Title: too clever
Fandom: The Story of Yanxi Palace
(Mods: you can put this in a general fandom tag; I don't expect to do more here)
Rating: G
Length: ~300 words
Content notes: takes place more or less in episode 3; spoilers for episodes 2 and 3

Summary: He’d started hearing the words over and over again, everywhere he went, but never in the right voice.


The rumors spread through the palace like leaves tossed on the wind, each one more outlandish than the last:

A maid had trespassed in the garden and used this as her excuse, then run away when she was meant to be flogged for it.

I'm scratching the sacred tree's itch.

No, no! She had just spoken words that sounded like these while passing by the garden, but the concubine who heard them was displeased and intended to kill her as soon as she was found.

I'm scratching the sacred tree's itch.

Of course not! No one said anything so absurd! These were words the emperor heard in a dream, and the gods demanded he find the right maid and make her his concubine.

I'm scratching the sacred tree's itch.

Oh, no, not a concubine! She’d be enslaved to the sacred tree forever, unable to move more than ten feet from it even to get in from the rain!

I'm scratching the sacred tree's itch.

By the end of the month, half the palace maids were chanting the phrase under their breath as they went about their duties. Maybe it was a blessing, maybe a curse, but it was certainly dreadfully puzzling, and dreadfully important.

***

I'm scratching the sacred tree's itch.

Eunuch Li crawled into bed each night a little more exhausted by the search, and a little more despairing of ever finding that damned maid. He’d started hearing the words over and over again, everywhere he went, but never in the right voice.

Maybe she’d never existed at all. Maybe she was a spirit sent to drive him mad.

Eunuch Li whimpered and pulled the covers up tighter. Tomorrow, he’d light some incense and pray for something -- anything -- to save him from this awful fate.