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There was something about Ri Xia that had Pina on edge. Having grown up in a bloody political environment, she had honed the ability to screen the true personalities from the surface. She could tell that there was something underneath the modesty of this actress that nipped at her.

Following their meek conversation in the gazebo—which was Tami mostly trying to dodge intimate questions thrown by Tuka and the Oracle much to his wife's amusement—they were sequestered back into the palace by the keshigs. Komadai had imposed a stricter curfew following the incident at the monastery.

"You have a private bath chamber in the east wing," the cherbi informed them via Lelei. "For the sake of decency, I will not post guards outside the door. Don't drown yourselves."

Pina saw Tami and Ri Xia exchange words before they separated, the former rejoining his comrades chafing at him from down the corridor with the latter retreating to her private chambers. The princess wondered how Tami's subordinates thought of his wife because, judging from their rather animated behavior, it appeared they were in disbelief that he was even married.

The palace bathhouse was in many ways similar to the balineae at home, the only difference being the architecture—bamboo walls, dwarfed trees, and intricate garden landscapes surrounded the bean-shaped pool. For most of her life, Pina bathed in her own personal tub, often with maidens standing by to hold her garments. The experience of sharing a bath with her fellow knights without any servants present was not something new to her though. Then again, it was not everyday that she had this opportunity.

It did take them awhile to get comfortable with sharing the pool with an adolescent mage, a wood elf, and the Oracle who they all knew was the oldest among them despite her timeless youth.

"It has been a long time since I have encountered a kingdom that could effectively eclipse yours, princess," remarked the Disciple of Emroy.

Pina knew to respect the (opinions) counsel of the chosen Disciples of the gods. Also because she feared them, especially after seeing one carve through whole legions with ease. So she nodded. "I always believed there would be greater powers than ours."

"How do you expect to go about your meeting with their emperor?"

Weeks of thinking that through yielded many approaches, none of which she was sure would help. The princess stared at her reflection in the water, unable to word a proper answer.

"Her highness can manage," Bozes answered for her.

The rattan door on the top of the steps slid open, causing them to nearly jump out of the water.

"They said you would all be here," Ri Xia greeted as she carefully slid the door shut. She quickly but gracefully unwrapped her bathrobe and dipped into the pool. Her bare elfin frame contrasted the illusion of the great warrior she so convincingly portrayed. "We have our own baths but it is nice to enjoy the company of foreigners."

"Y-you know Saderan?" Hamilton sputtered.

"Everyone knows about the people of the Gate," the actress replied. "There are scholars who have already published books about you. I spent three months studying your culture and learning your tongue."

"May we ask why?" Beofetra asked.

Ri Xia had a strong air of gentleness about her with her posture and her smile even as she provided them with an even answer. "My husband was sent to your lands. Should I not be worried?"

Pina found it difficult to believe that underneath all that heavy armor, the thick cosmetics, and the wooden swords and bows was a delicate young lady radiating high societal standards. She took a moment to accept that this petite feminine body could be agile enough to skirt around thrusts and stabs while balanced only on the tip of her toes. Perhaps those heroic epics she grew up watching in the amphitheaters back home had actually been performed by women.

"Pardon us for inquiring," Tuka said. "How long have you been married?"

"Two years."

"Do you have any children?" came the next question. From the Oracle.

Ri Xia giggled. "We have not tried much." Then she sighed. "It is not easy being married to a soldier. He is always away. When he is home, his mind is elsewhere."

The princess could feel her curiosity edging at the tip of her lips.

The thespian continued, "It was a marriage of convenience."

Pina could easily read the sadness in her eyes. For an actress whose skill was of some renown in this land, it was significant to allow genuine emotion to so easily betray her facade. Especially in front of diplomats from an enemy country.

"Tami..." Ri Xia paused to steady her breathing despite the crystals in her eyes, "We knew each other when we were children... He offered me a home on the condition that I care for it. It was not very intimate at first... But as time passed, it...I...I have always loved him. I don't know if he feels the same way."

"You are brave for sharing something like this to us," the princess imparted.

