Countless white cherry petals fluttered like snowflakes on the warm spring breeze, although Alden was still wearing a padded winter coat. The medication certainly helped, and he was quite grateful for the unusually warm and sunny spring weather, but Alden nevertheless got cold very easily these days. Still, he found the scenery of Blossom Park quite pleasant to look at. Blossom park had quite an unusual history, in that it was originally the grounds of a once illustrious school. But some twenty years prior, the by then rather old-fashioned Whitebloom Educational Facility for Young Women had shut its doors, quite thoroughly out-competed by more modern privately owned schools on one side and Her Majesty’s free schools on the other. But due to the beauty of the school grounds, the Crown had purchased the lot and converted it into a public park, tearing down the old school house to make room for a small artificial lake. The nearby dormitory building, however, had not been a part of that arrangement. At first it had been converted into workers’ lodging, but it was situated a bit too far away from the major industrial areas to be particularly competitive in that particular market. After that, it had briefly served as a brothel, but that establishment was later shut down for violating several labour laws related to workplace safety and employee health. Now, the building had been refurbished and reborn as Red Hall, which, on paper, served as a low-cost lodging house for young women. But while that was technically not an incorrect description, the actual purpose of Red Hall was known only to a very small group of people, of whom Alden was one. Making sure that nobody was paying him any undue attention, Alden tugged on the bell-bull. Before long, a small hatch opened on the front of the door, and Alden glimpsed a pair of eyes peering out at him. Then the hatch closed once more and the door was unlocked and opened, allowing Alden to step inside. The young Han girl on the other side carefully closed the door behind him before giving Alden a respectful bow. “Welcome to Red Hall, Alden Stowe.” The girl started to pull back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal the red lotus flower embroidered on the sleeve of the blouse she wore beneath it, but Alden interrupted the gesture with a wave. “You don’t need to identify yourself, I’ve met you before. Xin Yi, I believe?” “I am honoured that you remember me, Alden Stowe.” “I saw you sink a cooking knife dead centre into a marksman’s target at a distance of thirty feet. That sort of thing rather sticks in the mind.” “Ayi says a girl must never be as harmless as she appears.” “Speaking of, I would like to see her. Is she available?” “For you? Certainly. She is in her office. Do you want me to escort you there?” “Thank you, Xin Yi, but that will not be necessary. I know the way.” Mei Jing’s office was, as always, an absolute mess of papers. Alden had no idea how the girl managed to find anything in the midst of such disarray, but whenever he asked for any particular bit of information Mei Jing always seemed to find it without difficulty, so he could only assume that there was some sort of system to the apparent chaos that he simply didn’t understand. As for the girl herself, she had put on a fair bit of weight over the past few months, although Alden knew that despite her slightly chubby appearance, a lot of the new bulk was muscle. “You look well, auntie.” Alden greeted jovially. Mei Jing shot him a rather unamused look in return. “Don’t you start, Alden Stowe. It is bad enough that I have girls several years older than me calling me Ayi without middle-aged men doing the same.” “Why do they call you that, anyway? You don’t look much like an auntie to me.” “I would like to believe it is a mark of deference and respect, but I suspect many of the older girls are simply… What is the term, ‘taking the piss’?” “Either way, I think it’s safe to consider it a sign of trust.” “That is a generous interpretation, but I suppose there is a logic to it. Now, putting that aside, how can I help you, Alden Stowe?” “I need the girls to look into something. There’s a new business being established near Heath Row that deals in imports from Samhan, but there are suspicions that they may have some sort of undisclosed connection to the government of Wei.” “We will investigate the matter. One of my girls fled north when she left Han and has spent time in both Wei and Samhan before coming to London. I will put her in charge of this investigation.” “Thank you, Mei Jing. Is there anything you or the girls need?” “More easily concealed weapons would be appreciated.” “Again?” Mei Jing absently stroked the stump of her missing finger. “You can never be too careful, Alden Stowe.” Next, Alden stopped by Wu Bo’s shop. Seeing that the man was not at the