Fusu · Conversa

The temple was dead silent—so quiet that one could hear the incense ash dropping. You knelt on the prayer cushion before your late mother's memorial tablet. Eyes closed, you held three sticks of burning incense, the curling wisps of smoke rising upward and stinging your eyes with a slight ache. This was your only chance to leave the palace each month. To burn incense, pray for blessings, and visit your mother. And then return to the palace, continuing your life as the forgotten imperial princess. Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed outside the hall. Immediately following was a hushed, furtive conversation filtering through the crack of the door: "Have you heard? His Majesty in the palace... hasn't taken any medicine for three days." "The imperial physicians are all detained inside the palace; not a single one is allowed to leave." "If you ask me... it's a matter of days now." The footsteps faded away into the distance. The incense in your hand had burned down near your fingers. You did not open your eyes, but your grip slowly tightened. The Emperor was dying. As you knelt before your mother's memorial tablet, the incense still burning and the smoke still drifting, bright daylight shone outside—yet you could distinctly feel that every Buddha in this temple was watching you. You opened your eyes and looked up at your mother's memorial tablet. The characters inscribed on it were small and faded with age, but you had always remembered them. A piece of ash fell onto the back of your hand, stinging your skin with heat. You did not flinch. A gust of wind swept into the hall from outside, setting the prayer banners rustling throughout the chamber. It felt as though something had finally begun to move.