"You are here for an audience with the Khagan, are you not?"

All the Saderans gave the actress their full attention with Pina managing a controlled mien. "So you know."

"Tami is my husband after all." Ri Xia wiped her tears away. Her eyes now gleamed with a fierce determination. "The Khagan is one man whose word is absolute yet can be swayed by the words of a few. It is the Kurultai you should be wary of."

"They are divided," Hamilton prodded. "The hawks and the doves."

The actress nodded. "Tami told me about your escape from the monastery. Those men were surely acting under the orders of some of the khans."

"The 'khans'?"

"Leaders of the Mongol states, the khanates. The governors of the provinces within the khanates submit directly to them. They are warlords in another sense. Many of them are experienced generals who would want nothing more than to treat your kingdom the way they treat their subjects."

Pina did not show her trepidation at that. "Subjugation, isn't it?"

"You are a prize. A bargaining piece. If they cannot get you, they will kill you. The same goes for my husband as well. And for all the other soldiers who were summoned to testify before the Khagan. That is how things work here."

"Surely the Khagan can exercise restraint on them," Bozes argued.

Ri Xia shook her head. "If he was as old as them. The Khagan is only a decade older than my husband. He has been on the throne for only five years."

That was alarming. For the past couple weeks that they had been in the company of the Mongols, they were made aware early on (though not intentionally) that the Khagan was a fresh prince who had inherited his father's throne. Much like Pina, he was a man devoted to preserving Mongol hegemony. And much like her, he was keen on monitoring the expansionist tendencies of his subordinates. Or so she was told.

"Fortune smiles on you," Ri Xia continued. "The Khagan boasts an open mind. He would undoubtedly be willing to listen to your cause. The Kurultai, however, is a herd of stubborn oxen and they will do their very best to aggravate the war. If you can win over the Khagan, you might stand a solid chance of holding back the horde."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Beofetra coolly interrogated.

The actress gave her a knowing look. "I want to save my husband from this butchery. He is the world to me. He may not see our marriage beyond convenience but that will not stop me from trying to keep him alive."

Pina breathed before speaking. "So you're willing to risk everything, even your position"—a histrionic exclusive to the provincial court spoke volumes—"to save Tami and, in effect, save my people and yours from further bloodshed."

Ri Xia nodded. "I regularly perform for the Khagan and his court during the summer. On some winters, my troupe is even summoned to Karakorum. I have seen them all. Their behaviors do not change."

The princess took in the people in the pool. Her knights eyed her curiously. Lelei and Tuka waited silently while the Oracle remained impassively attentive. Pina waded towards the actress, sitting beside her and startling her out of her melancholy. She let her palm rest over her shoulder. "Ri Xia, right?"

Another nod.

"What are you offering?"

The actress beamed. "Let me help you appease the Kurultai. I can teach you ways to silence them. It takes more than emotion in your words to melt their black stone hearts. You are a princess with experience in politics. I am sure you would find all these things easier to grasp..."

By the end of the night, Pina could draw many similarities between the Mongol noyans and the Saderan senators. Her task of diplomacy felt easier somewhat.

Come dawn the following day, Pina encountered a lax Komadai lounging against the wall outside of her quarters. Lelei was standing beside him, the concern in her eyes betraying her general nonchalance.

"The cherbi wants you to know that he could arrest Ri Xia for treason."

The princess felt her breath hitch. "Tell him—"

Komadai held up his hand and said something to Lelei, his sharp obsidian pupils grounded on Pina. "I will not do anything. I will ignore her liaison with you," the mage translated. "Do not expect any more favors."

"T-thank you," she stammered.

"Your highness, in addition, you are being summoned," Lelei said as Komadai leaned back. "He is highly regarded among the Kurultai and he specifically asked for you by name."

Pina held back little surprise. This was an interesting development and one that made her anxious. "May my knights accompany me?"

The cherbi nodded then walked out of earshot. The princess could never tell whether he was helping her over sympathy or because of Tami.

