An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Anime), 薬屋のひとりごと - 日向夏 | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries - Hyuuga Natsu, 薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Manga) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Emperor/Gyokuyou (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Emperor/Lihua (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), Ah Duo/Emperor (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) Characters: Emperor (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) Additional Tags: Character Study, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Exploration of a Headcanon, No Beta Summary:
"Gathering Together is a hexagram that shows interdependency and people coming together because of a shared ideal. "
Yoh knows that there are children beyond the walls of the Rear Palace, who learn early which wells run dry first, who wear the same robe through three seasons because cloth is dear and bodies grow whether one wishes them to or not. Children who grow up hungry, empty-bellied. Thin-limbed, gangly persons who learn early how to make a meal last one bite longer than it should have to.
(The knoweldge makes his silks itch sometimes. Makes the gold of his halls feel heavy and false. He cannot fix all problems, even though he wishes he could. If he truly has the power of Heaven as his ministers claim then he should be able to fix at least such trifles. Or if Heaven truly favors him the way they say it does then, at the very least, it could spare him this one cruelty: to see too clearly the limits of his own reach.)
From the outside, the palace and the throne must look wonderful. Must seem like unattainable paradise; like the end of want.
Still.
Being Emperor is difficult.