counter, Alden spent a moment looking at the new paintings lining the walls. He already had several decorating his home, but the beautifully simplistic mountain vistas always spoke to him on some level. But when he got to the most recent painting, he stopped short. “Is that London Bridge?” “I’m glad you recognise it, Alden. I was afraid my style would not lend itself well to city views.” Alden turned around, finding that Wu Bo had just stepped out from behind the cloth curtain that concealed the back rooms of the store. “Well, it’s hardly an architectural sketch, but the outline is well represented. I’d like to purchase this, if that’s quite all right.” “Of course. That will be half a pound, as always.” “A pleasure. I think I’ll put it in my bedroom. Now, do you have the scroll I asked for?” Wu Bo nodded and pulled out a paper scroll designed to hang on a wall. On the scroll, written in Han calligraphy with a masterful hand, was the name Stowe Chao Xing. Although of course the character representing the name Stowe was entirely thought up by Chao Xing herself. It incorporated elements of the characters for Home, Medicine and Cunning, although having seen the individual characters and compared them to the rather complex figure of the ‘Stowe’ character, Alden found it a little difficult to tell. “I’m still not sure I understand the point of creating a new character like this. It’s not as if anybody else will be able to correctly read it. But it’s what Chao-Chao wants.” Wu Bo shrugged. “I put no particular stock in family names, but if that girl finds pride in hers I suppose there’s no harm in it. Besides, new characters are created every now and again. And while I doubt the nation of Han will ever officially recognize the ‘Stowe’ character, perhaps one of their enemies might officially recognize it if your family manages to annoy the king of Han enough.” Alden huffed. “I’d rather not become so well known to any foreign government that their enemies would honour me out of spite.” Wu Bo barked out a laugh. “Jokes aside, the brushwork on the sample you gave me to use as a basis for the scroll wasn’t bad at all. Did the girl paint it herself?” “She did. She has rather taken to calligraphy as a way to pass the time in the hospital.” “You’re telling me she’s self-taught?” “Well, she clearly had a grasp of the basics to start with, but even I can tell that her brushwork has come a long way in the past few months.” Wu Bo hummed thoughtfully. “She clearly has talent. With a few years of lessons under her belt she could become a decent calligraphist.” Alden pondered the matter as he carefully rolled up the wall scroll and put it in his bag. The scroll was a surprise present, after all, so he wouldn’t want anyone seeing it early. “Perhaps you could teach her?” Wu Bo looked almost startled at the idea. “Me? A teacher? I’ve never taught anybody in my life.” “You’re certainly the finest calligraphist I know, Wu Bo. And more importantly, I trust you. Chao-Chao is going to need to limit how much time she spends on her feet for the next few months at least, and she really does seem to enjoy brushwork. An hour or two of calligraphy lessons every day seems like an excellent notion. I’ll be sure to pay you well for your time.” Wu Bo frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose it might be about time for me to pass on what I know before it is lost to time. I can’t expect to live as long as my aunt, after all… I will consider the matter.” Having secured a present for Chao Xing, Alden stopped for a quick lunch at a nearby pub before heading over to the tinctury. There were quite a few customers today, so Alden slipped in through the back door and headed directly to the workroom, where Tiffany was in the process of bottling a batch of laudanum. Alden couldn’t help but smile as he caught the flash of gold glinting from the fourth finger of her left hand. “Do you need any help, Tiffany?” “I’m fine, dad. I’ll be done in a couple of minutes.” “Frankly, I wish I had that bottling apparatus when I still worked here every day. Bottling takes four times as long when you do it by hand.” “I wouldn’t have been able to meet the current demand using the old workroom and equipment. I’m not sure why, but people are lining up to purchase the number four scented recreational laudanum these days.” “I suspect Gareth Albright might have something to do with it. I know his first wife goes through frankly worrying amounts of the stuff.” “Lord Albright sure is an odd fellow, isn’t he? Alice tells me she had to make him promise not to deliver my invitation to their wedding in person.” “He certainly doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp of his own social status. But speaking of weddings…” “We’re still not sure, dad. A summer wedding would be nice, but I don’t want it too close