The sun hung high in the azure sky above the Isle of Whispering Petals, casting beams of prismatic light through the translucent rose-quartz walls of the Sect's Grand Hall. The hall was a masterpiece of architectural grace, a sanctuary of silence and authority where the ancestors of the Fragrance Melody Sect had presided for generations. The air was usually filled with the scent of burning spirit-incense and the soft, respectful murmurs of elders discussing sect affairs.
Today, however, the hall felt like a cage.
Sect Leader Hua Yimei sat upon the high throne carved from a single block of pink spirit-jade. She wore her most formal ceremonial robes—layers of heavy, deep purple silk embroidered with golden phoenixes, the high collar stiff against her neck, the wide sleeves cascading down the armrests. A heavy jade crown pinned her hair in an elaborate, severe style. She looked every inch the regal, untouchable matriarch of a rising power.
