Welcome to.
.
.
Soothe quietly.
I'm so glad.
You are here tonight.
Find a comfortable position.
N.
Let your body settle gently beneath you.
Relax your shoulders.
Release any tension in your jaw.
Soften the muscles around your eyes and brow.
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
And breathe out through your mouth.
With each steady breath.
The sounds of your day.
Begin to fade.
Quietly.
Into the background.
There is nowhere else you need to be denied.
Now let yourself drift softly into tonight's story.
Tanai.
We step softly back.
More than 2100 years.
Into the Western Han dynasty.
When Chang'an was the capital of the Hang Empire.
It is the seventh evening.
Of the seven months.
Of the lunar calendar.
The Nye.
That would become widely known as Qixi Festival or sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day today.
The night has begun to settle softly over the palace grounds.
A young palace attendant makes her way towards Kaijin Tower.
A small bundle of colored thread.
Held close against her.
Tonight.
Is the seventh night of the seventh month of lunar calendar.
For some of the palace women who spend their days weaving and sewing,
Mending and embroidering.
The night carries a significance of its own.
Since before she entered the palace.
She has known the tale of the weaver girl and the cowherd.
Linked to the stars above.
Jun Yu,
The Weaver Star.
Shines beside the pale band of the Milky Way.
The river of heaven.
As it was known in Han Dynasty China.
She has known the Taeyong since childhood.
And two.
It feels almost like something woven into her.
On the seventh night.
Women and girls bring out fine needles and color thread.
They test the steadiness of their fingers beneath the weaver star and the pale milky way.
Tonight,
For the first time since entering the palace,
She will thread needles alongside the woman of the palace weaving room and Look towards the weaver star from Kaijin Tower.
Just as she once looked for the same star from the courtyard of her family home.
The thought has pleased her all day.
She walked with several of the senior palace women.
Carrying a small clothes bundle.
Inside are several lengths of colored thread.
Rat he all yellow.
Deep blue.
And a green.
So dark.
It almost looks black beneath the dark sky The night air touched her face as they walked through towards Kaijin Tower.
A plain pin holds her head at the back of her neck.
One loosened hair strand,
Brushing her cheek as she turns towards the path.
One of the senior palace women glanced upward.
Look,
There is Weaverstar.
The young attendant raised her eyes.
Above the high palace roof.
The weaver star shines clearly.
In the dark summer sky.
After a short walk past the shadowed courtyard,
Kaizen Tower comes into view.
A few lamps are already glowing in the upper room.
At the foot of the tower.
The woman passed beneath the entrance in.
Begin to climb.
By the time they reach the upper level of Kaijin Tower.
The summer night air feels cooler.
The stays are peeled down the center from years of use.
Beneath thin-clothed soles,
Even after a day of Samahit.
Cicadas call from somewhere below.
They are sound,
Thinning,
As the palace woman climbed towards the upper level.
The woman climbed the last few steps and Enter the upper room of Kaijin Tower.
The space is open alone one time.
With a wooden gallery looking outward across the palace grounds.
Before settling onto the mats.
Some of the women.
Move towards the open gallery.
To look out over Chang'an.
The young attendant follows them.
It is half past time this high above the palace.
For a moment,
She forgets about the bundle of colored threads in her hands.
Below her,
Rooftop,
Spread out in every direction.
Long tiled ridges.
And dark courtyards lying quietly between them.
A few lamps still glow beneath distant eve.
Thin threads of kitchen smoke rise in the warm night air and slowly disappear.
Farther away,
The palace roof seemed to overlap one another until their outlines fade into the darkness.
The young attendant rests one hand lightly against the wooden railing and looks out.
From the weaving rooms below.
The palace has always seemed to be made of courtyard,
Walls,
Gates,
And paths.
From here,
It looks entirely different.
For the first time,
She can see.
How far the roof extends.
Somewhere below a gate close.
The sound reached the tower a moment later.
Faint and soft.
Already fading by the time she hears it.
Above the dark roof,
The summer night is clear.
The pale milky way.
Stretch faintly across it.
The young palace attendant remains at the reeling for a moment.
She had known Khajin Tawa was high.
She had not imagined the view would be like this.
After a little while.
.
.
The woman began to lift the railing one by one.
The young Pelly's attendant lingers for a final glance at the dark roof.
And the pure milky way.
Then,
Tense and follow them back into the upper room inside the tower's upper room.
Woven mats and a low lacquer table.
Have already been laid across the floor.
One of the senior attendants kneels beside the table and Place a small folded pad of plain cloth near its center.
She then sets seven fine needles into the cloth pad.
Arranging them closely.
In a straight row.
Each needle has a single narrow eye.
N.
All seven eyes face the same direction.
They are ordinary sewing needles at first glance.
Decay.
The young palace attendant has threaded many times before.
But tonight.
They have brought together for a more difficult test.
A single strand of silk.
Must pass through the first eye.
