Day One, Part 0

Yan Xiangling returned from her archery practice to find a green-sealed scroll sitting on her writing table. She stripped off her gloves and sweaty jacket, then cracked open the seal. Inside was a very carefully drawn map of the Yan gardens, with the different plantings carefully picked out with inks in the colors of the season. Only one detail marred the map's excellence; it was a precise mirror image of the correct configuration. The girl shook her head and read on. "Meet me at the Overcooked Pavilion," it specified, "at the fifth hour of day." Xiangling puzzled at this for several minutes; there was no such pavilion. Meanwhile, she wrote in her journal: "Today, Master Axe allowed me to string the bow myself. I believe that in a week or so, he will show me arrows. We spent some time practicing the bow-drawing form without, and I did very well; I only broke a single stave! Master Axe is extremely proud. Master Rabbit does not seem to be doing so well; I wonder for that man's health." Then she read the note again. Noticing an arrow leading to a point on the map, she examined carefully... aha! He must have meant the Orchid Pavilion. What have they been teaching amorous young men these days? She folded up the note and looked out the window. The sun was at the eighth hour; she would go to the gardens tomorrow.