She embodied the empress.

She knew her lines and out. It took a lot of practice. And she had it, while moving from the understudy position to the lead recently. It was only natural having grown up in a theater centered Clan.

I just didn't understand it because it hadn't been mine. My father had been a manager of artists, most notably just about every West Coast and Midwest rapper that was designed with the major label. I hadn't thought about my father in a while. He had always made it to dinner but he was often distracted in his own world. I had come to terms with his limited involvement in my life, despite him showed up to just about every protest that Maxine and I had ever gone to.

He was supportive. He kept the lights on. I wanted for nothing as a child. Except perhaps for my parents to be home more often. Because he promoted them, he often had to attend their events. And there's nothing that entertainers like more than a road show. Except actually being paid.

"Lee, he's doing that thing again where he zones out."

"Let's force his hand. We can all go out and eat now."

"You don't want to stay a little longer to get some signatures done? A lot of these people came to see you."

"And they can wait their turns. My friends are here and I want to talk about the tea. Does that sound good to you?"

"Lovely. It's a date."

The two women shared a look of common understanding. I was having none of their nonsense tonight-I was showing off my own nonsense.

"Xueyie, these little playbills of the show with your face on them, Can I take one? Or two?" I said.

"This isn't for some nefarious purpose, is it?" Xueyie said, "They are free. Cost us money to produce but once we paid for the stamp and ink it was a lot less to make each one. Now we have more than we could ever need."

The small hand-sized pictograph looked like her face except it was in two tones. Black and yellow. Someone had to have used a stamp on white or yellow paper to get the effect. Grabbing one, It looked a bit more like someone had used old tea bags to soak the paper because of how old it looked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a glint and my heart dropped. I zeroed in on the exact spot that I thought it was coming from as I pulled for my spirit beast to attend me. This was not going to be a pleasant night from here on out.

"Lee. We're back on the clock."

"Already?"

"Yes. Did you bring any weapons?"

I eyed her form-fitting gown. It left a little to the imagination. As in, If she had pockets there would be little little or imaginary. She was proficient with many bladed weapons. Before I could even say another word, I saw two knives being relocated to her hands. She kept the hilts so that the blades would be hidden by the rest of her arm.

Across the room, talking to someone in a robe that I did not recognize was a woman with a red fang tattoo on her face.

I leaned into Moon Lee, as if to whisper sweet nothings into her ear. That's exactly what I did for about five seconds before I began to describe her in detail. It was an intimate moment that had been completely unexpected.

"Orange robes. At least the second realm. Let me see if I can find anything else out. Min is a little bit far away."

"There aren't that many women here that are wearing orange robes. She will definitely stand out. Especially if she ran away," she whispered back.

I could feel my spirit beast coming in closer. As soon as I was able to I would break contact and move in her direction. I was not going to let another one slip my grasp.

I held onto Moon Lee's hand, as we made our way through the crowd. She trailed behind me as we honed in on the woman of interest.

If you've ever looked for someone from across a crowded cafeteria, you'll kind of get where I'm going with this to. There are many entrances inside that led into the opera house interior. There were two that led in from the lobby to the outside.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I wanted to ask Xueyie to call for a family enforcer to back us up, but she was a bit behind us. I gave her the wave that she needed to put on her game fave. I wasn't surprised when not one but two Taoists in costume joined us.

I was surprised when their stage makeup, which looked like they were stone. Stone gargoyles, really made a statement about who they were. They didn't have wings but they really should have. One went to each entrance.

I needed a line of sight on our target. There were even more members of Taoist sect that crowded on the star of the show, even as we tried to get her out of the limelight.

"Min is almost ready to pounce. Do we want to Make the first move?"

"I think we need to examine what she's doing for a little bit. See if we can learn something. She could take us back to another cell. I also can't judge her strength from here which is a problem. I can't fully unveil here without drawing attention, neither can you," Lee said.

I couldn't pinpoint her strength, but it was more a problem of too much interference. Unfortunately, people with means and strength liked the theatre here. I started preparing myself to tail her. I hated the idea of following a woman out of a theater without her consent, but then again I could just go up and ask her some questions.

"I have a better idea. Let me go talk to her, flirt a bit and see if she leaks any information."

"You? Flirt with a woman? Shocking. You know what, this might be the best performance of the night-apologies, Xueyie."

I wasn't going to take that one on the chin, so I made my way through the crowd keeping the exit doors behind me. She wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon.

Orange robes in my view, I reached the point of no return. She glanced at me and I locked eyes with her. If this was a seventh grade dance, then I wasn't leaving until we awkwardly exchanged a slow standoffish exchange of words.

The crowd of cultivators and mortal men and women left me room and soon enough I was approaching the woman. Upon closer inspection, she could have been the lead in a Korean drama about a corporate woman fighting her way to the top.

"Hello miss. It appears that I am in the presence of a radiant beauty who I would very much like to make the acquaintance of. I'm Joseph, but you can call me Joe," I said, "and you are?"

I could see the glint of her tattoo and a corresponding one just above her robes. I bowed, trying on the etiquette class that Moon Lee had hand waved me through.

"You may call me, Xiran. A pleasure to meet you sir. How did you find the Opera?"

"It was quite lovely. In particular, I loved how the empress did a dance number to try and explain to her husband that he needed to not only go with the men that had escaped his capture, but also start a new system with them."

"Yes. It really illustrated the problems before the celestial empire established itself."

I shrugged.

"It really illustrates that no matter what someone does, perhaps there is a way for them to go on the right path," I leaned in, giving her the old dad face. It was a classic. The 'I expect more from you, I'm not mad just disappointed.'

Her face turned beet red. She looked around for something. She probably saw the empress in full dress and Moon Lee. Unless she was crushing on me? No that couldn't be, we were enemies.

"Don't worry about them. Right now you're thinking, how does he know what I'm thinking, and let me in on a secret," I leaned in to whisper, "I'm thinking it too."

"I have to say that I've never in my life been propositioned by proxy by such a gorgeous actress, but here we are Joe."

She winked at me and for a moment I was back at that seventh grade dance where Becky Woodman turned me down. I quickly composed myself. If she wanted to get down with Xueyie, well then I was about to sell her a deal that she couldn't resist.

"Well in that case, how about coming with my associates to a nice little dinner and we can talk logistics."

I would also be able to smash two impulses with one meal. I just needed to make sure that Min was keeping an eye on our movements.

"Did you need to speak to anyone else before you left?"

"They'll understand, when they see that I left with the empress," she replied, moving over to Xueyie.

I spared a glance around to see if anyone else with the mark was with us. I hadn't seen anyone, Min was going to have to stalk behind us.

"So where would you like to eat, your highness? Or should I call you by your stage name?"

I mouthed the words, 'Play along' to the woman in full court makeup before motioning for Moon Lee to follow. Then when Moon Lee came close enough, I pulled her in close.

"She thinks that Xueyie is interested in some sort of tryst. This is all a big misunderstanding -"

Xueyie looked back at us, her eyes pleading for something.

"-I didn't expect this, but we can use it. We're her entourage tonight so play wingman er-"

"What the hell is a wingman, Joe. Honestly."

It was at that moment that I realized that I should have taught the girls about improv class. I mentally kicked myself for not doing so.

"I'll brief Xueyie. Make up some reason that the two of us need to split up for a second. She's going to have to act interested in Xiran."