to Alice’s wedding, and it will take some time to arrange it if we want to invite Liz’s family from Jorvik. She’s on fairly good terms with almost her entire extended family, so…” “Well, if there’s anything troubling you or if you need any advice, you can always come to me. I’ll help you however I can.” Tiffany fell silent for a moment, seeming deep in thought. “Actually… There is one matter that I’ve been a little concerned about, and I wasn’t sure who I could really ask about it…” “Well, what is it?” “I mean, there are some traditions related to the wedding night, and…” Seeing where the conversation was going, Alden quickly interrupted her. “Tiffany, I love you dearly and I will always do anything in my power to help you, but you should know that when it comes to that sort of concern I am quite possibly the most useless person in the world to ask for advice.” Tiffany flushed faintly red. “Right, of course. Sorry, dad. I wasn’t thinking.” “No harm done. Have you considered voicing your concerns to Elisabeth directly?” “I suppose I should, but it’s a little awkward to talk about…” “In that case, maybe you should discuss the matter with Alice? Admittedly, your situations are rather different, but there are some central points where you ought to find common ground.” “I suppose that’s true.” “And besides, if half of what I suspect about Alice’s personal life is true, a frank discussion with her about such things might well eliminate any awkwardness you may be feeling through sheer overexposure.” Tiffany giggled. “There might be something to that. Thank you, dad. Now, I’m done with my work for the day, so I’ll be ready to go as soon as I change out of my work clothes and say goodbye to Liz.” Together with Tiffany, Alden made his way to the Rosethorn Academy, where school was just letting out. But despite the flood of students exiting the large school building, picking Ember out of the crowd was a trivial matter. The academy’s uniforms consisted of a bright red jacket worn over black trousers for boys and a white blouse worn with a long green skirt for girls. However, to Alden’s complete lack of surprise, Ember had opted to wear the red jacket over the green skirt, and thus stood out like a sore thumb in the mass of children. In truth, Ember’s introduction to school life was rather tumultuous to start with, although it surprisingly had very little to do with their dubious adherence to the dress code. It did have a least a little to do with their tendency to bite people, but that had passed fairly quickly and had only resulted in a dozen or so very sternly worded letters to Alden. Within the first month of attendance, the biting incidents on school grounds had dropped to what the head teacher described as ‘an acceptable frequency’. No, the real problem had been Ember’s utter refusal to give even the most basic lip service to the notion of social standing. The Rosethorn Academy was a privately owned school of very high repute that accepted any student that could afford the rather steep tuition fees. Among the student body were the children of nobility, priests, wealthy merchants, famous writers and artists and even a few particularly well-to-do small business owners. But just because children of many different social classes attended the academy did not mean that social standing ceased to matter. For the most part, the students formed friend groups among their immediate social peers, and the social hierarchy among the students was plainly apparent. Ember had promptly barrelled into this rather rigid environment with all the class consciousness of a drunken ox, and had gotten themself into an awful lot of trouble as a result. Fortunately, Ember was a Rascal at heart, and quite a fierce little bugger despite their diminutive size. And, although Alden had never informed them of it, Ember also carried a subtle measure of backing and protection from some very high places indeed, which shielded them from any censure or retribution from the parents of the Academy’s upper class students. By now, a sort of unspoken truce had formed, in that the vast majority of the upper class students studiously ignored anything to do with Ember with an air of performative indifference, and Ember in turn did not give half a damn about them. Mostly, Ember spent their time at school with a tightly knit group of friends that had somehow come to include the daughter of the Duke of Kent. And while Alden found her to be a lovely girl, he dearly hoped that her father wouldn’t find out just what the rather beautifully hand-crafted badge his daughter now wore at all times actually meant. After all, if the duke found out that his firstborn child ran with the Scabby Rascals when she was supposed to be attending piano lessons, he just might expire from pure shock. Alden shook himself from his musings as