#i just wanted to see grandma being badass x'D

[celestialspark]

Before the fall

One more bonus snippet from Pages and Petals - with my favorite title that you also see on my tumblr blog~

The innocent childhood of the protagonist, the last days before the disgrace of house Tse ...

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Sweltering heat came down from the sun high in the sky, accompanied by the deafening sounds of crickets in the field. Only the silence in the house was more oppressive when An Ju stood by the main entrance and peeked into the estate of her mother's family.

The young girl, who had stuck out her tongue in concentration, stood on tiptoes as she peeked past the pillars. She could get to her room unseen. She only needed to hug the far right wall in the shadows and then take the turn towards the inner court before she would reach her room.

She would only need to be very careful. The lack of servants and the deathly silence spoke of her grandmother's mood. An Ju really did not want to be seen by her like this. Not after having missed a lesson by forgetting the time. She had run back now, leaving her younger cousins outside to keep on playing, but it still was already too late.

Taking a deep breath, the girl began her venture.

As long as she didn't make too much sound, no one would—

She tripped.

It took a moment for her to catch herself from the stumble. Her lips were tightly pressed onto each other to not let a sound escape.

Only when she had found her footing again did An Ju twirl around to see what she tripped over.

There was nothing.

An Ju squinted her eyes. A moment later, she noticed one of the talismans against intruders stuck on one of the plants.

A defeated sigh escaped the girl's lips. No wonder there was no servant near the main entrance. They were all warned against the trap.

"Well?" Matriarch Dou's voice floated from the main hall towards the main entrance.

Contrite, An Ju folded her hands how it befit a young lady and went to greet her grandmother. She hoped it would hide her muddied nails and dirty hands. But considering how her dress had gotten stiff with dried sludge, there was not much to be done.

Inside the main hall, only the matriarch of the Dou family was sitting. As she was drinking tea, two servants stood on the side, ready to attend her. With just a short look at her granddaughter, the stern woman took a sip from her tea. "Do you know what you did wrong?"

Her voice was calm. She rarely raised it in volume, but each word was punctuated and bore gravity.

An Ju squeezed her folded hands. At least none of the rest of the family - neither her parents nor aunts and uncles - were around to chime in on the scolding. So, she needed to confess and be as truthful as possible. That was the best way to appease her grandmother.

"I went out to play with the little ones after breakfast and forgot that I had a lesson scheduled today. Also, while chasing a kite, I slipped on the road and fell into one of the rice fields. I've fixed the damage I caused with the workers but that made me be even tardier."

The matriarch put down her tea bowl with an audible clink. "To think your parents even went through the trouble of finding you a teacher here in the countryside so that you won't be lagging behind. Is that how a young lady behaves, Tse An Ju?"

The girl lowered her gaze. "No, grandma."

"You're almost a young woman now, An Ju," her grandmother continued. "You'll be participating in the Blossom Pageant next year - ready to be presented to His Majesty, the king! You can't keep on going out to play like a child!"

"I understand, grandma." An Ju really did. As the daughter of a household where both spouses came from prestigious family lines and growing up in the capital, she was well aware of what society expected of her. But at the same time, this was her summer retreat, and she loved her cousins too much to not be playing with them. There was no way for her to run beneath the endless sky like this in the capital.

As if knowing exactly her granddaughter's thoughts, the stern woman sighed. "Hands," she demanded as she rose from her seat.

Surprised, An Ju looked up. When she saw that her grandmother grabbed a stick from the servants, she pressed her lips onto each other in fear. Still, she obediently held out her hands with the palms up. She had messed up this time and her grandmother was no one who left misdeeds unpunished.

The three hits came in quick succession. Despite her advanced age, Matriarch Dou was still nimble and strong.

Tears stung in An Ju's eyes as her hands burned from the hits.

"This was for damaging the rice fields. You were able to fix it but that was luck. It could have ended up worse and you cannot bear the responsibility of depraving some household of food for this winter. You know harvest has been bad."

