Stemming my breath, I halted the song. Boots thumped louder, a rush of auras descending as soldiers streamed into the courtyard, thankfully none of whom I recognized. Shouts rang out as they lunged at me, swords and spears glinting, hands raised to summon their power.

Magic surged from my fingertips, concealing my presence as my cloud shot into the skies. Below, the soldiers mounted their clouds, the quickest already soaring above in pursuit. Plucking a tendril of air, I hurled it into the shell by the lotus pond—my song flowing from it, each note as clear as when I had played it earlier.

The soldiers closest to me stared at each other in confusion, one gesturing wildly below. “The emperor’s courtyard. She’s there!” he cried.

“We saw her fly above,” another argued.

“A decoy! She must intend to harm His Celestial Majesty!”

I uttered a prayer of thanks for the last soldier’s misplaced conviction—as the rest swung around, their clouds descending once more. They raced back into the courtyard to join those who had remained. Together, they trooped through the garden, hunting beneath the trees, trudging through the flower beds. A diligent soldier even wove threads of magic into a glowing net to comb the pond, perhaps imagining I was submerged within the dark waters.

The emperor’s elegant courtyard was utterly ravaged; mud slopping from the pond, lotuses ripped from their stems, rough holes pitting the ornamental path. A rash urge to laugh gripped me as I imagined His Celestial Majesty’s wrath, though this was small recompense to what we had suffered at his hands.

As the song ended, the soldiers stilled, muttering among themselves. Some stalked toward the entrance once more, others clambering onto their clouds. Ten long seconds I counted silently, before flinging a dart of air into the shell in the Courtyard of Eternal Tranquility. The melody burst forth again, fainter this time, from farther away.

“His Highness’s courtyard! Quick!” Someone called out.

Footsteps thudded below, heading to my former residence. More soldiers followed, drawn by the commotion, some of their clouds brushing so near, I dared not breathe. Only after they had all descended and the skies were clear did my tension ease.

I strung the Celestial soldiers on this frantic chase, triggering one shell and then the next—my song winding in a ceaseless refrain through the courts, circling the palace walls itself. A dangerous game; one I could not afford to lose, and I was running out of time. Someone would figure it out, or I would make a careless slip. Exhaustion was stealing upon me, dulling my senses, weighing down my limbs. As the soldiers swarmed toward the western side of the palace, I made my way east, to where Liwei was held.