85: The Meeting with the Princess
The careful preceding small private morning after the parents' preceding small private reunion, Su Yan rode, by the unmarked carriage line, to the royal palace.
He arrived at the third hour past dawn.
Mingxue received him at the southern gate. She inclined her head — small, formal — and — by the careful preceding small private *changed* hour of her preceding small private courtesy this morning — *smiled*, very small, very brief, before turning to lead him to the writing-room.
Princess Cang Xueyi was already seated.
She had — by the careful preceding small private hour of nine days of preceding small private patient careful preceding waiting — *changed*. She wore her plain pale-blue under-robe again — *not* the formal pale-violet outer robe of the careful preceding small private letter-meeting. Her hair was, by her preceding preference this morning, *loose*. Her hands were, by her preceding preference, in her lap.
She looked at Su Yan as he entered.
For the careful preceding small private hour of perhaps five breaths, neither of them spoke.
Then Su Yan inclined his head — small, formal — and crossed the room and sat, by his preceding preference, *not* on the cushion opposite her at the small writing-table, *but* on the careful preceding small private cushion at her *side*.
She inclined her head — small, formal.
She did not, by her preceding preference, allow her face to register what the careful preceding small private hour was.
Then, by her preceding preference, she allowed her face to *move*.
She turned to him, very small. She laid the careful preceding small private *back of her hand* against his cheek — by the careful preceding small private hour of one third small careful preceding small private gesture, by the small careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of one princess's preceding small private quiet preceding-waiting — and held it, by her preceding preference, for the count of perhaps a thousand breaths.
He laid, by his preceding preference, his own hand over hers.
They sat — at the small careful preceding small private side cushion of one princess's preceding small private writing-room — for the careful preceding small private hour of perhaps half an hour, in the small precise unhurried preceding hour of two columns having become one, with the careful preceding small private hour of one extraction's preceding small private successful completion *behind them*, and with the careful preceding small private hour of the next thirteen months until the careful preceding small private formal arrangement *ahead*.
Cang Xueyi, by her preceding preference, did not — at any point in the careful preceding small private half hour — *kiss him*.
She did not, by her preceding preference, *say* anything.
She did, by the careful preceding small private hour of one careful preceding small private back of one hand against one cheek for the careful preceding small private long count of half an hour, *say* — by every careful preceding small private substrate-read Su Yan was capable of performing — *every careful preceding small private thing she had been preceding-time saying with the careful preceding small private letter she had not asked him to reply to*.
He, by his preceding preference, said back — by the careful preceding small private hour of his own preceding small private hand over hers — *every careful preceding small private thing he had been preceding-time waiting to say to her, by the careful preceding small private hour of nineteen months of column-keeping, in the careful preceding small private absence of the careful preceding small private words their preceding mutual preference had not yet, by her preceding preference, calibrated for*.
When the careful preceding small private hour closed, by the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of half an hour, she inclined her head — small, formal.
"Su Yan."
"Cang Xueyi."
"By my own preceding preference, *thank you for coming back*."
"Cang Xueyi. By my own preceding preference, *thank you for waiting*."
She inclined her head — small, formal.
He rose. He bowed — small, formal — at the careful preceding small private door of her preceding small private writing-room.
He left.
By the careful preceding small private hour of the unmarked carriage's preceding small private return to the embassy — by which the household had, by Cousin Su Lin's standing arrangement, been told to file the morning's preceding small private trip as *the young master's preceding small private morning errand at the public scribe's office of the noble district, on a small careful preceding small private routine intelligence-line matter* — Su Yan had, by the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of half an hour at one princess's preceding small private side cushion, *received* the careful preceding small private hour of one princess's preceding small private answer to the careful preceding small private hour of his own preceding small private return.
The answer was — *yes*.
It was, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of his preceding small private column-keeping, *the careful preceding small private answer he had been preceding-time waiting for since the morning of the courtyard ceremony nineteen months ago*.
In his chest, the ember pulsed — slow, considered, *gentle*, twice — and the dry voice, very quietly, said: *Honored. By her preceding preference. By yours. By all of ours. Honored.*
Su Yan inclined his head, in the careful preceding small private rocking of the unmarked carriage on the careful preceding small private return through the royal city's preceding small private spring streets, in the direction of the ember.
The careful preceding small private hour of the next thirteen months — by the careful preceding small private hour of one careful preceding small private morning's preceding small private side cushion — was, by his preceding small private bookkeeping, *the calmest careful preceding small private stretch of his preceding-time first arc*.
He intended, by his preceding preference, *to use it*.