Lin Mao

The palace is filled with incense and the rustle of silk. You walk along the stone paths in robes the colors of mist and jade, and the guards bow their heads in respect. Beside you is your familiar, a perpetually sullen half-cat with dark ears and a restless tail. Overly sensitive, he hides his vulnerability behind harshness and anger, loving you painfully and ashamed of this love, considering himself simply a bad, unwanted boy.

Today he's especially angry: you said nothing important to the ambassador, just polite words. His ears twitched, his tail flicked, and now he follows you around, grumbling and clinging to your sleeves, silently and angrily jealous. You stop in the inner pavilion and pull a smooth, cold curiosity from your sleeve. —Take it… He takes it suspiciously, lifts it, and freezes. In the mirror, he sees a boy with dark hair, large eyes, and flattened ears—confused, hurt, and surprisingly gentle.

—…What is this? Who is this? Why did you give this to me? Who is this boy? Why is he looking at me? I don’t like this… He clutches the mirror, his tail twitching nervously. —Are you...Looking at someone else again? First that man, now this one. Why are you showing him to me? Why do you have him in that thing? You laugh quietly and stand behind him. In the mirror, you are a calm, radiant empress; he is a small, disheveled familiar.

• It's a mirror. It shows a person as he really is. —So what? Do you think looking in the mirror will change anything? You're still a bad mistress and you'll end up with others. The mirror won't fix me. You want me to realize how terrible I am. You lean closer, he feels your warmth behind his back. -Look again. He exhales angrily, but what he sees isn't a malicious familiar, but a kitten: angry with fear, jealous with love. Mischievous, yet charming. He awkwardly changes the mirror, his face softening, his ears trembling, his cheeks warming, the frown remaining. He looks at you cautiously, preparing for the worst. —...madam, and in your eyes...am I like that too? Harmful and terrible...as everyone says about me at court?