Part 3, Chapter 20

Where have all the high gods gone?

Ch 20

Xun wandered familiar hallways. She wondered where Xiaomin was, if she had returned to her work in the Emperor’s suite or if she and Shun had continued in the Hall of Medicine. 

“Stop!” The guard was a merperson and they looked odd in the palace armor.

Xun clutched her kitchen pass in her hand and smiled, hoping the guard didn’t see that her knuckles were white with tension. “Yes, sir!” She chirped 

“I don’t remember you,” the guard said suspiciously. “Where do you work?”

“I’m just a kitchen girl, sir,” she replied, casting her eyes down as if she were shy. She held the pass up like a shield.

“We’ll see,” he said, and grabbed her arm to escort her to the kitchen.

“Xun! You lazy girl!” Zao Shen scolded her. “Thank you for returning her, Guard Ah. Who knows how long she would have shirked.” Smiling, the god gave the guard a dish of honey cakes that had been sitting by the stove. 

The guard glowered at Xun, but took the cakes and departed.

“Where have you been?” the kitchen god asked. “Where are your mother and the Lord of Storms?”

Xun put a finger to her lips. “Hush, Grand-Master. My mother is safe in the manor of the God of War. The Lord of Storms is being watched over by my friend near by.”

“He’s not dead? If he’s not dead then why is the Emperor giving the throne to his child?”

It was Xun’s turn to glower. “He’s not, that’s why everyone who doesn’t believe the edict has been locked away. Didn’t you think it odd when so many high gods vanished?”

“We were told they had gone on pilgrimage to see the Emperor in seclusion.” Zao Shen muttered.

“The King of the Merfolk has locked them away somewhere,” Xun said.

“They aren’t here,” Zao Shen said with certainty. 

 “If they aren’t here…” Xun thought. “Does anyone know where they might have gone?”

Zao Shen shook his head, “Not that I know of. There’s some confusion… about recent events.”

Xun sighed and nodded, “There would be.”

Zao Shen lead her to the hearth by one hand, his eyes lighting up as he sensed gossip. “Do tell,” he said after getting her settled in a way that made it hard for her to escape.

Xun explained what had happened to her over the last year and Zao Shen listened attentively, making encouraging sounds in all the right places. 

When she finished he sat back, crossing his arms over his fat belly. “Well that explains quite a bit,” he said with satisfaction. 

Xun looked at him imploringly. “Can you give me a pass? I need to talk to Shun and Xiaomin and no one will notice a little kitchen maid if I look like I have something to deliver.”

He nodded slowly, “That can be arranged. Shun and Xiaomin have returned to domestic service, both of them have been assigned to the Empress… no not the Empress, the Lady of Storms.” He looked at her, the lines of his face deepening as a look of shocked horror spread over his pudgy face, “If you married the Emperor then you are..”

“I’m Leng Zai’s wife,” Xun said firmly. 

His expression was doubtful.

“All of that can be sorted out later. I’m going to deliver cakes to the Lady of Storms.”

“Yes, of course,” he said, and if his smile was shadowed Xun put it down to the overload of information he had just received.