12K fic

[petronia]

For Kristin. Not at all what I thought it would be, but well. ^^; Set it down as an exercise in aesthetics.

I'm tempted to assign this also to Mari's request - the characters were not required to extemporize (pseudo-)poetry but I certainly was - or to amamiyarin as a certain someone put in a completely unrequested cameo. But well. XD Basically I am looking for a way to cheat as 12K's Chinese (Not Chinese) hurts my brain by keeping it permanently stuck halfway through code-switching.




canis_m: Gyousou POV, non-angsty

A man of Sou wrote, in exile born of circumstance:

the pear blossom this second month weighs heavy on the branches
on the path, wind-swept drifts of white
chill and scentless, soaking the silk of her slippers

There would have been no pear blossom in Tai. The flowers of Ryuukou precede Kouki's thaw. Such are the eyes of a poet, seeing only the walled gardens of his native country in the orchards of another; as impractical as the embroidered floss that shod his lady. To one of Tai born and raised, there is no desolation on the frontier. The steppes and forests of white pine teem with their own secret language. In the northernmost range, where for six months yearly the wind howls of the untraversable Sea, spring rain swells meltwater to torrents that rearrange boulders in their path. Then the storm passes, and newly unfurled birch leaves veil the mountainside in gold and green. On a clear day, a man gazing southward over the grasslands of the interior sees only endless horizon. A good mount broken from the native herds will take him three hundred li from the foothills, and not stop until its hooves churn salt water. Always the air tastes of freedom.

And thus longing lives in the hearts of all men, said Shouryuu. He started down the alabaster steps. Hakkei Palace stretched out before them, infinite white under a blue autumnal sky. The poet of Sou was as wise as you, for he knew the place in which he was complete. Is that not so?

*

And thus longing lived in the hearts of all men.

They rode slowly back to camp, letting their horses pick their own surefooted way down the slope. When the trail grew clear and narrow Gyousou reined in his mount, allowing Kouri's mare to take the lead. He was reluctant to let the child out of his line of sight.

It was the hour before dusk when the forest fell hushed. The wind had died some time before, and there was no sound to be heard except the whuffling breath of the horses and the creaking of their harness. When one of them stepped on a twig the report seemed shockingly loud. The birches closed thickly around them, stark vertical bars of white trunks and black shadow.

Kouri rode with his head lowered in thought. He looked as he did when Gyousou first met him, as he almost always did: a mere, ordinarily pretty child, with doe-dark eyes and the bones of a bird. One small hand peeped from the wide folds of his cloak, holding the loops of his reins in a loose grip. Against the mare's dapple-grey withers his skin showed milk-white.

He had dropped his hood, and dark hair spread, unbound, over the fur lining. Gyousou found himself caught in sense-memory.

"...Master Gyousou?"

Kouri turned in his saddle, sensing a shift in the air perhaps, and lifted his eyes. The sun was setting, washing the air with vermilion. It sparked a note of fire in Kouri's hair, like flames glimpsed through an obsidian blade.

He had known men to whom immortality gave unceasing lust for power, and ones on whom it weighed heavily, until they coveted no reward for their labour but release. Late in the last reign, he had wondered if this was not true of the king of Tai himself – if it were not the reason kings and kirin eventually found death. A king was only a man; restive generals and courtiers knew it well. Small wonder that he might lose his way, if the path that led him to his throne were swallowed up by time, if all the world beneath his palace were as much unreality and mist.

He had had much to understand. A king's place was not on his throne.

"We are near," he said, and spurred his horse alongside Kouri's. Together they rode out into the clearing.

Comments

[amamiyarin.livejournal.com]

<3

And man, I SO can see Shouryuu saying it. ^^

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked. <3

Waah~

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

I second the <3. Tai in Canadian clothing v. scenic. Is funny how this has introspective!Gyousou when your early reaction to him IIRC was to thank him for his sweet sweet violence.

Shouryuu just...pervades, doesn't he.

Re: Waah~

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, you wouldn't want me to do Gyousou-while-engaged-in-act-of-violence POV. XD Nor for the matter would I; it wouldn't be particularly... meaningful.

Now I can reveal the hard part was getting him to introspect at all. ^^; I'd thought it was going to be more first-person than this, but Gyousou doesn't seem to like to think sentences that begin with "I". Once he was introspective he thought about stuff I hadn't expected at all.

[marici.livejournal.com]

I thought Chinese poetry rhymed? Or is this the English of the Japanese of the Chinese? Either way, I like the image of the poet looking for petals in snow. I jumped at the chance to make you write poetry because I believe you can. My belief that your family is an enclave of culinary and literary geniuses may contribute. I suppose this counts for my request on those terms... *selfishly wants more, but desire is the root of pain*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

It's the English of the Chinese, yes. XD Chinese poetry does rhyme but in the same way Latin poetry rhymes - it's not hard to achieve when half the words end the same way anyhow, the real rules lie elsewhere. My dad can do it, I haven't the training. ^^;

I'll write you another one if I get that far down the list, but. XD

[tokkitsu.livejournal.com]

I do not understand why I have not found your stuff before. Or I have? I think. WK stuff. But luff, yes. *___*

And, er... would you mind if I friended you? .__.;;

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Sure, no problem. ^^

[tokkitsu.livejournal.com]

Whee! :D