the one of the empty seats near the edge of the throne room and sat down . Curious pairs of eyes seemed to watch her every step , hushed whispers changed from gossips to the girl in the black dress . Yueying - ignoring the whispers and glares – fixed her gaze on the assortment of food and wine placed in front of her , detached from reality .
Minutes later , the entire room went dead silent . The emperor followed by Zhaojun walked into the throne room . The emperor was dressed in golden robes with his hair tucked under his crown . He looked surprisingly old for his age , as if the stress of ruling the country was physically weighing on his shoulders . All of the guests in the room – along with Yueying- simultaneously stood up and bowed , the words “ Your majesty .” echoing throughout the room . The emperor strolled up to the golden throne and sat down , all the guests sitting down afterwards . “ Wang Zhaojun please step forward !” the emperor boomed , his eyes glittering with pride . Zhaojun gracefully glided towards the decorative throne and knelt in front of it . Although Zhaojun looked calm and serene , Yueying could tell that her friend was bursting with excitement . “ Today , we are gathered here to celebrate the crowning of Wang Zhaojun , palace servant and the most beautiful person in all of China .” The emperor said “ with the powers bestowed on me by the heavenly gods , I now crown you princess Wang Zhaojun .” The room exploded into rounds of applause and cheers . Yueying watched Zhaojun as she smiled and closed her eyes , savoring the moment . As the clapping died down , the emperor said . “ Princess Wang Zhaojun will be doing her country a great service as she has agreed to marry the warlord Canyu from a neighboring clan in the north .” Zhaojun ’ s eyes flew open in surprise as she whipped up her head to stare at the emperor in shock . “ In doing so , she will be preventing a war between our two clans and strengthening China ’ s relationships with the clans in the nort …” “ No .” Zhaojun said cutting the emperor off mid sentence . Even from the corner of the room , Yueying could see that she was trembling with shock and rage . “ This was not the agreement , I will not be given away like some doll ” The emperor ’ s eyes turned from pride to fury as he glared at Zhaojun . “ The details were given in the letter , why else would I decide to make some worthless servant girl a princess ? ” he asked , his voice dangerously low . Tension built in the room as Yueying felt the jade bracelet around her wrist growing colder and colder . “ I refuse to go !” Zhaojun said standing up as she fixed her gaze on the emperor . The emperor ’ s face went red with fury as he proclaimed “ You have no saying in this matter , you will be going north to be married tomorrow ! Guards ! Please escort the princess to her quarters and make sure she gets some rest for her big day . Preferably a room with a lock and guards stationed outside , we wouldn ’ t want anything to bad happen would we ?” Zhaojun ’ s eyes went wide as two armed guards began to haul her to the entrance . “ Yueying , help !” Zhaojun shouted , her normally melodic voice turned shrill with fear .
Gathering up her courage , Yueying sprang up from her seat at the table to help her friend , the bracelet around her wrist grew colder and colder until it fractured with a loud snap . Jade colored mist flowed out from the broken pieces and enveloped Yueying . When the mist dispersed , she was no longer in the throne room
She was sitting on a rock next to a pool of water . The terrain surrounding her was rocky with patches of emerald green and yellow grass . The red orange tinted dust covered rock seemed to go on forever . Looking down at her reflection in the water , a face that was foreign to her stared back . Her long charcoal black hair what was normally adorned with various accessories was now tied back into a bun with a worn piece of cloth . Her eyes and lips were smaller that they used to be and her black silk robes were now replaced with worn rags . The face in the water would have been beautiful if her skin did not look sickly pale . Looking around , she saw various people resting on rocks or tending to horses carrying various bags and sacks filled with cloth or spices . They were dressed similarly to Yueying and every one of them looked tired . She closed her eyes and tried to remember something , anything that would tell her where and who she was . She remembered someone calling her name , not Yueying but Chunxiang . A servant sent by the emperor to accompany someone , someone with a strange name … Marco Polo home to Venice . She remembered a boat and sailing for days and days , people around her retching and fainting , a sickly stench in the air . 600 died before they made it to shore . The boat trip was followed by endless days of walking and walking across meadows , deserts and rocky terrain until her feet were blistered and sore . And most importantly , she remembered a jade bracelet shattering onto the rocky dust covered ground and green mist . “ We ’ re only a few hours away from Tabriz ,” a voice announced “ we leave in five minutes .” Turning around , she saw the person who just spoke turn around and began to adjust some of the bags on the horses . Marco Polo her mind informed her . He had a pale complexion , dark brown hair and unnaturally light colored eyes . Different from the people that she was used to seeing , when she first saw him , Yueying thought he looked like a deity or a demon , something that didn ’ t seem normal .