Ember bid their friends goodbye and came rushing up to meet him. “Papa! Tiffany! We dissected a dog in anatomy class today! The teacher even let me cut open the heart because I’ve got a steady hand with a knife! It was really disgusting, and one of the boys fainted when some blood splashed on his face!” “I’m glad you’re enjoying school, Ember.” “Oh, and Lily is jealous because I’ve been to Brandon’s house and Kamila’s house and Gwen’s papa’s apartment at the theatre, but I’ve never been to Lily’s house. Can I go visit Lily’s house sometime, papa?” “Not until you actually manage a passing grade in your etiquette class, Ember.” “Why not? I didn’t have to pass any classes to visit my other friends, and etiquette is soooooo boring!” “Because her father is a duke, Ember.” “But papa…” The argument lasted for a good ten minutes as they started walking towards the Royal Hospital. And by the end of it, Alden was just about ready to simply toss Ember at the Duke of Kent and hope for the best. It was a little later than expected when the three of them finally got as far as the hospital. Ember had been thoroughly distracted by a particularly colourful and vibrant yukata on display in a store window, and by the time Alden had managed to pull them away from the store with a promise that they’d return the next day so Ember could try it on, Tiffany had spotted a store advertising floral arrangements for weddings and had wandered inside for a ‘quick look’. Still, they weren’t terribly late. Alden had long since realized that the time it took to walk a particular stretch increased significantly with each young person you added to the group, so he had made sure to plan the day’s excursion with time to spare. Not that Alden particularly minded the frequent interruptions. There was a certain wonder to the sheer unpredictability of spending time with people so completely different from himself. And unlike the unpredictability that often stemmed from his new line of work, the unpredictability of spending time with family almost never put him in mortal dang… “Baba! Tiffany-jie! Ember!” Alden was pulled from his musings as Chao Xing emerged from the front entrance of the Royal Hospital, rushing towards them at an almost shockingly fast pace given that she was mostly supporting her weight on crutches. The initial recovery period of her final surgery was over, but it would still be weeks before she was supposed to put her entire weight on her feet while she walked, and longer still before she could try jumping and running. But Chao Xing certainly wasn’t discouraged. Her repeated surgeries had given her plenty of opportunities to practice using crutches, and the smooth, rapid tapping of the crutches as they hit the street told of the absolute confidence with which she now moved on them. Her large, wide shoes barely even touched the ground as she hurried along, a brilliant smile on her face. Alden started towards her, but he was quickly passed by Ember and Tiffany as they rushed over to catch the girl in a two-sided hug. With a fond smile, Alden wandered over to the little huddle and wrapped his arms around the three of them. “Hello, Chao-Chao. How are your feet?” “They only hurt a little! And the new shoes fit over the bandages. Su Li says they’ll be a little big for a while once the bandages come off, but that my feet should grow until the shoes fit again.” “Good to hear. Are you ready to come back home?” “Yes baba. We just need to get my things. They are in a bag in the entrance hall.” “Well then, let’s go get them. And when we get home, I have a present for you.” “A present? What is it?” “You’ll just have to wait and see. And Ember’s making dinner for us tonight. The dumpling soup you taught them to make before your first surgery.” “Really? I haven’t had dumpling soup since I went to the hospital! Thank you so much, Ember.” Ember blushed faintly. “It’s nothing to get that exited for. I just wanted to show you I learned how to make it properly, that’s all.” Tiffany smirked. “Is that so? And here I thought you told me you wanted to make it because you knew it was Chao-Chao’s favourite.” “I didn’t!” Chao Xing, quite unable to give anyone a hug while using her crutches, elected to show her gratitude by gently rubbing her cheek against Ember’s. This did nothing to alleviate the redness of Ember’s face. “I’m really looking forward to the soup, Ember.” “Well… good. I’ll make it just the way you taught me. You’ll see!” Alden smiled as he made his way to the entry hall of the Hospital. Half a year ago, he could never have imagined that his life would ever turn out like this. And sure, getting to this point had almost killed him a few times, and his new occupation was probably going present him with the odd bits of mortal peril in the years to come as well. But it was worth it. It was well worth it.