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cjrae · 6 months ago

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Tragedy of the Jade Nightingale. Or: My thoughts on Vol. 11 of the Apothecary Diaries.

Given that this volume just came out in English a few days ago, spoilers under the cut!

I usually think of the Apothecary Diaries volumes as pairs - usually two volumes make up an arc. If so, Volume 11 will be the first half of the arc with 12, but it also functions beautifully as a tragedy in it's own right.

** I will be only discussing information appearing officially through Vol. 11. Yes, I have read the fan translations of the web novels, but given that details can change, until it appears in official English translation, I won't yet be including it here.

The Hero

Gyoku-ou. Talk about someone who thinks he's smarter than he actually is. We knew this guy was a threat all the way back in Vol. 8, with how Gyokuyou reacted to her brother's letter and his veiled insult of sending a younger version of herself to catch either her husband's attention or the Imperial Brother's. Now we get to see him in action and he's scary - right up until he's not.

This man is charismatic as anything - he understands what makes people tick on both an individual level as well as a social level. His ability to wield a mob effectively makes him extremely dangerous, but I'm oddly put in mind of Lakan's initial impression of Fengxian. "This woman is strong, but she only knows how to fight in her own, small world."

The world Gyoku-ou inhabits is a very small, petty one. You can see it in his conspiracy theory about Jinshi's birth.

Jinshi is one of two people Gyoku-ou fails to read. When he brings Lakan and Jinshi to his puppet council to gauge support for attacking Shaoh, he thinks he's got a young malcontent in his hands, someone who wants power and is prone to the flashes of temper and insult that often drive young men. Someone who is easily manipulated. Instead, Jinshi mops the floor with him in that meeting, cutting Lakan's support out from under Gyoku-ou and making it clear that his priority is peace above war.

This doesn't take away from Gyoku-ou's political genius - this meeting teaches him that Jinshi has to be maneuvered around, rather than maneuvered directly. If the Imperial Brother doesn't want to play his part, then too bad. Gyoku-ou will see to it that Jinshi is hedged in all directions except where he wants him to go - which is to war. And even then, he's got a fight on his hands as Jinshi fully takes advantage of Empress Gyokuyou's information to undercut Gyoku-ou's support within his own family.

It's a mark of Jinshi's political skill that Gyoku-ou's move in that family council is to flirt with treason. If he can't maneuver the Imperial family through Jinshi, then he shifts tactics to turn Jinshi (and the rest of the Imperial Family) into the villain of his piece - a prince born and raised into utter depravity.

Let's just sit with what Gyoku-ou suggests to the rest of his siblings (minus the Empress) in that meeting. He implies that the Emperor impregnated his own mother in order to produce an heir. A son that he loves so dearly (and unnaturally) that he would willingly look the other way while Jinshi murders his other children in order to make sure that his brother-son-lover succeeds the throne.

This is a brilliant examination of how the bare facts of the situation can be construed by people with very different motivations to fit whatever worldview is most convenient for them. I'm a fan of the palace politics in this series because they feel very real.

Gyoku-ou doesn't lie once. But boy does he create a narrative that suits his purposes and dares anyone (namely Rikuson) to tell Jinshi. He is escalating the situation and he's doing it fast, while also challenging the legitimacy of the Imperial Family. A fact which, if it does get back to Jinshi (or the Emperor), could get the entire new You Clan wiped out just as fast as the Yi Clan was. This scene functions as a microcosm of Gyoku-ou's two fundamental character flaws; his short term thinking and his utter self-absorption.

Becoming The Wind

Since Rikuson was introduced in Vol. 5, he's been a mirror for Jinshi. He's a "pretty boy," calm under pressure, fundamentally kind and decent to other people while also being extremely competent at his job. Unlike Jinshi, he's also a bit older and more mature. He also clearly admires Maomao and sees the qualities that make her exceptional, despite her various masks.

