By a single step of the horse across the finish line, they had missed the death and destruction that had fallen upon Bellinzona. The Empress Dowager bristled at the thought of returning once more to China without a single victory for her ambitions. After all, as little as she cared for peace, there was much that could be accomplished with a meeting of allies. It was after the execution, where she sat within the pavilion tent in the Castle Grounds bearing her insignia and that of her country, that she saw a figure integral to her plans walk by. She whispered to her Eunuch, her favorite from the many tributes that the Ottoman Empire had gifted at the beginning of their alliance, indeed who had been crucial in her practice of the Arabic tongue. Sanbao, the Eunuch, gave her a nod in return, and made his way soon to the Ottoman across the Castle Grounds, bowing upon his presence.
“Greetings, Sehzade. Her Imperial Majesty invites you to a game of Xiangqi.”