<div align="center">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/0/04/FengBao.jpg)</div><br/>Though it was happening right in front of him, the discussion between the two emperors felt like it was a hundred miles from Feng. He felt adrift, utterly useless. Why had he asked to stay? Tai was a match for the foreign emperor - and he was taking his surprise bride in his stride... though with a father like the old emperor it didn't surprise him that Tai could take such life-changing events without blinking.<br/><br/>Feng glanced at the emperor boldly before dropping his gaze again, not out of fear or reverence as such a low lord should show - but a cautious respect like that one would have for a wild boar. The man was powerful and therefore dangerous - though both Feng and Tai had survived one three times as worse... though not unhurt. The man and his daughter broke away, and Tai summoned his wayward minister.<br/><br/>Seeing the man kneel almost made Feng smirk, though his facial features stayed smooth. It gave him a vicious pleasure seeing the older man bow and scrape for Tai. He stayed silent, not offering a single word where his free-moving tongue might make Tai seem weaker. Sometimes it felt like silence was his mothertongue, taught to him more forcefully and thoroughly than the several dialects of the Empire. He rarely spoke to Tai in public, though in a venue such as this he dared to be bold - until the invasion of their ally.<br/><br/>A thought slid through his head that made his breath catch. Would the woman - Tai's wife-to-be - would she put an end to the friendship that had survived decades? Her power would be second only to Tai's. If she took a disliking for him, how long would it take her to turn Tai's head? He knew well how women could plot. If her own flesh couldn't tempt him, surely she would worth through other means. She would gift him with some toy, some beauty that would ensnare him. She would use it as a bit to bridal his friend with.<br/><br/>He downed the rest of his wine in a vulgar, common gulp and beckoned for more, wishing he could return to his room and light his pipe rather than have to witness Tai's marriage. His own was vile enough, but this was sure to be even more repulsive. He didn't dare look at his friend, fixing his gaze on his new goblet of wine.