As it turns out, Rikuson mirrors Jinshi in another important sense too - he also has a secret identity. The Yi Clan were the de facto royalty of the Western Capital and Rikuson is one of the direct survivors of the clan. He was never in the line of succession given the Yi Clan's matrilineal structure. But they were quick enough to save some of the children, namely Rikuson and Empress Gyokuyou's three ladies in waiting, Haku'u, Koku'u and Seki'u.

Rikuson, who was Gyoku-ou's excuse to trick His Former Majesty into giving him the authorization to destroy the Yi Clan. Rather than truly being an bastard Imperial prince, he's a young pawn in Gyoku-ou's hands to whip up an armed mob to hunt Rikuson down - and his mother and sister give their lives to ensure his survival - not for vengeance, but so that the Yi Clan's mission of protecting the west will live on even if the named clan itself dies. So, like Jinshi, he is dedicated to the welfare of the people above all else.

The trouble with relying on an unruly mob is that it's sloppy. Gyoku-ou left multiple survivors and they have absolutely no love for him. He's left weapons at his back.

Rikuson is the other person Gyoku-ou utterly fails to read. He spends well over a year back in his homeland, working for Gyoku-ou as an aide ostensibly from the central region, patiently waiting for an opening - even as Gyoku-ou, who knows that Rikuson has to be assigned to the west with some kind of ulterior motive, is so blind that he thinks he must be a secret member of the La Clan, rather than the Yi boy he tried to kill seventeen years earlier.

Rikuson represents the culmination Gyoku-ou's short term thinking in that he doesn't bother to think about the threat of any surviving Yi clan might pose to him.

He will not insult his mother's memory, or his sister's. But if his mission of protecting the west coincides with vengeance for his family? Sure enough, Gyoku-ou's insistence on going to war (and dragging the Imperial family's legitimacy into his motivations) gives Rikuson his opening; especially because he isn't a vigilante.

He is acting under orders.

The New You

Rikuson's point about Gyoku-ou's life being a tragedy hits home when you consider Gyokuyou's thoughts of how she knows her father loves her - but would also abandon her in a heartbeat if she is no longer valuable to him. Unlike her older brother, she has a very clear-eyed view of how their father operates and focuses on making sure that her value never drops in his eyes.

Gyoku-ou's value to Gyoku'en plummeted the day he destroyed the Yi Clan - Gyoku'en's family. He was given a second chance to show that he could still perform the single function of the men of the Yi Clan - to protect the west. When he endangered it instead, Gyoku'en sent the weapon he'd spent seventeen years preparing (Rikuson) with an execution order.

By first destroying the Yi Clan and then following it up with a proposed invasion of Shaoh, Gyoku-ou proved to Gyoku'en that he was no son of his. Given how desperate he was to be his father's son, this whole book is a tragedy in the classic sense. The Jade Nightingale was so desperate to reinvent himself as a Jade Eagle that he destroyed himself in pursuit of the one thing he never lost - his father's love. But, to be his father's heir, what he needed was Gyoku'en's trust and respect, not his love.

And he killed that seventeen years ago along with the Yi Clan.

Ironically, the foreign born girl that he despised and attempted to undermine at every opportunity, emerges as their father's true heir and mother of the nation, with the rest of the surviving Yi clan as part of her loyal retinue.

In her triumph, the Yi Clan is reborn as the You Clan as Gyoku'en, a Yi man, is given a clan name on the strength of Gyokuyou's role as Empress. So much of their history has been lost, down to the matrilineal succession and family records, but their mission lives on through the Yi men who will continue to protect the west, no matter the personal cost to themselves. There is no room for self-absorption here, therefore Gyoku-ou has no place in their new clan.

Also, a parallel to pay attention to is how the destruction of the Yi Clan and the Shi Clan are mirroring each other with the children being saved. The Yi Clan is reborn with a new name, which leads one to wonder what the consequences of saving those Shi children will be long term.