Their host was a man of near equal stature to Komadai only slightly stouter, more rugged, and clearly weighted in years. His ornate robes were tailored to display authority through the simplest decor and the emblems he wore on his person expressed his range of authority. Most likely a retired general, given the militaristic culture of the Mongols. Pina and the Scarlet Rose bowed reverently only to receive a cursory bow from him.

He gestured at the cushioned matts lining the edges of the low table where the servants prepared tea and breakfast. Lelei seated herself on to the far right.

"Greetings," she translated for him. His voice was jovial and gruff. "I am Tasubai, chief of the Yuan khanate. I apologize for not being present on your arrival for I was advising our subjects elsewhere. It is good to finally meet you, Princess Pina Co Lada of Sadera."

"I warmly return the greetings, Tasubai," Pina replied with a curt smile despite the pounding in her chest. Facing the Senate felt far easier than facing a significant member of the Kurultai who was willing to communicate with her in person.

Tasubai took a sip of his tea with the gentry of a wealthy merchantman despite sitting as rigid as a sentry. "I have heard much about you. The governors commend you for your journey. However, one cannot win an argument against many. You are brave, honorable, and out of your wits for coming here on your own initiative."

"I do what I must to preserve the lives of my people," she answered evenly.

The man nodded at the servants to leave the room. As soon as the doors slid closed, his gaze steeled. "Convince me why I should not stay silent in the Kurultai."

Now this was completely unexpected, Pina screamed in her head. Her anxiety flared into a full panic despite her composure. Glancing at Hamilton, Bozes, Beofetra, and then an enviously unaffected Lelei, she collected her breath and met his glare with her own. She did not know who this man was or high how he sat among his peers but she was going to give her very best to win him over. "With all due respect, Tasubai, I am sure you would know from your experience that there would be nothing to gain if we are to continue hostilities."

The moment lingered in silence with Tasubai neither unmoved nor unimpressed. Pina hoped that Lelei's translation carried the same weight.

She continued, "My people are stubborn. They will fight to the death. They will be willing to hammer their plowshares into axes and their hooks into spears. They will pledge to drag two of yours to the underworld with them when they fall. Would you be willing to squander valuable resources and manpower over a territory that would refuse to yield?"

"Your point?" he enjoined.

"We will bleed each other dry. All for nothing. And in the end, the Gate will close, trapping your troops in our lands. When that day comes, we will heal while your men will starve without a lifeline to your world." She did not mean to come off as aggressive. Her father and brothers did rub off on her.

Tasubai suddenly laughed. "It would take more than threats to sway me, princess. But you impress me. Even when the shepherd rakes his yoke over your neck, you still heave. You are better than the cowards I have faced in my lifetime."

Pina gulped. Was that a compliment or a threat? "Thank you, Tasubai."

"You're welcome. I hope you will do better than that at Karakorum. I can only support you to an extent," The surprise on her face amused him. "You have keen insight. I admit that we have enough problems as it is here in our lands. Why burden ourselves even more?"

The princess wanted to break out a wide grin. "Then we both share the same understanding."

"Princess Pina, I have been leading my armies for thirty years. I have mentored many of the fools who now stand in the Kurultai. They are young and eager and the actions of your generals have instigated a desire for retribution." Tasubai smiled and offered her the porcelain plates with biscuits and slices of damp vegetables in fermented crimson sauce. "I am but one of many noyans. It is best that you hope and pray to your gods that the Khagan will listen to my counsel over theirs."

"Thank you, dearly, sir."

A warm, haughty laugh. "I am not your superior, young lady." He gestured at the food on her plate. "Please. Eat."

Pina, Lelei, and the Scarlet Rose knights thoroughly enjoyed their breakfast that morning with Tasubai regaling them with folk tales of the steppe peoples.

ORIGINALLY DRAFTED: January 3, 2018

LAST EDITED: January 8, 2018

INITIALLY UPLOADED: January 6, 2018

NOTE: A few more chapters and we'll be rounding back to the scene that started this story. And for those who want more action, I'm sorry but it's going to take awhile. Diplomacy comes first before the clashing of steel. Can't have one side steamroll the other so quickly. ;)