up when Xīwángmǔ extended her hands to the celestial body above.

The Heavenly River rose from where she had been hidden within the cosmos. Rose as a bridge was formed, locked, connected the worlds too far apart to cross in any other way.

A faded footstep the only consolation the bridge could be crossed within falling through the window of heaven.

The guards that Xiān Chí would have liked to call her friends till four minutes ago, pushed her towards the beginning of the road by the Palace gates. Pushed her to walk among the singing stars and follow the soft curve of the moon who joined her sisters in a melody.

The moment the guards pushing hands on her back disappeared, Xiān Chí turned around to try, attempt, to run back. To see if Jīn Sù was alive, would survive, to plead for her innocence to be recognised.

The Imperial Palace had disappeared among the many stars of the galaxy.

The Heavens she had lived in her entire life were only a small dot on the horizon.

There was nothing to return to, only a single path forward.

***

Xiān Chí arrived in an empty field, which after a second glance wasn't a field at all, but a very large courtyard. The walls, she had been looking at since the moment she had arrived in the Imperial Palace, surrounded the green grass from all sides.

For a moment she dared to hope that everything had been a dream. That she would wake up in Jīn Sù's arms, or even better in their old home far away from the Crown Prince and royal life.

That moment was long enough for her to be caught off guard and worked against the ground by a palace guard finding an intruder within the walls.

"Help, there is an intruder!"

Other guards arrived at her capture's yell, her arms harshly bound behind her back, she stayed still on her knees. The early dew seeped through her clothes as the guards decided on what to do with the intruder.

"Empress Xiaozhenxian will know what to do."

Xiān Chí was pulled up from the ground before falling back onto her knees. Her legs numb from the forced position and cold, unable, unwilling, to rise and stand with her hands bound. It would be no problem for the guards, and she had no dignity left to mourn anyway.

"Make sure the Empress has time to receive us, we will get the intruder to you."

One of the guards ran away in a sprint, while another pulled Xiān Chí from the ground and carried her to where her judge would be. Xiān Chí had little faith in any judge at the moment, but hoped that they would be fairer than Xīwángmǔ.

They came to a stop in front of a palace that was a mirror image of the Xīwángmǔ's hall in the Imperial Palace of Heaven. Less bright and beautiful, but still the same, even to Xiān Chí's untrained eye.

"What is the meaning of all this, for what did you wake me up?"

A domineering voice called the guards forward who put Xiān Chí on her knees in front of a throne. Xiān Chí knew better than to speak or look up and kept her eyes fixated on the hem of the Empress' dress.

"Empress Dowager Xingzhen, we found this intruder in the courtyard of the Crown Prince. They seemed harmless enough, but we don't know how they got there or what their plans were."

Xiān Chí winced in sympathy of the poor guard that had captured her. It was never a good idea to tell a monarch you failed in keeping them safe, even if you were merely reporting an event.

"And pray tell, why didn't you call me, but Xiaozhenxian?"

The guards mumbled something, clearly unwilling to explain their thought process to an offended superior.

"Did I hear my name?"

Another set of feet appeared in Xiān Chí's line of sight, apparently belonging to the other Empress. The one the guards had wanted to present her to. Xiān Chí didn't know if this person was more lenient, they did sound like it. Softer, more like Jīn Sù who was in a good mood. The reminder of her love that was lost to her forever, made everything immediately more clear and Xiān Chí focused on the people deciding her fate once more.

"No that is a bad idea, and for what reason?"

The harsh voice of the Empress on the throne cut through the room, making a shiver run down Xiān Chí's spine. This person would not be lenient with her at all, if she decided the punishment her banishment would end before it had even begun.

"But what if I am right? It won't hurt anyone, and there is surely something we should do."

Xiān Chí looked up through her eyelashes to see the nicer Empress lay her hand on top of the other. They knew each other well, as neither Empress seemed at all surprised at the public display of affection.

"The palace is empty anyway, we won't lose any guards, and I can sleep at night knowing I've done the right thing."

That appeared to be the end of the matter, the Empress on the throne gave one dramatic sigh before waving the guards away.

"You heard her, take the intruder to the cold palace. They'll stay there till we have decided otherwise."

The guards pulled Xiān Chí from the ground, giving her her first, and only, look at the Empresses ruling this realm. Neither of them she recognised, though the Palace looked as identical from the inside as it had done from the outside as Xīwángmǔ residence.

She was dragged through the galleries till they were standing in front of an older place. One time it must have been a Palace, but as time progressed and the Emperors changed, the location had gone out of favour. It now stood far away from all the inhabited buildings, no one would see her here.

One of the guards opened the door of the Cold Palace with one of the many keys from his belt. The key looked as ancient as the building itself, though in the darkness Xiān Chí wasn't able to get a truly good look at it.

Neither would she later as the guard behind her pushed her through the door opening while cutting through the ropes that bound her. She had barely stood up again, avidly rubbing her sore wrists to bring some life back to them, when the door closed behind her.

The soft click of the lock and footsteps walking away from her, were the only indications that she wasn't all alone in the world.

***

含星動雙闕，伴月落邊城。

Full of stars, it stirs by paired palace gates,

moon's companion, it sinks by a frontier fort.Fragment of The Heavenly River by  Du Fu