A Dagger In The Dark

Gyoku-ou sucks up a lot of air in Vol. 11 because he is driving the action - Jinshi, Maomao and their party are all stuck reacting to him, except for one character; Chue.

We see Chue attach herself to Maomao starting with the ship and it's not difficult to guess that just as Lihaku is serving as a discreet bodyguard for Maomao on Jinshi's orders, Chue is also there as protection. Chue doesn't try to conceal that she is clearly trained in espionage either.

Rikuson's proposal to Maomao is not a serious bid for her hand, but nor is it a joke - it's a message to Chue that Jinshi needs to tighten security around Maomao. As he puts it, he knows the "hyper protective" elements around her will close ranks. Because he's foreseen a strategy that may not have yet occurred to Gyoku-ou (who tends not to pay attention to the bit parts of the play), but if it does would almost certainly push the country into war.

Maomao is the lever that could move both Lakan and Jinshi.

All he has to do is kill her and make it look like a foreign attack. Lakan's instinctive ability to read a situation and Jinshi's formidable investigative skills would likely be dulled in the face of their rage and grief. Especially since they are technically Gyoku-ou's guests and don't have freedom of movement to push the issue.

Rikuson seizes his opportunity before Gyoku-ou can continue to escalate, but he realizes quickly that Chue arranged the stage and was there as both spy and backup assassin. (I think it's safe to say that Gyoku-ou's conspiracy theory AND that Yi family ledger will be reported, given that we know there were ladies-in-waiting at the meeting and that's how Chue was disguised - and she didn't actually promise to dispose of it).

Gyoku-ou doesn't bother to think that while the Emperor may be far away and the Imperial Brother is a manageable threat, that the people surrounding Jinshi may not be bound by his strictures. Hence, Chue was on standby. No matter what, Gyoku-ou was never going to make it to that ritual. He was never smart enough to realize that his crossing the line would be never be forgiven.

While Jinshi would order an execution if necessary (and has in the past), he would never order an assassination. Therefore, it's evident that Chue reports to someone else. Who that someone is, we don't know, but there's only one person further up the Imperial tree than Jinshi, so it would be reasonable for Rikuson to assume that the Emperor has placed additional protection around not just Jinshi, but Maomao.

Exclusive: Baby Swap!

Jinshi's birth is not a secret to the audience and while Maomao doesn't have confirmation, she's pretty certain of her suspicion. This volume made it patently obvious that there are others out there who are perfectly capable of putting the pieces together, even if the details are twisted.

Let's return to Gyoku-ou's conspiracy theory.

He's put together all the correct pieces. The Emperor's attitude toward Jinshi makes no sense in a traditional palace setting - a much younger, handsome, charismatic and competent brother? That's a threat to the Emperor and his direct line. But Jinshi is never treated that way - instead he's indulged on many fronts.

He's allowed to duck most of his official duties as Ka Zuigetsu (except for a few he can't, where he appears masked).

He's allowed to pretend to be a eunuch for six years and run the Rear Palace.

When he finally reveals himself to the court to put down the Shi Rebellion, he's described as "hale" and "just as proficient in the military arts as the administrative." (More proof that Jinshi is NOT the best judge of his own abilities). He emerges fully formed into court politics - a perfectly trained Crown Prince - only to have a newborn given the title instead.

Gyoku-ou deliberately put the worst possible spin on these facts. I suspect the rest of the You siblings are going to keep their mouths shut about Gyoku-ou's ugly theory, but if he could think of it, if Maomao could think of it with just seeing Jinshi standing next to Lady Ah-Duo, then so can others.

Maomao can be mad about Jinshi branding himself all she wants, but it's currently looking like an absolutely BRILLIANT move on Jinshi's part. Whatever doubts Gyoku-ou managed to plant about Jinshi and the Emperor's motives with the rest of the You clan siblings, Empress Gyokuyou is not likely to entertain it.

Also, it got the Emperor to essentially "banish" Jinshi to the edges of the Empire shortly after his new Crown Prince was born, which makes it look to other members of the court like the Emperor is taking steps to rein in his younger brother and balances the factions that have to be forming back in the capital.

