Morning - Part 3

The aviary was like a palace within a palace. Its glass dome roof glinted in the sun, and its transparent walls revealed many grown trees housed inside. Prince Thallios placed his hand on the door and gently pushed forward.

Leiyu trailed after the prince, and was struck with a layer of humidity as he crossed over the threshold. When he looked at his surroundings, his eyes widened.

Inside the aviary were birds of all shapes and sizes. Tiny sparrows splashed about in the bubbling bird bath. Cockatiels with flaring crests and rosy cheeks sauntered to and fro on the tree branches. Rainbow-plumed macaws flapped their wings and ventured from one bough to another.

The plants also looked like something out of a fairy tale. Lavender flower clusters cascaded from the wisteria trees, brushing the stone tiles with their petals. Fern fronds fanned out from the soil. And then there was a flower that Leiyu had never seen before. Its orange and violet petals were large and sharp, like an avian crest and beak. Leiyu stared at it for a long time.

“That’s a bird-of-paradise,” the prince said as he stepped next to Leiyu. “An apt flower for a place like this.”

The prince then turned his head toward Leiyu, and his eyes immediately lit up. He pointed and said, “Look, our magnificent friend has returned.”

Leiyu turned around, and his breath caught in his throat. The peacock was standing a few paces behind him, its tail feathers fanned outward. Those patterns in its tail look like eyes, he thought.

The prince walked toward a bird feeder dangling from a low hanging branch and reached inside. He took his hand back out and approached the peacock. He crouched before it and held out his hand, revealing a pile of bird seed. The peacock pecked at the food. The prince laughed softly.

This is the same person whose unexplained power caused me to slam against a wall this morning, Leiyu thought as he watched the exchange between the prince and the iridescent bird. Now he looks as peaceful and calm as a celestial being.

Indeed, there was something calming and otherworldly about this entire place. It reminded Leiyu of the street storytellers back in Yunshan, and the fantastical tales they told about the Celestial Realm - a place where immortals resided in opulent palaces in the sky and conjured up anything that they wished for with a wave of their hand.

“Would you like to feed him?” the prince asked, interrupting Leiyu’s thoughts.

“Oh, if you wish, Your Highness,” Leiyu replied, trying to refocus on the present.

The prince beckoned him with the curl of his delicate fingers. Leiyu felt a flush on his cheeks and took a deep breath before walking over. He crouched next to the prince.

”I’ll give you the rest of this,” the prince said, holding his closed palm in front of Leiyu. “Here.”

Leiyu held his hand out, and the prince deposited a pile of seeds into it. The peacock walked up to Leiyu, and began to partake of the victuals. Leiyu suppressed a gasp as he felt the sharp beak peck against his palm over and over. The prince looked at him, amused.

”Where did all these birds come from, Your Highness?” Leiyu asked.

The prince scanned the aviary. “Oh, here and there.” Leiyu looked at him quizzically. “I wouldn’t really know, since I have never left the palace.” The prince looked downward. “This aviary was built for my mother. She loved birds. My father had them brought in from other lands, near and far. Other regions even.” He turned to Leiyu. “Do you recognize any birds from your region?”

Leiyu scrutinized the peacock before glancing at the other birds in the trees and on the ground. He shook his head. “I’m not sure, Your Highness. I never paid much attention to what type of birds there were back home.”

The prince smiled softly. “It’s all right.” He looked at the ground. “Back when I was a child, and my mother was still able to walk, we’d visit this place all the time.”

“Still able to walk?” Leiyu murmured, then felt flustered when he realized that he had said it out loud.

The prince had a faraway look in his eyes. “She became ill when I was very young. First it was just fatigue, but it got worse over the years. Her legs began to hurt when she walked. Eventually, she just stayed in her room all the time. My father had the palace doctors examine her and give her medicine, but they could not figure out what was wrong.”

The prince sighed. “I was a child so I couldn’t do anything to help alleviate her pain. The most I could do was bring her things that she enjoyed. I brought her flowers from the gardens and pastries from the kitchen. I recited poetry to her that my tutors taught me. I wanted to bring her the birds from the aviary to cheer her up, but she gently laughed and said that I should let them be. In retrospect, having a flock of birds flying around her room when she was ill would have been a terrible idea, but I was just a child with silly notions at the time.”

Leiyu remained silent as the peacock finished pecking the bird seed from his hand. He was not sure whether the prince wanted any input from him, or if he just wanted someone to listen to him without judgment.

“There was nothing I or anyone else could do to help her. Not even my father, the ruler of all the Western Region, could do anything to help her.” The prince sighed again. Leiyu sensed some bitterness mixed in with the lamentation.

The prince continued. “When I was in my tenth year, she finally succumbed to her illness. I still remember her last day. My father and I stood by her bed. Her face was ashen, her hair disheveled, and her voice barely above a whisper. She had just enough strength to take off the ruby jewelry that she wore on her forehead. ‘I’ll be departing soon,’ she told me, ‘but if you keep this, I’ll always be here to protect you.’ After she placed it in my hands, she closed her eyes and passed away.” He blinked a few times and turned his head away from Leiyu.

Leiyu’s expression softened. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, that must have been difficult.” He fished around in his head for other platitudes, but also worried that saying more would land him back on precarious ground. It was odd enough that a royal that he knew for less than a day would confide so much in him.

The prince turned back to him. “So that’s why I wear this,” he said, pointing to his ruby diadem. The jewel was centered on his forehead, held in place on both sides by thin gold chains. A tiny teardrop-shaped ornament dangled from the bottom of the ruby. “I haven’t taken it off since that day.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize…” Leiyu trailed off. He wasn’t sure if it was wise to continue verbalizing the rest of his thoughts. I just thought that it was the usual fancy jewelry that royals wear. It looked good under the moonlight yesterday. He felt his cheeks heat up. Why did I just think that? This is supposed to be a solemn moment.

The prince shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve…made peace with her passing, even though some days can be difficult.” The prince inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Ah, I shouldn’t be burdening you with all this anyway. Let’s talk about other things.” The prince smiled. “Could you tell me more about your wind magic?”

Leiyu was beginning to notice a pattern of conversational whiplash with the way the prince bounced from lighthearted, whimsical behavior to personal grief and then back again. Perhaps it was the prince’s way of coping, like eating candy at a funeral to sweeten the bitterness of all that had transpired. It was definitely different from how Leiyu dealt with uncomfortable feelings, which was to speak even less than he usually did, which others often misunderstood as him not caring.

“Hmm, I’m not sure what else I can say about wind magic, Your Highness,” Leiyu said. “It’s just a skill I developed.”

“Ah, I see. Could you demonstrate it then?”

Leiyu was taken aback. First the prince had wanted to see his sword fighting skills, which resulted in this morning’s sparring incident, and now he wanted a magic demonstration? He drew in his breath and slowly let it out. “All right, Your Highness, but not here with all these glass walls and birds.”

“Oh, of course not,” the prince said, looking embarrassed. “Let’s go to another courtyard. I’ll take you to a large one with a lot of open space.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Leiyu replied, wondering how many times he was going to keep repeating that phrase throughout the day.