"Yes, grandma," An Ju replied as calmly as possible. Yet, the tears that welled up threatened to spill over. Considering the possibility that she could have caused misery for someone due to her carelessness hurt her more than the hits.

The matriarch sighed a second time. She returned the stick to her servants before she took her granddaughter's hands. Massaging them gently, she spoke again: "As one of the richer households in the area and blessed with magic on top, we have a responsibility to our neighbors. It does not matter if it was on purpose or not, once something goes wrong, people will blame us first. So don't give them a reason to bear a grudge against you."

"Yes, grandma," were the only words that An Ju could repeat.

Her grandmother did not use magic but her cool fingers did alleviate some of the pain. The soft skin did not shy away from touching the girl's dirty hands.

Only when the throbbing in An Ju's hands stopped and the fiercely held back tears had dried agai , did her grandmother let go again.

"And now, go apologize to your grandfather."

An Ju opened her mouth. She had thought that the punishment was done. But when she looked up and saw that the matriarch was serious, she meekly walked over to the family altar.

Kneeling down on the cushion, she watched one of the servant bringing over a incense stick. It was not the large one. This one would only last an hour. It was still an hour.

"Apologize properly," was what Matriarch Dou said when she lit the incense stick.

An Ju could only nod as her grandmother left the room.

This was the worst punishment for her. It was not the kneeling. It was not how her knees would feel afterwards. It was the boredom.

She could tell her plaques of her grandfather and ancestors stories about her day. But even if she did, it would not be enough to let the time pass quickly.

More than once had the girl already fallen asleep while kneeling, only to be met with additional time on top of the incense stick. Her family knew that this was the best punishment against her.

So, An Ju only had to push through the hour. She recounted story in her mind. She counted the time. She tried to remember some songs as she kneeled there. She watched the ashes of the incense fall down piece by piece.

The very moment the incense burned down, the girl jumped up. "I'm free!" she shouted excitedly. Only to be met by a servant clearing her throat who was cleaning nearby.

"Sorry," An Ju whispered, then ran out of the main hall.

When she arrived in her room, she noticed that her parents, some servants, and even her grandmother were there. Most of her things were packed, except for one fresh set of clothing laid out next to a basin with fresh water.

"Oh? We're already leaving today?" she asked as her mother waved her over to finally clean her up.

As her mother pushed a wet cloth into her face to clean it, she answered: "Yes. Your grandmother says it will be raining tonight. If we leave soon, we can still reach your other grandparents this evening. Then the horses and wagon won't have to pull through the mud."

An Ju's father nodded eagerly, before he turned to his mother-in-law: "Thank you for your hospitality as always, mother. It is always a great pleasure to see you in such good health."

"And it is always lovely to welcome you, Tse Chang Ping. Thank you for taking care of my Seon Ha. Send the Tse household my regards."

"I will."

Tse Chang Ping smiled and then left the room as his wife shooed him out so that their daughter could change clothes.

As Seon Ha took care of the dress, Matriarch Dou stepped over to comb An Ju's hair to make her look proper again. While she did so, she gently murmured: "It was a good summer with you. I do hope I won't see you troublemaker here next year anymore, though."

"Grandma, that's mean!" An Ju shrieked. But she laughed and at the nod from her mother that she was finished, the girl turned around and wrapped her hands around her grandmother. "I will miss you greatly if I can't see you every summer!"

Those words made the matriarch laugh, too. She bowed down and pulled her granddaughter in a warm embrace. "May you always walk under the Sky, my dearest. Bring honor to the Tse and Dou families."

That was the greatest blessing Matriarch Dou could give her granddaughter for at that time, for everyone, the only reason for An Ju to not come back to the countryside was her being chosen as a candidate to become one of the king's wives at the next Blossom Pageant.

None of them would have expected for this to be the last time An Ju had ever stepped into the Dou household again.