This is not a secret that can be kept forever. No matter how careful Ah-Duo and Anshi were, the information is starting to leak out around the edges, as we see that the Empress' ladies in waiting that were dismissed clearly had eyes and ears - and in at least one case, a loose tongue.

The next arc is being seeded and Jinshi is inching closer and closer to that throne. He ran the Rear Palace for years (essentially managing the nation in microcosm) and as of the end of Vol. 11, he's now stepping up to govern a province and gain actual ruling experience while also having suppressed a war.

I've said before that Jinshi ascending the throne is the bad ending - if there is a single person who is more trapped by the palace than the prince, it's the emperor. We'll see what happens!

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kaen-ace-of-diamonds · 11 months ago

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On the Road Again

Word Count: 1290 (one chapter)

[AO3]

Genre: Family/Fluff

Pairings: Judal/Hakuryuu, Paimon/Hakuei, Gyokuen/Hakutoku

Characters: Ren family, Judal, Yamato Takeruhiko, Paimon

Summary: Modern AU, Everyone Lives AU. The Ren family gets together for a trip. Hakuryuu wonders whether it's a good idea to stick all of them in an RV for several hours.

~0~

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?

Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long

And wouldn’t it be nice to live together

In the kind of world where we belong?”

- Wouldn’t It Be Nice, The Beach Boys

~0~

At first, Hakuryuu had been staunchly opposed to the idea of taking a family road trip. Hakuyuu, in his more diplomatic way, had voiced some concerns as well. However, their father had quelled their objections — well, most of them — simply by unlocking the door to a three-bedroom RV. He had to hand it to Dad: he didn’t build an international real estate empire by not knowing how to bring together a gaggle of squabbling and clashing personalities.

Hakuei had already been halfway there, and hearing Paimon’s squeal of delight when she showed her the floor plans on her phone had sealed the deal for her. Hakuryuu had been similarly convinced when the official “significant others are allowed” rule had been announced. Hakuren had already been in, because he had zero ability to anticipate conflict or risk to himself, which had been half of convincing Hakuyuu. The other half had been promising him the steering wheel for the majority of the trip.

Their mother, of course, had been convinced the second Hakutoku opened the door to the wine fridge.

“Are we there yet?” Hakuren moans, sprawling out on his bunk while Takeru sympathetically pats his shoulder, his voice drowning out the low babble of Worst Cooks in America from the wall TV.

Hakuryuu, looking up from the dining table, thinks that his brother could stand to be a little bit more flexible, seeing as they had expanded that “significant others” rule to include “bro roommates” specifically for him. He might say so, but as usual, he’s spoken over before he can even open his mouth.

“Hakuren, my sweetheart,” Gyokuen drawls from the passenger seat, absently turning the stem of the empty glass in her hand, “you are thirty years old.”

“I’m too used to flying! I forgot how long a three hundred mile trip actually is...”

Hakuei gently adjusts Paimon, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder about thirty miles ago, so she can turn from the TV to smirk up at her brother. “Well, if you don’t like it in here, maybe you should have gone with Kouen and everybody? Or, even easier, just taken a ride with Aunt Arba?”

There’s a beat of silence as all four siblings seriously consider that, flashing back to their high school driving lessons with chills up their spines, and then burst out laughing at once.

“Huh?! What’s going on?!” Paimon yelps, startled awake by the noise.

Taking up as much as he can of the booth next to Hakuryuu, Judal reaches across the table to grab an apple from the fruit bowl and tosses it at her, grinning. “We’re appreciating that we haven’t been driven off a cliff yet, keep up.”

Gyokuen’s lip curls, and she leans over to uncork a new bottle of white wine. “Hakuyuu, darling, floor it, will you? If my sister really is going to meet us all there, I’d like to have at least a few hours of peace up at the house first.”

