tc-doherty:

1,052 words.

In the end, the king was just a man, albeit one in clothing
and surroundings richer than any Zhi Ruo had ever seen. Not that she saw much
of him. A bow might suffice for a palace guard, but for a king nothing would do
but to fully prostrate herself on the cool marble floor. The glimpses she got
of him, though, proved that here was not only a king, but a man and a father
worried about his daughters. She could see some of Yuejuan’s features in him,
and that made her feel better.

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tc-doherty:

1,183 words.

Her family’s house was similar to a lot of the others that
hovered on the outer edges of Xijing: an enclosed compound with a south-facing
entrance and small buildings on three sides of a central courtyard. It had the
same red tile roof as all the neighbors, the same painted murals, the same
courtyard set up that was part kitchen, part garden, and part free space. All
that house would have been wasted on just her parents, but it wasn’t only them.
They shared the home with her mother’s parents too, and two aunts and an uncle
with their families, who managed to fill it just to the point of being snug,
rather than crowded.

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