Then the second.
N.
Onward towards the road.
Until it has passed through all seven needles.
Beside the needles.
The senior attendant,
Lise,
Several lengths of color silk thread.
Rats.
Pale yellow.
Deep blue.
And dark green.
Rest in loose coil against the cloth.
She adjusts the cloth pad once more.
Making sure the seven needles stand evenly in their row.
Then,
Settles onto the mat with the others.
Once everyone has settled.
One of the senior attendants looked around the small circle and said,
Let us begin.
The palace women take their turns one by one.
The first attendant,
Choose a length of red silk and smooth its end between half fingertips.
She leans towards the row and begins carefully.
The thread pass through the first eye.
Then the second.
Enter.
At the fourth,
She pauses and brings her hand a little closer to the lamp.
Until the tiny opening.
Catches the light.
She guides the silk through and continues.
6.
And then the seventh.
The red sealed thread passes through the entire row of needles.
A quiet mama moves around the circle.
And the woman smiles before making room for the next attendant.
Another palace attendant tries knees.
Missing once before the thread finally passes through.
A third attendant completes the role more slowly.
Leaning closer to the lamp.
As she guides the silk through each small needle eye.
For a while,
The tower becomes very quiet.
There is only the faint movement of silk between fingers.
The small flame of the lamp.
And the summer insects.
Calling somewhere below.
Than the senior attendant.
Tends towards the young palace attendants.
Now it is your turn.
The young Pele's attendant moves closer in.
Looks at the seven small eyes' needle waiting before her.
She choose a land of pure yellow silk thread and Carefully rolls its end between half fingertips.
Until it is narrow enough to guide.
Then she begins.
The first eye takes the thread easily.
The second.
Follow.
Then the third.
At the fold.
She has to steady her hand.
But,
After a moment,
She finds the opening.
The fifth follows soon after.
Only two remain.
She brings the yellow silk towards the sitz needle.
The thread touches the edge of the eye and slip aside.
Her hand becomes still.
She draws the thread back.
Smooth the end once more and try it again.
The palace women around her wait quietly.
This time.
The silk pass through the sixth eye.
Only the seventh remains.
The final needle.
Catches a small point on lamplight.
She leans closer and.
.
.
Guides the thread forward.
For a brief moment.
It rests against the edge of the opening.
Done.
Is slipped through.
The young attendant draws the yellow silk gently forward.
The same yellow thread now runs through all seven needle eyes.
For a moment.
She simply looks at it.
One of the senior attendants smile.
Well done,
She says.
The young palace attendant lowers her eyes with a smile on her face.
Outside Kaijin Tower.
The milky way stretches pale across the summer sky.
She puts the needle down for a moment and.
.
.
Rest her hand in her lap.
Above the Kaijin Tower.
The sky has deepened.
Fully into night.
The pale band of stars stretches from one edge of the roof line to the other.
Wide and faint.
Light and milky way itself.
To brought to whole in a single glance.
Someone once told her.
It looks like a length of pale thread laid loosely across dark cloth.
She can see why.
The lamp beside her flickers once in a stray current of night air.
Then settles and steady again.
Somewhere below.
The palace has grown quieter than it was an hour ago.
Fewer lights show among their rooftops now.
Fewer voices carry a word.
One by one.
The other palace attendants finish their own threading.
And begin to gather their things.
Needles are drawn free of thread and wrapped back into their cloth.
The mats are rolled and placed against the wall.
The lamps are lowered one by one.
They are flames.
Shrinking.
Until the upper room grows dim.
The bronze Y lamp.
Is lifted.
To be carried back down with them.
Below the tower.
The palace shows fewer lights now and then.
When they climb the stairs.
Cordial after cordial has gone dark.
One lamp at a time.
As the night settles fully.
The woman descends together.
They are footsteps,
Soft on the stairs.
Back in the courtyard.
The young attendant paused and… Looks up once more.
Kaijin Tower is dark now.
Its upper room.
No longer lit by the lamps they carry down.
The warm night air.
Carries the faint scent of leaf and courtyard plants below.
She holds her small bundle of remaining thread.
Then.
.
.
Walks towards the palace woman's sleeping rooms.
Later.
The young attendant settles on her sleeping mat.
The last of her colored thread.
Talk beside her.
The climb to Kaijin Tower.
The view across the palace roof and Chang'an City.
And the seven small needle eyes linger in her thoughts.
Above Chang'an.
The Milky Way.
Stool stretches across the summer sky.
The world we visited tonight grows quiet now.
N.
You can simply rest here.
Comfortable and at ease.
Your mind can relax.
Your body can soften.
If you are already drifting into sleep.
Allow yourself to sink a little deeper.
If you are still awake.
Listen to the quiet.
There is nothing more to do.
Nowhere else to be.
I'll be here whenever you need another peaceful moment like this.
Bye for now.
Rest gently.
And Sleep well.
Good night.