Hakuyuu just keeps smiling, turning the wheel carefully as they make another turn around the mountainside. “Not a chance. Remember what Dad said? We’re all relaxing if it kills us and the drive counts.”

Gyokuen rolls her eyes. ��All right. But just don’t expect me to be nice to her, even if throwing a punch is off the table.”

“Don’t worry, we don’t. I don’t think she does either.” Looking over his brother’s shoulder, all Hakuryuu can see right up to the horizon is a sea of deep green pine trees. Through the window open a crack above his head, he can smell them, too. “It could be worse, Mother. Your father could have figured out where the vacation house is.”

“Oh! Don’t even say that!”

Takeru raises an eyebrow. “Is this David guy really that bad?”

Judal snorts and gestures next to him with a half-eaten peach; he seems to have claimed the fruit bowl as his personal serving dish. “I was there at the last Christmas party he crashed a while back. He put Hakuryuu’s arm on top of the tree.”

“What?!”

Hakuryuu stretches out in the booth around the table, pointedly scraping one metal heel on the floor and flexing the stiff fingers of his prosthetic arm. “Hakuyuu and Dad helped me get it down and put it back on. Mom, Aunt Arba, and Uncle Solomon were too busy grabbing the swords off the mantle and chasing him back to his car.”

“Ugh,” says Paimon, joining Hakuei, Hakuren, and Takeru in a collective shiver. “What a piece of work.”

“You don’t know the half of it. But, silver linings: that was the year Kouha taught me to play Uno to distract me,” Hakuryuu says, pulling the deck in its well-worn box out of his jacket pocket. “By kicking my ass at it, I might add. Anyone want to see if I’ve gotten any better?”

“Before he cleans us all out at the house, you mean,” Hakuren grumbles. “All right, we can go a few rounds before I switch with Yuu.”

“Hakuren, I’m all right—”

“We’re going to stop, you’re going to take a fucking nap, and you’re going to like it,” says Hakuren brightly, without looking at his older brother. “Takeru, you in?”

Takeru is already scuttling down the ladder to the loft, while Hakuei and Paimon turn off the TV and make their way to the table. Hakuei looks over to the front seats. “Mom? How about you?”

Gyokuen watches the six of them squeezing into the booth with a critical eye, then sighs and rises from the passenger seat, half-full glass in hand. “All right. But if any of you leave me holding half the deck again you’re out of my will.”

“I’ll take that risk,” Hakuryuu says brightly. He, Hakuei, and Paimon scoot the few inches they have left to scoot so she can take a spot at the end of the booth, trying very hard to look dignified while trying to balance herself on the edge.

Hakuren shuffles and deals out the cards with professional flair; Hakuryuu has always enjoyed the sound. On his left shoulder, Hakuei sits up deliberately straight, gaze fixed on her own hand so as not to catch an accidental glimpse of his or Paimon’s cards. On his right, now that all his space has been taken over, Judal is slumped against his whole side like an oversized cat, eyes shamelessly flicking to the hands of anyone who leaves their cards unguarded.

The window is still open, but no one suggests shutting it to protect against the wind. Hakuryuu’s glad: he likes the fresh air, the way the sunlight plays on all their faces and makes their eyes even brighter than usual.

It’s good. Plain and simple. He’s known since he was little how to count his blessings.

His limbs have been lost. His face has felt flame. But Hakuryuu has never once been unsure of his footing. He has never known a life where he could not reach out for help and have his family grab his hand tight. The idea that a world could exist where not only was he too full of fear and hatred to reach out at all, but that nobody would be there to catch him if he did, is inconceivable to him.

Right now, Hakuryuu’s world narrows down to the cool mountain breeze teasing his hair, the scent of pine trees and the purring engine, and the chatter of the people he loves most all around him.

#starting the new year with the purest fluff possible #magi labyrinth of magic #ren hakuryuu #judal #ren hakuyuu #ren hakuren #ren hakuei #ren gyokuen #magi paimon #yamato takeruhiko #kaen's fics

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