Chapter 28: Breakfast
The knock came at the sixth hour.
I had been awake for two of them, sitting at the guesthouse window watching Lanyu's military district come alive in the predawn grey. I catalogued the shift changes at the garrison perimeter and tracked the supply carts moving between the armory and the eastern barracks.
I found it soothing in a way, to watch organizations run in realm time without overbearing oversight. It made me think of the training grounds and how the village itself was beginning to move away from my direct involvement. Though it was far too early for me to release the reigns if I was honest, and the time that I would let go would be a long time away.
There was a sudden knock on my door and I turned to see and told them to enter. Two servant men stepped inside my quarters garbed in the plain grey uniform of Western Reaches administrative staff, carrying between them a folded set of robes, and a basin of heated water that I could still see the steam rising out of.
"Commander Xu requests your presence at breakfast," the first one said. "We've been asked to assist you."
I looked at the robes. Deep blue, similar quality to what Lin Shae had worn the previous day. The cut was administrative rather than military, no armor accommodation, no weapon loops, very regal in style and fashion. It was a way to categorize who I was amongst the people, because of course a woman of Commander Xu's position could not be seen with a mere peasant farm boy out in the public eye.
I let them do their work.
The robes fit well, which meant either Wen's reports had included measurements or she'd made a reasonable estimate from his physical descriptions, neither of which was surprising. The fabric was better than anything I owned. One of the servants produced a comb and I submitted to having my hair arranged into a proper topknot rather than the functional knot I'd been tying since I was transmigrated into this world. The result, when the second servant held up a small polished mirror, was a person who looked like he belonged in Lanyu.
I considered what that meant for how she thought about the day ahead, and then I followed the servants out into the morning.